InnovaStar is an automatic compact POCT analyser for the daily practice that delivers result quality comparable to laboratory analysers for HbA1c, CRP, glucose and hemoglobin directly from a single 10 μl whole blood sample. The complete measurement procedure, including a sample individual hematocrit correction, is performed automatically thus reducing any handling errors. The newly integrated 2.8” colour touch-screen further improves the ease of use of the instrument, enabling the operator to enter any information such as patient data, user identification etc. The new graphical user interface allows a more efficient access to all soft ware functions and displays on-screen instructions where required. The up-to-date soft ware uses self-explanatory icons for a nearly languageindependent operation of the instrument.
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The CLAM-2000 automates the pretreatment of blood or other biological samples before LC-MS analysis. The background for this development is to minimize variabilities caused by sample pretreatment and manual work. In recent years, there has been considerable progress in the use of mass spectrometers (MS) in the clinical research field due to their highly sensitive detection and high specificity as well as the possibility of multiplexing analysis without the risk of cross reactions inherent to immunoassays. Mass spectrometry enables direct detection of disease-related biological compounds in blood, urine or other biological samples, measurement of trace concentration levels of drugs as well as other applications. However, the bottleneck is still sample preparation which is often tedious, involves risk of errors and increases the risk of contamination of people dealing with sample preparation. By simply placing blood collection tubes in the system, the CLAM-2000 performs all processes through LC-MS analysis automatically. Unlike dispensing systems based on batch processing 96-well plates, the CLAM-2000 is completely automatic from pretreatment to analysis and processes individual sample successively in parallel. Consequently, it results in uniform pretreatment times between samples without slowing processing speed, while improving data reproducibility and accuracy. Pretreatment processes available include dispensing samples, dispensing reagents, stirring, suction filtration, incubation and automatic transfer of sample vials to an SIL-30AC autosampler after pretreatment. CLAM-2000 automates the sample pretreatment for LC-MS analysis. All necessary steps are automatically executed according to an existing method or a method to be developed. It also features excellent management functions providing a dramatically improved workflow with better safety for clinical research and higher reproducibility. It is compatible with the LCMS TQ systems LCMS-8045, LCMS-8050 and LCMS-8060, giving a large choice to adapt to sensitivity needs. The instrument is for research use only and not available in the USA, Canada and China.

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β-lactamase enzymes inactivate β-lactam antibiotics and render them ineffective for the treatment of clinically-important Gram-negative bacterial infections. Now, two new kits from Streck Inc. provide a comprehensive, cost-effective molecular method to detect the most clinically-important β-lactamases that confer resistance to penicillins, cephamycins, and in some cases, carbapenems. The antibiotic resistance monitoring and detection (ARM-D) kits, are multiplex real-time PCR kits that can quickly detect more than 450 β-lactamase gene variants. The ARM-D Kit, β-Lactamase detects 9 different carbapenemases, ESBLs and plasmid-mediated ampC gene families. The ARM-D Kit, ampC kit targets 6 plasmid-mediated ampC resistance gene families and can differentiate plasmid-mediated ampC β-lactamase resistance from chromosomal resistance. These genotypic detection methods identify the most prevalent types of β-lactamase-based antibiotic resistance and complement phenotypic methods for the detection of multidrug resistant organisms. They can be used with standard susceptibility tests to improve surveillance and epidemiologic tracking, for improved infection control and increased effectiveness of antibiotic stewardship programmes. AmpC β-lactamases are chromosomally encoded in many bacterial species. Their overexpression can lead to resistance to most β-lactam antibiotics, causing therapeutic failure. Transmissible plasmids with acquired genes for AmpC β-lactamases often cause increased β-lactamase production and can appear in organisms lacking or having low-level expression of a chromosomal ampC gene. Resistance due to plasmid-mediated AmpC enzymes can be broad in spectrum and often hard to detect. As Gram-negative organisms producing multiple or plasmid-mediated β-lactamases are difficult to identify phenotypically, more specific detection methods are essential for the identification of clinically important β-lactamases and selection of the appropriate antibiotic therapy. Detection and genetic identification of both plasmid-mediated and chromosomally expressed AmpC β-lactamases are crucial for a better understanding of these resistance mechanisms and, consequently, for active surveillance and infection control.
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The new CoagL autoanalyser from DIAGON is the lastest addition to its portfolio of specially designed high quality hemostasis testing systems. Coag systems offer advanced, flexible and efficient automation for routine and specialilty testing coagulation labs and is supported by the same test technologies, reagents, cuvettes and consumables with low operation and maintenance costs. CoagL is a compact 4 channel coagulometer designed to include everything that could be improved in its category: it has extremely user friendly software with a high level of customization, offers real-time and post-run curve analysis, random access, reflex testing, and first tube preanalytical optical interference check. The company’s product range also includes a convenient and sensitive photo-optical CoagS POC INR test using recombinant technology, high tech Coag2D and Coag4D multichannel manual coagulometers and the 300 PT test/hour CoagXL fully automated coagulometer. All systems come with a complete reagent system, controls and calibrators both in liquid and lyophilyzed formats.  Diagon offers Coag Systems for distribution and for customized OEM cooperation.

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