The usefulness of preparatory vulval cleansing before urine specimen collection was evaluated in women aged 16 to 75 years attending a general practice. A total of 316 specimens were examined, 158 from women with symptoms of cystitis and 158 from controls. No significant differences were found in the numbers of contaminated or unreliable results between the specimens collected with and those co...

BACKGROUND Listeriosis is an opportunistic bacterial infection caused by Listeria monocytogenes and predominantly affects people who are immunocompromised. Due to its severity and the population at risk, prompt clinical diagnosis and treatment of listeriosis is essential. A major step to making a clinical diagnosis is the collection of the appropriate specimen(s) for testing. This study explore...

OBJECTIVES Low participation rates in the selection of population controls are an increasing concern for the validity of case-control studies worldwide. METHODS We conducted a pilot study to assess two approaches to recruiting population controls in a study of colorectal cancer, including a face-to-face interview and blood sample collection. In the first approach, persons identified through a...