News
Laboratory data security
Data security susceptibilities are exploited almost daily in commercial and industrial enterprises, spawning widespread social and economic uneasiness. As awareness increases, the stream of devastating cyberattacks that started just more than a decade ago are now broadly seen as more aggressive and far-reaching.
Standing up to the opioid epidemic
In August, AACC released a position statement on the crucial role clinical laboratories play in combating the opioid crisis, an epidemic that has not showed signs of slowing down. In 2017, 47,000 Americans—more than 130 a day—died after overdosing on opioids.
U of A researchers develop affordable new test for dengue
University of Alberta researchers have developed a user-friendly dengue test that could help diagnose the growing tropical disease more quickly and efficiently.
Precision medicine will lead to precision policy
New evidence could help Canadian scientists and policy-makers transform how chronic diseases are treated. Last spring, Canadian researchers found unequivocal evidence that environmental exposure has a significantly stronger impact than ancestry on the regulation of genes and their impact on disease. The discovery came out of one of the largest studies yet to examine the relationship between genetics and environmental stimuli, and the data paves the way for precision medicine and targeted policies to be used together to support healthy living.
Independent and rural hospitals are closing at record rates, leaving patients without critical nearby healthcare services
Negative financials, low population growth, and excess inpatient capacity cited as reasons communities—especially rural areas—may lose their independent hospitals, including access to nearby clinical laboratory testing and anatomic pathology services.
Using statistics to prevent the loss of blood donors
The Sanquin blood bank gathers data on every donation. Around 720,000 donations are made every year. "That generates a mountain of highly valuable data," says Leiden Ph.D. candidate Marieke Vinkenoog.
A team of maverick scientists is trying to build a bootleg version of a million-dollar drug
Last weekend in Las Vegas, Gabriel Licina sat on the edge of a stage at the Biohack the Planet 2019 conference and held up a small package filled with vials of bacteria containing a pirated copy of a human gene.
How testing and teamwork are helping diagnose sepsis faster
The challenges arising from the sepsis crisis remain a primary concern throughout the global healthcare community. The economic and human tolls amassed by this frequently deadly, often-enigmatic condition are high and affect everyone—patients and their loved ones, clinicians, laboratorians, medical administrators, and organizational leaders. The multifaceted and complex nature of sepsis requires a wide-reaching, multi-level, comprehensive solution.
Hans Christian Gram: The biologist who helped investigate bacteria
Hans Christian Gram, the inventor of the Gram staining technique, was a pioneering biologist who devised the system of classification which led to as many as 30,000 formally named species of bacteria being investigated. He’s the subject of the latest Google doodle, created to honour his birth date of 13 September 1853.
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