V I S I T
W O R L D ’ S C L I N I C A L L A B O R AT O R Y N E W S L E A D E R ISSN 1068-1760
Vol. 34 No. 6 • 10 / 2017
DAILY CLINICAL LAB NEWS
®
I
N
T
E
Blood Test Predicts Huntington’s Disease
R
N
A
T
I
O
Reliable Test Sought for Anti-Phospholipid Antibody Syndrome
untington’s disease (HD) is a fatal genetic neurological disease. It usually develops in adulthood and causes abnormal involuntary movements, psychiatric symptoms and dementia and approximately 10,000 people in the UK have HD with around 25,000 at risk. Huntington’s disease is caused by
H
sing patient-derived antibodies, researchers have succeeded to identify a peptide motif in the protein B2GP1 recognized by antibodies characteristic of the autoimmune disease anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome (APLAS). This is enabling the researchers to develop a more accurate diagnostic assay for patients with
U
this disease, and could also lead to better treatment options. Binding of the APL antibodies circulating in the blood plasma leads to a tendency for abnormal increase in blood clot formation, which can lead to a range of vascular incidents, including venous thromboses, strokes, or repeated miscarriages. In APLAS,
Cont’d on page 6
Cont’d on page 8
Molecular Test Speeds Up Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis
A
L
Blood Test Improves Breast Cancer Detection reast cancer is predicted to be the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the USA women. Approximately 232,000 cases of invasive breast cancer and 60,000 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are diagnosed and 40,000 deaths occur annually. A multi-protein biomarker blood test that is able to detect breast cancer can help inform better decisionmaking after abnormal mammogram
B
Cont’d on page 4
Microscopy Technique Advances Biopsy Diagnosis
pioneering blood test expedites multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis to just seven days, as opposed to current methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans that take much longer because they rely on measuring progress of irreversible neurological damage.
A
Image: Courtesy of IQuity
N
xpansion microscopy (ExM), is a method for improving the resolution of light microscopy by physically expanding a specimen, but so far had not been applied to clinical tissue samples. In the ExM method a tissue sample is expanded to 100 times its original volume before imaging it. This expansion allows scientists to see features with a conventional light microscope that ordinarily could be seen only with an expensive,
E
See article on page 10
Cont’d on page 10 V
I
S
I
T
LINKXPRESS COM R E A D E R
S E R V I C E
®
P O R T A L
Renew /Start your Free Subscription Access Interactive Digital Magazine Instant Online Product Information:
ika is a mosquito-borne disease and is linked to severe congenital birth defects. Assays already exist to detect Zika virus infection, but they either work only shortly after infection or are poor at differentiating Zika from other flaviviruses.
Z
Cont’d on page 4
Simple Method Measures Bacterial Tolerance to Antibiotics
Identify LinkXpress codes of 1 interest as you read magazine ®
on LinkXpress.com 2 Click to reach reader service portal code(s) of interest on 3 Mark LinkXpress inquiry matrix ®
If your subscription is not renewed every 12 months your Free Subscription may be automatically discontinued
INSIDE
Test Distinguishes Zika From Other Flaviviruses
growing number of pathogens are developing resistance to one or more antibiotics, threatening the ability to treat infectious diseases. Resistance is typically achieved by mutations that reduce the activity of an antibiotic, for example by decreasing drug binding to the target. Tolerance, on the other hand, is a
A
poorly characterized phenomenon, and is seldom taken into account explicitly in healthcare. Unlike resistance, which is an increase of the drug concentration in which the bacteria can grow indefinitely, tolerance is an extension of the period of time that bacteria can survive in lethal concentrations of Cont’d on page 12
Clinical News . . . . . . . . . 4-28 IFCC News . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Product News . . . . . . . 18-26 Industry News . . . . . . . . . .33 International Calendar . . . 34 PUBLISHED IN COOPERATION WITH
International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
GLOBETECH >>> M E D I A <<<