The Accu-Chek Mobile blood glucose monitoring system used under controlled conditions meets ISO 15197 standards in the hands of diabetes patients.

Background: Self-monitoring of blood glucose is a cornerstone of diabetes management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the analytical quality and the ease of use of the Accu-Chek Mobile, a new glucose monitoring system designed for capillary blood testing by diabetic patients.

Materials And Methods: The performance of the Accu-Chek Mobile was evaluated both in the hands of a scientist and of diabetes patients.

Association of serum-soluble CD26 and CD30 levels with asthma, lung function and bronchial hyper-responsiveness at school age.

Aim: There is a need for markers of Th1 and Th2 imbalance in diseases such as asthma. CD30 is an activation marker of Th2 cells, and importance of Th1 marker CD26 was recently found in adult asthma. We studied whether serum-soluble CD30 (sCD30) or serum-soluble CD26 (sCD26) could support early diagnosis of asthma in children at school age.

Diagnostic, clinical and laboratory turnaround times in troponin T testing.

Background: At present, measurements of troponins play a key role in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction. There is a consensus that a turnaround time (TAT) of 1 h or less should be achieved for cardiac marker assays. However, little is known about the real delays between the patient's arrival at the emergency department (ED) and the reporting of the test.