From time to time, ecp will publish selected images to illustrate how various tests and treatments are being marketed to the public. Our goal is to inform our clinician readers of the kinds of messages that their patients may be receiving. These messages may stimulate demand for various services and/or distort expectations about the benefits (and harms) of the services. Readers are encouraged t...

Vallar G (1993). The anatomical basis of spatial hemineglect in humans. In: IH Robertson, JC Marshall (Eds.), Unilateral Neglect: Clinical and Experimental Studies. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hove, UK, pp. 27-59. Wapner W, Judd T, Gardner H (1978). Visual agnosia in an artist. Cortex 14: 343-364. Watson JD, Myers R, Frackowiak RS, et al. (1993). Area V5 of the human brain: Evidence from a combined study...

On the surface, the veterinary clinical-laboratory industry looks very much like that of its human counterpart. Two giant national corporations with regional laboratories strategically located across the United States control the lion’s share of the market. Yet, smaller regional laboratories and a host of local laboratory providers still successfully compete for their smaller share of business....

This is a clinical update discussing the use of periendoscopic laboratory testing in common clinical situations. The Standards of Practice Committee of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) prepared this document by using MEDLINE and PubMed databases to search for publications between January 1990 and December 2013 pertaining to this topic. The keywords “endoscopy” and “lab...

To the Editor.—Recent literature has explored the value of repeat testing of alert or critical laboratory test results, as illustrated in the article by Toll et al. Using a large data set for selected tests, that article makes the point that repeat testing is rarely of value. All too often, laboratories retest results that are considered ‘‘critical’’ because of a purely emotional desire to avoi...

• Understand what the GMP requirements are for the analytical quality laboratory and stability testing laboratory • Identify which GMP regulations govern the analytical quality laboratory • Use a range of information tools, from the contents of this training in support of analytical testing and stability testing auditing. • Recognize compliance or non-compliance of analytical quality laboratory...

The harmonization of laboratory testing is a high priority topic in Laboratory Medicine. It is more than harmonized terminology, units of reporting, methodology and reference intervals but, rather, covers a wide range of topics from the “pre-pre-analytical” phase (‘Right test at the Right time for the Right patient’) to the analytical aspects and reporting of critical results through to consume...

Osteoporosis has been classified into primary and secondary forms. All patients with osteoporosis should have measurements of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, serum and urine calcium, and some estimation of renal function. There are a wide variety of disorders that lead to secondary osteoporosis, and the tests that confirm these diagnoses are described herein. Making the specific diagnosis is important bec...

Over the past 20 years, there has been a continuous shift in decentralizing clinical laboratory testing in the US. Historically, testing was conducted almost exclusively in centralized laboratories in hospitals. However, at present, approximately 53% of testing is performed in hospitals (including some near-patient testing in settings such as critical care and emergency rooms), 34% in commercia...