DIAGNOSTICS AND IMAGING

Vitamin B12 tests are commonly requested tests received by laboratories. Vitamin B12 remains the first line test and only reflects the status of vitamin B12 in the body. Testing vitamin B12 does not, however, discriminate the underlying causes of vitamin B12 deficiency. Although Total Vitamin B12 test is predominantly done …

There was an era when a physician named Thomas Willis in 1675 ascribed urine of diabetic patients as sweet—“as if imbued with a honey or sugar”. Apparently, back then, by tasting urine, one of the distinctive features of diabetes was substantiated. Later, Mathew Dobson (1735-1784) identified that the sweet substance …

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked off mounting crisis in every sphere of our lives, and we are realizing that this unceasing outbreak is yet to beget profound consequences. WHO announced COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020.1 The early strategy to mitigate this pandemic has been largely limited to …

Kidney is the major retroperitoneal organ in the body. The function of kidney involves mainly filtration and excretion to get rid of metabolic waste, reabsorption or secretion of substances, and acid-base, electrolyte, and fluid balance. In addition, kidney also regulates endocrine functions, such as synthesis of vitamin D and erythropoietin, …

Understanding of human sperm and biology of human fertilization has improved over the years, after WHO started standardizing semen analysis and new research results became available. Objective data and information about important measures like mechanism of sperm capacitation, hyper activation of sperm, the ability of sperm to bind zona pellucid, …

Like any other disease, cancer has become more common than we really realize. The National Institute of Cancer estimates 600,920 cancer deaths in 2017 in the US alone. The only prevention of these ever-escalating deaths due to cancer is to have an effective screening program every nation should put in …

Tumor markers are used for monitoring the effectiveness of treatment. They are used to see if there are recurrent causes of cancer. That is the true use of serum tumor markers, but serum tumor markers have found utility in other segments, as well. For example, there are tumor markers for …

Down syndrome is the most common inherited cause of mental retardation. Prenatal aneuploidy screening can be done in the first or second trimester of pregnancy to evaluate the risk of Down syndrome and other genetic conditions in the fetus. By the time a mother knows she is pregnant, the karyotype …