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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Trace Analysis Of Organic Substances, Alan Giltinan Jan 2003

Trace Analysis Of Organic Substances, Alan Giltinan

Theses

One of the major challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry is the control of the amount of trace contaminants during the manufacture of organic substances. Lowering the level of contamination improves the quality of the product and reduces possible side effects.

One of the main techniques used to detect trace contaminants is UV-VIS spectroscopy, where the unique absorption fingerprint of a chemical reveals its presence. UV-VIS absorption is based upon the Beer-Lambert Law. The critical point to note about this law is that the absorption is exponentially dependent on both the concentration of the absorber and the pathlength traversed by the …


Development Of An Automated Thiopurine Methyltransferase (Tpmt) Genotyping Assay, Mary Corcoran Jan 2003

Development Of An Automated Thiopurine Methyltransferase (Tpmt) Genotyping Assay, Mary Corcoran

Theses

Thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyses the S- methylation of aromatic and sulphydryl compounds known as the thiopurines. These therapeutic agents are used in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, autoimmune disorders, inflammatory bowel disease and organ transplant recipients.

Erythrocyte TPMT activity is polymorphic and patients with intermediate or deficient TPMT are at significant risk for excessive toxicity after receiving ‘standard’ doses of thiopurine medications. The activity of TPMT is inherited as an autosomal co-dominant trait. Several mutations in the TPMT gene have been described that correlate with a low activity phenotype. Three mutations G238C, G460A and …