Lab Focus

http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> 07/15/ 2008 ABSTRACT This is a research conducted by investigating the possible practical applications of the Bell-Lapadula model in library information management systems (LIMS). The main aim of modern security research is to facilitate the construction of multilevel secure systems, which can protect information of differing classification from users that have varying levels of clearance. Since publication, the Bell-LaPadula model has helped in the advancement of science and technology by providing a mathematical basis for the examination of laboratory security. Moreover, this model has been major component of having a disciplined...

Taking a look at the current financial crisis, one may not feel too optimistic about business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in India. However Mr. P.G. Raghuraman, Lead Delivery Centers for BPO in India, Accenture, sees the positive aspects in the growth of BPO service providers and also potential for the industry to attract young professionals as their chosen career. According to Nasscom study, the current size of BPO industry is $11 billion and it is expected to grow by five-fold in size to $50 billion by the year 2012. This growth in Indian BPO will add nearly 2.5 percent to the India's GDP from the export earnings and employment to nearly 2 million people. There is popular belief that,there...

The loss of potential profitability is the horror of all horrors and the regret of all regrets---at least for business owners and other stake holders in the life science industries. Wouldn't they do something? The casual observer might disagree. After all, if a loss of potential profitability was imminent wouldn't any business professional immediately address the issue?" The answer is that no he or she would not. Why? In many cases pertinent profitability issues are not addressed--not because life science professionals aren't aware of the issues themselves but because 1) there are various pertinent issues to juggle simultaneously and the race of priorities becomes confusing OR 2) the issues are...

Do you know if there is a business plan competition at your school? If you search online for college business plan competitions you can see a whole big list of current business plans and competitions. In these competitions, you present a business plan or idea to judges, students, business people, alumni and sometimes even Venture capitalist who are looking for the next big thing. These competitions have become quite popular among students because they have huge cash prizes for those who can win these very competitive contest. Wherever you are in the country, there is likely a competition for business plans offered somewhere nearby. Many of these require you to be at least a part time student...

Staying compliant with current FDA regulations isn't for weaklings or the faint of heart. Challenges presented in the GxP compliance environment can significantly retard quality related processes and cost companies millions of dollars in management revenue. Sure, the GxPs are designed to help but are life science companies paying too high a price? Perhaps life science companies are paying too high a price but is it the FDA that's really causing the problem? The following quote1 seems to infer that the FDA is not the epicenter of this GIANT problem and that another culprit is. In fact, the quote-though referring to the pharmaceutical industry--may in many ways be a reflection of the entire life...

Medical device companies manage their respective quality systems not with the goal of “staying busy” but with the ideal of producing high-quality, innovative products that don’t jettison a trail of product recalls and process deviations along the way. Every medical device designer, manufacturer or quality control representative would likely agree that medical device companies should standardize a process that gives birth to high quality products and simultaneously attacks every deviation, nonconformance or customer complaint with the speed and vigor of Spartan warriors. Simple enough? It would seem so but even with all the combined brain talent of designers, manufacturers and quality control...

The life science environments are barraged with pressures: governmental regulations, recommended standards, and demands for higher quality and lower prices are nothing more than the dreaded Bermuda triangle of the pharmaceutical, medical device, biologics and blood/tissue industries. Audits Audits (both performance and compliance related) have long been tools for improvement in these industries. However, audits whether conducted or received at the 1st, 2nd or 3rd party levels can be a waste of time when the data is not quickly collected and presented---leaving senior management officers to make decisions based on month- or year-old data. Audits are also a waste of time when performance or compliance...

Aarkstore announce a new report  " In Pursuit of the Paperless Clinical Trial: A look at EDC and CTMS (Strategy Focus) " through its vast collection of market research report. Introduction The cost of developing a drug is reaching astronomical levels, and the life science industry is looking to cut costs wherever possible. Therefore, company executives are turning their attention to improving inefficiencies during the most expensive phase of drug development clinical trials. This report will analyze software solutions developed to streamline the clinical research process. Scope Identifies the key forces driving the adoption of eClinical technology solutions Analyzes the crucial issues that will...

echnologies Catalyze a New, High-Profile Life Sciences Industry The deluge of data and related technologies generated by the Human Genome Project (HGP) and other genomic research presents a broad array of commercial opportunities. Seemingly limitless applications cross boundaries from medicine and food to energy and environmental resources, and predictions are that life sciences may become the largest sector in the U.S. economy. Established companies are scrambling to retool, and many new ventures are seeking a role in the information revolution with DNA at its core. IBM, Compaq, DuPont, and major pharmaceutical companies are among those interested in the potential for targeting and applying genome...

The U.S. life sciences industry is a business sector which faces the significant task of developing, testing and manufacturing pharmaceuticals. Due to the complex environment in which pharmaceuticals are developed, there is a strong need for IS and other quality systems to monitor, manage and control the production processes. The quality systems can drive each of the steps with the product life cycle and is a critical factor for guaranteeing that the optimum quality standards are met. The FDA plays an important role in this systematic testing process by applying rigorous oversight to the pharmaceutical industry, to ensure high quality standards, efficacy, and the safety that the general public...

Ever since the introduction of the PDA model for validation and its evolution into the GAMP V model, validation has been plagued with the reputation of being a paper intensive and burdensome process.   Regulatory agencies have come to expect a certain type and style of document evidence to support the validation process including a validation plan, requirements document and test protocols including the Installation, Operational and Performance qualifications.   In recent years, these documents have been enhanced with risk management and mitigation approaches but the end result is even more paper. Additionally, the necessity to show derived relationships between content in documents using a...

Chicago, IL and Frankfurt, Germany - October 5, 2009 - BigMachines, Inc., the leading provider of on-demand product configurators, quote software and proposal generation, will work with Promega Corporation to advance Promega excellence in customer response and the custom quote process. Big Machines solution will integrate with Promega sales systems to enable accurate and rapid data flow from inquiry to order. Promega offers thousands of products that enable scientists worldwide to advance their knowledge in life science research, particularly in genomics, proteomics, and cellular analysis. Products consist of kits and reagents as well as Integrated Solutions for life sciences research and drug...

we are witnessing a major and somewhat painstaking transformation in the life sciences (or biotech, pharma and medical devices) industry, whilst we endure the most severe recession in decades. Susan Snyder, a senior consultant at Hay Group says that the industry has been hit by a double blow, stating: “Life sciences companies are facing the need to reinvent the way they do business at the same time that their income is down, with the recession forcing insurers and government to reevaluate how dollars are spent”. According to Snyder, in order to reinforce their position within the market, biotech and pharma organisations need to boost their individual transformations and rejuvenate their firms...

Measuring Customer Satisfaction Shows Thirteen Industry Averages above "Very Good" out of Twenty Factors Rated GREENBELT, Md., Jul 21, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) from -- This just published report provides objective, non-anecdotal customer satisfaction results for Abbott Diagnostics, Beckman-Coulter, Olympus America, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics, and Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics and also calculates Industry Average ratings. The 2008 ServiceTrak Clinical Chemistry Report measures customer satisfaction primarily related to Service. The results are based on telephone interviews conducted in 2008 with users representing 2,262 systems across the U.S. Thirty different performance factors are...

Sonic Healthcare Limited - SWOT Analysis company profile is the essential source for top-level company data and information. Sonic Healthcare Limited - SWOT Analysis examines the company's key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy. Sonic Healthcare (Sonic) is one of the world's largest medical diagnostics companies. The company is engaged in providing laboratory and radiology services to medical practitioners, hospitals, community health services, and their collective patients. The company primarily operates in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Switzerland, the US and Germany. It is headquartered in New South Wales...

nt Obama is holding an important Health Summit at the White House to workshop his plans and ideas for health reform with a wide range of influential stakeholders. Hopefully he will keep his blackberry switched on because this is now one of the emerging new tools commonly used to deliver healthcare. President Obama, with his promotion of information technology, broadband networks and electronic health records, is poised to accelerate many positive changes in healthcare, so what goals should be identified for this Summit? Let's look first at some of the current forces for change. The business of eHealth on the Internet is expanding rapidly. Two recent reports from the Pew Foundation and Harris...

China Molecular diagnostics in a high growth, high profit, high investment area in China. Industry players, investors, buyers, and vendors will benefit from this essential database. This database includes more than 100 companies providing molecular diagnostic products and services in China. More than 50 Chinese domestic and multinational kit & instrument manufacturers are included. The database also includes key distributors and service providers. Method of information collection: secondary research targeting company domain, public domain and government resources was conducted. This was followed by a primary phase including contact of more than 60% of companies in the database, and discussions...

The Justice system has made several advances in the technology of forensics. Forensics, or the science of discovery of the facts of criminal cases, has been a staple of criminal investigators for decades. The use of specialized equipment and personnel trained for this specific discipline is necessary for developing the facts in truth for a criminal case. Tracking the information acquired for this requires specialized informational and database handling. Laboratory Information Management Systems allow for the cataloguing, tagging, and sorting of the information brought forth by the forensic investigating team. Laboratory information management systems, or LIMS, are an essential part of forensic...

What do laboratory personnel do? Well, phlebotomists are trained to draw blood, known as venipuncture. There are taught to palpate the antecubital space (inside elbow) for suitable vein in which to draw samples. They are also given a general idea of why certain tests are ordered. Also included in their certificate training is order of draw, that is, what color top tubes are drawn first, second, et cetera, if numerous tests are ordered. There is a laboratory protocol for that sequence. Finally they are instructed to identify patients and the specimens they draw, as well as eyeball the patient for possible negative reactions. These personnel generally like working directly with the patients and are...

Does White kwao kreu really enlarge your breasts? White kwao kreu which belongs to the family guminosae, subfamily Papilionoideae or the soy, bean & pea subfamily, known as Pueraria Mirifica or Kwao Kreu" or "Kwao Kreu Kao" (white Kwao Kao), which are commonly found in the north, the west and the northeast of Thailand at the altitude of 300 to 800 metres above sea level. Woman in the rural communities of Thailand have used this tuberous roots effectively as rejuvenating folk medicine for well over a hundreds years before it become well known and received much attention from Thai and foreign scientist, especially the Japanese. Most of the kwao kreu processed by the Japanese are made into medicines...

Drug tests can involve taking samples of blood, urine, breath or saliva for analysis. All of the tests are designed to detect small concentrations of metabolites in the sample that will indicate if a specific substance has been used recently. The body stores metabolites in fast growing cells and fatty cells, and eventually over time these metabolites leach out into the bloodstream and are excreted usually via the urine. Different metabolites will stay in the body for varying periods of time, and other factors which can influence the rate of excretion are activity level, metabolism and the amount of fat a person has in their body. In recent years, hair has received a lot of attention because it also...

The prevalence of enzyme sensitization in the bakeries was 7.8% when all the employees were taken into account and 11.8% in the bakers' group. The prevalence coincides with those report edelsewhere in Europe, for example, 5-16% in the United Kingdom (Cullinan et al 1994, Smith & Smith 1998, Jeffrey et al 1999,Nieuwenhuijsen et al 1999), 9% in The Netherlands (Houba et al 1996), 7.5% in Italy (DeZotti et al 1994), and 19% in Germany (Baur1998a). The prevalence of flour sensitization in bakeries was12%, which was on about the same order as elsewhere in Europe in the aforementioned studies (6%-24%). The employees sensitized to enzymes belonged to typical groups exposed to flour and enzymes,but a...

A biochemistry analyser is a term which can refer to any number of different instruments used to analyze and measure the characteristics of various samples from biological sources. All types of biochemistry analyser are commonly used in life sciences laboratories and medical settings, where they provide data which is essential for a wide range of research, diagnostic and even product development applications (such as in the pharmaceutical industry). The study of the chemical processes which go on inside of living organisms encompasses a wide range of different disciplines and an even wider range of uses, all of which fall under the broader umbrella of biochemistry. Among the most common uses for a...

A sheltie is expected to live for 10 to 15 years as long as proper care is provided. However, much is your desire to keep your sheltie fit, inevitable circumstances may appear along the way and eventually affect your pet's health and life negatively. Shelties from reputable breeders are less likely to develop health issues however, some lines may be susceptible to diseases, one of which is hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism, as the name implies, is a disorder associated with thyroid gland. This thyroid gland secretes thyroid hormone that is known to regulate a dog's metabollic rate. Hypothyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland is unable to produce enough thyroid hormone due to the attacks made by dog's...

blem of drug addiction these days has grown to such an extent that even small boys and girls are found to be getting under its influence. And for the younger generation this is one of the biggest problems indeed. In fact the point is that the rapid increase in the number of addiction cases these days has not only created problems in the lives of the addicted but also in the lives of the people close to him or her. Besides the illegal drugs or alcohol addiction another problem that is also posing similar threat to the society is the addiction to painkiller drugs. The fact is that the stress and tension of the modern age has made the people crazy and therefore they are just trying to escape from the...

ELISA kits, where the term ELISA denotes Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay. It is also known by several other names such as, Enzyme Immunoassay or EIA etc. It is a biochemical technique used in immunology to detect the presence of an antibody or an antigen in a sample. The ELISA kits are used as diagnostic tools in medicine and as well as plant pathology, as well as quality control check in different types of industries. ELISA kits are sought after because they are fast, affordable, can easily accommodate multiple samples, and does not really require highly specialized equipment. Cytokines are small, secreted proteins which mediate as well as regulate immunity, inflammation, and hematopoiesis...

Ovulation test helps you in finding out the possible ovulation period in advance, by knowing the LH hormone levels. Ovulation tests are gaining popularity through the use of ovulation calendars or predictor kits. Ovulation test kit measure the amount of luteinizing hormone (LH) in your urine. Immediately prior to ovulation, the body produces a large amount of Luteinizing hormone (LH), which is known as the “LH surge” that is detected in the LH One Step Ovulation Test. About The Test: The LH One Step Ovulation Test is a rapid chromatographic immunoassay for the qualitative detection of Luteinizing hormone (LH) in urine to aid in the detection of ovulation. Laboratory studies have shown that the...

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a biochemical procedure in immunology that is primarily used for determining the presence of an antigen or an antibody in a sample. For years, ELISA has been utilized as a diagnostic tool in plant pathology and medicine. It has test kits that are used for cancer, autoimmune diseases, fertility, thyroid, steroid, infectious diseases and parasitology, allergy, and diabetes assays. One of the ELISA test kits for cancer is Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP), which is used for measuring the prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) in the serum and plasma of a human. The components of the kit are designed for use as an integral unit only. Therefore, the components from...

The pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sectors are currently facing increasing time and cost issues related to clinical trials in drug discovery. The cost of developing a new drug can reach $2 billion; clinical trials, regulatory approval and subsequent launch may take up to a decade. Biomarkers reduce the attrition rate of late stage clinical trials by assessing drug potential in terms of efficacy and toxicity at the early stages of the clinical development. Thus, biomarkers significantly increase productivity, lower the cost and duration of the clinical trial, and help researchers complete drug development process at a faster pace. This report reviews various biomarker technologies and therapy area...

Tetrahydrocannabinol is the main psychoactive substance found in the Cannabis plant and additionally in a variety of other plants. It is also known as THC, Δ9-THC, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinol, or dronabinol. THC is more popular as marijuana. THC is detectable using the simple immunoassay strips only for one day after use if a rather small amount had been ingested. The after use affects of THC: THC is the primary active ingredient in marijuana. When ingested or smoked, it produces euphoric effects. Users have impairment of short-term memory and ability to learn. Also, it may cause temporary episodes of confusion, anxiety, or even high toxic fever...

The efficiency of existing treatments in curing strep throat strongly depends on the accuracy and speed of diagnosis. In case the diagnosis is inaccurate or established late, the patients are exposed to the risks of receiving the wrong treatment (resulting in increased resistance of the bacterial strains involved in causing strep throat to medications) and of developing serious complications. The treatment of strep throat most often involves the use of antibiotics, medications that play a crucial role in eradicating the causative bacteria and preventing the occurrence of a variety of complications (acute rheumatic fever, kidney disease, coronary disease). Considering the fact that strep throat...