No abstract available.
Serum Albumin ; Track and Field

Consensus ; Critical Illness ; Humans ; Serum Albumin ; Serum Albumin, Human

No abstract available.
Embryonic Development* ; Female ; Humans* ; Pregnancy ; Serum Albumin*

PURPOSE: To correlate CT attenuation and MR signal intensity with concentration of protein solution. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CT and MR examinations of a phantom containing bovine serum albumin solutions of various concentrations ranging from 0 to 55% were performed. CT Hounsfield units(HUs), MR signal intensities, and apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) of each albumin solution were measured, and CT HUs and MR signal intensities of the solutions were compared with those of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), white matter, and cortical gray matter. RESULTS: CT HU increased gradually with increasing albumin concentration. On T1-weighted images(T1WI), signal intensity increased with increasing albumin concentrations of up to 35% but then decreased. On T2-weighted images(T2WI), gradually decreasing signal intensity and increasing albumin concentration were oibserved. Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and diffusion-weighted images (DWIs) showed that signal intensity peaked at a concentration of 10% and then gradually decreased. The ADC of the solution gradually decreased as concentration increased. Compared with those of normal brain structures, the CT HUs of solutions at concentrations of over 20% were higher than those of white and gray matter. At T1WI, the signal intensities of 10-45% solutions were similar to or higher than that of the gray matter. At T2WI, the signal intensities of solutions above 25, 35, and 40% were lower than those of CSF, gray matter, and white matter, respectively. FLAIR images showed that the signal intensities of 5-35% solutions were higher than that of gray matter. CONCLUSION: The CT attenuation of albumin solution increased gradually with increasing concentration. MR signal intensities peaked at 35% concentration on T1WI and at 10% on FLAIR and DW images, respectively, and then gradually decreased. T2WI and ADC map images showed gradually decreasing signal intensity and ADC as albumin concentration increased.
Brain ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Diffusion ; Serum Albumin, Bovine

Recent studies showed that high biocompatibility and reduction of uremic toxin contributed to the improvement of freatment outcome in hemodialysis patients.Therefore, a high-flux membrane dialyzer, especially polysulfone (PS) membrane, was generally used in dialysis. However, it was suggested that the higher efficiency of reduction in uremic toxins might cause an increase in the albumin leakage through the dialyzer membrane during dialysis, resulting in a decrease in serum albumin concentration. In this study, we used two different dialyzer membranes with high biocompatibility, namely, ethylenevinylalcohol (EVAL) membrane and improved PS membrane with a very lower leakage of serum albumin. After using these two types of mambrane of six straight months, we examined the effect of each dialyzer membrane characteristic on the serum total protein and albumin concentration. The reduction rates of each uremic solute and serum total protein concentration were significantly higher. The serum albumin concentration and its rate of change with the passing of time tended to increase in the case of the PS membrane. But in the case of EVAL membrane, these values tended to decrease. These results suggested that the differences in the changes in the serum total protein and albumin concentration might result from the differences in the efficiency of the reduction of uremic toxins. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the usage of the dialyzer membrane with a higher reduction of uremic solutes and a lower leakage of serum albumin to add to the higher biocompatibility specially in hemodialysis patients with hypoproteinemia.
Membranes ; Concentration ; Reduction (chemical) ; Serum Albumin ; Hemodialysis

PURPOSE: To develop optimal microbubble contrast agents (MBCAs) for performing ultrasound microscopy when examining small animals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prepared three types of MBCAs. First, a mixture of three parts of 40% dextran and one part of 5% human serum albumin were sonicated with perfluorocarbon (PFC) (MB1-D40A5P). Second, three parts of 40% dextran and one part of 1% human serum albumin were sonicated with PFC (MB2-D40A1P). Third, all parts of 1% bovine serum albumin were sonicated with PFC (MB3-A1P). We measured the microbubbles' sizes and concentrations with using image analysis software. The acoustic properties of the microbubbles were assessed both in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: The majority of the MB1-D40A5Ps had a diameter of 2-5 um, the mean diameter of the MB2-D40A1Ps was 2.5 um, and the mean diameter of the MB3-A1Ps was less than 2.0 um. Among the microbubbles, the MB1-D40A5Ps and MB2-D40A1Ps showed increased echogenicity in the abdominal vessels, but the duration of their contrast effect was less than 30 sec. On the contrary, the MB3-A1Ps exhibited strong enhancement in the vessels and their duration was greater than 120 sec. CONCLUSION: A microbubble contrast agent consisting of all parts of 1% serum albumin sonicated with PFC is an effective contrast agent for ultrasound microscopy.
Acoustics ; Animals ; Contrast Media* ; Dextrans ; Humans ; Microbubbles* ; Microscopy* ; Microspheres ; Serum Albumin ; Serum Albumin, Bovine ; Ultrasonography*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the changes of tear osmolarity and protein after silicone punctal plug insertion in dry eye. METHODS: We collected tear from 21 dry eyes (11 males and 10 females) with porous polyester rod(Transorb(R)) before silicone punctal occlusion and 2 weeks after the procedure. Tear osmolarity was measured by Fiske 2400 Osmometer(R). Total tear protein concentration was analyzed by Bradford's assay. The concentration of human serum albumin (HSA), lactoferrin, lysozyme were measured by Bio-Rad Gel Doc 2000(R). RESULTS: The tear osmolarity was changed from 364.48+/41.39 mOsm/L to 327.48+/-27.24 mOsm/L after the punctal occlusion (P<0.05). There were no changes of total protein concentration, Human serum albumin, lactoferrin, but lysozyme was increased statistically significantly (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Silicone punctal occulusion decreases tear osmolarity in dry eye. This decrease is associated with a decrease in ocular surface disease due to high tear osmolarity. Only lysozyme except HSA and lactoferrin was increased significantly. Silicone punctal plug is an effective procedure for dry eye patients, but further investigation of the effects on tear proteins is needed.
Humans ; Lactoferrin ; Male ; Muramidase ; Osmolar Concentration* ; Polyesters ; Serum Albumin ; Silicones*

We evaluated the effect of mannitol-induced blood-brain-barrier disruption(BBBD) in 20 rats of the routine-dose mannitol group(1.75g/kg), 7 rats of the small-dose mannitol group(0.87g/kg), and 10 rats of the saline control group. Radioactivity ratios of brain section to plama in the routine dose mannitol group revealed a wide variation of 0.0134 to 0.1747 which was compared to the small dose mannitol group of 0.0107-0.0275 in the plasma albumin space and to the saline control group of 0.0051-0.0174. This result suggest that mannitol-induced BBBD may not be threshold event of all-or-none phenopomenon, but progressive graded reaction with various sensitivity.
Animals ; Blood-Brain Barrier* ; Brain ; Mannitol* ; Radioactivity ; Rats ; Serum Albumin

BACKGROUND: Glycemic profile has traditionally been with the use of HbAlc over a 2 to 4 month period. Recently, serum fructosamine is highly sensitive to acute metabolic deterioration(period 2 to 3 weeks), and is suitable for automation, allowing multiple assays with minimal effort. In some report, despite evidence suggesting a reduction in serum albumin level with increasing age, serum fructosamine was strongly correlated with HbAlc in elderly diabetic patients. This study was conducted to define the correlation between fructosamine and other parameters in elderly diabetic patients. METHODS: The study group consisted of 56 elderly patients(age range : 66-85 years, group A) and 58 adult patients(age range: 18-64 years, group B), who were stable over recent 2 months in fasting glucose values and serum albumin levels. Fructosamine was measured in 114 diabetic patients. The measured levels were related to HbAlc and fructosamine/albumin index(FAI). RESULTS: 1) There was significant correlation between HbAlc and fructosamine in all diabetic patients(r=0.705, p=0.0001). The correlation between HbAlc and fructosamine was stronger in group A than in group B [group A: r=0.831, group B: r=0.367, p=0.0001](p<0.05). 2) The correlation between HbAlc and FAI was significantly stronger compared to that between HbAlc and fructosamine in elderly diabetic patients(p<0.05). 3) Glycation ratio provides a vector-like insight into the recent trend of glycemia, and Glycation ratio was stable in all diabetic patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that correlation between HbAlc and fructosamine in elderly daibetic patients was significantly lower in adult diabetic patients. Further studies are needed to determine the ultimate values of this test in the clinical management of elderly patient with diabetes.
Adult ; Aged* ; Automation ; Fasting ; Fructosamine* ; Glucose ; Humans ; Serum Albumin

Human serum albumin(HSA) has been used clinically to treat a number of diseases with high dosage. Extremely pure puoduct is required in large-scale production. Plasma-derived HSA(pHSA) has long been produced by precipitation methods. Among them cold ethanol precipitation is dominant. However, chromatographic purification of HSA has been increasingly studied in the last few years. Application of chromatography, especially ionexchange, affinity, and size-exclusion, has opened a new area in the production of pHSA. A new challenge is the purification of recombinant HSA(rHSA). A successful approach involves STREAMLINE expanded bed adsorption to direct capture the target product from the fermentation broth. This novel process eliminates the need to separate the cells by centrifugation or membrane filtration. Ion exchange chromatography and hydrophobic chromatography play a central role in the purification scheme. Integration with other chromatographic techniques such as size-exclusion, metal chelate, and affinity gives improved purification results. Though innovative, the purification of rHSA still needs further improvement and optimization to increase product purity and process recovery.
Humans ; Recombinant Proteins ; isolation & purification ; Serum Albumin ; isolation & purification