Endoscopic stent insertion is an effective method for biliary decompression that contributes to the regression of symptoms and improvement in quality of life for patients suffering from obstructive jaundice due to malignant biliary obstruction or benign stricture. Although there are two types of stents, i.e., plastic stent and self-expandable metal stents (SEMS), SEMS have largely replaced plas...

Anthropogenic plastic pollution is a global problem. In the marine environment, one of its less studied effects is the transport of attached biota, which might lead to introductions of non-native species in new areas or aid in habitat expansions of invasive species. The goal of the present work was to assess if the material composition of beached anthropogenic litter is indicative of the raftin...

This paper describes some biochemical applications of a self-filling, self-measuring, disposable, dilution micropipet. The device consists of a precision capillary in a plastic adapter and an attachable plastic bottle containing a premeasured volume of diluent or reagent. The human error in measuring microvolumes of liquid is elimicted by the self-filling, self-measuring action of the capillary...

Demand for and availability of blueberries has increased substantially over recent years, driven in part by their health-promoting properties. Three blueberry varieties ('Rocío', V2, and V3) were grown under two cultivation systems (open-field and plastic tunnels) and subjected to two irrigations regimes (100% and 80% of crop evapotranspiration) in two consecutive years (2011-2012). They were e...

The Microcapillary Protein Crystallization System (MPCS) embodies a new semi-automated plug-based crystallization technology which enables nanolitre-volume screening of crystallization conditions in a plasticware format that allows crystals to be easily removed for traditional cryoprotection and X-ray diffraction data collection. Protein crystals grown in these plastic devices can be directly s...

Serial dilution with Takatsy loops resulted in exaggerated passive hemagglutination titers with most of the anti-bovine serum albumin sera tested. It appears that certain types of agglutinins adhere to the loop surface and are released only gradually. This adherence, or carry-over effect, was prevented by presoaking loops in gelatin or gelatin-rabbit serum-albumin solutions. Hemolysins did not ...

THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE of a failure analysis is to ascertain the mode and the cause of the failure, regardless of the material from which the part was fabricated. The investigation is performed in generally the same manner, whether the failed component was produced from metal or plastic or a combination of these materials. Thus, the general steps required to conduct a comprehensive failure inve...

Different antibiotics have different characteristics but the aspect of antibiotic stability is the main concern of the pharmacist when dispensing the drug. The stability of drug such as chemical stability, physical stability, microbiological stability, therapeutic stability and toxicological stability will ensure its therapeutic effect. There are some factors that may affect antibiotics’ effect...

Despite the large and growing literature on microplastics in the ocean, little information exists on microplastics in freshwater systems. This study is the first to evaluate the abundance, distribution, and composition of pelagic microplastic pollution in a large, remote, mountain lake. We quantified pelagic microplastics and shoreline anthropogenic debris in Lake Hovsgol, Mongolia. With an ave...