Annals of clinical biochemistry
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Ann. Clin. Biochem. · May 2013
Comparative StudyA comparison of the analytical performance of five commercially available assays for neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin using urine.
Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a promising biomarker for acute kidney injury that is beginning to be used in clinical practice in addition to research studies. The current study describes an independent validation and comparison of five commercially available NGAL assays, focusing on urine samples. This is an essential step in the translation of this marker to clinical use in terms of allowing valid inter-study comparison and generation of robust results. ⋯ Variability exists between the five NGAL assays in terms of their performance and this should be taken into account when interpreting results from the various clinical or research studies measuring urinary NGAL.
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Ann. Clin. Biochem. · May 2013
Evaluation of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method for the analysis of sweat chloride and sodium for use in the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive condition that has an incidence of 1:2500 live births in Northern Europe. Due to the large number of mutations that can result in classical or atypical CF phenotype, the sweat test, which quantifies the amount of chloride and sodium in sweat, is vital in supporting the diagnosis of CF. Patients with CF have raised concentrations of chloride and sodium in their sweat; however, it is the concentration of chloride in sweat which provides the greatest diagnostic sensitivity for CF. ⋯ The method performs well and is now used in the routine analysis of sweat in this laboratory.