The present study evaluates the performance of automated white blood cell (WBC) differential counts by the new Haematology Analyser SF-3000. Five hundred and sixty-six WBC differential counts performed by the SF-3000 were compared with WBC differential counts of the well established analyser NE-1500 and to manual reference counts. Numerical results of the WBC differential counts were correlated to each other by regression analyses. The efficiency of instrument flagging for the presence of abnormal WBC was expressed as per cent of subjects correctly classified. Neutrophil and lymphocyte counts correlated well between analysers and to manual reference counts. Monocyte counts for the SF-3000 correlated significantly better with the microscopic counts, whereas correlations of eosinophils and basophils were better for the NE-1500. The efficiency rates of flagging for the presence of > or = 1% abnormal WBC were 80% for the NE-1500 and 70% for the SF-3000. This difference was exclusively due to low specificity of the SF-3000 in flagging cells of the 'Left Shift' category, especially in samples with elevated WBC counts. The flagging efficiencies for blasts, promyelocytes, myelocytes, atypical lymphocytes and nucleated red cells were identical for both analysers. Thus, with regard to the performance of automated WBC differential counts the SF-3000 seems comparable with other, well established haematology analysers.

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Aim:The aim of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of the blink reflex as a method for obtaining an early diagnosis of central nervous system dysfunction in hypothyroid patients who do not have signs or symptoms of nervous system dysfunction. Materials and Methods: Forty-two patients (3 males, 39 females), mean age 40 (Ϯ11), with newly diagnosed primary hypothyroidism and 30 healthy control subjects were included in the study. In all patients, the cause of hypothyroidism was chronic autoimmune thyroiditis. For blink reflex testing, subjects lay supine on a bed in a warm room with eyes gently closed. Recordings were performed with an EMG machine (Nihon Kohden/Neuropack), with a filter setting of 20 Hz to 10 kHz, using an analysis time of 50 ms. Recordings were performed with surface recording electrodes (Dantec 13K60, Copenhagen, Denmark). Results: Second ipsilateral response (R2Y) and second contralateral response (R2C) latencies in hypothyroidism were prolonged relative to controls, and the differences were statistically significant (P Ͻ 0.001 and P Ͻ 0.001, respectively). Latency of R1, R2Y, and R2C did not correlate with free T3, free T4, or TSH values in the hypothyroid group. Conclusion: The finding of abnormal blink reflex responses in hypothyroid individuals raises the notion that they may be useful in detecting early changes and in the follow-up of the patients with the disorder.

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