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Showing posts with label Discussion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Discussion. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Illuminating Cancer: The Crucial Role of Software Testing in Comprehensive Cancer Profiling

Cancer is a frightening and complex illness that impacts the lives of numerous individuals across the globe. In the past few years, remarkable progress has been achieved in diagnosing and treating cancer, largely due to the creation of comprehensive cancer profiling methods. One such method involves using immunofluorescence (IF) assays to identify specific cancer biomarkers, like HER2 and ER, in blood samples. Measuring HER2 and ER levels with IF assays help doctors determine the cancer subtype, diagnosis, and best treatment approach. However, the precision and dependability of these assays heavily rely on the software programs used to examine and interpret the results. This is where software testing becomes critical.

Understanding Comprehensive Cancer Profiling

Comprehensive cancer profiling is an innovative strategy for diagnosing and treating cancer that entails examining a patient's cancer at the molecular level. By pinpointing specific genetic changes, protein expression patterns, and other biomarkers, physicians can acquire a more thorough understanding of a patient's unique cancer and customize treatment accordingly.

One of the most encouraging methods for comprehensive cancer profiling is the use of IF assays to identify cancer biomarkers in blood samples. IF assays employ fluorescently labeled antibodies that attach to specific proteins or other molecules in a sample, enabling them to be visualized and measured under a microscope. By assessing the levels of certain biomarkers, such as HER2 and ER, doctors can establish the subtype and aggressiveness of a patient's cancer and choose the most suitable treatment options. To make it simple, imagine you have a special flashlight that only shines on a specific type of object, like a particular toy in a messy room. In this case, the flashlight is the fluorescently labeled antibody, and the toy is the protein or molecule you want to find in a sample, like a piece of tissue or a group of cells.

The Crucial Role of Software Testing

Although IF assays have the potential to transform cancer diagnosis and treatment, their precision and reliability depend on the software applications used to analyze and interpret the results. These applications must be capable of accurately detecting and quantifying the fluorescent signals produced by the assay, distinguishing true positive results from background noise, and generating consistent and reproducible results across various samples and assay runs. This is where software testing becomes essential.

There are several key areas where software testing helps enhance the precision and reliability of IF assays for cancer profiling:

1. Assay Validation

Before an IF assay can be utilized for clinical decision-making, it must undergo extensive validation to ensure its accuracy, precision, and reproducibility. Software testing plays a vital role in this validation process by verifying that the assay software is correctly detecting and quantifying the fluorescent signals generated by the assay. This is accomplished by testing the software with a range of known positive and negative control samples. Testing with these controls helps guarantee that the software can accurately differentiate between true positive and true negative results. It also involves testing the software's ability to produce consistent results across different assay runs and operators.

2. Image Analysis

IF assays generate intricate images of fluorescently labeled cells that must be analyzed by specialized software to extract meaningful data. Software testing is crucial for ensuring that the image analysis algorithms are correctly identifying and quantifying the relevant fluorescent signals while minimizing background noise and artifacts. For testing the software is put through a series of tests using a diverse set of images to ensure that it can correctly analyze the fluorescent signals, identify different cell types, and generate consistent and reliable data, even when the quality of the images may vary due to factors related to sample preparation or image acquisition.



3. Data Management

IF assays generate vast amounts of complex data that must be securely stored, managed, and analyzed to generate clinically meaningful results. Testing becomes critical for ensuring that the data management systems are reliable, efficient, and compliant with relevant regulations and standards. This is achieved by testing the software's ability to securely store and retrieve data, maintain data integrity and traceability, and generate accurate and complete reports. It also involves testing the software's performance and scalability to ensure that it can handle large volumes of data without compromising speed or accuracy. There are various COTS products available to achieve the goals listed above.

4. Clinical Decision Support

The goal of comprehensive cancer profiling using IF assays is to provide pathologists with actionable information to guide treatment decisions. Software testing is essential for ensuring that the clinical decision support systems are accurately interpreting the assay results and providing reliable and evidence-based recommendations. The process includes testing of software's ability to integrate data from multiple assays and other clinical sources, apply complex algorithms and decision rules, and generate clear and concise reports that highlight the most relevant findings and recommendations. It also involves testing the software's usability and user interface to ensure that lab technicians can easily access and interpret the results.

Bottom Line

As cancer profiling techniques continue to advance and become more complex, the role of software testing will only become more important. By collaborating closely with assay developers, clinicians, and researchers, software testers can help ensure that these powerful tools are used safely and effectively to improve the lives of cancer patients. This can lead to better patient outcomes, lower healthcare costs, faster drug development, and improved research insights.

Glossary:

  • Biomarkers are measurable indicators of the severity or presence of some disease state. In cancer, biomarkers can include proteins, genes, or other molecules that provide information about the cancer's behavior, prognosis, and response to therapy.
  • An assay refers to a laboratory procedure or test used to detect, measure, and analyze specific molecules or biological markers in a sample.
  • IF assays use fluorescent dyes to label and detect these biomarkers in tissue or blood samples. Two important biomarkers in breast cancer are HER2 and ER:
    • HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) is a protein that promotes the growth of cancer cells. Cancers with high levels of HER2 tend to be more aggressive.
    • ER (estrogen receptor) is a protein that binds to the hormone estrogen and helps the cancer grow. Cancers with ER are called "ER-positive" and can be treated with hormone therapy drugs.
  • Positive controls contain the biomarker being tested and should always give a positive result. They ensure the assay is working properly.
  • Negative controls do not contain the biomarker and should always give a negative result. They check for any background noise or false positive signals.
  • Operators refer to the individuals or technicians who are running the assay and using the software to analyze the results. When validating an assay and its associated software, it is important to ensure that the results are consistent and reproducible, not only across different assay runs but also when different operators are using the system.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

A Simple Solution of A Common Problem


Problem:

A new aspiring tester in the team was given the test cases and asked him to execute the test cases. This new aspiring tester was just completed his degree in computer engineering. He was one of the brilliant students in his batch. Everybody including the management of the company was expecting him to do well in his job. So this new tester started executing the test cases for the first time and then for the next time and so on. All test cases were passed and no bug was logged.  

After a month the tester was terminated from the project.  As per management the new aspiring tester couldn't become a tester because he didn't have the flame that a tester must have. The Tester was expelled from the team. Now he was sitting on the bench and thinking what went wrong.

How many of you have seen this problem? Actually I have seen a few and I had been also thinking what went wrong in this case.

Understanding the Problem:

Recently I was reading a clinical tale by Oliver Sacks. The tale was about a patient who was congenitally blind with cerebral palsy. The conditions are more pathetic than we can think of – she was suffering of spasticity and athetosis, i.e., involuntary movements of both hands, which was added due to failure of the eyes.

After initial tests and checkup it was found that there was no sensory ‘deficit’. Her hands would seem to have the potential of being perfectly good hands—and yet they were not. They were functionless—’useless’—because she had never used them. Had being protected and looked after since birth prevented her from the normal exploratory use of the hands which all infants learn in the first months of life.

Can you correlate the problem with the case mentioned above?

The real problem is that new aspiring tester was being pampered by the management itself. Instead of really doing the testing he was asked to follow the test cases which are most probably written by someone else. Initially, following the test cases made his task easy. He used to execute the test cases and finishes the task early. He couldn’t learn how to test from this exercise and we all know the result. The tester was put on bench (Literally killed the aspiring tester)

Solution:

A new aspiring tester in the team was given the application and asked him to test it for all the functional and usability issues. This new aspiring tester was just completed his degree in computer engineering. He was one of the brilliant students in his batch. Everybody including the management of the company was expecting he would do great in his profession. So this new tester who was hesitant initially started with exploring the application. Think about the infant who reaches for the breast when feeling hungry. Similarly the new aspiring tester took some time but he did some testing and logged few good issues.

Benefits from this Solution:
  • Confident and satisfied tester
  • Better Testing
  • More No. of bugs
  • A lively job
  • Better Self Education
  • Happy Management
What do you think? Does it seem a right solution to you?

Reference: "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat" by Oliver Sacks

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Search by POST method–A small research

This post is based on a small research I have done on Mozilla Firefox Search Plug-in.

Searchbar

The research started with the study of cookies stored by Mozilla Firefox and moved towards building the Mozilla Firefox Search Plug-in for my blog. My research is not finished yet but still I would like to share an opportunity I found testing these Search Plug-ins.

Testing Nook

While exploring these search plug-ins I noted that every search plug-in is using GET method to send the search query to Search Engine. It seems fine to me as it is just a search so using POST method to send the request doesn’t make a sense to me, but then I thought other way – What would happen if POST method is used to send the request to server. I got curious about this and start to edit the properties of these plug-ins. I have tested multiple search plugins to see how corresponding search engines handles the request sent by POST method and found these three different behaviours:

Google: Google was first search plug-in I tested. When I sent search request to Google using POST Method, I got an error page like this:

Error 405 (Method Not Allowed)!!1 2011-10-18 20-08-21

It seems appropriate. Google doesn’t serve any search request being send by POST Method but then a question is raised - does a non technical user really understand what is POST method? For eg.: My wife doesn’t know this terminology and she will definitely call me for help if she get such error from the Google.

(See the Error Code 405. I have not seen this error earlier. So my research also helped me to find a new error message Winking smile)

Yahoo: The next search engine was Yahoo. Initially I thought that Yahoo will give the same result as given by Google but it proved me wrong. To my surprise Yahoo has given the result for the search query I sent using POST method.

Hello - Yahoo! Search Results 2011-10-18 20-11-15

Bing: The third major search plugin which I tested was Bing – A Microsoft Product. I love my job because it surprises me and it surprises me daily. Till now I have tested two major search engines Google and Yahoo dealing with the request sent using POST method and both of them have given me different results. Once again I was guessing the result before testing. Based on my two previous results I was thinking that Bing should either display the error message or it should display the search result. I have not thought of any other result but surprisingly, Bing has given some unexpected result:

Bing 2011-10-18 20-20-39

Instead of displaying search results or any error, it has opened Bing Search Engine.

I have tested for few other search plugins for different search engine but result are more of the same as these three. Now, question is which search engine has served the user’s request properly: Google, Yahoo or Bing. Think as a tester, Think as a developer and Think as an end user.

Post me your answers with the reason in Comments section, we can have a good discussion on it.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Just Chit - Chat


Finally, I am writing this blog post. It has been a long time I have written something. For last few days I have been trying to write but I couldn't make it but as it is said Better Late Than Never so here I am. Before moving further let me inform you that this post is not about software testing but still you can find it useful and interesting.

For last six months I was not much active on the web. No chat, No blog post, No discussion – Everything was like stopped. This six months were least productive in my career. Although I have learned testing but a little, I have discussed testing but a little and the worst part is I have practiced testing but a little.

Officially, I am doing good (Its my Manager's view not mine) but personally I was missing the freedom in testing. I have realized that software testing is an art and art can't be crafted without freedom. If thoughts of a poet is bound, he can't write the poem. Similarly, a tester mind bounded by test cases can not test actually. Its better to leave it free. I was also trapped with them but now I have started to learn how to separate the official life and tester life. Now, I think I can handle both together.

Although last few months were not good but still I have learned few things which I would like to share with you:
  1. Quantity matters in corporate life :)
  2. It is very difficult to change the perception of others. Believe me, I have tried and I was miserably failed.
  3. Team is good; individual is better and I am still looking for best :)
  4. A person can do anything – it just needs strong determination. I have experienced it.
  5. There are only two kinds of tester – Good and Bad. Rest categories falls under these two.
And yes, two most interesting quotes which I heard. You can laugh after reading them:
  1. 60% of testing is completed once you have written the test cases good enough.
  2. Exploratory Testing is a luxurious kind of testing.