conclusion according to the results of our series, percutaneous liver biopsy using the tru-cut biopsy gun guided by ultrasonography can be performed safely. we resolve that routine ultrasound of the puncture site is a quick, effective and safe procedure. the complication rate is very low. the us-assisted percutaneous liver biopsy should be used for all cases. results a total of 1018 patients we...

We investigated the performance of a new collection tube for the preparation of EDTA anti-coagulated plasma for viral load testing. HCV RNA copy numbers were measured with a commercially available assay (the Amplicor HCV MonitorTM test kit). Blood specimens were collected from HCV-seropositive individuals in the VACUTAINER Brand Plasma Preparation TubeTM and a control, non-gel separator VACUTAI...

Atom-probe tomography (APT) provides atomic-scale spatial and compositional resolution that is ideally suited for the analysis of grain boundaries. The small sample volume analyzed in APT presents, however, a challenge for capturing mesoscale features, such as grain boundaries. A new site-specific method utilizing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for the precise selection and isolation of...

A variety of chemical substances have been used to relax and/or immobilize polychaete worms, and other invertebrates, prior to specimen preparation for morphological examination. To solve difficulties encountered during the study of nereidid polychaetes (Annelida: Phyllodocida), an experiment was designed and carried out to investigate a new relaxing agent to immobilize nereidid specimens and s...

Light-sheet imaging is rapidly gaining importance for imaging intact biological specimens. Many of the latest innovations rely on the propagation-invariant Bessel or Airy beams to form an extended light sheet to provide high resolution across a large field of view. Shaping light to realize propagation-invariant beams often relies on complex programming of spatial light modulators or specialized...

Most multiphoton imaging of biological specimens is performed using microscope objectives optimized for high image quality under wide-field illumination. We present a class of objectives designed de novo without regard for these traditional constraints, driven exclusively by the needs of fast multiphoton imaging in turbid media: the delivery of femtosecond pulses without dispersion and the effi...

We consider dipolar interactions between heteronuclear molecules in a low-dimensional setup consisting of two one-dimensional tubes. We demonstrate that attraction between molecules in different tubes can overcome intratube repulsion and complexes with several molecules in the same tube are stable. In situ detection schemes of the few-body complexes are proposed. We discuss extensions to many t...

The impact of the viability of Trichomonas vaginalis in urine on wet mount, culture, and PCR methods was assessed. To minimize the chance of false-negative results, urine specimens should be processed within 30 min of specimen collection and maintained at 37 degrees C, since temperature appears to affect the viability of Trichomonas.

Not even the most informed scientist can setup a theory that takes all brain signals into account. A neuron not only receives neuronal short range and long range input from all over the brain but a neuron also receives input from the extracellular space, astrocytes and vasculature. Given this complexity, how does one describe and verify a typical brain mechanism in vivo? Common to most describe...