Article • Mini Microscopes
Mobile technology could enhance digital pathology
Mobile technology could prove an important catalyst in helping take digital pathology onto a new level in delivering clinical diagnostics.
News • MS research
Neuroimmunologists find cause of deficit in body’s own immune system
Scientists from the universities in Münster and Munich have discovered what precisely goes wrong in the body in the case of multiple sclerosis (MS). At the same time the neuroscientists were able to demonstrate that for MS, which occurs in bouts, there is a therapy which is tailor-made to eliminate the deficit.
Article • Digitisation
Pathology departs from a dark back room
A UK-based neuropathologist has highlighted how the digitisation of pathology will play a pivotal role in taking patient care on to a new and more efficient level. Speaking in a recent Webinar under the heading The Adoption and Benefits of Digital Pathology for Primary Diagnosis, Dr Daniel du Plessis also noted how the digital era would raise the profile of pathology and ‘bring it out of the…
Article • Strategies
Three-step process for digital pathology
As laboratories in Europe shift to systems for digital pathology, they must ensure the technology not only works, but works for them, says Dr Liron Pantanowitz, director of pathology informatics at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).
Article • Change Management
The digital age in diagnostics dawns
Pathologists in Utrecht step away from the microscope as the first fully digital workflow goes live for primary diagnostics. ‘The whole world wants to stop by and see the show,’ said Paul van Diest MD, who leads the Department of Pathology at the Utrecht University Medical Centre.
Article • Standards
We expect to see some changes
Strictly speaking, digital pathology has not yet resulted in any groundbreaking changes for clinical diagnostics. The conventional light microscope introduced to pathology around 100 years ago continues to be the most important tool for pathologists.
Article • Microscopy
Digital pathology: a new diagnostic technology
Histopathologists play key roles in diagnosing disease entities and determining biomarkers related to the prognosis and response to specific therapy of malignant tumours. Report: Bela Molnar
Article • Overcoming barriers
Scaling the barriers to precise diagnoses
Whilst digital pathology has the potential to deliver more precise diagnostics, there remain a number of barriers to its widespread implementation.
Article • Moving on
I saw the future of pathology – and it’s digital
Healthcare is going digital. No doubt about it, Prof. Hufnagl predicts. Information and communication technologies have gone beyond moving data from one place to the other; they are triggering stellar improvements in healthcare: diagnoses are becoming ever more precise, therapies ever more personalised. The extent to which the individual clinical disciplines have progressed in their technological…
Article • DICOM & IHE
ECDP: Spanish pathologist highlights image storage issues
Compressing and storing digital images in pathology remains technically challenging but there are many options that can both help reduce costs and improve efficiency, a Spanish expert will explain in a dedicated talk during ECDP in Berlin.
Article • Sharp
Even displaying a beetle’s hair
‘4K technology is the future - a fact which hasn’t gone unnoticed by Panasonic. The company presented its new 4K Ultra HD Micro camera GP-UH532 in Dusseldorf in November 2015. We are very pleased to introduce this innovative system,’ says Margarita Zoussevitch, European Marketing Manager at Panasonic.
Interview • Clear
In sight: greater clarity for pathologists
The equivalent of HD or Ultra-HD for home television and video is now entering the world of medicine. Although 4K technology with its high-resolution display quality is already used in radiology, there are areas that do not yet benefit from this advanced technology.
News • Epidemics
Open Science to track virus outbreaks
In recent years, we have witnessed multiple epidemics of viral diseases such as Ebola or Zika. Rapid targeted intervention is key to containment. Real-time data integration and analysis can help public health authorities to maximize efficacy of intervention strategies. Dr. Richard Neher from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Germany and Dr. Trevor Bedford from the Fred…
New technology breakthrough in fighting viral diseases
As one of medicine’s largest challenges, viral infections often escape vaccines due to their natural ability to mutate rapidly and develop drug resistance easily. Many viruses, such as Zika, Ebola and dengue fever, have grown into major global health epidemics with great human and economic toll. IBM Research and Singapore’s Institute of Bioengineering, Nanotechnology (IBN) announced they have…
Partners in crime: Stroke and Alzheimer’s disease
New EU-funded project CoSTREAM targets the common mechanisms and pathways of stroke, Alzheimer’s disease to improve disease prevention and treatment, by combining clinical, genetic, epidemiologic, metabolic and radiologic research to develop an organ-on-a-chip in vitro model for the blood-brain connection that will revolutionise drug-development.
News • Memory
A study shows how the brain switches into memory mode
Researchers from Germany and the USA have identified an important mechanism with which memory switches from recall to memorization mode. The study may shed new light on the cellular causes of dementia. The work was directed by the University of Bonn and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE).
News • Cardiology
Mechanism for pathogenesis of heart failure
A weak heart is unable to pump an adequate amount of blood around the body. In Germany, this condition is now the commonest reason for patients to be admitted to hospital. A research group from the Clinic for Internal Medicine III in the Faculty of Medicine at Kiel’s Christian Albrecht University (CAU) and Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital (Kiel Campus) has discovered a previously unknown…
News • Glucose level
Fiber optic biosensor-integrated microfluidic chip to detect glucose levels
Insulin deficiency and hyperglycemia are two well-known culprits behind diabetes, both of which are reflected in blood glucose concentrations. Now, researchers are working to create ultrasensitive lab-on-a-chip devices to quickly measure glucose concentrations with the goal of developing device for early diagnosis and prevent of diabetes.
News • Genetic mutations
New neurodevelopmental syndrome identified
A multicenter research team led by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) has discovered a new neurodevelopmental syndrome and the genetic mutations that cause it. The discovery is an important step toward creating targeted therapies for individuals with this syndrome, which causes severe developmental delays, abnormal muscle tone, seizures, and eye complications.
Interview • Tumour triggers
Can cancer be contagious?
No self-respecting TV crime series is without a pathologist – but the fictitious pathologist who incessantly solves crimes has little to do with reality.
Article • Molecular profile
Revealing cancer at a minuscule level
Since the introduction of targeted therapies in oncology the task of the pathologist has expanded beyond histological diagnostics: today, the pathologist analyses tumour tissue samples to establish a molecular profile with tumour cell characteristics – which in turn become the targets of medication.
Article • Evaluation
Calculated therapy is the objective
At a recent focus meeting held in Berlin by the Association of Accredited Laboratories in Medicine, Dr Andreas Weimann, managing director at the Laboratory Berlin – Charité Vivantes Services, spoke of the challenges that laboratories working with hospitals face due to the management of pathogens and the diagnosis of infections.
First diagnosed case of Alzheimer’s Disease in HIV-positive individual
Georgetown University researchers are reporting the first case of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosed in an HIV-positive individual. The finding in a 71-year-old man triggers a realization about HIV survivors now reaching the age when Alzheimer’s risk begins to escalate.
Interview • Viruses
Measles, mumps, rubella threaten youngsters
Before his presentation at ECCMID 2016, Dr Guillaume Béraud, Infectious Disease Specialist, in the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Poitiers, Poitiers, France, talked to European Hospital about the results from his modelling of these three “childhood” diseases measles, mumps and rubella.
News • Lung cancer
“Liquid biopsy” blood test detects genetic mutations
A simple blood test can rapidly and accurately detect mutations in two key genes in non-small cell lung tumors, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other institutions report in a new study – demonstrating the test’s potential as a clinical tool for identifying patients who can benefit from drugs targeting those mutations.