The February 26, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine published an article comparing four diets: 1) 20 percent fat, 15 percent protein and 65 percent carbohydrates (low-fat, average-protein); 2) 20 percent fat, 25 percent protein and 55 percent carbohydrates (low-fat, high-protein); 3) 40 percent fat, 15 percent protein and 45 percent carbohydrates (high-fat, average-protein); ^...

The A1C assay continues to gain ground as a potential replacement test for the diagnosis of diabetes after an international committee of experts recommended the test at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions this weekend.

The assay is traditionally used to monitor how well a patient is controlling his diabetes, but may be a more stable and reliable diagnostic tool than the fasting plasma glucose ...

A number of recent studies have demonstrated a major role for inflammation in atherogenesis, the pathophysiology of vulnerable plaque and, consequently, of cardiovascular events. Circulating markers of inflammation (e.g., CRP as measured by an hs-method ) have attracted considerable interest as predictors of cardiovascular risk. ...

One of these is PolyHeme, a pyridoxylated, polymerized hemoglobin with a half-life of about 24 hours and a refrigerated ...

One session at the American Society for Microbiology this morning was titled "Code Sepsis: Clinical Microbiology Responds to Sepsis." Donna Wolk from the University of Arizona reiterated some of the staggering numbers associated with sepsis: It's the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, translating into 600 patients ...

This afternoon brought a late-breaking session at ASM to discuss lab response to H1N1 swine flu. As ADVANCE has previously reported, the consensus seems to be that thanks to the terrific response of healthcare workers--certainly including laboratorians--what might have been a major public health crisis was handled efficiently, ...

Tuesday morning at ASM started with a symposium titled "Update on Gram-negative Pathogen Resistance and Lab Methods of Detection." To recap, David Landman from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn discussed resistance challenges with acinetobacter. Many strains have an outer cell membrane that ...

What a great day at the ASM General Meeting. After interesting educational sessions, fascinating poster presentations and making the rounds on the exhibit hall floor, your ADVANCE reporter is excited to begin planning new coverage.

Patrick Duffy of the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Richard Sack of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Elisabeth Carniel of the Pasteur Institute held ...

The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) have joined the American Civil Liberties Union and at least 18 other plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the legality of patents ...

ScienceInsider interviewed virologist Ruben Donis, chief of the molecular Virology and Vaccines branch at the CDC about genetics of the H1N1 virus causing the current swine flu outbreak, with some very interesting revelations.

CA-125 is used mainly to monitor patients with ovarian cancer (OC), in part due to the low level of sensitivity when CA-125 is used alone. In an effort to improve the early detection of OC while keeping the number of false positives low (higher specificity), studies ...

Unfortunate news for the laboratory industry: the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is cutting its Clinical Laboratory Science program, thanks to-you guessed it-budget cuts. Dr. Robert Golden, dean of the medical school, says the 80 students currently enrolled will be able to finish the program, but ...

"The genetic analysis of common disease is turning out to be a lot more complex than expected," proclaims a recent New York Times article. There are the rare diseases ...

The Lab Industry Strategic Outlook: Market Trends & Analysis 2009 from the Washington G-2 Reports predicts serious growth for the clinical laboratory through 2017-90%, or $98.4 billion in revenue by 2017. This immense growth will be largely driven by factors like increased genetic and esoteric testing, ...

In the past couple of years, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has received significant media attention as a prime example of a "superbug" and a somber case study of antibiotic resistance. An abundance of hospital-acquired cases put the healthcare community on alert, and although the problem of resistance remains ...

From Annals of Internal Medicine: At two Australian teaching hospital emergency departments, 612 consecutive patients who presented with acute severe shortness of breath were assigned through randomized numbers to receive BNP testing (n = 306) or no testing (n = 306). Clinicians and evaluators of study endpoints were not blinded as to treatment or no treatment. The main endpoints of the study were admission ...

A few general practitioners in New Jersey have implemented email services for patient/physician interaction. This means that if you are experiencing symptoms of a common cold, for example, you can email your physician with your symptoms rather than sit in a waiting room and potentially infect others there. If your symptoms seem unusual or more serious, the physician would request you make an appointment.

Supporters ...

"Walgreens isn't sure of patient demand or how much providing the services might cost the company," admits Hal Rosenbluth, chairman of the Take Care Health Systems division. ...

Researchers in the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston have developed a magnetic blood-cleansing system that removes pathogens from a patient's blood, as detailed in this ...

A new bill could eliminate government red tape that discourages doctors from ordering life-saving lab tests. Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-04) and Congressman Tim Murphy (PA-18) have introduced legislation to improve patients' access to life-saving diagnostic tests. The Patient Access to Critical Lab Tests Act (H.R. 1699) will eliminate burdensome Medicare billing regulations that often discourage hospitals from ordering ...

The number of HIV-related TB deaths is much higher than previously estimated. In 2007 there were an estimated 1.37 million new cases of TB among HIV-infected people and 456,000 deaths worldwide, according to a new global TB control report issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). The 2009 Global TB Control Report reveals that one out of four TB deaths is HIV-related, twice as many as previously recognized. ...