Catlab Reports Bulletin
The Catlab Reports Bulletin is published monthly. Until the publication of the Catlab website, it was mailed electronically to our clients. It consists of a monograph related with laboratory topics. Each month it addresses a different area of Catlab; the topics can be more specific (concrete diagnostic techniques) or deal with more generic aspects (Quality, Management, …).
HORMONES - Serum Estradiol; New reference intervals
The estradiol (17β-estradiol) is a female sex hormone from estrogen group but is also present in men. In order to improve the quality of the results obtained in our laboratory, soon we will proceed to replace the current reagent (Elecsys Estradiol II) with a new reagent (Elecsys Estradiol III) that were changed polyclonal antibodies by monoclonal antibodies. It has been restandardize against CRM 6400th by DI-GC / MS and have calculated new reference values. The new method is more specific and has less interference.
EXTRA-ANALYTIC - Application of pre-analytical program PAQC
The PAQC BD Diagnostics (Becton Dickinson) is an application program to evaluate the extraction processes and preanalytical part within the laboratory. With the results, you can make a "benchmarking" between the different centers.
URGENT CARE - Natriuretic Peptides
Natriuretic peptides were discovered over 25 years ago. Now there are 2 of them; BNP and NT-proBNP that have begun to include in Emergency Laboratories requests; and which have meaning useful to rule out heart failure in patients with acute dyspnea and no conclusive diagnosis.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY - HLA-B5701
The determination of the HLA-B * 5701 is the first pharmacogenetic test in the context of treatment of HIV-1. The haplotype HLA-B * 5701 significantly predicted the risk of hypersensitivity reaction to Abacavir (ABC), which is currently the antiretroviral reverse transcriptase inhibitor, preferentially used to treat HIV-1.
CYTOGENETICS - Array-CGH
Array-CGH technology detects dose changes (copy number changes or CNV), along the whole genome. The technique is based on the competitive hybridization between a reference DNA and a patient DNA.
IMMUNOLOGY - Identification and utility of onconeuronal antibodies
Paraneoplastic Neurological Syndrome (SNPN) is an heterogeneous group of neurological disorders that present some of the cancer patients. Developing the autoimmune response to tumor antigens affect the nervous system. The SNPN considered preceding forms of cancer, and thus may help predict a hidden cancer.
BIOCHEMISTRY - Bone remodeling biochemical markers
Biochemical markers of bone remodeling measured the activity of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, from the determination of substances produced by bone cells and the determination of the bone components that is shed into the blood circulation during its destruction or formation.
CITOMETRY - Celiac disease and flux citometry
The disease affects 1% of the population, but is known, is very underdiagnosed because it is often asymptomatic and symptoms occur discontinuously and with a highly variable clinical spectrum. The cytometric study is based on the immunophenotyping identification and quantification of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) of the duodenal mucous.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY - Change of method in celiac disease molecular study
Celiac disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects from 1 to 3% of the Western population. At the molecular level, is associated with the HLA genes. From December 2013 we incorporated a new equipment that allows us to make a complete study of the two genetic regions associated with celiac disease (HLA-DQA/HLA-DQB). This equipment is designed to work with reverse hybridization technique adapted to a microarray plate, and also allows us to determine if these alleles are in heterozygous or homozygous state.
CYTOGENETICS - New method of noninvasive prenatal screening. Study of fetal aneuploidy in maternal blood
Based on the study of circulating fetal DNA in maternal blood, new techniques have been developed for prenatal aneuploidy screening with high sensitivity and specificity.