RCLS and the Effects of Thyroid Disease
RCLS and the Effects of Thyroid Disease
As it is coming up to the end of the month, Randox Clinical Laboratory Services would like to take the opportunity to raise awareness for Thyroid disease. January is Thyroid Awareness Month, a full month to raise more awareness about the thyroid gland, the symptoms and why it is vitally important for our overall health and well-being.
What is Thyroid disorder:
Although the thyroid is a small, butterfly-shape gland in the base of the neck, it is very important for our body as it influences the function of the body’s most important organs including the heart, brain, liver, kidneys and skin. 1 It also regulates our rate of metabolism, growth and development and even our body temperature. Therefore, thyroid gland plays a key role to our health and well-being.
Thyroid disorder is very common throughout the world. One in twenty people in the UK are affected by Thyroid disorder 2. The symptoms of having Thyroid Disease aren’t obvious consequently why the disease is known as “the silent disease”. You could have the disease without being aware because it often develops over several years before you get an obvious symptom.
Hypothyroidism
The Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) is one of the two most common thyroid disorders.
The underactive thyroid is when your thyroid gland produces less thyroid hormones than it should cause by the immune system attacking the thyroid gland and damaging it. 3
Although the symptoms usually develop slowly and doesn’t seem like a serious health indicator, according to the NHS3 the following are the common signs of hypothyroidism:
- Tiredness
- Being sensitive to cold
- Weight gain
- Constipation
- Depression
- Slow movements and thoughts
- Muscle cramps / weakness
- Dry and scaly skin
- Irregular or heavy periods
- Pain, numbness and tingling in the hands and fingers.
It is vital that an underactive thyroid is diagnosed and treated as soon as possible to prevent long term problems such as high cholesterol, atherosclerosis, hearing loss, angina and even a heart attack. The silent disease can also lead to further complications such as Goitre. 3Goitre is when there is abnormal swelling of thyroid gland which causes a lump to form in the throat. It could also result in pregnancy complications for women for example, pre-eclampsia, anemia, birth defects, premature or even stillbirth/miscarriage.
Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) is also a common thyroid disorder but it complete opposite of hypothyroidism. This disorder is where the thyroid gland produces extra levels of hormones which can be unpleasant and result serious health problems 4.
The NHS also stated the symptoms of the overactive thyroid which includes the following:
- Nervousness / anxiety
- Mood swings
- Difficulty sleeping
- Tiredness and weakness
- Sensitivity to heat
- Irregular heart rate
- Twitching
- Weight loss
If an overactive thyroid isn’t treated or controlled properly it can consequence further problems for example, problems with eye vison, pregnancy complication such as premature birth or miscarriage and a thyroid storm when there is a life-threatening flare-up of all the symptoms.4
Although, thyroid disease is silent It is extremely vital that everyone is aware of the symptoms of both thyroid disease to prevent the long-term effects and have a long healthy life.
Randoxs Thyroid Free Arrays:
Randox Clinical Laboratory Services offers Randox Thyroid Arrays enable simultaneous determination of the following thyroid hormones in a single patient sample on our Evidence Investigator.
- Thyroid Free Array
- Free thyroxine (FT4)
- Free tri-iodothyronine (FT3)
- Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)
- Thyroid Total Array
- Total thyroxine (TT4)
- Total tri-iodothyronine (TT3)
- Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)
For more information about our Thyroid Array or Evidence Investigator email info@randoxbiosciences.com
- http://thyroidawareness.com/
- http://www.btf-thyroid.org/8-general/2-thyroid-disorders-affect-one-in-twenty-people-in-the-uk-could-you-be-one-of-them
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/underactive-thyroid-hypothyroidism/causes/
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/overactive-thyroid-hyperthyroidism/
RCLS and Multiplex Sexually Transmitted Infections
The Randox Clinical Laboratories Services (RCLS) team strives to meet the time sensitive, custom-made requirements of research and clinical projects. Accordingly, RCLS is also able to provide support and guidance. They specialise in biomarker and multiplex testing which provide full laboratory services to aid project aims and timelines whilst saving time and money. Currently, there are four laboratories across the UK located in Liverpool, London, Holywood and the Randox Science Park in Antrim.
In 2017 approximately 422,000 diagnoses of STIs were made in England1 and over one million STIs are acquired every day 2.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a viral or bacterial infection passed from one person to another through unprotected sexual contact.3 Most STIs are curable however, it takes time for the symptoms to appear or show up in tests. Others have no cure, such as HIV, but can be treated to prevent the disease getting worse. Common symptoms of STIs include vaginal discharge, urethral discharge or burning in men, genital ulcers, and abdominal pain 2 although, a person can have an STI without having obvious symptoms of disease.
Randox Clinical Laboratory Services offers a multiplex sexually transmitted infection array allowing you to outsource sample STI testing. It includes common STIs such as Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea, Syphilis, Herpes Simplex I, Herpes Simplex II. The full Multiplex Array can be seen below.
The simultaneous detection is made possible by our award-winning and innovative Biochip Array Technology which utilises multiplex testing methodology in a rapid and accurate format. The type of sample which is sent to our RCLS lab is determined by the visibility of the symptoms. Non-visible symptoms will require a urine sample whereas visible symptoms will require a swab sample.
There are many benefits to outsourcing your STI samples with RCLS, which include the following:
- CE-marked
- ISO17025 Accredited Laboratories
- Excellent precision, specificity, sensitivity and accuracy for diagnosis
- Reduced risk of false reporting and a reduced number of unnecessary tests
- Smaller sample volumes are required therefore enabling faster throughput and rapid patient diagnosis
STI Multiplex Array:
- Chlamydia trachomatis
- Neisseria gonorrhoea
- Herpes simplex 1
- Herpes simplex 2
- Treponema pallidum
- Mycoplasma hominis
- Ureaplasma urealticum
- Mycoplasma genitalium
- Haemophilius ducreyi
- Trichomonas vaginalis
If you would like more information on RCLS or our STI testing please contact info@rcls.com
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-data-reveals-420000-cases-of-stis-diagnosed-in-2017
- http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sexually-transmitted-infections-(stis)
- https://sexualhealthdorset.org/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis
To find out more about our Biochip Array Technology and our Evidence Series analysers, visit www.randoxtoxicology.com, or email us at info@randoxtoxicology.com
Randox Clinical Laboratory Services: Experienced Staff Dedicated to Meeting Your Outsourcing Needs
With Lab Week occurring this week, RCLS wants to take the opportunity to draw recognition to their dedicated and experienced team of scientists who enable you to meet the time sensitive, bespoke requirements of your research and clinical projects globally. Lab Week occurs annually to celebrate medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in health care and patient advocacy.
Specialising in biomarker and multiplex testing in addition to standard safety and clinical testing, RCLS provides a full laboratory service to accelerate your project to completion. Our experienced project management teams are available to provide support and guidance from initial biomarker selection through to the design of a comprehensive results data package to deliver against your project aims and timelines.
Flexibility and quality are at the core of our service offering. Our in-house biotechnology group enables custom development and scale up monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, antibody fragments (Fab’s, ScFv’s, sdAb’s) and recombinant proteins to meet your laboratory needs.
Currently, there are four state of the art, fully functional ISO12025 accredited laboratories, located in Liverpool, London, Holywood and the Randox Science Park in Antrim. In addition, two laboratories are underway in Los Angles and Dubai. These additions will give RCLS the ability to increase output to both the pharmaceutical, health and research market.
Renowned for quality and reliability, the RX Series and Evidence series are utilised by all RCLS Laboratories, guaranteeing real cost savings, highly accurate and flexible testing solutions. Furthermore, RCLS perform sample testing on numerous third party analysers situated in our laboratories dependent upon the testing which is required by the customer.
Overall, the RCLS team aim to save your laboratory time and money. By utilising our multiplex panels, RCLS can offer labour saving, time reducing and cost effective solutions for all your laboratory testing. Providing your laboratory with the best solution to outsource your testing.
If you would like to find out more information about RCLS and what it has to offer contact info@rcls.com or visit our website www.rcls.com
RCLS – at the cutting edge of laboratory innovation
Randox Clinical laboratory Services (RCLS) is the latest offering from Randox, Built over 35 years of experience producing high quality IVD products, Randox Clinical Laboratory Services (RCLS), is dedicated to providing a clinical laboratory service designed to meet the time sensitive, bespoke requirements of research and clinical projects globally.
RCLS currently has four state of the art, fully functional ISO12025 accredited laboratories across the UK. They are situated in Liverpool, London and two in Northern Ireland, Hollywood and Randox Science Park in Antrim. RCLS looks to expand their team of experienced scientists, working towards further accreditations and furthermore setting up two additional labs in Dubai and Los Angeles. The addition of these purpose built labs will give RCLS the ability to increase output to both the health and research market.
Ann-Marie Jennings, Laboratory Manager for Randox Clinical Laboratory Services, discusses the Randox Biochip Array, RCLS’ abilities and confidence in testing;
“On our patented Randox Biochip Array Technology we can customize bespoke testing platforms based on the requirements of each drug development project, which can be a challenging process. From initial product development to clinical trial stages there can be a number of barriers and time constraints before drugs are successfully released to the public. We’re confident that our newly enhanced capabilities will benefit patients suffering from conditions in most need of research by offering pharmaceutical companies at the forefront of pioneering research, with the latest technological developments.”
Thanks to these state of art laboratories, RCLS will now be able to provide an increasingly wide range of testing services to Biotechnology, research and pharmaceutical companies delivering the testing services required to support their research and drug development projects.
With the ability to conduct an unrivalled range of health testing – haematology, biochemistry and immunoassay – all under one roof, the laboratory offers unparalleled support services to the dynamic and growing healthcare industry. With a greater understanding of human complexity, pharmaceutical companies are now focusing on developing safer drugs tailored to specific patient groups or sub-groups and the expansion plans in motion at RCLS will help these organisations bring new drugs to market faster.
If you would like more information on Randox Clinical Laboratory Services, please contact us by emailing us at info@rcls.com
