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Journal of Virology Aug 2021Starting work in a virology research laboratory as a new technician, graduate student, or postdoc can be complex, intimidating, confusing, and stressful. From laboratory...
Starting work in a virology research laboratory as a new technician, graduate student, or postdoc can be complex, intimidating, confusing, and stressful. From laboratory logistics to elemental expectations to scientific specifics, there is much to learn. To help new laboratory members adjust and excel, a series of guidelines for working and thriving in a virology laboratory is presented. While guidelines may be most helpful for new laboratory members, everyone, including principal investigators, is encouraged to use a set of published guidelines as a resource to maximize the time and efforts of all laboratory members. The topics covered here are safety, wellness, balance, teamwork, integrity, reading, research, writing, speaking, and timelines.
Topics: Guidelines as Topic; Humans; Laboratories; Research Design; Research Personnel; Virology
PubMed: 34319158
DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01112-21 -
Biochemia Medica Feb 2021Calculating the sample size in scientific studies is one of the critical issues as regards the scientific contribution of the study. The sample size critically affects...
Calculating the sample size in scientific studies is one of the critical issues as regards the scientific contribution of the study. The sample size critically affects the hypothesis and the study design, and there is no straightforward way of calculating the effective sample size for reaching an accurate conclusion. Use of a statistically incorrect sample size may lead to inadequate results in both clinical and laboratory studies as well as resulting in time loss, cost, and ethical problems. This review holds two main aims. The first aim is to explain the importance of sample size and its relationship to effect size (ES) and statistical significance. The second aim is to assist researchers planning to perform sample size estimations by suggesting and elucidating available alternative software, guidelines and references that will serve different scientific purposes.
Topics: Data Interpretation, Statistical; Laboratories; Models, Theoretical; Sample Size; Software
PubMed: 33380887
DOI: 10.11613/BM.2021.010502 -
Fertility and Sterility Jan 2022Delivery of fertility treatment involves both teamwork within a discipline as well as teaming across multiple work areas, such as nursing, administrative, laboratory,... (Review)
Review
Delivery of fertility treatment involves both teamwork within a discipline as well as teaming across multiple work areas, such as nursing, administrative, laboratory, and clinical. In contrast to small autonomous centers, the in vitro fertilization (IVF) laboratory team in large clinics must function both as a team with many members and a constellation of teams to deliver seamless, safe, and effective patient-centered care. Although this review primarily focuses on teamwork within the IVF laboratory, which comprises clinical laboratory scientists and embryologists who perform both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, it also discusses the laboratory's wider role with other teams of the IVF clinic, and the role of teaming (the ad hoc creation of multidisciplinary teams) to function highly and address critical issues.
Topics: Female; Fertilization in Vitro; Humans; Interdisciplinary Communication; Laboratories; Male; Patient Care Team; Patient-Centered Care; Pregnancy; Reproductive Medicine
PubMed: 34763833
DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2021.09.031 -
ILAR Journal Sep 2021Most would agree that animals in research should be spared "unnecessary" harm, pain, or distress, and there is also growing interest in providing animals with some form... (Review)
Review
Most would agree that animals in research should be spared "unnecessary" harm, pain, or distress, and there is also growing interest in providing animals with some form of environmental enrichment. But is this the standard of care that we should aspire to? We argue that we need to work towards a higher standard-specifically, that providing research animals with a "good life" should be a prerequisite for their use. The aims of this paper are to illustrate our vision of a "good life" for laboratory rats and mice and to provide a roadmap for achieving this vision. We recognize that several research procedures are clearly incompatible with a good life but describe here what we consider to be the minimum day-to-day living conditions to be met when using rodents in research. A good life requires that animals can express a rich behavioral repertoire, use their abilities, and fulfill their potential through active engagement with their environment. In the first section, we describe how animals could be housed for these requirements to be fulfilled, from simple modifications to standard housing through to better cage designs and free-ranging options. In the second section, we review the types of interactions with laboratory rodents that are compatible with a good life. In the third section, we address the potential for the animals to have a life outside of research, including the use of pets in clinical trials (the animal-as-patient model) and the adoption of research animals to new homes when they are no longer needed in research. We conclude with a few suggestions for achieving our vision.
Topics: Animal Welfare; Animals; Animals, Laboratory; Behavior, Animal; Housing, Animal; Humans; Laboratories; Mice; Rats; Research Design; Rodentia
PubMed: 32311030
DOI: 10.1093/ilar/ilaa001 -
Missouri Medicine Dec 1948
Topics: Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Humans; Laboratories
PubMed: 18894150
DOI: No ID Found -
International Endodontic Journal Sep 2021Guidance to authors is needed to prevent their waste of talent, time and resources in writing manuscripts that will never be published in the highest-quality journals.... (Review)
Review
Guidance to authors is needed to prevent their waste of talent, time and resources in writing manuscripts that will never be published in the highest-quality journals. Laboratory studies are probably the most common type of endodontic research projects because they make up the majority of manuscripts submitted for publication. Unfortunately, most of these manuscripts fail the peer-review process, primarily due to critical flaws in the reporting of the methods and results. Here, in order to guide authors, the Preferred Reporting Items for study Designs in Endodontology (PRIDE) team developed new reporting guidelines for laboratory-based studies: the Preferred Reporting Items for Laboratory studies in Endodontology (PRILE) 2021 guidelines. The PRILE 2021 guidelines were developed exclusively for the area of Endodontology by integrating and adapting the modified CONSORT checklist of items for reporting in vitro studies of dental materials and the Clinical and Laboratory Images in Publications (CLIP) principles. The process of developing the PRILE 2021 guidelines followed the recommendations of the Guidance for Developers of Health Research Reporting Guidelines. The aim of the current document is to provide authors with an explanation for each of the items in the PRILE 2021 checklist and flowchart with examples from the literature, and to provide advice from peer-reviewers and editors about how to solve each problem in manuscripts prior to their peer-review. The Preferred Reporting Items for study Designs in Endodontology (PRIDE) website (http://pride-endodonticguidelines.org/prile/) provides a link to the PRILE 2021 explanation and elaboration document as well as to the checklist and flowchart.
Topics: Checklist; Endodontics; Laboratories; Research Design; Research Report
PubMed: 33982298
DOI: 10.1111/iej.13565 -
Biochemia Medica Feb 2019Quantiles and percentiles represent useful statistical tools for describing the distribution of results and deriving reference intervals and performance specification in... (Review)
Review
Quantiles and percentiles represent useful statistical tools for describing the distribution of results and deriving reference intervals and performance specification in laboratory medicine. They are commonly intended as the sample estimate of a population parameter and therefore they need to be presented with a confidence interval (CI). In this work we discuss three methods to estimate CI on quantiles and percentiles using parametric, nonparametric and resampling (bootstrap) approaches. The result of our numerical simulations is that parametric methods are always more accurate regardless of sample size when the procedure is appropriate for the distribution of results for both extreme (2.5 and 97.5) and central (25, 50 and 75) percentiles and corresponding quantiles. We also show that both nonparametric and bootstrap methods suit well the CI of central percentiles that are used to derive performance specifications through quality indicators of laboratory processes whose underlying distribution is unknown.
Topics: Humans; Laboratories; Models, Statistical; Reference Values; Sample Size
PubMed: 30591808
DOI: 10.11613/BM.2019.010101 -
Laboratory Medicine Jan 2019To further improve workflow efficiency, our laboratory implemented a total laboratory automation (TLA) system that connected our preanalytic processing system with...
BACKGROUND
To further improve workflow efficiency, our laboratory implemented a total laboratory automation (TLA) system that connected our preanalytic processing system with various testing (hematology, coagulation, and chemistry).
METHODS
Detailed time and motion studies were performed to create process flow maps before and after TLA. The before maps identified opportunities for workflow improvements. We used postimplementation studies to quantify efficiency gains.
RESULTS
The implementation of our TLA system resulted in 86% fewer discrete processing steps in specimen handling, even when starting from a partially automated laboratory. Instrument consolidation reduced the testing footprint by 45% and reduced the number of testing personnel by 2.5 full-time employees (FTEs). An 82% reduction in hands-on time associated with add-on processes was achieved. Combining STAT and outreach work on the testing system did not impact turnaround time.
CONCLUSIONS
With careful planning, a TLA system can effectively optimize laboratory processes and efficiency.
Topics: Automation, Laboratory; Hematology; Laboratories; Workflow
PubMed: 29982789
DOI: 10.1093/labmed/lmy031 -
Clinica Chimica Acta; International... May 2005The primary goal of Laboratory Medicine is to provide information that is useful to assist medical decision-making and permits optimal health care. This type of... (Review)
Review
The primary goal of Laboratory Medicine is to provide information that is useful to assist medical decision-making and permits optimal health care. This type of information should be independently obtained of the measurement test kits and instruments, and also of the laboratory where the procedure is carried out. It is therefore important to achieve a level of comparability of laboratory results among the many measurement procedures available so that results are harmonized and interchangeable over space and time. The standardization of measurements is therefore of high priority. In recent years, numerous efforts have been made at the international level under the auspices of the IFCC and other organizations to standardize measurement results for many important analytes, e.g. enzymes, cardiac proteins, etc. The aim of this review is to discuss some concepts related to the achievement of standardization by the implementation of a metrologically correct measurement system, providing some examples on how these concepts can be applied in Laboratory Medicine.
Topics: Chemistry, Clinical; Enzymes; Laboratories; Reference Standards; Reproducibility of Results
PubMed: 15820472
DOI: 10.1016/j.cccn.2004.12.003 -
International Endodontic Journal Apr 2022
Topics: Endodontics; Laboratories; Research Design; Systematic Reviews as Topic
PubMed: 35254667
DOI: 10.1111/iej.13700