PROCORAD's international intercomparisons highlight the evolution of techniques used to determine uranium in urine.

Inter-laboratory tests are a means of assessing the analytical coherence of medical laboratories. In radiotoxicology, this kind of exercise makes it possible to keep up with laboratory know-how and with the evolution and relative performances of analytical techniques. The intercomparison exercises organised by PROCORAD (Association for the Promotion of Quality Controls in Radiotoxicological Bioassays) provide an opportunity to compare and contrast radiochemistry and metrology for the in vitro analysis of urine and faeces. For uranium compounds, the development of new techniques such as inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), alpha spectrometry, and laser spectrofluorimetry makes it possible to compare the effectiveness of these protocols with respect to radiation protection monitoring, both in routine and special situations. Detection limits, flexibility, repeatability, reproducibility and isotopic quantification are the criteria considered in this study. The authors present the evolution of performances for the analysis of uranium in urine over the years. However, the goal of the laboratories taking part in these annual exercises is not only to check the accuracy of their results but also to have analytical discussions and the opportunity to exchange experiences that will enrich the group's general competence.

Radiotoxicological intercomparisons organised by the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique group in France.

People working in French nuclear plants are monitored either by whole body counting or by the measurement of biological samples. The radiochemical and radiometric procedures used have to be periodically reviewed. A working group, including practising biologists from CEA, EDF and the Armed Forces Health Service, instituted comparisons of radiotoxicological test assessments. Since 1978, about 60 intercomparisons have been made. Currently 30 European laboratories are involved in these intercomparisons. This paper provides a brief history of the intercomparison exercises, describes the logistics of sample collection and preparation, and presents the results, showing the position of each laboratory in relation to the reference and median values. Diagrams produced by radiochemical analysis, relating to plutonium in urine and in faecal samples, and to tritium, strontium and enriched uranium in urine, are analysed.

[Usual values of haptoglobin, protein-bound sialic acid and blood sedimentation in a population of the Cherbourg region]. / Valeurs usuelles de l'haptoglobine, de l'acide sialique lié aux protéines et de la vitesse de sédimentation d'une population de la région de Cherbourg

The authors studied 3 parameters commonly used for the exploration of an inflammatory syndrome (determination of globular sedimentation rate at the first and second hour, concentration of plasma haptoglobin, sialic acid bound to plasma proteins rate). Haptoglobin and acid sialic assays were solely used in determining a control population (816 patients without any inflammatory reaction). As a matter of fact, the values we found complied with a normal distribution rule and confidence limits with a probability of 95% were obtained.