Between 1989 and 1995, blood surveys were performed for Wuchereria bancrofti infection in several barracks of the Brazilian army in the metropolitan Recife region. For initial screening, 60 microliters of capillary blood were examined for microfilaria. All men who tested positive had microfilaria quantified by filtration of venous blood through a polycarbonate membrane. Of 23,773 men screened, ...

The ability of cells to invade basement membranes is critical to a number of important biological processes, such as cell metastasis, embryo implantation and early development, and inflammation. Several in vitro invasion assays have been developed so that the invasiveness of cells can be measured. These assays are also used to monitor the altered cell response to stimuli or inhibitors, such as ...

The enhanced microdialysis relative recovery (RR) of some hydrophobic tricyclic drugs (imipramine, desipramine, amitriptyline, carbamazepine and promethazine) is discussed. Enhanced RR was achieved by including a binding agent [beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) or 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD)] in the microdialysis perfusion fluid to form inclusion complexes with the drugs, which inc...

BACKGROUND Optimization of assisted conception outcomes involves the development of rapid, safe, effective techniques for the isolation of functional human spermatozoa free from significant DNA damage. In this study we describe a novel electrophoretic sperm isolation technique that achieves these objectives. METHODS The separation system consisted of a cassette comprising two 400 mul chambers...

Metallic nanowires (Au, Ag, Cu, Ni, Co, and Rh) with an average diameter of 40 nm and a length of 3-5 μm have been fabricated by electrodeposition in the pores of track-etched polycarbonate membranes. Structural characterizations by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron diffraction showed that nanowires of Au, Ag, and Cu are single-crystalline with a preferred [111] orientation, w...

CdTe nanowires with controlled composition were cathodically electrodeposited using track-etched polycarbonate membrane as scaffolds and their material and electrical properties were systematically investigated. As-deposited CdTe nanowires show nanocrystalline cubic phase structures with grain sizes of up to 60 nm. The dark-field images of nanowires reveal that the crystallinity of nanowires wa...

AIMS To develop an in vitro model (Colony/drip-flow reactor - C/DFR) for the growth and analysis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) biofilms. METHODS AND RESULTS Using the C/DFR model, biofilms were grown on the top of polycarbonate filter membranes inoculated with a clinical isolate of MRSA, placed on absorbent pads in the DFR and harvested after 72 h. The biofilms varied ...

Preparation of monodisperse vesicles is important both for research purposes and for practical applications. While the extrusion of vesicles through small pores (approximately 100 nm in diameter) results in relatively uniform populations of vesicles, extrusion to larger sizes results in very heterogeneous populations of vesicles. Here we report a simple method for preparing large monodisperse m...