The search for ever smaller violations of Einstein’s weak equivalence principle continues to be an important experimental goal at the close of the 20th century, with string theory providing new motivations. Currently, the most sensitive laboratory and terrestrial-scale tests are carried out with instrumentation based on the 18th century concept of the torsion pendulum, but not with 18th century...

1 Division of Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, 35100 Izmir, Turkey 2Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, 35100 Bornova, Turkey 3 Pediatric Genetics Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Acibadem University School of Medicine, 34457 Istanbul, Turkey 4Cytogenetics &Molecular Genetics Laboratories, Institute of GenomicMedicin...

BACKGROUND Test repetition could be a readily modifiable component of laboratory utilization. Laboratory test repetition has not been rigorously studied at a population-based level. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of, and charges associated with, repetition of eight common laboratory tests. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study using high-quality, population-based clinica...

BACKGROUND D-dimer is a reliable and sensitive index of fibrin deposition and stabilization. As such, its presence in plasma should be indicative of thrombus formation. There are many conditions unrelated to thrombosis in which D-dimer concentrations are high, however, making its positive predictive value rather poor. CONTENT Notwithstanding these limitations, D-dimer can be regarded as a mos...

Topological defects such as cosmic strings may have been formed at early-universe phase transitions. Direct tests of this idea are impossible, but the mechanism can be elucidated by studying analogous processes in low-temperature condensed-matter systems. Experiments on vortex formation in superfluid helium and in supercon-ductors have so far yielded somewhat confusing results. I shall discuss ...

The laboratory genetic testing is rapidly emerging in clinical practice. Recently, in parallel with the report of human genome project, next generation sequencing techniques are widely applied to study human genome providing a basis for integrating information about genome, exome, and transcriptome of a living organism. The future applications of genetic testing are discussed in popularmedia ev...

Interactions between the laboratory and outpatient physician are critical to ensure the appropriateness, accuracy, and utility of laboratory results. A recent Institute of Medicine report suggested that the consequences of medical errors in the outpatient setting-and the opportunities to improve-"may dwarf those in hospitals." This article focuses on the role of the physician's office in labora...

Uniaxial and triaxial compression tests on steel fibre reinforced shotcrete (SFRS) have been used to quantify the elastic–plastic response behaviour for both the peak and post-peak regions. The laboratory tests were conducted with a servo-controlled testing machine to obtain complete stress–strain curves. The test results include unconfined and triaxial compressive strengths, shear strengths an...