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Instrument Calibration

Instrument Calibration

Instrument calibration is essential for ensuring that instruments produce accurate and consistent results. It is vital in manufacturing, healthcare, testing laboratories, and scientific research. Calibration processes are specific to each instrument and help enhance data accuracy. Each instrument has a unique calibration process tailored to its design and function to improve data accuracy.
Analytical Balance Calibration
An analytical balance measures mass and requires regular calibration to...

Measurement: Standard Units

Measurement: Standard Units

Every measurement provides three kinds of information: the size or magnitude of the measurement (a number), a standard of comparison for the measurement (a unit), and an indication of the uncertainty of the measurement. While the number and unit are explicitly represented when a quantity is written, the uncertainty is an aspect of the errors in the measurement results.

Accuracy and Precision

Accuracy and Precision

Scientists typically make repeated measurements of a quantity to ensure the quality of their findings and to evaluate both the precision and the accuracy of their results. Measurements are said to be precise if they yield very similar results when repeated in the same manner. A measurement is considered accurate if it yields a result that is very close to the true or the accepted value. Precise values agree with each other; accurate values agree with a true value. Highly accurate measurements...

Uncertainty in Measurement: Accuracy and Precision

Uncertainty in Measurement: Accuracy and Precision

Scientists typically make repeated measurements of a quantity to ensure the quality of their findings and to evaluate both the precision and the accuracy of their results. Measurements are said to be precise if they yield very similar results when repeated in the same manner. A measurement is considered accurate if it yields a result that is very close to the true or the accepted value. Precise values agree with each other; accurate values agree with a true value.

SI Units: 2019 Redefinition

SI Units: 2019 Redefinition

Measurement is an indispensable part of analytical chemistry. The result of measurement helps quantify a substance's physical property and compare it with the physical property of another substance. Each measurement comprises two components - a number indicating the magnitude and a unit of measurement as a standard for comparison. Further, the same quantity can be measured using different units of measurement, which leads to differences in magnitude.
A standard set of units has been defined to...

Units and Standards of Measurement

Units and Standards of Measurement

A physical quantity is defined either by specifying its measurement method or by stating how it is calculated from other measurements. For example, consider a metallic cube. We might define its mass and dimensions by specifying methods for measuring them, such as using a weighing machine and a meter scale. Then, we could define the volume by stating that it is the cube of its side, and we could calculate the density as the mass divided by the volume.
Measurements of physical quantities are...

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Reproducibility and Harmonization in Research Using Biological Standards: The Example of Platelet Agonist Collagen-Related Peptide

Reproducibility and Harmonization in Research Using Biological Standards: The Example of Platelet Agonist Collagen-Related Peptide

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Harmonisation of Measurement Procedures: how do we get it done?

Mary Lou Gantzer¹, W Greg Miller

¹BioCore Diagnostics, LLC, 801 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.

The Clinical Biochemist. Reviews

|August 30, 2012

Summary

Achieving comparable clinical laboratory results is vital for disease management. This review explores harmonisation, a process for ensuring result comparability when standardization isn't possible, focusing on key principles and challenges.

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Area of Science:

Clinical Chemistry
Laboratory Medicine
Metrology

Background:

Comparable clinical laboratory measurement results are essential for accurate disease identification and management.
Harmonisation aims to achieve result comparability across different measurement procedures, locations, and times.
Standardisation, a subset of harmonisation, relies on calibration traceability to SI units via reference measurement procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

To explain calibration traceability and the principles of harmonisation for measurands lacking a reference measurement procedure.
To discuss the value and importance of harmonisation in clinical laboratory science.
To highlight barriers to harmonisation and current global efforts to improve it.

Main Methods:

Review of calibration traceability principles.
Focus on harmonisation strategies for measurands without higher-order reference procedures.
Discussion of commutable reference materials and existing harmonisation barriers.

Main Results:

Harmonisation is crucial for ensuring clinical laboratory result comparability when full standardisation is not feasible.
Commutable reference materials are vital for successful harmonisation.
Significant barriers hinder current harmonisation efforts.

Conclusions:

Harmonisation provides a framework for achieving comparable results for individual measurands, even without a reference measurement procedure.
Addressing barriers and advancing global collaborative efforts are necessary to improve the state of laboratory measurement harmonisation.
Continued focus on harmonisation principles is key to enhancing the reliability of clinical laboratory diagnostics.