Background: Using commutable external quality assessment (EQA) materials is important for monitoring successful harmonization efforts. We assessed the commutability of four human serum pool (HSP) preparations to identify candidate EQA materials for alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity measurement. Methods: One set each of 85 clinical samples (CSs) was collected for ALT and AST activity measurement. The 15 candidate EQA materials included four types of HSP preparations (A to D): materials A, C, and D contained human original recombinant (HOR) aminotransferases; materials B was mixed leftover samples. The CSs and 15 candidate EQA materials were analyzed using seven routine assays, and the ln-transformed results were analyzed in 21 assay pairs. Commutability was assessed using Deming regression, with a 95% prediction interval (CLSI approach) and the difference in bias with an error component model (International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine [IFCC] approach). Results: For ALT, all materials were commutable for 14–21 assay pairs according to the CLSI and IFCC approaches. For AST, B01-03 showed commutability for 14-21 assay pairs, and C01-03 and D01-03 showed commutability for no less than 10 assay pairs according to the two approaches. A01-06 were commutable for 9-16 assay pairs according to the CLSI approach, but for 6-9 assay pairs according to the IFCC approach. Conclusions Mixed leftover samples showed desirable commutability characteristics as candidate EQA materials for routine aminotransferase activity measurements. Human serum bases supplemented with HOR were commutable for most routine ALT activity measurements.

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the commutability of 16 processed materials for 17-hydroxyprogesterone by using 2 commutability assessment approaches. Methods: 52 serum specimens were collected in Clinical Laboratory Department of Beijing Hospital from February 2018 to June 2019. According to the report of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (EP14-A3) document and the recommendations of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) working group on commutabilityassessment, serum 17-hydroxyprogesterone isotope diluent chromatogram tandem mass spectrometry (ID-LC/MS/MS) was used for comparison. Three clinical routine analysis systems (1 radioimmunoassay, 2 LC/MS analysis methods) were used to determine the concentration of 17-hydroxyprogesterone in 52 human serum samples and 16 processed materialsfor commutabilityassessment. Results: Combined with the results of the two commutability assessment, all accuracy verification materials and national steroid hormone standards showed good commutability in the LC/MS analysis system, and 6/9 EQA materials showed commutability in the three routine analysis systems.All materials showed good commutability in the LC/MS analysis system of bias difference method. Conclusions The two kinds of commutability assessment results are different. Bias difference method has more clinical value, but it has certain application limitations. The use of fresh frozen human serum as a quality assessment materialfor serum 17-hydroxyprogesterone is meets the commutability requirement.

Aldosterone and renin are important clinical indicators in the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension. There are two kinds of methods for aldosterone detection, including immunoassay and mass spectrometry. The coefficients of variation within the methods, as well as the deviation between methods are large.And the results of immunoassay are much higher than that of mass spectrometry. Clinically, renin tests mainly include renin concentration and renin activity, both of which have advantages and disadvantages in the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension. The disordered test results of aldosterone and renin brings great trouble to the clinical diagnosis and treatment. Standardization/consistency is urgently needed to make the test results of each laboratory more accurate and comparable. The standardization project for renin and aldosterone in China will greatly promote the standardization process in order to provide accurate and comparable clinical tests.

Objective To evaluate the comparability and consistency of two kinds of triglycerides reference methods, one of which is the isotope dilution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) in the Cholesterol Reference Method Laboratory Network (CRMLN), the other isthehigh-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for triglyceride detection in China. Methods 52 fresh frozen sera with triglycerides levels among 0.45-4.52 mmol/L were determined by LC/MS and HPLC. After evaluation the precision and accuracy of the two methods,a series of analyses were conducted including plotting to scatter plots and deviation graphs, testing outliers, selecting the best fitting regression models and calculating the regression equations and parameters, and so on. The expected deviation at the level of medical decision of triglycerides and the 95％confidence range were statistically analyzed.Results For HPLC method, the CV of instrument measurement was 0.29％(0％-1.16％), the total CV of samples measurement was 0.54％(0.04％-1.28％), and the average bias of the reference materials was 0.22％(-0.43％-0.68％). ForLC/MSmethod,the CV of instrument measurement was 0.55％(0％-1.68％),the total CV of samples measurement was 0.79％(0％-1.93％), and the average bias of the NIST reference materials was 0.09％(-0.73％-1.29％). No outlier was found from the scatter plots and the statistical analysis and the linear regression was fitted to analyze the results of the two methods. The linear regression parameters of two methods for 52 fresh frozen human sera were as follows:the slope was 0.9988,the standard error of slope was 0.0035, the intercept was 0.0037mmol/L, the standard error of intercept was 0.0030 mmol/L, the standard error of Y-estimate was 0.0236 mmol/L,and the correlation coefficient was 0.9997. Compared with the LC/MS method,the absolute deviation of fresh sera by HPLC method was-0.001 mmol/L (-0.070-0.056 mmol/L), with a relative deviation of 0.13％ (-2.01-2.83％). T-test showed no statistically significant difference between the two methods. The expected deviations at the triglycerides medicine decision level were within the 95％confidence range,and the expected deviations were far less than the allowable error. Conclusions The HPLC method of triglyceridesdetetion has good consistency and comparability with LC/MS method as one of the reference methods of CRMLN. Because of the advantages of HPLC method such as low cost, simplicity,less technical need,and better precision,HPLC method is expected to play an important role in the process of standardization and traceability of serum triglycerides.

Objective To evaluate the commutability of 22 processed materials for serum alanine aminotransferase measurements which were performed in 11 routine assays without and 2 assays with pyridoxal-5′-phosphate.Methods 100 serum specimens were collected in Beijing Hospital,Zhao Yang Hospital and Tong Ren Hospital from May,2017 to August,2017.50 individual specimens together with fresh frozen human serum pools(HSPs), external quality assessment(EQA)materials, commercial calibrators and controls were measured by 11 routine assays without pyridoxal-5′-phosphate.Measurement results of the 50 individual samples were pairwise analyzed by Deming regression for slopes and intercepts, and 95%prediction interval(PI)were calculated to evaluate the commutability of processed materials.Another 50 individual specimens and 22 above-mentioned materials were analyzed by 2 assays with pyridoxal-5′-phosphate as the evaluated methods and internationally recognized reference method as the comparative method.The ordinary linear regression(OLR)and 95% PI were used to identify the commutability of 22 materials.Results The Deming slopes ranged from 0.879 to 1.064 and intercepts from -1.96 to 3.30;the OLR slopes were 0.905 and 0.955 while intercepts were -6.71 and 9.53.The HSPs were commutable for 51/57 and 56/57 assay pairs.The EQA materials, commercial calibrators and controls showed noncommutability from 8/57 to 47/57,38/57 and pairs after that, and from 13/57 to 43/57 assay pairs, respectively.Conclusion The lyophilized materials including EQA materials, commercial calibrators and controls demonstrated poor commutability in different degrees.

Objective To evaluate the consistency and comparability of two kinds of cholesterol reference methods listed in the Joint Committee for Traceability in Laboratory Medicine(JCTLM).Methods 52 fresh frozen sera with cholesterol concentrations among 3 -10 mmol/L were tested by isotope dilution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (ID-LC/MS/MS)and high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC).The precision and accuracy of the two methods were calculated,and then a series of analysis were conducted including plotting scatter plots and deviation graphs,testing outliers,selecting the best fitting regression models and calculating the regression equations and parameters,and so on.The results of the two methods were statistically analyzed to estimate the expected deviation at the level of medical decision of cholesterol and the 95% confidence range.Results For HPLC method,the CV of instrument measurement was 0.22%(0 -0.49%),the total CV of samples measurement was 0.36%(0.02% -0.83%),and the average bias of the reference materials was 0.37%(-1.31%-0.14%).For ID-LC/MS/MS method,the CV of instrument measurement was 0.50%(0 -1.51%),the total CV of samples measurement was 0.55%(0.03%-1.17%),and the average bias of the reference materials was 0.24%(-0.53%-0.14%).No outliers were found from the scatter plots and the statistical analysis and the linear regression were fitted to analyze the results of the two methods.The linear regression parameters of two methods for 52 fresh frozen human sera were as follows:the slope was 0.989 5,the standard error of slope was 0.003 4,the intercept was 0.063 4 mmol/L,the standard error of intercept was 0.019 9 mmol/L,the standard error of Y-estimate was 0.034 8 mmol/L,and the correlation coefficient was 0.999 7.Compared with the ID-LC/MS/MS method,the absolute deviation of fresh sera by HPLC method was 0.000 mmol/L (-0.083-0.076 mmol/L),with a relative deviation of 0.07%(-1.22-1.24%).T-test results showed no statistically significant difference between the two methods.The expected deviations at the cholesterol medicine decision level were within the range 95% confidence range,and the expected deviations were far less than the allowable error.Conclusions The HPLC method of cholesterol has good consistency and comparability with ID/MS method using the primary measurement principle.Because of more advantages of HPLC method such as less cost,more simple,requirement,and better precision,HPLC method is expected to play an important role in the process of standardization and traceability of serum cholesterol.

The pediatric reference intervals in clinical laboratory play an important role in diagnosis of illness,therapeutic monitoring,prediction of prognosis and health evaluation.Compared with establishing reference interval for adults,there are more challenges to establish pediatric reference intervals.Therefore,the procedure and key technologies of direct method and indirect method are stated based on the characteristics of children population and pediatric,by which to define,transfer and validate pediatric reference intervals.This study will provide systematically methodological ideas for clinical laboratories to establish pediatric reference intervals.

Objective Preparation of aqueous reference materials for cholesterol and glycerol.Methods Study on reference materials.The certified reference materials GBW09203b and GBW09149 were weighed accurately and dissolved into 20% of methyl cyclodextrin aqueous solution to prepare six kinds of candidate reference materials of cholesterol and glycerol according to the concentration.The materials were tested for homogeneity and stability using routine methods.The reference methods of isotope dilution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (ID-LC/MS/MS) were used to determine the concentration of cholesterol and glycerol to evaluate the accuracy of the certified values.Meanwhile, the blank verification test was carried out.The expanded uncertainty was the combination of standard uncertainty of measurement, unhomogeneity and instability.Results It showed that the six candidate reference materials were homogeneous and stable for at least 1 year at-70 ℃ and-20 ℃.The certified values (reference value ± expanded uncertainty,mmol/L) were as follows,for cholesterol:0.65±0.01,1.31 ±0.01,2.57±0.02,5.21±0.06,7.71±0.08,10.24±0.06;for glycerol:0.29±0.01,0.58±0.01,1.22±0.02,2.24±0.02,3.46±0.04,4.52 ±0.04.The results of reference methods were consistent with the certified values.Blank validation tests showed that the concentration of the analytes would not be affected by the reagent and the blank matrix.Conclusions Certified reference materials for cholesterol and glycerol in aqueous solution have been prepared successfully.These materials are homogeneous and stable, and the certified values are reliable.Therefore the materials have been approved to be the Certificate Reference Materials of GBW 09823, GBW 09824, GBW 09825, GBW09826, GBW09827 and GBW 09828.

Objective To prepare the serum reference materials for total thyroxine .Methods Individual blood samples were collected from 13 healthy donors (7 males and 6 females) aged from 20 to 50 years old, and the sera were separated and mixed into 4 serum pools according to the concentration of thyroxine.The materials were tested for homogeneity and stability using routine methods .The method of isotope dilution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry ( ID-LC/MS/MS) was used to determine the concentration of thyroxine .The candidate reference materials were also measured by four conventional methods to analyze the commutability of the materials .Results It showed that the four candidate reference materials were homogeneous and commutable in four conventional methods and they were tested to be stable for at least 1 year at -70 ℃using the isochronous stability study .The certified values ( reference value ± expanded uncertainty ,nmol/L) were:75.9 ±1.8,105.3 ±2.2,114.7 ±2.1 and 187.4 ±2.9.Conclusions Certified reference materials for serum thyroxine have been prepared .These materials have been approved to be the Certificate Reference Materials of GBW 09127,GBW 09128,GBW 09129 and GBW 09130.

Objective To evaluate the commutability of certified reference material IRMM ERM-DA 471/IFCC for cystatin C measurement among 8 methods.Methods 46 individual samples used for the commutability study were residual serum samples collected from clinical laboratories.The individual samples interspersedwith pooled sera and the certified reference material IRMM ERM-DA 471/IFCC and the whole set of samples was divided into 2 subsets for measurements in 2 days.The measurements were performed by8 different methods o.The samples were measured in duplicate order.Calibration was performed every day. Passing-Bablok regression was performed to compare the slopes and intercepts of mean values of the serum samples derived from different methods. Pearson correlation cofficient was also calculated. Deming regeression and 95%confidence intervals were calculated to evaluate the statistics commutability of ERM-DA 471/IFCC.The minimal specification of bias derived from biological variations was calculated to evaluate the clinical commutability.Results The within-laboratory CVs of pool sera ranged from 0.5% to 4.0%.The Passing-Bablok slope ranged from 0.765 to 1.311 and intercepts ranged from -0.04 to 0.241.The determination coefficient of Pearson regression ranged from 0.988 to 0.999.Deming regeression and 95%confidence intervals demonstrated commutability of ERM-DA 471/IFCC in 4/28 (14.3%) methods pairs. The minimal specfication bias ( 5.12%) demonstrated commutability of ERM-DA 471/IFCC in15/28 (53.6%) methods pairs.Conclusions The ERM-DA 471/IFCC domonstrated poor commutability between some methods pairs. The commutability of ERM-DA 471/IFCC should be evaluated before used as calibrators.