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The CHU de Quebec and COPAN Achieve Landmark First Installation in North America of Next Generation Full Laboratory …

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MURRIETA, Calif. , June 24, 2013 /CNW/ - The CHU de Quebec , one of the most important healthcare institutions in the province of Quebec and one of the biggest in Canada , and COPAN Diagnostics, Inc., announced today the full installation of WASPLab, the latest generation of full laboratory automation and digital microbiology system in Hopital de l'Enfant-Jesus, one of the five hospitals forming the CHU de Quebec . This hospital and COPAN group worked closely and collaboratively to deliver North America's fastest seamless solution for full laboratory automation. This is a historic first installation of a full laboratory automation and digital bacteriology system operational in North America . The installation of WASPLab's hardware took place in an unprecedented time of less than a week. The speed of installation means that disruption to the routine laboratory operations is minimal and Go-Live time after install is dramatically shortened.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130624/LA37445)

"The Hopital de l'Enfant-Jesus is the first healthcare services provider to install and implement WASPLab in North America . This technology allows us to be more effective and efficient in our lab, which is very important from a budget point of view. It also allows us to face the shortage of qualified staff and appoint them to value-added tasks. Like most microbiology labs, we have a limited amount of space but with COPAN's WASPLab solution however, it allows us to bring in the latest technology for specimen processing, robotics, image analysis and digital reporting without having to tear down our lab," said Jean-Francois Gagnon , Microbiology Laboratory Manager at Hopital de l'Enfant-Jesus..

"COPAN values the close and collaborative relationships that enable us to innovate together by understanding our customers' needs and delivering solutions that achieve their highest goals for improving the ultimate quality of patient care," said Norman Sharples , CEO of COPAN Diagnostics, Inc. "WASPLab moves microbiology from what was essentially a batch process to an efficient and continuous automated flow from sample processing to incubation, reading, interpretation, work-up and reporting," added Sharples.

"WASPLab solution allows standardization of the planting and streaking and specimen processing, decreases risk of errors, and also lowers repetitive stress related to repeated movement for our staff" said Dr. Alain Paradis , Chief Microbiologist and Infectious Disease Specialist for Hopital de l'Enfant-Jesus, CHU de Quebec .

"We are excited to partner with the CHU de Quebec to help them achieve their goals. WASPLab's modular design and small footprint allowed us to customize it to Hopital de l'Enfant-Jesus needs in terms of technology and laboratory space constraints. WASPLab's small, high efficiency footprint eliminates unnecessary track that increases speed of positive culture plate availability, saves costs, reduces maintenance and avoids the artificial barriers extensive track creates within the lab," concluded Sharples.

COPAN will showcase WASPLab during AACC Clinical Lab Expo in Houston , Texas in July 2013 .

About the CHU de Quebec Consist of the CHUL, L'Hotel-Dieu de Quebec and hospitals l'Enfant-Jesus, Saint-Francois d'Assise and du Saint-Sacrement, the CHU de Quebec is the most important health care institution in the province of Quebec and one of the biggest in Canada . The CHU de Quebec offers general and specialized care, but mostly ultra-specialized care throughout Eastern Quebec , which represents nearly two million persons. In partnership with Universite Laval and focused on the future, the CHU de Quebec also has core missions in teaching, in research in many fields of excellence, and in the evaluation of health technologies and professional practices.14,000 employees, 1,700 doctors, dentists and pharmacists, and also 500 researchers are needed to accomplish those missions.

About Copan Diagnostics, Inc. With a reputation for innovation, Copan is the leading manufacturer of collection and transport systems in the world. Copan's collaborative approach to preanalytics has resulted in Flocked Swabs, ESwab, Universal Transport Medium and modular laboratory automation, WASP and WASPLab. For more information about Copan Diagnostics, visit http://www.copanusa.com.

SOURCE: Copan Diagnostics, Inc.

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New palm-sized microarray technique grows 1,200 individual cultures of microbes

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Public release date: 25-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology

A new palm-sized microarray that holds 1,200 individual cultures of fungi or bacteria could enable faster, more efficient drug discovery, according to a study published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Scientists at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston have developed a microarray platform for culturing fungal biofilms, and validated one potential application of the technology to identify new drugs effective against Candida albicans biofilms. The nano-scale platform technology could one day be used for rapid drug discovery for treatment of any number of fungal or bacterial infections, according to the authors, or even as a rapid clinical test to identify antibiotic drugs that will be effective against a particular infection.

"Even though we have used the antifungal concept for development, it is a universal tool," says co-author Jose Lopez-Ribot of the University of Texas at San Antonio. "It opens a lot of possibilities as a new platform for microbial culture. Any time you need large numbers of cultures, this has a big advantage over other methods."

"The possibility exists to use this same technology for pretty much any other organism," he says.

Microbiology and medicine have become increasingly reliant on micro- and nano-scale technologies because of the increased speed and efficiency they can offer, but until now the cultivation of microorganisms has mostly been conducted on larger scales, in flasks and in trays called micro-titer plates. The microarray technology enables the user to rapidly compare hundreds or thousands of individual cultures of bacteria or fungi, a big benefit in the search for new drugs to treat infections. And like many nano-scale techniques, the nano-culture approach described in the mBio study is also automated, a feature that saves time, improves reproducibility, and prevents some types of user error.

To test the technique, the authors embedded cells of the opportunistic pathogen C. albicans in each of the 1,200 tiny dots of alginate on the surface of the microarray. Under the microscope, these nano-biofilms of C. albicans, each of which was only 30 nanoliters, exhibited the same growth habits and other outward characteristics as conventional, macroscopic biofilms, and achieved maximum metabolic activity within 12 hours. The tiny cultures were then treated with a wide range of candidate drugs from the National Cancer Institute library, or with different FDA-approved, off-patent antifungal drugs in combination with FK506, an immunosuppressant, for identifying individual or synergistic combinations of compounds effective against biofilm infections. Co-author Anand Ramasubramanian of the University of Texas at San Antonio says that the tests prove the utility of the technology in screening combinations of drugs.

"The antifungal screening results were similar to results in larger macroscale techniques. That gives us confidence that it could be used as a tool to replace existing techniques," says Ramasubramanian.

Going forward, Ramasubramanian says he and his colleagues are testing the microarrays with polymicrobial cultures - mixtures of fungi and bacteria - to see whether the technology can be used to explore treatments for mixed infections. They are also exploring clinical applications for the technique, testing patient samples against an array of drugs or combinations of drugs to develop tailored therapies.

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New palm-sized microarray technique grows 1,200 individual cultures of microbes

Princeton officials hail new contract that cuts police longevity pay

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PRINCETON A new agreement with the towns Police Benevolent Association that eliminates longevity pay and doubles the time it takes for a newly-hired police officer to reach the maximum pay grade was discussed by the town council tonight.

The contract also includes a pay raise for officers each year. Officers would receive a 1.75 percent raise each year for the first two years of the contract, and a 1.9 percent in the contracts final year, 2015.

Under the new contract, an officer in 2013 would make $61,543 during his or her first year. The maximum pay after 12 years of service would be $105,700. The new scales are not retroactive and would not affect current members of the police force.

Town officials hailed the agreement thats been long in the works as a success, but decided to save a vote for the next council meeting.

Mayor Liz Lempert said the agreement adds several more steps for new hires and keeps the town below the state-mandated 2 percent cap.

This agreement puts the municipality in a very good position moving forward, she said.

Detective Ben Gering, the departments union head, could not be reached for comment by press time.

Town administrator Bob Bruschi said he felt talks between the two parties were amicable and resulted in a solid contract for the next three years.

(This is) a great step in saving us more money down the line, Bruschi said.

The elimination of longevity pay will be a huge benefit for the town, he said. Longevity pay is an addition to the yearly salary based on an officers length of service.

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Princeton officials hail new contract that cuts police longevity pay

The Compiler/Longevity Guys in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? It Includes Several Fan Favorites

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Here is a fun one just for discussion sake. Who are the biggest longevity vs. peak guys in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Football likes to say that they dont value stats like baseball and there are not as many compilers, but while we dont have the depth of statistics for positions like offensive guard or defensive back like baseball players, some players have been enshrined in Canton because they were good players for a long time, not because they were the best players during a given stretch.

I was reminded of this today by Mike Florios Floriolic take that Charlie Joiner should be ahead of LaDainian Tomlinson in Chargers lore. Its hard to justify Joiner over Tomlinson based on peak or virtually any other measure. Joiner was a really good player for a long time, but was rarely the clear center piece of the Air Coryell offense that threw the ball a lot. Tomlinson was the best running back in the league for a large chunk of the last decade.

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So to measure the compiler/longevity scale, I looked at a couple of things. One was career approximate value (AV) divided by years to get an average. I then also cross-referenced it with individual awards. Awards are part of the AV formula, but I didnt want a player like Dermontti Dawson, who happened to not play for explosive offenses but was seen as the best at his position, showing up on the scale.

A look at the other end of the results shows some of the best players of all-time: Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, and Lawrence Taylor are the top three, and many of the other guys considered the best at their positions rank near the top.

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Here are the starting eleven compilers/longevity guys in the Hall of Fame, in looking at average AV combined with award percentage:

Its notable that with the exceptions of Stallworth and the three Redskins players, these players are not noted for winning RINGSSSSSSS! So they were not getting a bump for championship performances by their teams. None of them were selected as a first team all pro by the Associated Press more than once in their careers, but they were above average performers at their position for a long time. Seven of these guys show up playing offensive skill positions where there are more counting numbers, so if football people want to claim counting stats dont matter, baseball folks may have a slight retort. One of those that wasnt an offensive skill player just recently got in with a counting stats argument. Even though he really got in for a combination of things like being a long-time assistant, LeBeau was officially selected as a player, with things like his placement on the career interceptions list being noted.

Also, by the measure used here, Curtis Martin, who many decried as a compiler, checks in exactly middle of the pack for Hall of Famers. Reasons? He was considered among the best of his position a decent amount of times (5 pro bowls in 11 years) and averaged over 11 AV per year, and was often one of, if not the best player, on most of the offenses in which he played.

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The Compiler/Longevity Guys in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? It Includes Several Fan Favorites

Dr. Joe McCord, LifeVantage Corporation's First Chief Science Officer, Retires From Company

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SALT LAKE CITY, June 25, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LifeVantage Corporation (LFVN), a company dedicated to helping people achieve healthy living through a combination of a compelling business opportunity and scientifically validated products, announced today that Dr. Joe McCord, LifeVantage's first Chief Science Officer, a member of the initial management team, past board member, LifeVantage Scientific Advisory Board member and pioneering researcher in anti-aging science has retired from the Company.

"Dr. McCord's co-discovery in 1969 of superoxide dismutase (SOD), an enzyme that eliminates free radicals, laid the foundation for a critical area of anti-aging research and provided the scientific foundation for LifeVantage's cornerstone products, Protandim(R), the Nrf2 Synergizer(R) patented dietary supplement, TrueScience(R) Anti-Aging Cream and LifeVantage(R) Canine Health," said LifeVantage President and Chief Executive Officer Douglas C. Robinson.

"Since then," Robinson noted, "Dr. McCord has been named lead or co-author on a remarkable body of work, encompassing 212 published scientific articles on related matters, including the roles of SOD and/or Nrf2 in oxidative stress; heart, liver, lung, brain, muscle and other organ health; the mechanism and effects of Protandim; implications for cancer treatment, and more.

"In view of his long association with LifeVantage, dating from 2004, and his groundbreaking and continuing scientific exploration of oxidative stress, Nrf2 and Protandim, I know I am joined by the entire LifeVantage family, including more than 60,000 independent distributors worldwide and over 140,000 other customers, in celebrating Dr. McCord's service and wishing him the very best in the future," Robinson said.

Early LifeVantage investor and past board member H. Leigh Severance said of Dr. McCord, "Joe is one of those rare geniuses who not only discovers new scientific facts, but who encourages others to build on their groundbreaking research, expanding the breadth of knowledge and applications. Even more, Joe has the skills to help those of us in the financial community understand the value of his work, and to attract talented business executives capable of transforming science into extraordinarily successful commercial products. We are truly indebted to Joe for his great accomplishments."

During his career, Dr. McCord was a Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Genetics, and Microbiology/Immunology at the University of Colorado at Denver. Dr. McCord also served as the head of the Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Webb-Waring Institute, as a faculty member at Duke University's Department of Medicine and as a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. Early in his career, Dr. McCord's doctoral dissertation described the discovery of SOD, a discovery that earned him the Elliott Cresson Medal, the highest award given by The Franklin Institute.

Dr. McCord will continue providing limited consulting services to the Company over the next nine months to promote further research on Protandim.

About LifeVantage Corporation

LifeVantage Corporation (LFVN), a leader in Nrf2 science and the maker of Protandim(R), the Nrf2 Synergizer(R) patented dietary supplement, TrueScience(R) Anti-Aging Cream and LifeVantage(R) Canine Health, is a science based nutraceutical company. LifeVantage is dedicated to visionary science that looks to transform wellness and anti-aging internally and externally with products that dramatically reduce oxidative stress at the cellular level. The Company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT.

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Dr. Joe McCord, LifeVantage Corporation's First Chief Science Officer, Retires From Company

Autologous stem cell therapies make the difference

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People cannot effectively represent or endorse products or services if they don't epitomize them. And Dr. Cristina A. Puyat is one of those few persons who believe and symbolize the brand she stands for. After all, the still youthful-looking medical practitioner founded one of the most well-known anti-aging and regenerative stem cell therapy clinics in the country.

The Asian Stem Cell Institute (ASCI) offers autologous, tissue-derived stem cell harvesting and treatment for injuries and medical conditions of all types, which includes autism, osteoarthritis, and joint pains. It also introduces comprehensive aesthetics and anti-aging treatments. The stem cell therapy has custom-compound formulations that consist of hormone balancing, nutritional intravenous infusions, and herbal support.

''Autologous stem cell treatment is safe and well-tolerated by the body. When you say autologous, it means that the harvest of the stem cell comes from the same person. Whatever we get from you, that's the one we will process and return. So, it's not coming from any other sources, not embryo or coming from a sheep,'' Puyat explains.

The advanced autologous treatment isolates, expands, and safely re-infuses stem cells from a patient's own adipose stroma (fat), bone marrow, and blood. This regenerative medicine undergoes the process of replacing and renewing cells or organs to restore them back to health.

Also, what sets autologous therapy from its contemporaries is that there is no standard approach to all patients. Puyat explains that each individual has a unique biochemistry that depends on one's age, sex, and genetic predisposition hence, the treatment should tailor-fit the patient with a particular condition.

Trained medical doctors perform the harvesting of fat tissue and extracting of bone marrow, which minimize the damage to the surrounding tissue and stem cells. ASCI has advance and cutting edge services using the ISO 4 Class clean area, where their in-house cellular biologists/microbiologists conduct their processes.

Dr. Cristina Puyat has spent 30 years studying medicine and health. She completed her Masters degree in Science of Preventive, Anti-Ageing, and Regenerative Medicine at the Dresden International University in Germany.

ASCI is located at Medical Plaza Ortigas, Pasig City.

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Autologous stem cell therapies make the difference

Stem cell therapy in 5-star hotels? Group sees scam

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By Jocelyn R. Uy Philippine Daily Inquirer

This stem cell therapy could be hazardous to your health.

The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) on Sunday warned Filipinos against availing themselves of the so-called xenogenic stem cell therapy from foreign doctors who fly into the country and perform the procedure in five-star hotels in Metro Manila.

The doctors organization also announced that it had already tapped the help of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police to look into the scam, which it said tainted the legitimate practice of stem cell or regenerative medicine in the country.

Dr. Leo Olarte, PMA president and spokesperson of the Philippine Society for Stem Cell Medicine (PSSCM), disclosed that the two medical groups had received complaints from patients and their relatives who had undergone such stem cell procedures allegedly performed in the country by German doctors.

Based on the complaints, Olarte said the patients were asked to check in at a five-star hotel in the capital, where they were injected with animal-based stem cells at around P1 million per shot.

These foreigners are not even licensed to practice medicine in the country and are in violation of the Medical Act of 1959, Olarte stressed. We are then asking government regulators and enforcers, especially the NBI and the PNP, to investigate these criminal acts.

He warned Filipino doctors to stop collaborating with unscrupulous foreign counterparts or the organization would file criminal cases against them.

If you will continue doing this, we will file criminal cases against you, said Olarte, an orthopedic surgeon and practicing lawyer.

The doctor also stressed that the autologous adult stem cell treatmentderived from the patients own blood, bone marrow or fatwas the only approved stem cell therapy by the Department of Health (DOH) because it had already been proven as the safest procedure available worldwide.

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Stem cell therapy in 5-star hotels? Group sees scam

Eric Young Discusses His Love for Fishing, Longevity in Wrestling and More

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- Eric Young was interviewed by James Sullivan of MensJournal.com. Here are some highlights:

On his love for fishing: "A lot of my childhood memories are about fishing with him [my father]. Him having a couple of adult beverages, me an orange soda, just enjoying the river. A lot of times we didn't even catch anything."

Eating Octopus brains on the show: "It doesn't actually taste like much of anything. It kind of tastes like salt and rubber. It feels like a little macadamia nut. You bite down, they go white, and that's that."

On his Longevity in wrestling: "I'm a durable person. I think I was created in a lab for pro wrestling. I have abnormally large bone structure." As a toddler, he was afflicted with an immunodeficiency that killed off his white blood cells; having survived it, his blood is less susceptible to bruising and clotting. "Basically, I'm a really cheap version of Wolverine."

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Eric Young Discusses His Love for Fishing, Longevity in Wrestling and More

MORRIS: Longevity, medical needs can complicate lifetime plan

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By Ken Morris

When I launched my career in the financial services industry, the primary tools needed were a pencil and a calculator. I vividly remember the advent of technological breakthroughs such as the Osborne computer. It looked something like a sewing machine and had a screen about the size of todays iPads.

I also recall purchasing an IBM computer with not one, but two floppy discs. Getting caught up in the fad, I permitted myself the luxury of an amber monitor instead of the traditional green. Like the rest of the world, technology has significantly changed the financial services industry.

Recently, someone asked me what has been the biggest change in the financial industry over the course of my career. Technology has obviously brought about considerable changes. But setting that aside, I believe the most significant change has been the need to include longevity and medical considerations into the financial equation. Let me explain.

For a married couple aged 65, statistics show that there is almost a fifty percent chance that one of them will live to the age of 92. People are becoming more and more aware that theyll likely live longer than their parents.

As a result, this projected increase in lifespan has caused people to wonder if their money is going to last as long as they do. In other words, increased longevity has forced a merger between financial planning and medically related issues.

Take housing, for example. Where are you going to live in your retirement years? Will you downsize to a smaller home? Move into a condo? Stay right where you are?

The answers to these questions are irrelevant if certain medical issues arise. Then the decision process might include discussions about active senior communities, in-home care, long-term care and nursing homes. Note that all of those discussions have financial ramifications.

Medical spending has indeed become a part of the financial planning process. For example, financial discussions with many of my clients include mention of Medicare and Medicare supplemental programs.

In other words, realistic people understand that, since the retirement years can easily represent one third of a persons life, financial issues and concerns will bump heads with their pocketbook quite a bit over their expanded retirement years.

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MORRIS: Longevity, medical needs can complicate lifetime plan

Researchers determine factors that influence spinach contamination pre-harvest

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Public release date: 20-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology

A team of researchers from Texas and Colorado has identified a variety of factors that influence the likelihood of E. coli contamination of spinach on farms prior to harvest. Their research is published in the July 2013 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

"Microbial contamination of produce seems strongly influenced by the time since the last irrigation, the workers' personal hygiene and the field's use prior to planting of produce," says first author Sangshin Park of Texas A&M University, College Station. "These factors, together with the role of weather in produce contamination should be the targets of future research efforts to design cost-effective strategies for control of produce contamination."

E. coli contamination of spinach on farms in Colorado and Texas was 172 times more likely if the produce field was within 10 miles of a poultry farm, and 64 times more likely if irrigated by pond water, says Park.

As E. coli is commonly used as an indicator of fecal contamination with food-borne pathogens, the practice of hygieneavailability of portable toilets and hand-washing stations for workers in the fields and the absence of grazing or hay production on the fields prior to planting spinach, reduced the risk seven-fold.

Other potential risk factors tested in the study included numbers of workers, farm size, organic vs. conventional production, the use of chemical fertilizers, compost, and manure, says Park. The researchers assayed 955 spinach samples from 12 farms in the two states, finding that generic E. coli was present on 63 of them (6.6 percent).

Of particular note, the researchers tested their statistical model for spinach contamination to determine how accurately it was able to pinpoint the level of contamination. "The assessment of the predictive performance of a developed statistical model is largely omitted from food safety studies," says Park. Their methodology may serve as a useful template for future investigations of contamination on farms, he says.

"Because produce is commonly consumed raw, it would be best to prevent pre-harvest contamination by food-borne pathogens all together or at least to reduce it," says Park.

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Researchers determine factors that influence spinach contamination pre-harvest

Eric Young Talks Love for Fishing, Longevity in Wrestling & More

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Eric Young was interviewed by James Sullivan of MensJournal.com. Here are some highlights.

On his love for fishing: A lot of my childhood memories are about fishing with him [my father]. Him having a couple of adult beverages, me an orange soda, just enjoying the river. A lot of times we didnt even catch anything.

Eating Octopus brains on the show: It doesnt actually taste like much of anything. It kind of tastes like salt and rubber. It feels like a little macadamia nut. You bite down, they go white, and thats that.

On his Longevity in wrestling: Im a durable person. I think I was created in a lab for pro wrestling. I have abnormally large bone structure. As a toddler, he was afflicted with an immunodeficiency that killed off his white blood cells; having survived it, his blood is less susceptible to bruising and clotting. Basically, Im a really cheap version of Wolverine.

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Eric Young Talks Love for Fishing, Longevity in Wrestling & More