Understand your tests
Ferritin: a window into iron stores
What ferritin tells us, why one value is not enough, and how iron fits into the picture.
ANNA MARIA JOURNAL
Articles and guidesto laboratory tests
Reliable information, practical guidance and educational articles to help you better understand laboratory tests and how to prepare for them.
More knowledge for better health.
26 articles
Understand your tests
Vitamin B12 and folate: what the tests can tell you
The roles of B12 and folate, reasons for testing, and how borderline results, diet and supplements affect interpretation.
Understand your tests
TSH and FT4: understanding thyroid function
Two markers with different roles: what they measure, how they relate, and why pregnancy, medicines and biotin matter.
Everyday health
Preparing for blood tests: food, medicines and the questions to clarify
What fasting means, why supplements matter and how to avoid uncertainty before a blood sample is taken.
Understand your tests
Urine culture: from collecting the sample to understanding the result
How a culture differs from routine urinalysis, why the sample matters, and how to understand bacterial growth and susceptibility testing.
Haydn Hammerton · CC BY 4.0 · cropped
Understand your tests
HbA1c: a view of glucose beyond today
The difference between a current glucose reading and HbA1c, preparation, and why context matters.
Understand your tests
How to read laboratory results beyond the red flag
Reference ranges, units, positive results and changes over time: a guide to making better sense of your report.
Everyday health
Pink October: breast health and the latest research
Which changes deserve a conversation with your doctor, how screening differs from assessing a concern, and what studies from 2025–2026 have found.
Understand your tests
Hidden blood in stool: what FIT and gFOBT can tell you
How the two methods differ, why preparation depends on the kit, and what positive and negative results mean.
Everyday health
Free Check-Up in Albania: who is eligible and how it works
From the expansion to citizens over 35 to your family doctor, tests, preparation and results: a guide based on official documents.
Science & discoveries
Blood tests for Alzheimer’s: progress and limitations
What biomarkers measure, who testing is for, and why test quality matters, including a 2026 FDA update.
Everyday health
Antibiotic resistance and the laboratory’s role
How resistance develops, what WHO surveillance shows, and how culture and susceptibility testing support clinical decisions.
Understand your tests
Cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides: beyond one number
How to read a lipid profile, why LDL goals depend on risk, and what to know about fasting and follow-up.
Understand your tests
Kidney health: why eGFR and urine albumin belong together
Two kinds of information for a fuller picture: filtration, albuminuria and the importance of repeated measurements.
Science & discoveries
CRISPR: when gene editing became an approved therapy
A milestone from 2023 explained: what the approval of Casgevy brought, and its limits.
Everyday health
From your visit to your results: how Anna Maria Lab works
Walk-in visits, with clear information about hours, payment and receiving results.
Science & discoveries
A gene therapy designed for one child
What the CPS1 case teaches us about personalised medicine.
Science & discoveries
When brain signals become a voice
An experimental interface aims to restore the rhythm of conversation.
Science & discoveries
Lenacapavir: what the HIV prevention study showed
How to interpret a result with zero observed infections.
Science & discoveries
Beyond glucose: what FLOW found about the kidneys
A clinical trial in people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
Science & discoveries
Shingles vaccination and dementia: a link worth examining
What a natural experiment in Wales can tell us.
Science & discoveries
Lariocidin: a new route against bacteria
A preclinical discovery targets the machinery that makes proteins.
Science & discoveries
CAR-T and autoimmune diseases: hope from a small case series
What follow-up of 15 patients showed, and what remains open.
Science & discoveries
Insulin-producing cells: what one case in China showed
One year of follow-up after an experimental islet-cell transplant.
Science & discoveries
R21/Matrix-M: what the malaria vaccine trial taught us
A large study in children across four African countries.
Science & discoveries
The pangenome: a map that includes more human diversity
Why a single genetic reference cannot represent everyone.
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