Catlab Reports Bulletin

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.

QUALITY - Measure customer satisfaction

During the years 2010-2012, Catlab has made ​​a plan for measuring customer satisfaction, a survey of 10 questions related to the laboratory, targeting Clinicians.

HORMONES - TSH reference values ​​during pregnancy

Pregnancy involves a series of physiological and hormonal changes that alter the function of the thyroid gland. In order to facilitate the monitoring of thyroid function, and contribute to improving the detection of subclinical hypothyroidism in pregnant women, we have incorporated the TSH reference values ​​recommended by scientific societies in the analytical reports of Catlab.