News • Diabetes
Biomarker for steatohepatitis
40 percent of people in the EU suffer from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, a disease which is becoming increasingly more frequent as a result of diabetes and excess weight in an affluent society.
Laboratory
Article • IT mobil
Mobile apps take students into the laboratory
Mobile apps have proved to be valuable educational tools, but laboratory instructors thus far have been limited to using mobile devices only for virtual laboratories with simulated experiments. Now, researchers at the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering have developed a series of mobile applications that allow students to remotely interact with real data and equipment in real laboratories.
News • Research
New revolutionary culturing technique for liver and pancreas
Researchers at the Hubrecht Institute and the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht successfully developed a culturing system for human liver stem cells as well as stem cells from pancreatic cancer. They describe the development of these culturing systems in two articles in this week’s edition of Cell magazine.
Article • Ebola
Seeking best practice
On 29 July, Dr James Ritchie was attending the American Association of Clinical Chemistry’s annual conference in Chicago when he received the call that a physician and missionary worker, who had been in West Africa, were headed to Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital. Report: Lisa Chamoff
Article • IVD Market
Santa’s bag full of cash
We are seeing great priority shifts in China’s funding for R&D and manufacturing expansion. Even the agency responsible for selecting the recipients has changed, Jie Ren reports from the Beijing-based market analysis consultancy Whitney Research Inc. Report: John Brosky
Article • Infection Control
Periprosthetic infections: a new disease
Early diagnosis and effective therapy of periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) remain a challenge for many physicians due to the complexity and heterogeneity of clinical symptoms. As individual solutions are needed, opportunities to discuss and exchange ideas are welcome, as clearly shown during the satellite symposium on the diagnosis and treatment of periprosthetic knee infections held at this…
Article • Laboratory Medicine
‘Kissed by Europe’
They are not such strange bedfellows, say Walter Depner (Frankfurt) and Professor Norbert Gässler (Hildesheim), who find themselves ‘kissed by the European lab muse’ and were prompted to ask: What links literature and laboratory medicine at a European level? Commentary: Walter Depner, Prof. Norbert Gässler
Interview • Diagnostics
Iron deficiency and anaemia
Iron deficiency and resulting anaemia cause fatal comorbidities worldwide. Despite this, they are generally underestimated. Professor Lothar Thomas, specialist in laboratory medicine at Central Laboratory of the University Hospital of Frankfurt/Main, is calling for more information about the new laboratory parameters for diagnosis and monitoring of iron deficiency and iron substitution therapy.
Interview • Diagnostics
Reimbursement rates must be negotiated
Last October the Association of the German Diagnostics Industry (VDGH) warned that the proposed EU regulation on in vitro diagnostic medical devices will increase production costs. Simultaneously with the Brussels proposal publication, the German Federal Ministry of Health presented a draft fees regulation that includes significant increases and several new fees, inter alia the minimum fee for…
The issue is not over-diagnosis but over-treatment
'We desperately need a ‘no treatment’ trial for DCIS', says Clive Wells, Chairman of the European Working Group on Breast Cancer Pathology, and London Regional Co-ordinator for the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) National Breast Cancer Screening Programme. Interview: Frank Swain
News • Infections
Recommendations for improved management of CDI
A first of its kind expert consensus report on Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), contributed to by more than 1,000 healthcare professionals across Europe, has been presented today at the Healthcare Infection Society (HIS) International Congress in Lyon, France. The consensus report aimed to identify a set of expert views on CDI management, in order to determine attitudes to diagnosis,…
France: Ready for Ebola
With strong links with the West Coast of Africa, France is among countries most likely to experience Ebola, with an estimated 20% chance of cases in the homeland before October ends - a few suspected cases have arisen.
Integration is key to tackling infectious diseases
World-renowned experts discussed the situation of predomonant epidemics at the International Roche Infectious Disease Symposium in Barcelona.
The PointMan cometh
Founded in Germany 25 years ago, EKF Diagnostics’ PLC HQ is currently in Cardiff, Wales, where the firm is pursuing the development of a molecular assay for specific cancer types.
A revolution in roles and methods in clinical labs
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is a visionary author of the book Big Data, which, as its subtitle suggests, defines the debate over the ‘Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think.’
New France-Germany Forum will compare structures, training, tests and costs
This year’s Journées Internationales de Biologie (JIB) in Paris (8-11 October) will include the new France-Germany Forum on its opening day.
Long-term managed lab automation
The University Medical Center in Utrecht (UMCU), The Netherlands, is in the process of creating a multidisciplinary centre of excellence, able to manage resources efficiently while delivering the highest level of patient care and clinical research.
New Rules for Proficiency Testing Referral
Treat a proficiency testing (PT) sample just like a patient sample. But don't. That has been the message labs have struggled with and in some cases lost their CLIA certificates over.
Article • From lab to POCT
DNA sequencing shift to point-of-care testing
Health analysts have predicted that DNA sequencing will shift from a laboratory-based setup to point of care testing within the next five years.
A blood test for suicide?
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered a chemical alteration in a single human gene linked to stress reactions that, if confirmed in larger studies, could give doctors a simple blood test to reliably predict a person’s risk of attempting suicide.
Misdiagnoses of vitamin D deficiencies
Most clinical laboratories use immunoassays routinely to measure 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OH D) in serum. The metabolites of vitamin D are important in the regulation of calcium and bone metabolism.
Streamlining testing without loss of quality
As many laboratories face demands to turn around faster, more accurate patient test results against a backdrop of increasingly stringent quality control and tighter budgets, the search is on for tools to help meet ever-stretching targets.
Software for key tasks in the lab
No provider has yet been able to cover all IT topics and processes in laboratory software. The solutions currently marketed either support key lab tasks, from requests down to results, or they cover topics such as quality assurance and billing, according to Dr Markus Neumann MD of Dr Neumann & Kindler.
Redefining diagnostics
New molecular technologies to screen drug-resistant TB are replacing, for example, culture-based tests that are slow, require experienced personnel, and need stringent microbiological safety precautions.
Laboratory automation
On the leading edge of automation for medical laboratory testing, Siemens Healthcare rolled out an impressive suite of new products at IFCC WorldLab 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey that are ‘exactly aligned, and even anticipate, customer needs in central lab operations,’ according to Franz Walt, CEO for the Chemistry, Immunoassay, Automation and Diagnostics IT business unit within Siemens’…
