OBJECTIVE Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks may present as rhinorrhea or otorrhea and can lead to life-threatening complications if not detected. The usefulness of the morpholinopropanesulfonic acid (MOPS)-histidine buffer in detecting β₂-transferrin, which is only found in the cerebrospinal fluid, was compared with the standard barbital buffer. METHODS We evaluated 20 aural or nasal patient sp...

Gellified media prevent convection and crystal sedimentation, and provide an attractive growth environment for optimising biological crystals. Agarose gels are particularly easy to use and they are compatible with most of the common crystallization methods. They also offer new possibilities like counter-diffusion techniques. This paper gives a brief overview of their general properties and pres...

We have developed a hydrogel-based microstamp device that internally contains an electrochemical system for controlled supply of reactive ink to the stamp surface. An agarose stamp was combined with a microelectrode system for the controlled supply of HBrO by an electrochemical reaction. The supplied HBrO will detach the heparin layer pre-coated on substrates and allow selective adsorption of p...

BACKGROUND Immunocytochemistry (ICC) on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded cell blocks is an ancillary tool commonly recruited for differential diagnoses of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) samples. However, the quality of conventional cell blocks in terms of adequate cellularity and evenness of distribution of cytologic material is not always satisfactory for ICC. We introduce a modified a...

An ionic liquid, 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl) was blended with urea at 1:1 mole ratio to create a BmimCl/Urea mixture. The agarose/talc composite films containing the BmimCl/Urea mixture were then acquired through a gelation method. The weight ratio of agarose and talc was fixed at 4:1, while the content of BmimCl/Urea was varied from 0 to 10 wt % relative to the overall weig...

A new approach for characterization of agarose gel permeability under compression at different loading velocities is proposed. Uniaxial compression tests on thin agarose gel specimens in a rigid porous confinement cell immersed in a water bath are undertaken. The equilibrium response of the gel, which is assumed to be achieved under extremely low-loading velocity (of the order of tens nanometer...

Two beta-agarase genes, agaA and agaB, were functionally cloned from the marine bacterium Zobellia galactanivorans. The agaA and agaB genes encode proteins of 539 and 353 amino acids respectively, with theoretical masses of 60 and 40 kDa. These two beta-agarases feature homologous catalytic domains belonging to family GH-16. However, AgaA displays a modular architecture, consisting of the catal...

The encapsulation of mammalian cells within the bulk material of microfluidic channels may be beneficial for applications ranging from tissue engineering to cell-based diagnostic assays. In this work, we present a technique for fabricating microfluidic channels from cell-laden agarose hydrogels. Using standard soft lithographic techniques, molten agarose was molded against a SU-8 patterned sili...

Our objective was to test the hypothesis that self-assembling peptide hydrogel scaffolds provide cues that enhance the chondrogenic differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs). BMSCs were encapsulated within two unique peptide hydrogel sequences, and chondrogenesis was compared with that in agarose hydrogels. BMSCs in all three hydrogels underwent transforming growth factor-beta1-media...

Objective: Dexamethasone (Dex) is a synthetic glucocorticoid that has pro-anabolic and anticatabolic effects in cartilage tissue engineering systems, though the mechanisms by which these effects are mediated are not well understood. We tested the hypothesis that the addition of Dex to chondrogenic medium would affect matrix production and aggrecanase activity of human and bovine bone marrow str...