Notas de la historia de la metrología en las Ciencias del Laboratorio Clínico / Notes on the history of metrology in Clinical Laboratory Sciences

Según la moderna teoría metrológica la exactitud se define mediante la incertidumbre de medida y la trazabilidad. La incertidumbre de medida es una expresión numérica del grado de inexactitud del resultado y la trazabilidad relaciona el resultado con referencias establecidas, permitiendo su reproducibilidad en el tiempo y entre laboratorios. Para relacionar el resultado de una medida con referencias establecidas se precisa una cadena de comparaciones (de trazabilidad) que se establece en forma de una jerarquía descendente, desde la referencia metrológica más elevada hasta el resultado de la muestra del paciente. La historia de la metrología en el laboratorio clínico está principalmente relacionada con el establecimiento o la preparación de procedimientos de medida de referencia y de materiales de referencia. Diversas organizaciones relacionadas con la metrología de carácter nacional, regional o internacional han desempeñado un papel destacado en la implementación de los principios metrológicos en los laboratorios clínicos(AU)

The modern theory of metrology defines the accuracy by means of the measurement uncertainty and the traceability. The measurement uncertainty is a numerical expression of the inaccuracy associated to a measurement result, and the traceability relates the result with established references, thus allowing reproducibility over time, and between laboratories. A chain of comparisons (of traceability) is required to associate a measured result with established references. The chain is established in the form of a descendent hierarchy, from the highest metrological reference to the result of the patient sample. The history of metrology in the clinical laboratory is mainly associated with the establishment or preparation of reference measurement procedures and reference materials. Several regional, national and international organizations associated with metrology have played an important role in the adoption of the metrology principles by the clinical laboratories(AU)

Anatomic pathology laboratory information systems: a review.

The modern anatomic pathology laboratory depends on a reliable information infrastructure to register specimens, record gross and microscopic findings, regulate laboratory workflow, formulate and sign out report(s), disseminate them to the intended recipients across the whole health system, and support quality assurance measures. This infrastructure is provided by the Anatomical Pathology Laboratory Information Systems (APLIS), which have evolved over decades and now are beginning to support evolving technologies like asset tracking and digital imaging. As digital pathology transitions from "the way of the future" to "the way of the present," the APLIS continues to be one of the key effective enablers of the scope and practice of pathology. In this review, we discuss the evolution, necessary components, architecture and functionality of the APLIS that are crucial to today's practicing pathologist and address the demands of emerging trends on the future APLIS.

Removing the center from computing: biology's new mode of digital knowledge production.

This article shows how the USA's National Institutes of Health (NIH) helped to bring about a major shift in the way computers are used to produce knowledge and in the design of computers themselves as a consequence of its early 1960s efforts to introduce information technology to biologists. Starting in 1960 the NIH sought to reform the life sciences by encouraging researchers to make use of digital electronic computers, but despite generous federal support biologists generally did not embrace the new technology. Initially the blame fell on biologists' lack of appropriate (i.e. digital) data for computers to process. However, when the NIH consulted MIT computer architect Wesley Clark about this problem, he argued that the computer's quality as a device that was centralized posed an even greater challenge to potential biologist users than did the computer's need for digital data. Clark convinced the NIH that if the agency hoped to effectively computerize biology, it would need to satisfy biologists' experimental and institutional needs by providing them the means to use a computer without going to a computing center. With NIH support, Clark developed the 1963 Laboratory Instrument Computer (LINC), a small, real-time interactive computer intended to be used inside the laboratory and controlled entirely by its biologist users. Once built, the LINC provided a viable alternative to the 1960s norm of large computers housed in computing centers. As such, the LINC not only became popular among biologists, but also served in later decades as an important precursor of today's computing norm in the sciences and far beyond, the personal computer.

LINC: biology's revolutionary little computer.

The 1963 LINC (Laboratory INstrument Computer) stands at the center of two stories: the computerization of the biologist's laboratory and the advent of small-scale computing. The brainchild of Wesley Clark, 'the most brilliant computer designer of his generation', LINC was developed specifically to address the failure of biologists to adopt computer technology. To meet their unique needs, Clark built a machine the radical design of which defied and subverted the then dominant conventions of computer architecture.

The CCL conferences revisited.

The history of the ten conferences on Computing in Clinical Laboratories (CCL) since the first one in Birmingham, UK, 1975, mirrors the developments in medical laboratory computing during nearly twenty years.

History of computer-assisted data processing in the medical laboratory.

Computer-assisted processing of medical laboratory data started in the sixties. The earliest systems, which arose in English- and German-speaking laboratories, pointed the way for the development of laboratory data processing. The significance and evolution of the fundamental components of a laboratory information system, such as the placing of the request to the laboratory, identification of patients and samples, recording of data, quality control, plausibility control and results, are presented. The subject is given a wider perspective by the inclusion of a comprehensive (chronological) literature index.