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The soluble pool of alpha hemoglobin chains present in blood or bone marrow cells was measured with a new affinity method using a specific probe, beta A hemoglobin chain labeled with [3H]N-ethylmaleimide. This pool of soluble alpha chains was 0.067 +/- 0.017% of hemoglobin in blood of normal adult, 0.11 +/- 0.03% in heterozygous beta thalassemia and ranged from 0.26 to 1.30% in homozygous beta thalassemia intermedia. This elevated pool of soluble alpha chains observed in human beta thalassemia intermedia decreased 33-fold from a value of 10% of total hemoglobin in bone marrow cells to 0.3% in the most dense red blood cells. The amount of insoluble alpha chains was measured by using the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in urea and Triton X-100. In beta thalassemia intermedia the amount of insoluble alpha chains was correlated with the decreased spectrin content of red cell membrane and was associated with a decrease in ankyrin and with other abnormalities of the electrophoretic pattern of membrane proteins. The loss and topology of the reactive thiol groups of membrane proteins was determined by using [3H]N-ethylmaleimide added to membrane ghosts prior to urea and Triton X-100 electrophoresis. Spectrin and ankyrin were the major proteins with the most important decrease of thiol groups.

Hb G Philadelphia (alpha68 Asn leads to Lys) is widely distributed in black people but is uncommon in North-Africa. Only one case has been previously described in an Arab immigrant. The latter and our propositus originated from North-East morocco. Hb G alpha Philadelphia is stable. The abnormal hemoglobin represented 28% of total hemoglobin in the hemolysate of the propositus, a 7 month old child. At birth, 4 fractions were detected on electrophoresis: Hb A, Hb F, Hb G Philadelphia, which migrated like Hb S, and a mutant alpha2Ggamma2. The oxygen affinity of Hb G Philadelphia was slightly elevated. Cooperativity and Bohr effect were normal. The abnormal hemoglobin was also detected in the father of the propositus in the heterozygote state: its clinical and hematological data were normal. No evidence of thalassemia trait was found in the family. The percentage of abnormal hemoglobin obtained in the propositus and his father is in accordance with the presence of two loci for the alpha chain on the homologous chromosome.

The aim of this survey is to study the reactions of pregnant women to ultrasound examination when used systematically during pregnancy. 54 women have been observed during their first ultrasound examination and their attitude and verbal reactions recorded. In this situation women express not only feelings of relief and pleasure but fears and anxiety. This ambiguousness and the complexity of the reactions observed may be understood when taking into account the woman's situation during the examination and the quality of the relationship between her and the physician. The significance and the consequences for the pregnant woman of the confrontation of the "real" child as shown on the screen, and the child of her fantasies, has also to be pointed out.

The effects of four thiol reagents on the kinetics of polymerization of hemoglobin S have been studied in high phosphate buffer (1.8 M), in the presence (3 mM) or absence of sodium dithionite, depending on the reduction of mixed disulfides of Hb in the presence of this reducing agent. The effect of oxidized forms (methemoglobin) of HbS on the kinetics of aggregation of deoxyHbS was also studied because of the presence of 33% metHbS when HbS was modified by 4-aminophenyl disulfide. In the presence of sodium dithionite, the delay times prior to polymerization of deoxyHbS modified by N-ethylmaleimide, iodoacetamide and 4-aminophenyl disulfide were, respectively, 1.5-, 1.35- and 1.15-times longer than that of native deoxyHbS. The results indicate that the radicals bound to the cysteine beta 93 residue inhibit the contacts in the polymer formation to various extents but do not modify the size of the nuclei.

The purpose of this survey was the comparison of 4 forms of day care: day care center, baby minder, care at home by the mother herself or care at home by someone else. A sample of 1,010 children, born to French mothers in a public hospital in Paris, was examined at a check-up clinic organized by National Social Security for 10 months old children. Home care by the mother herself was more frequent for mothers with primary level education or for families with 2 children or more; care at home by someone else was often chosen by families with high social level. The health and psychosocial and motor development of the children were not very different according to the type of day care. There was a higher frequency of acute respiratory tract infections and a lower weight gain for children in day care centers. Mothers whose children went to a day care center were more anxious about medical symptoms and more often called for a doctor.