Christmas decorations next to palm trees are a fun treat for your Philadelphia-based reporter at the Gaylord Palms Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL, where opening remarks for the 15th Annual Meeting of the Association for Molecular Pathology just wrapped up.

As boomers we have brought our appropriate quota of children into the world-into a very different world than the one we were born into. When most of us were having children, the world was technologically advanced and moving forward at a blinding pace. My youngest son, now 23, does not remember not having at least one computer ...

Why do some diagnostic tests that seem useful to clinicians in their infancy never fully develop into stars? A number of reasons should be kept in mind when working with a new test in your laboratory or just reading an article or listening to a vendor.

The recent meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America featured a study from the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit assessing a new strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The strain, called USA600, is associated with poorer outcomes than other strains ...

This week, the FDA issued another emergency use authorization (EUA), this time allowing Focus Diagnostics to market and offer its SimplexaT Influenza A H1N1 (2009) test for use on the 3MT Integrated Cycler from 3M to CLIA high-complexity laboratories for the duration of the recently-declared national emergency.

For new viruses and in rapidly developing situations, EUAs may be necessary to give laboratorians ...

I was recently asked to give a lecture on establishing a reference range. For me, this is an easy task on paper but a difficult task to carry out. By reference range I mean that range from a low value to a high ...

Remember that there are people that know what we don't know. Find them, seek them out and in the words of Yoda, the Jedi master, learn from them. As a mother of three, my words of wisdom were often stated and seldom followed. However, as my children are all grown and in healthcare professions themselves, they do, upon occasion, ...

 What's the diagnosis?  

 Answer: diabetic ketoacidosis

 Another one:

Having recently attended COLA's Symposium for Clinical Laboratories in Orlando, Florida, I reflected on how valuable the symposium was for "launching" my consultant career.

Attendance at the symposium was actually in support of my current career as the laboratory coordinator of a COLA accredited lab. Staying current on COLA and CLIA regulations can be made fun and easy with regular attendance at one of the ...

CAP's annual meeting is off like a shot at the Gaylord National Resort, and the College named Kevin B. Dole, MD, FCAP, as the 2009 Pathologist of the Year during a ceremony Sunday night.

Dr. Dole is medical director at Caritas Medical Laboratories, and director of Pathology and Laboratory at Carney Hospital, both in Boston. He is also the laboratory director at Dedham Medical Associates in Dedham, MA, an associate ...

The sun was shining just outside of Washington, D.C., as CAP '09 kicked off its first official day at the Gaylord National Resort. Attendees funneled through registration and on to their first educational courses.

CAP Announces Election Results

CAP officials have released the names of winners of this summer's ...

In just a few days, the ADVANCE team will be among the 1,000-plus attendees making their way around the CAP '09 meeting site at the lovely waterfront Gaylord National Resort, just outside of the nation's capitol. We look forward to attending sessions led by some of the country's leaders in pathology and seeing ...

Greetings! It is with great excitement that I post my first blog for the online edition of ADVANCE for Administrators of the Laboratory. I would like to use this first post to introduce myself and discuss the direction in which I hope to take this bimonthly "administrative" exchange.

Professionally, I am a medical technologist with 30 + years of experience in laboratory science with a diverse array ...

Coumadin (Warfarin) has long been used to treat patients with atrial fibrillation. There is no doubt that Coumadin reduces the risk of stroke in the patients. However, the risk of hemorrhage and systemic embolism is increased. In addition to the risk factors associated with the drug, it is difficult to use for some patients. It requires periodic measurement of prothromin time (PT, INR), which can be weekly for some. ...

Prostate cancer (PCa) remains the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. as in most Western societies. Most men with PCa will not die from the disease but with it. Since the mid-1980s, screening with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test has more than doubled the risk of a prostate cancer diagnosis. A decrease in prostate cancer death rates has been observed since that time, but the relative contribution ...

The concept of multitasking demands our attention. Is it really possible? If so, in what situations? What is known about multitasking?

To begin, quite simply, there are times when multitasking clearly works--most people can walk and chew gum or carry on a conversation while cooking dinner. The reason this is possible is that both the tasks require minimal thinking on our part. Chewing gum borders on breathing--no ...

This press release from the National Institutes of Health clarifies that while the current strain of H1N1 will predominate in the upcoming influenza season, there doesn't seem to be biological pressure for the virus to re-combine with other circulating ...

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) concludes in a July 29 report that the country has much more work to do to prepare for flu season. Several high-priority areas that need immediate attention include:

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[Guest entry from Amanda Koehler, associate editor of ADVANCE for Medical Laboratory Professionals]

Many people say there is a strong correlation between science and art. One person who wholeheartedly agrees with this statement is Darlene Katz, an oil painter who started out as an immunologist.

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Drug resistance strikes again. U.S. health officials have detected Tamiflu-resistant cases of H1N1 along the U.S.-Mexico border. According to this AFP article, experts gathered in La Jolla, CA, at the Pan-American Health ...

Obesity is recognized as a serious chronic disease, but there is pessimism about how successful treatment can be. One pessimistic view is that almost no one succeeds in long-term maintenance of weight loss. For this blog, I will define success as "individuals who have intentionally lost at least 10% of their body weight and kept it off at least one year."

Last year Kruger et al. reported that adults who avoided ...

Acute pancreatitis usually occurs as a result of alcohol abuse or bile duct obstruction. A careful review of the patient's history and appropriate laboratory studies can help the physician identify the etiology of the condition and guide management. Prompt identification of patients who need intensive care referral or subspecialty consultation is crucial.

The number of serum biomarkers used to detect and assess ...