When rat kidney cortex slices were incubated with glycine or [1-14C]glycine, after correcting for metabolite changes with control slices, product formation and glycine utilization fitted the requirements of the equation: 2 Glycine leads to ammonia + CO2 + serine. Evidence is presented that degradation via glyoxylate, by oxidation or transamination, is unlikely to have any significant role in kidney glycine catabolism. It is concluded that glycine metabolism in rat kidney is largely via glycine cleavage closely coupled with serine formation. 1-C decarboxylation and urea formation with glycine in rat hepatocyte suspensions were somewhat greater than decarboxylation or ammonia formation in kidney slices, showing that in the rat, potentially, the liver is quantitatively the more important organ in glycine catabolism. There was no evidence of ammonia formation from glycine with rat brain cortex, heart, spleen or diaphragm and 1-C decarboxylation was very weak.

In a study on a group of 186 newborn babies presenting with jaundice, erythrocyte glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency was detected in 95 (51%) of the patients. The incidence of severe hyperbilirubinaemia appeared to be much greater in G6PD-deficient infants (46%) than in infants who did not have the red cell defect (15%). No change was found in this association when ABO incompatibility was excluded. Phototherapy did not reduce the need for exchange transfusion, which was necessary in 27 babies. Eight babies developed kernicterus and one died. Early detection of G6PD deficiency and close surveillance of the affected newborns may be important in reducing the risk of severe neonatal jaundice and kernicterus associated with G6PD deficiency in Basrah.

Specie-^ of the truHlc lungi Terfezid uiicl Tirnuiiiid arc uidosprcnd in the south of Irnq in ;is.soci:ition witli roots of Hcliantlu'iniiin spp., the domitTant phmts of tlie area. The trufHe tnyeelia and aseocarps reduced tiitrate at tnuch higher rates than did llclidntlieiniiin root:let:s, sug^estirtg that absorption of nitrate is pavticnlarly enlianced by tlie funfjal symbiont.Measuretiietits of the specific aeti\ ity of tepresetitative enzymes of the ornithitie cycle itidicated that this c\ cle was operative in aseoearp tissue and led to the accevitnulation of urea. It is suf,'Kested that this may scr\e an ostnotic function, assistitif.; spore libcratioti.

The study involved 143 individuals and aimed to correlate normal glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase [G6PD]level with haematological parameters. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between G6PD level and haemoglobin, packed cell volume, red blood cell count, mean corpuscular haemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between G6PD level and white blood cell count and reticulocyte count, but no significant correlation was found between G6PD level and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration. The negative correlation between G6PD level and haemoglobin suggests that anaemic people have higher G6PD levels than normal individuals. The positive correlation between G6PD level and white blood cell count indicates that white blood cells may play an important role in contributing to G6PD level

The mean activities (95% confidence interval; number of patients) for erythrocyte glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), hexokinase (HK), and pyruvate kinase (PK) in haemolysate of clinically normal neonates from Basrah, Iraq were found to be 3.29 (0.10; n = 456), 0.61 (0.02; n = 219), and 5.10 (0.07; n = 500), respectively, all expressed as U/10(10) RBC at 37 degrees C. Comparative values for apparently healthy adults were: 2.14 (0.06; n = 186), 0.41 (0.02; n = 46), and 3.61 (0.07; n = 243). Differences between sexes in the mean activities of each of the three enzymes were not significant (p > 0.5), being several times less than the corresponding 95% confidence intervals. However, differences were highly significant between neonates and adults (p < 0.001), presumably reflecting the greater proportion of 'young' cells and/or their programming for higher activity in cord blood. The neonate-adult difference (95% confidence interval) for each enzyme was: G6PD, 1.15 (0.43); HK, 0.20 (0.14); and PK, 1.49 (0.64). Some degree of G6PD-deficiency was observed in 7.9% of male and 9.7% of female neonates, whereas the frequency in adults was 9.2% and 11.8% for males and females, respectively. The higher frequency in females accords with expectations based on gene frequency estimations.