Comparison of Three Distribution-Free Procedures in the Establishment of Assigned Values in Control Sera

Peer Reviewe

Evaluation of the first automated thyroglobulin assay

The aim of this study was to investigate technical and analytical performance of the first automated thyroglobulin (Tg) assay (DPC-Immulite(R); Diagnostic Products Corporation, Los Angeles, USA). In imprecision studies using several human serum pools ranging from 21 to 58 replicates, a coefficient of variation of 9.0 % was obtained at a mean Tg concentration of 0.84 ng/ml and of 6.1 % at a Tg concentration of 62.1 ng/ml. In a method comparison with a non-automated assay (BRAHMS LUMItest Tg(R), BRAHMS, Berlin, Germany) using 383 sera of 303 patients with thyroid carcinoma, regression analysis according to Passing and Bablock yielded in the following equation: Immulite Tg=1.6 x BRAHMS Tg - 0.1 ng/ml (Pearson's r=0.979). Sera obtained from 59 patients with thyroid carcinoma enabled comparative follow-up studies; in all cases qualitative agreement was found with regard to increase or decrease of serum Tg; in eight cases, however, Tg was detected with the Immulite assay but not with the BRAHMS assay. Further follow-up proved the presence of thyroid tissue in these patients. From these and further methodological data (dilution linearity, interference studies, carry-over study, high-dose hook properties, and short report time) it is concluded that the DPC-Immulite Tg assay meets the requirements of routine diagnostic use

Non-equilibrium Fluctuation Relations in a Quantum Coherent Conductor

We experimentally demonstrate the validity of non-equilibrium fluctuation relations by using a quantum coherent conductor. In equilibrium the fluctuation-dissipation relation leads to the correlation between current and current noise at the conductor, namely, Johnson-Nyqusit relation. When the conductor is voltage-biased so that the non-linear regime is entered, the fluctuation theorem has predicted similar non-equilibrium fluctuation relations, which hold true even when the Onsager-Casmir relations are broken in magnetic fields. Our experiments qualitatively validate the predictions as the first evidence of this theorem in the non-equilibrium quantum regime. In the appendix, we give simple deduction of the higher order correlations between the current and the current noise based on the fluctuation theorem.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures with 1-page appendix

Make the most out of your SIMD investments: counter control flow divergence in compiled query pipelines

Increasing single instruction multiple data (SIMD) capabilities in modern hardware allows for the compilation of data-parallel query pipelines. This means GPU-alike challenges arise: control flow divergence causes the underutilization of vector-processing units. In this paper, we present efficient algorithms for the AVX-512 architecture to address this issue. These algorithms allow for the fine-grained assignment of new tuples to idle SIMD lanes. Furthermore, we present strategies for their integration with compiled query pipelines so that tuples are never evicted from registers. We evaluate our approach with three query types: (i) a table scan query based on TPC-H Query 1, that performs up to 34% faster when addressing underutilization, (ii) a hashjoin query, where we observe up to 25% higher performance, and (iii) an approximate geospatial join query, which shows performance improvements of up to 30%

Make the most out of your SIMD investments: Counter control flow divergence in compiled query pipelines

Increasing single instruction multiple data (SIMD) capabilities in modern hardware allows for compiling efficient data-parallel query pipelines. This means GPU-alike challenges arise: control flow divergence causes underutilization of vector-processing units. In this paper, we present efficient algorithms for the AVX-512 architecture to address this issue. These algorithms allow for fine-grained assignment of new tuples to idle SIMD lanes. Furthermore, we present strategies for their integration with compiled query pipelines without introducing inefficient memory materializations. We evaluate our approach with a high-performance geospatial join query, which shows performance improvements of up to 35%

Technical performance and diagnostic utility of the new Elecsys (R) neuron-specific enolase enzyme immunoassay

This international multicenter study was designed to evaluate the technical performance of the new double-monoclonal, single-step Elecsys neuron-specific enolase (NSE) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and to assess its utility as a sensitive and specific test for the diagnosis of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Intra and interassay coefficients of variation, determined in five control or serum specimens in six laboratories, ranged from 0.7 to 5.3 (interlaboratory median: 1.3%) and from 1.3 to 8.5 (interlaboratory median: 3.4%), respectively. Laboratory-to-laboratory comparability was excellent with respect to recovery and interassay coefficients of variation. The test was linear between 0.0 and 320 ng/ml (highest measured concentration). There was a significant correlation between NSE concentrations measured using the Elecsys NSE and the established Cobas Core NSE EIA II in all subjects (n=723) and in patients with lung cancer (n=333). However, NSE concentrations were systematically lower (approximately 9%) with the Elecsys NSE than with the comparison test. Based on a specificity of 95% in comparison with the group suffering from benign lung diseases (n=183), the cutoff value for the discrimination between malignant and benign conditions was set at 21.6 ng/ml. NSE was raised in 73.4% of SCLC patients (n=188) and was significantly higher (p<0.01) in extensive (87.8%) as opposed to limited disease (56.7%). NSE was also elevated in 16.0% of the cases with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC, n=374). It is concluded that the Elecsys NSE EIA is a reliable and accurate diagnostic procedure for the measurement of NSE in serum samples. The special merits of this new assay are the wide measuring range (according to manufacturers declaration up to 370 ng/ml) and a short incubation time of 18 min