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In This Issue:
 A breath-takingly simple test for human exposure to potentially toxic substances
Free webinar: New Perspectives on Reducing Pre-analytical Errors: Arterial Blood Gas Testing
Genomic architecture presages genomic instability
Genomic Health wins Medicare coverage for high-priced colon cancer test
Roche to expand coagulation testing portfolio, develop new systems for diagnostic laboratories
Caltech engineers build smart petri dish
Pitt team identifies key protein causing excess liver production of glucose in diabetes
Hot Clips: Lab Outreach Tips
A breath-takingly simple test for human exposure to potentially toxic substances
The search for a rapid, non-invasive way to determine whether people have been exposed to potentially toxic substances in their workplaces, homes and elsewhere in the environment has led scientists to a technology that literally takes a person’s breath away. Their report identifying exhaled breath as an ideal indicator of such exposure appears in the American Chemical Society’s journal, Environmental Science & Technology.
Researchers explain that scientists have known since the late 1970s that exhaled breath contains traces of any potentially toxic substances that people may have inhaled. Research has shown that those amounts are an accurate reflection of the levels that exist in a person’s blood. Those advances have positioned exhaled breath as the ideal substance to use in rapid, non-invasive, simple testing for human exposure to potentially harmful substances in the air. Sampling breath is less invasive than drawing blood, more convenient than taking urine samples and “shows promise as an inexpensive method with a fast turnaround time,” they state.
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Free webinar: New Perspectives on Reducing Pre-analytical Errors: Arterial Blood Gas Testing
A free webinar entitled, New Perspectives on Reducing Pre-analytical Errors: Arterial Blood Gas Testing is being offered on Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. ET. Participants will learn to successfully manage pre-analytic processes to optimize results in the lab or at the POC.
It has been nearly a decade since Bonini et al. highlighted the role of pre-analytical factors in medical errors. The landmark study, “Errors in Laboratory Medicine,” revealed that 75% of errors in ABG testing can be attributed to pre-analytical factors. Despite increased emphasis on preventing medical errors, pre-analytical factors, such as sample handling, storage, contamination, and environmental conditions, remain as significant sources of error. Mr. Ancy will identify opportunities and provide real-world suggestions to reduce potential errors in ABG testing. He will also outline strategies for improving staff competency and training in the POC environment to support quality improvement. Case studies and analysis will be used to illustrate the effects of pre-analytical error.
This webinar, focused on ABG testing, is the first topic in a three-part series that will examine strategies to reduce pre-analytical errors. Other topics will include: Electrolyte/Metabolite and CO-Oximetry testing.
The program qualifies for 1.0 Professional Education Program hour through P.A.C.E., (Professional Acknowledgement for Continuing Education) and the AARC.
Instrumentation Laboratory will provide a completion certificate to serve as a record of attendance, which may also entitle participants to educational credits through other associations.
Register to attend the free webinar by Monday, October 17, 2011 >>>
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Genomic architecture presages genomic instability
When cells divide normally, DNA gets copied perfectly and distributed among the daughter cells with an even hand. Occasionally though, DNA breaks during division and is rearranged, resulting in duplications or deletions of important parts of the blueprint.
Now researchers at Baylor College of Medicine who study families with such genomic disorders have found a shared, yet unusual, architecture resulting from this jumble that is associated with very severe forms of disease. They also identified the genomic elements that produce such architecture, a finding that will help predict other unstable regions in the human genome.
The unusual architecture left a footprint, and a search for similar footprints in other regions of the genome may identify regions that underwent the same alteration during the evolutionary past. This event might occur more often than previously expected.
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Genomic Health wins Medicare coverage for
high-priced colon cancer test
Health insurers usually aren’t wild about paying big bucks for diagnostic tests, and things probably won’t get easier for diagnostic companies as Medicare’s budget comes under increasing pressure. But Redwood City, CA-based Genomic Health has found a way to persuade that insurer that its test for predicting the risk of colon cancer recurrence is worth the price.
Genomic Health said that Palmetto GBA, the national contractor for Medicare has agreed to a national policy for coverage of a genetic test that predicts recurrence risk in colon cancer patients. The test, known as Oncotype DX, costs $4,000 per patient for breast cancer, and $3,280 for colon cancer. As it has with original Oncotype DX product for predicting breast cancer recurrence, Genomic Health has contended that its colon cancer test can save the healthcare system money by helping doctors and patients decide when to avoid unnecessary chemotherapy or choose more aggressive treatment when need be.
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Roche to expand coagulation testing portfolio, develop new systems for diagnostic laboratories
Roche announced plans to expand its coagulation testing product line in North America beyond physician offices and outpatient clinics with the development of a full line of coagulation analyzers for hospital and reference laboratories. The new line is expected to be introduced in the U.S. and Canada in 2014, subject to regulatory approval and other requirements.
The new line of analyzers for the central coagulation lab, which will be marketed under Roche's cobas brand, is expected to include three platforms that address a range of customer needs, from low-volume testing to the high-throughput demands of commercial laboratories, along with a complete menu of coagulation assays.
The announcement follows the statement that, effective January 1, 2012, Roche Diagnostics and Diagnostica Stago will pursue separate paths in laboratory coagulation in territories where Roche distributes the Stago line of lab coagulation analyzers. Roche does not currently distribute Stago products in the U.S. or Canada, so the introduction of the new lab coagulation product line will represent a new market for Roche in both countries.
For more information >>>
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CD4 Monitoring Solutions from BD
Get proven simplicity with the BD FACSCanto™ II flow cytometer, BD FACS™ 7-color setup beads, and BD Multitest™ reagent, the industry’s only 6-color TBNK reagent. The solution delivers consistent, reliable results and enumerates NK cells by analyzing the expression of CD16 and CD56 simultaneously in the same conjugation. Standardized analysis is delivered by BD FACSCanto™ clinical software. For a free lab assessment or to learn more, visit: http://www.bdbiosciences.com/go/cd4
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Caltech engineers build smart petri dish
The cameras in our cell phones have dramatically changed the way we share the special moments in our lives, making photographs instantly available to friends and family. Now, the imaging sensor chips that form the heart of these built-in cameras are helping engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) transform the way cell cultures are imaged by serving as the platform for a "smart" petri dish. Dubbed ePetri, the device is described in a paper that appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Conventional use of a petri dish requires that the cells being cultured be placed in an incubator to grow. As the sample grows, it is removed -- often numerous times -- from the incubator to be studied under a microscope. Not so with the ePetri, whose platform does away with the need for bulky microscopes and significantly reduces human labor time, while improving the way in which the culture growth can be recorded.
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Pitt team identifies key protein causing excess liver production of glucose in diabetes
Researchers at the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified a powerful molecular pathway that regulates the liver's management of insulin and new glucose production, which could lead to new therapies for diabetes.
Usually, the liver stores excess blood sugar as glycogen, which it doles out overnight during sleep and other periods of fasting to keep glucose levels within a normal physiological range, explained H. Henry Dong, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics, Pitt School of Medicine. But in diabetes, the liver continues to pump out glucose even when insulin is provided as a treatment.
He and his team have been studying a family of proteins called Forkhead box or FOX, and for the current project focused on one called FOX06. They found that mice engineered to make too much FOX06 developed signs of metabolic syndrome, the precursor to diabetes, including high blood sugar and high insulin levels during fasting as well as impaired glucose tolerance, while mice that made too little FOX06 had abnormally low blood sugars during fasting.
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