Saturday 15 December 2012

The true meaning of being fit and healthy

The word ‘health’ is often misunderstood by many people. Being healthy does not mean to have excess weight neither it means to be disease free at a time. Rather, it means to be physically fit having all the essential nutrients present in the body in the correct percentage and having an inner strength to fight from disease causing micro organisms. To ensure your health, it is imperative that you undergo certain tests on regular basis. Such tests are performed in various national and private laboratories by taking samples of sputum, urine and blood.

The world of micro organisms is a very unusual one. On one side, these organisms cause many types of diseases, while on the other hand, some of them can be beneficial in the treatment of diseases too. Pharmaceutical Microbiology is the branch of medical science under which various tests are performed to determine their curing capabilities. This is particularly called antimicrobial testing which has proved to be very helpful for discovering cures for some lethal health problems.

The substances called antimicrobial substances are capable of killing or preventing the growth of certain disease causing micro organisms. The medicines that we get in the drug market with the name of antibiotics are formed using these substances only. Pharmaceutical Microbiology is a boon for mankind as due to this science, various tests can be performed to find out new drug alternatives for disease treatment and to perform tests on individuals to ensure good health. In addition to this, various new materials can be formed for wrapping food items and other stuff with the help of these test results.

Generally, the health experts recommend these tests to be taken on regular intervals for ensuring a good health. To get these tests performed, you can contact certified laboratories in your area so that you and your family’s health can be ensured.

Thursday 11 October 2012

Pharmaceutical Microbiology – ensuring the wellbeing of the worldly

As the problems like food adulteration and environmental contamination is increasing, there is a severe pressure on people to ensure their health. Health does not mean just being free from diseases and having a good exterior. To ensure that you are fit and fine, you should let some basic tests performed on yourself by professionals. There are a number of laboratories in various parts of the world that perform these tests to ensure a good health of a person. These tests are performed on the sputum, urine or blood of the person and results are observed.
Microbiology is the branch of science that deals with the organisms that cannot be seen from naked eye. These organisms are very small in size and thus these are named as micro organisms like bacteria, fungus, viruses, prokaryotes, etc. Pharmaceutical Microbiology is an extension of this branch of science in which various studies and experiments are performed on these organisms to find out their perception and resistivity for various drugs. Many health problems such as viral, pneumonia, malaria, cancer, tuberculosis are caused by these tiny organisms. The experiments performed on these organisms can prove to be of great help for treating individuals who are suffering from diseases caused by them. This study is particularly called antimicrobial testing. An antimicrobial substance is used to kill or prevent the growth of these micro organisms. Antibiotic medicines are a form of antimicrobial substances. In fact, it is a substance that is produced by a micro organism that does not allow the growth of any other micro organism.
Pharmaceutical Microbiology is a very valuable branch of science for various purposes that are not only applicable in the hospitals but are also required in clinics. Microbiological examinations cover facility corroboration, crude materials testing, sterilization and wrapping supports, and biocompatibility studies related to the devices that can be used again in addition to planned quality control evaluations and like. Many national and private laboratories are there which perform tests on antimicrobials to find out if they can prove to be affective on the human body. Some of these tests are:
  • Antimicrobial/preservative effectiveness testing
  • Antimicrobial assays including disinfection effectiveness
  • Method development and confirmation
  • AATCC techniques
  • International standards regulation
  • Endo-toxin analysis
  • Water systems testing
Though these tests are performed on medical prescription, yet you can also request these laboratories for taking these tests on your body if you want to make sure that you are in good health. You can either find these laboratories in your locality or search for them online. It will be convenient for you to find a lab in close vicinity of the place where you live as this might require more than one visits to the same. Also it will be easy for you to get these tests performed on you on regular basis. But before deciding which lab to trust with these tests, you must visit it personally at least once to see if everything is up to the mark. The place should be hygienic and equipped with sufficient machines and workforce.

Appropriate health check with antimicrobial testing

As modern technologies are pouring in every nanosecond, people are getting more health conscious. For them staying fit and healthy is very important. This is the reason why they keep a thorough check on the foods they eat. Obviously they cannot risk their lives by eating something that could lead their way to fatal situations. Thus, for the goodwill of the people the foods are beforehand well tested.
Around the globe there are many laboratories that conduct antimicrobial testing. Below given are some bacteria and microbes for which the experts are required to carry out testing:

  • Total viable count: this is a type of testing that is carried on foods to depict the overall picture of the microbiological quality.
  • Enterobacteriaceae: these are used as hygiene indicator organism and even given further warnings of the failures that are likely to take place in the future.
  • Coliforms: these are also termed as hygiene indicator organisms but were used in early times.
  • Enterococci: this is type of organisms that are found in the feces of the humans and are used as a maker of feces contamination in products.
  • E.coli: this is responsible for causing food poisoning. They are the members of Enterobacteriaceae and widely used as an indicator in food testing.
  • Staphylococcus aureus: known for causing food poisoning can leave behind toxin if grows in larger number. It survives on human skin and can transfer to the eatables also.
  • Pseudomonas spp: another organism that is responsible for spoiling the food and is often connected with the spoilage of fish products, milk and meat. They are highly found in environment especially in soil and water.
  • Yeasts and Moulds: plays a very important role in spoiling the food and even produce mycotoxins that can harm the humans also.
There are numerous laboratories that test on various antimicrobials that can affect the human body in anyway. Following given are some tests:

  • Antimicrobial or chemical addition Effectiveness Testing: such as USP 51, USP 61, USP 62, Ph.Eur. 5.1.3, JP (12), etc
  • ASTM Antimicrobial Assays as well as Disinfection efficacy
  • ASTM, AOAC
  • Technique development and validation
  • AATCC methods
  • Global standards
  • Custom studies and method improvement
  • Endotoxin testing
  • Water systems like USP <1227>
As said, there are countless labs where you could get these tests done easily. If you wish to find them, then you could take help of your friends and family or even see online. These labs are either situated in the area nearby or have their huge plants situated in faraway if the area of the lab is too large to fit in an ordinary city. The accuracy of the test is almost hundred percent as the antimicrobial testing is done under the supervision of the experts who have been serving the concerned industry for years. These labs have their active websites which you could visit anytime.
If you are the one who is into food and corporation business so for you such labs are real help and you are assured that in future you are not going to receive any complaints from your business associates either.

Monday 3 September 2012

Changing Trends in Microbiology

There are plenty of microbiologists employed in the medical engineering. The production and research of the medicinal aids and other health supplements is done in a microbiology laboratory. Highly efficient microbiologists are engaged in the businesses where food material needs to be supplied to the people. The role of microbiologist in such industry is to make sure of the quality of the food. Foods that will last for a long time are easy to sanction. Also they provide the essentials to increase the productivity of food and quality packing to reduce the risks of spoiling the food and also to ensure the freshness of the food.

With the change in time, the responsibilities of an employee in the area of Pharmaceutical Microbiology have shifted from an uncertain tester to an uncertain risk evaluator. Microbiology is termed as the study of the organisms that are not visible with naked eyes. Some of such micro-organisms include fungus, protists and prokaryotes. All these are properly tested in terms of microbiology. The microbiology actually includes a wide range on functions such as virology, bacteriology, parasitological study, and much more. These are tested for the body’s immune system which is generally termed as immunology.

Likewise Pharmaceutical Microbiology is an expansion of microbiology. One can find a medical microbiology division in almost all the hospitals and research laboratories. In these labs all the clinical samples can be found such as swabs, sputum, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, feces, urine, blood, and contaminated tissues etc. All kinds of medical tests are performed on such samples and a report is generated that is imperative in identifying the cause of illness and the medication that will be the most appropriate one to treat the patient.

A microbiological lab of the hospitals and other medical centers may also consist of living parasites and viruses. Blood sampling, entire blood calculations and conclusions are done on the bases of parasites and viruses in a microbiology lab. In the recent times collecting large amount of data which was previously not researched or analyzed is done against the testing to calculate more effective protection measures.

After testing and researching on a sample an advanced evaluation is required under the Out of limits process. The conventional process and theories of testing and then retesting and again to obtain acceptable results is now termed as risk assessment in the present times. The types of risk assessments include assessment of imperativeness of Corrective and Preventive actions (CAPA) and generally evaluation of manage and asses to make sure that the first type of assessment do not take place for the first time as well. In simple words, taking prevention measures before it is time to cure it.

Risk evaluation tools in medication field is same as the risk analysis tools in other business which includes Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points aka HACCP (from Food industry), Failure Modes and Effects Analysis aka FMEA and Fault Tree Analysis aka FTA. The analysis involves a microbiologist to build extreme knowledge of the manufacturing system and procedures. A microbiologist is the one who is most able to offer a global view and to judge the effect of course and contagion risks, is too often found hidden in the laboratory.

When you install a water filter at home, get the water tested to be fit for drinking

Water is a vital need for the survival of a human being. It is very important to intake an adequate amount of water in a day for proper functioning of the body. Many bodily functions like digestion, excretion and respiration are dependent upon the intake of water. If you don’t drink adequate water daily, number of problems will start taking place starting from dehydration to kidney failure. 

Water intake is essential but what if the water you drink is impure? Contaminated water is very harmful to your body. In place of keeping the body healthy and properly working, you will catch diseases. Thus it is very important to find out the quality of water using purified water testing kits. May be you have got a water purifier at home and drink only filtered water, but maybe some strong bacteria are present in the water that your water purifier cannot kill. So by using these testing kits, you can find out the quality of the water you drink and get your filter replaced with a stronger one to kill the bacteria and make the water suitable for drinking. 

Many people believe that bottled water is the purest form of water. It is true to an extent but there are only a few bottled water producing companies that produce totally decontaminated water. Other companies provide bottled water that is only as good as the tap water. Even in some cases, the tap water is more pure than the bottled water. Well water is also believed to be one of the safest forms of water to be consumed. Just a simple water filter that will get the mud particles out of it is enough to purify it. But the issue with this water is that it may have a foul taste or smell. 

Many people use the very basic technique of purifying the water that is boiling. This certainly kills all the harmful bacteria present in water. It is a good method if you are a family of two or three but for a family of four or more people, it is not feasible to boil the water enough to be consumed by all and also to be used while preparing food. Thus, one solution that can be well suited to all is to install a water purifier in their kitchen so that at least the drinking water and that to be used while preparing food can be ensured to be pure. Everyone has a different budget but you can compromise some of your expenses for just one month to install a water filter at your home for the health of you and your family. There are various kinds of filters like shower filters, whole house filters and sink filtration units that can be installed in houses. So you can get one, first according to your needs and then according to your budget. 

All types of filters cannot provide the best quality water for consumption. So it is essential to get the quality of the water checked by using a purified water testing kit when you install a water purifier at your home.

Friday 3 August 2012

Ensuring proper packaging for hazardous products

It is a commonly known fact that the brain of a child is a very curious one. Whenever they see anything about which they don’t know, they try to know about it by either asking a lot of questions or experimenting by themselves. Every parent has to face a situation at least once during the growing age of his child when he consumes something not fit for eating. It can be a toxic material resulting in hazardous consequences. Either the nature or the shape of a material can be the reason of causing the danger.

Keeping in mind the security of children, many new companies are offering different methods of packaging for various hazardous materials. A special kind of packaging being applied to poisonous materials is called child defiant packaging or 16 cfr 1700 packaging. This special kind of packaging is used to reduce the chances of any mishap that can occur with the usual packaging. This method has been a result of consistent experimenting and research. The materials which necessitate such kind of packaging are:

Prescription drugs

Pesticides

• House cleaning materials

There is a unique kind of cap that is applied to the materials to be packed by this method. This is made in such a way that small children are not able to open it and the elderly people can easily open it. There are many companies in the packaging market which provide this service but all of the companies are not expected to adhere to all the norms for ensuring a safe packaging. Thus, it becomes the responsibility of the consumer to check for precision.

For facilitating this service, various laboratories are working which provide the child- resistant packaging testing services. These companies follow the international standard laid by the government to test whether the packaging is totally child proof and senior- use effective. Apart from testing services, these services also provide other services such as consulting and marketing study of various pharmaceutical and household products. These laboratories provide consultation regarding new and safer designs as they are dealing with such testing procedures for a long time. These conduct market studies and surveys to suggest the preferences of users for different packages.

These companies have a number of specialized equipments for performing various tests. Their staff is well experienced and has been working for finding new techniques to make the packaging safer for home use. The three main factors that are needed to be fulfilled by a safe packaging are child- resistant efficiency, senior usability and re-securing ability. All these three things are tested under many testing procedures. When you select a company for the packaging of your product, make sure that it is able to present you many options from which you can select the most appropriate one. The company providing packaging services must follow the protocol for testing 16 cfr 1700 as set by the international standards for testing. It should be able to test the various pharmaceuticals, drugs and cleaning solutions by various techniques. There should be provisions for testing the packaging in the presence of children and adults.

Know-how to purified water testing

There are a number of water purification systems present that make the water safe for consumption. Initially purifying the water was not compulsory but now days it has become indispensable. Though, it might be a small process but it has its large and vital significance.

Purified water testing or water purifiers are a must since the treatment facilitates the addition of chlorine in the water and this is important in killing the germs and bacteria so that they don’t get passed into the drinking water.

In the testing process, the chlorine is taken out leaving behind the water that is absolutely pure and natural. Though chlorine cleans the water but still it can cause a person to have dry skin, respiratory problems and, in the long run, cancer. Other than chlorine, reverse osmosis is one more technique that is vital for the cleaning process.

There are many evidences in the scientific studies that have shown links between cancer and chlorine. A number of other methods are also present to purify the water but still this process is termed to be tremendously used because it is quiet cheaper and easily afforded.

Testing is one that is able to detect the harmful chemicals and clean them also. Herbicides and insecticides should be found and removed thoroughly as these are threats to life.

There are a number of various chemicals that are found in water and are a threat to life; these can be removed if appropriate method of testing is taken into account. The best purification testing would be the one in which there is a balanced maintained between the mineral content and the pH level of the water. Minerals are the one that make the taste better and maintain a good health. And, if pH is not maintained then drinking the water can be either too alkaline or acidic. This kind of water is not good for skin or digestive system.

In some kind of testing, minerals are removed and only acidic pH is maintained in the water, this is the scene in the case of reverse osmosis, thus further distillation is required in such cases.

It is known to all that body is made up of 70 percent of water. Thus, it is must to purify and test the water before consumption. One cannot buy bottled water every day, thus is must that purified water testing must be carried out so that what water one gets in his house tap is clean and purified. Bottled water is no option, and do you really know that the water is cleaned, so it is must that the locality you live in must get purified water, you must have a system installed at your place so that you yourself can get the purification done.

Testing is basically done to check for the contaminated water and impurities that can cause threat to life and are dangerous. So, the authorities that manage water supply initially carry the testing so that all the people get purified water and remain fit and healthy. If you want to get your water tested then you can hire experts who’ll carry out the test and tell the level of impurities and suitable remedies too.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Your Health Meter – Microbiology Testing

People are very health conscious these days. They wish to stay fit and healthy all the time. To know whether you are healthy or not, you must get yourself tested. Undergoing a laboratory test would let you know how healthy you are. There are many laboratories in and around the country that take up these tests. In order to get yourself checked, you would have to give the urine, blood or sputum to be tested depending on the kind of test you are taking up. Once you give a sample of the same, the professionals in the laboratory perform various tests on it and then give you the results in a particular span of time.

A microbiology laboratory is the one where microscopic organisms such as virus, bacteria, fungi, protozoan etc are studied and tested on. This kind of laboratory would be involved in activities like research and development, microbiology testing, analysis, assays, experiments and research studies. It is capable of determining how one’s body is working. This is why many people go for such tests in these laboratories. Another major component of these laboratories is antimicrobial testing. The objective of this test is similar to all that is stated above but is more peculiar to what its name suggests.

An antimicrobial in general terms is a substance that is used to kill or prevent the growth of the microorganisms. These microorganisms may include bacteria, fungi or protozoan. The most commonly known antimicrobial is an antibiotic. It is a substance released by a microorganism that does not allow another microorganism to grow. The medical science uses this technique to cure many microbial attacks on a human body. They are helpful in treating diseases like viral, pneumonia, cancer, malaria, tuberculosis, etc.

Numerous laboratories perform tests on these antimicrobials to know their effect on a human body. The services provided by these laboratories include the following:-

• Antimicrobial/Preservative Effectiveness Testing such as USP 51, USP 61, USP 62, Ph.Eur. 5.1.3, JP (12), etc.

• ASTM Antimicrobial Assays including Disinfection efficacy.

• ASTM, AOAC

• Method development and validation

• AATCC methods

• International standards

• Custom studies and method development

• Endotoxin testing

• Water systems like USP <1227>

There are a number of laboratories where you can get these tests done. If you wish to know where to find them, you can either ask your friends or relatives to give you references or you can search for them online. Make sure you select a laboratory that is close to your place as it would be beneficial for you to take these tests regularly in due course of time. The accuracy of the tests is the most important criteria while selecting a laboratory for antimicrobial testing. So ensure that the one that you are visiting has good reviews and feedback from the people who have already taken up tests with them. Once you pick on the one that you wish to get the tests done from, you can consult them for your requirements and get them done once you are satisfied with all the details you have obtained.

Child Protection from the Unwanted Elements

It is a common scenario to see children putting things in their mouth every now and then. They do not know whether it is harmful for them or not. This generally happens when they have new teeth coming out or when they are attracted to something. Most often when we want children to take some medicine, we tell them that it a candy. But seldom do we realize that the child might try and take the medicine again considering it to be a candy as we had told them earlier. The risk is always in. We must be ready at our end to fight against it.

We do not have anything in the market that can cure the child once he has consumed something poisonous. So we must be even more careful with such incidents. Everyone tries their level best that this situation must not arise. But you cannot stay around your child 24X7. All hopes turned to medical science for a solution to the same. They discovered something that could have been considered as the last line of defense. This was a package that helped stop the children from ingesting unhealthy and dangerous items. Since it is a crucial matter and involves safety of your child, the package that you intend to use must be tested first. This process is known as child resistant package testing.

There are many laboratories that undertake such testing. Before you use the package on your child, make sure you have it tested through one of the laboratories. You can find a number of such laboratories if you search for them online. An ideal laboratory must consider and abide by the following standards while it is testing the packages:-

• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (16 CFR, part 1700)

• Environmental Protection Agency (40 CFR, part 162)

• Canadian Standards (CSA Z76.1 & Z76.2)

• European Standards (EN8317 &EN14375)

• International Standards (ISO 8317, ISO 13127, ASTM D3475)

Apart from abiding by the standards, these laboratories must have tested numerous packages for child resistance. This would be beneficial as the laboratory would be able to have a comparative analysis of the package and give out better results. While selecting a laboratory, you must also ensure that they provide you with a professional testing program, courteous, knowledgeable service, programs that would complete on time and results that would be reported promptly.

The same issue can occur in the case of a senior person as well. When they have sight issues and lesser knowledge of the medicines, they may encounter such issues. These packages are often used for both children and the aged individuals. So while conducting child resistant package testing, the laboratory must also test it for senior use effectiveness as this aspect is equally important. These laboratories must conduct the tests at various places such as child care centers, schools, camps, shopping malls, senior centers and other forums where children and aged people are available in numbers. A good laboratory with a lot of experience can provide you with package preference and product preference too in accordance with the tests that they have conducted.

Monday 9 April 2012

Keep your child safe from poison packaging by opting for child resistant packaging companies Keep your child safe from poison packaging by opting for child resistant packaging companies

Every one once in his lifetime would have come across a situation where his child or an elderly person from his family might have consumed something poisonous which would have resulted in serious outcomes. This might be due to an unsealed bottle kept near them or may be because of the reason of consuming a medicine often told to be a candy so that he guzzle it without and resistance. There are many products retailed in the market that come with no such security package so as to protect the children.
Keeping in mind the safety of the children, there are numerous companies that have pioneered child resistant packaging. An exceptional sort of packaging known as Child defiant packaging or C-R packaging is used to trim down the threat of children consuming hazardous substance. This is time and again achieved by the exercise of a unique safety cap. The application of this safety cap is necessitated for prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, pesticides, and household chemicals. Few cases have also come into light where child-resistant packaging can prove to be a dilemma for some elderly individuals or disabled people. The set regulations call for designs to be weathered so as to ascertain that the packages offered are easily used by the elderly people. Few authorities however, permit pharmacists to render health drugs in non C-R packages in conditions where there are no children in the same house. There are numerous companies offering such packaging but being a responsible consumer, it is your responsibility to opt for a product that fulfills certain aspects.
Opt for a company that has tested oodles of packaging systems assortments for child-resistance and senior-use efficacy, with the assistance of hundreds of thousands of panelists. The industries should be endorsed to carry out child-resistant wrap up testing as per the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (16 CFR, part 1700), Environmental Protection Agency (40 CFR, part 162), Canadian standards (CSA Z76.1 & Z76.2), European standards (EN8317 & EN14375) and International standard (ISO 8317). The company should be ideal to deliver a specialized testing curriculum, considerate and educated tune-up, line ups accomplished on time and testimony of results without delay.
Always opt for a company that fulfills United States protocol testing for C-R packaging that provides for the analysis of exceptional packaging. The testing employs a hazard-based technique to weigh up synchronized pharmaceutical; domestic and other artifacts based on vulnerability related packaging presentation. The set of rules for ‘special packaging’ incorporate: child-resistant efficiency testing, senior-use usefulness tests and, in definite cases, senior-resecuring effectiveness testing. Prefer a pharmaceutical company that is certified by A2LA (American Association for Laboratory Accreditation) to the ISO/IEC 17025:2005 superiority system for Mechanical Testing under a number of Child-Resistant Packaging Standards.
A proficient Child Resistant Packaging company that surpasses its competitors in this fierce world market should have verified thousands of package proposals by employing hundreds of thousands of panelists. The organizations should have a widespread set-up of both child and senior sites right through. The child testing should be executed at nursery schools, daycare centers and camps, so that the testing is completed in recognizable environment for the child. The senior adult testing on the other hand; should be carried out at senior centers, shopping malls, YMCA’s, and other forums where senior adults are liable to congregate collectively.

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Pharmaceutical Microbiology- Provides remedial ways to help people

Microbiology is commonly known as the study of those organisms that cannot be seen with the naked eyes. Such organisms are termed as micro organisms as they are too small to be seen. Some of the very famous examples of micro organisms are Fungus, protists, and prokaryotes. Viruses normally are not properly known as living beings; however they are also tested properly when it comes to microbiology. In reality, microbiology is actually a wide thing encircling virology, parasitology, bacteriology, over and above usually comprise of the investigation into the body's defense system or just immunology.
Pharmaceutical microbiology is a further extension of microbiology. Every hospital and research labs generally includes a medical microbiology division, where one can frequently find several sort of clinical samples, for instance swabs, feces, urine, blood, sputum, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, and contaminated tissues etc. over here the process is primarily search for alleged pathogens and considering them, together with estimating to find out whether your identified pathogen is absolutely extremely perceptive or resistant in front of a extremely suggested drug. The result is a report identifying the infection-causing micro organism along with the type and in addition to the amount of drugs that have to be given to the affected individual.
The microbiology laboratory in any of the hospitals or clinics may probably also come across parasitic living beings as well as viruses. Work related to blood is frequently furthermore carried out in the laboratories, where, utilizing entire blood samples, entire blood calculations in addition to blood evaluations are completed and the conclusion are drawn based on all such things. On event, blood specimens likely to be citrated to valuate blood clotting moments as well as coagulation factors.
Pharmaceutical Microbiology contains numerous important purposes, that are not only restricted to the hospitals but are also required in clinics. Nowadays one can easily search such associations that proffer microbiological examinations concerning remedial procedure to manufacture the product that fulfills all the fundamentals that also along with authenticated product or service assurance. Examinations cover facility validation, unprocessed materials examinations, sterilization and wrapping supports, biocompatibility, studies related to the devices that can be used again in addition to planned quality control evaluations. Such sort of tests will assist the producers of remedial mechanisms administer to get their products to sell faster and reduce the risk.
A number of microbiologists are working in the medication industry. The medicines, other medication aids and certain health supplements are manufactured and researched carefully in the concerned microbiology laboratories.
The businesses that are engaged in the business of supplying food include a group of microbiologists that are highly skilled and help the industry in proffering such product to the people that is properly made by adopting various quality control measures. The Foods product that will spoil speedily can be difficult to endorse, that is why microbiologists are usually there to provide the essential guidance in order to increase the production by good packaging techniques to reduce spoilage and also amplify freshness of the food stuff.