laboratory technician

BACKGROUND: Each year an estimated 2.3 million newborns die in the first 28 days of life. Most of these deaths are preventable, and high-quality neonatal care is fundamental for surviving and thriving. Service readiness is used to assess the capacity of hospitals to provide care, but current health facility assessment (HFA) tools do not fully evaluate inpatient small and sick newborn care (SSNC). METHODS: Health systems ingredients for SSNC were identified from international guidelines, notably World Health Organization (WHO), and other standards for SSNC...

BACKGROUND: Despite the updated guidelines on dental impression disinfection protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, adherence to such procedures has not been studied among dental health professionals in Saudi Arabia. Understanding DHPs' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding COVID-19 is crucial in assessing a willingness to adhere to the recommendations provided by health authorities in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 via dental impressions impacting patient safety and infection control measures...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Blood transfusion is performed daily in hospitals. Gaps exist between transfusion guidelines and day-to-day clinical care. These gaps are prevalent in resource-limited settings due to scarce continuing medical education. Transfusion Camp Rwanda aims to bridge this gap by (1) delivering context-appropriate up-to-date education, (2) teaching participants how to independently deliver a case-based curriculum and (3) identifying strategies to promote change in transfusion practice in Rwanda...

INTRODUCTION: A patient safety culture primarily refers to the values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors within a healthcare setup in a community that assists in prioritizing patient safety and encouraging the reporting of errors and near-misses in that facility. There is a direct impact of patient safety culture on how well patient safety and quality improvement programs work. The aim of this cross-sectional descriptive study was to investigate the practices to improve patient safety culture and adverse event reporting practices among healthcare professionals in a tertiary care hospital located in Mirpur Azad Jammu and Kashmir...

Structural and functional changes in vascular networks play a vital role during development, causing or contributing to the pathophysiology of injury and disease. Current methods to trace and image the vasculature in laboratory settings have proven inconsistent, inaccurate, and labor intensive, lacking the inherent three-dimensional structure of vasculature. Here, we provide a robust and highly reproducible method to image and quantify changes in vascular networks down to the capillary level. The method combines vasculature tracing, tissue clearing, and three-dimensional imaging techniques with vessel segmentation using AI-based convolutional reconstruction to rapidly process large, unsectioned tissue specimens throughout the body with high fidelity...

African swine fever (ASF) is a transboundary viral disease which causes high mortality in pigs. In many low- and middle-income countries and in remote areas where diagnostic surveillance for ASF virus (ASFV) is undertaken, access to trained animal health technicians, sample collection, cold chain storage and transport of samples to suitably equipped laboratories can be limiting when traditional sampling and laboratory tests are used. Previously published studies have demonstrated that alternative sampling matrices such as swabs and filter papers can be tested using PCR without refrigeration for up to a week...

Circulating hybrid cells (CHCs) are a newly discovered, tumor-derived cell population found in the peripheral blood of cancer patients and are thought to contribute to tumor metastasis. However, identifying CHCs by immunofluorescence (IF) imaging of patient peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) is a time-consuming and subjective process that currently relies on manual annotation by laboratory technicians. Additionally, while IF is relatively easy to apply to tissue sections, its application to PBMC smears presents challenges due to the presence of biological and technical artifacts...

INTRODUCTION: The need to permanently join two or more pieces of metal using heat is a frequent condition in various fields of medicine such as dentistry. Welding, brazing and soldering are permanent joining techniques between different metals that require in-depth background knowledge in order to obtain predictable results. AIM: This review examines the different methods of joining metals using heat and their fields of application. DISCUSSION: It is possible to create permanent metal joints in various phases of the creation of final products that will be used on the patient...

BACKGROUND: Catheter laboratories are high-radiation exposure environments, especially during X-ray procedures like percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and electrophysiological studies. Radiation exposure poses risks of stochastic (e.g., cancer) and deterministic (e.g., skin changes) effects. This study assessed radiation safety and health practices in a cardiac catheterization unit to optimize radiation safety. A cross-sectional study in Cairo University Hospital (March-September 2019) evaluated 700 patients and healthcare workers...

BACKGROUND: Radiation exposure is a significant hazard associated with invasive Cardiology, with most studies based on primary operator exposure. This prospective, observational study aimed to find out over lead radiation exposure as effective dose acquired by non-physician staff comprising scrub technicians and rotating staff in the cath laboratory. Effective dose (ED) measured per procedure via Raysafe i2®dosimeter badges worn by both rotating staff and scrub technicians over lead aprons along with dose area product (DAP), fluoroscopy time (FT) and procedure time (PT) in minutes was collected prospectively over forty-six invasive Cardiology procedures...

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Time and cost are factors that influence a patient's decision on dental prosthetic treatment. Evidence is needed to demonstrate that restoration using digital systems is more rapid and less costly than the conventional process. PURPOSE: The purpose of this systematic review was to analyze and compare the duration and cost of fixed dental prostheses fabricated using digital and conventional methods from scanning or impression making to delivery of the prosthesis...

In vitro propagation protocols that include temporary immersion systems are available for the most economically important plant species. However, these have not been established yet for multiple species. Having protocols validated by the scientific community guarantees the success of the mass production of commercial propagules. Besides, adequate TIS parameters should be established for each plant species to improve the efficiency of micropropagation processes. This book compiles basic and applied aspects of temporal immersion systems used for in vitro plant micropropagation, along with several detailed protocols already established, which may be used as a guide by those interested in this technique, including laboratory technicians, scientists, and other professionals...

OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus belongs to the group of highly infectious diseases with increased mortality and morbidity in the population. Finding the presence of antibodies plays an important role while finding the number of individuals who overcame the disease or were vaccinated. METHODS: A total of 250 employees of St. Jacob Hospital with Polyclinic, Bardejov, participated in our study, the blood samples were drawn from the index finger and processed with the help of the rapid Ag test for the detection of antibodies and venous blood using the ELISA method...

In the fully digital Caltagirone pathology laboratory, a reverse shift from a digital to a manual workflow occurred due to a server outage in September 2023. Here, insights gained from this unplanned transition are explored. Surveying the affected pathologists and technicians revealed unanimous preferences for the time-saving and error-reducing capabilities of the digital methodology. Conversely, the return to manual methods highlighted increased dissatisfaction and reduced efficiency, emphasising the superiority of digital workflows...

BACKGROUND: Globally, tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality having caused 1.6 million deaths in 2021. Uganda is a high TB burden country with a large private sector that serves close to 60% of the urban population. However, private for-profit health facilities' involvement with the National TB and Leprosy Program (NTLP) activities remains poor. This study evaluated the practices of diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and associated factors among practitioners in private for-profit (PFP) healthcare facilities in Kampala, Uganda...

Even if malaria is rare in Europe, it is a medical emergency and programs for its control should ensure both an early diagnosis and a prompt treatment within 24-48 h from the onset of the symptoms. The increasing number of imported malaria cases as well as the risk of the reintroduction of autochthonous cases encouraged laboratories in non-endemic countries to adopt diagnostic methods/algorithms. Microscopy remains the gold standard, but with limitations. Rapid diagnostic tests have greatly expanded the ability to diagnose malaria for rapid results due to simplicity and low cost, but they lack sensitivity and specificity...

RATIONALE: High costs and student numbers can often hinder implementation of mass spectrometry (MS) in the undergraduate teaching laboratory, often with technicians running samples on students' behalf, and the implementation of MS only in discrete or isolated experiments. This study explores the use of atmospheric solids analysis probe MS (ASAP-MS) as a relatively low-cost, benchtop instrument, and its potential for application as a 'bolt-on' to existing undergraduate organic chemistry experiments...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has constrained access to spirometry, and the inherent risk of infectious transmission during aerosol-generating procedures has necessitated the rapid development of Remotely Supervised Spirometry (RSS). This innovative approach enables patients to perform spirometry tests at home, using a mobile connected spirometer, all under the real-time supervision of a technician through an online audio or video call. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we examined the quality of RSS in comparison to conventional Laboratory-based Spirometry (LS), using the same device and technician...

BACKGROUND: The presence of circulating plasma cells (CPCs) is an important laboratory indicator for the diagnosis, staging, risk stratification, and progression monitoring of multiple myeloma (MM). Early detection of CPCs in the peripheral blood (PB) followed by timely interventions can significantly improve MM prognosis and delay its progression. Although the conventional cell morphology examination remains the predominant method for CPC detection because of accessibility, its sensitivity and reproducibility are limited by technician expertise and cell quantity constraints...

BACKGROUND: The MC-80 (Mindray, Shenzhen, China), a newly available artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital morphology analyzer, is the focus of this study. We aim to compare the leukocyte differential performance of the Mindray MC-80 with that of the Sysmex DI-60 and the gold standard, manual microscopy. METHODS: A total of 100 abnormal peripheral blood (PB) smears were compared across the MC-80, DI-60, and manual microscopy. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive value, and efficiency were calculated according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) EP12-A2 guidelines...