Performance evaluation of implantable devices is not new to medical device manufacturers, specifically implant manufacturers. A focus on corrosion resistance of implant devices has prompted members of the medical device industry, along with the United States Food and Drug Administration [USFDA] to set forth a guide for performance testing. Although actual corrosion resistance of a material can ...

We consider the optimal strategy for laboratory testing of biological samples when we wish to know the results for each sample rather than the average prevalence of positive samples. If the proportion of positive samples is low considerable resources may be devoted to testing samples most of which are negative. An attractive strategy is to pool samples. If the pooled samples test positive one m...

The 45-year history of information retrieval evaluation includes a range of experiments which might be categorised in the light of the tradition division between in vitro and in vivo experiments in biology. In this talk, I will explore some of the characteristics of laboratory or in vitro experiments, and contrast them with operational system or in vivo experiments. The present state of the fie...

Laboratories offering a quality service for the microbiological examination of food must implement a quality assurance system. An effective system should, in addition to daily quality control of procedures, consumables, and equipment, include external laboratory accreditation to a recognised standard, the use of validated test methods, and participation in an external quality assessment (profic...

INTRODUCTION Family medicine and internal medicine physicians order diagnostic laboratory tests for nearly one-third of patient encounters in an average week, yet among medical errors in primary care, an estimated 15% to 54% are attributed to laboratory testing processes. From a practice improvement perspective, we (1) describe the need for laboratory testing process quality improvements from t...