Laboratory Errors
Laboratories have a major impact on patient safety: 80-90% of all the diagnoses are made on the basis of laboratory tests. Laboratory errors have a reported frequency of 0.012-0.6% of all test results. Patient safety is a managerial issue which can be...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - August 22, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

Humans, Guinea Pigs and Bats
Why can humans (and guinea pigs and dry-nosed primates and bats) not make vitamin C and are thus open to scurvy without replacement? Many years ago, I worked on a study of guinea pigs that had been fed a diet without vitamin C and thus developed scurvy....(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - August 20, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

PSA Kinetics
For the past few decades, many clinicians have used the change in PSA over a 1 or 2 year period to determine whether a biopsy was needed (for example when my PSA increased by more than the limit at that time, I was encouraged to have a biopsy. I did.)...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - August 6, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

Intriguing Troponin Series
I recently was asked to comment on the following series of troponin values from a general hospital: Day Time Troponin 1 1 1325 2.6 1 1724 2.4 1 2035 2.3 2 0248 2.2 2 0646 2.1 Since this is a series of extremely high troponin, an MI was suspected. Although...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - July 28, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

Iron Deficiency and Hepcidin
Iron deficiency (ID) is relatively common among the elderly population, contributing substantially to the high prevalence of anemia observed in the last decades of life, which in turn has important implications both on quality of life and on survival....(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - July 21, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

The Human Gut
The human gut is home to trillions of microbes (the intestinal microbiota) that form a symbiotic relationship with the human host. During health, this intestinal microbiota provides many benefits to the host and is generally resistant to colonization...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - July 16, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

Curing HIV
What have we learned about early treatment of HIV-1 from the "Mississippi Baby"? Due to the increased risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection during the child bearing years, voluntary screening during the prenatal period has been suggested....(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - July 14, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

Quorum Sensing
Quorum sensing (QS) is a bacterial communication process that depends on the bacterial population density. It involves small diffusible signaling molecules which activate the expression of myriad genes that control a diverse array of functions including...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - July 14, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

Biomarkers for Acute Kidney Injury
The kidney has a remarkable capacity to withstand insults for an extended period of time. The sensitivities of individual renal cells to injury vary depending on their type, position in the nephron, local vascularization, and the nature of injury. The...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - July 1, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Tags: Molecular Diagnostics Source Type: blogs

Geriatric patients and anemia
Anemia is a common condition in the elderly (for example, in a study of .6880 individuals, 2905 men and 3975 women, aged 65-95 [mean age 72.5], mild anemia [hemoglobin levels <10 g/dL] was found in 6.1% of women and 8.1% of men.) The reason that LDH...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - June 19, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

Body on a Chip
In a recent blog, I touched on some ideas and tools that are being used to build "labs on chips." The word nano operates significantly in this area. If you were as excited and intrigued with that blog, read on for now we are going to talk on "organs-on-a-chip"...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - June 17, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Tags: Research Source Type: blogs

Middle East Repiratory Syndrome
(MERS) recently was said to be a "public health emergency of international concern." The MERS virus, which appeared in the Middle East in 2012, has spread through that area; cases have been found in Asia, Europe and the...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - June 11, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Tags: Microbiology Source Type: blogs

Helicobacter pylori
has been associated with the colonization of gastro duodenal mucosa of humans from millions of years. The central burden of the disease is in the developing countries, due to overcrowding and poor hygiene. Wherever it is found, if...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - June 9, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Tags: Microbiology Source Type: blogs

Cancer and the Immune System
Immunotherapy for cancer has unde rgone a renaissance in recent years, based both on technological developments such as the ease in introducing genes into T cells and on an improved understanding of the obstacles to eradicating cancer through immune mechanisms....(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - May 28, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs

The Biology and Genetics of Obesity
Many years ago, I came up with a sure way to lose weight – take in fewer calories than you burn. What could be simpler? I was not alone. A study of more than 1100 adults found that 61% of U.S. adulates that “personal choices about eating and exercise”...(read more) (Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff)
Source: David Plaut: Off the Cuff - May 22, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: David Plaut Source Type: blogs