Defeating Performance-Enhancing Drugs Must Go Beyond Testing
San Diego, CA, July 17, 2007 — Testing alone will not put an end to the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports, according to a presentation today at the annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. Drug-testing experts say it will take a cultural change among athletes and society to stop the use of anabolic steroids, EPO, human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing substances that have plagued the sports world and seriously tainted last year's Tour de France.
Novel Method for Measuring Glucose Meter Accuracy Could Lead to Better Patient Outcomes
San Diego, CA, July 17, 2007 — Keeping hospitalized patients' glucose concentrations within a defined set of parameters, often referred to as “tight glycemic control,” significantly improves patient outcomes. Consequently, many hospitals have implemented glycemic control programs that use point-of-care (POC) glucose meters to monitor patients' glucose levels.
Clinical Laboratory is Key to Positive Outcomes in Assisted Reproduction
San Diego, CA, July 17, 2007 — The world's first test tube baby, Louise Brown of England, will celebrate her twenty-ninth birthday later this month. Since she came into the world in 1978, the field of fertility medicine has progressed by leaps and bounds to the point where a single sperm can be introduced into an egg with a very fine needle. Assisted reproduction technologies (ART) are now relatively common procedures for couples who can't conceive by natural methods, and laboratory testing plays an important role in ensuring that fertilization procedures are performed at the optimal time and that fertility drugs are properly dosed.
Premiere Health Site Reaches Patients in Multiple Languages
San Diego, CA, July 17, 2007 — Lab Tests Online , a premiere healthcare website that provides lab testing information to patients and their families, has embarked on an ambitious effort to bring its free, award-winning content to non-English speakers. Translations of the top-ranked patient education site have been launched in Spanish, German, and Polish in three successive months this spring, and new sites in Hungarian and Italian are expected to go live by the end of the year.
Lab Tests Online Collaborators Reach 1 Million Users a Month
San Diego, CA, July 17, 2007 — Lab Tests Online, the award-winning site on medical laboratory testing developed through a collaboration of more than a dozen laboratory associations, now reaches an average of one million visitors per month. The site, which has garnered praise from reviewers and users, is among the top ten most popular Patient Education sites, as ranked by Alexa, a web information company that measures Internet traffic.
Ninety-Eight Percent of U.S. Newborns Now Receive Screenig for 20 Different Heritable Disorders and Genetic Diseases
San Diego, CA, July 15, 2007 — Recommendations published last year by an influential group called for the adoption of a uniform panel of genetic conditions for which all newborns should be screened, and state programs are now responding. The recommendations, published by an expert panel assembled by the Health Resources and Services Administration and the American College of Medical Genetics, called for states to mandate screening for 29 conditions. As a result, 98% of U.S. newborns are now being screened for at least 20 disorders or diseases, while 83% are being screened for more than 30 conditions.
Obesity Pandemic Renews Concerns Over Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome
San Diego, CA, July 17, 2007 — According to the CDC, approximately one-third of Americans are now considered to be obese, putting them at a greater risk of developing hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and a variety of other illnesses. Once regarded as an energy “storage depot,” adipose tissue (body fat) is now considered a separate body organ that can produce biologically active molecules.
Preliminary Data From New Study Strengthen Correlation Between Glucose and Hemoglobin A1c
San Diego, CA, July 15, 2007 — Measurement of glycohemoglobin—specifically the A1c adduct (HbA1c)—is widely used in patients as a monitor of long-term glycemic control and as an indicator of a need for change in insulin therapy. In addition, two large prospective, randomized trials—the Diabetes Complication and Control Trial and the U.K. Prospective Diabetes Study—established a direct relationship between HbA1c concentration and the risk of diabetic complications.
The American Association for Clinical Chemistry's 59th Annual Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo
Washington, DC, July 13, 2007 — The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) is holding its 59th Annual Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo July 15-19, 2007 at the San Diego Convention Center. The meeting attracts more than 20,000 physicians, scientists, and others involved in laboratory science and medicine, and includes educational sessions where leading physicians and scientists present the latest information on a wide range of topics. Included in the program each day is a Plenary Session featuring a nationally recognized leader from clinical practice, research, business or public policy.
New Guidelines Recommend Offering Chromosomal Abnormality Screening to All Pregnant Women
San Diego, CA, July 13, 2007 — For almost four decades, prenatal screening for Down syndrome (DS) has been an important component in the care of pregnant women. And for the past 20 years, these screening efforts have focused on biochemical markers in maternal serum, most notably the second-trimester “triple screen,” which has been the standard of care in prenatal chromosomal screening for over a decade.