Background. Globin chain synthesis (GCS) analysis is used in the diagnosis of thalassemia. However, the wide reference range limits its use as a decisive diagnostic tool. It has been shown that α and β  globin mRNA increase through stimulation of cells by interleukin-3 (IL-3). Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between plasma IL-3 and the β/α  globin ratio. Methods. Blood sampl...

OBJECTIVES Analytical and clinical verification of both old and new generations of the Abbott total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) assays, and an examination of reference Intervals. METHODS Determination of between-run precision, and Deming comparison between patient sample results for 25OHD on the Abbott Architect, DiaSorin Liaison and AB SCIEX API 4000 (LC-MS/MS). Establishment of uncertainty ...

OBJECTIVES High-resolution reference ranges are essential for reproductive hormones due to the significant day-to-day variation seen with these analytes. DESIGN AND METHODS The performance of AxSYM assays for estradiol, luteinizing hormone (LH), and follicle-stimulating hormone was evaluated. RESULTS These studies validate the performance of each assay, permitting high-resolution reference ...

This review examines why there is no normal range of nasal patency available to the surgeon when assessing nasal obstruction, and discusses the factors that influence nasal patency. Current normal ranges are examined and criticised because of the variability of normal values and the poor sampling methods used. Instability of physiological nasal patency is related to factors such as the nasal cy...

We describe the rationale for the development of a psychophysical procedure that allows individual listeners to adjust the frequency-gain characteristic of a programmable hearing aid on a unidimensional scale, based on a target-gain reference value. The listener's task is to adjust the frequency response and select the parametric value judged to optimize the intelligibility or quality of speech...

In silico experiments (numerical simulations) are a valuable tool for non-invasive research of the influences of tissue properties, electrode placement and electric pulse delivery scenarios in the process of electroporation. The work described in this article was aimed at introducing time dependent effects into a finite element model developed specifically for electroporation. Reference measure...

Chemical shifts reflect the structural environment of a certain nucleus and can be used to extract structural and dynamic information. Proper calibration is indispensable to extract such information from chemical shifts. Whereas a variety of procedures exist to verify the chemical shift calibration for proteins, no such procedure is available for RNAs to date. We present here a procedure to ana...

BACKGROUND Throughout the literature, substantial evidence supports associations between poor psychosocial work characteristics and a variety of ill-health outcomes. Yet, few reports strategies workers carry out to improve detrimental work conditions and consequently their health, such as changing jobs. The aim of this study was to examine if adverse psychosocial work exposure, as measured with...

In this paper, we are concerned with the following problem  autt(x, t)− duxx(x, t) + βθx(x, t) = 0, in (0, L)× (0,∞) bθt(x, t)− k1θxx(x, t)− ∫ τ 2 τ 1 k2(s)θxx(x, t− s)ds+ βuxt(x, t) = 0, in (0, L)× (0,∞) u(x, 0) = u0(x), ut(x, 0) = u1(x), θ(x, 0) = θ0(x), x ∈ (0, L) θx(x,−t) = f0(x, t), x ∈ (0, L), t ∈ (0, τ 2), (1.1) a thermoelastic system with a distributed delay associated with initi...

Functional cardiovascular assessment is becoming an increasingly important tool in the study of fetal pathology. The myocardial performance index (MPI) is a parameter measuring global myocardial function. Since its introduction, several studies have proposed methods to improve its reproducibility and have constructed normative reference ranges. Fetal heart evaluation using the MPI is technicall...