Humans ; Microwaves ; classification ; Pathology ; methods ; Specimen Handling ; instrumentation

This paper is to introduce the conception, basic constitution and working flow of laboratory automatic systems, and the domestic and world developments of the laboratory pipelining systems. It analyses the problems and the preferred scheme which should be given careful consideration when a system is to be built in the hospital.
Automation ; Clinical Laboratory Information Systems ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; instrumentation ; Computer Systems ; Laboratories, Hospital ; standards ; Software ; Specimen Handling ; instrumentation ; methods

Ascitic Fluid ; cytology ; Cytological Techniques ; instrumentation ; methods ; Equipment Design ; Histocytological Preparation Techniques ; instrumentation ; methods ; Humans ; Paraffin Embedding ; Specimen Handling ; instrumentation ; methods

BACKGROUND: Saliva is increasingly being used as a specimen for systemic disease as well as for oral health status. Especially, salivary amylase has been studied as an excellent index for psychological stress. Authors evaluated the measurement of salivary amylase activities collected by Salivettes (Sarstedt, Germany). METHODS: Saliva specimens were collected from 13 healthy adults between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. Participants were asked to gently chew tampons of Salivettes for 1 min. Immediately after collection, all specimens were stored frozen. On the day of testing, they were centrifuged after thawing and diluted with distilled water. Amylase was measured by Dimension RxL Max (Dade Behring Inc., USA). We evaluated precision, linearity, and recovery rate of Salivette. Amylase activities between collection of saliva by Salivette and passive drool were compared, and also the changes of amylase by the storage temperature were evaluated. RESULTS: Intra-run CVs for three levels of amylase were excellent. Between-day CVs and total CVs were good only for mid and high levels. A good linear relationship was found at all diluted levels. Dosing Salivettes with 2 mL, 1.5 mL, and 1 mL yielded sample recovery 85.5+/-2.4%, 82.4+/-1.5%, and 72.2+/-3.1%, respectively and amylase recovery 78.9+/-10.9%, 74.1+/-13.7%, and 37.3+/-26.9%, respectively. Amylase by Salivette and passive drool were correlated well (r=0.757), although they showed a significant difference. Amylase activity was not affected by the storage temperature. CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of salivary amylase using Salivette could be a useful test having good intra-run CVs and linearity. More than 1.5 mL of saliva would be needed to have more than 70% recovery of Salivette.
Adult ; Amylases/*analysis ; Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Saliva/*enzymology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Specimen Handling/*instrumentation/methods ; Stress, Psychological ; Temperature

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a very important tool in studying biological problems at the level of cell and molecules. In an AFM experiment to measure the mechanical properties of biological specimens, the measurement accuracy will be reduced by the environmental thermal noise. Here, we have characterized the thermo-mechanical responses of a rectangular AFM cantilever with the tip coupled to the surface by an elastic biological specimen, showed that the cantilever and the specimen behave as springs in parallel, and derived a relationship between the mean square deflection and the mean square inclination. Furthermore, we have presented an approximate expression for the specimen spring constant in terms of contributions to the mean square inclination from the first few vibration modes and suggested a new method for determining the elasticity of the specimen by measuring the change in the tip fluctuations in the presence of coupling.
Biomechanical Phenomena ; Elasticity ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Microscopy, Atomic Force ; instrumentation ; methods ; Models, Theoretical ; Specimen Handling ; instrumentation ; methods ; Stress, Mechanical ; Surface Properties