Semen and blood specimens can and often do sit for months or even years as overwhelmed lab technicians deal with fresh cases or cases moving toward trial.
In the sprints, you have eight guys lining up, eight physical specimens, and more often than not the only thing that separates them is mental strength.
Private collectors may have little interest in the scientific study of their specimens and are often ill-informed about what is needed to conserve delicate specimens over time, she says.
The most important limitation of these assays, however, is that they do not overcome the technical and sensitivity issues of blood cultures, cannot be directly applied to other biological specimens and are often only partially faster than non molecular-based technologies.
Moreover, the amount of sample retrieved in each pass is determined by the size of the specimen notch, and often multiple passes may be required to obtain adequate tissue samples, especially when microbiology or biochemical tests are needed in addition to histopathology.
Same-day processing for specimens necessitated early and often inconvenient cut-off times for specimen collection, as well as use of a courier service.
When budgets are cut, research specimens and staff are often the hardest hit.
Biobank collections are extraordinarily diverse in number and types of specimens and in sources (often multiple) from which they are obtained, including from individuals, clinics or hospitals, public health programs, and research studies.
The histological characteristics of chronic MS lesions are well known to neuropathologists, however diagnosing an inflammatory demyelinating process in biopsy specimens may be challenging since the specimens are frequently small and often represent only parts of a bigger lesion.
