The use of urinary estrogen assay in pregnancy as a measure of fetal well-being is now widespread. Estriol is considered by many workers to be the compound of greatest importance, since both fetus and placenta appear to share in its production (1). Pregnanediol excretion, used as an index by some workers, is reputed to be produced by the placenta alone and can be normal when fetal malfunction w...

To assess the impact of preventive measures by the food industry, we analyzed food monitoring data as well as trends in the incidence of listeriosis estimated through three independent sources: the National Reference Center of Listeriosis; a laboratory-based active surveillance network; and two consecutive nationwide surveys of public hospital laboratories. From 1987 to 1997, the incidence of l...

A comparison was made of the performance of a newly established anaerobic section of a clinical laboratory and the routine diagnostic section in terms of isolation and identification of anaerobic bacteria. Both sections attempted to isolate obligate anaerobes from the same clinical specimens which were not transported in anaerobic containers. Anaerobic and diagnostic sections isolated anaerobes...

OBJECTIVES Evaluate data available from a national voluntary reporting system and describe the data processing necessary to enable the development and application of outbreak detection methods in healthcare settings. METHODS Evaluation was performed on an extract of data reported between March 2007 and May 2012. Reporting delays were calculated and analysed at the trust, regional and national...

THIS is the second annual report of the Mycological Diagnostic Service and covers the work done during 1960. After September, 1960, the laboratory was incorporated into the Queen's University Department of Microbiology without any change in the scope or function of the diagnostic service. The laboratory continued to offer to general practitioners, hospital laboratories, and clinics a routine se...

THE DISTRIBUTION of blood biochemical variables can be investigated in several ways. Healthy volunteers have been used to provide ideal or 'normal' values. Data obtained from hospital laboratories have been analysed statistically to provide 'normal' ranges which are assumed to be more representative of the community (Pryce, 1960, 1964). Finally, a representative sample of the community, prefera...

‘]THE QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION of total proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has great clinical importance (1). Methods currently employed are not completely satisfactory, as is indicated by the frequent reports of modifications. Existing methods vary greatly both in accuracy and in complexity, with micro-Kjeldhal technics giving the most accurate results and being generally accepted as “ult...

In the last decade, 149 new ethical drug entities have been placed in the hands of the American medical community (1). In each case the two critical determinants to the success or failure of each new compound as a viable product were safety and efficacy. Such data ultimately can only come from trials in patients. However, this must always be preceded by evaluations of safety in animals. It is t...