 Other Sections▼ o Reference materials—the starting point for assured qualityImportant conceptsShewhart and Cusum chartsInternal consistencyReferences Clinical laboratory services strive to ensure that the right results are obtained in patients. Decisions on patient management are made on the basis of these results and the maintenance of high‐quality output is essential. Precise and accurate r...

A method was designed to purify tubulin from limited volumes of cultured cells, which can be performed in less than 4 h. The method is based on the preservation of intact microtubule arrays during cell lysis in a large volume of buffer, followed by disassembly of microtubules in a small volume of cold buffer. This allows a good enrichment in tubulin, which is then purified by one cycle of polym...

OBJECTIVES To study the stability of rheumatoid factor (RF) increases and to compare the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in people with transient or persistent increase of one or more RF isotypes. METHODS From an original cohort of nearly 14 000 participants in a population study, 135 previously RF positive persons were recruited in 1996 and evaluated according to the 1987 ACR criteria...

Two classes of 7S gamma-globulins are identified in normal mouse serum and are designated 7S gamma(2)-globulins and 7S gamma(1)-globulins. These two immunoglobulin classes are similar in size. They differ in range of electrophoretic mobility, in specific antigenic determinants, and in genetically determined isoantigens. Four classes of immunoglobulins in mouse serum, i.e. 7S gamma(2)-, 7S gamma...

Allotype and isotype exclusion is a property of most lymphocytes. The reason for this property is not known but it guarantees a high concentration of a single receptor, and threshold numbers of receptors may be required for efficient positive and negative selection. Receptor editing compromises exclusion by sustaining recombination even after a functional receptor is formed. Consequently, B cel...

Schistosomiasis is an important global public health problem, as millions of people are at risk of acquiring this infection. An ideal method for sustainable control of schistosomiasis is using a vaccine alone or in combination with drugs. In the present study, we cloned the SjGALE gene and generated the expression product in E. coli. The expression level of SjGALE during different developmental...

Not much is known about the features that determine the biological stability of a molecule retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Ig light (L) chains that are not secreted in the absence of Ig heavy (H) chain expression bind to the ER chaperone BiP as partially folded molecules until they are degraded. Although all Ig L chains have the same three-dimensional structure when part of an antib...

Murine antibody responses to soluble proteins are generally restricted to the immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) isotype. When mice were infected with Toxoplasma gondii Beverley and concomitantly immunized with a soluble unrelated protein antigen, a modification in the isotypic distribution of antibodies directed against this nonparasite antigen was observed, with a preferential production of IgG2a. Inte...