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The Bio-Rad Variant Haemoglobin Testing System is an automated analyser which uses the principle of cation exchange high performance liquid chromatography. This evaluation was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of the instrument as a screening mechanism to assist in the diagnosis of haemoglobinopathies. The ability to quantify haemoglobins A2 and F and to 'flag' other haemoglobin variants was tested. Within-batch precision was excellent and between-batch precision was good. Linearity and sensitivity compared favourably with the manufacturer's published ranges. The level of carry-over for haemoglobins F, S and A was less than 0.25%. The mean carry-over for haemoglobin A2 was 2.08%. This higher figure reflected the smaller absolute difference between the high and low samples for this parameter. The instrument never failed to indicate the presence of an abnormal haemoglobin in 271 selected samples. The instrument was reliable throughout the evaluation and at no time was a run aborted.

Antipsychotic drugs are the current first-line of treatment for schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions. However, their molecular effects on the human brain are poorly studied, due to difficulty of tissue access and confounders associated with disease status. Here we examine differences in gene expression and DNA methylation associated with positive antipsychotic drug toxicology status in the human caudate nucleus. We find no genome-wide significant differences in DNA methylation, but abundant differences in gene expression. These gene expression differences are overall quite similar to gene expression differences between schizophrenia cases and controls. Interestingly, gene expression differences based on antipsychotic toxicology are different between brain regions, potentially due to affected cell type differences. We finally assess similarities with effects in a mouse model, which finds some overlapping effects but many differences as well. As a first look at the molecular effects of antipsychotics in the human brain, the lack of epigenetic effects is unexpected, possibly because long term treatment effects may be relatively stable for extended periods.

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