On 4 October, the waste reservoir of an aluminium factory in Hungary burst. Red sludge, which is the waste resulting from the production of aluminium, flooded nearby villages. In the second week of October, researchers were granted access to the area. Doctoral student Stefan Ruyters and postdoctoral researcher Jelle Mertens of the Division of Soil and Water Management (Faculty of Bioengineering)…
Scientists from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) built on earlier genome-wide research to link a genetic change associated with prostate cancer risk to a significant reduction in the amount of a protein called microseminoprotein-beta (MSMB). The protein - which regulates prostate cell death - is produced by normal prostate cells –…
Detection of circulating and disseminated tumour cells in blood is a promising method to diagnose cancer dissemination, or to follow up cancer patients during therapy. Today’s methods and involve time-consuming (more than a day) sample processing and cell isolation steps -- all labour intensive and expensive. A lab-on-chip that could integrate those processing steps would enable faster,…
Biomarkers as the key to prevention and early detection were the subject this autumn at the 7th Annual Congress of the German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (DGKL) in Mannheim. For the DGKL president Professor Karl J Lackner MD, Director of the Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, the topic is of increasing…
Small and with a life cycle of just two weeks, fruit flies are seen by many as pests and a problem all year round. However, for nearly a century, the humble insect, officially known as Drosophila melanogaster, which measures no more than 3mm, has performed a vital role in genetics and developmental biology. Fruit flies are genetically diverse and easy to use in research, helping scientists in a…
Current cervical cancer screening is time consuming and expensive, but now new breakthrough technology developed by European researchers should allow large-range screening by non-medical personnel with almost immediate results and at a much lower cost.
Ikerlan-IK4 and Mondragón Unibertsitatea are taking part in a project initiated by the Spanish National Research Council, CSIC, and which has developed a microchip capable of separating and extracting tumour cells in the blood stream by means of ultrasonic waves. The Foundation General Hospital of the University of Elche, together with researcher Alfredo Carrato, has also collaborated on this…
Ten years ago, molecular biologist Dr Peter H J Riegman set up a unique bio-bank for medical research at the pathology department of Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The Erasmus MC Tissue Bank now holds 30,000 samples from about 15,000 patients. However, when Dr Riegman discusses his bio-bank with international colleagues they do not immediately associate it with a clinic or…
Data from the ATHENA (Addressing THE Need for Advanced HPV Diagnostics) USA registration trial, involving more than 47,000 women, demonstrate that two human papilloma virus genotypes, HPV 16 and HPV 18, can identify those women with cervical pre-cancer missed by cytologic examination with a Papanicolau (Pap) test.
The accuracy and reliability of medical laboratory examination results are vital part in healthcare delivery, and these plus the effective operation of laboratories are the main goals of laboratory managers. To ensure a high quality operation, medical laboratories have quality management systems and, through laboratory accreditation, show their competence.
At a meeting hosted by Siemens at AACC 2010, an expert panel shared perspectives on IT in the clinical lab. Representatives from Henry Ford Hospital (Detroit, MI), Alegent Health (Omaha, NE) and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Centre (Baltimore, MD) spoke about the increasing importance of IT in helping today’s lab to meet the challenges of cost containment, quality of care, increasing workload,…
California, USA: 20,000 visitors and 700 manufacturers showing products in almost 2000 booths at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) annual meeting (July 5-29, 2010) underlined the importance of this, the world’s largest gathering of clinical laboratory professionals.
t the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference (EMBC) in Buenos Aires (Argentina), imec and its project partners announce the launch of the European Seventh Framework Project MIRACLE. The MIRACLE project aims at developing an operational lab-on-chip for the isolation and detection of circulating and disseminated tumor cells (CTCs and DTCs) in blood. The new lab-on-chip is an essential step…
When in 1992 Dr Luigi Marzio Biasucci, head of the Sub-intensive Care Unit at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy, published with his team the first paper on C-reactive protein (CRP) in unstable angina, few people believed in the diagnostic power of biochemical features to measure the effects or progress of disease, illness, or a condition. Today, biomarker tests are part…
Alere International* has launched three new next generation products: Troponin I -- a single-analyte, improved sensitivity Troponin I (TnI) test; Cardio2 -- a two analyte panel consisting of the new Troponin I and BNP, and Cardio3 -- a three analyte panel consisting of the new Troponin I, BNP and CK-MB.
Biopsy developed into an invaluable diagnostic tool in many organ systems. Advanced imaging technologies have helped shift biopsy techniques away from more invasive approaches toward imaging-guided percutaneous or through the skin techniques, according to a new study appearing online and in the September print edition of the journal Radiology.
New biomarkers play a key role in individualised tumour therapy. They are important indicators for pathological processes in the body and for the use of adequate cancer drugs. In our European Hospital interview Professor Celso A Reis, from the Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP*) in Portugal, discussed the current state of clinical use of…
Diabetes mellitus is a lingering disease – for a long time it causes subjectively few complaints or no complaints at all. Despite this, it is life-threatening – especially if undiagnosed, or diagnosed too late. However, although diabetes is the most widespread disease it is often only discovered by accident in a hospital, where many hospital doctors feel that diabetology is the responsibility…
A decade ago the battle against hospital-acquired MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacterial strain) infections appeared to be lost, or at least without end. However, today, we see very important science-to-business achievements in this field. Report: Rostislav Kuklik
The MRSA problem has been ignored almost stoically in many European countries for the past 20 years. Thus the number of resistant Staphylococci cases exploded from 1% in 1990 around 25% in 2010. However, the recognition that an infection can result in additional hospital costs of up to €10,000 has led to a change in thinking. The Netherlands, for example, declared war on MRSA with ‘search and…
It’s travel time, bringing all the possibilities of fun – as well as disease risk. The dengue virus, eg, is endemic in 124 countries. It is carried and transmitted by mosquitoes. Typically, what follows is a non-fatal febrile illness characterised by fever, muscle pain, headache, and nausea and vomiting lasting 5-7 days.
A small team of researchers at Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry, in London, has developed a rapid, cheap and effective kit to test for the presence of Clostridium difficile. And, they report that the new kit costs as little as 50 pence to £1 per test and can deliver results in under an hour, compared to commercial kits that cost up to £25 and in some cases take significantly…
Eppendorf AG offers the first two-component PCR plate designed to be easily divisible, saving material and money when running smaller-scale experiments. These twin.tec unskirted 96-well plates fit almost all available PCR instruments and can be snapped into four separate 24-well segments and the empty wells saved for future use.
Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics announced the release of PRISCA version 5.0 Prenatal Risk Calculation Software available in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. The upgraded version offers the industry’s only Shared Database that allows laboratories to compare data and integrate patient demographic factors into the analysis. Both of these features help increase the accuracy…
The Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has become the first site, worldwide, to evaluate the full serum work area (SWA) capabilities of the cobas 8000 high throughput clinical analyser.