Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Sook Heun Kim, Hana Cho, Sung Woo Heo, Euijin Hwang
Summary: In order to enhance the quality of measurement and metrological traceability in the Asia Pacific region, the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) organized joint Proficiency Testing (PT) programs for toxic and nutritional elements in food. The article describes the operation and overall performance of the PTs, and discusses the effectiveness and trends in PT performance assessment. The results demonstrate the importance of using metrologically traceable certified reference values for reliable assessment.
Article
Food Science & Technology
Hyosub Lee, Gunhee Jung, Juhyeon Min, Hyanghee Kim, Wontae Jeong, Taekkyum Kim
Summary: Establishing pesticide safety management for agricultural products requires accurate pesticide analysis in analytical laboratories. Proficiency testing is an effective method for quality control, and residual pesticide analysis in laboratories was carried out in this study. The obtained results were analyzed using the ISO 17043 z-score evaluation, and satisfactory ratings were obtained for seven pesticides. The main factors affecting laboratory analysis were identified, and a dispersive solid phase extraction cleanup significantly improved the results (p < 0.01).
Article
Medical Laboratory Technology
Seunghoo Lee, Joonsang Yu, Chan-Ik Cho, Eun-Jung Cho, Tae-Dong Jeong, Sollip Kim, Woochang Lee, Sail Chun, Won-Ki Min
Summary: This study evaluates the performance of a collaboration between academia and the government in standardizing laboratory medicine in Korea, specifically in the field of creatinine testing. The results show improvements in acceptance rates and bias levels over the eight-year period, indicating the positive impact of the collaboration.
CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Luiz Henrique da Conceicao Leal, Marcelo Lima Alves, Werickson Fortunatode Carvalho Rocha
Summary: Proficiency testing is a method to assess a laboratory's ability in performing specific tests or measurements and demonstrate the reliability of the results. ISO 13528:2022 presents four performance statistics, including the z score. An alternative approach using analysis of variance method has been proposed for proficiency testing scheme interpretation. This communication introduces residual analysis as a way to select a suitable analysis of variance model for proficiency testing when the assigned value is obtained by consensus value. Comparison between analysis of variance and z score for interlaboratory comparison on measuring NOx in vehicle emissions showed different conclusions for one laboratory due to violation of the homoscedasticity assumption, which is not considered in the z score but can be addressed by residual analysis and feasible generalized least squares.
ACCREDITATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Joel Kabugo, Joanita Namutebi, Dennis Mujuni, Andrew Nsawotebba, George William Kasule, Kenneth Musisi, Edgar Kigozi, Abdunoor Nyombi, Pius Lutaaya, Fredrick Kangave, Moses L. Joloba
Summary: The Uganda Ministry of Health introduced the GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay in 2012 and launched the GeneXpert MTB/RIF proficiency testing scheme in 2015. The number of laboratories participating gradually increased, with more frequent participation associated with higher testing accuracy.
Article
Medicine, Legal
Brett O. Gardner, Maddisen Neuman, Sharon Kelley
Summary: Calls for blind proficiency testing in forensic science have been increasing, and this study reports the outcomes of one laboratory's blind quality control program in the latent print section. Results showed that almost all blind quality control prints were of sufficient quality to enter into AFIS, and there was a significant association between quality metrics and case outcomes. Average print quality was in the midpoint of the range, with prints evenly distributed across different categories.
FORENSIC SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL
(2021)
Article
Oncology
Richard K. Yang, Hui Chen, Sinchita Roy-Chowdhuri, Asif Rashid, Hector Alvarez, Mark Routbort, Keyur P. Patel, Raja Luthra, L. Jeffrey Medeiros, Gokce A. Toruner
Summary: The majority of tumors show concordant results between IHC and PCR-based MSI testing, but the addition of NGS and MLH1 promoter methylation analyses can be beneficial for resolving borderline cases of tumors with major discordance.
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Suman Tewary, Sudipta Mukhopadhyay
Summary: This work presents an automated scoring method for prognostic marker HER2 stained tissue samples. Two CNN networks and statistical decision fusion are used to score the sample image. The proposed method achieves improved accuracy compared to existing methods through experiments and evaluations.
APPLIED SOFT COMPUTING
(2022)
Article
Pathology
K. Dufraing, F. Fenizia, E. Torlakovic, N. Wolstenholme, Z. C. Deans, E. Rouleau, M. Vyberg, S. Parry, E. Schuuring, Elisabeth M. C. Dequeker
Summary: Predictive biomarker testing is essential in personalized medicine for cancer patients, and laboratories participating in external quality assurance programs are crucial for ensuring accurate results. Recently, various EQA providers have collaborated to harmonize these programs further, emphasizing quality, transparency, and evidence-based approaches. This updated version aims to provide an overview of current practices and recommendations for predictive biomarker testing programs.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Guojia Hou, Yuxuan Li, Huan Yang, Kunqian Li, Zhenkuan Pan
Summary: Achieving subjective and objective quality assessment of underwater images is important, but limited due to the lack of publicly available datasets. To address this, we establish UID2021, a large-scale underwater image dataset, for evaluating NR UIQA metrics. The dataset consists of 60 degraded underwater images and their quality improved versions. Mean opinion scores are obtained for each image. Our dataset enables comprehensive evaluation and further research on UIQA.
ACM TRANSACTIONS ON MULTIMEDIA COMPUTING COMMUNICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Omar El Samad, Rana Baydoun
Summary: The laboratory improved its analytical protocol and provided valuable experience to its staff through proficiency tests.
ACCREDITATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Yuan-Yuan Fan, Ying-Jun Sang
Summary: A no-reference image quality comprehensive assessment function model was proposed in this study, which classifies image quality into contrast, sharpness, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and determines the interrelation and weights of each assessment index. The results showed a strong correlation with human visual perception and accurate assessment of image quality.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PATTERN RECOGNITION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hyun-Gyu Lee, Sang-Don Park, Jang-Whan Bae, SungJoon Moon, Chai Young Jung, Mi-Sook Kim, Tae-Hun Kim, Won Kyung Lee
Summary: This study developed an ensemble model using machine learning and deep learning algorithms to assess obstructive coronary artery disease (ObCAD) using clinical, laboratory, and ECG data. The ensemble model demonstrated good performance and superior prediction compared to traditional pretest probability (PTP) models, providing potential for personalized decisions and reducing overestimation of probability.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Michael Thompson
Summary: GeoPT, organized by IAG, provides z-scores to evaluate participants' performance. Analytical results are converted into z-scores to assess their fitness for purpose. The assigned value is a consensus derived from participants' results, requiring expertise in statistics, analytical chemistry and knowledge of test materials composition.
GEOSTANDARDS AND GEOANALYTICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Mustafa Alp cetinkaya, Gulin cetinkaya
Summary: The Turkish National Food Reference Laboratory has been organizing mycotoxin proficiency tests since 2013, using products mainly from Turkey for testing. These tests are important for controlling mycotoxin contamination in products intended for domestic consumption and export to the EU and other countries, with laboratory controls being a crucial step in this process.
ACCREDITATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
(2021)
