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To take the test online go HERE. For more information, visit the Continuing Education tab. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this article, the reader will be able to: 1. Describe [...]

A critical technique in clinical laboratory testing, mass spectrometry (MS) involves, at its core, examining a mass of molecules. Think of mass spectrometry as a tiny scale for molecules. Yet, [...]

The following section includes company descriptions with their essential laboratory products and contact information for ordering and pricing. Also available online at: CLR-online.com ADVANCED DATA SYSTEMS RCM ADVANCED DATA SYSTEMS [...]

Advancements in sequencing techniques and the emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology have transformed laboratory medicine and clinical diagnosis. DNA sequencing results help healthcare professionals in disease diagnosis, prognosis, therapeutic [...]

Laboratory tests inform most clinical decisions and are essential for optimal patient management. Most existing assays are diagnostic, supporting determination of the presence or absence of a disease or condition [...]

Laboratory testing has greatly evolved since its early beginnings in the late 19th century. Education in laboratory medicine for medical trainees has not kept pace with advances in technology, however, [...]

The 2022 Medical Laboratory Observer (MLO) State of the Industry (SOI) survey on molecular diagnostics revealed some intriguing insights on the use of moleculartesting by U.S. labs for COVID-19 diagnosis [...]

In the broad medical domain known as women's health, one of the highest-impact areas involves caring for women during pregnancy. After all, any testing or treatment performed in this window [...]

Take a look around your lab. If you're in the United States, one of your five female colleagues is likely to die from undiagnosed heart disease. (1) Even after accounting [...]

The recent MLO survey illustrates how labs are coping with SARS-CoV-2 testing and procedures When gathering data on infectious diseases that demonstrate the potential to become a worldwide threat, the [...]

Coagulation analysis became important for my family when my then 30-year-old cousin wound up in the emergency room with a double pulmonary embolism after a two-hour car ride. Medical professionals [...]

Your company, ResearchDx, provides clinical laboratory consulting services. What are common issues that the consulting services help labs with? We assist laboratories in preparing for regulatory audits and in maintaining [...]

Clinical laboratories have never been more important in the medical decision-making process. From novel therapies that can only be prescribed to patients with certain genetic variants to increasing interest in [...]

In addition to glucose monitoring and testing for hemoglobin [A.sub.1c] ([HbA.sub.1c]), pharmacies can provide a slew of point-of-care testing services, including tests for acute infectious diseases (influenza, group A Streptococcus), [...]

Cervical cancer, a preventable disease and curable if detected early, is the second leading cause of cancer death in women 20 to 39 years of age in the United States, [...]

Many experts say that a global pandemic was inevitable. Amid cuts in funding, public health laboratories do their best to be prepared to manage unpredictable global emergencies. But in spite [...]

Vaccines from AstraZeneca and Janssen Pharmaceuticals are associated with a risk of a rare and severe blood clot occurring with low platelets. This is something labs should be prepared for [...]

This disease, so frequently attending all long voyages, and so particularly destructive to us, is surely the most singular and unaccountable of any that affects the human body. For its [...]

Background: Many laboratories offer glycemic index (GI) services. Objective: We assessed the performance of the method used to measure GI. Design: The GI of cheese-puffs and fruit-leather (centrally provided) was measured in 28 laboratories (n = 311 subjects) by using the FAO/WHO method. The laboratories reported the results of their calculations and sent the raw data for recalculation centrally. Results: Values for the incremental area under the curve (AUC) reported by 54% of the laboratories differed from central calculations. Because of this and other differences in data analysis, 19% of reported food GI values differed by >5 units from those calculated centrally. GI values in individual subjects were unrelated to age, sex, ethnicity, body mass index, or AUC but were negatively related to within-individual variation (P = 0.033) expressed as the CV of the AUC for repeated reference food tests (refCV). The between-laboratory GI values (mean [+ or -] SD) for cheese-puffs and fruit-leather were 74.3 [+ or -] 10.5 and 33.2 [+ or -] 7.2, respectively. The mean laboratory GI was related to refCV (P = 0.003) and the type of restrictions on alcohol consumption before the test (P = 0.006, [r.sup.2] = 0.509 for model). The within-laboratory SD of GI was related to refCV (P < 0.001), the glucose analysis method (P = 0.010), whether glucose measures were duplicated (P = 0.008), and restrictions on dinner the night before (P = 0.013, [r.sup.2] = 0.810 for model). Conclusions: The between-laboratory SD of the GI values is [approximately equal to] 9. Standardized data analysis and low within-subject variation (refCV < 30%) are required for accuracy. The results suggest that common misconceptions exist about which factors do and do not need to be controlled to improve precision. Controlled studies and cost-benefit analyses are needed to optimize GI methodology. The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00260858. KEY WORDS Clinical trial, humans, dietary carbohydrate, glycemic index, glucose, methodology

CONTINUING EDUCATION To earn CEUs, see test on page 26. LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this article, the reader should be able to: Microbiology: 1. Recognize negative outcomes from improper specimen [...]

CONTINUING EDUCATION To earn CEUs, see test on page 24. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this article, the reader will be able to: 1. Identify six scientists and explain how [...]

A document-management process is vital for ensuring that staff access and use only the most current versions of documents, and that everyone is following the same process sequence and procedure [...]

The growing importance of the clinical laboratory in patient healthcare is evident from the fact that about 70% of medical decisions are now based on laboratory test results. (1) The [...]

The evolution of productive patterns in 80 pharmaceutical laboratories in Spain, during 1994-2000 is examined.

New testing methods for human papilloma virus (HPV), such as the Digene Hybrid Capture 2 HPV DNA Test ([hc.sub.2] HPV DNA Test), present both opportunities and challenges in the diagnosis [...]

The need to evaluate immune function has moved from the concern of specialists caring for the rare patient with primary immune disorders to an issue for nonspecialized clinicians, resulting at [...]

Staff participation is crucial to the success of a hospital laboratory's outreach program. The project aims to provide additional income to hospitals by providing laboratory services to outside clients and to create a better image for the hospital in the community. It also means additional work for medical technologists. Thus, managers should address the resistance and other concerns of the laboratory staff. They should discuss the benefits that the staff can gain in joining the program such as continuing education, greater job satisfaction and equipment upgrade., Because of declining inpatient testing, outreach programs have become vital to the survival of many hospital laboratories, yet staff laboratorians often oppose such programs on several levels. As he left [...]

Placental blood or umbilical cord blood transplantation provides an alternative to bone marrow for hematopoietic transplantation since bone marrow donors are difficult to match and locate. Placental blood from the umbilical cord right after birth contains progenitor cells which can reconstitute the hematopoietic system a child suffering from leukemia to offer a self-replenishing, perpetual source of all differentiated blood cells. Medical laboratories can provide the services of placental blood banking., Until recently, there were only two options for a child with life-threatening leukemia who required bone marrow transplantation: identify a relative with compatible human leukocyte antigen (HLA) or search the [...]

Laboratory-initiated CD4 reporting is effective in identifying many HIV patients who would not be identified through other means. In Oregon, health laboratories can report patients who have low CD4 cell counts to the state health department. This is a very cost-effective way of identifying HIV patients, especially those who live in rural areas.

Ethical and technical aspects of different prenatal paternity tests are evaluated. Prenatal paternal testing can be done at any stage of the pregnancy. Any inherited polymorphic test system which is accredited and conducted according to established standards can be used. These tests will determine the probability of paternity with over 99% certainty., There are many methods available for prenatal testing of paternity. Here are some of the ethical and technical aspects of the different tests in use today. MODERN TECHNIQUES ALLOW fetal [...]

Laboratories can help improve the health of older adults and reduce the costs of medical care through nutritional status assessment and monitoring. Laboratory testing should be an important part of nutrition-related services such as screening, assessment and monitoring for geriatric patient populations. Laboratories should expand their services to include detection of presymptomatic malnutrition and early deterioration of nutritional status., Laboratory testing should be integral to nutrition-related services, including screening, assessment, and monitoring for both inpatient and outpatient geriatric populations. Find out how the laboratory can contribute to the improved [...]

Clinical immunology laboratories will benefit from new technologies and processes that would improve the accuracy and quality of diagnostic tests and assays. These advances include nucleic acid assays, nucleotide probe assays for genetic and immune-caused diseases, synthesis of naturally-occurring peptides, biosensor devices and computers capable of storing and analyzing large amounts of data from various tests. These tests and probes can also be provided within short periods together with results in graphic and printed form to facilitate diagnosis., The immunology lab of the future must incorporate advances in immunochemistry, molecular biology, and protein chemistry - if it is to fill its vital role. Here's what to expect. For [...]

The American Medical Association has released the 1993 edition of Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), which features drastic changes in the coding for lab services. The major code changes involve automated multichannel tests, organ- or disease-oriented panels, drug testing, therapeutic drug assay, chemistry, molecular diagnostics, hematology, immunology and transfusion medicine. The laboratory industry and the Health Care Financing Administration welocmed the revisions, although a number of codes still require gap-filling., This year's CPT code revisions were supposed to eliminate problems resulting from codes not keeping pace with lab technology, but errors in the revisions have provided new thorns equally capable [...]

Within two miles of each other in western Pennsylvania are the two largest hospitals among those served via the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) system. UPMC Presbyterian, a 997-bed [...]

Among the most telling aspects of laboratory service, in referral as in primary labs, is the ability to cope with emergencies and other unusual circumstances. Promptly addressing such difficulties is [...]

Do more with less. Many laboratories across the country--under pressure to produce high-quality patient results in the face of difficult challenges--have adopted this mantra. In New York State, Centrex Clinical [...]

RUG ABUSE IS AN EMOTIONAL ISSUE. THE term conjures up images of illegal activity, pushers, needles in the arm, skid row, and death. With such images in mind, company executives [...]

Filling the special needs of extended-care facilities Chronic disease and the infirmities of old age often make the goal of extended care not cure but rather relief of discomfort. The [...]

The accuracy of those proliferating screening programs MLO's four-part series continues with an evaluation of the precision of current testing, the training required, participant education and referral, and impending regulation. [...]

What do you get when you cross a medical laboratory technologist with a submarine? A whole new perspective on clinical laboratory science. The seas abound with more than aquatic life; [...]

This month, St. Patrick's Day will be celebrated around the world. On that day, the Emerald Isle becomes home for all who believe in the elusive pot o'gold at the [...]

The epidemic of prescription opioid abuse has been worsening for decades in the United States, but it has broken through to the public consciousness only in the past year or [...]