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In This Issue
 ASCP and Siemens to award more than $125,000 in scholarships for Medical Laboratory Students in 2011-2012
American Society for Microbiology Tips: Breast cancer tumor suppressor gene silenced by low O2
A study conducted by VHIO researchers confirms that a lack of vitamin D increases the aggressiveness of colon cancer
HPV test beats cytology for cervical screening
Complimentary PCT webinar: "Advancing Patient Care with Procalcitonin"
The ignored virus that causes liver cancer; Should we be screening blood for hepatitis G?
FDA clears Abbott’s genetic FISH panel for leukemia patient prognosis
One species of pathogen can produce two distinct biofilms
Hot Clips: Molecular Dx
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Iris Sample Processing
Go “lean” with the StatSpin Express 4 high speed horizontal centrifuge. Instead of batching samples labs can now process 8 gel tubes in 3 minutes with a flat gel barrier so that samples can be put directly on the analyzer. It has a powerful maintenance-free brushless motor and the entire unit is backed with a 2-year warranty.
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ASCP and Siemens to award more than $125,000 in scholarships for Medical Laboratory Students in 2011-2012
Annually the American Society of Clinical Pathology and the Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics group celebrate the future of the medical laboratory profession by awarding scholarships to students who have achieved a level of success that merits recognition. Scholarships assist our students in balancing their full-time studies and expenses which arise in the course of their educational endeavors. As a result of the scholarships, ASCP and Siemens continue to meet the critical shortage of medical laboratory professionals in the United States. Application deadline is November 15, 2011. The purpose of these scholarships is to help defray education costs, promote medical laboratory science as a rewarding career, and to help address the workforce shortage of qualified professionals.
Visit Siemens-ASCP specific scholarship links to learn more >>>
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Now Accepting Applications For Fall Enrollment
The University of Cincinnati’s NAACLS* accredited Bachelor of Science in Clinical Laboratory Science is designed for working Laboratory Technicians like you. The program is 100% online, with no required campus visits, and you can graduate in just over 2 years.
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American Society for Microbiology Tips: Breast cancer tumor suppressor gene silenced by low O2
Low oxygen can silence the BRCA1 tumor suppressor gene and contribute to the progression of cancer, according to a paper in the August 2011 issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology. Silencing this particular gene is one of the steps on the malignant pathway to breast cancer. The research may ultimately lead to ways of reactivating this and other tumor suppressor genes, in order to thwart cancer, says corresponding author Peter Glazer of Yale University, New Haven.
Visit ASM for the study >>>
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A study conducted by VHIO researchers confirms that a lack of vitamin D increases the aggressiveness of colon cancer
The indication that vitamin D and its derivatives have a protective effect against various types of cancer is not new. In the field of colon cancer, numerous experimental and epidemiological studies show that vitamin D3 (or cholecalciferol) and some of its derivatives inhibit the growth of cancerous cells. Researchers at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), in collaboration with the Alberto Sols Institute of Biomedical Research (CSIC-UAB), have confirmed the pivotal role of vitamin D, specifically its receptor (VDR), in slowing down the action of a key protein in the carcinogenic transformation process of colon cancer cells.
Visit VHIO for the article >>>
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DVD Series Reinforces Proper Blood Specimen Collection
If your laboratory is like most, 70% of all your errors occur in the preanalytical phase. Does your collection staff know how to prevent them? They will when they see the Applied Phlebotomy Video Series from the Center for Phlebotomy Education. By implementing these five videos into your training and continuing education activities, your staff will be able to draw and process venous, capillary and arterial blood samples properly, safely, and without corrupting test results in the process. Previews and more information available at www.phlebotomy.com/videos.
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HPV test beats cytology for cervical screening
For the last decade cancer research has been guided by a common vision of how a single cell, outcompeting its neighbors, evolves into a malignant tumor. Through a series of random mutations, genes that encourage cellular division are pushed into overdrive, while genes that normally send growth-restraining signals are taken offline. With the accelerator floored and the brake lines cut, the cell and its progeny are free to rapidly multiply. More mutations accumulate, allowing the cancer cells to elude other safeguards and to invade neighboring tissue and metastasize.
A DNA test for cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV) catches risky cervical lesions better than liquid-based cytology, researchers found. Detection of the most dangerous HPV-16 and HPV-18 types predicted high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia with 92% sensitivity compared with cytology's 53.3% (P<0.0001), Philip E. Castle, PhD, of the American Society of Clinical Pathology Institute in Washington, D.C., and colleagues reported.
Combining HPV testing with liquid-based cytology held little advantage over HPV testing alone, according to the results of the ATHENA trial published in the September issue of the Lancet Oncology.
"HPV testing with separate HPV-16 and HPV-18 detection could provide an alternative, more sensitive, and efficient strategy for cervical cancer screening than do methods based solely on cytology," the group concluded in the paper.
Visit the Lancet Oncology for the article >>>
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Complimentary PCT webinar: "Advancing Patient Care with Procalcitonin"
Join us today for this Thermo Fisher Scientific webinar. Attendance is free of charge. The webinar is Thursday, August 25, 2011 - 4pm - 5pm EST. The speaker is Erica C. De Boer, RN, BS, MA, CCRN, Clinical Nurse Leader at Sanford USD Medical Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
This webinar will explore the challenges of sepsis diagnosis and emerging patient care practices and protocols for addressing them. In particular, Ms. DeBoer will focus on Procalcitonin (PCT), increasingly recognized as the most promising marker of bacterial infections and sepsis. She will review clinical applications for PCT in managing patients at risk for sepsis in critical care and emergent care settings, including its use in early identification of patients at risk for sepsis and differential diagnosis.
Objectives of the webinar include: Identify key challenges associated with early diagnosis and differential diagnosis of sepsis; Analyze the role of biomarkers in identifying and monitoring patients with sepsis; Gain an understanding of how PCT is used in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with sepsis.
Please visit Procalcitonin to register >>>
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The ignored virus that causes liver cancer; Should we be screening blood for hepatitis G?
Hepatitis G virus was identified in 1995. Some little research was carried out on the virus and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared it a non-harmful virus in 1997. Researchers in Saudi Arabia, writing in the International Journal of Immunological Studies present evidence to suggest that this may have been the wrong decision. They claim that transmission of the virus through donated blood that was not screened for the virus as well as infection through other routes has led to an increase in cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
Hepatitis G virus (HGV) was renamed as GB virus C (GBV-C) and is a virus in the Flaviviridae family but has not yet been assigned to a genus. Intriguingly, some evidence suggests that co-infection with the AIDS virus, HIV, somehow enhances the immune system in those patients. However, it is the effects of the virus on the livers of otherwise healthy patients that is of concern to Mughis Uddin Ahmed of the King Abdulaziz Hospital (NGHA) in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. He points out that since the FDA declared the virus not to cause health problems to humans in 1997, no donated blood has been screened for this virus.
However, Mughis Uddin Ahmed has carried out a review of the scientific literature for the last 16 years that show the virus to be quite prevalent around the globe. Moreover, there is a correlation with infection with this virus and hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver and it is possibly linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.
Visit Science Daily for the article >>>
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FDA clears Abbott’s genetic FISH panel for leukemia patient prognosis
Abbott announced it has received 510k clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new in vitro diagnostic test to aid in determining the prognosis of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a cancer of the lymphocytes.
Abbott’s Vysis CLL FISH Probe Kit is the first FDA-cleared CLL test to aid in prognosis. The test detects genetic abnormalities in lymphocytes. Lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, help the body fight infection. In CLL, abnormal lymphocytes are produced and can accumulate in the circulatory system restricting normal cell function and weakening the immune system.
The Vysis CLL FISH Probe Kit includes a panel of five individual FISH probes intended to detect deletion of the LSI TP53, LSI ATM and LSI D13S319 probe targets and gain of the D12Z3 sequence in peripheral blood specimens from untreated patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The assay may be used to dichotomize CLL (the 13q-, +12, or normal genotype group versus the 11q- or 17p- group) and may be used as an aid in determining disease prognosis in combination with additional biomarkers, morphology and other clinical information. The Vysis CLL FISH Probe Kit is not intended for use in selection of therapy or in monitoring of residual disease.
Visit Abbott for more information >>>
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One species of pathogen can produce two distinct biofilms
Many medical devices, ranging from artificial hip joints to dentures and catheters, can come with unwelcome guests – complex communities of microbial pathogens called biofilms that are resistant to the human immune system and antibiotics, thus proving a serious threat to human health. However, researchers may have a new way of looking at biofilms, thanks to a study conducted by University of Iowa biologist David Soll and his colleagues published in the journal PLoS Biology.
Previously, researchers believed that each pathogen formed one kind of biofilm, but Soll and his colleagues have discovered that the pernicious fungal pathogen Candida albicans makes two kinds of biofilms; a traditional pathogenic one, and a second sexual one. This discovery provides new and profound insights into developing new therapies that target pathogenic biofilms for disruption.
Visit PLOS Biology for the report >>>
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