Marianne Rye Hansen

Human epidermal growth factor-on molecular forms present in urine and blood.

A sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for quantitation of human epidermal growth factor (EGF) was employed to study EGF in urine and blood. The EGF/creatinine ratio in urine was significantly higher for women (range and (median); 0.20-0.83 (0.50) nmol EGF/mmol creatinine) than for men (0.17-0.63 (0.30) nmol EGF/mmol creatinine). We were not able to demonstrate EGF in plasma (median plasma EGF < 0.01 nmol/l) whereas serum contained a range and (median) of 0.02-0.31 (0.12) nmol EGF/l. The amount of EGF in serum showed a weak correlation to the platelet count (r = 0.327). EGF was partly purified by affinity chromatography from urine (urine EGF) and from activated platelets in platelet rich plasma (blood EGF). Both blood and urine contained a high molecular weight form of EGF (HMW EGF) as well as 6 kDa EGF. HMW EGF from blood was similar to HMW EGF from urine concerning behaviour upon gel filtration, pI and apparent affinity constant for binding to the EGF receptor. However, HMW EGF constituted approx. 40% of blood EGF but only 10% of urinary EGF. The 6 kDa EGF from both blood and urine contained two isopeptides with pI around 4.40 and 4.15 but in various proportions. The apparent affinity constant for binding to the EGF receptor for blood 6 kDa EGF was 1.8 x 10(10) l/mol compared to 1.0 x 10(10) l/mol for urinary 6 kDa EGF and 0.8 x 10(10) l/mol for HMW EGF from both blood and urine. The present study suggests that the processing of the EGF precursor differs in the blood and in the kidneys and that 6 kDa EGF from blood and urine binds to the EGF receptor with a higher apparent affinity constant than does HMW EGF.

An assessment of dose accuracy and injection force of a novel prefilled insulin pen: comparison with a widely used prefilled insulin pen

Objective: FlexTouch (FT) (Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsværd, Denmark) is a new prefilled insulin pen with a novel injection mechanism encompassing no push-button extension at any dose-setting. This study assessed the dose accuracy and injection force of FT compared with the established Next Generation FlexPen (NGFP) (Novo Nordisk A/S Bagsværd, Denmark). Research design and methods: Dose accuracy was measured at the minimum, medium and maximum doses (FT, 1, 40 and 80 international units (IU) and NGFP, 1, 30 and 60 IU). Injection force was measured during the injection of the maximum dose (FT, 80 IU; NGFP, 60 IU). Main outcomes: FT and NGFP delivered insulin accurately and consistently at all doses (mean ± s.d., FT at 1 IU, 0.98 ± 0.07; 40 IU, 39.86 ± 0.33; 80 IU, 79.76 ± 0.64; NGFP at 1 IU, 1.02 ± 0.08; 30 IU, 29.69 ± 0.30; 60 IU, 59.50 ± 0.51). FT had a significantly (p < 0.0001) lower injection force than NGFP. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that FT and NGFP deliver insulin accurately and consistently at low, medium and high doses. The novel torque spring injection mechanism of FT results in a significantly lower injection force than NGFP and a pen requiring less thumb-pressure to inject insulin may be welcomed by many people with diabetes.

FlexTouch: A Prefilled Insulin Pen with a Novel Injection Mechanism with Consistent High Accuracy at Low- (1 U), Medium- (40 U), and High- (80 U) Dose Settings

Background: FlexTouch® is the only prefilled insulin pen that utilizes an easy touch button that does not extend at any dose in place of a push-button extension. Rigorous testing has shown that the new FlexTouch pen accurately and consistently delivers insulin doses. Methods: This study assessed dose accuracy of FlexTouch, KwikPen®, and SoloSTAR®. Dose accuracy for minimum, medium, and maximum doses of each pen type (1, 40, and 80 U for FlexTouch and SoloSTAR and 1, 30, and 60 U for KwikPen) was assessed. Results: FlexTouch delivered all doses consistently, as demonstrated by low standard deviations. FlexTouch showed similar accuracy to KwikPen at 1 U and to SoloSTAR at 40 and 80 U. However, FlexTouch was significantly more accurate at delivering 1 U of insulin than SoloSTAR (p < .0001). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that FlexTouch, a new prefilled pen, delivers insulin accurately and consistently at low, medium, and high doses. In addition, FlexTouch is currently the only prefilled pen that has a push button that does not extend at any dose, making FlexTouch easier to use than other pens.

Primary structure of human intrinsic factor: progress report on cyanogen bromide fragmentation

Human intrinsic factor purified by labile ligand affinity chromatography was cleaved with cyanogen bromide and fractionated by gel filtration. Four of the fragments were purified and sequenced to a total of eighty-four amino acid residues. Including the N-terminal amino acids this amounts to one third of the total amino acid sequence of human intrinsic factor. One of the fragments contained a tyrosine labelled only on iodination of intrinsic factor devoid of cobalamin.