Specifically, the storage and transportation of liquid blood are complicated by unreliable modes of transportation and inadequate access to cold chain storage. (1,2) However, these same practices face unique challenges at the point-of-care or in resource-limited settings.
![little disc collection device for menstrual blood little disc collection device for menstrual blood](https://e-watchman.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/monkey-tablet.jpg)
In these settings, a trained phlebotomist will collect milliliter volumes of blood by venipuncture, which can either be immediately processed and tested in the laboratory or stored for future analysis within a defined period of time dependent on storage temperature. Obtaining liquid blood samples in centralized facilities or even local clinics is routine practice. For these reasons, blood is often thought of as the ideal specimen for evaluating the health status of a patient.
#LITTLE DISC COLLECTION DEVICE FOR MENSTRUAL BLOOD FREE#
We anticipate that this approach presents a viable method for preparing and storing samples of blood in limited resource settings while maintaining current clinical protocols for processing and analyzing dried blood spots.īlood is a complex matrix, comprising cellular and liquid fractions, that contains a wealth of diagnostically relevant biomarkers, which are inclusive of the cells themselves (e.g., neutrophil count), DNA/RNA (e.g., endogenous or from pathogens), and myriad solutes in plasma (e.g., proteins, metabolites, free amino acids). Similarly, the recovery of select amino acids was conserved in comparison to a recent report with improved intercard precision. 95%) of sodium with no evidence of a statistically significant difference between dried and liquid blood samples. Patterned cards also facilitate the near quantitative recovery (ca. We demonstrate a 3-fold improvement in accuracy for the quantitation of hemoglobin using pDBS cards compared to unpatterned cards. These patterned cards reproducibly fill four replicate extraction zones independent of the hematocrit effect. Herein, we describe a patterned dried blood spot (pDBS) card that uses wax barriers to control the flow and restrict the distribution of blood to provide enhanced sampling. Alternative microsampling technologies have minimized or eliminated this bias by restricting blood distribution, but these approaches deviate from clinical protocols and present a barrier to broad adoption. However, a significant drawback of standard DBS cards is the potential for sampling bias due to unrestricted filling caused by the hematocrit of blood, which often limits quantitative or reproducible measurements.
![little disc collection device for menstrual blood little disc collection device for menstrual blood](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51V7ecH0wvL._SX348_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Dried blood spot (DBS) cards perform many functions for sampling blood that is intended for subsequent laboratory analysis, which include: (i) obviating the need for a phlebotomist by using fingersticks, (ii) enhancing the stability of analytes at ambient or elevated environmental conditions, and (iii) simplifying the transportation of samples without a cold chain.