Phlebotomist sued for injuring nerve during blood draw in USA

According to the claim, Kelly Soileau, was a patient at the defendant's office where she was having some blood drawn on July 30, 2015. The suit states that an employee of the defendant caused the plaintiff injury to her medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve in her left arm.

The defendant is accused of negligence through failing to train its employees, failing to safely draw blood and other negligence.

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Phlebotomist sued for allegedly injuring nerve in woman's arm while trying to draw blood | Louisiana Record

Source: Louisiana Record

What to Know Before Buying Pipettes

The viscosity of the sample will have a direct influence on which pipette is required. For aqueous samples which are low viscosity, an air displacement pipette is ideal. These pipettes are driven by a piston in an airtight sleeve which generates a vacuum. For more viscous or heavy liquids, a positive displacement pipette should be used. These pipettes are driven by a disposable piston which comes into direct contact with the sample.

How will samples required for PCR, ELISA, or other immunoassay applications affect which pipette should be used?

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What to Know Before Buying Pipettes

Source: Lab Manager

Pokemon Goes Lab

The new game Pokémon Go is certainly a popular craze, but is it good for your health?

Pokémon Go involves the use of a smartphone app in a virtual scavenger hunt for cartoon characters, but in real locations. Glasgow general practitioner and BMJ columnist Dr Margaret McCartney believes the game's health benefits may outweigh its well-documented risks.

"Most health apps that promote physical activity tend to get users who want to be healthy. Pokémon Go isn't marketed as a health app, but players still end up doing a lot of walking,"

Read more:
Do the Health Benefits of Pokemon Go Outweigh the Risks?

Source: Medscape

10 Steps to Learn ECG Interpretation

Learning the art of ECG interpretation requires intellect, commitment, effort and perhaps most importantly...an organized approach. I personally have spent thousands of hours (yes thousands) looking at 12-lead ECG tracings, studying ECGs for the cardiology boards, interpreting ECGs for direct patient care and developing the ECG tutorials and quizzes of LearnTheHeart.com.

I assume that most of you reading this blog do not have that much time...so let me share with you what I have discovered in my years teaching ECGs to make the process more simple and perhaps even enjoyable.

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10 Steps to Learn ECG Interpretation

Source:  Learntheheart.com

Why people with type O blood more likely to die of cholera

Cholera sickens 3 million to 5 million people around the world every year, leading to 100,000 to 120,000 deaths, many of them in the Indian subcontinent, where cholera has been endemic for centuries.

People with blood type O often get more severely ill from cholera than people of other blood types. In people with blood type O, scientists found that cholera toxin hyperactivates a key signaling molecule in intestinal cells. High levels of that signaling molecule lead to excretion of electrolytes and water – in other words, diarrhea. Cholera is marked by severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration, shock and even death.

The researchers confirmed their results in an intestinal cell line originally derived from a person with blood type A. The cell line was modified to produce the type O antigen instead. They found that cholera toxin induced roughly double the amount of the key signaling molecule in cells with type O antigen than in those with type A.

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Study may explain why people with type O blood more likely to die of cholera

Source: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Automated Gram Stainer

These days, your microbiology lab faces increased staffing, time and workflow pressures. Yet you can’t let that influence your quality standards: accuracy, time-to-results and full traceability for accreditation. Automated and designed for intuitive workflow, PREVI® Color Gram gives you confidence in the results you provide. It makes Gram staining easy and safe while ensuring accurate, standardized results in minutes.
 
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PREVI® Color Gram - Automated Gram Stainer 

Source: bioMérieux Clinical Diagnostics

CDC: Sexual Transmission of Zika Possible Without Symptoms

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released the first solid evidence that a man infected with Zika, but who never develops symptoms, can sexually transmit the virus to a female partner.

An article published online in the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) described the case of a woman who contracted Zika after having condomless vaginal intercourse and fellatio with a male partner after he came back from the Dominican Republic, where mosquitos are spreading the virus. The man said he had been exposed to mosquitos during his travels, but had not experienced fever, rash, conjunctivitis, or other hallmarks of Zika before or after returning to the United States. He said he had felt fatigued, but chalked that up to travel.

The man subsequently tested positive for antibodies against both Zika virus and dengue virus. The woman, who developed fever, rash, and other Zika symptoms, tested positive for Zika virus RNA in her urine.

Read more:
CDC: Sexual Transmission of Zika Possible Without Symptoms

Soure: Medscape
Image: Davina diaries