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An unlinked anonymous HIV antibody study of neonates, using surplus dried blood spots on Guthrie cards, was introduced as a means of estimating the prevalence of HIV infection in childbearing women. From March 1990 to February 1992, blood spots from 14,520 infants were tested for anti-HIV, using an HIV IgG antibody capture particle-adherence test; only one sample gave a confirmed positive reaction. This type of study involves no interference in routine care and can be operated without difficulty in a district general hospital setting where neonatal metabolic screening is performed.

Large numbers of hereditary albumin variants have been described in human sera but very few have been studied in detail [1,2]. The exact nature of the changes in primary structure has been elucidated in only four different variants: albumin B (‘Oliphant’, ‘Ann Arbor’) [3], the proalbumins Christchurch [4-61 and Lille [7] and albumin Mexico-2 [15]. One reason for the lack of study is the difficulty in isolating the variant albumin in quantities sufficient for biochemical analysis. Differential elution from DEAE-Sephadex, preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and cellulose acetate electrophoresis have in some cases been successful [4-71. Chromatofocusing is a column chromatography technique which separates proteins according to their p1 [8,9] and avoids undue sample dilution. We have applied the technique to the separation of three variant albumins and found it provides a convenient means of separating and purifying albumin ‘Kashmir’, as reported elsewhere [lo], and the new variant albumin ‘Jaffna’ [ll], but fails to separate a third albumin ‘LH’.

Summary o 1. Disc electrophoresis in 7% acrylamide has been carried out under conditions close to those of Ornstein and Davis (1964) . Some of the variables have been examined. 2. The results are given in terms of the authors' 0–100-mm notation. Patternsso described are convenient for interlaboratory reference and are in digital form suitable for computer use. 3. Normal patterns throughout life and those typical of various diseases havebeen obtained from 350 sera and provide a set of reference patterns for clinical use. 4. The place of the method in clinical medicine is discussed. Some fields of potential usefulness at present seem to be in Hp and Gc typing, classification of sarcoidosis and multiple myeloma, following the effect of treatment in myelomatosis and hepatitis, and finding the primary site in metastasizing carcinoma.

Bisalbuminaemia in two members of a Kashmiri family is reported. This, the first Asian variant, is described in terms of its electrophoretic mobilities and dye-binding properties.

A case of bisalbuminaemia has been found in Luarca, Asturias. At least two relatives also bear the trait. The variant albumin Luarca (Al Lu, gene notation Al(Lu)), the first to be found on the mainland of Spain, is described in terms of its electrophoretic mobilities and dye-binding properties. It is heat-stable but sensitive to storage, freezing, and thawing and it is the first albumin to show this property.

As our knowledge of human albumin variants increases, their description as electrophoretically “slow”, “faster” and so on is becoming inadequate for classification. The largest comparative series1 found five different migration rates in sera from nineteen families. Electrophoretic mobility is not the only criterion, and an earlier classification2 used eight, variations of mobility in different electro-phoretic media and dye-binding properties among them. Such observations will not establish the identity of two albumins but may prove their non-identity.