The process of plate streaking has been automated to improve the culture readings, isolation quality, and workflow of microbiology laboratories. However, instruments have not been well evaluated under routine conditions. We aimed to evaluate the performance of the fully automated InoqulA instrument (BD Kiestra B.V., The Netherlands) in the automated seeding of liquid specimens and samples colle...

Self-report plays a key role in the identification of developmental prosopagnosia (DP), providing complementary evidence to computer-based tests of face recognition ability, aiding interpretation of scores. However, the lack of standardized self-report instruments has contributed to heterogeneous reporting standards for self-report evidence in DP research. The lack of standardization prevents c...

BACKGROUND The PHQ-15 is widely used as an open access screening instrument for somatization syndromes in different health care settings, thus far, normative data from the general population are not available. The objectives of the study were to generate normative data and to further investigate the construct validity of the PHQ-15 in the general population. METHODS Nationally representative ...

In this paper I tested whether Contradictory Matrix with 40 Inventive Principles, the simplest instrument from the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), is a useful approach to a real-life PCR scenario. The PCR challenge consisted of standardization of fluorescence melting curve measurements in Competitive Amplification of Differentially Melting Amplicons (CADMA) PCR for multiple targets....

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. with survival dramatically depending on stage at diagnosis. We had earlier reported that nanocytology of buccal cells can accurately risk-stratify smokers for the presence of early and late-stage lung cancer. To translate the technique into clinical practice, standardization of operating procedures is necessary to consistently yield ...

Many details of the liquid scintillation method for the determination of waterborne Rn have underappreciated effects on the measurement. This paper quantifies effects arising from the type of cocktail, vial, standardization procedure, temperature control, and instrument parameters chosen in the procedure. Comments are made on sampling procedures. Details are provided that allow an optimization ...

The number of outcome instruments available for use in orthopaedic observational studies has increased dramatically in recent years. Properly developed and tested outcome instruments provide a very useful tool for orthopaedic research. Criteria have been proposed to assess the measurement properties and quality of health-status instruments. Unfortunately, not all instruments are developed with ...

Evidence for the reliability and validity of two models of Ambulatory Monitoring, Inc. actigraphs was obtained by testing four instruments of each kind 10 times each on a precision pendulum. Correlation and coefficient of variation methods were used to analyze the data. Reliability coefficients of .98 were obtained for both models. Coefficient of variation methods yielded reliability coefficien...

A semiautomated single channel aperture-impedance particle counter was developed as a prototype for a reference platelet count for assigning values to reference preparations used in automated blood cell counts. The instrument is equipped with sheath flow and an aperture orifice of 50 microns in diameter and 60 microns in length to eliminate non-axial flow and minimise coincidence errors. Use of...

VARIATION IN HOW INFORMED CONSENT comprehension tests have been developed may be largely due to the absence of a standardized construct definition. Developing a construct definition would provide a standardized framework for determining how an instrument should be constructed, implemented, interpreted, and applied. Therefore, we utilized the Delphi consensus approach with an international exper...