Winter 2007
Volume XXI, No. 4
Featured in this Issue:
Quest Diagnostics Medical News Physicians Update Overview Winter 2007:
Physicians Update
Our quarterly newsletter provides you with relevant educational and timely news affecting laboratory medicine.
Documents below are in PDF Format. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you may download the latest version from Adobe's site.< Back to Healthcare Professionals page
Summer 2008
Volume XXIII, No. 2
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Spring 2008
Volume XXIII, No. 1
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Winter 2008
Volume XXII, No. 4
Featured in this Issue:
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Fall 2007
Volume XXII, No. 3
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Summer 2007
Volume XXII, No. 2
Featured in this Issue:
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Spring 2007
Volume XXII, No. 1
Featured in this Issue:
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| • | What do patients and physicians need to know about the laboratory they use? |
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Fall 2006
Volume XXI, No. 3 Featured in this Issue: Quest Diagnostics Medical News Physicians Update Overview Fall 2006: | |
| • | Quality and beyond-Measures to evaluate a laboratory |
| • | Sexually Transmitted Infections-Potential pitfalls in NAAT testing |
| • | CDC Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines 2006 now available |
| • | Serum free light chains useful for evaluation of gammopathies |
| • | Pap test evolution and enhancements |
| • | HPV in cervical cancer detection |
| • | Why the annual gynecologic examination may not always include a Pap test |
| • | Vitamin D: a vital nutrient for many biologic processes |
| • | Chronic Kidney Disease Detection: A review of the National Kidney Foundation and National Institutes of Health recommendations concerning the use of the estimated glomerular filtration rate — eGFR — for the early detection of chronic kidney disease. |
| • | The Best Test: A discussion of colorectal cancer screening tests. |
| • | A discussion of the preanalytic variables which can cause pseudohyperkalemia. |
| • | AGA Medical Position Statement on the Evaluation of Dyspepsia. With emphasis on appropriate testing for Helicobacter pylori infection. |
| • | The Best Test: Older and newer serologic tests to aid in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. |
| • | Consensus Panel's recommendations for best use of BNP and NT-ProBNP — Part 3. |
| • | HPV Testing Highlights: Synopsis of Practice Bulletin from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on HPV testing. |
| • | Consensus Panel's recommendations for best use of BNP and NT-ProBNP — Part 2. |
| • | The Best Test: An update on oral anticoagulant therapy with selected management recommendations from the American College of Chest Physicians Conference. |
| • | Quest Diagnostics Genetic Counselors: A valuable resource for physician clients of Quest Diagnostics. |
| • | Information about plasma glucose variability and its impact on the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. |
| • | Consensus Panel makes recommendations for best use of BNP and NT-ProBNP. |
| • | The Best Test describes test methods for early detection of Microalbuminuria. |
| • | Major endocrine societies disagree with some of the Consensus Panel recommendations on subclinical thyroid disease. |
| • | The Best Test to diagnose Celiac Disease: An update on the latest recommendations for the laboratory diagnosis of celiac disease. |
| • | Beyond Cholesterol: The importance of emerging risk factors in the primary prevention of coronary heart disease. |
| • | Positive? It can't be positive!: It's critically important to know disease prevalence when evaluating a positive test result. |
| • | Editor’s Note: Allergic respiratory disease |
| • | What is the best test to diagnose allergic rhinitis? Without diagnostic testing it is often difficult to distinguish between allergic and nonallergic conditions |
| • | We are the same and also different: Genes and drug metabolism variation in Hispanic populations |
| • | Immunoassay Interference: Circulating heterophilic antibodies can interfere with immunoassay performance, resulting in falsely increased or falsely low results |
| • | Toxoplasmosis In Pregnant Women: What is the best test to detect? |
| • | PSA Screening Levels: Should the threshold level for prostate biopsy be lowered? |
| • | Hypovitaminosis D: Vitamin D deficiency has reappeared as a public health problem |
| • | Early Chronic Kidney Disease: What is the best test to detect? |
| • | High-Risk HPV DNA + Pap Test: Interim Guidelines Published |
| • | Lp-PLA2 and CHD Risk: A recent study evaluates relationship between Lp-PLA2, CCRP, traditional risk factors and risk for CHD events |
| • | Six sigma revisited (A progress report on our Six Sigma quality initiative) |
| • | What is the best test for AAT Deficiency? (Overview of Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and review of quantitative, qualitative and genetic tests for the deficiency) |
| • | ADA modifies criteria for impaired fasting glucose (A reconstituted International Expert Committee revisited the diagnostic criteria for diabetes and modified the definition of IFG) |
| • | Autoantibodies prior to SLE (Autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus may be present for years prior to development of clinical disease) |
| • | Be more with InSure™ (Review of the new immunochemical fecal occult blood test [FOBT] for colorectal cancer screening) |
| • | What is the best test to evaluate thyroid dysfunction? Part 2 (Effects of pregnancy, medication, nonthyroidal illness [NTI], heterophilic antibodies [HAMA] and biologic variation on thyroid test results) |
| • | Consensus guidelines for management of women with CIN (Discussion about the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology [ASCCP] 2001 Consensus Guidelines for the Management of Women with biopsy interpretation of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia) |
| • | Thyroid dysfunction revisited (Use of clinical laboratory tests to screen and diagnose thyroid dysfunction.) |
| • | What is the best test to evaluate thyroid function? (Part I) (Highlights of the National Academy of Clinical Biochemists guidelines.) |
| • | Following up MGUS (A Mayo Clinic study followed the progression to multiple myeloma or another B-cell related malignancy.) |
| • | Testosterone tips (The physiology of testosterone and the complexities of diagnosing and managing hypogonadism) |
| • | Beyond Cholesterol (How and when to use the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hs-CRP] test to identify vascular inflammation.) |
| • | What is the best test to evaluate coronary artery inflammation? (Recommendations from the March 2002 CDC/AHA Workshop on Inflammatory Markers and Cardiovascular Disease.) |
| • | Can we diagnose heart failure in the clinical laboratory? (Appropriate use of two BNP assays in diagnosing congestive heart failure (CHF): BNP and NT-proBNP.) |
| • | Sometimes it is a zebra (Summary from a New England Journal of Medicine case report on "runner’s anemia.") |
| • | American Diabetes Association: Clinical Practice Recommendations 2003 (The diagnostic criteria for diabetes mellitus have been revised and a table showing relationship between A1c levels and mean plasma glucose was added.) |
| • | Take it off (Discussion of various risk factors for CVD, including obesity, and C-reactive protein). |
| • | What is the best test to assess pap test specimen adequacy? (Draft guidelines for pap test specimen adequacy management have been submitted to the ASCCP steering committee and other experts for comment and modification.) |
| • | Herpes simplex antibody testing - Why and when? (Overview of high rate of atypical uro-genital HSV infection, and recent FDA approval of serologic tests, which can differentiate between HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibodies.) |
| • | Should we measure both CRP and LDL? (A look at C-reactive protein as another risk factor for cardiovascular disease). |
| • | Living our values - More important now than ever (Discusses Quest Diagnostics’ values of quality, integrity, innovation, accountability, collaboration and leadership.) |
| • | What is the best test to diagnose celiac disease? (Reviews methods of diagnosing celiac disease, an autoimmune disease, also known as celiac sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathy, including small-bowel biopsy and serologic tests.) |
| • | Statin safety (Overview of the current understanding of statin use, focus on myopathy, and updated recommendations for the appropriate use of statins as outlined in a recent advisory issued by the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Includes a link to the full recommendations.) |
| • | Updated consensus guidelines for HCV (Highlights of updated HCV treatment guidelines issued by the National Institutes of Health in August 2002. Discusses the enzyme immunoassay [EIA] tests, the qualitative HCV RNA assay, testing for HCV RNA level [or viral load] with a quantitative assay PCR or branched DNA signal amplification assay, and testing for serum ALT levels. Includes a link to the full guidelines.) |
| • | Evidence-based Medicine |
| • | What is the best test to follow up an abnormal pap test? (Discusses publishing of new ASCCP guidelines) |
| • | Is the gold standard changing? (Reviews the nucleic acid amplification test for Chlamydia trachomatis screening) |
| • | We Need to Ask About Alternative Medicine |
| • | Commitment! (Reviews a new charter issued by The Medical Professionalism Project, that outlines physicians’ roles and responsibilities) |
| • | What is the best test to follow up an abnormal pap test? (Discuses HPV reflex testing) |
| • | Family History of Thrombosis - Is It Reliable? |
| • | Statins for Everyone? (Discusses the largest ever cholesterol-lowering study, The Heart Protection Study [HPS]) |
| • | Genomics meets reality (Discusses use of genetic testing to screen large segments of the population for cystic fibrosis) |
| • | What is the best test to screen for cystic fibrosis? (Reviews guidelines published in ACMG/ACOG/NIH document, Preconceptual and Prenatal Carrier Screening for Cystic Fibrosis, and the committee recommended pan-ethnic panel, containing 25 mutations) |
| • | Hereditary familial hemochromatosis update |
| • | Is it the flu or…? (Discusses the rapid influenza A and B culture) |
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