Podcasts: Clinical Chemistry Podcast RSS

On the cover this month: American West Rodeo Cowboy Boots with Riding Spurs. Images of traditional leather boots on old weathered wood planks have long been identified with Texas, whose largest city, Houston, is the site of this year's AACC Annual Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo. Houston's summers may be hot, and Houston may not be the first place you think of as being trendy or hip; yet Forbes Magazine recently named Houston as America' s coolest city to live in. The downtown has been revitalized with an exquisite restaurant scene, professional sports facilities, musical entertainmen t, museums, theaters, and a modern convention center. And when you includ e the breadth of science that will be presented at the Annual Meeting, you wi ll realize that the AACC and Houston have it all!

The format of communicating scientific, technical, and medical information through professional journals has changed relatively little over the past 300 years. Although advances and information technology have dramatically altered search and discovery of scientific information, moving from a static to a living document, or exploiting social media tools to disseminate scientific information, has been slow coming.

Measurement of serum thyroglobulin may be complicated by the presence of endogenous anti-thyroglobulin auto-antibodies which have the potential to interfere with immunoassays and cause false negative results.

Approximately 1 million metal-on-metal hip prostheses have been implanted worldwide to alleviate pain, restore hip function and improve overall quality of life.

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, a key cardiovascular biomarker is recommended by National Cholesterol Education Program, Adult Treatment Panel Guidelines, for assessing cardiovascular disease risk and for monitoring lipid-lowering therapy; however, some workers believe that the number of circulating LDL particles rather than LDL cholesterol is a strong indicator of future cardiovascular disease events.

June 2013 Audio Summary

Readmissions after hospitalization for heart failure are an increasingly important problem, with a significant number of patients being re-hospitalized within 30 days of discharge.

Chemicals in tobacco smoke may influence vitamin D metabolism and function, and vitamin D itself may modify the carcinogenity of tobacco smoke.

A paper in the May 2013 issue of Clinical Chemistry found that circulating microRNAs were deregulated in severe obesity, and the lead author of that study Dr. Francisco José Ortega from Spain joined us earlier for a separate podcast. That paper was accompanied by an editorial addressing the relevance of circulating microRNAs in plasma. The lead author of that commentary, Dr. Catriona Hilton from the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism in Oxford, England, joins us today in this podcast.

Recently there has been a large amount of attention on a novel human influenza A virus, the H7N9 strain, that as of May 2013, has so far sickened over 131 people and killed 31 in the People's Republic of China. Because of the potential for pandemic spread, there is a great need for rapid and accurate test for the detection of the virus.

Genomics has the potential to provide important insights into the pathogenesis of obesity. A paper in the May 2013 issue of Clinical Chemistry found that circulating microRNAs were deregulated in severe obesity.

enomic research has been widely expected to transform medicine, but progress is not as rapid as some have expected. In the April 2013 issue of Clinical Chemistry, Ramy Arnaout and his colleagues published a paper regarding the cost and the pace of advances in pharmacogenomics.

Clinical Chemistry May 2013 Audio Summaries

Obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes are major public health challenges. Recently, interest has surged regarding the possible role of intestinal microbes as potential contributors to the increased prevalence of these three disorders.

Pheochromocytomas are tumors of the adrenal gland that secrete catecholamine. Closely related tumors called extraadrenal paragangliomas can arise at extraadrenal sites. Catecholamine secretion from these tumors causes headache, perspiration, palpitations and hypertension. If not recognized and treated, pheochromocytoma and extraadrenal paraganglioma can lead to arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, stroke and death.

In resource-limited settings, both access to laboratory diagnostics and to patients' health records can be challenging. In the April 2013 issue of Clinical Chemistry, Dr. Samuel Sia and his colleagues described a low-cost mobile device that combines cellphone and satellite communication technologies along with fluid miniaturization techniques for performing all of the functions of an enzyme-linked immunoassay.

Genomic research had been widely expected to transform medicine, but progress has been slower than some have expected. To critics delays represent broken promises and/or a sign that at least some of the money spent on genomic research might have been better spent elsewhere.

In the March 2013 issue of Clinical Chemistry, Dr. Yuan Chen and colleagues of the National Taiwan University demonstrated a new miniaturized device that performs most of the key semen analyses that predict male infertility.

For decades, vitamin D deficiency was thought a thing of the distant past, but recent evidence has associated low vitamin D levels with a number of diseases and conditions. Tobacco smoke chemicals may influence vitamin D metabolism and function, and vitamin D itself may modify the carcinogenicity of tobacco smoke.