The main focus of her research is the pathophysiology of inflammatory and functional gastrointestinal disorders, and the role of host-microbial and dietary interactions. Work in her lab deals with the way commensal bacteria and food components can affect susceptibility to disease such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome and celiac disease. They have demonstrated that gut dysfunction can be triggered by gluten in mice, even in the absence of enteropathy, leading to the concept of non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Gluten sensitivity may constitute one possible cause of irritable bowel syndrome that could be treated by a gluten-free diet or adjuvant therapies to gluten exclusion. Clinical trials are currently being conducted to functionally characterize these patients and identify mechanisms of gluten sensitivity in humans. She is also working on the preclinical development of several adjuvant therapies to a gluten-free diet.
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Diagnosing, monitoring plasma cell disorders
Electrophoretic separation of serum and urine proteins has played a central role in diagnosing and monitoring plasma cell disorders. Despite limitations in resolution and analytical sensitivity, plus the necessity for adjunct methods, protein gel electrophoresis and immunofixation electrophoresis (IFE) remain front-line tests.
MASS-FIX detected all M-proteins that were detectable by urine or serum protein electrophoresis. In serial dilution studies, MASS-FIX was more analytically sensitive than IFE. For patient samples, MASS-FIX provided the same primary isotype information for 98% of serum M-proteins (n = 152) and 95% of urine M-proteins (n = 55). MASS-FIX accurately quantified M-protein to <1 g/dL, with reduced bias as compared to protein electrophoresis. Intraassay and interassay CVs were <20% across all samples having M-protein concentrations >0.045 g/dL, with the ability to detect M-proteins <0.01 g/dL. In addition, MASS-FIX could simultaneously measure κ:λ light chain ratios for IgG, IgA, and IgM. Retrospective serial monitoring of patients with myeloma posttreatment demonstrated that MASS-FIX provided equivalent quantitative information to either protein electrophoresis or the Hevylite™ assay.
Author: John R. Mills, Mindy C. Kohlhagen, Surendra Dasari, Patrick M. Vanderboom, Robert A. Kyle, Jerry A. Katzmann, Maria A.V. Willrich, David R. Barnidge, Angela Dispenzieri, David L. Murray. DOI: 10.1373/clinchem.2015.253740 Published September 2016
Source: Clinical Chemistry
1 in 10 Children Seemingly Immune to HIV/AIDS
HIV is a virus that gradually attacks the body’s immune system. Transmitted through infected bodily fluids like blood or semen, the virus enters the bloodstream and targets the host’s helper T cells, a specialized type of white blood cells. Because it is a retrovirus, HIV can hijack the host’s replication machinery to make more of copies of itself.
It’s estimated that the virus can make up to 10 billion new copies every day. The onslaught of viruses damages the immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to a host of infections. This is the AIDS (acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome) part of HIV/AIDS.
But in a subset of population – 170 children in South Africa – scientists found a conundrum. These children are unequivocally positive for HIV infection – they have viral counts in the thousands – yet somehow have never had AIDS despite any antiretroviral therapy.
“This is quite unusual because in general the progression from HIV infection to serious disease is more rapid in children than in adults. About 60 percent of kids infected die within two and a half years,” said Philip Goulder, a pediatric infectious disease researcher at the University of Oxford, and senior author of the study.
Are these children equip with a more robust, aggressive immune system that wards off HIV?
It seems the complete opposite may be true: the immune system in these children seem to be adopting a “keep calm and carry on” approach. “Essentially, their immune system is ignoring the virus as far as possible,” said Goulder.
This counterintuitive mechanism has also been documented in some 40 species of monkeys that can survive infection with SIV, a related virus to HIV. “Natural selection has worked in these cases,” said Goulder, “and the mechanism is very similar to the one in these kids that don’t progress,” said Goulder.
“Scientists have known for decades that immune system activation is a crucial step in SIV in monkeys,” said Derya Unutmaz, an immunologist at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, in Farmington, Connecticut.“What is exciting about this result is that it recapitulates an important difference seen in African monkeys versus Asian monkeys in how they deal with the virus.”
According to the research, the immune system typically goes into overdrive to attack HIV after infection. But, as Goulder explained: “Waging war against the virus is in most cases the wrong thing to do.” This is because chronic inflammation and hyperactivity of the immune system is actually quite detrimental to the human system, making the body incredibly more susceptible to infection and diseases.
Of note, researchers don’t yet know if HIV in these children will persist or worsen later in life, as immune systems can change drastically from childhood to adulthood.
The implications for this discovery are quite broad for the field of HIV/AIDS research. It suggests that the infection and subsequent response has a lot to do with how our immune system reacts to the virus. It also gives great hope that we may be able to model this “laissez-faire” approach to combat HIV in other populations. “We may be identifying an entirely new pathway by studying kids that in the longer term could be translated to new treatments for all HIV infected people,”Goulder said.
Source: LabRoot
Electronic Journal of IFCC (eJIFCC) live in MEDLINE/PUBMED
Dr Khosrow Adeli, IFCC Communications and Publications Division Chair, says: “This is an important step forward for IFCC as PubMed indexing significantly improves access to eJIFCC articles and will promote IFCC internationally. I would like to thank the eJIFCC Editor-in-Chief, Professor Gabor Kovács as well as the Editorial Board and other members of Communications and Publications Division for their contributions to this important achievement”. eJIFCC has seen a major improvement in both scientific content and publication format over the past few years again thanks to tireless efforts of the editor and the editorial board”.
All issues from 2009 onward are already indexed and searchable, downloadable, citable from PubMed. Older issues will soon be available.
IFCC President-elect 2017-2020 election results
The result of the ballot for the election of the President elect, to commence the term of office on January 1st 2017, to be confirmed as President for the term 2018-2020, was concluded on September 30th 2016. In summary 73 societies voted (out of 86 having the right to vote), giving preferences as follows:
Prof. Howard Morris (Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists-AACB) received votes: 41 (56%)
Prof. Tomris Ozben (Turkish Biochemical Society-TBS) received votes: 23 (32%)
Prof. Tomáš Zima (Czech Society of Clinical Biochemistry – CSKB) received votes: 9 (12%)
Full details of the ballot may be found from the independent company that conducted the ballot: https://electionbuddy.com/
Accordingly to the results, the President elect is Prof. Howard Morris.
About Dr. Howard Morris
Howard Morris (PhD, FAACB, FFSc(RCPA)) holds a joint appointment as Professor of Medical Science in the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia and a Chief Medical Scientist in Chemical Pathology at SA Pathology, Adelaide Australia. Between 2003 and 2008 he was the Secretary of the Scientific Division of the IFCC and has served as a member of the IFCC Task Force on the Global Campaign on Diabetes Mellitus (2003-2008), Task Force on International Clinical Liaison (2009-2011) and International Scientific Committee XXIst International Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Berlin Germany, 2011 (2007-2011). Within the Asia PacificFederation of Clinical Biochemistry (APFCB) he served as Chair, Scientific Committee (2002-2004) and Chair, Scientific Organising Committee, Member Organising Committee for 10th Asian Pacific Congress of Clinical Biochemistry (2002-2005). He was the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists (AACB) representative to the Councils of the IFCC and APFCB (1998-2004), served on AACB Council (1998-2002) and Editor of the ClinicalBiochemist Reviews (1994-2002). He was awarded an AACB Outstanding Service Medallion (2003) and the W. Roman Travelling Lectureship (2004).
Dr Morris currently services as a Clinical Scientist for the Chemical Pathology Directorate, SA Pathology providing clinical advice and comments in the discipline. He had 24 years experience working in diagnostic clinical biochemistry in the field of immunoassay and endocrinology between 1976 and 2000 during which he managed a major clinical endocrinology laboratory for the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (IMVS, Adelaide) providing services for the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) and the state of South Australia. In 1997/98, the laboratory reported some 245,000patient results. Between 2003 and 2009 he was the Director of the Hanson Institute, the research arm of the IMVS and RAH. In 2009 the Hanson Institute administered infrastructure to support the research of some 300 staff and 100 postgraduate students who generated external grants amounting to approximately $AUD 30 million annually.
Dr Morris leads an active research team publishing 242 refereed publications, reviews and book chapters and being awarded over $7 million in competitive research grants. His research investigates the pathophysiology of metabolic bone disease and the effects of hormones including vitamin D funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council, the major competitive funding bodies in Australia. His latest work hasidentified the basis for vitamin D requirement to reduce the risk of fractures amongst the elderly. He was invited to present the Louis Avioli Memorial Lecture at the 2009 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research on this topic. He is also Deputy Chair of a South Australian Department of Health Working Party on Osteoporosis and Fracture Prevention.
IFCC’s Forthcoming Congresses – September Issue
Calendar of IFCC Congresses/Conferences and Regional Federation’s Congresses
| Nov 26 – 29, 2016 | 14th Asia-Pacific Federation for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine Congress | Taipei, TW |
| Jun 11 – 15, 2017 | IFCC-EFLM EuroMedLab 2017 | Athens, GR |
| Sep 17 – 22, 2017 | XXIII COLABLIOCLI Congress 2017 and XI Uruguayan Congress of Clinical Biochemistry | Punta del Este, UY |
|
Oct 20 – 22, 2017 |
Durban, ZA | |
| Oct 22 – 25, 2017 | XXIII IFCC WorldLab 2017 | Durban, ZA |
| May 18 – 23, 2019 | IFCC-EFLM EuroMedLab 2019 | Barcelona, ES |
| May 24 – 28, 2020 | XXIV IFCC WorldLab 2020 Seoul | Seoul, KR |
Calendar of events with IFCC auspices
El Microscopio – Program 24
- Dr. Clifford Mc Donald (United States) Senior Advisor for Science and Integrity at the CDC.
- Dr. Ummer Hassan (United States) Department of Bioengineering at University of Illinois. Interview about a Microfluidic Differential Immuno-Capture Biochip for Specific Leukocyte Counting.
- Agenda.
- News and events about clinical chemistry.
Interview: Ummer Hassan (United States)
Ummer Hassan, a postdoctoral researcher in the Rashid Bashir’s group and first author of the paper, “Microfluidic Differential Immuno-Capture Biochip for Specific Leukocyte Counting”. Department of Bioengineering at University of Illinois.
He presents a novel biosensor, who has the potential to be an automated portable blood cell counter for point-of-care applications in developed and resource-limited regions worldwide.
Interview: Dr. Clifford Mc Donald (United States)
Dr. McDonald graduated from Northwestern University Medical School, completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Michigan State University, and an Infectious Diseases Fellowship at the University of South Alabama, following which he completed a fellowship in Medical Microbiology at Duke University.
Past positions have included Associate Investigator at the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan and Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Universit y of Louisville.
Dr. McDonald is a former officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service and former Chief of the Prevention and Response Branch in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the CDC where he currently serves as the Senior Advisor for Science and Integrity in the same division. He is the author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications with his main interests in the epidemiology and prevention of healthcare associated infections, especially Clostridium difficile infections, and the prevention of antimicrobial resistance.
