ProtoGel is a stabilized ready-to-use, 30% (w/v) acrylamide solution, with the cross-linker, methylene bisacrylamide (37.5:1 ratio), in distilled/deionized water. ProtoGel results in the same polyacrylamide gels that you are now accustomed to preparing, because it is identical to your own solutions. With ProtoGel, you can now prepare the same gel faster, easier, safer, and more reliably. All you need to do is pour and use.

ProtoGel Buffer (sieving gel buffer) and ProtoGel Stacking Buffer compliment ProtoGel by providing ready-to-use solutions of non-monomeric components. By using ProtoGel Buffer and ProtoGel Stacking Buffer, all you need to add is ammonium persulfate and TEMED to complete the preparation of SDS-PAGE separating and stacking gels. ProtoGel Buffer and ProtoGel Stacking Buffer are designed as optional replacements for the additional solid components usually required when preparing ProtoGel. ProtoGel Buffer can be used to prepare any percentage gel desired.

See Spot run. See Lassie save Timmy from a well. See Tibetan Mastiffs climb 4,500 meters above sea level on the Tibetan Plateau. The ever-so-fluffy Tibetan Mastiff, which commonly serves as a guard dog for the plateau's residents, is able to breathe comfortably at high altitudes. Like the Tibetan people, Tibetan Mastiffs have adapted to air with less oxygen.

Ya-Ping Zhang and a team of scientists examined sets of genes from 32 Tibetan Mastiffs, 20 Chinese native dogs, and 14 wolves to investigate how the Mastiffs have adjusted. They looked for variations in the DNA sequence called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, also pronounced simply as "snips"). The scientists genotyped the SNPs in the Mastiffs and compared them to the ones in the dogs and wolves.

After finding more than 120,000 SNPs, Zhang and the scientists identified 16 genes with signals of positive selection in the Tibetan Mastiff – 12 of these genes are connected to functions in the body that would help the canine adapt to high altitudes with low oxygen levels. Several of these genes are responsible for the building of hemoglobin, which helps transport oxygen through blood, and monitoring metabolism. Oxygen is required to process consumed food into energy, so efficient metabolizing means less oxygen is used. One of the genes, EPAS1, has also been linked to helping Tibetan humans adapt to high altitudes.

Sepsis is the leading cause of in-hospital death and there is no specific treatment for it. Now, research led by Dr. Qingping Feng of Western University suggests a protein called recombinant human annexin A5 may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of this disease. The paper is published in advance, online in Critical Care Medicine.

Sepsis is caused by an overwhelming immune response to an existing infection. It's estimated there are 18 million cases annually worldwide. The mortality rate is 30 to 40 per cent for severe sepsis and 40 to 80 per cent for septic shock. Dr. Feng, a professor in the Departments of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Medicine at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and a scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute is particularly interested in how sepsis causes cardiac dysfunction.

Annexin A5 is a lipid-binding protein produced by cells. Using mice with induced sepsis, Dr. Feng, Dr. Xiangru Lu, and Paul Arnold, MSc, studied the effects of annexin A5 on cardiac function and animal survival.

"We treated the septic animals and to our surprise we found a dramatic, significant effect in improving cardiac function during sepsis and improved survival rates in the mice," says Dr. Feng. "We also found it helped even if administered hours after the septic infection. This is important because the delayed treatment simulates what usually happens in a clinical setting. The patient often has had sepsis for several hours, or a few days when they seek treatment."

Annexin A5 is not currently used as a therapeutic agent, but its safety has been tested in humans. It's currently used in imaging studies to identify cells undergoing apoptosis (cell death).

While this study looked at the heart, Dr. Feng believes annexin A5's beneficial properties could apply to multiple organs including liver, lungs and kidney, all which can all be affected by sepsis.

For the majority of cancer patients, it's not the primary tumor that is deadly, but the spread or "metastasis" of cancer cells from the primary tumor to secondary locations throughout the body that is the problem. That's why a major focus of contemporary cancer research is how to stop or fight metastasis.
Previous lab studies suggest that metastasizing cancer cells undergo a major molecular change when they leave the primary tumor -- a process called epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). As the cells travel from one site to another, they pick up new characteristics. More importantly, they develop a resistance to chemotherapy that is effective on the primary tumor. But confirmation of the EMT process has only taken place in test tubes or in animals.
In a new study, published in the Journal of Ovarian Research, Georgia Tech scientists have direct evidence that EMT takes place in humans, at least in ovarian cancer patients. The findings suggest that doctors should treat patients with a combination of drugs: those that kill cancer cells in primary tumors and drugs that target the unique characteristics of cancer cells spreading through the body.
The researchers looked at matching ovarian and abdominal cancerous tissues in seven patients. Pathologically, the cells looked exactly the same, implying that they simply fell off the primary tumor and spread to the secondary site with no changes. But on the molecular level, the cells were very different. Those in the metastatic site displayed genetic signatures consistent with EMT. The scientists didn't see the process take place, but they know it happened.
"It's like noticing that a piece of cake has gone missing from your kitchen and you turn to see your daughter with chocolate on her face," said John McDonald, director of Georgia Tech's Integrated Cancer Research Center and lead investigator on the project. "You didn't see her eat the cake, but the evidence is overwhelming. The gene expression patterns of the metastatic cancers displayed gene expression profiles that unambiguously identified them as having gone through EMT."
The EMT process is an essential component of embryonic development and allows for reduced cell adhesiveness and increased cell movement.
According to Benedict Benigno, collaborating physician on the paper, CEO of the Ovarian Cancer Institute and director of gynecological oncology at Atlanta's Northside Hospital, "These results clearly indicate that metastasizing ovarian cancer cells are very different from those comprising the primary tumor and will likely require new types of chemotherapy if we are going to improve the outcome of these patients."
Ovarian cancer is the most malignant of all gynecological cancers and responsible for more than 14,000 deaths annually in the United States alone. It often reveals no early symptoms and isn't typically diagnosed until after it spreads.
"Our team is hopeful that, because of the new findings, the substantial body of knowledge that has already been acquired on how to block EMT and reduce metastasis in experimental models may now begin to be applied to humans," said Georgia Tech graduate student Loukia Lili, co-author of the study.

 We have What you need for staining

GRAM & ACID FAST BACILLI(Fluorochrome,Ziehl-Neelsen,Kinyoun)

The Gentaur's Auto Stainer provides fast and easy staining process by automated system control. This new innovated stainer features advanced functions and performances over manual staining or automated dip-type stainers, include simplicity and convenience.

• Mode 
  AT-2000G GRAM Auto Stainer(10 slides in 10 minutes)
  AT-2000F ACID FAST Bacilli(Fluorochrome) Auto Stainer(10 slides in 17 minutes)
  AT-2000Z ACID FAST Bacilli(Ziehl-Neelsen) Auto Stainer(10 slides in 12 minutes)
  AT-2000K ACID FAST Bacilli(Kinyoun) Auto Stainer(10 slides in 15 minutes)
• No cross-contamination in all of process.
• Reduction in labor costs.
• Heating system to fix sputum smear on a slide automatically.
• Self cleaning system to clean tray and Staining nozzles.
• Checking and Warning for lower level of reagents.
• Minimize personal variation during AFB staining.

Features of Auto Stainer

Heating system for Ziehl-Neelsen hot staining method
Auto Stainer, the heating function was built in to fix sputum smear on a slide automatically and to stain it with heating. Temperature in the tray can be controlled. Duration and level of temperature can be preprogrammed.

No Cross Contamination
Is available to apply fresh reagent on slides mounted in a rotating tray by atomized nozzle. Specimens contact only fresh, precisely metered stain from separate nozzles.

Simplicity
Just need to select desired stain setting and start the staining cycle. All of staining process can be controlled by control program. It provides consistent reproducibility by controlling all phase of Stain cycle precisely.

Self Cleaning and Reagent level monitoring
Designed to remove "Clog of nozzle" by the debris of reagents and to clean Tray, Nozzle, Pump and Valve easily. The reagent level monitoring function assures to remove wrong stain by lower level of reagent.

Accurate and precison Stain
Can be used by simple operation and it can be available to obtain accurate and precision stain.

Staining Results

GRAM(x 1000)
Ziehl-Neelsen(x 1000)
Kinyoun(x 1000)

Technical Specification

More:  Stainers

In a surprising new finding, researchers have discovered that bacterial movement is impeded in flowing water, enhancing the likelihood that the microbes will attach to surfaces. The new work could have implications for the study of marine ecosystems, and for our understanding of how infections take hold in medical devices.

The findings, the result of microscopic analysis of bacteria inside microfluidic devices, were made by MIT postdoc Roberto Rusconi, former MIT postdoc Jeffrey Guasto (now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University), and Roman Stocker, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT. Their results are published in the journal Nature Physics.

The study, which combined experimental observations with mathematical modeling, showed that the flow of liquid can have two significant effects on microbes: "It quenches the ability of microbes to chase food," Stocker says, "and it helps microbes find surfaces."
That second finding could be particularly beneficial: Stocker says in some cases, that phenomenon could lead to new approaches to tuning flow rates to prevent fouling of surfaces by microbes—potentially averting everything from bacteria getting a toehold on medical equipment to biofilms causing drag on ship hulls.

The effect of flowing water on bacterial swimming was "a complete surprise," Stocker says. "My own earlier predictions of what would happen when microbes swim in flowing water had been: 'Nothing too interesting,'" he adds. "It was only when Roberto and Jeff did the experiments that we found this very strong and robust phenomenon."

Charts of the probability that a bacterium will have a given orientation, at three different positions in the moving stream of water, are plotted based on experimental data (solid lines) and mathematical models (dashed lines), showing how well the two agree.

Even though most microorganisms live in flowing liquid, most studies of their behavior ignore flow, Stocker explains. The new findings show, he says, that "any study of microbes suspended in a liquid should not ignore that the motion of that liquid could have important repercussions on the microbes."

The novelty of this result owes partly to the divisions of academic specialties, and partly to advances in technology, Stocker says. "Microbiologists have rarely taken into account fluid flow as an ecological parameter, whereas physicists have just recently started to pay attention to microbes," he says, adding: "The ability to directly watch microbes under the controlled flow conditions afforded by microfluidic technology—which is only about 15 years old—has made all the difference in allowing us to discover and understand this effect of flow on microbes."

The team found that swimming bacteria cluster in the "high shear zones" in a flow—the regions where the speed of the fluid changes most abruptly. Such high shear zones occur in most types of flows, and in many bacterial habitats. One prominent location is near the walls of tubes, where the result is a strong enhancement of the bacteria's tendency to adhere to those walls and form biofilms.

But this effect varies greatly depending on the speed of the flow, opening the possibility that the rate of biofilm formation can be tweaked by increasing or decreasing flow rates.
Guasto says the new understanding could help in the design of medical equipment to reduce such infections: Since the phenomenon peaks at particular rates of shear, he says, "Our results might suggest additional design criteria for biomedical devices, which should operate outside this range of shear rates, when possible—either faster or slower."

"Biofilms are found everywhere," Rusconi says, adding that the majority of bacteria spend significant fractions of their lives adhering to surfaces. "They cause major problems in industrial settings," such as by clogging pipes or reducing the efficiency of heat exchangers. Their adherence is also a major health issue: Bacteria concentrated in biofilms are up to 1,000 times more resistant to antibiotics than those suspended in liquid.
The concentration of microbes in the shear zones is an effect that only happens with those that can control their movements. Nonliving particles of similar size and shape show no such effect, the team found, nor do nonmotile bacteria that are swept along passively by the water. "Without motility, bacteria are distributed everywhere and there is no preferential accumulation," Rusconi says.

The new findings could also be important for studies of microbial marine ecosystems, by affecting how bacteria move in search of nutrients when one accounts for the ubiquitous currents and turbulence, Stocker says. Though they only studied two types of bacteria, the researchers predict in their paper that "this phenomenon should apply very broadly to many different motile microbes."

In fact, the phenomenon has no inherent size limit, and could apply to a wide range of organisms, Guasto says. "There's really nothing special about bacteria compared to many other swimming cells in this respect," he says. "This phenomenon could easily apply to a wide range of plankton and sperm cells as well."

Howard A. Stone, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University, who was not involved in this research, calls this a "very interesting paper" and says "the observation of shear-induced trapping, which can impact the propensity for bacterial attachment on surfaces, is an important observation and idea, owing to the major importance of bacterial biofilms."

Milk straight from the source contains a variation of vitamins, minerals, fats, sugars, and other factors that promote optimal growth, development, and behavior in babies. Not only does the nutrient content of the milk change over time as the baby grows, but the milk’s composition will actually differ based on the gender of the child.

In a variety of mammals, including humans, gender also plays an important part in milk composition. Males, who tend to be more muscular, require additional fat and protein. While the fat content in the milk females drink isn’t as high, they tend to consume more milk per meal and will nurse longer. A 2012 study led by Masako Fujita from Michigan State University published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology showed that human mothers produce milk with 2.8% fat for sons and 1.74% for daughters. In extremely impoverished locations where infant mortality is high, the fat content is higher for girls.

A new study has shown that these differences may very well begin during fetal development. The study was led by evolutionary biologist Katie Hinde from Harvard University and was published in PLOS One. She presented her results this past Saturday at the AAAS 2014 Annual Meeting. The differences appear to begin during fetal development, according to Hinde’s study. Hinde analyzed 2.39 million lactation records from 1.49 million dairy cows and determined that those who had birthed females produced an average of about 445 kg (980 lbs) more milk than those who birthed males, over a two year lactation span. Even if the mother and calf were separated shortly after birth, the volume differences persisted. For cows, however, gender does not impact nutrient content.

For some animals, such as rhesus macaques, social status within the group is passed down from generation to generation. Previous research from Hinde has found that young female rhesus macaques get higher levels of calcium than their brothers, giving them stronger bones and potentially allowing them to reach sexual maturity more quickly. Because females cannot reproduce throughout their entire lives, starting early is an advantage. However, the males receive more cortisol, which helps to regulate metabolism and temperament, allowing them to grow up strong and sire more offspring.

Breast milk is hardly the static, homogenous liquid we are most familiar with from the store. Though the ability to nurse our young is one of the defining features that makes mammals distinct from every other class of animal, there is still an incredible amount about it that we are just discovering. Learning more about how the breast milk is formulated inside the mother’s body will allow us to better understand the ever-changing nutritional needs of babies and could even allow commercial formulas to be reconfigured to better nourish infants when breastfeeding is not an option.

Using PureEXO kits is much more productive than ultracentrifugation, in terms of both purity and yeild. When extracting exosomal RNA, the PureExo kit produces nearly 4 times better results than the standart ultracentifugation protocols. This was proven using the NanoDrop 8000 spectrophotometer.

PureExo kits are not only cheaper, but also superior to other currently available kits: it guarantees 95% exosome purity and the exosomes themselves are homogeneous, spherical and intact. No more will you have to endure the countless sizes, irregular shapes and the overly damaged exosomes that other kits eventually cause.

The purity of the yield is verified by Exosomal protein marker, which enhances the accuracy and sensitivity to detect biomarkers carried by exosomes.

Two verions of kits are available:

• • • • • PureExo Exosome isolation kit - for serum and plasma
        • PureExo Exosome isolation kit - for cell culture media

Handling and mounting tiny crystals is challenging

Small crystals dehydrate quickly and are difficult to mount

Small crystals (<100 μm) seem to swim away from a mounting tool. If you do manage to mount them, they end up on the neck instead of in the aperture, and by the time you’re ready to flash cool, the crystal and/or your drop have dried out.

Analysing the problem

Stoke’s law and laminar flow

Mounts seem to push small crystals away, as if the mount were too hydrophobic

What you see is a simple demonstration of laminar flow and Stoke’s law. When you move the mount through a crystal-containing drop, the liquid flows laminarly around it. If the crystal’s density matched that of the liquid, it, too, would just flow around the mount, and it would be nearly impossible to snag it.

Gravitational pull and viscous drag

Fd = 6π μ R v

If the crystal’s density is larger than that of the liquid, the crystal will sediment under the influence of gravity toward the mount below it. The crystal’s sedimentation speed is determined by the balance between the gravitational force pulling down and the viscous drag force given by Stoke’s law that opposes motion.
It’s an easy matter to show that this sedimentation speed varies as the square of the crystal diameter. Thus, the time you have to wait for a crystal to sediment onto the mount increases rapidly as the crystal gets smaller. A 10 μm crystal sediments at less than 10 μm/s, 100 times more slowly than a 100 μm crystal.
In the videos below, the white teflon balls falling through glycerol differ in diameter by only a factor of two. How do their terminal speeds compare?

The video to the left, in which we try to pick up a small white teflon ball in glycerol using a plastic spoon, illustrates the problem.

Dehydration

Dehydration is a serious risk when working with very small crystals. Crystals smaller than 50 μm can dry out in seconds, degrading crystal diffraction. If you see diffraction spots that look like they come from salt, you know you’ve got a problem.

Solutions

Choose the right tool for the job

With enough time and a steady hand, any mount style will do when dealing with small crystals. But to simplify and expidite your research process, Gentaur provides the best solution for handling small crystals with the Small Crystal Harvesting Kit. Reduce the problems associated with small crystals. Spend less time chasing them and eliminate dehydration issues. Included in this kit are:

• MicroMounts™ with a special wicking aperture that reduces laminar flow problems
• Low Viscosity CryoOil™ to store crystals and prevent dehydration prior to mounting
• MicroMesh™ to easily mount very tiny (<30 μm) crystals
• Reusable goniometer bases designed to decrease costs and increase throughput
• Goniometer base holders for easy storage and cleaning
• Heavy–tweezers; ideal for handling mounts with reusable bases

Small Crystal Harvesting Kit 

Move slowly and carefully

The presence of the mount’s aperture makes things a bit easier. As you move the mount through the liquid, liquid flows through the aperture. The crystal can flow along with this liquid and be sieved out. However, as the aperture gets smaller, the flow speed through it gets much smaller. If you move the mount too quickly, the liquid won’t have time to flow through the aperture. Your crystal may just flow around the aperture and end up on the neck of the mount.

The key to mounting very tiny crystals, then, is to move the mount very slowly toward the crystal, allowing enough time for the crystal to sediment through the liquid toward the mount, and for liquid to flow through the aperture.
This is illustrated in the video to the left, in which we retrieve a teflon ball in glycerol using fork.

Dehydration

To minimize dehydration, we recommend the following:
1. Using Gentaur’s MicroMounts™, MicroLoops™, or MicroMeshes™ to quickly and easily mount your samples, minimizing the time for dehydration to set in
2. Transferring your crystal to a drop of Low Viscosity CryoOil. Oils block evaporation during and after mounting
3. Working in a humidified environment or in a cold room.
o Evaporation rates are proportional to the quantity Δr.h. = 100% – r.h. so that increasing humidity from a typical laboratory value of 50% to 90% can reduce the evaporation rate by a factor of 5.
o Evaporation rates plummet with decreasing temperature. The saturated vapor pressure of water at 4°C is 1/4 that at 25°c.

Good luck!

We hope this Tech Tip has given you further understanding about the complicated processes of crystallography. Please don’t hesitate to provide us with comments or suggestions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Product name : Brucella canis, Dog Brucellosis, Dog anti-, Positive Control
Catalog number : YV0126-1
Quantity: 1 ml.

Price: 88 €

 More: Brucella

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