Focus on National Blood Donor Month
Every day in the United States approximately 39,000 units of blood are needed in hospitals and emergency treatment facilities. Blood is traditionally in short supply during the winter months, and a reduction in turnout can put the nation’s blood inventory at a critical low. AABB offers a set of National Blood Donor Month materials (e.g., press releases, flyers, logos, and newsletter and website banners) to encourage donors to give or pledge to give blood. Visit AABB to download materials.

NEW! International Corner: Quotient Biodiagnostics brings more than 30 years’ experience in the transfusion medicine market to the United States with a unique evaluation program that allows labs to try out products risk-free. Click here to view International Corner.

NEW FEATURE: MLO has added a special Student Showcase section to LABline to showcase student papers from Clinical Laboratory Science and Medical Laboratory Technology programs from colleges and universities around the United States. In January, two students from Ohio Northern University (ONU) co-authored “Point-of-Care Glucose Meters Vs. Centralized Laboratory Serum Testing.” Check out their revised manuscript and the commentary offered by a peer-reviewer to help these students on their path to successful publication. Click here to view Student Showcase.

NEW!  Abbott provides immediate healthcare aid in Haiti
Abbott and its philanthropic foundation the Abbott Fund have committed to provide humanitarian aid in response to the earthquake in Haiti. Working directly with humanitarian partners to help address the growing healthcare crisis, Abbott is expanding its support for relief efforts in Haiti. The company will provide $2.5 million in grant funding and donations of critical pharmaceutical and nutritional products to humanitarian aid organizations. An initial quantity of Abbott pharmaceutical and nutritional products are already in use in several locations in Haiti as a result of prior work with Direct Relief International to strategically pre-position essential healthcare products in preparation for potential natural disasters. These products include antibiotics, rehydration solutions, and nutritional products. Abbott will continue to work with relief partners to assess and respond to ongoing needs for longer-term recovery efforts. Video highlighting ongoing efforts to pre-position disaster relief aid is available at http://agendanyc.com/clients/abbott/preparedness.htm.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT! Nominations for the MLO Medical Laboratory of the Year due Jan. 31, 2010. Also, sign up to win an Executive War College Scholarship before Feb. 1, 2010. Winners will be featured in the April 2010 issue of MLO.

HOT CLIPS ON AUTOMATION

Readers often remark that they love to “clip” various items from the print pages of MLO. And because MLO covers a myriad of laboratory-related topics, we share a continuing LABline feature: Hot Clips. Click on the highlighted words to discover various MLO archival properties concerning automating the medical laboratory.

The past decade has seen the exodus of retiring CLSs, MLTs, and MTs with a smaller influx of replacements from a dwindling number of CLS and MT programs around the nation. The medical laboratory industry revved into high gear to improve equipment, automating as many manual processes as possible to compensate. Thus, the emerging market for automated analyzers, for example, has been a subject of interest for laboratories everywhere in recent years.

Whether it is an article about a particular area of the laboratory that has been “automated” … how automation makes lab testing faster … what different analyzers do in comparison with one another … watching automation filter into the medical laboratory has been and continues to be an amazing process in terms of how it has changed the way labs can conduct their business.

Learn a little more about automation in the medical laboratory through this series of “hot clips” published from June 2009 through January 2010 issues. And search our currently-under-construction archives online to find other “hot clicks” like Q&As on these topics from MLO’s ever popular “Tips from the clinical experts.”

Urine sample may reveal sleep disorder in kids
A urine test could be developed to detect whether a child has obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which would alleviate the need for costly and inconvenient sleep studies for OSA in children, according to University of Chicago researchers in the Dec. 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. An estimated 3% of children under the age of 9 have OSA, which can lead to cognitive, behavioral, cardiovascular, and metabolic problems. In a study of 90 children referred to a sleep clinic for evaluation of breathing problems during sleep and 30 children who did not snore, all test subjects underwent standard overnight sleep tests and urine samples were collected the morning after the tests. Researchers found that the expression of a number of the proteins was different in children with OSA than in those with habitual snoring or healthy, non-snoring children.

Blood-lead levels linked to depression
Young adults with higher blood-lead levels appear more likely to have major depression and panic disorders, even if they have exposure to lead levels generally considered safe, according to a report in the December 2009 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. Researchers analyzed data from 1,987 adults age 20 to 39 years and found the number of young adults who met diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder was 134 (6.7%), 44 (2.2%) had panic disorder, and 47 (2.4%) had generalized anxiety disorder. The average blood-lead level was 1.61 mcg/dL. Participants with the highest blood-lead levels (2.11 mcg/dL or more) had 2.3 times the odds of having major depressive disorder and nearly five times the odds of panic disorder as the those with the lowest lead levels (0.7 mcg/dL or less).

New findings on toxoplasmosis parasite
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have made a new discovery about an invasive parasite that infects up to a quarter of the world’s population, including 50 million Americans. The study, involving the single-celled parasite Toxoplasma gondii, published in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of Immunology, could lead to a new approach for treating toxoplasmosis, the disease caused by this parasite. People become infected by ingesting T gondii oocysts, and once the parasite is swallowed, its tachyzoites multiply by infecting cells and then reproducing several times within each cell. Finally, the parasitic cargo ruptures its host cell and exits to infect new cells. Prior studies had suggested that tachyzoites progress through five to seven cell-division cycles over two to three days before rupturing the host cell and initiating a new round of infection. But the Einstein team discovered that in infected mice the multiplication cycle goes much faster: parasites ruptured the cells in about six hours after undergoing only one or two cell-division cycles.

Mass spectrometry helps isolate biomarker for acute pediatric appendicitis
Thermo Fisher Scientific’s team of researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston identified a promising biomarker, known as LRG, that they believe will help physicians diagnose acute pediatric appendicitis more accurately and efficiently. The team conducted its research on a Thermo Scientific LTQ Orbitrap mass spectrometer and discovered several potential biomarkers, including leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein (LRG). The research was inspired by the reality that appendicitis diagnosis often requires long hours in an emergency room and expensive diagnostic imaging procedures. The Children's Hospital team used an LTQ Orbitrap mass spectrometer to study protein and peptides in urine samples from 67 children. Findings show that the LRG biomarker is a consistent and accurate indicator of appendicitis and that LRG levels directly correlate with the severity of infection. Learn more at www.thermofisher.com.

Sunquest honored by National Guard
Sunquest Information Systems earned distinction from the Arizona and the North Carolina National Guard and Reserve recognizing the company's support of military employees. Sunquest’s President and CEO accepted a Patriotic Employer Award and a Statement of Support Award in both Arizona and North Carolina for the company’s ongoing support for the Guard and Reserve at company headquarters in Tucson, AZ. The System Services Manager also received the Patriot Award for his support of employees who serve in the Arizona National Guard and Reserve. The awards were earned as a result of a Sunquest employee and member of the Reserves, writing a letter praising his employer’s commitment to citizen soldiers in its employ.

HELPFUL PRODUCT INFORMATION

Analyzers | Education / Training | Centrifuges

Nominations for the MLO Medical Laboratory of the Year due Jan. 31, 2010
This award coincides with National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week and allows medical laboratories nationwide to demonstrate their contributions to quality patient care. Nominations for the MLO Medical Laboratory of the Year Award 2010 will be accepted only from employees of the laboratory system; utilizers of the laboratory's services; and its non-vendor affiliates. This includes by hospital administrators, laboratory personnel, nursing staff, and physicians. The winner and two runners-up will be featured in the April 2010 issue of Medical Laboratory Observer. Deadline for nominations/submissions is 12:01 AM on Jan. 31, 2010. Laboratories will be judged on measurable achievements in each of nine areas. Two judges with MLO's Editorial Advisory Board and one member of The Dark Report will review all submissions to select the winner and runners-up. Enter online at www.mlo-online.com/LabOfTheYear/Default.aspx.

Sign up to win an Executive War College Scholarship
This award coincides with National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week and allows medical laboratories individuals to demonstrate their interest in learning. The winner will be featured in the April 2010 issue of Medical Laboratory Observer. The deadline for nominations/submissions is 12:01 AM on Feb. 1, 2010. Individuals will be judged on measurable achievements in each of 10 areas. A panel of judges selected from MLO's Editorial Advisory Board will review all submissions to choose the winner. Enter online at www.mlo-online.com/EWC/Default.aspx.

APIC encourages flu vaccines for healthcare workers
In observance of National Influenza Vaccination Week January 10-16, 2010, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) joins with other health organizations in urging the public — especially healthcare workers — to get vaccinated against H1N1 and the seasonal flu. APIC urges healthcare institutions to require annual flu vaccines for all employees with direct patient contact and recommends that healthcare facilities obtain informed statements acknowledging the risk to patients from employees who decline the vaccine for reasons other than medical. Visit APIC at www.apic.org and learn more about National Influenza Vaccination Week at www.flu.gov/news/nivw.html.

• Sara Davis, Tarleton State University;
• Lindsay Johnson, Vanderbilt University;
• Deborah Kleeves, Ferris State University;
• Patricia Linton, Midwestern State University;
• Joseph Malkovich, Heritage University; and
• Charlotte McMullen, Southwest Minnesota State University.

TO VIEW AN UPDATED LIST OF UPCOMING CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, EVENTS, AND WEBINARS, CLICK HERE.

The 2010 MLO Media Handbook is now online at www.mlo-online.com.

“The first step toward a cure is to know what the disease is.”
—Latin proverb

Medical Laboratory Observer
2500 Tamiami Trail North
Nokomis, FL 34275
941-966-9521

Privacy Statement


If you no longer wish to receive MLO LABline
or you wish to update your profile, follow this link.

PRODUCTS &
SERVICES

Beckman Coulter

Beckman Coulter/Hematology

Sysmex America

Binding Site

Whitney Products

Quotient
Biodiagnostics

Bio-Rad

Euroimmun US

AAFP-PT

Mayo Medical Laboratories

LabCE

Beckman Coulter - Automation

Bio-Rad/BioPlex

Cepheid

Idaho Technology

Nova Biomedical

SoftTech Health

Kamiya
Biomedical Co.

Thermo
Fisher Scientific -
Clinical Diagnostics

Thermo Fisher Scientific