title: Quality control in nucleic acid amplification methods: use of elementary probability theory.
abstract: Since it is not possible to state with certainty that contamination has occurred during a nucleic acid amplification assay in the absence of a positive result for a negative control, methods of elementary probability theory are used to illustrate how to identify those runs in which the possibility of contamination should be considered. The use of binomial and Poisson distributions and an analysis of clusters are presented with illustrative examples to demonstrate their use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. dshapiro@bu.edu
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Shapiro
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D005784:Gene Amplification; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000592:standards; D011336:Probability; D011786:Quality Control