No abstract available.
Glycoproteins* ; Oligodendroglia* ; Rubella virus* ; Rubella*

No abstract available.
Stroke ; Subclavian Artery

CYP2D6 is primarily responsible for the metabolism of clomiphene citrate (CC). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between CYP2D6 genotypes, concentrations of CC and its major metabolites and drug response in infertility patients. We studied 42 patients with ovulatory dysfunction treated with only CC. Patients received a dose of 100 mg/day CC on days 3-7 of the menstrual cycle. CYP2D6 genotyping and measurement of CC and the major metabolite concentrations were performed. Patients were categorized into CC responders or non-responders according to one cycle response for the ovulation. Thirty-two patients were CC responders and 10 patients were non-responders with 1 cycle treatment. The CC concentrations were highly variable within the same group, but non-responders revealed significantly lower (E)-clomiphene concentration and a trend of decreased concentrations of active metabolites compared to the responders. Nine patients with intermediate metabolizer phenotype were all responders. We confirmed that the CC and the metabolite concentrations were different according to the ovulation status. However, our results do not provide evidence for the contribution of CYP2D6 polymorphism to either drug response or CC concentrations.
Adult ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Clomiphene/blood/metabolism/*therapeutic use ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2D6/*genetics ; Estrogen Antagonists/analysis/metabolism/therapeutic use ; Female ; Genotype ; Humans ; Infertility/*drug therapy/genetics ; Ovulation Induction ; Phenotype ; *Polymorphism, Genetic ; Republic of Korea ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

No abstract available.
Drug Monitoring ; Sirolimus ; Tacrolimus

BACKGROUND: National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) is the guideline for detection evaluation, and treatment of high blood cholesterol in adults. The risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) is assessed by the presence of CHD risk equivalents and the number of risk factors. LDL-cholesterol is the goal of treatment for hyperlipidemia. Contents: The most common approach for determining LDL-cholesterol level in clinical laboratory is to calculate it based on Friedewald formula. For accurate risk assessment by the calculated LDL-cholesterol, good analytical performances of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride are prerequisite. Even if the analytical performance of these three analytes are within the acceptable criteria, pooled imprecision and bias of the calculated LDL-cholesterol could not meet the criteria for LDL-cholesterol. Even under conditions satisfying the requirements of Friedewald formula, the calculated LDL-cholesterol level was lower than the directly measured level and the difference was dependent on the level of triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol. When evaluatingpatients with hyperlipidemia, Friedewald calculation may underestimate the risk for coronary heart disease which may lead to inappropriate treatment option. CONCLUSIONS: When evaluating patients with hyperlipidemia, direct measurement of LDL-cholesterol appears to be better than Friedewald calculation.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Adult ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Cholesterol ; Coronary Disease ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias ; Lipoproteins ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors

BACKGROUND: Optimal operational efficiency requires specific technical solutions such as open, flexible, and adaptable space, suitable equipment requirements, and laboratory instrumentation that combine excellent analytical performance with a capacity for testing large panels in a high throughput manner, under rapid turnaround times. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the analytical performance of the novel Roche-Hitachi cobas 8000 c702 Chemistry Autoanalyzer. METHODS: Precision, linearity, carry over, detection limits, and comparison studies were performed with 31 routine clinical chemistry tests according to the CLSI guidelines. Commercial quality chemistry control material (Lyphochek, Bio-Rad, USA) and patient sera were used as the test specimens. Unicel DxC instrument (Beckman Coulter, USA) was used as a control analyzer to evaluate the correlation. RESULTS: The total coefficients of variations (CVs) of almost all the analytes were between 0.4 and 4.1%, except for CO2 and ammonia. Excellent linearities were observed in the performance ranges used (r>0.99, slope, 0.961-1.048). Correlations with analogous tests ran on the Unicel DxC instrument were good, correlation coefficients ranging between 0.921 and 1.000. The carryover ranged from -0.216 to 0.481%. CONCLUSIONS: The Roche-Hitachi cobas 8000 c702 Chemistry Autoanalyzer showed satisfactory precision, linearity, carry over, detection limits, and high throughput capacity. The instrument performance correlated well with the Unicel DxC analyzer. We conclude that the balance of elevated throughput and optimal analytical performance should make Roche-Hitachi cobas c702 Chemistry Autoanalyzer suitable for very large clinical laboratories.
Ammonia ; Chemistry* ; Clinical Chemistry Tests ; Humans ; Limit of Detection

In this study, we evaluated the performance of a recently developed immunoassay analyser, the VISTA 500 (Siemens, Germany). Precision, linearity, and comparison studies were performed according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. The test items evaluated included IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, C4, ceruloplasmin, prealbumin, transferrin, haptoglobin, rheumatoid factor, anti-streptolysin O, and cystatin C. Commercial control materials (BioRad Laboratories, USA), commercial linearity validation materials (Maine Standards, USA), and patient samples were used for the evaluation. For the correlation study, analysis with a BN-II nephelometer (Siemens) was used as a comparative method. Total coefficients of variation of analytes were found to be between 1.9% and 5.5%. Results of the linearity evaluation were also acceptable for the range tested. Correlations with comparative methods were acceptable. The VISTA 500 analyser showed satisfactory analytical performance with respect to precision, linearity, and comparison. We conclude that the VISTA 500 is likely a good candidate as an immunology analyser.
Allergy and Immunology ; Ceruloplasmin ; Cystatin C ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Haptoglobins ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Prealbumin ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Statistics as Topic ; Transferrin

No abstract available.
*Algorithms ; Automation ; Clinical Laboratory Information Systems/*standards ; Humans ; Immunoassay/*methods ; Indicator Dilution Techniques ; alpha-Fetoproteins/*analysis

Point-of-care (POC) testing is desirable because of both the ease with which it can be administered and its short turnaround time. However, because standard POC devices cannot transmit test results automatically to a laboratory information system (LIS), each result must be recorded by hand. This inconvenience not only increases the possibility of clerical errors, but also limits the proper use of test results. If POC test results are not saved in the LIS, it is hard to either monitor patients' health trends or to quality control (QC) the test results. In this paper, we describe how we have solved these problems by connecting 250 POC blood glucose test devices to the LIS via a local area network (LAN). After connecting the POC devices (we used the Accu-Chek Inform II; Roche Diagnostics, Germany) to a manufacturer-provided POC data management system (Roche's Cobas IT 1000; Roche Diagnostics), we developed our own interface program for delivering data from the Cobas IT 1000 system to the LIS. By installing a program to scan the identification barcode worn by patients on their wrists, network-connected POC devices enable users to omit extra ordering, receiving, and recording processes, and they also reduce the possibility of patient misidentification. Such a system also provides an effective way for physicians to follow both the current and accumulated test results of patients. We note that performing QC on glucometers and the sending of data via LAN to the LIS are necessary steps to monitor both patients' results and the QC of those results.
Blood Glucose* ; Clinical Laboratory Information Systems ; Glucose ; Hand ; Humans ; Local Area Networks ; Point-of-Care Systems ; Quality Control ; Wrist