Abstract

as enzymatic reactions, pH measurements, and blood-gas analysis, are highly sensitive to tempera-ture, there is a need to measure temperature accu-rately and closely control it. To help satisfy these needs and to aid in getting a usable temperature scale into the clinical laboratory, the National Bureau of Standards has developed SRM 933 and SRM 934. These precision thermometers are calibrated at 0, 25, 30, and 37 “C. Their value to the clinical labora-tory is described. Apart from its use in monitoring the temperature of patients in hospital wards, during surgery, and in intensive-care units, temperature measurement and its control are of critical importance in many aspects of the clinical laboratory and in the hospital general-ly. The temperatures at which enzyme rate analyses are conducted, for example, are very important be-cause of their high temperature sensitivity (1-5). It is well known that the rates of enzyme reactions change by about 10 % per degree Celsius change in temperature (6). Hence, for reproducible results within a given clinical laboratory and for meaningful intercomparison among laboratories, the tempera-ture not only must be carefully controlled but must be known absolutely. Recognizing this situation, the Expert Panel on Enzymes, which was created by the