Arabians Ltd. Veterinary Technician Jenna Johnson and Breeding Manager Stephane Robillard

FROM ARABIANS Ltd (www.www.arabiansltd.com):

Arabians Ltd. is excited to have been chosen to be a beta test site for a new equine semen analyzer not yet available on the market, the QwikCheck Gold™ Sperm Analyzer. We are the only site in Texas and one of only 4 places in the country chosen for this honor by the global company Medical Electronic Systems (MES).

One of the other 3 US beta test sites is our affiliate farm, Amethyst Acres in Virginia! It’s great to be able to compare notes in regards to sample quality from our production center with a receiving farm at 24 and 48 hours. Amethyst’s breeding expert Mark Burke provides us valuable information, including how well the semen traveled across the country.

Breeding Manager Stephane Robillard and Veterinary Technician Jenna Johnson have already put the machine to work in this busy breeding season.

MES’ A-Tech (agricultural) division has created this analyzer, which offers us many advances in our Breeding Division. It enables us to provide better-than-ever semen quality for our clients with exact dosage, which we simply could not provide in the past without such technology. It eliminates all guess work and provides us with two values we did not have before, morphology and velocity.

Specifically, the analyzer offers us:

1.  Total motility in percentage (how many sperm cells are moving vs not moving), which could only be estimated by an educated guess before.

2.  Progressive motility in percentage (of all the cells that are moving, which are swimming in a straight line), which could only be estimated by an educated guess before.

3.  Concentration test (how many sperm cell in a milliliter of semen)

4.  Volume of semen calculation (how many millileters of semen are needed to achieve a conception based on the pre-determined requirements)

5.  Dosage of semen and extender calculation (how much is needed for shipping and insemination dose based on current analysis)

6.  Velocity (how vigorous and at what speed are the cells swimming)

7.  Morphology (what percentage of sperm cells are normal/complete and capable of fertilizing the ovum)

MES’ Eric Carver with Arabians Ltd. Veterinary Technician Jenna Johnson and Breeding Manager Stephane Robillard.

Thank you to MES’ Gabe Deutsch and Eric Carver for their assistance, and to Eric for spending a day in our lab, training us on the new equipment.  We are excited about the opportunity to continue to provide great service to our Breeding Division clients! It is so gratifying to see the foals that result from this work.

For more information on Arabian's Ltd. please visit their website:

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VIEW THE ORIGINAL LETTER HERE

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April 26th, 2013

To Whom It May Concern:

We have found the SQA-V to be very reliable and user friendly.  The department has not experienced any downtime since installation and it is very cost effective.  The SQA-V performs a quick 70 second semen analysis and generates a very nice formatted report.

Having the automation of the SQA-V greatly reduces human errors, which is more likely to happen performing the manual method.  We have found that automation provides standardization, accuracy, and repeatability in our testing.  The SQA-V has proven to be beneficial and a great asset to our laboratory.  I highly recommend this instrument and feel it would be profitable to any laboratory that performs semen analysis.

SEE THE ORIGINAL LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION HERE

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Automated Semen Analysis – The end of Manual Analysis? 

Emily ALLEN1, Samantha LE1, Simon COOKE1

1IVF Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Aim: To compare semen analysis parameters between an automated system (SQA-V Gold) and manual semen analysis.

Method: 100 fresh semen samples were manually analyzed following WHO 5th Edition and tested on the SQA-V system. Scientists used for manual analysis were never more than +/- 1SD in external QAP. 56 samples were analyzed once by a human operator and once by SQA-V. 42 samples were analyzed twice by different human operators and then twice by the SQA-V Gold. Passing-Bablok regression plots were produced for concentration and ROC analysis was used for motility and morphology comparisons. Latex beads of known concentration were also counted by 2 operators and then twice by SQA-V Gold to obtain mean and CV for accuracy and precision.

Results: The SQA-V system demonstrates a high degree of precision and much lower intra sample variation than a human.  Concentration was the only parameter where manual analysis mean was similar to automated, although the CV from replicate analysis was 12.8% vs 2.3% Progressive motility had a low CV, however the manual reported mean was significantly larger (58.3% vs 38.7%) with a much narrower dynamic range. Manual morphology showed the greatest inter-operator variability with a CV of 29.9%, with a narrower dynamic range of morphologies than the automated system. Despite the differences in morphology value, 84% of manual morphology results were in the same <4% or >4% Reference range. 

Conclusion: This simple analysis methodology for concentration, motility and morphology, shows much lower CV than humans can count. Concentration is the only manual parameter similar to the automated system. Motility tends to be significantly over-estimated by manual methods, and morphology is confirmed to have the largest variation between operators. The ranges show that humans subconsciously have a low morphology reported range and higher motility range.

During a 75 second test the SQA-V Gold System demonstrates the best precision between the 2 analysis methods, can accurately count concentration, motility and concentration, and will count tens of thousands of sperm at the lower concentrations and millions at high concentrations, reducing the counting error compared to manual systems, where only 400 sperm may be counted. 

DOWNLOAD PDF VERSION HERE | VIEW ALL STUDIES: HERE

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February 16, 2012

RE: SQA-V Letter of Recommendation to Medical Electronic Systems

Dear Eric,

I would like to advise you that our facility has been using the SQA-V for over two years to test patient's semen analysis routinely in the laboratory.  We find that it is the instrument of choice for this analysis and are happy with the performance.

I am happy to write this letter of recommendation as we are satisfied with BOTH the SQA-V instrument and the technical support provided by Medical Electronic Systems.

Sincerely,

Rebecca M. Helwig, MTASCP

UA/Body Fluid Bench Lead

DOWNLOAD THE PDF HERE:

SEE ADDITIONAL LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION HERE

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February 14, 2012

To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing this recommendation on behalf of Medical Electronic Systems, LLC in regards to their product, the SQA-V Gold.  The SQA-V system was installed in our laboratory in 2008 and has been an invaluable tool.  It is a true time saver when processing semen, in not only saving time when performing a count but also for sperm morphology.  It utilizes the WHO 5th method for morphology which is a more accurate method.  Since its introduction and utilization into our laboratory, we are able to handle double the work more efficiently and with quality and accuracy.

I would recommend this product to any clinical laboratory that performs semen analysis.  It is an easy, accurate system that saves time and increases efficiency in the laboratory.

Respectfully,

Peter M. Colaninno, MS, MT(ASCP)SM, CLS(NCA)

Laboratory Manager

Sunrise Medical Laboratories, INC.

DOWNLOAD PDF HERE:

VIEW ADDITIONAL LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION HERE

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February 14, 2012

To Whom It May Concern:

At Hendrick Regional Laboratory we purchased the SQA-V instrument in August of 2011.  Before this we were doing Semen Analysis all manually.  With the manual method it took about 1.5 hours to complete one specimen.  With the SQA-V automated instrument it now takes about 30 minutes to do the complete analysis.  The actual instrument usage is about 10 minutes; this includes the calibration, running 3 controls and running the patient's specimen.  Our lab techs absolutely love it.

we correlated the instrument against the manual method using at least 20 samples.  They compared very well.  We were pleased.

We have done CAP surveys on the instrument and got 100% correct results.

We have not had any instrument errors of malfunctions so far.  We are very satisfied with the instrument and would recommend it to anyone interested.

Debbie Walls MT(AMT)

Hendrick Regional Laboratory

Abilene, Texas

DOWNLOAD PDF HERE:

VIEW MORE LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION HERE

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February 9, 2012

Dear Jamil,

I would first like to say thanks for all your assistance with the validation of our SQA-V Gold analyzer.  Automating our Fertility department was an excellent decision.  My staff is extremely happy and they enjoy using the SQA-V.  It is very user friendly and has positively impacted our tun around time.  Our manual Semen Analysis used to take an hour or more but now [it is] completed within 5 minutes.  We used to do three patients per day by appointment only but currently we do Semen Analysis from 8am-2pm with no appointments necessary.  We used to have a 24hr turn around time for final reports but now final reports go out to the physician on the day of testing.  Our outreach Fertility physicians are very happy with our current turn around time and most importantly, our patients are also very happy.  I would strongly recommend the SQA-V to any facility that is considering automation.  Purchasing the SQA-V has been extremely beneficial because having a happy staff, physicians, and patients is the ultimate goal for any laboratory.  Once again, thank you.  I look forward to our continued partnership.

Sincerely,

Charite Marcellus

Chemistry Depatment Supervisor

Stamford Health

DOWNLOAD PDF HERE:

SEE ADDITIONAL LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION HERE

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

To Whom it May Concern,

HealthAlliance Hospital has used the SQA-V Gold for the past six months.  Before we obtained the SQA-V Gold, we utilized the SQA-V for five years.  HealthAlliance Hospital is a busy 200 bed hospital located one hour west of Boston.  Securing the SQA analyzer has allowed us to service clients who would otherwise have to travel an hour east for semen analysis.  Performing a manual semen analysis requires more technical labor than we can justify and a standard of technical expertise that is difficult to obtain and sustain.  Standardization between technologists and proficiency testing is now a problem from the past.  The SQA-V Gold is east to operate and has proven to be accurate and dependable.  We have not had one operational failure in five years.  Technical support at MES has been terrific!

There is minimal maintenance and the cost of consumables [is] very reasonable.  We are not able to provide both full semen analysis testing and post vasectomy testing 7 days a week on both first and second shift.  Out Urology and Fertility physicians have been satisfied with the testing parameters, the ability to capture both photographs and videos of the sample and the analyzer's report format.

Sincerely,

Connie White MT (ASCP)

Laboratory Manager

Health Alliance Hospital

Leominster, MA. 01453

DOWNLOAD PDF HERE:

VIEW MORE LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION HERE

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