Shimadzu’s Nexera MX ultra-fast multianalyte LC-MS system offers up to double the sample processing capability of the conventional approach. The Nexera MX features two analytical flow lines in a single LC-MS system. This setup maximizes operating efficiency by alternating between the two lines for injecting of samples. Capable of rapidly processing large numbers of samples, the Nexera MX will help to improve the workflow of customers. The Nexera MX system also includes the LabSolutions Insight software, providing assistance with quantitative analysis of large volumes of data.
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CUBE 30 Touch is an automated instrument for high-volume erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) testing in EDTA tubes. Compatible with standard 4.0 mL K2EDTA tubes, the instrument produces ESR results directly from EDTA tubes without consuming patient sample. Its internal mixing function automatically prepares up to 30 samples per batch. Random access capability enables the user to add samples as space allows. The instrument automatically prints and transmits results to the laboratory information system (LIS). Results are available in under 25 minutes and show >94% correlation to Modified Westergren Method. An internal barcode scanner ensures positive patient ID. Patient and QC data are archived and a USB port and Bluetooth connector allows connection to PC, tablet and smartphone. No reagents are needed and there is no exposure to patient sample. Utilizing plastic tubes, the instrument does not produce any liquid waste, thus saving costs for waste disposal.
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Beckman Coulter recently announced the U.S. release of its DxONE Workflow Manager, the first and only cloud-based middleware offered by a major in-vitro diagnostics organization, designed to help low-volume laboratories deliver timely results for patient care by enhancing consistency, accuracy and efficiency. Laboratories today are under increased pressure to manage costs and resources, while balancing increasing test volumes. With a limited number of middleware solutions on the market available to support low-volume laboratories, DxONE Workflow Manager fills an industry need to help these laboratories streamline workflow and maximize staff time. It is very user-friendly with everything consolidated to one screen. With DxONE Workflow Manager, laboratories are able to standardize workflows, automate processes and consolidate information. Technologists can manage samples by exception using autoverification, meaning only those samples that fall outside predefined ranges require manual review. Standardizing autoverification rules and automatic reflex testing promotes consistency, and integrating quality control processes supports testing accuracy with less workflow burden.  Middleware plays a significant role in using process automation to improve turnaround time and staff efficiency. Historically, there have been barriers to implementing middleware systems in low-volume laboratories, such as up-front costs and lack of IT infrastructure in both hardware and personnel.  The DxONE Workflow Manager solution has made the benefits of middleware accessible to low-volume laboratories by leveraging cloud-based deployment. This enables laboratories to utilize their existing IT hardware while requiring very little support from hospital IT personnel. These benefits create a total cost of ownership that makes sense for low-volume laboratories given the significant turnaround time and efficiency benefits. 
The system features an intuitive interface designed for ease of use, featuring visual cues that facilitate rapid decision making. From a single screen, technologists get an at-a-glance view of ordering information and patient demographics. Comments and flags are readily visible, alerting users to required actions, based on laboratory-defined criteria. A sample-status overview feature directs immediate focus to items in need of attention. Patient-associated results are consolidated on one screen—organized in graphs and by historical data—strengthening the utility of information for operational and patient-care decisions.
With the integration of DxONE Workflow Manager into their critical functions, laboratories can standardize and automate workflows across Beckman Coulter’s chemistry, immunoassay and hematology platforms. The release of DxONE Workflow Manager builds upon Beckman Coulter’s middleware solutions, which include REMISOL Advance for higher volume laboratories, and expands the company’s DxONE portfolio—a suite of informatics solutions designed to help laboratories improve their operational efficiencies.
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Now available is the newest member of the Advanced family of freezing point osmometers. Osmo1 is suited for clinical laboratories which prefer to directly draw and test small sample volumes. It was specifically designed to address the changing needs of today’s busy laboratories, improve efficiency, reduce sample turnaround time, and replaces the Advanced 3320 instrument.
Intended for sample-limited applications, Osmo1 uses a small 20 μL sample size and can measure the osmolality of body fluids – including whole blood, serum, plasma, urine, feces, sweat, and tissue homogenate. Samples are analysed one at a time, and the entire process is made easy via the operating cradle that allows the test to be run directly from the Ease-Eject Sampler, eliminating any loss of sample.
Osmo1 uses the industry-preferred freezing point depression method to deliver results in just 90 seconds. A versatile piece of laboratory equipment for any laboratory setting, the Osmo1 features a dedicated space to hold the newly re-packaged Micro-Sample Test Kit that now includes the sampler tips, chamber cleaners, and replacement plunger wire conveniently packaged together.
The instrument redesign also includes an interactive touchscreen, an on-board printer, and a 2-D barcode scanner to provide positive sample identification to reduce transcription errors. Data management and transfer can be handled via the on-board printer or by easily exporting the data using the Ethernet connection or multiple USB ports.
Osmo1 can be used in a variety of clinical diagnostics applications including urology/renal function, surgery/critical care, and internal medicine/endocrinology.
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The Panther Fusion MRSA assay has received CE mark in Europe. This assay, the latest in a growing menu of Panther Fusion and Aptima assays, brings full automation, efficiency and excellent assay performance to MRSA screening. The Panther Fusion system retains all the key benefits of the Panther platform, including full sample-to-result automation, and is suitable to any size laboratory. With rising antibiotic resistance in Europe and the threat posed by healthcare-associated infections to public health, the new assay will help customers provide a rapid service to hospitals, so cases of resistance, such as MRSA, are identified and managed quickly and effectively.
The Panther Fusion MRSA assay accurately detects and differentiates Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) DNA from ESwab nasal samples. It has broad strain inclusivity including the Bengal Bay clone, and is able to correctly identify empty cassette variants.
The Panther Fusion MRSA assay enables laboratory customers to leverage the benefits of the fully automated Panther Fusion system, which provides random and continuous access to improve laboratory efficiency. Laboratories can combine women’s health, virology, respiratory, hospital-acquired infections, and Open Access tests on the Panther Fusion system, running up to 32 different assays at the same time. In addition, MRSA samples can be loaded directly into the Panther Fusion, saving customers vital time and labour costs and delivering first results in 2.4 hours, considerably faster than commonly-used culture and lab developed tests. In addition, Panther Fusion offers labs the potential to process up to 500 Panther Fusion and Aptima assays in an 8-hour period.
Panther Fusion is available as a full system, or the Panther Fusion module can be attached to existing Panther systems in the field to extend testing capabilities. The Panther Fusion module adds the capacity to run PCR (polymerase chain reaction) assays in addition to tests based on TMA (transcription-mediated amplification), the proprietary Hologic chemistry used in the company’s Aptima brand. Key benefits include the ability to run multiple tests from a single sample, random and continuous access, sample processing with rapid turnaround time, continuous loading, and STAT capabilities. Its ready to use, unit-dose lyophilized reagents, which have 60-day on-board stability, help reduce waste and the need for manual reagent preparation.

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