The objective is to investigate the influence of sonication on the mechanical and release properties of hydrogel capsules. A new fabrication process is developed to fabricate millimetric capsules made of a highly-viscous liquid core protected by a thin hyperelastic alginate membrane. At high intensities and/or long exposure times, sonication can lead to the capsule rupture, because it induces f...

A method for the identification of bacterial colonies based on their content of specific genes is presented. This method does not depend on DNA separation or DNA amplification. Bacillus cereus carrying one of the genes (hblC) coding for the enterotoxin hemolysin was identified with this method. It is based on target DNA hybridization to a capturing probe immobilized on magnetic beads, followed ...

The indirect flight muscles of bees are used to produce a variety of actions in addition to flight, including sonication, which has a higher frequency than flight. We observed the dynamic movement of the scutum during sonication and the transition from tethered flight to sonication. During sonication, the scutum oscillated above its rest position, indicating that the conformation of the structu...

Although several methods for RNA isolation from plants have been reported (3,4,7,10), there are no methods described for RNA isolation from plant cell suspension cultures and calli. During the characterization of transgene expression in tobacco cell suspension cultures and calli, we observed that it is difficult and tedious to isolate RNA from limited amounts of those cells frozen in liquid nit...

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) caused by ultrasound were evaluated in a quantitative manner by single-molecule fluorescence microscopy. We compared the effect of time-interval (or pulse) sonication to that of continuous wave (CW) sonication at a fixed frequency of 30 kHz. Pulses caused fewer DSBs than CW sonication under the same total input ultrasound energy when the pulse repetition period w...

A multiplex PCR assay for differentiating strongyle eggs from cattle has recently been described; however, the egg disruption and DNA extraction procedures, though effective, are inadequate for large studies or clinical application. The purpose of this research was to evaluate methods for disrupting trichostrongyle eggs, then assess commercial kits for extracting egg DNA using Ostertagia ostert...

Stable suspensions of eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) liquid metal nanoparticles form by probe-sonicating the metal in an aqueous solution. Positively-charged molecular or macromolecular surfactants in the solution, such as cetrimonium bromide or lysozyme, respectively, stabilize the suspension by interacting with the negative charges of the surface oxide that forms on the metal. The liquid met...

BACKGROUND Electrophysiological cardiac devices are increasingly used. The frequency of subclinical infection is unknown. We investigated all explanted devices using sonication, a method for detection of microbial biofilms on foreign bodies. METHODS AND RESULTS Consecutive patients in whom cardiac pacemakers and implantable cardioverter/defibrillators were removed at our institution between O...

Realizing the efficacy of liquid-phase exfoliation technique to obtain a greater quantity graphene, this study demonstrates cost-effective bio-surfactant-assisted few-layer graphene (FLG) with low defect ratio. An ultrasonic bath without any toxic chemicals or chemical modification was employed exfoliate at room temperature. Several state-of-the-art characterization techniques such as TEM, AFM,...