A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Orion Health (Santa Monica, California), a provider of clinical workflow and integration technology, reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal Plant Health Inspection Services, Veterinary Services has selected its Rhapsody Integration Engine to assist its National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) in integrating test results and track animal diseases.

The Rhapsody Integration Engine from Orion will be used to extract approved information from state animal health laboratories information systems, reformat the data into identified NAHLN standardized data and report information back to Veterinary Services.

To monitor livestock for the prevention of deadly and economically damaging diseases, the USDA began establishing the NAHLN in 2002. Approved laboratories contribute test results to the national system, enabling the tracking of animal disease and providing laboratory data which alerts the national system to animal disease outbreaks and other adverse animal health situations, including bioterrorism events.

Laboratories regularly test for prion or "mad cow" diseases, exotic Newcastle disease and avian influenza among other diseases.

"Rhapsody will help us overcome the challenges inherent in managing huge volumes of data in multiple formats and could mean a faster response if an outbreak occurs," said Paul Viskovich, president of North American Operations for Orion. "Rhapsody will help integrate data from independent labs, increasing the USDA's monitoring ability and enhancing U.S. bio-security."

In other agreement news:

• Cohesive Technologies (Franklin, Massachusetts) reported entering into an agreement with the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota) to increase patient sample throughput and improve data quality using Cohesive's turbulent flow chromatography (TurboFlow) systems for clinical assays using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS).

The collaboration has been established to accelerate the development of clinical assays in such areas as endocrinology, toxicology, drug monitoring, and neonatal screening. The companies will share in the development of new TurboFlow and mass spectrometry methods in order to improve the quality and efficiency in diagnostics for adults, children, and newborns.

Cohesive said its systems have been adopted because they address sample preparation bottlenecks and reduce capital requirements.

Peter Glick, president/CEO of Cohesive, said, "We see this collaboration as a way to develop more powerful methods sooner, which will enable physicians and their patients to get more accurate results, and thus improve the quality of care."

Cohesive makes liquid chromatography systems and chemistries for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and clinical diagnostic marketplace.