Determination of the biomarkers amyloid beta (Aβ) 1-40 and 1-42 and total tau in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is increasingly important for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, especially in the early stages. Measurement of these highly sensitive and specific analytes aids the classification and prognosis of dementia. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease show a significantly decreased level of Aβ 1-42, which is already detectable 5-10 years before the start of cognitive changes. Aβ 1-40 remains unchanged. The determination of the ratio Aβ 1-42 to Aβ 1-40 increases the efficiency of early diagnostics and might help to discriminate Alzheimer’s disease from vascular dementia. The concentrations of total tau and phosphorylated tau increase when patients show advanced neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment. It is thus possible to discriminate Alzheimer’s patients from healthy persons by means of CSF analyses. The analytes Aβ 1-42, Aβ 1-40 and total tau can be measured precisely and reproducibly using a new generation of test systems. The ELISAs are based on well-characterized capture antibodies. Lyophilized calibrators and controls provide convenient test performance, high precision and clinical accuracy. The procedures are highly standardized and can be automated on EUROIMMUN analysers and other open ELISA platforms. The assays were developed by EUROIMMUN in collaboration with ADx Neurosciences. The EUROIMMUN Beta- Amyloid (1-42), Beta-Amyloid (1-40) and Total-Tau ELISAs are CE-certified.
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This new coagulation analyser, the cobas t 411 analyser, now available for countries accepting the CE Mark, is a stand-alone laboratory coagulation system that is suitable for low-volume routine testing (up to 120 samples per day). The cobas t 411 analyser allows continuous loading of all samples, reagents and the cuvettes, which hold the required samples and reagents during testing. This will ultimately help reduce workflow interruption. The unique cuvette design, and readiness check prior to measurement, helps improve quality of results. The multimode cap piercing, which recognizes different sample cap types prior to sampling, gives flexibility and convenience. In addition, the analyser has the highest reagent capacity on the market for reduced hands-on time, compared to other systems offered at low-volume coagulation laboratories. Laboratory coagulation testing accounts for around one fifth of the total sample workload of the core laboratory. The cobas t 411 analyser serves low-volume central coagulation laboratories and features innovative sample and reagent management concepts that may enable increased operator convenience and productivity. The analyser offers cap-piercing as a standard feature, which maximizes throughput when combined with the five position rack-based sample handling. High on-board capacities for reagents and samples, along with continuous loading of reagents, samples and consumables, result in increased walk-away times. Efficient reagent use is optimized with on-board barcode scanning capability and cooled, tilted reagent racks. Patient safety is prioritized through the unique opto-mechanical detection principle by checking each sample before measurement, as well as the always available STAT port, whereby emergency samples can be immediately processed with test results returned in a timely fashion.

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Micro-Dx enables the culture-independent diagnosis of pathogens in various clinical samples. Micro-Dx is the first product combining walk-away automated human DNA removal and pathogen DNA extraction with broad-range rDNA Real-Time PCR and sequencing into a rapid diagnostic system for bacteria and fungi. Prominent advantages of molecular testing are the time gain compared to culturing and detection of pathogens that do not grow for reasons of fastidious nutrition requirements or growth inhibition due to antibiotic treatment of patients. Extraction of 1 to 12 samples is operated in the Select- NAplus instrument, which saves tedious manual handling and time. At the end of the procedure an exact differentiation of the species is obtained. Micro-Dx operates a wide range of specimens, including EDTA blood, CSF, BAL, aspirates from joints, swabs from wounds and abscesses and tissue biopsies from heart valves, liver and brain.
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The LCMS-8060 triple quadrupole mass spectrometer is designed to push the limits of LC/MS/MS quantitation for applications requiring the highest sensitivity and robustness while delivering a meaningful solution for routine LC/MS/MS analyses. It detects substances at ultra-trace level as they occur in complex matrices for example, or in smallest sample concentrations which have to be diluted in order to avoid matrix effects. The LCMS-8060 is the newest member of Shimadzu’s UFMS (Ultra-Fast Mass Spectrometry) family and part of the Shimadzu mass spectrometry platform of MS/MS systems with ultra-fast technologies. The system combines a heated ESI source with all UF technologies including UFsweeper III, a collision cell filled with argon gas. Through its high speed technology, UFsweeper III achieves dwell times of 0.8 ms per MRM. With new UF Qarray ion guide technology increasing ion production and signal intensity, the LCMS-8060 introduces a new level of sensitivity and makes a real difference to working better and faster. The system features a data acquisition scan speed of 30,000 u/sec and a polarity switching time of 5 msec. The newly developed UF Qarray boosts ion sensitivity while suppressing noise. By improving the ion sampling device, ion guide and vacuum efficiency, the instrument achieves unprecedented sensitivity in LCMS.  Shimadzu’s proprietary technologies allow acquisition of up to 555 MRM channels per second, ultra-fast polarity switching and ultra-fast scanning, all with highest data quality.  Robustness of the LCMS-8060 and modified ion optics was assessed by injecting 2,400 samples of femtogram levels of alprazolam spiked into protein-precipitated human plasma extracts over a six day period (over 400 samples were injected each day). RSD of peak area response was 5 % over this test period, and use of a deuterated internal standard (alprazolam-d5) led to RSD of 3.5 %. As part of the robustness test the vacuum system was vented to model a transient power failure, with however no effect on signal response or baseline noise level.

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