The present study performed on a total of 567 cases of human female breast cancer compares the results of the biochemical assay (dextran-coated charcoal assay = DCC) for oestrogen receptor (ER) with those of several morphological methods developed for the detection of the ER or for the prediction of prognosis by use of other systems (FSA = fluorescent ligand binding assay, ER-ICA = monoclonal antibody assay for ER, LRA = lectin receptor assay using peanut agglutinin, and Barr body estimation). Whereas no correlation at all was observed among the results of the DCC and those of the FSA and Barr body estimation, the ER-ICA and the LRA showed an unanimous tendency towards higher values of ER with increasing intensity of the staining product. The results of the ER-ICA may be expressed by an immuno-reactive score (IRS) calculated from the staining intensity (SI) and the percentage of positive cells (PP). The morphological methods are evaluated with special regard to their correlation with the DCC, their theoretical basis, and their practical application. In summary, the ER-ICA appears to be the sole method directly visualizing the ER protein and--in contrast to the DCC--is therefore completely independent of the content of endogenous or exogenous oestrogens in the tumor tissue. The LRA provides valuable additional information concerning tumour differentiation and possible response to endocrine therapy, whereas the FSA and Barr body estimation should be considered as obsolete and should therefore be abandoned.

The aim of the study was to establish reliable cut-off values, indicating chronic alcohol abuse, of the relative (and absolute) serum carbohydrate-deficient transfemn (CDT) concentrations determined by the ChronAIco I.D.™-assay. Serum samples from 88 women and 48 men, with the daily alcohol consumption, acute or chronic (liver) diseases and medication ascertained by means of a questionnaire, were analyzed. The cut-off values of the CDT/transferrin ratios and the CDT serum concentrations (95 th percentiles) for women consuming < 20 g ethanol/day and men drinking < 50 g ethanol/day were 2.5% and 102 mg/1. Pathological CDT results were confirmed by isoelectric focusing. Taking into account the intra-individual variance of serum CDT and the analytical imprecision, the use of a borderline of 2.5-2.7% as decision criterion indicating chronic alcohol abuse is suggested.Zusammenfassung: Ziel der Studie war es, für die unter Verwendung des ChronAIco I.D.™-Assays ermittelten und als Marker .für chronischen Alkoholmißbrauch genutzten relativen (und absoluten) Serum-Konzentrationen des Kohlenhydrat-defizienten Transferrins (CDT) zuverlässige Entscheidungsgrenzen zu etablieren. Wir untersuchten Serumproben von 88 Frauen und 48 Männern, von denen anhand eines Fragebogens Angaben zur täglichen Alkoholkonsumption, zu (Leber-)Erkrankungen sowie zur Medikation vorlagen. Die Entscheidungsgrenzen (95. Perzentilen) für die relativen (CDT/Transfenin) bzw. absoluten CDT-Konzentrationen von Frauen und Männern mit normaler Alkoholaufnahme (<20 g/Tag für Frauen und <50 g/Tag für Männer) waren 2.5% bzw. 102 mg/1. Pathologische CDT-Befunde wurden durch Isoelektrische

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Summary: Four different, well known colour reagents for iron determination were tested in a citrate buffer at pH 2.0 under the same automated standard conditions and compared with a manual reference method on human serum and plasma samples. Specific results were obtained only with the chromogen tripyridyl-striazine. A micromethod was developed, which is generally well suited for automated, direct serum iron determinations, with respect to good flow properties, simple reagent composition, high reagent stability, rapid colour development, stable colour complex and high specificity. This method was run on either a Gilford

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