Randox helping to transform healthcare in Cameroon following partnership with Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Foundation
Randox helping to transform healthcare in Cameroon following partnership with Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Foundation
Randox helping to transform healthcare in Cameroon following partnership with Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Foundation (LUKMEF)
Treating general health conditions and patients with HIV/AIDs in rural Cameroon is being transformed thanks to an initiative and partnership between global diagnostics company Randox and the not-for-profit organization LUKMEF Cameroon.
Until now thousands of people living in the remote village of Awing, in the Santa District, in the North West region of Cameroon, struggled to pay the costs of travel to the North capital city of Bamenda, in order to be tested for complications associated with conditions like HIV/AIDs. Many never made the journey at all, and many died as a result. Now, following the purchase of the state-of-the-art clinical chemical analyser ‘RX Monza’ has been installed in The Awing Health Centre and testing is being offered at minimal cost for the community.The purchase of the Rx Monza was fully financed by the subsidiary office – LUKMEF Switzerland.
The RX Monza is part of the RX Series which has been developed by Randox to meet the growing needs of clinical laboratory testing. This analyser will open exciting opportunities for both routine and specialised testing including coagulation testing worldwide.
LUKMEF, a non-governmental organisation based in the South West of Cameroon, delivered the RX Monza to the hospital in Awing on the 13th September. LUKMEF was founded in 1999 and has completed dozens of projects in peace building, democracy, education and human rights, helping thousands of Cameroonians live healthier and more powerful lives.
Sharon Martin, LUKMEF Board Member and Director of Youth Programmes, said,
LUKMEF aims to empower communities by enabling them to take responsibility for themselves but poverty has been a major obstacle to that when it comes to accessing healthcare. The cost for transportation to Bamenda, coupled with the cost of testing for complications associated with these life-threatening viruses – even at 1 or 2 GBP – was too high for many and the natural consequence was that many never got the help they needed. By providing very low cost testing for people by installing the RX Monza in the Awing Health Centre, we will ensure that people no longer experience unnecessary suffering caused by poverty.
Collaborating with Randox has been fantastic and we are looking forward to expanding this partnership for future initiatives.
Co-founder of LUKMEF, Mr. Tanyi Christian said,
This is a development in healthcare our communities could have only dreamed of until now. There are over three million people living in this region. This piece of equipment will enable the hospital lab to conduct low cost biochemical testing for patients from more than five villages.
Business Development Manager Colin Palmer for Central Europe, EMA and Sub-Saharan Africa said,
It is fantastic for everyone here at Randox to see real life examples of how we are achieving our goal of revolutionising healthcare worldwide. The RX Monza is a semi-automated chemistry analyser that allows the user increased-testing speed in comparison to manual testing, meaning more samples can be run in less time and at a much cheaper cost. This is going to have a significant impact on the local community and nearby villages who couldn’t afford to pay for transport to Bamenda, the region’s capital. The RX Monza delivers accurate results that Awing hospital can depend on and will help save thousands of lives.
Randox is dedicated to creating innovative high quality products aimed at improving and enhancing diagnostics and people’s wellbeing across the globe. Over 100,000 end users are using Randox products and every second of every day 80 Randox tests are used across the world.
For further information please contact our Randox Comms Team on 028 9442 2413 or email randoxpr@randox.com
Randox and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative share common goal
You may have read in the news this week that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to invest $3 billion over the next decade to help further and advance medical research. Investments will go towards a research facility, named the Biohub, which will focus on developing new tools to research, understand and treat diseases, and of particular interest to us here at Randox, on creating a chip to diagnose disease.
Here at Randox we fully support this drive to further research that is devoted to revolutionising healthcare. We commit up to 16% of turnover to research and development each year and currently over 20% of the world’s major laboratories are using Randox products.
In particular, we invested £220 million into the development of our Biochip Array Technology (BAT). The Randox biochip has revolutionised the diagnostics industry by facilitating the detection of a wide range of markers of disease from a single undivided sample. This not only enhances patient diagnosis but reduces the amount of time spent on individual tests and associated laboratory costs.
Our expertise, highly specialised scientists and world-class ISO accredited manufacturing facilities enables early, accurate, informed clinical decisions in the areas of veterinary testing, molecular research and diagnostics, drug development, food safety and forensic and clinical toxicology.
Our Randox Health clinics use our Biochip to allow people to avail of the complete portfolio of Randox routine and novel tests to empower their health decisions. This new and exciting service provides personalised and preventive health profiling for each individual.
Speaking about the biochip Dr. Peter FitzGerald, Founder and Managing Director of Randox said,
“Many years of development and the expertise of our highly qualified scientists have gone into the creation of Randox Biochip Array Technology. This scientific development will facilitate the simultaneous quantitative or qualitative detection of a wide range of analytes from a single undivided sample. This approach both proteomic and genomic enables an enhanced patient diagnosis, optimum efficiency and consolidation of cost. Our arrays are suitable for use in a wide range of settings including clinical and research laboratories, biopharmaceutical organisations, forensic and clinical toxicology, hospital laboratories, food testing and veterinary laboratories.”
We are delighted that Chan Zuckerberg’s interest in this area brings to the forefront the importance of improving healthcare through innovative diagnostics. It is clear that Randox and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative share a common goal to revolutionise healthcare worldwide and we believe that the Randox Biochip can play an important role in realising this vision.
For further information please contact our Randox Comms Team on 028 9445 1016 or email amy.mcilwaine@randox.com
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The Secrets of the Aging Process
Age is associated with increases in body weight, body fat, abdominal fat, deterioration of muscles, and arthritis. However, everything in the body happens at the cellular level. Outward signs of aging that you may see, such as wrinkles and grey hair, are only symptoms of what is happening on a microscopic scale.
A study carried out by Raul A Martins, using the RX imola, outlined an experiment, investigating how we can affect our own inner-biological make-up, on a much deeper scale than muscle build-up, through exercise and activity:
“To investigate the training effect of sixteen weeks of moderate intensity, progressive aerobic and strength-based training on metabolic health of old women and men. Sixty three sedentary individuals were randomly assigned to control or exercising groups. The training group was separated to aerobic or strength-based. Training took place 3 times a week. Subjects agreed not to change their diet or lifestyle over the experimental period. Exercising group attained after treatment significant differences on body weight, waist circumference, body mass index, diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol relationship, high sensitivity C-reaction protein and 6 minute walk distance. The control group only had significant differences on waist circumference” wrote R.A. Martins and colleagues, university of Coimbra.”
As shown in the experiment, exercising does not only affect our muscle mass and body fat index. It does, in fact, affect us on a cellular level.
Before outward aging symptoms are expressed, your cells, your DNA, and everything that makes up you is reacting to your lifestyle and responding appropriately. A particularly lifestyle-sensitive part of your DNA associated with aging are telomeres.
Telomeres are caps at the ends of DNA strands, made up of a combination of DNA and protein. They protect the ends of the chromosome and keep them stable. Telomeres, however, are incredibly sensitive and have a tendency to become damaged and unravel, prompting a process called “telomere shortening”. Telomeres are associated with the changing nature of our bodies, and therefore, are classed as important aging biomarkers – with their length indicating lifespan. Each time our cells divide, our telomeres shorten. After many dozens of years of cell division, these biomarkers have reached a point where they can longer become any shorter. At this point, cell division discontinues and this is where aging will occur, as cells begin to die faster than they are created. Our body begins to break down. Effects such as hair falling out and skin sagging, are all symptoms of telomere damage or shortening. Telomere shortening has not only been associated with aging, but also age-related diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimers, cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, and some forms of cancer.
There is good news, Martins noted in his experiment that exercise appears to keep telomeres from unravelling, shortening and becoming damaged, and therefore, can be classed as a natural anti-aging activity.
Through examining white blood cells, scientists can monitor telomere shortening (and damaging) whilst monitoring exercise and lifestyle of subjects. Another group of scientists in Germany conducted a similar experiment, gathering women and men of different ages to examine their lifespans relative to exercising, they noted:
The sedentary older subjects had telomeres that were on average 40 percent shorter than in the sedentary young subjects, suggesting that the older subjects’ cells were, like them, aging. The runners, on the other hand, had remarkably youthful telomeres, a bit shorter than those in the young runners, but only by about 10 percent. In general, telomere loss was reduced by approximately 75 percent in the aging runners. Or, to put it more succinctly, exercise, Dr. Werner says, ‘‘at the molecular level has an anti-aging effect.’’
(Gretchen Reynolds, 2010)
So, to put a number on it, studies show, exercise can reduce the aging process by up to a whopping 75%.
As well as it’s anti-aging properties, there are a surplus of other benefits of exercising, such as increased release of endorphins and relieving of muscular pain. Currently, there’s a good deal of research being conducted into potential drug based approaches for telomere shortening, yet these drugs are still years away. So, for now, exercise and healthy eating is the only known way to stave off aging… As if we needed another healthy reason to get active!
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Read more about the experiment conducted on the RX imola:
Hearing Loss Linked with Common Household Products, Study Finds
Hearing loss is often associated with old age, tinnitus or balance disorders. However, studies show that anyone can be affected by hearing loss, at any age if exposed to a chemical present in many common household products.
Chances are, you take your senses for granted. Associated generally with deterioration in old age, we never assume we will go deaf or blind in our younger years. Nevertheless, approximately 3 million children in the USA suffer from hearing loss and this number is on the rise. (CHC, 2016)
In 2006, a study was released detailing the mysterious premature hearing loss of a collection of employees in a manufacturing site in Taiwan, specialising in adhesive materials. Chang, Chen, Lien, and Sung narrowed the phenomenon that was the loss of the worker’s auditory sense down to the responsibility of one chemical: Toluene.
Chemical-induced hearing loss, also known as “ototoxicity”, can affect anyone of any age and today, there are over 200 known ototoxic medications on the market known to cause damage to the inner ear containing chemicals largely known to induce ototoxicity such as Syrene and Xylene.
However, sold in many high-street shops, you’ll find the biggest player in the cause of ototoxicity: Toluene. Toluene is a major component of paints, varnishes, petroleum, printing inks, degreasers, adhesives, cigarette smoke, glues, thinners, and plastics. Exposure to Toluene, such as inhalation, ingestion or skin contact, is known to cause not only hearing loss, but commonly can be a factor in causing Tinnitus, Dermatitis, and vision impairment. In general, the component can wreak havoc for the central nervous system and prolonged exposure to high concentrations of the colourless liquid may result in loss of consciousness, and may even be fatal.
Wanisiusiow, whose findings were conducted using the RX series’ RX daytona and a Randox creatinine kit stated, “Toluene is undoubtedly one of the most widely used organic solvents in industry.” But how does Toluene do it? Wanisusiow goes on to state, “As far as we know, there are two major mechanisms which might explain toluene-induced hearing loss. Firstly, a poisoning of Deiters and Hensen’s cells, which are both important to maintain the K+ homeostasis in the vicinity of outer hair cells. Secondly, an oxidative cell injury, such as lipid peroxidation.”
An interesting point uncovered in this study is that suffering the severe side-effect of Toluene seems to be species-specific. The original experiment, carried out on rats, displayed expected symptoms of ototoxicity. However, guinea pigs reacted differently. The study speculates: The half-life of toluene is longer in the rat than in the guinea pig. This might be one way to explain the difference in cochlear sensitivity to toluene between rats and guinea pigs but likely not the only one.
So, what is it in the genetic makeup of guinea pigs, that rats do not possess, that could fight the negative effects of Toluene? Could learning what causes guinea pigs immunity be beneficial to our research into hearing loss?
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Careers Tips | 5 Reasons You’ll Love Working at Randox
Are you thinking of working at Randox? Great! Whether you’re from a science background, business, or art, Randox embrace multiple disciplines and we, at Randox Careers, are here to give you 5 reasons why you’ll love working with us!
1. Company Culture
Randox have built a team of the most passionate, inspiring and motivated individuals in the industry. Employees of Randox aren’t just a team, but they’re family!
Randox Laboratories likes to celebrate talent, and encourages people to work to their strengths, as recently demonstrated in the largely successful Future in the Making event, which was held to gather and thank Randox employees worldwide for the success of the growth of the company. Randox encouraged employees to share their experiences through the hashtag #WeAreRandox. Check it out, here!
2. Learning Opportunities are Endless!
Due to the size of Randox, and the vast specialties in the health sector, Randox Laboratories has a lot to offer in teaching new, innovative techniques in business, science, design, technology, engineering, and many more!
Randox is a great place to be given the opportunity to get creative in your industry! Work is always fast-paced, forward-thinking and open to fresh, innovative ideas! Peter FitzGerald (Randox Founder & MD) stated “We never stand still here! Our mission is to transform healthcare by continuously improving diagnostic solutions, which, for us, ultimately means saving lives.”
Randox Laboratories is not only a great place to grow, develop and climb the career-ladder whilst in full-time work, but it encourages growth in students, too! Renowned for their highly active Placement programs for 1st and 2nd year students, Randox offers 50+ positions each year for every sector. We hold a special awards ceremony for our highest achieving students at the end of the year, commending them for their outstanding work at Randox! You can read about the Pinnacle Placement Awards and see this year’s winners here.
3. Randox is a Globally Respected Brand
Working for a company like Randox will prove your ambition to individuals in every industry globally. We understand your CV is very important to you, and having worked for a well-respected brand like Randox, you’re sure to stand out from the crowd!
4. Be a Jet-setter!
Randox has a large global presence. With offices in over 145 countries, we are frequently attending high profile events in such places as Dubai, Thailand, London, USA, and Paris! (You can check out some of our upcoming events, here.)
You can have the opportunity to experience these beautiful countries with Randox!
5. Let Your Work Change The World
Randox is an influential company and a global leader in the Healthcare and Diagnostics industry, responsible for diagnosing 5% of the population’s conditions. We are dedicated to improving the healthcare industry, and saving lives with our hard work. Randox’s success means better quality of life for the global population, as we discover how to diagnose as early as possible.
Do you want to change the world with us? Join the team, check out our opportunities!
Careers Tips | Have More Happy Mondays
Do you feel like you lack a little motivation? Fall back in love with your work this Monday with Randox Careers!
Even if you’re in love with your day job, we all get a little deflated sometimes! Staying positive is one of the most imperative keys to success. As Will Henry once said, “The wishbone will never replace the backbone.” Success means staying strong and working hard, and here’s Randox Careers’ top tips to staying motivated on the path to achieving your goals, even on Mondays!
1. Make Lists
Start the day by making a list of everything you want to achieve in your day ahead. Add to the list as the day goes on, and carry over anything you don’t finish. This will help you organise your thoughts, which can often make multitasking look less daunting. With lists, you can visualise your workload and feel satisfied as you tick tasks off as they’re completed!
2. Bounce Ideas
Don’t be afraid to share your ideas! Bouncing ideas off of other colleagues, have meetings, get lunch together to discuss the topic, don’t be afraid of constructive criticism. Other colleagues may be able to use their expertise to help guide you in the right direction, and add fresh perspectives to your creative thinking process
3. Breaking Your Tasks Up
Breaking your tasks up into smaller, bite-sized fragments can make your goals seem more achievable, and make you feel that little bit closer to success. Switching between these smaller tasks can also help lift a feeling of monotony and give you more variety in your work. Keeping it fresh means you might have new, creative ideas on how to approach things after you’ve stepped back. Often we see things a little bit differently from a new perspective!
4. Exercise Before Work
Wake up an hour early, and go for a jog or practice some yoga before work. Getting your blood pumping can give you a morning release of happy endorphins and get you mentally ready for the day ahead! Yoga is also notorious for mind-cleansing, helping you to clear your thoughts of all negative worries. Don’t fancy exercising before dawn? Try giving yourself more time to get ready in the morning. By doing this, you can ensure you eat a full, wholesome breakfast. Giving yourself some me-time can help prepare you for the day ahead just as well!
5. Set Your 3, 5, and 10 Year Goals
Set your goals and work towards them! Write these goals in e-mails and schedule them to be sent to yourself in 3, 5 and 10 year’s time! These can be little things, like learning another language, or bigger things like buying your first car. Make sure these goals are achievable though, as unobtainable goals can demotivate anyone.
6. Happy Positive Reinforcements!
Have you got a favourite motivational quote? Maybe it’s Theodore Roosevelt’s “Believe you can and you’re halfway there” or George Addair’s “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” Whatever your favourite motivational quote is, embrace it! Set is as your wallpaper on your phone or laptop, write it on a sticky note and place it on the wall, you could even buy a professional print online and frame it! Don’t forget to congratulate yourself, and take pride in your work. Use your mantra to keep you going and don’t forget to look back and admire your own tenacity!
7. Take a Break!
Lastly, don’t forget to rest! Let yourself relax for 5 minutes, take a walk and stretch your legs, or sit in the sun for a little while to clear your mind. You could, alternatively, clear your mind by de-cluttering your desk. Take 10 minutes to reorganise your feng-shui. Often, resetting your mind and clearing your work area can help you see answers and solutions more easily.
Follow these 7 simple steps, and you’ll be sure to have a skip in your step every Monday morning. Best of luck with the week ahead, and happy Monday!
For more, follow Randox Careers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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Medical Technology: Expanding Powers and Possibilities
What does the future of Medical Technology and Healthcare look like? How big of an impact does technology have on health?
Let’s start with a few fun facts: more people on this planet own a smart phone than a toothbrush, Google handles an estimated 1 billion search queries every day, every minute 20.8 million+ WhatsApp messages are sent, and you can probably check if all of those facts are correct in about 0.70 seconds.
If one thing is clear, it’s this: technology has made the world a different place. We live in a digital world where we rely on technology to make friends, to keep friends, to track progress, to prompt us, to wake us up, to motivate us and, most importantly, to keep us healthy.
When considering the future of technology, we may picture crisp-white rooms, voice-activated coffee machines and holograms… at one time it was a common idea that the future would hold flying cars! There is, however, one thing we can all agree on. In the “future”, however advanced technology may be and however far we may have come: whatever technology is created will be created to aid human life, as tech-innovation has always been. Inventors have striven to simplify and solve life’s little problems for centuries. Holistically speaking, most products and services with vigorous research and development programs are devoted to searching for new ways to fulfill human lives. We, at the RX series team, are based within a marriage of sectors that are more human-focused and yet forward facing in terms of development of new and exciting ideas than any others; health, medicine and technology.
“We take our commitment to research and development very seriously” comments Peter FitzGerald, founder of Randox and the RX series on the company’s R&D department, “Randox is at the forefront of life-changing research and development in the diagnostics industry.” Jason Silva, an American public speaker pondered, “In symbiosis with our technology, our powers are expanding exponentially and so, too, our possibilities” and just as Silva stated, advanced technology can greaten human abilities and opportunities vastly when dedication to healthcare is combined with advanced knowledge in technology and innovation. Diagnostics and medical technology are at the forefront of life changing innovation. RX series scientist, David Brown, pondered advances in Medical Technology, “There is constant progress being made in the range of diagnostic tests across every aspect of healthcare. Medical technology needs to meet the demand of these tests along with the expectation of patients for fast results. “
Today, only the smartest minds are dedicated to tackling the many issues within the industry. Many sectors play a part in innovation in healthcare; reagents production broadening test menus and researching new assays for a wide variety of human conditions, quality control bringing confidence in laboratory results for organisations and patients, health services giving complete diagnostic reports for preventative health, medical devices pushing the boundaries for automation, software design, reliability and precision, bio-sciences, toxicology, food testing, and so forth. Randox have played a large role in innovating all of these sectors. We do this, because we are confident that complete consolidation is the future of healthcare. The RX series team run on the belief that our machines function as the high-tech heartbeat of the laboratory and and our quality control and reagents function as the lifeblood, working in harmony to deliver effective results, and advancing in synch with each other.
When the RX series sees the future, we see test menus expanded to cover all ranges of analytes for earlier diagnosis, we see high class automation and longer walkaway times to make laboratories more efficient in time and money, and finally, we see those who rely on our medical technology for accurate results living happy, healthy lives, having trust in doctors and medical professionals worldwide.
Earlier this week, we heard from our followers and friends from around the world, who let us know what they think the future of Medical Technology holds… What do you see when you imagine the future?
Gestational Diabetes: The Third Kind
Year upon year, WHO (World Health Organisation) have set a date to raise awareness of various health issues from Food Safety, to Hypertension to Vector-Borne diseases. This year, WHO are setting their goals in raising awareness on Diabetes; those with family and friends affected and those diagnosed. The RX series take a closer look at a type of Diabetes we don’t often talk about to raise awareness for the #BeatDiabetes campaign by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Diabetes is a life-long condition, featuring in the top 10 causes of death globally, responsible for approximately 1,497,371 deaths worldwide and 6,088 in the UK alone yearly. As a major non-communicable disease, diabetes claims on average around 8% of total health budgets in developed countries.
As many know, diabetes can come in 2 common forms: Types I Diabetes; where the pancreas does not produce insulin and Type II Diabetes; where the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin/the body’s cells do not react to insulin. Not very often, however, do we hear the term Gestational Diabetes.
Gestational Diabetes is a type of diabetes that affects pregnant women, usually in their third trimester. The good news is, the condition usually disappears soon after the baby is born, but what are the risks, how serious is it really and what are the chances you may find yourself dealing with the condition?
Pregnancy puts extra demands on the body, as it demands higher level of nutrition, and energy. Gestational Diabetes (GDM) occurs when the body can’t produce enough extra insulin to meet these demands.
The condition is surprisingly common, with 15% of all pregnancies resulting in the mother suffering from GDM. Whilst it only occurs in pregnancy; it is estimated that over 50% of women who have had gestational diabetes will go on to develop type II diabetes within 5-10 years of delivery which is a startling statistic.
A study carried out at JSS Medical College aimed to investigate the biochemical parameters that could be used to diagnose GDM. Levels of serum creatinine, uric acid and the albumin were studied in GDM patients and unaffected pregnant women to consider any correlation between these biochemical markers and certain clinical parameters. The RX daytona, a clinical chemistry analyser from Randox’s RX series range was used to analyse the samples. The conclusion was that biochemical parameters such as serum creatinine, uric acid and albumin, can help in predicting the early onset and progression of GDM.
The study also stated that early diagnosis was paramount as it could help in the proper treatment of gestational diabetes and its associated complications for mother and baby, thus helping to improve the quality of life of the GDM patients and their offspring.
There are measures women can take before and during pregnancy to prevent the likelihood of Gestational Diabetes occurring. One study shows that increasing fibre intake to 10g per day reduces the risk by 26%. Also, women who exercise before pregnancy have a lower risk of gestational diabetes, the more intense the exercise, the lower the risk. However, this doesn’t have to mean extremely strenuous exercise, anything as simple as walking at a brisk pace, rather than at a leisurely pace will reduce your risks.
This year on World Health Day, we urge you to share your stories and give support for those affected by diabetes and use the hashtag #BeatDiabetes to get involved with the conversation.
Randox offers high quality tests for the diagnosis of diabetes and the monitoring of its complications.
To find out more about the RX series range of clinical chemistry analysers and how we tackle Diabetes with accurate and early diagnosis, take a look at our brochures below.
Questions? Speak to the RX team: theRXseries@Randox.com
