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Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer (PCa) is limited by the lack of specificity but is further complicated in the benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) population which also exhibit elevated PSA, representing a clear unmet need to distinguish BPH from PCa. Herein, we evaluated the utility of FLNA IP-MRM, age, and prostate volume to stratify men with BPH from those with PCa. Diagnostic performance of the biomarker panel was better than PSA alone in discriminating patients with negative biopsy from those with PCa, as well as those who have had multiple prior biopsies (AUC 0.75 and 0.87 compared to AUC of PSA alone 0.55 and 0.57 for patients who have had single compared to multiple negative biopsies, respectively). Of interest, in patients with PCa, the panel demonstrated improved performance than PSA alone in those with Gleason scores of 5–7 (AUC 0.76 vs. 0.56) and Gleason scores of 8–10 (AUC 0.74 vs. 0.47). With Gleason scores (8–10), the negative predictive value of the panel is 0.97, indicating potential to limit false negatives in aggressive cancers. Together, these data demonstrate the ability of the biomarker panel to perform better than PSA alone in men with BPH, thus preventing unnecessary biopsies.

A method has been developed for the direct determination of lithium in serum and whole blood by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry using tantalum carbide coated graphite tubes in combination with ammonium nitrate matrix modification. The maximum permissible charring temperature for lithium was raised from 1050 to 1500 "C and the lifetime of the tube was also prolonged for ca. 200 more firings using the tantalum carbide coated graphite tube compared with the conventional pyrolytic graphite coated graphite tube. Matrix interferences from chlorides present in human blood samples were eliminated using the proposed method, which has been used for the determination of lithium in serum and whole blood of normal healthy individuals.

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