FEATURE ARTICLES

Sepsis is a common and potentially life-threatening condition triggered by an infection. Now, a rapid and early screen for bloodstream infections offers a number of benefits, as Charlotte Duncan explains.

Antimicrobial resistance is regarded as one of the most pressing problems facing 21st-century healthcare, such that it is the focus of The Longitude Prize 2014. Here, Erin Vaughan provides an overview and update.

The 11th Association of Anatomical Pathology Technology annual conference took place in Inverness earlier in the year. This one-day event covered a range of subjects from evisceration and Ebola to DNA fingerprinting and forensic fiction.

Jonathan Horan looks at how laboratories can move forward to the more comprehensive quality control regime that regulators now demand, and how Beckman Coulter can assist in this process.

To combat concerns about the dangers posed by the use and transport of formalin solutions, histopathology staff in Sheffield explored an innovative biospecimen transfer system, as Karen Lester explains.

Thrombin is at the heart of haemostasis, the balance between thrombosis and bleeding. Being able to measure thrombin generation accurately can have a fundamental impact on a patient’s treatment plan and survival, as Laurence Loï explains.

A new approach to point-of-care bladder cancer detection and risk stratification has been introduced to UK urologists, which could provide important diagnostic information to patients in a single visit.

With more than 2000 Ortho AutoVue systems in use around the world and the rolling launch of its successor, the Vision analyser, now underway, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics is well established in the transfusion medicine sector.

The New Technologies Showcases and Hall 4 programmes at the IBMS Congress both take place in conjunction with the Exhibition and offer free content that is also CPD credited.

Following trials of the DxN VERIS Molecular Diagnostics System, a new automated platform for routine viral load assays, Duncan Whittaker describes the workflow and turnaround time improvements achieved and how this might impact on service provision in the future.

The humble swab may receive scant consideration when addressing quality issues related to pre-analytical processing; however, the M40-A2 standard offers a benchmark for performance, as Monika Stuczen explains.

As point-of-care testing becomes ever more prevalent, Afia Boamah takes a look at how NHS trusts can benefit from an integrated ecosystem approach to services undertaken outside the confines of the laboratory.

With laboratory results playing a key role in an estimated 70% of clinical decisions, Janice Caputo looks at a customisable user interface that allows pathologists to determine how much or how little patient information they see in order to arrive at a diagnosis.

Pathology in Practice talks to Beckman Coulter’s Ibti Rashid about recent acquisitions and the role of automation in microbiology, with particular focus on the Iris urine testing solution.

With the pressure to deliver more test results at lower cost set to intensify, advanced information technology will enable laboratory professionals to be the drivers rather than the victims of change, as Martin Wilkinson explains.

The early detection of sepsis is vital in order to provide an appropriate patient treatment plan. Here, Wayne Kipp provides an overview of the condition and looks at the merits of the latest procalcitonin assay.

www.en.wikipedia.org Jmol Development Team Public domain

For some years bloodstream infections caused by microorganisms have been highly topical, especially in the context of hospital-associated infections. Such infections can be particularly problematic when they progress to sepsis, as Richard Broadhead explains.

A recent CliniSys user group meeting and annual conference provided an ideal opportunity to update delegates on a range of cutting-edge developments in areas such as wearable technology, portable learning and the application of social media.

Capturing circulating tumour cells in the blood would appear to offer women the chance of earlier detection of ovarian cancer, which is often diagnosed late in the course of the disease.

At the IBMS Biomedical Science Congress, almost every exhibitor will display their most recent technological advances and latest products. More than just an exhibition, this aspect of the biennial event offers, which is open both to delegates and visitors, has something for everyone.