Medical Laboratory Observer articles from December 2008

Medical Laboratory Observer archives from December 2008

Unopened gifts and tangled ribbons.(Editorial)
December 1, 2008... The season finds me deep in melancholy musings, mainly about family and friends no longer with us, and about my long-ago-and-faraway office mates, bosses, relatives, and college chums (who owe me an annual report on how they are doing). My...

Mising Chris Frings.(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... I was really sorry to hear about Chris Frings. His column was my favorite part of your publication. --Crystal Stevenson Concord, CA Editor's note: Thank you for remembering Chris Frings. He was a big part of our world, despite the...

Military programs accredited?(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... Lt. Col. Michael Lopatka mentions the FDA and AABB, but I did not find where the ASBP or facilities are accredited by any outside agency. I am curious if donors and/or soldiers are deferred the same as civilians for travel abroad. Do they have...

Where's the fist?(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... Where is the list of contacts you mentioned in a letter in the September 2008 issue (page 8), referring to volunteering abroad? You said it would be here on the website somewhere. I am a bit behind in my reading and am just reading that issue...

Hands on!(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... I saw your note about information on volunteering as a lab tech. I left Sept. 25 on my first trip like this with Heart to Heart International (www.hearttoheart.org), along with volunteers Mike Schneiders, a retired engineer; Regina Fields, a...

In memoriam.(The Observatory)(death of Gilbert Berry Schumann)(Obituary)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The MLO staff was notified on Oct. 23, 2008, through the kindness of one of his professional colleagues that Gilbert Berry Schumann, MD, 62, passed away at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, June 27, 2008, at Connecticut Hospice in Branford, CI Dr. Schumann...

CJD kills mother, son.(Infectious diseases)(Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... * CJD kills mother, son. Spain's Ministry of Health officials announced in late September that the mother (early 60s) of a Spanish man (41) who died in February from fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) or "mad-cow" disease also had died from...

Antibiotic overuse spikes C diff rates.(Infectious diseases)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... * Antibiotic overuse spikes C diff rates. Also in late September, the Chicago Sun Times reported that, according to experts, the overuse of antibiotics is aiding the quick escalation of hospital-infection rates of Clostridium difficile (C...

Grant for MRSA "sniffing" machine.(Infectious diseases)(Analytical Nanotechnologies developes equipment for detecting biochemicals and chemicals)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Analytical Nanotechnologies (ANT nano), based in northeast England, develops equipment for detecting biochemicals and chemicals. The company's "sniffer" machines can detect explosives, as well as diseases and airborne contaminants, such as bird...

HPV-induced oral cancer rising.(Infectious diseases)(human papillomavirus )(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... * HPV-induced oral cancer rising. A study by Johns Hopkins University researchers tracked more than 30 years of oral-cancer data from the National Cancer Institute and found that the rate of oral cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV),...

Tamiflu resistance grows.(New vaccines)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... * Tamiflu resistance grows. In mid-September, The Canadian Press reported that H1N1 virus resistant to the Tamiflu anti-viral drug (generic: Oseltamivir) is appearing in high numbers throughout Northern Europe at the same time it is spreading...

Do cell phones hurt sperm quality?(New studies)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... * Do cell phones hurt sperm quality? A Cleveland Clinic study published on Sept. 19 demonstrates that mobile phones left on talk mode in a pants pocket can damage sperm quality. Thirty-two semen samples in individual small tubes were divided...

New prostate-cancer website.(New studies)
December 1, 2008... * New prostate-cancer website. The Project to End Prostate Cancer (formerly the National Prostate Cancer Coalition), an organization dedicated to the eradication of a disease projected to kill 28,600 in 2008, recently launched its website,...

Pneumonic plague death.(Global diseases)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... * Pneumonic plague death. On Nov. 2, 2007, Eric York, a 37-year-old biologist at Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park, was found dead of the pneumonic plague--the disease that decimated Europe's population in the Middle Ages. This highly fatal...

XDR-TB sponsor awareness campaign.(Global diseases)
December 1, 2008... * XDR-TB sponsor awareness campaign BD, in cooperation with TED (technology, entertainment, design)--a group that supports ideas by forward-thinking people--is engaged in a global-awareness campaign on extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis...

Audioconference now available on CD ROM.(Conferences)(Calendar)
December 1, 2008... Audioconference now available on CD ROM: "Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2): Biomarker of Inflammation," presented June 18, with Drs. Joe McConnell and Jeff Anderson discussing the clinical utility of this cardiovascular-risk...

Liver function testing.
December 1, 2008... There is the classic story of an individual having a dream (i.e., nightmare) where he imagines his individual organs are having a debate as to which is the most important. The heart states, "Without me, blood would stop pumping, and you would...

Blood-safety news.(CLINICAL ISSUES4)(Food and Drug Administration)
December 1, 2008... While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations allow for blood to be stored up to 42 days before it must be discarded, researchers at Cooper University Hospital (CVH) in Camden, NJ, found that blood stored nearly two weeks less than...

NT-proBNP: improved standard in CHF diagnosis.(LAB MANAGEMENT)
December 1, 2008... The utility of natriuretic peptides (NPs)--both brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP)--as an aid in diagnosing congestive heart failure (CHF) is well known. Both markers have been shown...

Binding Site's CEO traces history of success.(Executive snapshot)(Company overview)
December 1, 2008... Our history. At Binding Site, we constantly strive to improve the tools available to laboratory professionals around the world for diagnosing and monitoring disease. Our origins date back to a group of researchers within the U.K.'s Medical...

Addressing management issues.(Management Q&A)
December 1, 2008... Adding new technology Q What factors should be considered when deciding whether to add new technology and/or instrumentation in a clinical laboratory? A Alton Sturtevant recommends, "Review the patient-care and financial aspects of...

Answering your questions: Vaginal KOH preparations.(Tips from the clinical experts)(Column)
December 1, 2008... Q Should vaginal KOH (potassium hydroxide) preparations be heated? Should the KOH solution contain DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide)? What is the best KOH concentration to use? We currently do not heat our KOH (10% solution) preps or use DMSO. We have...

Theft in the lab.(Liability and the lab)
December 1, 2008... Q After reviewing my laboratory's annual budget and yearly supply inventory, my suspicion is that we are having a problem with theft--particularly of paper and other items used for printing. My informal investigating revealed that one staffer...

Where the wild things are.(EDUCATION)(analysis of human safety)(Editorial)
December 1, 2008... Editor: Should citizens in developed countries be more concerned for their safety today as they move about in public areas, such as parks, gardens, or zoos than they might have been when you two and Scott Newman wrote for MLO [July 2005 cover...

A re-energized debate on stem cells.(SPECIAL FEATURE)
December 1, 2008... Using stem-cell science and tissue engineering from doctors in England, Spanish surgeons transplanted a new trachea made from stems cells removed from her own bone-marrow into a tuberculosis (TB) patient. News reports in mid-November claimed...

Direct-access testing: issues and opportunities: insights on DAT compared to physician-ordered lab tests.(EXPERT ROUNDTABLE)(Discussion)
December 1, 2008... A direct-access test by any other name could be patient-authorized, self-ordering, consumer-ordered, consumer-driven, or direct-to-consumer testing. Via television advertisements, newspapers and magazines, and the Internet, the more educated...

Continuous cooling.(Refrigerators and chillers)
December 1, 2008... ThermoFlex Recirculating Chillers deliver a continuous cooling capacity up to 5,000 watts. They are reliable, easy to use, and optimized for the most demanding applications. Units feature a robust refrigeration system designed for continuous...

Monitor wirelessly.(Refrigerators and chillers)
December 1, 2008... Wireless Temperature Monitoring v.2 allows for data reliability, robust security, wireless flexibility, and support. Key features include 2.4-GHz true direct-sequence spread-spectrum transmissions; data buffering at the transmitter level; low...

Robust data management.(Refrigerators and chillers)
December 1, 2008... The Advanced Remote Monitoring System (ARMS) is a state-of-the-art, wireless monitoring and alert system that continuously monitors vital parameters such as refrigerator and freezer temperatures, room temperature, humidity, and more. With a...

Dependable storage.(Refrigerators and chillers)
December 1, 2008... These Blood Plasma Walk-in Freezers come standard with a master controller and reverse-cycle defrost applications, which boost energy efficiency by as much as 27% over traditional refrigeration systems. The refrigeration panels are insulated...

From instruments to EMR.(Industry spotlight)
December 1, 2008... Lab DAQ Middleware is designed to provide patient test-result information from waived lab instruments to the electronic medical/health records (EMR/EHR). With the implementation of the EMR/EHR, there is a need to populate patients' records with...

Assess breast-cancer treatments.(Industry spotlight)(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The SPOT-Light HER2 CISH Kit received FDA pre-market approval in July 2008, as an aid in the assessment of breast-cancer patients for whom trastuzumb (Herceptin) treatment is being considered. This test gives the confidence and objectivity of...

Complement to diabetes panel.(Industry spotlight)
December 1, 2008... A new automated method for the quantitative determination of C-peptide in human serum, plasma, or urine is available for use on the ARCHITECT immunoassay analyzer. The new C-Peptide Assay complements the already existing diabetes assay panel,...

Differentiates flus A and B.(Industry spotlight)
December 1, 2008... The OSOM Influenza A & B Test differentiates between the two. The product is easy to read, uses nasal-swab specimens, and includes two extra test sticks for external quality-control (QC) testing. Test uses less than one minute of hands-on time,...

Diagnose acute or recent infection.(Industry spotlight)
December 1, 2008... The VITROS Cytomegalovirus (CMV) IgM Assay will aid in the diagnosis of an acute or recent infection with this virus belonging to the herpes group. CMV infections are most significant during pregnancy; they are associated with new-boms'...

Optimized for imaging.(Industry spotlight)
December 1, 2008... The AZ100, an all-new concept in zoom microscopes, covers magnifications from 5x to 400x--all in a single instrument. Thanks to a smooth-zooming mechanism, combined with the triple nosepiece, the AZ100 can continuously switch magnifications,...

Forecasts for 2009.(Washington report)
December 1, 2008... Preserving 2008 gains The clinical laboratory coalition achieved major successes in 2008, including halting implementation of CMS' competitive-bidding demonstration project in San Diego; persuading Congress to revoke overall authorization...