The present invention concerns methods and means for assessing the quality of a biological sample. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method for assessing the quality of a biological sample comprising the steps of measuring the concentration of lactate and of ascorbate of said biological sample.

A method and device are provided for measuring a level of a clinically relevant analyte (such as glucose) in a fluid (such as blood). The device includes a flow path for conducting said fluid through the device; a detection chamber arranged on said flow path; and detector means arranged to detect analyte levels in the fluid in said chamber, wherein:; said detection chamber contains a predetermined amount of an analyte such that that analyte mixes with fluid in the detection chamber to form, at the detector means, a calibration sample of the fluid at a time after the arrival of the fluid in said detection chamber, and said detector means is arranged to detect a first analyte level of an unadulterated sample of the fluid at a first time which is before the formation of said calibration sample and to detect a second analyte level of said calibration sample at a second time which is after the formation of said calibration sample.

It is intended to develop and provide a method for detecting a particular glycan-isoform rapidly and specifically by a small number of steps. The present invention provides a glycan-isoform detection method comprising quantifying an immune complex formed by the mixing of a test sample with a sugar chain non-reducing terminal residue-binding lectin and an antibody specifically binding to the protein moiety of the glycan-isoform, etc., comparing the obtained amount of the immune complex with the amount of a control immune complex obtained when a control sample is not mixed with the sugar chain non-reducing terminal residue-binding lectin or is mixed with a control protein, and determining the presence or absence of the glycan-isoform of interest in the test sample on the basis of the difference between these amounts.

The present invention relates to method for the direct detection and/or quantification of at least one compound with a molecular weight of at least 200, wherein the compound to be detected and/or quantified is a chemically complex molecule, wherein said chemically complex molecule is substituted with at least two groups -R, wherein each R group means independently - OH, -OP(O)(OH)₂ or -P(O)(OH)₂, with the proviso that at least two R are independently selected from -P(O)(OH)₂ and -OP(O)(OH)₂, wherein the compound or compounds to be detected and/or quantified are within a biological matrix, wherein said biological matrix is a biological fluid, a biological tissue, stomach contents, intestine contents, stool sample or a culture cells, wherein the method comprises performing a chromatography and identifying the retention time and/or the intensity of the signal by means of a mass or radioactivity detector.