AIMS To assess the efficacy of a bacteriology service in respect of the time interval between collection of specimen and receipt of final report using the number and type of incoming telephone enquiries as a proxy measure. METHODS For three months, all incoming telephone enquiries regarding the results of bacteriology specimens were monitored. Specimen type, date of sampling, the sender's loc...

Immunoassay interferences are diverse in scope (1–8) and are the subject of several recent large-scale studies (9, 10), opinions, and editorials (6, 11). Most interferences originate from components of the sample (e.g., human antianimal antibodies, lipid, bilirubin, drug metabolites) that interact with assay reagents or the detection system. The latest interference to rear its ugly head has bee...

Breath possesses unique advantages as a specimen for clinical chemical analyses, including the continuous equilibrium of gases and volatile substances between expired alveolar air and the pulmonary blood circulation. Substances amenable to analysis in breath include 02, C02, CO,and other gases, volatile organic compounds, and many drugs with sufficiently high vapor pressures at physiological te...

Repeated 24 h blood sampling, which is required for time series analyses of metabolites and/or hormones that show strong fluctuations in blood concentration over time, has a higher failure rate in older adults. We tailored existing venipuncture protocols toward use for 24 h blood sampling (sampling frequency of 10 min) in older adults. The following modifications were made: •Pre-sampling: evide...

BACKGROUND Timely availability of blood sample results for interpretation affects planning and delivery of patient care from initial assessment in Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments. MATERIALS AND METHODS Rates of, and reasons for, rejected blood samples submitted from all clinical areas over one month were evaluated. Haemoglobin (Hb) represented haematology and potassium (K+), biochemi...

OBJECTIVES We compared the performance of commonly used Dacron versus flocked nylon swabs for anal cytology. STUDY DESIGN From 23 HIV-positive men screened at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco (San Francisco, Calif., USA), 2 anal specimens were collected, 1 with each swab in random order, and placed into liquid cytology medium. Specimens were tested for cellularity by quantifying a genomic DNA ...

To evaluate the effect of perinatal factors and sampling methods on thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid hormone levels in cord blood, serum TSH, free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3) concentrations were measured in 124 healthy term neonates. Eighty-eight infants were born in normal vaginal deliveries, 25 were delivered by vacuum extractor and 11 by Cesarean section. The...

Both cellulose acetate electrophoresis and citrate agar electrophoresis were performed on 834 blood samples collected on filter paper in Jamaica and shipped for testing to the National Hemoglobinopathy Standardization Laboratory at the U.S. National Center for Disease Control. Additionally, 30 blood samples collected locally were stored on filter paper, in microhematocrit capillary tubes, and a...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between the habitual Ca intake and faecal fat and energy excretion as well as blood lipid profile in free-living normal-weight and overweight individuals. The participants were enrolled for an 8-d period where data from a 7-d diet registration (days 1-7), a 5-d faeces collection (days 3-7), a 2-d urine collection (days 5-7), and a...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of apheresis procedure on platelet's activation dependent glycoproteins' expression on their surface. METHODS This study was conducted between June 2012 and June 2014, and comprised blood and platelet samples. Two samples were collected i.e. venous blood sample and apheresed platelet sample from the same donor. Platelet cluster of differentiation markers (41, ...