American journal of clinical pathology
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Sera from three patients initially evaluated by cellulose acetate electrophoresis demonstrated apparent application "artifacts." On agarose gel electrophoresis, each had a definite paraprotein "spike." The immunoglobulin classes of the paraproteins were determined by immunoelectrophoresis, with and without reduction by dithiothreitol. The immunoglobulin class was confirmed by immunofixation electrophoresis on agarose gel. All three abnormal immunoglobulins were IgM-kappa-type paraproteins. Agarose electrophoresis with immunofixation was superior in the identification of these paraproteins compared with the standard method of cellulose acetate electrophoresis coupled with immunoelectrophoresis.
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Am. J. Clin. Pathol. · Apr 1981
An evaluation of burn wound quantitative microbiology. I. Quantitative eschar cultures.
The reliability of quantitative data from burn wound biopsy cultures was investigated. This was done by comparing the recovery of microorganisms from a series of burn wound eschar biopsy specimens that were each divided into two approximately equal portions and cultured in parallel. ⋯ For recovery levels corresponding to quantitative breakpoints that have been proposed to be predictive of burn wound sepsis, only 38% of paired quantitative results agreed within the same log10 unit, and 44% differed by +/- 2 log10 units or more. These findings indicate that quantitative results derived from burn wound biopsy cultures are unreliable and may be significantly misleading when used for decision-making relative to patient care.