May 22, 2017 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Attack on computer systems worldwide highlights critical importance for hospitals and medical laboratories to regularly update IT infrastructure and software
While Internet connectivity and automation are changing the landscape of both healthcare and diagnostic testing facilities, it is also creating new ways for things to go catastrophically wrong. The WannaCry ransomware attack on May 12th highlights the critical need for hospitals, medical practices, pathology groups, and clinical laboratories to constantly update the software and systems powering much of their healthcare continuum.
After infection, the ransomware encrypts 179 different file types on the system it’s attacking. It then demands payment in bitcoins to remove the encryption and restore access to files. Clinical laboratories should be wary of any suspicious e-mail attachments and apply security updates to vulnerable systems as soon as possible. (more…)
Jan 6, 2017 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Clinical laboratory assays on a USB stick could become a powerful tool in the treatment and containment of HIV-1 in low-resource regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa
Imagine a small USB device that plugs into a computer and, using a small sample of blood, is capable of detecting the presence of HIV and measuring its viral load in that individual. Such technology exists and was created by a team of scientists in the United Kingdom (UK). However, it is not yet ready for use by clinical laboratories.
Researchers at Imperial College London company, DNA Electronics, have developed a diagnostic USB stick that measures the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as the viral load in a person’s blood, and in less than 30 minutes. The platform promises to be an important milestone for the medical laboratory treatment and containment of pandemic diseases that pose a serious threat to global health.
A story published on the mobile technology news blog Quartz pointed out that more than 24-million of the 37-million people worldwide infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. It is widely recognized that high cost and lack of access to medical care and clinical laboratory services remain a barrier to diagnosis, treatment, and containment of the disease. “[I]mproving diagnostics is now a key part of global strategies to combat [HIV],” wrote the study authors in a paper published in Nature Research journal Scientific Reports. (more…)
Sep 2, 2016 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Companies are exploring creative ways to use genetic testing and counseling to improve the health of their employees demonstrating increasing trust in genetic science
Genetic testing has been a product offered by distributors of Amway Global of Ada, Mich., since 2009. Now Amway is launching a program to provide certain genetic tests to its employees working within the United States.
More than 5,000 Amway employees can take advantage of this genetic testing as an innovative benefit. Through its partnership with Interleukin Genetics (NYSE Amex: ILI), a genetics-based health company headquartered in Waltham, Mass., Amway seeks to empower its personnel to assess their genetic risk for chronic inflammation, which can lead to disease. (more…)
Apr 4, 2016 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
The National Health Service of England (NHS) ended 2014 with a budget overrun of £800 million, placing financial stress on the entire UK health system
According to a recently released report, nearly all hospitals in the United Kingdom are currently in financial stress. The report indicates that only seven of the 138 hospital trusts are profitable, with the remaining ones operating in a deficit situation.
Here in the United States, the UK’s National Health Service is often touted as an example of a successful single-payer health system. Thus, the extraordinary financial problems within the NHS offer pathologists and clinical laboratory managers in this country some insight into the serious challenges confronting the NHS, including increased demand for services, which puts additional stress on existing hospital budgets. (more…)
May 11, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
If the clinical study validates this patient-friendly, non-invasive approach to diagnosing lung cancer, it could eventually mean fewer referrals of tissue biopsies to medical laboratories
For almost a decade, pathologists have seen a regular stream of news stories about technologies that utilize a sample of human breath to diagnose a disease or health condition. Now comes news that just such a diagnostic test for lung cancer is beginning clinical trials in the United Kingdom.
The clinical trials will evaluate breathalyzer technology developed by Engineer Billy Boyle, M.S., Co-founder and President of Operations at Cambridge-based Owlstone Ltd.. The clinical trials of this new breathalyzer technology to detect lung cancer are taking place at two National Health Service (NHS) hospitals: University Hospitals of Leicester and Cambridge’s Papworth Hospital in the United Kingdom.
The reason why so much research is happening in this field will be familiar to clinical laboratory managers and pathologists. Use of volatile organic compound (VOC) biomarkers in breath to diagnose disease is an ideal concept because it is convenient, non-invasive, and well tolerated by patients. However, until the start of this clinical study, researchers have explored the potential of this diagnostic approach for some time, but with limited success. (more…)
