[New guidelines for better documentation of survey methodology and results].

Surveys of published studies on diagnostic accuracy and the performance of diagnostic tests, widely defined as any method for obtaining additional information on the health status of an individual, have revealed poor methodological quality. This holds true also for scientific journals considered to be leading in their fields. The STARD document (Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy), which was first published in 2003, provides guidelines for the design, performance and report of such studies.

[Laboratory thyroid disease diagnosis--interdisciplinary cooperation. International consensus in Swedish perspective].

In 2003, The National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry published a consensus monograph on thyroid tests (available via Internet from 2002). The document, a result of international collaboration, describes the pathophysiological background and clinical application of the measurements as well as principles for their technical performance. Of value, and of definite clinical relevance, is the detailed description of factors affecting the results in health and disease.

[New service for laboratory investigation of problematic cases. Four patients illustrate the value of EQUALIS].

In 1996, the Endocrinology Group in EQUALIS, in collaboration with The Thyroid Unit at The Section of Endocrinology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, introduced a "patient-related" quality assurance program. Serum samples from patients with established or suspected thyroid disorder and/or results from thyroid-related biochemical measurements which were at variance with the clinical presentation, were analyzed by the participants of an external quality assurance program in endocrinology. The results from this program were informative as regards capacity, in the individual laboratories, for the evaluation of analytical and/or biological factors causing unexpected results from the measurement of thyroid-related serum components.

[Report from the congress on andrology in Montreal. Diagnosis and treatment of the "andropause"].

As reflected by the proceedings of the recent VIIth International Congress of Andrology in Montreal, Canada, modern andrology takes a wider responsibility for men's health than previously. The area has expanded not only into the fields of basal and clinical endocrinology but also into paediatrics and geriatrics. These changes also put pressure on laboratories of clinical chemistry to provide new and clinically more relevant endocrinological investigations such as lutropin assays which detect the biologically active isoforms, and assays of "bioavailable" testosterone, as well as of inhibin B and anti-Müllerian hormone.

[Better treatment of heart failure by measurements of natriuretic peptides. There are still remaining problems when it comes to the interpretation of measurement levels].

The heart is increasingly being recognised as a major endocrine organ involved in haemodynamic homeostasis. Natriuretic peptides, i.e.