The relationship of ischemia-modified albumin levels to disease activity scores and HLA-B27 in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have implicated increased oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of Ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), an altered form of albumin, increases oxidative stress. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between IMA levels and other indicators of disease severity in AS. METHODS: This study included 63 AS patients and 48 healthy controls. Patients were examined for serum lipid profile, C-reactive protein (CRP), complete blood count, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) B27, and treatment regimen. They were categorized based on disease activity, HLA-B27 status, and the drug treatment and compared for IMA levels. RESULTS: The patients had significantly higher IMA levels than controls (p=0.020); among patients, the levels were higher in those with active disease (p=0.001) and positively correlated with the CRP levels. No significant difference was found between the IMA levels of the patients with different HLA-B27 status or treatment method. CONCLUSION: The IMA levels were higher in patients than controls and further increased in patients with active AS. IMA was associated with disease activity and can be used as an inflammatory marker in AS. More comprehensive future studies with a larger sample size may help understand the relationship in greater detail.

The Effects of Education and Training Given to Phlebotomists for Reducing Preanalytical Errors.

BACKGROUND: The most common sources of error in the preanalytical phase are considered to be at the stage of patient preparation and sample collection. In order to reduce the preanalytical errors, we aimed to determine the level of phlebotomists knowledge about the preanalytic phase before and after planned trainings in the study. METHODS: Training about preanalytical processes was given to the 454 health professionals and the majority of them were employed as nurse. Questionnaires before and after training were conducted. In order to assess the effect of the training into the process, preanalytical error rates were calculated before and after training. RESULTS: The total correct answer rates of vocational school of health diplomaed were statistically lower than the total correct answer rates of other. It was observed significantly increase in the rate of correct answers to questionnaire and significantly decrease in preanalytical error rates after training. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the survey showed that the attitudes of the phlebotomists were diverse in the preanalytical processes according to the levels of education and their practices. By providing training to all staff on a regular basis, their information about preanalytical phase could be updated and hence, it may possible to significantly reduce the preanalytical errors in health practice and nursing science.

The local clinical validation of a new lithium heparin tube with a barrier: BD Vacutainer® Barricor LH Plasma tube.

INTRODUCTION: Although serum-providing blood tubes with a barrier are still widely used due to their significant advantages, the use of blood tubes with a barrier to provide plasma is becoming widespread. We compared 22 analytes in a BD Vacutainer® Barricor LH Plasma tube for local clinical validation of this new lithium heparin tube with a barrier. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Samples from 44 volunteers were collected in different tubes (Becton Dickinson and Company): Z tube without additive (reference), clot-activator tube with gel (SST), lithium heparin tube without gel (LiH), and lithium heparin tube with barrier (Barricor). Analyte concentrations in different tubes were compared with the reference tube. All tubes were also evaluated according to additional testing (different centrifugation durations, blood-sampling techniques and individual differences). RESULTS: Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), glucose (Glc), potassium (K), lactate dehydrogenase (LD), sodium (Na), and total protein (TP) had a significant bias in Barricor (9.19%, - 3.24%, - 4.88%, 21.60%, - 0.40%, 5.03%, respectively) relative to the reference tube. There was no statistical difference between different centrifugation durations and individual differences for AST, K and LD in LiH and/or Barricor (P > 0.05). There was a significant bias for LD between LiH and Barricor in terms of blood-sampling techniques (21.2% and 12.4%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Recently, the use of plasma has become prominent due to some of its advantages. In this study, plasma AST, K, LD, Glc and TP levels in Barricor were clinically different in comparison to serum. The results of additional tests showed that higher levels of LD in Barricor did not result from haemolysis, and they might be related to other factors including number of platelets, cellular fragility, or functional environment.