Researchers discovered three distinct immunological endophenotypes of multiple sclerosis, defined by specific blood immune signatures. This opens new avenues for personalized treatment strategies.
Bringing digital pathology together with novel multiplexed staining techniques may answer key questions about complex diseases. Pathologist Lukas Marcelis, MD, PhD, believes such combinations of technology will have benefits for clinicians and patients and can help unravel some of the mysteries surrounding a range of conditions.
Researchers have developed a method for assessing the number and structure of aggregated blood platelets (or thrombocytes) that can potentially help quantify the risk of a severe Covid-19 infection. As a result, they have identified a predictive biomarker for the seriousness of a Covid-19 infection. This will allow physicians to adjust treatment at an early stage. The researchers used a method…
Plastics are a part of everyday life, and an increasingly concerning factor of global environmental pollution. They also have infiltrated our bodies as microparticles (MPs) and nanoparticles (NPs), found even in placentas supporting foetal life. And they are in our blood. Now, researchers in Spain have developed a new method to detect and measure nanoparticles in human peripheral blood that is…
Considerable advances in point-of-care testing (POCT) devices are emerging from lab-on-a-chip platforms, innovations in smartphone-based technology and wearable technology. Cloud-based deep learning systems herald a future revolution.
Infectious disease diagnostics are notoriously slow. The gold standard for laboratory diagnosis of bacterial and fungal infection involves growing the pathogen from a clinical specimen – an overnight event, or even longer. The healthcare focus is on improving the use of antibiotics for better patient outcomes and reducing the environmental pressures that drive antibiotic resistance. To impact…
When it comes to Covid-19, women seem to be the stronger sex, suffering severe disease at about half the rate as men, but the reason for this has been elusive. Now a chance experiment by an ophthalmology researcher at Duke Health has led to an insight: Women have more of a certain type of immune cell that fights infections in mucosal tissue, and these immune cells amass in the lungs, poised to…
The academic teaching Karlsruhe Hospital, at the University of Freiburg, is the largest hospital providing tertiary care in the Middle Upper Rhine Valley. Every year, 63,000 in-patients and 180,000 out-patients are treated in the 1,500-bed facility with 50 departments and 30 out-patient clinics. Inevitably, a hospital of this size has a central lab. We spoke with Dr Horst Mayer, managing senior…
On the occasion of this year's World Sepsis Day, we spoke with Elena Sukhacheva, Ph.D., director of medical and scientific affairs at Beckman Coulter, about the status quo and outlook on sepsis diagnostics. With the severity of sepsis symptoms, it’s easy to comprehend why it is invaluable to diagnose this disease properly and in a timely manner. Dr Sukhacheva takes an in-depth look at…
A new study sheds light on proteins in particles called extracellular vesicles, which are released by tumor cells into the bloodstream and promote the spread of cancer. The findings suggest how a blood test involving these vesicles might be used to diagnose cancer in the future, avoiding the need for invasive surgical biopsies.
Beckman Coulter Life Sciences launched the online DURA Innovations calculator tool, a powerful cost benefit analysis resource to accompany its latest Cost Benefit Calculator Handbook. The free online tool enables laboratories to quantify the value of converting to a standardized flow cytometry workflow using the company’s dry reagent technology. The new calculator enables customers using liquid…
Our eyes – considered by many to be the windows to the soul – need constant care, and as we age, they sometimes also need significant repair. The panes of these windows – the corneas – are transparent tissues that have been the focus of some of the oldest and most common transplantation surgeries. Now thanks to researchers in Kyoto, some such transplants may become even safer. The team,…
Using urine to obtain diagnostic insights has been done for thousands of years and still remains an important tool to obtain crucial information. Covering a range of tests, urinalysis may be used to screen for or help to diagnose ailments such as urinary tract infections, kidney disorders, liver problems, diabetes or other medical conditions, just to name a few. Because urinalysis has been around…
The critical element of testing for sepsis lies not so much in the location but in the timing and rapidity of results, according to Professor Jeannine T. Holden from Beckman Coulter Early identification enables treatment protocols to be delivered more quickly, offering better patient outcomes. Those most at risk, suggests Holden, are not patients within the intensive care unit – who are already…
The team of the Heinz Nixdorf Chair of Biomedical Electronics at the Technical University of Munich focuses on innovative diagnostic tools to accelerate the development towards personalized medicine. Therapies tailored to the individual patient – this is the future not only of oncology but of many medical disciplines. “At this point, however,” concedes Professor Dr Oliver Hayden,…
Beckman Coulter is launching the ClearLLab 10C System for the clinical flow cytometry lab. The new system is the first 10-color IVD panel of immunophenotyping reagents cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for both lymphoid and myeloid lineages. The four dry pre-mixed antibody tubes use the company’s DURA Innovations technology, eliminating the need to pipette antibodies, improving…
Flow cytometry has proved an invaluable diagnostic tool for leukaemia and lymphoma for almost three decades. Now, however, this is evolving in applications to seek out residual disease in cases and in fusion with molecular testing to advance its diagnostic potential. However, although recognised as fast, flexible and accurate, flow cytometry suffers from a lack of standardisation, according to…
While the role of the laboratory in disease diagnosis and management has expanded in recent years, causing an overwhelming rise in testing demands, the availability of skilled technologists and specialists has been diminishing. To meet the needs of an overworked and increasingly generalized workforce, today’s products not only must deliver more clinical data than ever before, but also must be…
A new SLAS Discovery original research article available now for free ahead-of-print, researchers from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) highlights a diversity of approaches that their automated high-throughput flow cytometry has enabled for phenotypic drug discovery. Flow cytometry is a very powerful tool that has been used for decades and allows for…
Genrui Biotech Inc., one of the leading Chinese developers and manufacturers of IVD equipment and reagents, present their latest POCT devices at the China International Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF). Among the presented devices are the 5-Part Auto Hematology Analyzer KT-6610, which uses advanced tri-angle laser scattering, flow cytometry technology to deliver white blood cell differential…
A thin copper wire wrapped around a channel slightly thicker than a strand of hair could be the key to manufacturing a compact electronic device capable of counting white blood cells from the comfort of one’s home, a Kennesaw State University researcher says. Hoseon Lee, an assistant professor of electrical engineering in the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering…
Faced with the constant challenge of increasing demand and a backdrop of falling reimbursement, Mayo Clinic in the United States has adopted an innovative and proactive approach to managing its laboratory services. That has seen the US-based medical giant embrace a variety of tools and reference materials to aid clinician decision making, improve care and lower costs. Dr Curt Hanson, Chief…
Professor Jo Martin, the newly-appointed President of the Royal College of Pathologists in the United Kingdom, believes the National Health Service (NHS) is on the brink of embracing digital pathology more widely. A number of UK laboratories, he explained, are adopting digital pathology in histopathology – in line with some labs in Sweden and Holland, where it has become routine – and the…
The reasons why doctors request urinary analysis are varied – perhaps to detect a possible or suspected infection, or to screen for kidney diseases. In all cases a reliable and rapid result is the major aim. Urinary microscopy and culture have been the mainstays of urinary analysis for many, many years both of which require time and specialist handling.
Our mission at the Sysmex Corporation is defined very clearly in our corporate policy: in all that we do, our focus must be on Shaping the Advancement of Healthcare. Of course, there are a million mission statements out there, with all underlying companies claiming that they will change the world in which they operate. Words can come cheap. But not at Sysmex. By the simple fact that we are the…
The era of information systems operating in silos has passed, and this is particularly true in healthcare IT. At SCC Soft Computer, integration is one of our core values.
Founded in 1968, The Sysmex Corporation has challenged its way past far larger companies to become one of the leading healthcare companies around the world. How? By focusing constantly on one objective: maximising the strength of our people, knowledge and resourcefulness to live up to our mission statement: Shaping the Advancement of Healthcare.
New research in The FASEB Journal suggests that clinical trials of omega-3 and antioxidant supplementation should be undertaken for people with Alzheimer's disease with mild clinical impairment.
A small prick to sample blood instead of complex pathological or other diagnostic procedures – this is how early cancer diagnosis will be in the near future. Blood tests to diagnose tumorous diseases early are already being researched for clinical use.
Double-digit growth in Asia-Pacific and emerging markets to offset stagnation in US and Europe.
The Allegra X-5 air-cooled benchtop centrifuge from Beckman Coulter Life Sciences is designed specifically for clinical sample preparation.
Beckman Coulter, Inc. has released a new bench-top haematology analyser for mid- to high-volume laboratories, and upgraded software for HematoFlow.
MRI has become the gold standard for many indications in cardiac imaging, apart from imaging the coronary arteries. For function and morphology assessment, MRI is the leading technology. A further advance into as yet unknown territory is myocardial imaging aided by one of the first integrated 3-Tesla PET/MR systems currently used at the Institute of Radiology, Essen University Hospital,…