Endocrine Abstracts

The liver performs essential functions including the control of blood nutrient levels; the synthesis of many blood proteins; the metabolism of bile components and the conversion of ammonia to urea for excretion by the kidney. Impaired urea synthesis is often the cause of coma and death in patients with liver failure. The only treatment for liver failure at present is transplantation.Stem cells may be a promising future resource for the treatment of acute...

Concerns on the noncomparibility of intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) methods have recently been voiced (Cantor T et al; Clin Chem 2006, 52, 1771–6). It is therefore important that any new iPTH immunoassays are thoroughly validated before routine use. We describe performance characteristics for an iPTH immunoassay on the ARCHITECT 8200i analyser as compared with iPTH measurement on the Diasorin LIAISON platform. Potassium EDTA plasma samples (n=80) we...