In order to diagnose diabetes, technologists measure glucose or hemoglobin A1C concentrations or perform an oral glucose tolerance test. That being the case, what are autoantibody tests ordered on patients with diabetes or pre-diabetes, or those suspected of having diabetes? Diabetes is classified as type 1, type 2, gestational and “other specific types”, with about … Continue reading “Autoantibodies in Diabetes Testing”
Cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD) is a type of diabetes that affects individuals who have Cystic Fibrosis. CFRD is an entity unto itself, having several aspects that make it different from other forms of diabetes. Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common genetic defects among the Caucasian population, and it is a devastating, systemic … Continue reading “Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes”
A 38 year old female with history of endometriosis presented to emergency department complaining of heavy vaginal bleeding for 2 weeks duration. She also reported recent diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, fever, and chills. On physical exam, the patient had fever, tachycardia, tachypnea, and abdominal distention with a large, 32-week size uterine … Continue reading “Microbiology Case Study: A 38 Year Old Female with Vaginal Bleeding and Diarrhea”
Introduction Vitamin D is one of the most commonly ordered laboratory tests in the primary care setting, as well as one of the most widely used forms of dietary supplementation today. While the rationale underlying vitamin D testing and supplementation for deficiency may seem straightforward, in actuality, the metabolism and physiologic functions of vitamin D … Continue reading “Vitamin D: An Overview”
Vitamin D is produced from 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin when the skin is UV-irradiated by sunlight. In humans, vitamin D3 or cholecalciferol is specifically produced. Plants produce predominately vitamin D2 or ergocalciferol. While human bodies can utilize vitamin D2, they preferentially use D3 and the rest of this post will be talking about D3. Vitamin … Continue reading “The ABCs of Vitamin D”
There’s been a serious buzz in the laboratory community recently (especially among the Point of Care [POC] community) about glucose meters. Most laboratory professionals know that glucose measurements on the average glucometer are not as reproducible as those performed on the average main lab analyzer. Some of the reason for that is simply related to … Continue reading “Glucose Meters”
Most people in the clinical lab and among the Diabetes population are aware that there is not a good correlation between a blood glucose level and a hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) level. This only makes sense. A blood glucose is essentially a snapshot of what the glucose concentration is in your body at that particular point … Continue reading “Estimated Average Glucose”
