ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate hemoglobin E screening tests in a large scale of cases. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted Whole blood obtained from subjects was evaluated for CBC, OF, DCIP, and hemoglobin typing. RESULTS: Five hundred twenty seven hemoglobin E and 280 reference subjects participated. DCIP's sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 97.16%, 98.93%, 99.42%, and 95.19%, respectively. These values of OF were 69.12%, 80.00%, 86.67%, and 57.88%, respectively. In the combination of DCIP and OF gave rise to these values of 99.43%, 79.29%, 90.03%, and 96.67%, respectively. Finally the combination of DCIP and MCV < 80 fL resulted in these values to be 99.43%, 98.93%, 99.43%, and 98.93%, respectively. False positive and false negative rate were 1.07% and 0.57%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Combination of DCIP and MCVwas better than that of DCIP and OF in hemoglobin E screening.
Subject(s)
2,6-Dichloroindophenol/diagnosis , Adult , Cross-Sectional Studies , Erythrocyte Indices , Female , Hemoglobin E/analysis , Humans , Male , Mass Screening/economics , Osmotic Fragility , Predictive Value of Tests , Sensitivity and Specificity , Thalassemia/diagnosisABSTRACT
The strategy for screening of thalassemia and Hb E by a combination of osmotic fragility (OF) test and dichlorophenol indophenol precipitation (DCIP) test was validated with 436 unrelated Thai subjects. Hemoglobin (Hb) typing, Hb A2 quantitation, PCR and DNA sequence analysis were used as confirmatory methods for diagnosis of thalassemia and hemoglobinopathy. The sensitivity and specificity of this strategy was 100% and 79.7%, respectively. The results assessed by two medical scientists were exactly the same with 93.3% accuracy in comparison with the confirmatory methods. A combination of OF and DCIP has been shown to be a reliable, rapid, simple and sensitive strategy for screening thalassemia and Hb E in the Thai population.
Subject(s)
2,6-Dichloroindophenol/diagnosis , Genetic Testing/methods , Hematologic Tests , Hemoglobin E/analysis , Hemoglobinopathies/blood , Heterozygote , Humans , Mass Screening/methods , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Predictive Value of Tests , Sequence Analysis, DNA , Thalassemia/bloodABSTRACT
There is a strong correlation between gingival inflammation and clinical and sub-clinical ascorbic acid deficiency. This has created a demand for a handy diagnostic test to detect the ascorbic acid deficiency. The aim of this work was to find out the efficacy of one such test, i.e. the modified Lingual Ascorbic Acid Test (LAAT). To find out the significance of ths LAAT, it was compared with plasma ascorbic acid levels and then confirmed statistically. Our findings suggest that with this simple, reliable and inexpensive method, the dental practitioners can conveniently assess the ascorbic acid status of their patients.