Albumin-based or albumin-linked calibrators cause a positive bias in serum proteins assayed by the biuret method.

Background: Assay of total serum protein by the biuret method calibrated with albumin standards according to the reference method provides results with a positive bias approximately 3%-5% exceeding the total error of 3.4% allowable for total protein in serum analysis made by analysers using two-part reagents and short-term procedures.

Methods: We used two types of two-part biuret reagents utilised in a short-term measurement in analysers with albumin or serum calibrators, in which protein was attested by the Kjeldahl method.

Spread of multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae among hospitalized children in Slovakia.

A multidrug-resistant serotype 14 strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae was isolated from sterile-site specimens and nasopharyngeal secretions from > 200 children in Slovakia between 1985 and 1990. Nasopharyngeal culture surveys were done to determine the extent of spread and means of transmission of this strain. The resistant strain was isolated from cultures of 8 (33.

Multiple antimicrobial resistance of pneumococci in children with otitis media, bacteremia, and meningitis in Slovakia.

Penicillin-resistant pneumococci have been isolated from middle ear fluid, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and nasopharyngeal secretions of several hundred children in Slovakia since 1985; 116 of these isolates were serotyped and tested for susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To define the prevalence of drug-resistant pneumococci and identify risk factors for infection, laboratory and medical records were reviewed. Nearly all (96%) of the resistant strains tested were serotype 14.