Randox QC Resource Hub
Randox QC Resource Hub
Tackling Worldwide Drugs of Abuse
Throughout November, we’ve been highlighting how the Randox clinical teams – Randox Rx series, Randox Reagents and Randox QC – are aiding the fight against drugs of abuse.
Drugs of Abuse are a growing problem worldwide and represent a significant burden to healthcare systems as well as creating problems in an individual’s lifestyle. It has been estimated by the WHO (World Health Organisation) that 31 million people globally suffer from drug use disorders and 3.3 million deaths each year are linked to the abuse of both drugs and alcohol.
The abuse of drugs is one of the most pressing issues in the United States of America. Drug abuse not only affects the individual, but also can have far-reaching consequences that affect family, employment, personal health, health care systems, local communities, and society as a whole.
- Misuse of illicit drugs affects society through secondary costs incurred such as crime, reduced productivity at work, and health care expenses.
- Substance abuse costs the US health care system about $11 billion, with overall costs reaching $193 billion.
- Substance abuse and addiction also affects other areas of life and can cause broken families, destroyed careers, death due to negligence or accident, domestic violence, physical abuse and child abuse.
- Drug abuse and addiction changes the chemistry of your brain. The longer you use your drug of choice, the more damage is caused and it becomes more difficult to return to ‘normal’ during drug rehabilitation.
- In 2013, 22.7 million Americans needed treatment for a substance use disorder – almost 9% of the population over the age of 12. Only about 2.5 million received treatment as a specialist facility with 20% of admissions for opiate addication treatment and 17% for the treatment of marijuana abuse.
To find out more about how Randox is helping in the fight against Drugs of Abuse, please visit https://www.randox.com/drugs-of-abuse/ or for more information about Randox RX, Randox Reagents or Randox QC, please email marketing@randox.com.
November focus: Drugs of Abuse
Throughout November, the Randox clinical teams – Randox Reagents, Randox Rx series and Randox QC – will be highlighting how the Randox product range can be utilised to allow for the most accurate analysis of Drugs of Abuse, with a particular focus placed with the Evidence MultiSTAT. The Evidence MultiSTAT is a fast, fully automated and versatile immunoanalyser that enables on-site detection of up to 21 Drugs of Abuse from a single sample of oral fluid, urine or blood.
Drugs of Abuse are a growing problem worldwide and represent a significant burden to healthcare systems as well as creating problems in an individual’s lifestyle. It has been estimated by the WHO (World Health Organisation) that 31 million people globally suffer from drug use disorders and 3.3 million deaths each year are linked to the abuse of both drugs and alcohol.
Randox have reacted to this growing concern and are now a world leader in the Drugs of Abuse testing field. Our product range currently comprises classical, prescription and synthetic drugs.
The Evidence MultiSTAT offers a simple drug screening solution to those who have little or no knowledge of laboratory procedures. As an extremely versatile desktop analyser, it is ideally suited to a variety of settings including both the clinical laboratory and the emergency room.
Randox Reagents – Drugs of Abuse Assays
In order to assist in dealing with the ongoing burden of substance abuse, Randox Reagents offer a comprehensive range of ten assays to test for some of the top most commonly-abused substances including alcohol, methamphetamines, cocaine, methadone, cannabis, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, EDDP and ecstasy and opiates. The Randox Drugs of Abuse assays are liquid, ready-to-use for increased efficiency and applications are available for over 30 different analysers.
RX Series – Toxicology testing
Renowned for quality and reliability, the RX series range of clinical chemistry analysers boasts a world-leading test menu comprising of both therapeutic drugs and Drugs of Abuse. Our toxicology range comprises amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, cocaine metabolite, ecstasy, EDDP, ethanol, methadone and opiates. The RX series range of clinical chemistry analysers ensures a high degree of accuracy with a wide range of testing throughputs to suit all laboratories, big or small.
RIQAS Urine Toxicology Programme
Designed to monitor the performance of 20 Drugs of Abuse tests in urine, our RIQAS urine toxicology EQA program is suitable for both qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. As the largest EQA scheme in the world, access to large peer groups is guaranteed. Additional benefits include; monthly analysis, user-friendly reports allowing at-a-glance performance assessment, ability to register up to five instruments per programme and cost savings via our unrivalled consolidation.
For more information about Randox RX, Randox Reagents or Randox QC, please email marketing@randox.com.
Randox QC International Resource Hub
Metabolism: how Randox is helping to diagnose metabolic conditions
Many people talk about their metabolism as if it is a muscle or organ they can somehow control. In reality, your metabolism refers to a series of chemical processes in each cell that turn the calories you eat into fuel to keep you alive.
Metabolism is the biochemical process of combining nutrients with oxygen to release the energy our bodies need to function. Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the number of calories your body burns to maintain vital body functions such as heart rate, brain function and breathing. RMR accounts for up to 75 percent of the calories you burn each day. Knowledge of your individual RMR is a critical piece of information to appropriately establish daily calorie needs.
The body’s major organs — the brain, liver, kidneys, and heart — account for about half of the energy burned at rest, while fat, the digestive system, and especially the body’s muscles account for the rest.
Did you know?
Approximately 20-25% of the world’s adult population have metabolic syndrome?
A common misconception surrounding metabolic health is that it refers solely to your weight, and if you are overweight you are considered to be unhealthy. But in actual fact this may not be entirely true. Good metabolism means that your body is in good overall health, which doesn’t account for just your weight! Common metabolic disorders include genetic metabolic disorders, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Understanding and testing to see how well your metabolism is functioning is key to ensuring long lasting health.
Genetics
There are a number of genetic metabolic disorders caused by mutations of single genes. Examples of common disordersinclude Gaucher’s disease, hemochromatosis and cystic fibrosis. Gaucher’s disease is a genetic disorder that affects the body’s ability to break down fat that can accumulate in the liver/spleen and bone marrow. Hemochromatosis is a condition that is caused by the over-absorption and build-up of iron while cystic fibrosis is a metabolic disorder that appears as a result of a build-up of mucus in lungs/liver and intestines. Each of these metabolic disorders affect certain organs from functioning properly and therefore your overall healthiness.
Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common types of metabolic disorders in the world that is expected to affect 592 million people by 2035. It is characterised by high blood sugar, insulin resistance or a lack of insulin being produced by the pancreas. Insulin resistance occurs when the body isn’t able to use insulin the right way which increases blood glucose levels. Insulin is needed for cells to take in glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream and convert it into energy. Over time this lack of insulin can damage the organs in your body.
Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome (also known as syndrome X, Reaven’s syndrome, and CHAOS) is not a disease but a collection of risk factors that affect your health; these include high blood pressure, high blood sugar/cholesterol and abdominal fat. Left untreated, these risk factors, together, can lead to long term serious problems including an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and developing type 2 diabetes.
Can you improve your metabolic health?
Yes! The good news is that if you discover that your metabolic health is not up to scratch you can improve it through a combination of diet, exercise and lifestyle adjustments such as:
- 30 minutes of moderate to intense exercise 5-7 times a week
- Low-dose aspirin to reduce your risk of stroke or heart attack
- Quit smoking
- Medication for blood pressure/cholesterol/ blood sugar
- Limit alcohol intake
- Eat a healthy balanced diet
Related Products
Randox has developed the RX series of clinical chemistry analysers for superior semi-automated and fully automated testing. The RX series extensive dedicated test menu goes beyond routine testing and has many unique and high-performance tests available. Our range of tests covers several parameters to assess your overall metabolic health.
Metabolic Health Profile
| Albumin | Chloride | Potassium |
| Alkaline Phosphatase | C02 Total | Sodium |
| ALT | Creatinine | Total Bilirubin |
| AST (GOT) | Glucose | Total Protein |
| Direct Bilirubin | Lactate | Urea |
| Calcium |
The RX series clinical chemistry analysers provide laboratories with a robust and smart solution ensuring you maintain a consistent workflow and can provide accurate results first time, every time. Offering excellent customer support services, our trained engineers are on hand to work with you in preserving the continuity of your operations while maximising the potential of your RX series instrument.Our world-famous test menu of high quality reagents ensures excellence in patient care, guaranteeing unrivalled precision and accuracy reducing costly test re-runs or misdiagnosis and offering complete confidence in results.
For more information visit: https://www.randox.com/clinical-chemistry-analysers/
Randox Quality Control Celebrate British Science Week 2018!
This British Science Week 2018, Randox Quality Control are celebrating the hard work our team puts in every day, to help bring the best Quality Control products to the market.
We caught up with Edward Hill, QC Product Specialist, to explain a bit about what his role involves and how Randox QC are impacting on global healthcare!
What is your position and what does it involve?
I am a QC Product Specialist at Randox Laboratories. This is a hugely varied role, and some of my general duties involve; creating educational material for laboratory professionals, conducting competitor comparisons to ensure we are always one step ahead of the competition, staying up-to-date with the latest industry trends and thinking of new and innovative ways to interact with our customer-base.
For those of us who aren’t in the industry, can you give us a brief snapshot of what Quality Control is and why we use it?
When a patient has their blood/urine/serum etc. taken, it must be sent to the laboratory for analysis. Laboratory professionals run the patient sample on a clinical instrument, which gives a quantitative result for each analyte. However, the laboratory professional does not know whether the value given by the instrument is correct or not. For this reason, the laboratory professional must use a Quality Control – which is a material designed to mimic the patient sample, and has a known concentration of each analyte.
When the laboratory professional runs the QC material on their instrument, they can compare the obtained result with the expected result. If these values are comparable, then the laboratory professional can be confident that their instrument is reporting accurately. Essentially, QC is a ‘practice run’ to ensure the testing system is working correctly.
How does your teams’ work impact on global healthcare?
Quality Control is a hugely important part of laboratory quality. Around 70% of clinical decisions are made based on laboratory results, so it is plain to see how significant Quality Control practices can be in relation to global health care. My work, as well as the work of the wider Quality Control team, is focused on making end-users aware of the importance of Quality Control. We aim to provide advice and recommendations to optimise accuracy and efficiency.
As a company, Randox prioritizes quality above all else, and this ethos is perfectly reflected by the Quality Control team. We work tirelessly to provide quality products and simplify the entire testing process – giving the laboratory professionals more time to do what they do best; provide accurate results time and time again.
What is your favourite Randox QC product and why?
My favourite QC product is the Acusera Liquid Cardiac Control. It’s my favourite control because it perfectly displays all the advantages of Acusera in a single product:
- Highly consolidated analyte list without any unnecessary extras, keeping costs low
- True third party
- Manufactured with 100% human serum, giving full commutability
- Liquid ready-to-use and suitable for POC testing
- Clinically relevant ranges, with ultra-low levels of Troponin I
- Long open vial stability of 30 days
Competitors often offer additional low level Troponin I controls. The thing I like most about the Acusera Liquid Cardiac Control is that the Troponin I levels are still lower than the ‘ultra-low level’ competitor controls – showing that Acusera gets it right the first time, rather than supplementing weak QC products with additional products at an extra cost.
Listen to our 24.7 podcast with QC Product Specialist, Edward Hill.
Find out more about British Science Week 2018.
If you would like further information on our Quality Control Products, contact acusera@randox.com.
Liquid ready-to-use controls & their benefits
Randox Quality Control is a world leading manufacturer of third party quality controls. With an extensive product portfolio – including the largest range of liquid ready-to-use controls, Randox QC will meet your laboratory requirements and deliver trustworthy results repeatedly.
What control formats are available for your laboratory?
There are three distinct formats available for use in the laboratory with each format having benefits and drawbacks. When choosing a Quality Control material it is important you choose the most convenient solution for your laboratory requirements. The three formats are;
- Lyophilised (freeze dried)
- Liquid frozen
- Liquid stable (ready-to-use)
What format is best?
There are several possible answers to this question, simply because, every laboratory is different. What works for one laboratory may not work for another and for this reason there is no one format that works best for all laboratories.
What we can say however, is that there are varying levels of convenience across the different formats. The most convenient, and arguably, the most favoured of the three formats is liquid ready-to-use. It is not difficult to understand why this format is widely regarded as the preferred choice of control in laboratories – they are simple to use, require no preparation and can be conveniently stored and shipped at 2-8oC.
Why should you consider a liquid ready-to-use control?
There are many benefits to using a liquid ready-to-use control over both liquid frozen and lyophilised controls. One of the main benefits of a liquid stable control material is that it eliminates any potential reconstitution/pipetting errors often associated with lyophilised controls. They also eliminate the additional time taken to thaw liquid frozen controls and can significantly reduce shipping/delivery costs as they do not need to be shipped on dry ice.
Another major benefit of running a liquid ready-to-use control is the fact they are also suitable for use in Point-of-Care-Testing (POCT). With growing popularity amongst laboratory professionals and more people expecting rapid results, POCT is on the rise. Due to their easy to use nature, liquid ready-to-use controls are extremely beneficial to POCT providers.
One further benefit to using a liquid ready-to-use control is the longer open vial stability when compared to both lyophilised and liquid frozen controls. With many lyophilised and liquid frozen controls, the open vial stability can vary and generally is around 7 days when fully thawed or reconstituted in comparison to 28 days with a liquid ready-to-use control.
Randox Quality Control – Liquid Ready-to-Use Control Portfolio
The Randox QC portfolio – better known as Acusera – is convenient, hassle-free and cost effective. Our liquid ready-to-use control range includes; Liquid Cardiac, Blood Gas, Liquid Urine, Urinalysis, Specific Protein, Ammonia Ethanol, Haematology, Liquid HbA1c, Liquid CSF & Liquid Tumour Markers.
For further information on Randox Quality Control or our range of liquid ready-to-use controls please email us at acusera@randox.com.
Get your teeth into a Randox commutable control this Halloween
Get your teeth into a Randox commutable control this Halloween
It is that time of year again – when people dress up, children trick-or-treat and many a scary story is told in households around the world. An age-old tradition celebrated globally by millions of people – it can only be Halloween.
Last year Randox QC brought you the truly scary story about a laboratory who chose not to use a third party control, but eventually “treated their laboratory to a true third party control”. This year, we have another scary story for you about a lab manager in Transylvania, Dr. Acula.
It was a normal, busy day in the lab for Dr. Acula. That was until it was time to change reagent batch, after changing batch of reagent Dr. Acula was shocked to find his QC results had shifted by over 20%. This left Dr. Acula very frustrated, having to spend precious time troubleshooting and reassigning QC targets. After troubleshooting showed no apparent root cause, Dr. Acula searched the internet for an answer finally stumbling upon an educational guide from Randox Quality Control on commutability and its many benefits to the lab.
Grinning from ear-to-ear with excitement, Dr. Acula began to read the guide in the hope of finding a solution to his problem – and solutions he found. While reading the guide, Dr. Acula came across a quote from ISO 15189:2012. It read that laboratories “must use quality control materials that react to the examining system in a manner as close as possible to the patient sample”.
Dr. Acula made a decision to look for a commutable control material that met all of his requirements and he didn’t have to search very far. Randox Quality Control were able to supply Dr. Acula and his laboratory with a QC material to meet all his needs – true third party, excellent stability, consistency and consolidation but most importantly of all commutable controls. The fact all Randox immunoassay and immunology controls are manufactured from 100% human material appealed to Dr. Acula a lot. After trialing the Randox control material alongside patient samples and comparing results between reagent batches, Dr. Acula was thrilled with the results.
Labs rely heavily on quality control to detect errors in their test system and to ultimately make critical decisions regarding the accuracy and reliability of patient test results, the use of a control that reacts to the test system in the same manner as a patient sample is therefore essential.
At Randox Quality Control we take quality seriously. All our QC products are manufactured to the highest possible standard ensuring controls of unrivalled quality time and time again. Designed to be commutable, the Acusera range will ensure accurate and reliable instrument performance while simultaneously helping laboratories meet ISO 15189:2012 requirements.
Just ask Dr. Acula, who likes our 100% human controls so much he has started to drink them himself!
Committed to meeting customers’ needs
At Randox Quality Control, we strive to meet and exceed customer expectations ensuring high quality products and superior customer service are at the top of our priority list.
How can Randox Quality Control help you?
High Quality QC
The Acusera range of true third party controls boasts an impressive range of benefits ultimately designed to help laboratories reduce costs and time while also ensuring an accurate and reliable test system.
The extended shelf life of our controls allows the same lot of control to be used for a period of up to 2 years keeping costly new lot validation studies to a minimum. We may also be able to sequester lots on your behalf.
The availability of commutable controls designed to react to the test system in the same manner as a patient sample and controls targeted at clinical decision levels will not only help you to meet ISO 15189:2012 requirements but will effectively challenge instrument performance.
Click here to find out more about our QC range.
Customer support
The Randox global support network are on hand with expert advice to ensure timely, accurate and helpful resolution of any issues or queries you may have. The added benefit of quick delivery of product orders further highlights how we work with and for our customers to provide the best service available.
Customer Reviews
Don’t believe us? Read a few of the reviews we have received from laboratories around the world;
“I would like to thank the Randox team for the excellent service when helping to reserve and manage our IQC orders, lot numbers and stock.” – Chief Biomedical Scientist, London, 2017.
Request your free QC consultation by contacting us today! Get in touch and we can arrange for your laboratory to have a consultation with one of our Randox QC specialists. Alternatively, if you would like to leave us a review you can do so by emailing acusera@randox.com.
Complete QC solutions for results you can trust
Randox Quality Control aim to deliver the complete QC package and with our portfolio we believe we have something to offer every laboratory regardless of their size or budget.
The Randox Quality Control portfolio includes;
- Acusera true third party Quality Control’s
- Acusera 24.7 Live Online, Interlaboratory Data Management Software
- RIQAS, the world’s largest international EQA scheme
- and, Acusera Verify, dedicated calibration verifiers
Designed to streamline QC in even the most demanding laboratories our complete QC solutions will save precious time and money through consolidation, ease-of-use and high quality products.
With accurate and reliable testing at the top of a laboratory’s priority list, we at Randox Quality Control strive to put you at the top of ours.
Request your FREE QC consultation
Randox Quality Control’s specialist QC consultants can provide your laboratory with a FREE consultation to demonstrate how we can help you streamline your laboratory, meet regulatory requirements and save time and money.
Simply fill out the form below to request your consultation today.