Neonates are subject to more preanalytical influences than any other population group. Many of these are related to the maturity of the infant and its adaptation to extra-uterine life. The necessary need for capillary blood collection and processing of small quantities of blood introduce additional preanalytical...

How do small labs cope with the demands of modern quality assurance? In this interview, Ruth Lock, head of the laboratory of the Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Dept. of the Copenhagen County Hospital in Glostrup, Denmark, tells how her lab keeps up with demands with the help of training and quality control.

The results of laboratory tests are used in many clinical settings. In the main, results obtained in point-of-care testing (POCT) are used either in monitoring or in diagnosis. Analytical quality does affect outcomes in these clinical situations. Numerical estimates of the quality required for laboratory tests to...

While analytical quality standards seem well established, there has been a paucity in the development of such standards for the preanalytical phase.  Technical recommendations regarding sampling, transport, and identification have been developed in national (NCCLS, DIN) and international (IFCC, ISO) consensus...

Whether performed by one "traditional" or several "point-of-care" devices, all Multi-Profile Blood Gas (MPBG) results must be accurate and precise if they are to be effective in managing critically ill patients. Optimal analytical quality control of multi-profile blood gas analysis requires a good quality assurance...

The concept of “metrological traceability” is important when establishing comparable clinical decision limits for a measured analyte at different hospitals within one country and in different countries.  This can only be achieved if all instrument manufacturers establish the performance characteristics of their...

What quality is being controlled in laboratories today?  The definition of a quality requirement for each laboratory test is the starting point of quantitative quality management. Different types of requirements may be used as long as there are appropriate quality-planning models for translating those requirements...

60 % of all neonates develop jaundice during their first week of life and thereby run a risk of getting hyperbilirubinemia.  Although different approaches for establishing treatment criteria have been suggested, treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is usually still based on the measurement of total bilirubin...

Two months of acclimatization to high altitude leads to an adaptation of the aerobic capacity of the myocardium, characterized by an increased ability to extract O₂ from the coronary vascular bed. An increased mitochondrial volume and activity of oxidative enzymes or improved diffusion conditions could be involved.

An altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level or just above is just about what humans can bear - be it during an acute ascent or for permanent living. This study describes how bodily functions of crucial importance to survival at high altitude adjust after abrupt exposure to severe hypoxia.