During the XVII International AIDS Conference held in Mexico City this August, keynote speakers from Europe, Latin America and Africa addressed issues including the importance of early detection of HIV infection, the relevance of rapid testing for epidemiology studies, the use of Dried Blood Spots for routine viral-load testing in remote areas, and the experience of South Africa in routine…
bioMérieux developed three new microbiology laboratory automation platforms: Two new lab automatic tools and the the UF-1000i, a urinary screening tool to accurately detect and enumerate the bacteria and particles presented in urine specimens.
Engineers from the University of Michigan are seeking to develop a "lab-on-a-chip" kit that people can assemble on their own. It could bring a new generation of instant home tests checking out for illnesses, food contaminants and toxic gases.
Siemens Healthcare has developed an sample management system that can be matched with analysis systems for immunology and clinical chemistry. It identifies the test to be performed for which patient by barcodes and automatically feeds the samples to the correct module.
The ankle brachial index, a ratio of blood pressure measurements used to indicate the risk of peripheral artery disease and atherosclerosis, may be useful to improve the accuracy of cardiovascular risk prediction, according to a meta-analysis of previous studies.
Last month Agendia announced the official opening of the company's new headquarters at Amsterdam's Science Park. The new facilities offer 13,000 square feet of laboratory and office space to support the company's molecular diagnostic cancer testing services and research activities.
So called circulating tumor cells (CTC) seem to be an indicator of the progression and therapy outcome for cancer patients. US- and UK-researchers have shown concurrently that blood tests of CTC's are as reliable as painful biobsies to predict how well patients respond to therapy.
Russia has one of the fastest-growing AIDS epidemic in the world. One reason for this development is unsafe sex of addicts. Therefore sexual behaviour should be considered as an important component in the treatment of drug-dependent people to stop HIV-transmission.
Italy - The genome sequence of Acinetobacter baumannii has been determined by scientists at the Istituto di Tecnologie Biomediche, the Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive at the Istituto Superiore della Sanità and the Dipartimento di Biologia at Roma Tre University. In Italy alone this antibiotic resistant pathogen causes 4,500 to 7,000 deaths annually.
In today's clinical laboratory the technical staff performs quality inspections that are separate and distinct from normal laboratory testing quality control.
Possibilities to co-develop new clinical diagnostic tests for companion diagnostics, metabolic syndrome, oncology and diabetes, are being explored by Siemens Healthcare and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp).
Lean Laboratory and Lean Automation are vital ingredients for the efficient and productive running of today's modern pathology laboratories. Automation serves as an essential endorsement to Lean, says Paul M Button, Senior Consultant at ValuMetrix, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics*
An estimated 92 million Chlamydia trachomatis infections occur annually. Often, this disease presents no clear symptoms. Inverness Medical reports that its Clearview Chlamydia MF test can provide a diagnosis in as little as 30 minutes, so that, during a single visit, a patient can also begin treatment.
Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics will showcase the combined strengths of Diagnostics Products Corporation (DPC), Bayer HealthCare Diagnostics and Dade Behring.
Latest estimates predict that the global prevalence of Alzheimer's disease will quadruple by 2050. The EU funded research project "PredictAD" aimed at developing new diagnostic tools by combining data from imaging biomarkers, electrical brain activity measurement and blood based markers.
France - Clinical biology is faced with many internal and external developments, notably advances in medical science, automation, quality assurance, electronic data transmission, and the impact of the European legislation.
Germany - Managing a lab for out- and in-patient care involves not only mastering increasing pressures in terms of efficiency and cost-optimisation, but also being au courant with ever evolving clinical issues and state-of-the-art lab technology and procedures.
With 121 high level lectures and 65 published posters, Analytica 2008 - organised by the German Chemical Society (GDCh), the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM) and the German United Society of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (DGKL) - was again a notable bio-chemistry event.
Three types of human heart cells have been grown from cultures derived from embryonic stem cells, by a team of Canadian, US and UK scientists.
The recent marketing of "at home" genomic tests for disease risk may be premature, according to Dr. Kenneth Offit, MD, MPH, Chief of the Clinical Genetics Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). "Health professionals are now faced with the prospect of their patients coming to the office, a DNA profile in hand, asking for preventative management tailored to their…
The complete takeover of hospital laboratories through private laboratory service providers is rapidly changing the nature of German laboratories. Taking a closer look at these developments, it becomes apparent that several trends are developing.
During the formal launch ceremony in Brussels, Belgium, representatives of the European Commission acknowledged Lab Tests Online as a valuable patient-centered website, providing health information that meets the highest quality standards. Approximately 1.5 million users visit the non-commercial, peer-reviewed website each month to access accurate, reliable and easy to understand information…
Healthcare is in a dynamic state of change — and so is the healthcare industry, in which there is an increasing trend towards integrating scientific disciplines.
Labs are Vital is a global initiative managed in the United Kingdom by a steering group that includes the Royal College of Pathologists, Association of Clinical Pathologists, Association for Clinical Biochemistry, Institute of Biomedical Science, British In Vitro Diagnostics Association and Abbott Diagnostics.
By Tamar Jehuda-Cohen PhD, Biomedical Engineering Department, Technion Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
