Meta-audit of laboratory ISO accreditation inspections: measuring the old emperor's clothes.

Accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 is required for EC official food control and veterinary laboratories by Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004. Measurements in hospital laboratories and clinics are increasingly accredited to ISO/IEC 15189.

Integration of local and central laboratory functions in a worldwide multicentre study: Experience from the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) Study.

Background: Measurement of glucose in multiple Field Laboratories requires rigorous standardization when patients and caregivers are masked, unless predefined thresholds are met. Local misclassification of participants at the thresholds can introduce recruitment bias and adversely affect the integrity of study findings.

Purpose: To describe the challenges and the approach to meeting them in measuring glucose, HbA1c, and C-peptide in the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) Study.

Cytokine activation and intestinal mucosal and renal dysfunction are reduced in endovascular AAA repair compared to surgery.

Purpose: To compare endovascular (EVR) to open repair (OR) of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) for cytokine activation, changes in the intestinal mucosal barrier, and renal dysfunction.

Methods: In a prospective nonrandomized study, 15 patients admitted to a university hospital for elective infrarenal AAA repair (8 OR and 7 EVR) were recruited. Intestinal permeability was assessed preoperatively (PO), at day 1 (D1), and at day 3 (D3) after surgery using the lactulose/mannitol differential excretion (LMR) test.