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Clinical Chemistry is a subdivision of Biochemistry, which addresses the analytical testing of human body fluids in health and disease. The results of clinical chemistry tests can be used to assist the physician in making a diagnosis, monitoring a therapeutic regimen, determining a prognosis, and even (in some cases) as evidence in forensic cases. In this issue, Adam Shirley and co-authors report on the making of a fluorescent assay to measure the concentration of Immunoglobulin E in human body fluids. They offer their insights on how this assay might be incorporated into a working hospital clinical lab. In another article, Tammy Shaw and co-authors review the hormones that regulate glucose metabolism and a variety of pathologies, which affect the blood glucose levels. An algorithm for diagnosing these pathologies is given. In still another article, Erika Harmon Pratte and her co-authors describe the biochemistry and mechanisms of toxicity for four poisons that were popularly used to assassinate one’s enemies during the 16th-18th centuries. These included toxins from Curare, Hemlock, and the Castor bean, to the favorite poison of the de’ Medici era: strychnine. In a fourth article, Hannah Rice and her co-authors review oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes (anti-oncogenes) and the role they play in the development of benign and malignant tumors. Thank you. |
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