FEATURE ARTICLES

The forthcoming BSMT webinar series on COVID-19 will be held over four days (11-14 May). A total of eight presentations will be delivered by expert speakers, moderated by four members of the BSMT who will coordinate a Q&A session following each talk.

Jessica Johnson reports on potential findings in a virtual patient suspected of being anaemic, and investigates the process and results of a multicentre clinical trial comparing the use of monoclonal antibody treatment versus placebo.

A search of the current scientific literature published in 2021 on this important element of chromosome structure, and its complementary enzyme, illustrates the diverse effects they have in health and disease.

In this fifth article on method comparisons, Stephen MacDonald moves on from data collection and the application of basic graphing techniques, to focus this month on covariance, correlation and regression, and the interpretation of results.

What does the future of healthcare’s response to pandemics look like? How can healthcare responses be changed, to avoid a repeat of the consequences experienced while trying to protect health services? Andrew Kemp considers the issues.

The momentum gained in tackling hepatitis C, before COVID-19, should not be lost, says Steve Ryder. Here, he provides an insight into the latest developments in the fight to eliminate hepatitis C, and issues a call to action.

The Annual Scientific Conference of the BSMT, this year to be hosted as a four-day webinar series, is the beneficiary of support from a range of commercial colleagues, as the following preview illustrates.

Improving laboratory processes for HbA1c analysis through integration within mainline haematology systems is finding favour in laboratories across Europe, as Sysmex illustrates in this overview and Danish exemplar.

The incidence of virus-related head and neck tumours is reaching epidemic proportions, particularly in the developed world. Anna Huber provides an overview and discusses the need to improve patient outcomes.

Results of a recent clinical study using a fully automated, standardised thrombin generation analyser have shown that it is possible to identify breast cancer patients who are at high risk of disease recurrence.

Despite the effects of the current pandemic, continued success is key for the UK NEQAS Cellular Pathology Technique EQA scheme, as Chantell Hodgson explains.

On behalf of the BSMT, Dr Mark Wilks provides a preview of the upcoming webinar scientific programme, to be held over four days in May (11-14 May 2021).

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has adversely affected people’s health around the world, and many have died due to complications from conditions such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Remote testing could provide an innovative solution.

Detection of the Helicobacter pylori antigen in faeces is the most common method used to diagnose infection. Here, Sarah Coleman and Steve Davies compared their current methodology with three commercially available palette tests.

A selection of research into Helicobacter pylori, which complements the work reported by Coleman and Davies in the February 2021 issue of Pathology in Practice.

Stephen MacDonald moves on from consideration of the various factors that need investigation before implementation of an assay, to focus here on data collection, basic graphing techniques, and some routine statistical methods.

Cardiac surgery in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 disease carries significant mortality and morbidity, but the appropriate period to wait before surgical intervention after recovery is not known. Ana Lopez-Marco and colleagues explore the issues.

Maurizio Suppo provides an overview of the new EU IVD-Regulation and elaborates on how EU authorities will regulate the vast majority of the laboratory-developed tests currently performed across Europe on a daily basis.

Doris-Ann Williams discusses how IVDs will be regulated in a newly independent UK after being regulated under the IVD Directive for the past 20 years, and the effects this may have on industry and clinical laboratories in the UK.

Beverley Crossley provides an overview of the techniques applicable to the various sample types encountered in routine practice.