The purpose of this document is to educate providers of veterinary laboratory diagnostic testing in any setting about comparative testing. These guidelines will define, explain, and illustrate the importance of a multi-faceted laboratory quality management program which includes comparative testing. The guidelines will provide suggestions for implementation of such testing, including which samp...

OBJECTIVE To describe antimicrobial susceptibility testing practices of veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the United States and evaluate the feasibility of collating this information for the purpose of monitoring antimicrobial resistance in bacterial isolates from animals. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. PROCEDURES A questionnaire was mailed to veterinary diagnostic laboratories throughou...

BACKGROUND We investigated the influence of pre-analytical factors on the results of clinical tests and thereby analyzed approaches to improve quality management in clinical laboratories. METHODS Unqualified clinical samples were selected from all the samples received at our clinical laboratory. The data were collected for 2009 and 2010, i.e., the years before and after the establishment of t...

Mutation detection plays an increasingly significant role in clinical diagnostic testing, posing formidable challenges for laboratories. The expanding indications for clinical molecular testing and the nuances of interpreting test results are discussed. Methods for screening mutation detection platforms and monitoring assay reliability are presented, and results of platform comparisons are desc...

Leptospira can be found in virtually all tropical and temperate areas of the world and is presumed to be the most wide spread zoonoses in the world.Humans contact leptospirosis through mucosal or percutaneous exposure to leptospires in environments contaminated by the urine of chronically infected animal sources. Despite being common, the diagnosis of leptospirosis is often not made unless a pa...

The cause of pleural effusion was studied in 300 consecutive patients by clinical examination and laboratory tests. The three most common causes were found to be cancer 117 cases (metastatic 65, bronchogenic 34, mesothelioma 10, lymphoma 7, other 1); tuberculous infection 53; and bacterial infection 38. The cause was not found in 62 patients. Cancer diagnosis was established by cytological exam...