Clin Chem Lab Med
-
Comparative Study
Analytical performance and diagnostic accuracy of six different faecal calprotectin assays in inflammatory bowel disease.
We evaluated the analytical performance of six different faecal calprotectin immunoassays together with their diagnostic accuracy in the discrimination between functional and organic bowel disorders. ⋯ Analytical and diagnostic performance of the evaluated faecal calprotectin assays is good, but numerical values differ substantially between the assays necessitating the use of different clinical cut-offs. Introduction of multiple result intervals aids in clinical decision-making.
-
Cannabis has been used since ancient times to relieve neuropathic pain, to lower intraocular pressure, to increase appetite and finally to decrease nausea and vomiting. The combination of the psychoactive cannabis alkaloid Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) with the non-psychotropic alkaloids cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) demonstrated a higher activity than THC alone. The Italian National Institute of Health sought to establish conditions and indications on how to correctly use nationally produced cannabis to guarantee therapeutic continuity in individuals treated with medical cannabis. ⋯ As the first and most important aim of the different cannabis preparations is to guarantee therapeutic continuity in treated individuals, a strictly standardized preparation protocol is necessary to assure the availability of a homogeneous product of defined stability.
-
This study aimed to determine whether patients with lower abdominal symptoms can be investigated quickly using results of faecal haemoglobin concentration (f-Hb) measurements, and whether this test could form part of a diagnostic pathway for significant colorectal disease. ⋯ The high NPV for significant colorectal diseases suggests that f-Hb could be used as a rule-out test in this context. Potential exists for using f-Hb measurements to investigate symptomatic patients and guide the use of colonoscopy resources: detailed algorithms for the introduction of f-Hb measurements requires further exploration.
-
Intensive care units, operating rooms, emergency departments, and neonatology units need rapid measurements of blood gases, electrolytes, and metabolites. These analyses can be performed in a central laboratory or at the clinic with traditional or compact cassette-type blood gas analyzers such as the epoc blood gas testing system for analyzing whole blood samples at the bedside. In this study, the performance and interchangeability of a hand-held epoc blood gas analyzer was evaluated. ⋯ With most of the measured blood gas parameters, the epoc analyzer correlated well with reference techniques. The epoc analyzer is suitable for rapid measurement of the blood gases, the electrolytes, and the metabolites in the ICU.