Sponsored • Information Technology
Document Management - the hidden champion
Zenon's Doc-db is a full-fledged document management system which has been internationally available since 2006.
Laboratory
Article • Quality Control
DGKL goes quality and standardisation
The DGKL publishes a Translation of the Quality Standards for Medical Laboratories of the German Chamber of Physicians (RiLiBÄK). Report: Prof. Dr. Michael Neumaier
Sponsored • Mass Spectrometry
Shimadzu LCMS-8060: The new family member
With its previous LCMS-8030, LCMS-8040 and LCMS-8050 triple-quadrupole systems, Shimadzu has set leading standards in terms of speed, sensitivity and functional design. With the introduction of the new LCMS-8060 (Figure 1), the success story of the LCMS-triple-quadrupole family reaches another milestone.
Sponsored • Hematology
Sysmex Corporation: The global leader in hematology
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.
News • Research
Resolving a lymphatic riddle
For over one hundred years, scientists have debated the question of the origins of the lymphatic system – a parallel system to the blood vessels that serves as a conduit for everything from immune cells to fat molecules to cancer cells. This issue has now been resolved by Dr. Karina Yaniv of Weizmann Institute’s Biological Regulation Department. In a study reported in Nature, she and her team…
News • Developing Nations
Researchers turn bubble wrap into tiny test tubes
Inexpensive packing material pops up as an alternative to high-cost glass lab equipment for simple diagnostic tests, a potential boon in developing nations.
Article • POCT
Evolutionary POCT
A growing number of clinical tests are being delivered in community hospitals with more patients receiving quicker, accurate diagnoses closer to home, without stays in acute hospital beds. Professor Daniel Lasserson, an Associate Professor in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at Oxford University, shares the opinion that using point-of-caretesting (POCT) to facilitate high…
Sponsored • Digital Pathology
Take the next step in Digital Pathology
Digitizing pathology is not just a transformation of technology, the major change and benefits lies in the change to a more efficient workflow – enabled by the new technology.
Article • Diabetes II
Manufacturers declare support
This year’s German medical diagnostics manufacturers association (Verband der deutschen Diagnostica-Hersteller = VDGH) congress, focused on diabetes. The panel discussion that closed the evening session revealed unanimous support for the adoption of a German national diabetes plan. Report: Bettina Döbereiner
Article • Infection control
From alcohol to cancer detection
Clinical trials are under way at two NHS hospitals in England to assess breathalyser technology to detect lung cancer. Phase I clinical trials of a diagnostic breathalyser developed by Cambridge-based Owlstone Ltd have shown accurate identification of 12 lung cancer biomarkers in breath specimens. A Phase II trial is now targeting development of a small, handheld device that can be used in GP…
Sponsored • Bad blood
Haemolysis must be avoided
Blood sampling via intravenous catheters frequently occurs because patients in intensive care already have intravenous catheters in place, and patients admitted to accident and emergency units are immediately set up with intravenous catheters – providing easy access to blood.
Article • Politics
The S4 laboratory
Health always has a political dimension, as seen at two recent international events - the World Health Summit in Geneva in May and the G7 Summit in the Bavarian Alps near Garmisch at the beginning of June. Report: Anja Behringer
Article • Politics I
Austria’s notable national action plan
Surveillance, hygiene and infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, diagnosis of infectious diseases, use of antimicrobial medicines as well as reporting and information. Report: Michael Krassnitzer
Placenta-on-a-chip
National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers and their colleagues have developed a "placenta-on-a-chip" to study the inner workings of the human placenta and its role in pregnancy.
Article • MALDI-TOF
Identifying a single isolate in minutes
When trialled in Swansea, Wales, Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionisation – Time of Flight (MALDI-TOF) demonstrated sufficient advantages over conventional methods to be introduced into routine practice.
Article • Research
Genetic alterations
This article discusses examples of applications of genetic analyses in coagulation disorders and haematological and oncological diseases. Professor Christine Mannhalter highlights the impact changes have on the occurrence and severity of diseases and their influence on therapy response. Report: Christine Mannhalter
Article • Antimicrobial stewardship
A diagnostic marker reduces antibiotics use
Since 2009, as part of diagnostic and antimicrobial stewardship strategies, Hampshire Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Trust has used serum procalcitonin (PCT) – an innovative and highly specific marker to diagnose clinically relevant bacterial infections and sepsis. Report: Mark Nicholls
Interview • Mass Spectrometry
Connected components are not enough
Bringing liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) testing into clinical laboratories has been a slow process but continues to show promise to help improve patient care. The medical device industry is on the edge of fundamental breakthroughs that can help drive the adoption into more mainstream clinical laboratories. We recently sat down with Dr Bori Shushan, Mass Spectrometry…
Agendia co-Founder wins European Inventor Award for breast bancer test
Agendia co-founder and Chief Research Officer, Laura van't Veer, Ph.D., has won the European Inventor Award in the SME category. The European Inventor Award is a prestigious innovation award presented by the European Patent Office, with only 15 inventors nominated in a total of five categories worldwide.
Medical school: Call for sustainable biomedical research funding
Unstable funding is threatening the viability of academic biomedical research, according to a new paper published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The paper was written jointly by the deans of 19 prominent medical schools around the USA. Among this group is University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece.
A chip placed under the skin for more precise medicine
Several EPFL laboratories are working on devices allowing constant analysis over as long a period as possible. The latest development is the biosensor chip, created by researchers in the Integrated Systems Laboratory working together with the Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Group. Sandro Carrara is unveiling it today at the International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) in Lisbon.
New chip makes testing for antibiotic-resistant bacteria faster
Researchers at the University of Toronto design diagnostic chip to reduce testing time from days to one hour, allowing doctors to pick the right antibiotic the first time.
On-demand X-rays at synchrotron light sources
Scientists who use synchrotron light sources are welcoming an era of "on-demand" X-rays, in which they have access to the light beams they want thanks to a technique developed at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
Article • Research
A recipe for long-lasting livers
People waiting for organ transplants may soon have higher hopes of getting the help that they need in time. Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have developed a new technique that extends the time that donor organs last and can also resuscitate organs obtained after cardiac arrest.
Article • Mutations
Dutch scientists build colon cancer progression model
Scientists from the Hubrecht Institute and the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) have developed a cell culture model of human colon cancer progression. This model mimics the situation in patients more closely than any other colon cancer model so far. It enables researchers to study processes involved in colon cancer development and find new cancer drugs.