and described so that others skilled in the art may appreciate and understand the principles and practices of the present invention u201c nonhdl u201d refers to ldl vldl and chylomicrons i e lipoproteins other than hdl that will react with a conventional cholesterol reaction membrane u201c hdl fractionation layer u201d refers to a dry test strip layer selected from suitable materials and impregnated with one or more reagents such that non hdl choesterol i e vldl and ldl in a fluid sample deposited on the layer are both precipitated and substantially retained within the layer but hdls in solution in the sample remain in solution and are able to pass through the fractionation layer u201c plasma u201d refers to the non cellular portion of blood from which cellular components such as red blood cells are excluded u201c serum u201d technically differs from plasma in that it does not include fibrinogen however for purposes of this application u201c serum u201d and u201c plasma u201d are sometimes used interchangeably u201c vertically aligned u201d is defined with respect to fig8 10 and the accompanying text in this specification a u201c stack u201d refers to one or more test layers of membranes placed on top of one another in a vertically aligned relationship a u201c disbursement layer u201d is an elongated layer that receives a blood sample on one side thereof spreads the sample through.