To ensure continuing patient care in a cost effective and efficient manner and to determine the importance of routine pre-op bloods in patients undergoing spine surgery, a retrospective audit of 170 patients was carried out in the Neurosurgery Department at Cork University Hospital. There were 94 males and 76 females. No test had less than 87.4% normal results. There were 17 (10.7%) abnormal ha...

CITE enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was an unacceptable screening test for failure of passive transfer because of poor sensitivity. SNAP ELISA and glutaraldehyde coagulation tests are more appropriate screening tests. Specificity of the SNAP ELISA is better than the glutaraldehyde coagulation test. A second confirmatory test should be considered when using the glutaraldehyde coagulat...

BACKGROUND Schistosomiasis mansoni is a chronic liver disease, in which some patients (5-10%) progress to the most severe form, hepatosplenic schistosomiasis. This form is associated with portal hypertension and splenomegaly, and often episodes of gastrointestinal bleeding, even with liver function preserved. Splenectomy is a validated procedure to reduce portal hypertension following digestive...

The tests for the coagulation time of the blood which are in general use have contributed little to the understanding of abnormal tendencies to thrombosis, as they are extremely insensitive to all but gross changes in the coagulation mechanism. A variety of techniques have been evolved to meet this defect. One group of these methods depends on the addition of an inhibitor, e.g., heparin, to the...

Over the past 6 years, a revised classification of the streptococci and enterococci, based primarily on molecular techniques such as 16S rRNA sequencing and DNA-DNA hybridization, emerged. However, little attention was placed on routine physiological tests that could be used in food and clinical laboratories to differentiate between species of a new genus, Enterococcus, and fecal Streptococcus ...

Between January and October 2014, Great Ormond Street Hospital Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) was spending an average £23,392 on blood tests per month. Blood tests should be requested based on previous results and the patient's clinical condition, medication and nutritional status. However, more blood tests were being ordered than clinically indicated: an audit in October 2014 showed liv...