DARK Daily Laboratory and Pathology News
DARK Daily is an e-briefing service providing up-to-the minute news of relevance for anyone working in diagnostic medicine, from clinical laboratories and pathology groups to lab industry suppliers and diagnostic technology companies. DARK Daily is part of The Dark Intelligence Group, Inc. and is dedicated to bringing useful business and management intelligence to laboratory managers, pathologists and diagnostic executives. Our recognized expertise in the strategic direction of laboratory medicine and the management of laboratories is available through DARK Daily, The Dark Report, the Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management, Lab Quality Confab, free White Papers, free lab product reviews, and strategic consulting services.Latest E-Briefings
Cheap, Fast, Accurate Home Colon Cancer Test Joins Growing List of Diagnostic Tests Shifting from Medical Laboratories to Homes
Steady progress is happening in consumer self-test kits as new diagnostic technology supports at-home kits that produce results with accuracy approaching 90%
Because screening for colon cancer represents a potentially huge number of medical laboratory tests each year, many biotech companies are racing to develop reliable test kits that patients can use at home. But to be successful, the test kit must be cheap, easy for a consumer to use, and produce clinically useful results.
Home Test Promises Same Accuracy as Clinical Laboratory Test
That’s the goal of Mode Diagnostics, Ltd., a Scottish company that is poised to sell a consumer device that can detect signs of colon cancer at home in three minutes at an accuracy rate of 98%. Mode’s new device is an example of how innovative diagnostic technology is driving the market for fast, accurate consumer self-test kits—and pushing these tests out of the central clinical laboratory and into the home. continue reading
Anticipating the Digital Medicine Revolution, Scripps Doctor Prescribes Smartphone Apps as Frequently as Medications
Pathologists will want to engage with physicians as wireless devices and smartphone apps make it possible to maintain continuous surveillance of the body
Pathologists might want to borrow a page from a tech-savvy doctor who was voted the “Most Influential Physician Executive” in 2012. A cardiologist, this physician says he now prescribes mobile applications for his patients almost as frequently as he prescribes therapeutic drugs.
Many clinical laboratory managers will recognize the name of Eric Topol, M.D., who is the Director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, Professor of Genomics at the Scripps Research Institute, and Chief Academic Officer at Scripps Health, all located in La Jolla, California. Topol has a passion for wireless medical technology. Moreover, he is nationally recognized as a wireless medical technology trailblazer, as well as for his medical expertise.
In fact, in one news clip, NBC News touts him as the nation’s foremost expert in the explosion of wireless medicine. Topol was also selected by GQ Magazine in 2009 as one of the nation’s 12 “Rock Stars of Science.” continue reading
British Teen Builds DNA Testing Analyzer in His Bedroom, Wins Award as UK Young Engineer of 2013
PCR testing moves out of the clinical pathology laboratory and into a teen-aged boy’s bedroom laboratory
In a demonstration of how evolving technologies make it easier and cheaper to operate clinical laboratories, a teen-age boy in Yorkshire, England, has built his own DNA analyzer and identified the gene mutation that gives his brother red hair.
That demonstration allowed Fred Turner, age 17, to silence the endless teasing from friends about how he and his red-haired brother, Gus, probably had different fathers. It also won for Fred the award of “UK Young Engineer of the Year 2013.” continue reading
Group Health Cooperative Study Uses EHRs and Stepped Interventions to Double Rate of Colorectal Cancer Screenings
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers may find new opportunities to increase testing volumes as patients’electronic health records yield clinically relevant data
Sophisticated use of electronic health records (EHRs), automated reminder systems, and telephone follow-up can double cancer-screening compliance by consumers. That could mean an increase in testing volumes for clinical laboratories serving clinics using this approach.
Researchers at the Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) used electronic health records to identify Group Health Cooperative (GHC) patients who weren’t screened regularly for cancer of the colon and rectum.
Because of how EHRs were used to step-up patient compliance for cancer screening, the study findings may be useful for pathologists and clinical laboratory managers. Over the years, many medical laboratories have furnished referring physicians a list of their patients who are due for screening tests, such as for cervical cancer. continue reading
Mouth Pipetting: Blogger Reminds Medical Laboratory Technologists of an Era When This Was Leading Source of Clinical Laboratory-acquired Infections
Today, cheap and accurate mechanical pipettes are used by clinical pathology laboratories, although mouth pipetting, a dangerous medical lab practice, is still used in developing nations
Mouth pipetting was the topic of a recent blog published by Body Horrors. The blogger recalled a time when clinical laboratory professionals routinely mouth pipetted specimens.
Mouth pipetting is the practice of using one’s mouth to suck a desired volume of a medical laboratory specimen–blood, urine, cell cultures and other microbial stews–into an open-ended tube, using the reduced air pressure created by sucking to hold the specimen in place while moving it to another vessel. continue reading
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