Medical Laboratory Observer articles from June 2006

Medical Laboratory Observer archives from June 2006

Only in Miami ...(Editorial)
June 1, 2006... In May, we cruised Alligator Alley across Florida, from small-town Nokomis to glamorous Miami, blasting the Cuban beat of Bette Midler's "Only in Miami" on the CD player: "Only in Miami is Cuba so far away...." Not having set foot there since...

Readers respond: dismay at non-action.(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2006... I was most distressed to read your "Twinkletoes performs in 'Art of the Draw'" (MLO, April 2006, p. 4) of your experiences with phlebotomy and communications. As a former medical technologist educator, I wonder why you, as a healthcare...

Readers respond: yes, we have band-aids.(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2006... I recently read your editorial, "Twinkletoes performs in 'The Art of Draw,'" and have been "pondering" it ever since. It really made me step back and think about how we are perceived by the general public. I am the outreach coordinator at a...

Readers respond: drawing blood without a test order.(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2006... I would like to take a different approach to this issue than that advocated by Dennis Ernst in the April 2006 issue ("Tips from the clinical experts," p. 30). Mr. Ernst pointed out potential problems associated with drawing blood without a test...

Global disease.(Peramivir for avian flu influenza)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Avian-flu update. An injectable form of a new drug for treating H5N1 is now being used in human clinical trials. Peramivir is a neuraminidase inhibitor, as are the currently used drugs Tamiflu and Relenza; however, its manufacturer claims that...

Education.(National Laboratory Training Network to get less funds)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A blow to NLTN CE programs. Due to the President's proposed 2007 budget, the National Laboratory Training Network (NLTN), as an extension of the CDC, may experience significant cuts in funding. NLTN is expected to receive only one-third to...

Education.(new drug for AIDS developed)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Promising new drug for AIDS prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in March that a new prophylactic drug combination is proving so effective in animal studies that it will expand currently existing human...

News.(United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Medical Association)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... CDC proposes expansion of routine HIV testing. With the support of the American Medical Association (AMA), the CDC is advocating routine testing for HIV on all people between the ages of 13 and 64 as part of standard testing received during...

Conferences.
June 1, 2006... * July 23-27. The AACC 2006 Annual Meeting at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, IL, will offer five plenary sessions and 30 symposia, along with a variety of short courses, interactive workshops, as well as Brown Bag and Meet...

Antigen retrieval: a review of commonly used methods and devices.(Cover story)
June 1, 2006... This review is intended to provide the scientific community, in general, and the buying public, in particular, with information about the technical and financial aspects of antigen retrieval (AR)--a procedure that has become an integral part of...

CE test on ANTIGEN RETRIEVAL: A REVIEW OF COMMONLY USED METHODS AND DEVICES.
June 1, 2006... MLO and Northern Illinois University (NIU), DeKalb, IL, are co-sponsors in offering continuing education units (CEUs) for this issue's article on ANTIGEN RETRIEVAL: A REVIEW OF COMMONLY USED METHODS AND DEVICES. CEUs or contact hours are...

Emergency preparedness essential: a pathologist's stance on POCT.
June 1, 2006... On August 28, 2005, a patient at Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans endured a 12-hour liver transplant, during which the blood-chemistry levels vital to the patient's survival were monitored by point-of-care (POC) instrumentation. The...

The genetic map to theranostics.
June 1, 2006... For more than a decade, the race has been on to identify genes that predispose patients to common diseases. The Holy Grail arising from such discoveries would be a "theranostic," a term for the use of diagnostic testing to diagnose the disease,...

e-Learning streamlines labs.
June 1, 2006... How many laboratory professionals in the trenches have ready, reliable access to up-to-date technological support and training, not to mention current relevant information? For medical laboratory professionals, the rapid proliferation of new...

LaBau leads the way in Cerner's Gajema logistics.
June 1, 2006... Creating lab outreach solutions: The acquisition of Gajema allowed our company to immediately address the urgent needs of its expanding base of outreach clients, and to help improve and increase efficiency and functionality for managing their...

Addressing management issues: changing work hours of long-term employee.(Interview)
June 1, 2006... Q After being the evening/night shift supervisor for seven years, I have just become chemistry supervisor. A tech on day shift has worked 9 to 5 for about 20 years--not his official schedule. While this schedule does not work for me, the...

Addressing management issues: Jekyll-and-Hyde employee.
June 1, 2006... Q I believe our lab's unionization is the root of most of our management problems. A woman on my staff has been here 18 years. I am at my wits' end with her. I believe she is basically an unhappy person who drags all her woes to work everyday....

Answering your questions: Giardia and Cyclospora PCR.
June 1, 2006... Q I am trying to detect Giardia lamblia and Cyclospora cayetanensis from stool samples extracted by Qiagen stool mini kit and used the Weiss and Relman PCR protocols respectively. At this moment, I have problems with the product amplification....

Answering your questions: reagent strip specific gravity on urines with abnormal constituents.(University of Minnesota Medical School's Karen M. Ringsrud)
June 1, 2006... Q On routine urinalysis, we perform specific gravity using a dipstick. If the results are reported as 1.030, we perform and report specific gravity using a refractometer. Occasionally, we get a urine with >1,000 mg/dL glucose which affects the...

Answering your questions: manual cell-count controls.
June 1, 2006... Q I can understand the need to quality control (QC) instrumentation, but why is it required to do QC on manual platelet counts, white blood counts (WBC), reticulocyte counts, and so forth. Competency checks are more appropriate, are they not?...

Preventing allergic exposure in the lab.
June 1, 2006... Q We have a new technologist who is highly allergic to peanuts. What sorts of issues does this present for us in the laboratory? A Allergies to common foods, such as peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, and soy are becoming more common. Allergies to...

A focus on the public health/clinical lab connection.(Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC) met in Atlanta, Feb. 8-9, 2006. Its focus was illustrating the importance of enhancing connectivity between the public health and clinical laboratories. Updates were given by the...

Med-lab summer camp helps students explore career possibilities.
June 1, 2006... When teenagers arrive home from camp this summer, they may not be able to tie a perfect square knot or present their parents with a hand-made potholder. Instead, they might be able describe how to use an immunoassay analyzer or separate...

An array of analyzers: simple, compact, capable.(Product focus)
June 1, 2006... The Viva-fr Drug Testing System--an easy-to-use bench-top analyzer--has full walkaway capabilities. The system offers Syva's Emit assays for drugs-of-abuse testing for trustworthy results and accuracy. It also has a variety of sample tube sizes...

An array of analyzers: calibrate automatically.(Product focus)
June 1, 2006... The SPOTCHEM EZ is a small bench-top chemistry analyzer that utilizes dry chemistry technology. Testing performed on reagent strips makes results available within eight to 15 minutes. Maximum throughput is 48 tests per hour. The instrument...

An array of analyzers: maximize in-house specialty testing.(Product focus)
June 1, 2006... The ACL Advance can reduce costs and increase efficiency in the high-volume, specialty-testing lab. This easy-to-use coagulation analyzer offers complete walkaway capabilities. Test menu includes D-Dimer, new Free Protein S, APCR-V Leiden, and...

An array of analyzers: high throughput; no downtime.(Product focus)
June 1, 2006... The VITROS 950 chemistry system requires no reagent preparation; and with no deionized water, plumbing, or drains, and minimal maintenance, there is virtually no downtime. Spend less time re-running tests and have less need for a back-up...

An array of analyzers: enhanced efficiency.(Product focus)
June 1, 2006... The COBAS INTEGRA 800 analyzer is for medium-workload laboratories and special chemistry-testing in high-volume sites. This analyzer provides true consolidation power with on-board capacity of up to 72 tests and throughput of up to 855 tests...

An array of analyzers: speed in a small footprint.(Product focus)
June 1, 2006... The ADVIA 1200 Chemistry System features a small footprint that fits in any size laboratory. This system uses the same reagents, calibrators, and controls as the other ADVIA chemistry family. With the speed of 1,200 tests per hour, the ADVIA...

An array of analyzers: TLA line.(Product focus)
June 1, 2006... The STA-R Evolution, the newest high-performance system to the STA family of analyzers, is a fully automated, stand-alone workstation with robotic capabilities for the total laboratory automation line. Clotting, chromogenic, and immunological...

An array of analyzers: all in one.(Product focus)
June 1, 2006... The innovative Stat Profile Critical Care Xpress analyzer measures blood gases, electrolytes, chemistry, and hematology with on-board co-oximetry "all in one" single, compact instrument. Measured tests include pH, PC[O.sub.2], P[O.sub.2],...

vWF control plasma.(Industry spotlight)
June 1, 2006... A new Normal Control Plasma has been added to ristocetin co-factor assay product line, the family of reagents used in conjunction with the company's Platelet Aggregation Profiler to estimate the quantity of von Willebrand Factor in plasma...

Hood safety.(Industry spotlight)
June 1, 2006... The four-foot stainless-steel radioisotope Protector XL HOPEC IV fume hood, has an ADA-compliant hand-operated positive-energy control design. Its stationary glass viewing panel, yellow flush sill/air foil with spill trough, and...

Dilute PT test.(Industry spotlight)
June 1, 2006... The ACTICLOT dPT test for detecting lupus anticoagulants is the first commercially available dilute prothrombin time test, and marks an advance in the diagnosis of the anti-phospholipid syndrome. It combines reagents for both screening and...

Precision dispensing.(Industry spotlight)
June 1, 2006... Specially engineered Series C, Q, and T Safety Caps all feature an anti-twist cap that prevents the escape of toxic gases, accidental chemical spills, and other liquid-handling hazards to ensure safety, eliminate contamination, and reduce loss....

Test 88 patients.(Industry spotlight)
June 1, 2006... The calcitonin ELISA kit is for quantitative determination of calcitonin in human serum. The assay is intended for in vitro diagnostic use and is used to diagnose thyroid cancer and as an adjunct for monitoring osteoporosis. Enough microwell...

Clarification from May 2006: electronic flow meter.(Industry spotlight)(Correction notice)
June 1, 2006... The UltraCW Automatic Cell Washing System offers programmable electronic flow meter, allows for precise, consistent saline fills. Up to four wash cycles, spin time, decant speed, number of agitations, and rpm are user selectable. Perform one...

Centrifuge accessories.(Industry spotlight)
June 1, 2006... New accessories for the HemaSpin PLUS Centrifuge package include buckets, lids, and inserts. Inserts and lids can be pulled from the centrifuge without removing the buckets. The package's Rotanta 460S refrigerated centrifuge offers a brushless...

Disinfect equipment.(Industry spotlight)
June 1, 2006... The Mini HYPE-WIPE bleach towelettes enable quick, convenient disinfection of equipment such as glucometers, urinalysis, and blood-chemistry devices. The 3"x3" towel comes in a foil-lined pouch. The bleach strength meets CDC/OSHA...

The outlook for CMS competitive bidding.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
June 1, 2006... The dominant clinical lab industry issue of 2006 is the implementation of competitive bidding by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). While Congress is unlikely to adopt the President's proposal to bypass the...