Epidemiological investigations of maternal and child health may involve the collection of biological specimens, including cord blood and the placenta; however, the attitudes of pregnant women towards participation in the collection of biological specimens have been studied rarely. We evaluated attitudes towards collection and storage of biological specimens, and determined whether attitudes dif...

Objectives Blood collections from peripheral intravenous catheters offer several benefits to patients, including reduced needle punctures and patient discomfort, but they risk reducing the quality of blood specimens analyzed by the laboratory. In an effort to balance analytical quality of test results with patient-centered care initiatives, a needle-less blood collection device called PIVO™ was...

SAD_BaSe is a blood bank data analysis software, created to assist in the management of blood donations and the blood production chain in blood establishments. In particular, the system keeps track of several collection and production indicators, enables the definition of collection and production strategies, and the measurement of quality indicators required by the Quality Management System re...

Improper design or use of blood collection devices can adversely affect the accuracy of laboratory test results. Vascular access devices, such as catheters and needles, exert shear forces during blood flow, which creates a predisposition to cell lysis. Components from blood collection tubes, such as stoppers, lubricants, surfactants, and separator gels, can leach into specimens and/or adsorb an...

BACKGROUND Collection of buccal cells from saliva for DNA extraction offers a less invasive and convenient alternative to venipuncture blood collection that may increase participation in genetic epidemiologic studies. However, dried blood spot collection, which is also a convenient method, offers a means of collecting peripheral blood samples from which analytes in addition to DNA can be obtain...

AIMS Prior to implementing gene expression analyses from blood to a larger cohort study, an evaluation to set up a reliable and reproducible method is mandatory but challenging due to the specific characteristics of the samples as well as their collection methods. In this pilot study we optimized a combination of blood sampling and RNA isolation methods and present reproducible gene expression ...

BACKGROUND Accurate quantification of mRNA in whole blood is made difficult by the simultaneous degradation of gene transcripts and unintended gene induction caused by sample handling or uncontrolled activation of coagulation. This study was designed to compare a new blood collection tube (PAXgene Blood RNA System) and a companion sample preparation reagent set with a traditional sample collect...

BACKGROUND Many epidemiologic studies are using metabolomics to discover markers of carcinogenesis. However, limited data are available on the influence of pre-analytic blood collection factors on metabolite measurement. METHODS We quantified 166 metabolites in archived plasma from 423 Health Professionals Follow-up Study and Nurses' Health Study participants using liquid chromatography-tande...

Objective: The discovery of telomere length (TL) as a biomarker of cellular aging and correlate of age-related disease has generated a new field of research in the biology of healthy aging. Although the most common method of sample collection for TL is venous blood draw, less-invasive DNA collection methods are becoming more widely used. However, how TL relates across tissues derived from these...