CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

8
ESSENTIALS OF CLINICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE
range of approaches are being developed that show promise against diseases that
have previously resisted treatments to effect a total cure. Some and perhaps all
cancers are known to have a genetic component, as certain families have a predisposition
for developing a certain type. Gene therapy shows a great deal of promise
by manipulating or replacing certain genes when defective copies are present. Laboratory
tests are available that reveal certain tumor markers on cells indicating the
type of cancer present, and these tests are constantly growing in number.
George Wells Beadle, Edward Lawrie Tatum, and Joshua Lederberg in 1941
were awarded the Nobel Peace in medicine for their discovery that genes act by
regulating definite chemical reactions and specifically for the organization of
the genetic material of the bacterium Neurospora. This was an apparent turning
point in the understanding of the effect of genes and their expressions on genebased
diseases of living organisms. In 1962, James Watson, Francis Crick, and
Maurice Wilkins jointly received the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology for
their determination in 1953 of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
Because the Nobel Prize can be awarded only to the living, Wilkins’s colleague
Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958), who died of cancer at the age of 37, could not
be honored. Subsequent to this discovery, which enabled an understanding of the
roles that genes play in physiology and metabolism, several other developments
led to the sophisticated work in today’s clinical laboratory. Current literature
in the news and distributed by professional agencies for the laboratory such as
the American Society of Clinical Pathologists is readily available to laboratory
students and professionals. These publications provide data on a regular basis
regarding recent developments that most likely will lead to a better understanding
of genetic disorders. These advances may lead to the use of more genetic tests
in the laboratory and may eventually become routine arsenals for the physician
to use.
During the U.S. Civil War, many more deaths were caused by infection than
by the severity of the wounds. Following this war, many practices that had developed
during the internecine struggle, such as transportation of the wounded by
ambulance for treatment behind the lines in a house, other building, or tent, were
adopted by the civilian medical community. This model for quick and effective
treatment persisted into World War I and evolved into rapid treatment in sanitary
facilities for the wounded soldier. World War II and the Vietnam Conflict
in turn contributed a great deal more of what has been learned through treatment
of trauma, and these emergency techniques are being used in emergency
departments and surgical suites of civilian hospitals to save many lives. Rapid
and effective treatment for most trauma and for many infectious and metabolic
diseases can be credited to efforts of the armed forces as they fought to preserve
the fighting strength.
These major conflicts, especially the Vietnam Conflict, contributed heavily
toward the development of rapid diagnostic tools, along with rapid treatment for
trauma and battlefield administration of fluids and blood to save lives. Some
basic laboratory testing using hand-held or portable devices was being performed
in the field and in tents during the Vietnam Conflict in the 1960s
and 1970s. Paramedics are now equipped with sophisticated instruments and
equipment that were developed during wartime and adapted to civilian use.
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