Laboratory/Pathology • healthcare-in-europe.com

Putting β-glucan testing into everyday practice for fungal infections

Invasive fungal infections are notoriously hard to catch early, and even harder to rule out with confidence. At CHU Bordeaux, Dr Frédéric Gabriel has spent years refining how his lab uses β-D-glucan (BDG) testing to sharpen that judgement call – including with the Wako β-glucan test. In this interview, he explains what the guidelines say, what actually happens at the bench, and where he…

Article • The future of the EU Medical Device Regulation

MDR and IVDR: Navigating the rocky road

Perfectly viable medical devices disappearing from the European market, manufacturers walking away from the EU rather than navigating regulatory demands, patients losing access to products with long, well-documented safety records. The implementation process for the MDR and IVDR has been challenging, to put it mildly – and the journey is far from over. Ahead of the EAAR’s MDR/IVDR Summit…

News • Cardiovascular and cognitive changes

MASLD: Exploring the systemic impact of fatty liver disease

A new study links metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, formerly NAFLD) to an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and other metabolic complications.

News • Immunoassay limitations

Sickle cell trait could throw off diabetes test, study finds

A common diabetes test could miss the condition in people with sickle cell trait, new research suggests. Understanding this limitation of immunoassay testing could help guide protocols and policies.

News • Elevated urea levels

Does ‘toxic waste’ build-up in the brain drive dementia and ALS?

In a study, researchers found unusually high levels of urea in the brains of people with frontotemporal dementia and ALS. The findings raise questions about how the brain clears harmful substances.

News • Stain-Free Histology

Nanophotonic slides add color to tissue samples

Researchers have developed a method to enhance the cellular features in pathology slides based on “structural color” – the same effect that gives peacock feathers their unique sheen.

News • Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy

New technique could aid targeted lung cancer treatment

Detecting genetic mutations associated with lung cancer via laboratory tests can be expensive and time-consuming, and use up valuable tissue from small biopsy samples. A new approach aims to fix this.

News • Early detection biomarker

Using gut bacteria to predict diabetes risk

The presence of certain bacteria in the gut microbiota, and fluctuations in a person’s metabolism, have been identified as potential biomarkers for type 2 diabetes years before its onset.

News • Women's health

Adenomyosis: New insights on under-recognised condition

Adenomyosis can cause heavy menstrual bleeding, severe pain, and pregnancy and fertility complications. New research could help pave the way for more targeted, less invasive treatments.

News • Circulating tumor DNA status

Colorectal cancer: blood test shows who benefits from chemotherapy after surgery

A blood test for ctDNA may help identify which patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver are most likely to benefit from chemotherapy after surgery, according to new research.

News • Bacterial alterations in MCI

Study links gut microbiome to Alzheimer’s biomarkers

The microbes living in the human gut influence metabolism, immunity, and cardiovascular health. A new study now suggests they may also be closely connected to Alzheimer's disease.

News • Post-infection outcomes

Diabetes worsens long Covid complications

Slower recovery, more complications, longer monitoring: People with diabetes face considerably worse long-term effects after a coronavirus infection – also known as long Covid, a new study shows.

News • Exploring the landscape of tumour methylation

Parsing the pathology of prostate cancer

Why do some prostate cancers grow slowly and remain localized while others become aggressive and metastasize? In a new paper, researchers identify the answer: tumor methylation.

News • Mechanical stress-induced tissue remodelling

How asthma permanently alters the airways

Asthma attacks induce mechanical forces that permanently alter airway tissue – independently of inflammation. New research used advanced lung-on-a-chip technology to show how this damage occurs.

News • CRISPR-Cas9-based approach

New laboratory tool to find better treatments for resistant melanomas

Researchers have developed a new lab model to study BAP1-deficient melanomas, a rare type of melanoma that evade the immune system once they metastasize and are resistant to current immunotherapies.

News • Treatment-resistant tumours

Researchers tear off "invisibility cloak" of colon cancer

A study from the University of Calgary shows that removing a single gene makes colon cancer cells a target for immunotherapy — a fundamental breakthrough.

Article • Digital pathology

From single-tumour to pan-cancer AI diagnostics

AI is transforming the way cancer is diagnosed and treated. Dr Yuri Tolkach shared his group's advances in developing AI-based tools for oncological pathology at the DPAI Europe congress.

News • Key biological mechanisms identified

Finding the “tipping point” of Alzheimer's

At which point does Alzheimer’s disease pathology lead to dementia? Researchers identified distinct mechanisms in the brain, which could represent an important target for future therapies.

Early Detection of Invasive Fungal Infections: The β-D-Glucan Test on the LIMUSAVE MT-7500

Invasive fungal infections are silent, fast-moving, and notoriously hard to catch in time. The FUJIFILM Wako β-D-Glucan Test on the LIMUSAVE MT-7500 gives clinical laboratories a quantitative, LAL-based tool to detect (1→3)-β-D-glucan in serum or plasma – enabling earlier diagnosis where it matters most.

News • OPTIMA trial results

Gene test could safely spare breast cancer patients of chemotherapy

Many people with breast cancer can avoid chemotherapy with a gene test, potentially sparing them side effects without increasing the risk of the cancer returning, a clinical trial has found.

News • Metabolic health

Obesity helps breast cancer become invasive

Obesity may change how early-stage breast cancer becomes invasive, according to a new study. The findings could help improve physicians’ ability to predict and treat the disease.

News • dMMR prediction

AI helps analyse colorectal cancer samples

A new AI model enables more efficient analysis of tissue samples taken from colorectal cancer tumours. This can help shorten diagnosis times, reduce costs, and improve diagnostic accuracy.

News • Focus on cellular senescence

Urine test could help detect lung cancer years before symptoms occur

A simple, affordable urine test could detect early signs of lung cancer months, or even years, before symptoms appear, as well as monitor whether treatment is working and identify potential relapse.

News • Asynchronous evolution

How early pancreas lesions become cancerous

Pancreas lesions are of diagnostic concern, as they may evolve into pancreatic cancer – but many never do. New research findings help explain how the transformation into a malignant state works.

News • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

ALS subtypes: why pathology spreads differently among patients

New research has found that a genetic factor best known for increasing the risk of Alzheimer's disease, may also influence how pathological changes spread in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

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