FEATURE ARTICLES

From helping disadvantages youngsters to taking part in a gruelling endurance challenge, Sysmex UK is taking its social responsibilities very seriously, as Simon Kimber explains. (Image: www.commons.wikimedia.org Banavie)

Great strides have been made over the past 25 years in testing for pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, as Ivor Smith explains. However, the test has a wider role in diagnosis than once thought.

A recently published study highlights the benefits of point­of­care nucleic acid amplification tests for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in genitourinary medicine. Here, some of the authors highlight the advantages over traditional immunoassay techniques.

Mohs surgical procedures are achieving greater prominence in the clinical management of a range of skin tumours. Here, in focusing on one lesion, Guy Orchard and Mohammed Shams outline an optimal complementary laboratory method.

Partnership working between Beckman Coulter and pathology staff in Chester once again has demonstrated what connectivity and a small footprint can achieve, as Martin Langan explains.

Recent research led by a team in Wales has revealed 11 new genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Cancer Research UK’s Drug Development Office has launched a new clinical trial to treat lymphoma patients using the body’s own immune system to attack cancerous B cells. (Image National Cancer Institute/Louis M Staudt)

Point-of-care test has now become a familiar feature of 21st medical practice. Beyond the ward, GP surgery and local pharmacy, once again it has travelled to the very roof of the world to aid in hypoxia research.

The complete Roche point-of-care glucose testing solution, including wireless connectivity, data management, training and support, has helped Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to change smoothly from one system to another and to benefit from unique safety features.

Haemoglobin measurement at the point of care has been the source of some concern. Here, Barbara De la Salle and colleagues from UK NEQAS for Haematology explain the steps taken to assess the current situation.

Standardisation of vitamin D assays is essential to improving patient health, and the introduction of a new test aims to improve the laboratory detection of deficiency, as Heather Harper explains.

Molecular techniques have improved the turnaround time of test to identifying mycobacterial organisms. Here. Ann Barrett and colleagues assess the strengths and weaknesses of several methods. (Image: CDC/Dr George P Kubica)

A milestone event for haematology automation took place in Kettering recently, but to the biomedical scientists this represented so much more than simple numerical success, as Simon Kimber explains.

Streamlined automation in support of urine microbiology has had a significant impact on the staff of, and service provided by, one London laboratory.

Last October, Maple House in Birmingham was the venue for an event that focused on the management and provision of point-of-care testing in the modern healthcare environment. An informative and thought provoking-workshop, ‘How to Deliver Point-of-Care Testing in a Managed Service Contract’, brought together healthcare companies, VAT experts and legal advisers to discuss the topical issues around the procurement of services by the NHS.

In May, Pathology in Practice will host the first in a series of one-day conferences designed to provide those in laboratory medicine with the information needed to meet the professional challenges found in the modern healthcare environment.

(Image: www.sxc.hu)

Gary Eltringham and Andrew Sails assess two bacterial storage and transport systems for use in the detection of viral DNA, with an analysis of storage conditions and the effect of the presence of contaminating Escherichia coli.

(Image: CDC/Dr Fred Murphy, Sylvia Whitfield)

Company Members represent a proactive and supportive class of IBMS membership. Here, Mark Reed provides information on this often under-recognised group that does much to strengthen the symbiotic relationship between profession and commerce.

Ninewells Hospital blood sciences laboratory is overcoming the challenges of increasing demand and ever-tighter budgets by implementing automation. Here, Bill Barlett provides an insight into progress on Tayside.

Sarah Battle and colleagues develop a single method able to screen for and identify haemoglobin variants, include some rare subtypes.