American Association for Clinical Chemistry
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Should We Still be Performing Fetal Fibronectin Testing in the Clinical Lab?

6/11/2013 2:46 PM | Comments (0) Recommend (21)

By Alison Woodworth, PhD, DABCC, FACB
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Preterm Birth (PTB), delivery of an infant prior to 37 weeks of gestation, causes significant morbidity and mortality among newborns.  Approximately 12% of infants were born prematurely in 2010, a 20% increase from 1990.  A major cause for morbidity and mortality among premature infants is respirat...(Read More)
Posted at 6/11/2013 2:46 PM | Tags: Special Populations
What is the diagnosis?

5/29/2013 10:23 AM | Comments (0) Recommend (33)

By Neil Harris, MD, William Winter, MD, DABCC, FACB, & Lindsay A. Bazydlo, PhD
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Case: The patient was an African American man in his mid-20's. In the fall of the previous year he developed aches and pains, suffered a 30 lb weight loss, displayed anorexia, dyspnea on exertion, peripheral edema and mouth sores. His symptoms did not improve and he was referred to the university h...(Read More)
Posted at 5/29/2013 10:23 AM | Tags: Case Study
Newborn Screening for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID): Should it be performed?

5/14/2013 12:41 PM | Comments (0) Recommend (71)

By Patricia M. Jones, PhD, DABCC, FACB
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​Newborn screening (NBS) in the US began in the State of Maine in the early 1960’s when Dr. Robert Guthrie developed a bacterial inhibition test to detect elevated levels of phenylalanine in dried blood spots, and showed that the test could be used to screen for the presence of phenylketonuria (PKU...(Read More)
Posted at 5/14/2013 12:41 PM | Tags: Molecular Pathology and Genetics
Are reference change values more useful than population-based reference intervals?

4/30/2013 2:15 PM | Comments (0) Recommend (98)

By Callum G Fraser, PhD & William (Bill) A Bartlett, PhD, FRCPath
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​We professionals in laboratory medicine agonize over provision of appropriate population-based reference intervals (RI). Good quality RI, in addition to flags on results triggered by their limits, are required by laboratory accreditation bodies and standards such as ISO 15189.  And we do know that...(Read More)
Posted at 4/30/2013 2:15 PM | Tags: Special Populations
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