Anatomic Pathology Selected Abstracts, 8/14
August 2014—GATA3: a multispecific but potentially useful marker in surgical pathology: The transcription factor GATA3 is important for differentiating breast epithelia, urothelia, and subsets of T...
View ArticleNewsbytes, 8/14
August 2014—Smartphone use in AP ‘immature’ but advancing: It may never be as famous as Snapchat or Instagram, but another method of photo sharing is gaining favor with some anatomic pathologists by...
View ArticleQ & A Column, 8/14
August 2014—Is there a trough and crest occurrence with blood testosterone levels, or is it like thyroid testing, where one’s result is the total of the previous several days? What is the relationship...
View ArticleScoring against MRSA—studies shed light on what works
August 2014—A race for prevention may lack the drama of a race for the cure. But to fight methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and other multidrug- resistant organisms, hospitals really have no...
View ArticleCytopathology and More | ATHENA design, data—and the FDA’s decision
August 2014—The Food and Drug Administration Microbiology Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee held a hearing March 12 on a proposal by Roche Molecular Systems for a new application...
View ArticleCytopathology and More | Pap proficiency testing—for whom, when, and why
August 2014—It has been almost 10 years since gynecologic cytology proficiency testing, or Pap PT, was implemented in the United States. The CAP is one of three organizations with a Pap proficiency...
View ArticleCytopathology and More | The Pap test under fire
August 2014—The humble Pap test is perhaps one of the most lauded and disdained laboratory tests, lauded because it is the lab test with the best track record of preventing cancer and disdained because...
View ArticleEvalumetrics—a performance measurement tool and more
August 2014—Change takes time. Ask anyone who’s ever joined a gym, coached an underperforming sports team, or felt themselves growing older—cell by graying, wrinkling cell—in the change-of-address line...
View ArticleProposed prostate biopsy policy could cut Medicare pay
August 2014—How the Medicare program reimburses pathologists for prostate biopsy specimen services could change in 2015 under proposed rules for physician payment from the Centers for Medicare and...
View ArticleToo few studies to steer test protocols for pediatrics
August 2014—Are children equivalent to miniature adults? Common sense and years of research on age-related differences in microbiota, immune system development, and infectious disease susceptibility...
View ArticleSeamless automation: within reach for AP?
August 2014—A familiar optical illusion uses a drawing of a vase that makes your eyes play tricks. First you see the vase, then two faces gazing at each other, then again, the vase…two faces…ad...
View ArticleStudy hints at new directions on LAMNs
August 2014—A slow leak in a tire may not be all that interesting— until one is cruising down the highway at 75 m.p.h. Suddenly, that same leak becomes much more compelling. Joseph Misdraji, MD,...
View ArticleWhere smart labs go when the money’s gone
August 2014—Payment rates declining. Bad debt rising. Test orders falling. Diagnostic equipment manufacturers checking in on test-volume commitments. A wrenching transition from fee-for-service care to...
View ArticleLatest lineup of chemistry analyzers for low-volume settings
August 2014—This year’s guide to chemistry analyzers for low-volume laboratories consists of information supplied by 17 companies on 33 analyzers, three of which are new to this guide. Vital...
View ArticlePut It on the Board, 8/14
August 2014—Time is running short for laboratories to figure out how they will comply with a federal regulation that for the first time requires all U.S. labs to give patients their test reports within...
View ArticleFrom the President’s Desk: From representation to RUC, reasons to join AMA
August 2014—It was my good fortune to be introduced to practice by a group of pathologists with a tradition of robust professional engagement. In residency or shortly thereafter, all of us joined the...
View ArticleMolecular Pathology Selected Abstracts, 8/14
August 2014—The dystrophin gene is the largest known human gene, comprising 2.2 Mb of the genome and 79 coding exons: Through the use of multiple tissue-specific promoters and alternative splicing of...
View ArticleVirus or bacterium? Gene expression may tell
September 2014—At the 30th Annual Clinical Virology Symposium this spring, Gregory Storch, MD, related a typical case of a febrile child seen in the emergency department. Dr. Storch, a professor of...
View ArticleRisk management steps up labs’ QC game under IQCP
September 2014—Industrial risk management. It may not seem all that sexy as a concept, but in the field of laboratory quality control, risk management has become about as buzzworthy as is possible. One...
View ArticleStudy: primary HPV test ‘merits consideration’
September 2014—With the FDA having approved use of the Roche Cobas assay for human papillomavirus as a primary standalone screen for cervical cancer in women 25 and older, expert panels are faced with...
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