This master thesis focuses on proper workbook elaboration regarding to the subject Specific laboratory methods, which is taught on medical high school, program Laboratory assistant.

The use of full fat soybeans (FFSB) in animal feeds has, to date, been limited due to the presence of anti-nutritional factors (ANF). It is, therefore, increasingly recognized that, if the full potential of full fat soybeans for the use in diets is to be realized, reliable analytical procedures must be available for the quality control of processed FFSB which would enable feed manufactures to determine the degree of soybean processing. Results of currently available analytical techniques vary widely between laboratories, causing uncertainty and confusion among soybean processors, feed manufacturers and end users. A collaborative study was conducted to standardize a number of existing analytical procedures used for determining the effects of heat treatment on FFSB and to generate South African ranges for standardized laboratory procedures. Raw soybeans, in a mixture of cultivars, were processed by dry extrusion at eight different temperatures (110ºC, 120ºC, 127ºC, 136ºC, 140ºC, 145ºC, 151ºC and 164ºC). In vivo trials were conducted on broiler chicks which were fed the eight extruded FFBB. Their performance was monitored with regard to average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The Protein Solubility in KOH (PSKOH) and the Protein Dispersibility index (PDI) procedures were used for standardization in an inter-laboratory study with the participation of ten South African analytical laboratories. Statistical analysis of the in vivo trials with broilers showed no significant difference (P>0.05) between broilers fed FFSB processed at 136 ºC, 140 ºC and 145 ºC. In addition, samples processed at those temperatures (136 ºC, 140 ºC and 145 ºC) showed the best chick performance with regard to average daily gain (ADG) and the feed conversion ratio (FCR). There was a significant difference (P<0.05) between broilers fed FFSB processed at 110 ºC, 120 ºC and 120 ºC as well as those fed FFSB processed at 151 ºC and 164 ºC. In vitro results showed that the PSKOH and PDI values corresponding to temperatures which showed the best chicken performance were between 67-77% and 10.3-8.5 index units respectively. Therefore, the South African ranges for describing the degree of soybean processing using the PSKOH method are 66-77% with repeatability and reproducibility limits of 3.5 and 10.9 respectively and, when using the PDI method, are 8.5-10.3 index units with repeatability and reproducibility limits of 2.1 and 7.7 respectively. A very good correlation was established between the animal production parameters and the PSKOH values, while a poor correlation between animal production parameters (ADWG and FCR) and PDI values was established. The PSKOH method was found to be the most reliable method for FFSB quality control under standardized South African conditions. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Medicine) in the branch of Anatomical Pathology Johannesburg, 2012 / Objective To determine the effectiveness of the cell block technique for immunocytochemical diagnosis by comparing cytomorphologic preservation and immunocytochemistry (ICC) stains in paired cell block and conventional fine needle aspiration (FNA) samples. Study Design This was a prospective study. Material for both conventional smears and cell blocks were collected simultaneously during fine needle aspiration of 50 lesions comprising lymph node, lung and liver masses. Grading of cellularity, morphological preservation, architectural preservation, immunocytochemical staining intensity and presence of background staining were compared on paired FNA smears and cell block samples derived from the same case. Each arm of the paired analysis was performed blindly without knowledge of the grading outcome of the other. The Kappa statistic (Κ) was used to measure inter-rater agreement. Results The fifty samples evaluated included FNAs from the lung, 24/50 (48%); liver, 23/50 (46%) and lymph node, 3/50 (6%). The immunocytochemistry stains consisted of 44/50 (88%) CK7, 44/50 (88%) CK20, 18/50 (36%) TTF1, 10/50 (20%) synaptophysin, 10/50 (20%) Hepar-1 and 7/50 (14%) AE1/3. There was no overall agreement in preservation of cytomorphological detail and ICC staining between the two methods. The Papanicolaou stained conventional FNA smears fared better then cell block for the vi evaluation of nuclear and cytomorphologic characteristics; cells in the cell block were poorly preserved in many cases. The ICC stains worked better on the cell block samples due to lack of background and aberrant staining. Conclusion Conventional FNA smears and cell blocks complement each other. Our results indicate that it would be optimal to use both modalities in the diagnostic work-up of mass lesions amenable to FNA diagnosis; the former to assess morphology, and the latter for optimal immunocytochemistry results. In resource constrained settings, the cost implications of performing both conventional and blocked smears on all FNA material warrants further evaluation.

Nitrogen is the most widely needed and the most widely used of the fertilizer elements. Yet, in spite of the voluminous research work of evaluating the nitrogen status of soils, laboratory tests for the purpose of predicting need of nitrogen fertilizer are not very widely used. In general, laboratory tests for nitrogen supplying power have not given satisfactory results. Methods currently employed by a few laboratories can be classified either as biological or chemical. In the former method, the soil is incubated under optimum conditions and the amount of nitrate released over a given period of time is measured and used as an index to the nitrogen supplying power of the soil. In the latter method a portion of the total nitrogen is released by chemical means and measured. An attempt is made using chemical methods to release the same amount or a constant portion of the amount of nitrogen that normally would be furnished to a growing plant by the soil during one season.