Accelerator Mass Spectrometry is a mass spectrometric method of detecting long-lived radioisotopes without regard to their decay products or half-life. The technique is normally applied to geochronology, but is also available for bioanalytical tracing. AMS detects isotope concentrations to parts per quadrillion, quantifying labeled biochemicals to attomole levels in milligram-sized samples. Its...

MiRNAs are emerging as promising biomarkers in cardiovascular diseases and may constitute a novel mechanism of intercellular communication. Accurate quantification of circulating miRNAs is essential. A variety of technological approaches and platforms have been developed with increased sensitivity and specificity for the detection and quantification of circulating miRNAs. In this review, we foc...

The purpose of this NIST-FDA workshop was to seek input on defining reference materials, reference data and reference methods for assessing analytical sensitivity, specificity, and relative performance of NGS-based pathogen detection devices/assays. These reference materials will be critical in addressing the challenges associated with mixed pathogen detection in complex samples (i.e. clinical,...

If real-time PCR is to be of much worth to its user, some idea regarding the reliability of its data is essential. We discuss here some of the problems associated with interpreting numerical real-time PCR data that lend themselves to analytical evaluation. We translate into the language of molecular biology some of the criteria which are used to evaluate the performance of any new method (linea...

The subunit of the Vicia graminea lectin with blood-group-N specificity was examined by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and gel filtration in 6M-guanidinium chloride, and its molecular weights was found to be 25 000. The unique N-terminal sequence fof the first nine residues of the lectin confirmed that Vicia lectin consists of four identical chains non-covalently lin...

We describe a sensitive, simple method for measuring homovanillic acid in human plasma. The method is based on liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Sensitivity was 125 pg of homovanillic acid per injection. Samples were deproteinized and extracted with organic solvent before chromatography. Quantification was by the standard-additions technique. Analytical recovery of added HVA...

The National Kidney Disease Education Program group demonstrated that MDRD equation is sensitive to creatinine measurement error, particularly at higher glomerular filtration rates. Thus, MDRD-based eGFR above 60 mL/min/1.73 m² should not be reported numerically. However, little is known about the impact of analytical error on CKD-EPI-based estimates. This study aimed at assessing the impact of...

A method is described for the determination of bromides in biological samples using neutron activation analysis. The specificity of this method eliminates sources of interference from other halogens and contamination of analytical agents with extraneous bromide. In duplicate samples of blood, at varying concentrations of potassium bromide, the mean difference was 4.5% ±1.95 and the mean of the ...