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A proficiency test (PT) composed of two frozen tissue specimens was received in the molecular laboratory. The specimens were to be tested for the detection of a gene mutation that is part of the laboratory’s current test menu. Because one technologist was off that day and the other staff members were occupied with a large number of patient samples, the supervisor decided to test the two specimens using a modified assay being developed in the laboratory. Because this method was in development, the results of the test were checked against sequencing analysis performed in a blinded manner at a partner institution. The results of the test were recorded on the proficiency documents, signed by the supervisor, and reported to the PT testing agency. When the report from the proficiency agency was received, the laboratory results were consistent with results from other participating laboratories. The laboratory director, however, refused to sign the results.  Why would the laboratory director not accept the proficiency test results? 

Two middle-age women who had been adopted into different families as infants discover circumstantially that they may have the same biological mother. Which of the following analyses would give the best information toward proving their maternal lineage?

From the case study in the previous question (#97), which of the following actions in this case is prohibited in proficiency testing? 

A quantitative method was performed 100 times, and results from 99 of the 100 runs were in agreement with each other. This method has 99%:

Which of the following organizations provides oversight and governs the use the radioactive materials in the clinical laboratory?

In inorganic DNA isolation or “salting out” procedures, in the presence of low pH and high salt concentrations, which intracellular component precipitates out of solution?

T-cell receptor gene rearrangements were analyzed by PCR using forward and reverse primers complementary to the Vγ1 and Jγ1 regions, respectively, of the T-cell receptor gene region. The products were separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and bands visualized using ethidium bromide. The lane corresponding to the patient had a sharp band. All controls were acceptable. How is this result interpreted?

Which of the following methods used to detect mutations is based on sequencing the region of interest?

SyBr green fluorescence is detectable at which stage of the PCR amplification process?

Maize was domesticated in Southern Mexico from the wild ___________ plant about 5000 B.C.E.