This year the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) 2012 meeting is being held in Seattle, Washington on May 20-23^rd. This meeting will bring us lots of opportunities in both networking and education.  We are gearing up at Phthisis to send a team to exhibit and present the E-Sphere® Simple NA Kit at what is already looking like a great show! Please stop by and see us at booth #210 to discuss your DNA and RNA extraction needs and ask about our other Simply Molecular® Solutions for your laboratory. Our materials are packed and on the way, and now we just have to finish getting ourselves ready to head out to the west coast.

This week in C’ville Weekly, Phthisis was featured in an article about the biotech industry and its relationship to UVA.  The biotech industry in the area is moving new ideas brought forth in research to the market, where these inventions will have greater impact. The University has restructured how it handles intellectual property, so that, researchers have more opportunities to move inventions and ideas into local biotech companies. Dr. Icenhour was asked about taking on her role at Phthisis Diagnostics and how the company was run on only government grants early on. “It’s painful,” she said. “When you survive on government grants, it’s year-to-year drama.”  She was also asked about her experiences with investors.  Phthisis continues to grow and develop easy to use products for clinical labs. Other companies and figures known to the Charlottesville area were also featured in this article, including Martin Chapman of Indoor Technologies and W. Mark Crowell, UVA’s first executive director of innovation.

“Just what the sector’s long-term impact on Charlottesville will be isn’t clear. The high-risk industry is defined by change. But with about 20 percent of the state’s biotech companies located here, a steady supply of high-quality concepts from UVA, and the potential for start-up capital from big donors, biotechnology is already shaping the city’s present.” Read More…

Hospital acquired infections are still a big problem among hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the US and abroad.  The Hospitalist recently conducted a survey with experts in the field of infectious disease.  They have come up with a list of the 10 things hospitalists should know about infectious diseases.  It is routine for employees of a hospital to work with patients with infections.  It is always better to ere on the side of caution.  Some of the infectious diseases that made the list are Clostridium difficile and Staphylococcus aureus, and Norovirus.  These infections are still a problem especially when it comes to the more resistant strains. Other suggestions from the survey include familiarizing yourself with new technology and treatments.

“9 Be sure to take proper precautions when it comes to norovirus.

Winter is the time of year to be most concerned about norovirus outbreaks. It’s also important to realize it affects people of all ages, is especially common to closed or semi-closed communities (i.e. hospitals, long-term care facilities, cruise ships), andspreads very rapidly either by person-to-person transmission or contaminated food.

“It’s really important to understand that if a patient is suspected of having norovirus, that patient should be placed in contact precautions immediately, and preferably, when possible, in a single-occupancy room,” Dr. Gupta says. “If a healthcare provider becomes ill with sudden nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, that’s consistent with possible norovirus. They should stay home for a minimum of 48 hours after symptom resolution before coming back to work.” Read More…

In GenomeWeb’s The Daily Scan on April 24^th, there was an interesting highlight about researchers, led by Joseph Fourier University geneticist Pierre Taberlet , that are collecting DNA from bloodsucking leeches to find DNA from a rare Asian antelope called the saola. Often research has been done by collecting soil or stool samples to study biodiversity. Little is known about the saola and for this reason the scientist have chosen to try using leech DNA to get a better handle on the habits and migration of this rare animal.

“Leeches can store DNA from their meals for months at a time, so by taking samples from leeches within the saola’s estimated range, the team hopes to gauge biodiversity more efficiently than by conventional means like camera traps.” Read More…

In the April 2012 issue of the Emerging Infectious Disease Journal, released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there was an interesting study looking at the detection of Plasmodium spp. from fecal samples. Plasmodium spp. are the cause of malaria infections in humans and apes.  Malaria is a blood parasite and therefore the tests performed to confirm malaria are done on blood samples.  It is a great step forward to see detection of malaria can be successful in other sample types, such as stool. PCR was performed after DNA extraction and found a detectable level of the parasite.

“We have shown that similar to apes, infected humans shed a detectable amount of P. falciparum in their feces, which correlates with results obtained by PCR. Southern blotting slightly enhanced the sensitivity of the PCR, but visual inspection of gel-resolved PCR products from feces was nearly equally sufficient. We conclude that feces are as suitable as blood for malaria diagnostics for humans.

Although informative in terms of parasite diversity, prevalence of Plasmodium spp. amplified from feces of gorillas and chimpanzees was not determined in blood samples. A cautionary note regarding this issue and other issues has been reported.  Our results show that in humans, P. falciparum efficiently penetrates the feces at levels detectable by PCR. Use of humans as proxies in our study validates previous estimates of malaria infection rates determined from feces of great apes. The diagnostic method we describe is suitable in situations in which feces are easier to obtain than blood and for use with small children.” Read More…

A recent article in Mother Nature Network featured a study that was done on the response of the vector mosquitoes to the Dengue virus. The studies have data showing that the virus infects all organs of the mosquito and has increased the urge to feed and heightened the senses that allow the mosquito to find a meal. The study is not sure exactly how the virus is making its vector so efficient in the spread of the virus, but it is very effective. The World Health Organization estimates that between 50 and 100 million dengue infections occur each year.
“The virus specifically turns on mosquito genes that make them hungrier for a blood meal; the activated genes also enhance mosquitoes’ sense of smell, something that likely improves their feeding skills. The result is a mosquito better able to serve the virus by carrying it more efficiently to human hosts.” Read More…
This study was published on March 29 in PLoS Pathogens.

On March 29, 2012 an article was published in the “Technology” section of Bloomberg Businessweek titled “A Netflix for Poop: DNA Sequencing’s Next Turn.” Eric Schadt, the director of the Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and chief science officer at Pacific Biosciences, has an idea for monitoring what is going on in our diet and environment by mailing in samples collected in special toilets.  The article brings up that point that putting these toilets in airports, bus staitions, etc., could give us early warning signs of an outbreak.

Installing these toilets in your home could give you an early signal on cancer and other disease.  The NetFlix model is brought up, it could be as easy as mailing in your samples and being sent the results.  The whole idea of mailing in stool samples is a bit odd, but could turn out to be a huge step for genetic testing.  Dr. Schadt like many other scientists hopes to gain as much information as possible, both genetic and environmental, to get a better handle on how illness happens.

“Cities could collect samples from airports, train stations, and emergency rooms and “build up a map, sort of like a weather map, that show pathogen flows over time.” Start data mining sewage systems, and you could probably detect the arrival of something like H1N1 early enough to prevent an outbreak, Schadt says. “We are finding viruses specific to the foods you eat, like chicken, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic,” he says. “If we have different sewage substations, we could address the diet compositions of the whole population and correlate it with health.” Read More…

Denise Grady of The New York Times wrote an article published on March 19th about lethal gut infections.  The article was printed in the Health section and mainly focuses on Clostridium difficile and Norovirus . According to the article gastrointestinal infections are becoming more lethal especially in the case of the elderly.  Many cases are acquired during hospital stays.  This ever-growing problem draws those in the healthcare and diagnostic industry to the importance of developing quick and accurate tests for these infections. This will lead to improved patient care and hopefully slow the rate at which these infections are becoming lethal.

“Two thirds of the deaths were caused by a bacterium, Clostridium difficile, which people often contract in hospitals and nursing homes, particularly when they have been taking antibiotics. The bacteria have grown increasingly virulent and resistant to treatment in recent years.” Read More…

Phthisis Diagnostics has received three nominations in the Medical Product or Device Category for the 2012 Virginia Healthcare Innovators Awards.  The nominations are currently under review and the finalists should be listed on May 1^st on the Virginia Healthcare Innovators Council, Inc. site at www.virginiahealthcareinnovators.org.  The awards ceremony will be held during the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s Virginia Health Care Conference in Richmond this June.  The Phthisis Team is honored to receive these nominations, and we are glad our work is having an impact on the healthcare industry.

The winners of the awards give a presentation on their innovative ideas and will be in the July issue of Virginia Business Magazine.

On March 5, Jill Hoffman of Advance for Laboratory Medical Professionals wrote an article giving some insight on three phases of molecular diagnostic testing in clinical labs, as well as, CPT codes and the reimbursement associated with the codes, which is important to every clinical lab. These phases are pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical. “With all phases of testing, it’s very important that the laboratory has a plan and follows that plan to monitor their overall processes and systems,” says Judith Yost, Director, Division of Laboratories, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS.)  Some labs do not agree with the current system of CPT codes because a single code may require multiple steps of service.  These codes went under review in 2009 and the old codes should be retired at the end of the review process, which the article says will be sometime in 2013. A new “tier” system of codes will be used for molecular diagnostics.

“The new codes’ granularity is intended to give a more precise way for providers to communicate to payers tests performed. It is also meant to yield more accurate reimbursement for common MDx tests, but it’s uncertain if the new codes will translate into greater revenue for labs performing the testing.” Read More…