Showing papers in "Clinics in Laboratory Medicine in 2015"

TL;DR: The reticulocyte count reflects the erythropoietic activity of bone marrow and is thus useful in both diagnosing anemias and monitoring bone marrow response to therapy.

TL;DR: Classic methods for identification rely on selective media and serology, but newer methods based on mass spectrometry and polymerase chain reaction show great promise for routine clinical testing.

TL;DR: This article presents a review of recent laboratory-developed multiplex PCR tests and current commercial multiplex gastrointestinal pathogen tests and focuses on two commercial syndromic multiplex tests: Luminex xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel and BioFire FilmArray gastrointestinal test.

TL;DR: This review includes discussions of the mechanisms of pathogenesis, the range of manifestations of infection, and the several different methods of laboratory detection of Shiga toxin-producing E coli.

TL;DR: Borrelia miyamotoi disease is a newly recognized borreliosis globally transmitted by ticks of the Ixodes persulcatus species complex often misdiagnosed as acute Lyme disease without rash, or as ehrlichiosis.

TL;DR: Challenges involving hematology may include handling and restraint, venipuncture, evaluation, and interpretation, and strategies for these challenges are discussed for teleost and elasmobranch fish types.

TL;DR: Human infections are also most frequently associated with spring and summer months when the nymph stage of the tick is active, and humans are at high risk of infection in regions where highly competent reservoirs are the primary hosts for the subadult stages of thetick.

TL;DR: Future directions of hematology instrumentation include the addition of new parameters and the development of point-of-care instrumentation, and in the future, in-vivo analysis of blood cells may allow noninvasive and near-continuous measurements.

TL;DR: Relapsing fever borreliae were notorious and feared infectious agents that earned their place in history through their devastating impact as causes of both epidemic and endemic infection.

TL;DR: The coccidians Cryptosporidium spp, Cyclospora cayetanensis, and Cystoisospora belli and the flagellate Giardia duodenalis are pathogenic protozoa associated with gastrointestinal manifestations.

TL;DR: Infection with the tick-borne spirochetes Borrelia burgdorferi, B afzelii, and B garinii has been reported in 10% to 15% of patients as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: By integrating basic science with hematology analyzer measurements, it is possible to estimate the rates of these dynamic processes, yielding new insights into human physiology, with potential diagnostic application.

TL;DR: The principles of these methodologies are reviewed, guidance for selecting flagging criteria is provided, and novel, clinically relevant white blood cell parameters provided by new instruments, including immature granulocyte count and granularity index are discussed.

TL;DR: The functional sensitivity for low cell counts currently limits applicability of automated methods to all types of body fluid, so microscopic review is indicated when malignancy is a diagnostic consideration.

TL;DR: Borrelia burgdorferi proteins that mediate many of the processes and the nature of the host response to infection are described.

TL;DR: Biomarker assays can assist in differentiating cardiac from noncardiac causes of respiratory signs and detection of preclinical cardiomyopathy in animals with heart disease.

TL;DR: The growing deer and Ixodes species tick populations in many areas underscore the importance of clinicians to properly recognize and treat the different stages of Lyme disease.

TL;DR: In this article, automated microscopy analyzers can provide accurate WBC differential counts, which may replace manual microscopy, but should not replace the eye of the cytologist, which is still required when a sample is flagged by the hematology analyzer.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight laboratory and genetic tests to assess the iron status of blood donors and their applicability as screening tests for blood donation, including changes in acceptable hemoglobin level, donation interval, donation frequency, testing of iron status, and iron supplementation.

TL;DR: Standardized 2-tier testing for Lyme borreliosis has great value in confirming extracutaneous infection and recent developments promise to improve performance, particularly in early disease detection.

TL;DR: Common blood collection methods, including venipuncture sites, volume of blood that can be safely collected, and handling of the blood are described, including in-house or commercial test results.

TL;DR: An overview of issues involved in complete blood count parameter reference methods and standardization of reporting units is provided and expert guidelines are discussed.

TL;DR: The methods for collection of blood, identification of blood cells, and interpretation of the hemogram in mice, rats, gerbils, and hamsters are described.

TL;DR: Lyme disease in North America is caused by infection with the spirochetal bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by Ixodes scapularis and Ixode pacificus ticks, which have the potential to transmit a rapidly expanding list of other pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

TL;DR: Resistance trends and current issues concerning antimicrobial susceptibility testing of enteric pathogens, including Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio, Aeromonas, Plesiomonas and Clostridium difficile, are reviewed in this article.

TL;DR: Many modern automated cell counters offer novel parameters, such as the CHr, reticulocyte hemoglobin equivalent, or immature platelet fraction, schistocytes, but many are still research-use only and lack well-defined reference ranges.

TL;DR: In early phases of acute infection, before the development of an immune response, detection of Borrelia DNA from clinical specimens may help establish the diagnosis sooner than serologic methods.

TL;DR: Many modern automated cell counters in high-volume clinical hematology laboratories use new, improved technologies for routine platelet analysis, including state-of-the art information technology, specific fluorescent dyes, and monoclonal antibodies to obtain more reliable platelet counts.

TL;DR: Current approaches for prevention of tick bites, Lyme disease, and other tick-borne diseases are described and use of prophylactic antibiotic treatments following a bite to prevent clinical Lyme disease is described.

TL;DR: The best laboratory diagnostic approach to detect Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the subject of ongoing debate as mentioned in this paper, which is the most widely used tests for making this diagnosis.