UK's pathology services at the tipping point

Pathology services in the UK are struggling to cope with the increasing number of patient samples that need to be tested, according to a Cancer Research UK report* published today.

News • personalized diagnostics

IMMS harnesses for point-of-care diagnostics

At the MEDICA 2016 IMMS is presenting its first approaches for the personalized diagnostics of cancer using a prototype device. It was developed in the three-year research project INSPECT which started in June 2016.

Sponsored • Visionary thinking.

JADAK: advances in Embedded Medical Machine Vision

Liquid level detection is a process used in clinical diagnostics to verify reagents or sample containers in order to assist performance of various tests and ensure accurate results. There are several methods used today to measure liquid level and each come with a unique set of advantages and disadvantages.

News • Digital pathology

Pathcore and Visiopharm provide a powerful image analysis

Pathcore and Visiopharm today announced a partnership to provide enhanced workflow software solutions for quantitative analysis and management of digital pathology images.

News • Digital Pathology

Sectra and Visiopharm enter cooperation for open systems

International medical imaging IT company Sectra and digital pathology company Visiopharm A/S have reached agreement on an open exchange of pathology images between their respective digital pathology systems. The companies agree that open solutions and the free exchange of information between the various healthcare IT systems without “internal company formats” are of benefit to both customers…

Sponsored • Histopathology

The fully automated formalin mixing station

It’s the third day of MEDICA 2016 and hundreds of visitors have visited the World Forum for Medicine. Not to miss is the newly launched fully automated formalin mixing station AFDS-100, from German firm Kugel medical, a leading supplier of histo-pathology equipment.

Sponsored • Lab innovative

Shaping the future of clinical diagnostics

For more than 30 years Randox have been shaping the future of clinical diagnostics. With our extensive range of internationally renowned Biochemistry Reagents, True Third Party Quality Controls, the RX Series of clinical chemistry analysers and Biochip Array Technology we can offer you complete laboratory solutions to optimise performance and ensure accuracy for results you can trust.

Article • Computerised blood bank

An integrated single database solution

According to a 2007 World Health Organization report*, patient misidentification was cited in more than 100 individual root cause analyses (January 2000 to March 2003) by the USA’s Department of Veterans Affairs National Centre for Patient Safety. Major areas where patient misidentification can occur include drug administration, phlebotomy, blood transfusion, and surgical procedures.

News • Sepsis

New technology could prevent a leading cause of death

What do Casey Kasem, Christopher Reeve and Muhammad Ali have in common? They all died of sepsis: a rapid, potentially deadly reaction that affects millions each year.

Article • Challenging process

Embracing digitised pathology

Investing in equipment and systems, training personnel and picking the right manufacturer to deliver a system that meets a hospital’s needs are key factors, according to Dr Peter Riegman, Head of Erasmus MC Tissue Bank at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam.

Article • Denmark

Successful digital pathology

Advanced computer software underpins a service - coupled with a countrywide database, which enables Denmark’s pathologists to optimise the assessment of patients’ specimens.In turn, the digitisation of the system in recent years has led to significant improvements in pathology services, delivering greater efficiency and advances in patient safety.

Article • Detecting bladder tumours

Photodynamic diagnosis locates the smallest tumours

Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy involving the urinary system and the ninth most common malignancy worldwide.

Article • Critically ill adults

CPOCTs in development

Waiting for test results can be a minor inconvenience for some patients, but for those who are critically ill, timing matters. At the CPOCT International Symposium in Copenhagen (21-24 September) Dr Craig Lilly, a professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts spoke about the point-of-care testing market, outlining currently available testing for critically ill adults, and also under…

Article • Opinion

The value of point-of-care

Some significant changes in the European hospital sector have occurred over the last 20 years. ‘The necessity to contain the exploding costs in particular has led to a reduction in the number of hospitals and hospital beds, and staffing levels have also been affected by the many cost cutting measures. This has not been without its consequences, as we now know,’ writes Ludwig F Rutten.

Article • Frontline medical advances

Virology is now a key discipline

Virology is fast emerging as a key discipline within modern healthcare against a backdrop of a shifting global demographic and the impact of climate change.

News • Diabetes

Friendly Fire in the Pancreas

n type 1 diabetes, the body attacks its own insulin-producing cells. Scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum München, partner in the German Center for Diabetes Research, and their colleagues at Technical University of Munich have now reported in the journal ‘PNAS’ about a mechanism used by the immune system to prepare for this attack. They were able to inhibit this process through targeted…

News • Malaria

UK and France see highest number of imported cases

An international study, led by the University of Southampton, shows the UK and France experience the highest number of malaria cases imported from other countries.

Article • Legislation

IVDs under the microscope

European regulators have turned the world of in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) upside down with new legislation that will come into effect at the end of this year. The new EU legislation gives manufacturers five years to meet strict standards. That may not be enough time.

Article • Politics

Antimicrobial resistance: reaching out to the UN

A global spotlight has at last highlighted the truly acute problem of antimicrobial resistance.

Article • Infections

Carbapenem resistant strains

The increasing numbers of bacteria resistant to the newer generations of antibiotics is a public health problem on a global scale. Bacteria have an extraordinary capacity for adaptation, mutating permanently to overcome the action of our increasingly impotent antimicrobial armamentarium. A situation further aggravated by the use of the powerful ‘large spectrum’ antibiotics, creating further…

Sponsored • Visionary thinking.

JADAK: redefining data collection within the healthcare market

From barcode scanning, RFID and medical machine vision to chart recorders, thermal printers and spectroscopy products, JADAK designs and manufactures embedded solutions that help customers solve unique inspection, tracking, scanning and documenting challenges.

News • Chronic Viral Infection

Inflammation triggers unsustainable immune response

Scientists at the University of Basel discovered a fundamental new mechanism explaining the inadequate immune defense against chronic viral infection. These results may open up new avenues for vaccine development.

Diabetic biomarker test successfully verified

EKF Diagnostics announces that its newly introduced Glycated Serum Protein (GSP) LiquiColor® diabetic biomarker test has been verified for use on the Siemens Vista chemistry analyzer. In a scientific poster published by scientists at the Memorial Healthcare System, Hollywood, USA [1], it was demonstrated that EKF’s GSP assay enhances the versatility of the Vista system for the specialized…

News • Fatal Heart Condition

Dangerous drug interactions uncovered with data science

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and the Data Science Institute at Columbia University have uncovered a potentially dangerous drug interaction using data science.

News • memristor

First demonstration of brain-inspired device to power artificial systems

New research, led by the University of Southampton, has demonstrated that a nanoscale device, called a memristor, could be used to power artificial systems that can mimic the human brain.