In response to the recognized need for high throughput biodosimetry methods for use after large-scale radiological events, a logical approach is complete automation of standard biodosimetric assays that are currently performed manually. The authors describe progress to date on the RABIT (Rapid Automated BIodosimetry Tool), designed to score micronuclei or gamma-H2AX fluorescence in lymphocytes ...

BACKGROUND Every year, research specimens are shipped from one institution to another as well as across national boundaries. A significant proportion of specimens move from poor to rich countries. Concerns are always raised on the future usage of the stored specimens shipped to research institutions from developing countries. Creating awareness of the processes is required in all sectors involv...

Absorption of the herbicide paraquat (1,1'-dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium) by mixer-loaders and spray operators on a Sri Lankan tea plantation was assessed over five consecutive days of spraying. Beginning on the day before spraying started and continuing for each of the five spraying days and for seven days after the last day of spraying, 24-hour urine samples were collected from each of the worke...

In light of the strict legal scrutiny surrounding DNA typing at this time, it has become necessary to systematically address the issue of PCR contamination. To precisely define the parameters affecting PCR contamination under casework analysis conditions, PCR amplification reactions were intentionally compromised by employing sub-standard laboratory technique and by introducing secondary source...

Samples brought to the laboratory for routine radioassay often have been under suboptimal conditions. We compared the effect of some sample-handling conditions on the values for T3, T3 resin uptake (T3RU), T4, thyrotropin, cortisol, and prolactin in serum as determined by radioassays. Blood was collected in three separateplain red-top Vacutainer Tubes from each of six subjects. Serum was separa...

We describe an automated kinetic assay for acetoacetate in blood. Acetoacetate is enzymatically reduced to D-beta-hydroxybutyrate and the reaction is monitored for 60 s with a reaction-rate analyzer. This technique allows low concentrations of acetoacetate to be measured with good precision and overcomes many of the problems associated with other automated techniques. Our studies on the stabili...

Magnetic field can penetrate into type II superconductors in the form of Abrikosov vortices, which are magnetic flux tubes surrounded by circulating supercurrents often trapped at defects referred to as pinning sites. Although the average properties of the vortex matter in superconductors can be tuned with magnetic fields, temperature or electric currents, handling of individual Abrikosov vorti...

A wide range of diseases and conditions are monitored or diagnosed from blood plasma, but the ability to analyze a whole blood sample with the requirements for a point-of-care device, such as robustness, user-friendliness, and simple handling, remains unmet. Microfluidics technology offers the possibility not only to work fresh thumb-pricked whole blood but also to maximize the amount of the ob...

For over 50 years attempts have been made to explain the properties of nuclear matter in terms of constituent nucleons with very little success. Here we will investigate one class of many possible models, string-flip potential models, in which flux-tubes are connected between quarks (in a gas/plasma) to give a minimal overall field configuration. A general overview of the current status of thes...

ife expectancy for indigenous people in colonised countries is shorter than it should be. In New Zealand, Ma ¯ori die on average 10 years younger than people of Anglo-European descent. 1 The usual suspects of poverty and poor socioeconomic opportunities contribute to inequity, but failures in service organisation and delivery are part of the picture. New Zealand is not the only colonised nation...