BACKGROUND Information regarding the variability of metabolite levels over time in an individual is required to estimate the reproducibility of metabolite measurements. In intervention studies, it is critical to appropriately judge changes that are elicited by any kind of intervention. The pre-analytic phase (collection, transport and sample processing) is a particularly important component of ...

Under normal sealing and storage conditions, Nylon-6, poly-caprolactam-based plastic laminates may release impurities to packaged foods and liquids and the application of heat for cooking often increases the rate of migration. Epsiloncaprolactam is one of the main contaminates found to migrate from a Nylon-6 polycaprolactam plastic film. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect...

Genetics, diet, and other environmental exposures are thought to be major factors in the development and composition of the intestinal microbiota of animals. However, the relative contributions of these factors in adult animals, as well as variation with time in a variety of important settings, are still not fully understood. We studied a population of inbred, female mice fed the same diet and ...

Fresh and cooled, transported semen can be effectively evaluated in the field using a minimal amount of equipment. These tools will aid the practitioner in evaluating transported semen for insemination as well as fresh semen for packaging and shipment. Author’s address: Dept. of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610. © 2001 ...

During summer 2010, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were discovered in the Netherlands. Using genetic markers, we tracked the origin of these mosquitoes to a tire shipment from Miami, Florida, USA. Surveillance of tire exports from the United States should be included as part of a comprehensive surveillance system.

In August 2007, several horses showed pyrexia and respiratory signs while in post-arrival quarantine in Australia. Subsequent investigations diagnosed equine influenza by serology and PCR in two quarantine stations. A common origin in a shipment of horses from Japan was indicated.

Mammalian cells are very important experimental materials and widely used in biological and medical research fields. It is often required that mammalian cells are transported from one laboratory to another to meet with various researches. Conventional methods for cell shipment are laborious and costive despite of maintaining high viability. In this study we aimed to develop a simple and low-cos...

Moving commercial cargo across the US-Mexico border is currently a complex, paper-based, error-prone process that incurs expensive inspections and delays at several ports of entry in the Southwestern US. Improved information handling will dramatically reduce border dwell time, variation in delivery time, and inventories, and will give better control of the shipment process. The Border Trade Fac...

Pre-shipment inspection is usually undertaken by customs administrations and standards bureaus to address security, smuggling, tax evasion and counterfeit goods challenges of imports. The process has predominantly been undertaken using manual based methods which have had considerable shortcomings. Manual methods of inspection at source and manual tracking are subject to abuse and often results ...