In the present study, a method has been employed for hepatocyte immobilization in agarose threads which allows for cell perfusion. The rat hepatocytes are isolated from the liver. A 1.8 % low-gelling agarose solution is prepared in warm Krebs-Henseleit solution. The agarose solution is mixed 1:1 with the hepatocytes and the cells are immobilized in agarose threads by extruding the agarose-cell mixture through cooled Chemfluor teflon (TFE) tubing. Light and electron microscopy studies indicated the integrity of the hepatocytes in the gel matrix. This system allows for liver cell perfusion and viability studies to be carried out non-invasively on the cells and provides data that are comparable to those obtained with a perfused isolated liver. Immobilized hepatocytes are an in vitro system worthy of further evaluation which may be useful in the studies of liver cell metabolism and the response of the liver to foreign chemicals.
Babesia caballi (Nuttal, 1910) is one of the causative agents of equine piroplasmosis which causes economic losses to horse industry in China. There is an urgent need for rapid detection method for B. caballi infection in Xinjiang Province, China. To prepare monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against Bc48 gene of B. caballi (Xinjiang local strains) and establish colloidal gold-immunochromatographic (ICT) assay for diagnosis of the disease, recombinant Bc48 was expressed and purified from Escherichia coli. With purified Bc48 as immunogen in mice, three hybridoma cells named 11F4, 1H2 and 7F4 secreting mAbs against Bc48 of B. caballi were obtained, which showed strong reaction with recombinant Bc48 and Bc48 gene transfected cells. Furthermore, colloidal gold labelled ICT assay based on purified Bc48 recombinant antigen and its mAb was developed. The ICT assay showed high sensitivity and specificity and no cross-reaction with Theileria equi (Laveran, 1901). Total of 56 horse serum samples collected from Xinjiang were tested by ICT and compared with the detection by commercial ELISA kit. The results showed that 32 out of 56 serum samples were positive by ICT and 33 were positive by ELISA. ICT assay had high coincidence (98%) to the reference ELISA kit. mAbs and ICT developed in this study could be provided as an efficient diagnosis tool for infection with B. caballi in horse in Xinjiang area., Panju Wang, Jingjing Song, Ruiqi Song, Mengyuan Zhang, Lijiang Wu, Fangxin Li, Yan Yan, Jiyong Zhou, Bayin Chahan, Min Liao., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Monodisperse macroporous poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) microspheres were used as a template for preparing porous silica particles. The starting polymer microspheres that were 9.3 μm in size were synthesized by multistep swelling polymerization using a modified Ugelstad technique. Subsequently, silica (SiO2) was deposited on the surface and inside the PGMA microspheres to produce poly(glycidyl methacrylate)-silica hybrid particles (PGMA-SiO2). Upon calcination of the PGMA-SiO2 microspheres, porous silica particles were formed. The morphology, particle size, polydispersity and inner structure of the silica microspheres were investigated by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis and dynamic adsorption of nitrogen determined the amount of silica formed and its specific surface area. Compared with the starting PGMA microspheres, the size of the porous silica particles decreased by up to 30%. These porous silica microspheres are promising for chromotography and biomedical applications., S. Grama, D. Horák., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Příprava na život nebo ochrana před smrtí? Poznámky k pozdně středověkým miniaturním sekerkám na příkladech z pomezí Velkopolska, Slezska a Braniborska.
In this paper we introdiice a new approach to the preprocessing (initial setting) of weight vectors and thus a spoed-up of the well-knowri SOM (Kohonen’s, SOFM) neural network. The idea of the method (we call it Prep through this paper) consists in spreading a small lattice over the pattern space and consequently completing its inner meshes and boundaries to obtain a larger lattice. This large lattice is then tuned by its training for a short time. To justify the speed up of the Prep method we give a detailed time analysis. To demonstrate the suggested method we show its abilities on several representative examples.
The genera Preptetos Pritchard, 1960 and Neopreptetos Machida, 1982 are redefined. The following species are described and/or recorded from marine fishes. From the Great Barrier Reef: Preptetos caballeroi Pritchard, 1960 in Naso annula-tus, N. brevirnslris and N. vlamingii·, P. xesuri (Yamaguti, 1940) in Zebrasoma veliferum and Z. scopas; Preptetos cannoni Barker, Bray et Cribb, 1993 in Siganus dolialus and S. fuscescens', Preptetos laguncula sp. n. in Naso unicornis (type-host); P. impar sp. n. in Lutjanus erythropterus (type-host) and L. malabaricus·, Neopreptetos arusettae Machida, 1982 in Pomacanthus semicirculatus·, and N. kurochkini (Toman, 1989) in Chaetodontoplus meredithi. From southwestern Australia: Preptetos rotto sp. n. in Nelusetta ayraudi (type-host), Neosebastes pandus, Oplegnathus woodwardi and Pagrus auratus. The new combination Preptetos trulla (Linton, 1907) (originally Distomum then Lepocreadium) is made and the species Lepocreadium areolatum (Linton, 1900) is considered likely to belong in Preptetos.