Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to V E Turkington.
We have investigated the effect of urine pH on the simple solubility test for myoglobinuria and found that the sensitivity of the test is very pH dependent. As much as a 10 fold increase in sensitivity can be obtained if the test is performed at pH 7.5 instead of pH 5.5. As such, we recommend that the urine pH should first be adjusted within the range 7.5--8.0 before performing the solubility test for myoglobinuria.
Many clinical laboratories use the Beckman Microzone electrophoretic system (Beckman Instruments Inc. Fullerton, CA 92634) for serum protein separation. Although detailed instruction is supplied in the manufacturer's manual (1) for protein separation, the effect of different sample application positions on the cellulose acetate membrane is not discussed. We have processed the serum specimen in various application positions and found that there is a definite relationship between the resolution of fractionated protein bands and the application position, particularly with specimens from patients with monoclonal gammonpathies. The resolution of the protein bands increases as the sample is applied closer to the anode end of the cellulose acetate strip. Although studies were carried out on the Beckman electrophoretic system, a similar application effect may be anticipated with other electrophoretic systems.
Reaction rate studies were carried out on various specimens using two commercial enzymatic cholesterol determination reagent kits (BMC and Worthington). The time required for complete colour formation differed between the two reagent systems and each kit required different incubation times for the standards and specimens to come to color completion. The choice of standards was found to be very important when using these enzymatic kits.
A simplified method is presented to estimate reference ranges from hospital laboratory data. It is based on a combination of graphical estimation of relative sizes of normal and abnormal populations and the "mode-center" concept in which the mode of the total population centers on the 50% cumulative frequency of the normal population. This method can be applied to determine reference ranges even though the data source contains abnormally high and/or low values. The reference ranges obtained for BUN and calcium from in-patient and out-patient sources by this method were found to be similar to those reported for "healthy" subjects.
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