Treatment for a bacterial infection can all come down to a question of time. According to a recent story from Medical News Today, researchers from the University of Toronto (UT) in Canada have developed a chip to identify the problem and the best course of action in treatment for a specific patient. Unless like current standards ...

The advent and implementation of mass spectrometry for routine analysis in the clinical laboratory has revolutionized testing in specialties such as toxicology, endocrinology, microbiology, genetics, etc. This methodology offers many unparalleled advantages including a more targeted testing approach, higher sensitivity and specificity, faster turnaround time, multi-analyte testing capabilities and more. In particular, ...

In a ground-breaking trial for researchers and physicians at the Mayo Clinic, stem cells will be put to use in their first clinical trial on patients with a rare early-childhood heart disease. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a defect characterized by the left side of the heart being severely underdeveloped at birth, and usually requires multiple surgeries or, in some cases, a heart ...

One case describes interference by heterophilic antibodies on a TSH assay leading to false positive results. Such interference, however, was not observed with another automated platform. "The assay format, the antibodies used, and the volumes required for the analysis may influence the ...

Smartphones are amazing pieces of technology. Not only can we organize our calendars, surf the internet, listen to music, play scrabble and communicate with our friends and family using any number of social networking platforms -- let alone the actual telephone function -- but we can do all of these things at once. As the role of digital medicine solidifies its place in the healthcare industry, ...

Creating and maintaining a quality laboratory operation means that the dynamics of teamwork, trust, transparency, awareness, and experience work in synch to create an environment where unbiased assessments of laboratory operations can take place, resulting in the efficient implementation of necessary changes. The key to developing and maintaining this environment is the empowerment ...

We've discussed dark matter before. Understanding the unobserved and unknown areas of the human genome could ultimately lead to a better understanding of cancer and, subsequently, better treatment options. A ...

One of my pet concerns is the best rule out myocardial infarction protocol. Best includes rapid, high sensitive and high specificity tests with as few markers as possible. Recently, two articles from Australia and New Zealand added significant data to the issue. From Australia was an article comparing cardiac risk stratification using a 0 and 2?h POC cTn, 0 and 2?h POC multi-biomarkers against the 0 and ...

The more we learn about our own bodies, the more it seems like there's just an endless war going on in there. Scientists have long since known about helpful bacteria inside of our bodies that help prevent infections, but an article from Medical News Today cited a US study from researchers at San Diego State University that noted ...

Risk and risk management have been constantly on my mind as I started to familiarize myself with CMS' new quality control policy also known as the Individualized Quality Control ...

The AACC is urging laboratory professionals to contact their members of Congress and request that they support H.R.1248, the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act, which would preserve recent advances in state newborn screening programs. Earlier legislation contributed to a dramatic expansion in newborn screening for treatable core conditions, according to an AACC release. In 2007, only 10 states ...

QuiqMeds, a Pennsylvania-based company located outside of Philadelphia, deals in a very different type of vending machine. With 6 machines located in local physician's offices in the area and plans to increase that number in the region before expanding outside of Pennsylvania to other states that allow prescription drugs to be provided by physicians directly, the company stands to change the ...

Our healthcare system is broken partly because consumers don't know what anything costs. As patients become more proactive in making informed healthcare decisions, we all agree this should be fixed. But why is it so hard?

Achieving price transparency ...

"Dark matter" sounds like something George Lucas would tell us is at the heart of the empire. In reality, it's the parts of the human genome that science has yet to identify -- which still sounds like it belongs in a sci-fi movie, but the discovery could provide researchers with a new type of specimen ...

Is chronic fatigue syndrome caused by a virus? An emphatic"no."

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is an illness characterized by disabling fatigue of at least 6 months. Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis have an estimated prevalence of 42/10,000 in the United States, with annual direct medical costs of $7 billion. The etiology of the condition has been hotly debated. It is unlikely that CFS can ...

There's a scene in the 60s-era AMC series "Mad Men" that involves a pregnant woman smoking and drinking while her friend's child runs around with a dry cleaning bag over her head. All of this happens in the space of about a minute, and there are so many things done wrong during that time that, by today's standards, you can't help but wonder how anyone even managed to survive the 1960s unscathed. ...

ADVANCE Discourse: Lab

Knowing

Let's forget about money for a second. I know that can be difficult - what, with all of those pesky adult responsibilities and everything, but bare with me.  If money wasn't an object, and your physician wanted to order a test that you knew wouldn't be covered under your insurance, ...

The rise of personalized treatment has healthcare professionals completely rethinking the way they treat cancer. At the molecular level, each is different and should be treated accordingly, but similarities shouldn't be ignored either. A study from the Cancer genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network on endometrial tumors divided the cancer types into for groups, and examined how we can treat specific ...

Imagine a healthcare facility where a small sample of blood is taken as you walk in the door, just .25 attomoles -- you'd barely notice. They drop your sample into a small, handheld device and, by the time your physician has come to see you, they are ready to tell you if they would like further testing for diseases like Alzheimer's or cancer based on the early-detection results from their handheld ...

Should we be measuring more often? Lactate levels are frequently elevated in critically ill patients and correlate well with disease severity. Elevated lactate levels are prognostic in prehospital, emergency department, and intensive care unit settings. A recent study found that in patients with hyperlactatemia on ICU admission, lactate-guided therapy significantly reduced hospital mortality when adjusting for predefined ...

With genetic research has come the realization that cancers are unique -- not just in terms of where they are in the body, but in their molecular make up. Although the industry is focusing on personalized medicine as a treatment option recently, some researchers can't help but wonder about the prospect of a universal treatment, a drug to fight multiple ...

Editor's note: This article was posted with permission from its author, Christine Gondos, Igloo Software. She can be reached at cgondos@igloosoftware.com.

The fastpaced healthcare industry is continuously evolving -- whether it be newly released studies, new best practices or new techniques, ...