Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) during labor has been performed for 40 years. However, the specificity in diagnosing asphyxia is still insufficient. The combination of EFM and fetal scalp-blood sampling was introduced shortly after the introduction of EFM.  Although this monitoring ensures a better sensitivity and...

Children are not just small adults, and present unique challenges to the clinical laboratory. Blood specimens must be very small; for example, total blood volumes in a premature infant can be as small as 115 mL. Genetic diseases frequently must be detected in the newborn period. Reference values change with age....

Both high and low blood glucose levels may be dangerous to the newborn baby. Measurement of blood or plasma lactate concentrations gives an indication of the adequacy of oxygen delivery to tissues, and blood and CSF lactate levels are essential investigations in the diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism (IEM)....

Neonates are subject to more preanalytical influences than any other population group. Many of these are related to the maturity of the infant and its adaptation to extra-uterine life. The necessary need for capillary blood collection and processing of small quantities of blood introduce additional preanalytical...

The concept of “metrological traceability” is important when establishing comparable clinical decision limits for a measured analyte at different hospitals within one country and in different countries.  This can only be achieved if all instrument manufacturers establish the performance characteristics of their...

How do small labs cope with the demands of modern quality assurance? In this interview, Ruth Lock, head of the laboratory of the Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Dept. of the Copenhagen County Hospital in Glostrup, Denmark, tells how her lab keeps up with demands with the help of training and quality control.

Whether performed by one "traditional" or several "point-of-care" devices, all Multi-Profile Blood Gas (MPBG) results must be accurate and precise if they are to be effective in managing critically ill patients. Optimal analytical quality control of multi-profile blood gas analysis requires a good quality assurance...

60 % of all neonates develop jaundice during their first week of life and thereby run a risk of getting hyperbilirubinemia.  Although different approaches for establishing treatment criteria have been suggested, treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is usually still based on the measurement of total bilirubin...

An altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level or just above is just about what humans can bear - be it during an acute ascent or for permanent living. This study describes how bodily functions of crucial importance to survival at high altitude adjust after abrupt exposure to severe hypoxia.

Two months of acclimatization to high altitude leads to an adaptation of the aerobic capacity of the myocardium, characterized by an increased ability to extract O₂ from the coronary vascular bed. An increased mitochondrial volume and activity of oxidative enzymes or improved diffusion conditions could be involved.