Quality in coagulation and haemostasis testing

The essential elements of a quality program, specifically internal quality control (IQC) and external quality assurance (EQA), should be applied to each laboratory assay performed in order to ensure test result accuracy and precision. The coagulation laboratory plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with bleeding or clotting (i.e., thrombotic) disorders. Test methodologies used to assess common disorders or diseases of haemostasis are reviewed as well as the clinical relevance of each assay. The preanalytical phase of testing offers the greatest opportunity for introducing result error in the haemostasis laboratory and it is therefore imperative that samples are properly collected, transported and stored. Samples for haemostasis testing should be collected in 3.2% sodium citrate at a 9:1 blood to anticoagulant ratio and maintained at room temperature until processed. Some test processes such as platelet function testing have special processing and testing requirements. For plasma-based tests, centrifugation to obtain platelet poor plasma and testing should ideally be completed within 4 hours or the plasma frozen. IQC must be performed with each assay, at appropriate levels of the analyte and at appropriate time intervals as a means for assessing ongoing assay performance. EQA, a peer group assessment process that is supplementary to IQC, offers in addition the opportunity for evaluation of long-term performance of laboratories, including comparisons with like and unlike methodologies, and often serves as an educational resource. Participation in an EQA program is often a requirement of laboratory accreditation and there are a multitude of EQA organizations that offer programs specific to haemostasis testing with international programs providing assessment of the more specialized haemostasis assays. These programs provide invaluable information on assay specific diagnostic error rate, assay precision, accuracy, sensitivity and assessment of overall assay performance. The incorporation of IQC and EQA into a laboratory program can not only assist in the assurance that testing is reliable and accurate but also improve the quality of the testing

POES satellite observations of EMIC-wave driven relativistic electron precipitation during 1998-2010

[1] Using six Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) satellites that have carried the Space Environment Module-2 instrument package, a total of 436,422 individual half-orbits between 1998 and 2010 were inspected by an automatic detection algorithm searching for electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) driven relativistic electron precipitation (REP). The algorithm searched for one of the key characteristics of EMIC-driven REP, identified as the simultaneity between spikes in the P1 (52 keV differential proton flux channel) and P6 (>800 keV electron channel). In all, 2331 proton precipitation associated REP (PPAREP) events were identified. The majority of events were observed at L-values within the outer radiation belt (3 < L < 7) and were more common in the dusk and night sectors as determined by magnetic local time. The majority of events occurred outside the plasmasphere, at L-values ~1 Re greater than the plasmapause location determined from two different statistical models. The events make up a subset of EMIC-driven proton spikes investigated by Sandanger et al. (2009), and potentially reflect different overall characteristics compared with proton spikes, particularly when comparing their location to that of the plasmapause, i.e., EMIC-driven proton precipitation inside the plasmapause, and potentially EMIC-driven REP outside the plasmapause. There was no clear relationship between the location of plasmaspheric plumes and the locations of the PPAREP events detected. Analysis of the PPAREP event occurrence indicates that high solar wind speed and high geomagnetic activity levels increase the likelihood of an event being detected. The peak PPAREP event occurrence was during the declining phase of solar cycle 23, consistent with the 2003 maximum in the geomagnetic activity index, Ap

Joint genomic and proteomic analysis identifies meta-trait characteristics of virulent and non-virulent Staphylococcus aureus strains

Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen of humans and warm-blooded animals and presents a growing threat in terms of multi-drug resistance. Despite numerous studies, the basis of staphylococcal virulence and switching between commensal and pathogenic phenotypes is not fully understood. Using genomics, we show here that S. aureus strains exhibiting virulent (VIR) and non-virulent (NVIR) phenotypes in a chicken embryo infection model genetically fall into two separate groups, with the VIR group being much more cohesive than the NVIR group. Significantly, the genes encoding known staphylococcal virulence factors, such as clumping factors, are either found in different allelic variants in the genomes of NVIR strains (compared to VIR strains) or are inactive pseudogenes. Moreover, the pyruvate carboxylase and gamma-aminobutyrate permease genes, which were previously linked with virulence, are pseudogenized in NVIR strain ch22. Further, we use comprehensive proteomics tools to characterize strains that show opposing phenotypes in a chicken embryo virulence model. VIR strain CH21 had an elevated level of diapolycopene oxygenase involved in staphyloxanthin production (protection against free radicals) and expressed a higher level of immunoglobulin-binding protein Sbi on its surface compared to NVIR strain ch22. Furthermore, joint genomic and proteomic approaches linked the elevated production of superoxide dismutase and DNA-binding protein by NVIR strain ch22 with gene duplications

Species-specific distributions of tyrosine hydroxylase–immunoreactive neurons in the prefrontal cortex of anthropoid primates

In this study, we assessed the distribution of cortical neurons immunoreactive for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in prefrontal cortical regions of humans and nonhuman primate species. Immunohistochemical methods were used to visualize TH-immunoreactive (TH-ir) neurons in areas 9 (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and 32 (anterior paracingulate cortex). The study sample included humans, great apes (chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, orangutan), one lesser ape (siamang), and Old World monkeys (golden guenon, patas monkey, olive baboon, moor macaque, black and white colobus, and François' langur). The percentage of neurons within the cortex expressing TH was quantified using computer-assisted stereology. TH-ir neurons were present in layers V and VI and the subjacent white matter in each of the Old World monkey species, the siamang, and in humans. TH-ir cells were also occasionally observed in layer III of human, siamang, baboon, colobus, and François' langur cortex. Cortical cells expressing TH were notably absent in each of the great ape species. Quantitative analyses did not reveal a phylogenetic trend for percentage of TH-ir neurons in these cortical areas among species. Interestingly, humans and monkey species exhibited a bilaminar pattern of TH-ir axon distributions within prefrontal regions, with layers I–II and layers V–VI having the densest contingent of axons. In contrast, the great apes had a different pattern of laminar innervation, with a remarkably denser distribution of TH-ir axons within layer III. It is possible that the catecholaminergic afferent input to layer III in chimpanzees and other great apes covaries with loss of TH-ir cells within the cortical mantle

On the use of total reflection x-ray topography for the observation of misfit dislocation strain at the surface of a Si/Ge–Si heterostructure

Synchrotron x-ray topography was used in total reflection topography (TRT) mode to observe strain-induced surface bumps due to the presence of underlying misfit dislocations in strained-layer SiGe on Si epitaxial heterostructures. In these experiments, the x rays approached the sample surfaces at grazing incident angles below the critical angles for total external reflection for a number of reflections, and hence, surface strain features nominally less than a few tens of angstrøms from the sample surface have been observed. These are similar to the surface bumpiness observed by atomic force microscopy, albeit on a much larger lateral length scale. The fact that TRT mode images were taken was confirmed by the observation of conventional backreflection topographic images of misfit dislocations in all samples when the grazing incidence angle became greater than the critical angle

A Simple Web-Based Tool to Compare Freshwater Fish Data Collected Using AFS Standard Methods

The American Fisheries Society (AFS) recently published Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fishes. Enlisting the expertise of 284 scientists from 107 organizations throughout Canada, Mexico, and the United States, this text was developed to facilitate comparisons of fish data across regions or time. Here we describe a user-friendly web tool that automates among-sample comparisons in individual fish condition, population length-frequency distributions, and catch per unit effort (CPUE) data collected using AFS standard methods. Currently, the web tool (1) provides instantaneous summaries of almost 4,000 data sets of condition, length frequency, and CPUE of common freshwater fishes collected using standard gears in 43 states and provinces; (2) is easily appended with new standardized field data to update subsequent queries and summaries; (3) compares fish data from a particular water body with continent, ecoregion, and state data summaries; and (4) provides additional information about AFS standard fish sampling including benefits, ongoing validation studies, and opportunities to comment on specific methods. The web tool—programmed in a PHP-based Drupal framework—was supported by several AFS Sections, agencies, and universities and is freely available from the AFS website and fisheriesstandardsampling.org. With widespread use, the online tool could become an important resource for fisheries biologists

Novel Approach to the Manufacture of MicroLED Colour Conversion Structures

This report discusses a novel approach for manufacturing colour conversion layers for micro-LED arrays. Colour conversion layers with discrete 20µm pixels have been made using photolithography to define well structures which are then filled with either conventional phosphors or quantum dots