Clinical Chemistry Podcast

 Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that affects an estimated 300 million people worldwide, including 25 million in the United States. There are currently no definitive diagnostic tests for asthma. Diagnosis is based on history and tests of respiratory function.

Circulating tumor cells are fundamental to the concept of a liquid biopsy for cancer.  These cells are shed from the primary tumor and are carried in the blood to remote sites, potentially leading to metastasis formation.  Understanding more about this process is critical as tumor metastasis is a leading cause of cancer death.  Yet this is challenging as the number of circulating tumor cells in an individual is very small, making them difficult to study in detail. Cell lines derived from circulating tumor cells can be created to overcome this problem.  This has been done in colon cancer, for example, and enables researchers to examine molecular and functional differences between the circulating tumor cells and those from the primary tumor.  In this way, researchers may further our ability to identify and characterize cells that initiate metastasis and to ultimately develop new therapies to stop them. An original report in the January 2017 issue of Clinical Chemistry describes the differential gene expression

Cannabis and its products are the most widely used illicit drugs world-wide, with the majority of countries currently harboring consumers and producers. Medicalization and legalization of the drug...

Disorders of bone metabolism, most notably osteoporosis, are highly prevalent and predispose to fractures, causing high patient morbidity and mortality.

Monitoring of glycemic control with hemoglobin A1c (A1c) in hemodialysis patients may be compromised by anemia and erythropoietin therapy.

Every year, commercial testing labs earn millions of dollars from selling the anonymized results of blood, urine, tissue, and other tests with almost no public scrutiny or debate.2 Few outside the industry know anything about this trade, and lab workers are often in the dark as well.

In addition to focusing on the publication of cutting-edge scientific reports, Clinical Chemistry has shown a genuine commitment to education by devoting a substantial portion of its pages to educational articles since 2008.

Researchers have developed approaches for the noninvasive prenatal testing of single gene diseases.

Interpretation of serial high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) measurements for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) assumes random fluctuation of hs-cTn around an individual's homeostatic set point.

Quantifying the variability of biomarkers is important, as high within-person variability can lead to misclassification of individuals. Short-term variability of important markers of vitamin D metabolism is relatively unknown.

Risk stratification in acute myocardial infarction (MI) remains a clinical challenge.

The development and implementation of sensitive and high-sensitivity cardiac troponin assays has not only expedited the early ruling in and ruling out of acute myocardial infarction, but has also contributed to the identification of patients at risk for myocardial injury with necrosis, as confirmed by the presence of cardiac troponin concentrations above the 99th percentile.

Serial measurements of high-sensitivity troponin are used to rule out acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with an assay specific cutoff at the 99th percentile.

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is associated with high all-cause and PE-related mortality and requires individualized management.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common, particularly in those of advanced age.

Patients with chest pain comprise a large proportion of emergency presentations and place a major burden on healthcare resources.

The role of alcohol in the development of subclinical cardiovascular disease is unclear. We examined the association between alcohol consumption and markers of subclinical cardiac damage and wall stress.