Medical Laboratory Observer articles from October 2005

Medical Laboratory Observer archives from October 2005

Blood, sweat, and fears.(From the editor)(Editorial)
October 1, 2005... American journalist Gene Fowler once remarked, "Writing is easy. All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." This was the sum total of my own experience with "blood" before coming to MLO....

Reasoning and requirements.(Readers respond)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I would like to comment on Mr. [Roy] Midyett's article titled "Under the blue top: coags, corrections, and crits" in the February [2005] issue. (1) I agree with his rationale for not adjusting the citrate concentrations to the patient's...

Noah's Ark in LA.(Readers respond)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I am about four hours from New Orleans, but am not unaffected by the storm. Friends and family have had their homes and jobs destroyed. We are coping the best we can while trying to help them. Our small town has taken in many evacuees since the...

Health backlash to come.(Readers respond)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... All is well in Tuscaloosa, AL; however, my sister in Ocean Springs, MS, had her house fill with storm surge that was almost pure fecal material.... All she could save were some knick-knacks and what-nots. The trees on her street were killed by...

Housing evacuees.(Readers respond)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... We only had wind damage (lost two trees, neither near the house) and power outage for a week... mere inconveniences compared to our friends in MS and LA. Birmingham is housing many evacuees, but as of this week, most of the children have been...

Hospital spared.(Readers respond)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... We are very fortunate that our hospital was spared, still standing. It is working great in a post-mode and will open fully soon. We had a very bad hit from the hurricane, but we are alive. I have not been able to return to my house; I had some...

Shelters spawn stories.(Readers respond)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... We were unaffected by the hurricane... as far as the weather goes. We have many evacuees here. Our shelters were full. It is so heartbreaking to see these individuals desperately trying to find family members or someone to help them restore...

Alive and kickin'.(Readers respond)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... Lights and water with a good bit of property and tree damage here, but still alive and kickin'. Have a family member in Chalmette, LA, whose house is still under 12 feet of water. Drove to Hattiesburg, MS, yesterday; looks like a bomb went off...

Heart patient recovers after stem-cell treatment.(News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Heart patient recovers after stem-cell treatment. A 61-year-old Japanese heart-attack patient, deemed unsuitable for a transplant, has recovered after stem cells from his own bone marrow were extracted and transplanted into his damaged...

Blood test detects "mad cow" disease in hamsters.(Infectious disease)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Blood test detects "mad cow" disease in hamsters. Three scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston have found a way to detect abnormal prion protein in blood samples from hamsters. If the test proves effective in cattle and...

U. S. airport quarantine stations triple.(Infectious disease)(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... U. S. airport quarantine stations triple. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced plans to triple the number of quarantine stations--from eight to 25--in U.S. airports. CDC quarantine stations were instituted in 2003...

Congratulations to an MLO winner.(Medical Laboratory Observer)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Congratulations to Terry Lee, the clinical laboratory manager at Shriners Hospital for Children in Sacramento, CA. He won an Olympus digital camera for participating in the MLO Subscriber Profile Survey, which is conducted annually to gauge...

Conferences.(The Observatory)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
October 1, 2005... October 15-18. It is not too late to register for the AABB Annual Meeting and TXPO 2005 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, WA. The meeting will include educational sessions as well as exhibits featuring new...

Hereditary hemochromatosis.(Cover Story)
October 1, 2005... CONTINUING EDUCATION To earn CEUs, see test on page 20. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this article, the reader will be able to: * Differentiate between primary and secondary iron overload disorders. * Describe...

Total volume control.(Hematology)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Performance You Can Count On, For Any Lab Volume. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Regardless of your lab's size, the COULTER[R] LH family of hematology systems can help you dial into optimum test output. Whether you select an LH 500 (moderate...

A brave, new laboratory world: the future of stem cells and lab medicine.(CLINICAL ISSUES)
October 1, 2005... The clinical laboratory is entering a new age. It is on the edge of a new era in how it will assist direct healthcare providers in diagnosing and treating patients. More importantly, it might help prevent many devastating diseases and injuries...

Coalition strives for phlebotomy personnel standards.(LAB MANAGEMENT)
October 1, 2005... Phlebotomy has been called the most underestimated procedure in healthcare. Why else would most states require a license to curl hair but not to navigate a needle around someone's nerves and arteries in search of a vein for a blood sample? ...

Greg Porter brings an open mind to Tecan.(Executive snapshot)
October 1, 2005... Trends on the clinical diagnostics marketplace horizon Over the next few years, this market will show continuous--and molecular diagnostics exceptional--growth. A change in diagnostic dogma from caring for the sick to screening patients...

2006 editorial calendar.
October 1, 2005... ISSUE & CONTINUING CLINICAL LAB CLOSING EDUCATION ISSUES MANAGEMENT JAN Celiac Disease Point-of-Care Proficiency Testing Dec 7 & Genetic Testing Testing FEB Update on PSA in...

Clinical lab-tech day serves as education model.(EDUCATION)
October 1, 2005... Last summer--in its effort to set the pace for laboratory-training organizations across the country--the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health (NCSLPH) team developed the idea of a clinical lab-tech day as part of its...

Team does not trust employee.(Addressing management issues)
October 1, 2005... Q An employee who is currently being counseled for poor work performance has burned so many bridges that I do not know if anyone in my department will ever trust her or socialize with her again. Other employees talk about work with her, but any...

Following the regulations and attitude.(Addressing management issues)
October 1, 2005... Q I work in a physician's office where we perform CLIA-waived testing in addition to HIV, and, thyroid panels; chemistries; and so forth. Since the lab is in the basement, and I am the only full-time technologist, I do not have the luxury of...

Is your lab drowning in test requests?(Lab Automation)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... See How Automation Helps Bayfront Swim Against The Tide. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When demand flows too quickly, and you want to open a channel for growth, where can you turn? To Beckman Coulter's open-architecture automation for a...

Viscous synovial fluids.(Answering your questions)
October 1, 2005... Q Is there a procedure, besides spinning down, for preparing extremely viscous synovial fluids for testing? Is it acceptable to report "unable to analyze, fluid too viscous"? A The specimen should be collected aseptically in three or four...

Clinical utility of amylase and lipase.(Answering your questions)
October 1, 2005... Q In cases of suspected pancreatitis, sometimes the doctors order amylase, sometimes they order lipase, and sometimes they order both. Do these assays duplicate each other? When should a physician order amylase, and when should he order lipase?...

Urine eosinophil controls.(Answering your questions)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Q You responded to a question about urine eosinophil methods [see MLO May 2002 "Tips from the clinical experts," (p. 34) now archived at www.mlo-online.com/articles mlo0502tips.htm]. We are considering setting this test up and would like to...

Cardiac markers' critical values.(Answering your questions)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Q I have been asked to find critical values for CK-MB and troponin I. I have been very hard pressed to find these. If any of your experts have any input, I would appreciate it. Thanks. A We do not call these. It is hard to see how a value...

Underage allied-health students require special guidelines.(Liability and the lab)
October 1, 2005... Q What are the guidelines for permitting students (some not yet 18 years old) training in allied-health classrooms to perform venipunctures and fingersticks and to handle blood and body fluids? A The situation involves policy-making based...

Disinfecting spray.(Industry spotlight)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... BLEACH-RITE disinfecting spray is a premixed, one-step cleaner/disinfectant with 30-second kill time for tuberculosis, vancomycin-resistant Enterococci, Streptococcus, and Clostridium difficile (vegetative state); and one-minute kill time for...

Ergonomic pipette.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... New multichannel models just added to the Ovation BioNatural Pipette product line extend ergonomic benefits to users performing protocols and applications in microwell plates. The eight-channel pipettes include a number of new electronic...

Stroke rate controller.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The new V300 Stroke Rate Controller for precision control of all FMI V-Series Variable Speed Metering Pumps is designed for accurate fluid metering in the laboratory. Stroke rates can be set either manually (adjustable in 0.1% increments) or...

Upgraded chemistry system.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The new VITROS 350 chemistry system builds on the functionality of the VITROS 250 with its enhanced throughput; a broad, accessible menu; and a new ergonomic design. It features a flat-panel, touch-sensitive monitor with an adjustable support...

One-step procedure.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The MERIFLUOR CG is an in vitro immunofluorescent-detection procedure for the simultaneous detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in fecal material. Accurate and more sensitive than traditional staining methods and commercial...

Protect blood samples.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The Junior Blood Tube Rocker holds eight specimen tubes horizontally on a platform that rocks slowly and gently at 25 rpms to carefully mix specimens while protecting blood samples from being traumatized or hemolyzed. The platform includes a...

Hemostatis products.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... Hemostasys is a new global integrated and comprehensive system of hemostasis reagents, assays, and analyzers for routine coagulation testing with a major emphasis on thrombophilia detection. These products include kits for APTT, PT, multilevel...

Benchtop dispensing pump.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The new 323Dz high-precision dispensing pump for lab and benchtop applications, such as metering and dosing, features a flip-top pumphead for easy loading. Its dosing capability is 100 mL in under three seconds. Menu-driven mid-batch...

New modules.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The EP Evaluator, release 7, can establish and validate all laboratory methods with one convenient package. This software includes 23 statistical modules, including method comparison (7), linearity, reference interval (3), and many more....

Fast toggle switch.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The DM3000--the latest addition to the ergonomic DM Clinical Microscope series--automates objective changing for pathological screening. Users can concentrate fully on specimens without being distracted by complex microscope settings. Its...

Expanded menu.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The AtheNA Multi-Lyte EBV Test System, the latest in an ever-expanding menu, is intended for the quantitative detection of IgG-class antibody to EBV viral capsid antigen, nuclear antigen, and early antigen in human serum simultaneously in a...

ID fungi.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The MycoVue System is a ready-to-use, diagnostic slide-culture system for identifying fungi by its morphological appearance. This standardized, comprehensive method eliminates the time-consuming preparations and technical difficulties that...

CE system.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... Place a bar-coded tube on CAPILLARYS 2 and the continuous-feed, capillary electrophoresis (CE) system provides complete walk-away automation. CAPILLARYS 2 features unlimited menu-expansion possibilities with current traditional and innovative...

Lab ideas.(Industry spotlight)(free e-mail newsletter from Whitney Products Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Lab Notes, a quarterly compendium of news, laughs, and ideas for the lab is free at www.whitneyproducts.com/labnotes. This e-mail newsletter covers such information as how the fight on bioterrorism is affecting the Freedom of Information Act as...

Immediate analysis.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... Use the AxioCam HS color camera for clinical applications in virology. Analyze molecular processes and organisms in vivo. Physiological processes are acquired with a speed of up to 140 images per second. Image data are transferred to computers...

Horizontal centrifuge.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The tabletop Horizon 6-place horizontal mini E centrifuge and other series models run cool to preserve sample integrity. The Horizon takes up less than one square foot of counter space and weighs less than 19 lbs. Horizontal separation...

Cool ergonomics.(Industry spotlight)
October 1, 2005... The Cryotome FE/FSE Cryostats are precision-engineered, ergonomic instruments to meet the needs of lab staff cutting frozen sections. Standing or sitting, the operator can work comfortably with a higher unit, an adjustable footrest, and rounded...

Point-of-care testing.(Product focus)
October 1, 2005... Point-of-care testing (POCT) offers healthcare professionals equipment that provides them with greater mobility, broader menus, quicker turnaround time, easier quality assurance/quality control protocols, and enhanced connectivity with secure...

Federal budget hurts emergency preparedness.(Washington report)
October 1, 2005... The appropriations process for federal fiscal year (FY) 2006 is progressing quickly with the U.S. House of Representatives passing its version of the Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations bill at the end of June, and the U.S. Senate...