Clinical Chemistry Podcast

Validation of an Expanded Carrier Screen that Optimizes Sensitivity via Full-Exon Sequencing and Panel-wide Copy Number Variant Identification 02.08.2018 15:43 ↓

Previously, carrier screening has been used in at-risk and specific ethnic populations, or for a limited number of diseases.  The broader screening approach, called expanded carrier screening, was endorsed in 2017 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as an acceptable strategy for preconception and prenatal carrier screening.  This is expected to have a significant clinical im...

Toward a Global Overview of HbA1c Test Performance 31.07.2018 14:57 ↓

Test standardization is a complex and multifaceted effort that's remained a major goal for laboratory medicine's professional societies, including the AACC and IFCC.  Hemoglobin A1c is an example of a test that has undergone global standardization due to its worldwide importance in diabetes screening, diagnosis, and care.  A key part of any standardization effort is aligning all manufacturers' met...

Preanalytical Processing and Biobanking Procedures of Biological Samples for Metabolomics Research 30.07.2018 12:49 ↓

Proper handling during the collection and processing of specimens is crucial for producing reliable results.  These pre-analytical steps are highly vulnerable to the introduction of experimental bias and variance, which may drastically degrade specimen quality.  Analytes are affected differently by uncontrolled variations in specimen collection, processing, and storage protocols. The August 2018 i...

Association of Tryptophan Metabolites with Incident Type 2 Diabetes in the PREDIMED Trial: A Case–Cohort Study 30.07.2018 7:43 ↓

According to the World Health Organization, type 2 diabetes comprises the majority of the more than 400 million people with diabetes around the world. In efforts to better understand the disease, metabolomics measurements have identified tryptophan metabolites as potential biological mediators in the development of type 2 diabetes.  The PREDIMED trial was a multi-center trial of Mediterranean-styl...

Characterization of Human Salivary Extracellular RNA by Next-generation Sequencing 28.07.2018 13:09 ↓

It was once thought that RNA only existed within cells.  However, recent discoveries show that RNA is exported from cells and may be functional in cell to cell communication.  This extracellular RNA can be abundant and stable and is found in bodily fluids such as saliva.  Saliva has long been of interest for biomarker discovery and development, given its noninvasiveness and relative ease of collec...

RNA Profiles of Circulating Tumor Cells and Extracellular Vesicles for Therapy Stratification of Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients 27.07.2018 7:35 ↓

Liquid biopsy methods are an exciting area in cancer screening, diagnosis, and management.  These methods are aimed at measuring genomic signatures of tumor cells in the blood.  They rely on detection of circulating tumor cells, tumor-derived extracellular vesicles, or exosomes, or cell-free circulating DNA.  Liquid biopsy methods have been proposed to compliment, enhance or perhaps even replace t...

Quantifying Atherogenic Lipoproteins: Current and Future Challenges in the Era of Personalized Medicine and Very Low Concentrations of LDL Cholesterol. A Consensus Statement from EAS and EFLM 26.07.2018 14:17 ↓

Laboratory testing is a key component of models of care for all types of lipid disorders.  New therapies demand accuracy of dyslipidemia testing at very low LDL cholesterol concentration ranges.  Inaccurate results lead to incorrect diagnosis and therapeutic management, both of which are costly to society and harmful to patients. To address these key issues of lipoprotein and apolipoprotein marker...