Bias laboratory

Several types of bias are common in analytical methodology, including laboratory bias and method bias. Laboratory bias can occur in specific laboratories, due to an uncalibrated balance or contaminated water supply, for example. This source of bias is discovered when results of interlaboratory studies are compared and statistically evaluated. Method bias is not readily distinguishable between laboratories following a standard procedure, but can be identified when reference materials are used to compare the accuracy of different methods. The use of interlaboratory studies and reference materials allows experimentalists to evaluate the accuracy of their analysis. 

Figure 3 Schematic showing the relationships among run bias, laboratory bias, and method bias. The standard deviation of the results of an interlaboratory method precision study includes the randomized components of run and laboratory bias.

Internal methods of quality assessment should always be viewed with some level of skepticism because of the potential for bias in their execution and interpretation. For this reason, external methods of quality assessment also play an important role in quality assurance programs. One external method of quality assessment is the certification of a laboratory by a sponsoring agency. Certification is based on the successful analysis of a set of proficiency standards prepared by the sponsoring agency. For example, laboratories involved in environmental analyses may be required to analyze standard samples prepared by the Environmental Protection... 

In a performance-based approach to quality assurance, a laboratory is free to use its experience to determine the best way to gather and monitor quality assessment data. The quality assessment methods remain the same (duplicate samples, blanks, standards, and spike recoveries) since they provide the necessary information about precision and bias. What the laboratory can control, however, is the frequency with which quality assessment samples are analyzed, and the conditions indicating when an analytical system is no longer in a state of statistical control. Furthermore, a performance-based approach to quality assessment allows a laboratory to determine if an analytical system is in danger of drifting out of statistical control. Corrective measures are then taken before further problems develop. 

Should the additional component compositions be required to fully understand the unit operation, the laboratory may have to develop new analysis procedures. These must be tested and practiced to establish reliabihty and minimize bias. Analysts must sribmit known samples to verify the accuracv. 

If the random errors are higher than can be tolerated to meet the goals of the test, the errors can be compensated for with rephcate measurements and a commensurate increase in the laboratory resources. Measurement bias can be identified through submission and analysis of known samples. Establishing and justifying the precision and accuracy reqrtired by the laboratory is a necessary part of estabhshing confidence. 

Had the calculated value for t been less than 1.80 then there would have been no significance in the results and no apparent bias in the laboratory procedure, as the tables would have indicated a probability of greater than 1 in 10 of obtaining that value. It should be pointed out that these values refer to what is known as a double-sided, or two-tailed, distribution because it concerns probabilities of values both less and greater than the mean. In some calculations an analyst may only be interested in one of these two cases, and under these conditions the -test becomes single-tailed so that the probability from the tables is halved. 

Second generation COMT inhibitors were developed by three laboratories in the late 1980s. Apart from CGP 28014, nitrocatechol is the key structure of the majority of these molecules (Fig. 3). The current COMT inhibitors can be classified as follows (i) mainly peripherally acting nitrocatechol-type compounds (entacapone, nitecapone, BIA 3-202), (ii) broad-spectrum nitrocatechols having activity both in peripheral tissues and the brain (tolcapone, Ro 41-0960, dinitrocatechol, vinylphenylk-etone), and (iii) atypical compounds, pyridine derivatives (CGP 28014,3-hydroxy-4-pyridone and its derivatives), some of which are not COMT inhibitors in vitro but inhibit catechol O-methylation by some other mechanism. The common features of the most new compounds are excellent potency, low toxicity and activity through oral administration. Their biochemical properties have been fairly well characterized. Most of these compounds have an excellent selectivity in that they do not affect any other enzymes studied [2,3]. 

Soft X-ray absorption measurements are done at low-energy synchrotron X-ray facilities such as the UV ring at NSLS or the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The beam size is typically 1 mm in diameter. The electron yield data are usually obtained in the total electron yield (EY) mode, measuring the current from a channel electron multiplier (Channeltron). Sometimes a voltage bias is applied to increase surface sensitivity. This is referred to as the partial electron yield (PEY) mode. Huorescence yield (EY) data are recorded using a windowless energy dispersive Si (Li) detector. The experiments are conducted in vacuum at a pressure of 2 X 10 torr. 

Fraser has extensively discussed this relationship between laboratory work and clinical needs (Fraser and Hyltoft Peterson 1993) and has recently addressed the role of documented analytical quality as derived from measurements of RMs (Fraser and Hyltoft Peterson 1999). Among the concepts proposed by Fraser and his colleagues, it is suggested that analytical imprecision should be <0.50 CVi and bias should be <0.25 (CVi + where CVj is the within-subject biological variation (i.e. changes from day to... 

The inherent reproducibility or imprecision of the method will have been determined as part of the validation procedure. This information can then be applied to the internal quality control programme which is designed to identify the intrusion of a bias (inaccuracy) and/or an alteration in the reproducibility of the assay. Programs for Internal quality control are most extensively developed for clinical laboratories because of the availability of suitable RMs in large batches and at an affordable cost although some level of IQC is appropriate to aU work carried out at a continuing basis see Section 6.2. 

Identification of sources of analytical bias in method development and method validation is another very important application of reference materials in geochemical laboratories. USGS applied simplex optimization in establishing the best measurement conditions when the ICP-AES method was introduced as a substitute for AAS in the rapid rock procedure for major oxide determinations (Leary et al. 1982). The optimized measurement parameters were then validated by analyzing a number of USGS rock reference samples for which reference values had been established first by classical analyses. Similar optimization of an ICP-AES procedure for a number of trace elements was validated by the analysis of U S G S manganese nodule P-i (Montaser et al. 1984). 

The magnitude of these errors can be analyzed in single laboratories (run bias and repeatability error), in inter-laboratory validation studies (laboratory bias) and in proficiency tests (method bias). Expressed in standard deviations relative to that of... 

To assess the well construction materials compatibility versus the subsurface environment and the pesticide of interest, manufacturers can provide data about the various well construction materials or samples can be acquired for laboratory analysis. Also, QC samples of each material can be collected during installation and preserved for laboratory analysis for potential sample bias, if necessary. In addition to well construction materials, the potable water used to clean drilling equipment and to prepare the grout and hydrate bentonite should also be collected for laboratory analysis (see Section 3.2.6). 

The reservoir materials may be PVC, stainless steel, or a fluorocarbon polymer, and the porous cup may be constructed of ceramic, stainless steel, or fluorocarbon polymer. Ceramic cups have a smaller pore size, a greater bubble pressure (pressure under which the cup produces bubbles), and a greater operational suction range, and are preferred to other porous cup materials. All materials used for the construction of the suction lysimeter should be tested in the laboratory to determine if any bias in the sample analysis will result from their use. 

The objective of sediment and water sampling is to obtain reliable information about the behavior of agrochemicals applied to paddy fields. Errors or variability of results can occur randomly or be due to bias. The two major sources of variability are sediment body or water body variability and measurement variability . For the former, a statistical approach is required the latter can be divided into sampling variability, handling, shipping and preparation variability, subsampling variability, laboratory analysis variability, and between-batch variability. ... 

It is almost always the case that enzymes are most active under the solution conditions that best match the physiological conditions experienced by the enzyme. There are, however, exceptions to this generalization. Sometimes one will find that the laboratory conditions that maximize catalytic activity are different from one s expectation of physiological conditions. In such cases a careful judgment must be made about what conditions to use for screening purposes. Whenever possible, my bias is to screen at conditions that most closely match the physiological conditions,... 

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