Blood samples collected before, during (runners only), immediately after, and at several points during exercise recovery were used to determine circulating G-CSF levels (runners only) and enumerate CD34+ HSCs by flow cytometry (runners and cyclists).
Blood samples (collected at baseline and 12 months only) will be dispatched to a central laboratory (Royal Cornwall Hospital NHS Trust) for determination of NT pro-BNP levels.
In the uptake study, serum perchlorate was not measured, and thyroid function measurements were made only from blood samples collected at the screening visit and on exposure day 14 (0800 hr).
Because subjects vaccinated with a single dose of 10 µg of PsA-TT at 14 18 weeks of age in study C received a second dose of PsA-TT at 9 12 months old, only 2 blood samples collected prior to the first dose of PsA-TT and 28 days after the first dose are included in this analysis for these subjects.
As 25(OH D concentrations may fluctuate seasonally, 25(OH D was only determined in blood samples collected between January and March 1989.
Unlike previous P. vivax cohort studies in which blood samples were collected only on symptomatic individuals [10], [14], [22] [25], our cohort patients were systematically examined every month and blood samples collected regardless of symptoms, allowing for the detection of asymptomatic infections, a common occurrence in the Amazon Basin [2], [3], [26] [28].
However, collecting a fasting blood sample proved difficult in the workplace, and only seven blood samples were fasting (5.7 % of blood samples collected where fasting status was recorded).
Each sample set included paired blood samples collected in a 10-ml heparin vacutainer tube.
DNA was extracted from the blood samples collected using Blood DNA Midi Kit (Qiagen, USA).
Determination of serum biomarkers was performed only in one blood sample collected during early pregnancy and the results may therefore not be representative for the course of pregnancy.
