Basic Principles and Practices Flashcards
Quantitative science that is concerned with measurement of amounts of biologically important substances (analytes) in body fluids
Clinical Chemistry
What is the primary purpose of a clinical chemistry laboratory
To facilitate the correct performance of analytic procedures that yield accurate and precise information, aiding patient diagnosis and treatment
It defines the physical quantity or dimension
Unit
A system preferred in scientific literature and clinical laboratories and is the only system employed in many countries
Système International d’Unités (SI)
Système International d’Unités (SI), adopted internationally in
1960
The SI system units are based on
Metric system
Subclassifications of SI system
Basic unit
Derived units
Non-SI units
This group develops standards of practice, definitions, and guidelines that can be adopted by everyone in a given field, providing for more uniform terminology and less confusion
International Organization for Standardization
Reporting of laboratory results is often expressed in terms of
Substance concentration or the mass of a substance
Varying grades of purity of analytic chemicals
Analytic reagent (AR)
Ultrapure
Chemically pure (CP)
United States Pharmacopeia (USP)
National Formulary (NF)
Technical or commercial grade
Purity grade of the chemical that is specified by American Chemical Society
Analytic reagent (AR) grade chemicals
Chemicals of this category are suitable for use in most analytic laboratory procedures
Analytic reagent (AR)
Chemicals that have been put through additional purification steps for use in specific procedures such as chromatography, atomic absorption, immunoassays, molecular diagnostics, standardization, or other techniques that require extremely pure chemicals
Ultrapure chemicals
These reagents may carry designations of HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) or chromatographic on their labels
Ultrapure chemicals
Chemicals used to manufacture drugs
United States Pharmacopeia (USP); National Formulary (NF) grade chemicals
The limitations established for this group of chemicals are based only on the criterion of not being injurious to individuals
United States Pharmacopeia (USP); National Formulary (NF) grade chemicals
Chemicals that are pure enough for use in most chemical procedures
United States Pharmacopeia (USP); National Formulary (NF) grade chemicals
Impurity limitations are not stated and that preparation of these chemicals is not uniform
Chemically pure (CP) or pure grade
Analysis often used to ascertain the acceptable purity range of chemically pure (CP) grade chemicals
Melting point analysis
These chemicals are not recommended for clinical laboratories use for reagent preparation unless further purification or a reagent blank is included
Chemically pure (CP) or pure grade
Chemicals used primarily in manufacturing and should never be used in the clinical laboratory
Technical or commercial grade reagents
Organic reagents with some impurities
Practical grade
Organic reagents which approaches the purity level of reagent grade chemicals
Chemical pure
Purity levels of these chemicals are attained by their respective procedures
Spectroscopic (spectrally pure) and chromatographic grade organic reagents
Chemicals certified to contain impurities below certain levels established by the ACS
Reagent grade (ACS)
It requires manufacturers to clearly indicate the lot number, plus any physical or biologic health hazard and precautions needed for the safe use and storage of any chemical
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
They are required to provide technical data sheets for each chemical manufactured on a document called a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
Chemical manufacturers
Highly purified chemical that can be measured directly to produce a substance of exact known concentration and purity
Primary standard
ACS purity tolerances for primary standards
100 ± 0.02%
Developed certified standard reference materials/ SRMs for use in clinical chemistry laboratories
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Used when producing calibrator and standard materials
NIST SRM
Substance of lower purity, with its concentration determined by comparison with a primary standard
Secondary standard
The composition of this standard cannot be directly determined
Secondary standard
This standard depends on analytic reference method
Secondary standard
Most frequently used reagent in the laboratory
Water
Water solely purified by distillation results in
Distilled water
Water purified by ion exchange produces
Deionized water
Reverse osmosis, which pumps water across a semipermeable membrane, produces
RO water
Other methods for water purification
Ultrafiltration
Ultraviolet light
Sterilization
Ozone treatment
Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), classified reagent grade water into six categories based on
Specifications needed for its use
Categories of reagent grade water
Clinical laboratory reagent water (CLRW)
Special reagent water (SRW)
Instrument feed water
Water supplied by method manufacturer
Autoclave and wash water
Commercially bottled purified water
Water monitoring parameters
Microbiological count
Resistivity
pH
Organics
Particulate matter
Silicate
Type of water with the most stringent requirements and generally suitable for routine laboratory use
Type I
Process that can remove particulate matter from municipal water supplies before any additional treatments
Prefiltration
Composition of filtration cartridges
Glass
Cotton
Activated charcoal
Submicron filters
Pore size of submicron filters
≤0.2 mm
Function of activated charcoal in filtration cartridge
Removes organic materials and chlorine
Function of submicron filter in filtration cartridge
Remove substances larger than the filter’s pores, including bacteria
Water that has been purified to remove almost all organic materials, using a technique of distillation
Distilled water
Water that has some or all ions removed, although organic material may still be present, so it is neither pure nor sterile
Deionized water
Water that is produced using either an anion or a cation exchange resin, followed by replacement of the removed ions with hydroxyl or hydrogen ions
Deionized water
Process that uses pressure to force water through a semipermeable membrane, producing water that reflects a filtered product of the original water
Reverse osmosis
Process that is excellent in removing particulate matter, microorganisms, and any pyrogens or endotoxins
Ultrafiltration and nanofiltration
Process that removes some trace organic material
Ultraviolet oxidation
Acceptable for glassware washing but not for analysis or reagent preparation
Type III/autoclave wash water
Type of water acceptable for most analytic requirements, including reagent, quality control, and standard preparation
Type II water
Type of water used to test methods requiring minimum interference, such as trace metal, iron, and enzyme analyses
Type I water
Why is it that storage for some reagent grade water is discouraged?
Because of the changes in resistivity
Storage requirement for Clinical Laboratory Reagent Water
CLRW should be stored in a manner that reduces any chemical or bacterial contamination and for short periods
Testing procedures to determine the quality of reagent grade water include measurements of
Resistance
pH
Colony counts
Chlorine
Ammonia
Nitrate or nitrite
Iron
Hardness
Phosphate
Sodium
Silica
Carbon dioxide
Chemical oxygen demand
Metal detection
The relationship of water purity to resistance
Linear, Generally, as purity increases, so does resistance
A substance that is dissolved in a liquid is called
Solute
In laboratory science, biologic solutes are also known as
Analytes
The liquid in which the solute is dissolved
Solvent
Solute and solvent together represent a
Solution
SI expression for the amount of a substance
Mole
Expressed as equal parts per hundred or the amount of solute per 100 total units of solution
Percent solution
Three expressions of percent solutions
Weight per weight (w/w)
Volume per volume (v/v)
Weight per volume (w/v)
Expressed as the number of moles per 1 L of solution
Molarity (M)
Represents the amount of solute per 1 kg of solvent
Molality (m)
The least likely encountered concentration expression in clinical laboratories, but it is often used in chemical titrations and chemical reagent classification
Normality
It is defined as the number of gram equivalent weights per 1 L of solution
Normality