A sample holder for use in a centrifuge, the sample holder being generally planar and comprising: an aperture or recess for releasably retaining a sample storage member including a sample chamber adapted to contain a volume of liquid; a centre point around which the holder will rotate during use; and one or more calibration features, wherein the calibration feature(s) comprise one or more outer edges, which lie on the side of the or each calibration feature which is furthest from the centre point, and the one or more outer edges comprise a series of radially spaced-apart outer edge portions or positions which are spaced at different distances from the centre point as a function of angular position around the centre point.

A sample holder for use in a centrifuge, the sample holder being generally planar and comprising: an aperture or recess for releasably retaining a sample storage member including a sample chamber adapted to contain a volume of liquid; a centre point around which the holder will rotate during use; and one or more calibration features, wherein the calibration feature(s) comprise one or more outer edges, which lie on the side of the or each calibration feature which is furthest from the centre point, and the one or more outer edges comprise a series of radially spaced-apart outer edge portions or positions which are spaced at different distances from the centre point as a function of angular position around the centre point.

An inline concentration meter includes a light source unit emitting mixed light containing at least two wavelengths with a phase difference, a detecting unit including a light incident part for entering the mixed light emitted from the light source unit into a fluid passage of a detector body and at least two light detection parts receiving the mixed light passed through the fluid passage, a computing processor unit conducting frequency analyzes of detection signals of the mixed light output from the respective light detection parts and computing variations of intensities of the detection signals corresponding to absorbances in at least two frequency ranges to compute a concentration of fluid in the fluid passage based on the variations of the intensities of the detection signals, and a recording/displaying unit recording and displaying a value of the fluid concentration computed at the computing processor unit.

Provided is a blood analysis device including a capillary tube, a photo sensor disposed on a sidewall of the capillary tube to detect blood flowing in the capillary tube, and an absorption sensor coupled to one end of the capillary tube to absorb the blood in the capillary tube.

A microfluidic device includes a chamber configured to accommodate a sample and air, and a detection device provided with a light emitter configured to emit light towards the chamber on a light transmission path and a light receiver configured to receive the light, and further configured to measure an optical density of the chamber to determine whether the sample is accommodated in the chamber based on the received light. A boundary between the sample and the air accommodated in the chamber is provided on the light transmission path.

A model-based method of inspecting a specimen for presence of one or more interferent, such as Hemolysis, Icterus, and/or Lipemia (HI L) is provided. The method includes generating a pixelated image of the specimen in a first color space, determining color components (e.g., an a-value and a b-value) for pixels in the pixelated image, classifying of the pixels as being either liquid or non-liquid, defining one or more liquid regions based upon the pixels classified as liquid, and determining a presence of one or more interferent within the one or more liquid regions. The liquid classification is based upon a liquid classification model. Pixel classification may be based on a trained multiclass classifier. Interference level for the one or more interferent may be provided. Testing apparatus adapted to carry out the method are described, as are other aspects.

A method and instrument for determining optical density of a solution is disclosed. A flow cell 1 having at least three light paths (4a, 4b, 4c) is provided (100), wherein each light path has a respective predetermined path length, l. Absorbance readings are taken (400), A, of the solution at the at least three light paths (4a, 4b, 4c). For each pair of light paths, a slope, c, is calculated (500) by dividing a difference in absorbance reading, A, with a difference in path length, l. The calculated slopes, c, are compared (600), and a) if the calculated slopes, c, are the same, the slope is used for determining (700) optical density of the solution, or b) if the calculated slopes, c, are not the same, the steepest slope of the calculated slopes is used for determining (701a) optical density of the solution, or the slope of the calculated slopes being in the range of an absorbance reading of 0.01 to 2 is used for determining (701b) optical density of the solution.