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Serum samples of autochthonous individuals from the Garrotxa prepyrenean region, and the Pallars Sobirà valley were screened for HP (Haptoglobin) and ORM (Orosomucoid) types by polyacrylamide isoelectric focusing and electrophoresis. The allele frequencies estimated were HP*1 = 0.3902 and ORM1*S = 0.3697 for Pallars Sobirà, and HP*1 = 0.4161 and ORMS1*S = 0.3691 in the Garrotxa. While our results for the HP system are within the range of variation of the Iberian Peninsula, the ORM1 protein shows a remarkable degree of variation among these populations.

A sample of 121 Piaroa Indians from the Federal Amazonia Territory (Venezuela) was studied for the following serum protein polymorphisms: haptoglobin (HP), group-specific component subtypes (GC), orosomucoid (ORM), third component of complement (C3), transferrin C subtypes (TF) and alpha 1-antitrypsin subtypes (PI). The gene frequencies in the whole sample were: HP1 = 0.821; GC1S = 0.698; GC1F = 0.058; GC2 = 0.244; ORMS = 0.434; C3S = 0.699; C3F = 0.289; C3var = 0.012; TFC1 = 0.955; PIM1 = 0.467; PIM2 = 0.004; PIM3 = 0.529. The studied Piaroa sample came from three different communities: Gavilan, Paria and Alto Carinagua. The distribution of GC, C3 and HP polymorphisms was heterogeneous within the three groups. All the examined serum protein markers were polymorphic, in contrast to some enzymatic markers (ADA, DIA, 6PGD, AK) previously studied, which were shown to be monomorphic in the Piaroa. The results were compared with data from other populations living in the same territory.

Haptoglobin subtypes have been determined in two population samples, one of them from the Pyrenean Valley of Pallars Sobirá in the province of Lérida and other from the Garrotxa region, province of Gerona. The obtained frequencies have been compared with other Pyrenean and European populations. Our results contrast with the absence of HP*2FF in the north-eastern district of the Pyrenees and suggest a more extensive distribution of this allele in European populations.

A flow injection-spectrophotometric determination of paracetamol is reported. The procedure is based on the oxidation of the analyte with potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) previously retained in an anionic exchange column and the reaction of the N-(hydroxyphenyl)-p-benzoquinonimine so produced with phenol. The oxidation is carried out at room temperature and in aqueous ammoniacal solution. Concentrations of paracetamol in the 0.20-20 ppm range are determined with relative standard deviations (RSD) of 0.6% (n = 40) at an injection rate of 42 samples h-1. The influence of foreign species on the assay and its application to the determination of paracetamol in several pharmaceutical formulations are reported.