Lab M’s µPREP ‘just-add-water’ range of culture media includes µPREP Half Fraser Broth ISO (+FAC) for the isolation of Listeria spp and µPREP Buffered Peptone Water (BPW) ISO used extensively as a pre-enrichment medium in Salmonella testing. These complete media are provided sealed in a 20 litre bag. Simply adding water through the filter means there is no mess and no need to autoclave. For ultimate convenience, the microbiological culture media are now also available as Pinnacle pre-poured plates. Users benefit from plates, prepared by the manufacturer under a stringent quality management system in a GMP environment.

Read more

Measurement of glycated haemoglobin, HbA1c, is the method of choice for the assessment of glycaemic control in diabetic patients. Highly accurate and precise, the new HbA1c latex immunoassay from Axis-Shield also offers a number of convenient features making it suitable for use on any clinical chemistry analyser. The two liquid-stable reagents are supplied in instrument-specific packaging for direct loading onto many platforms, thereby reducing operator handling time by removing the requirement for decanting or pre-analytical mixing of reagents and releasing on-board instrument space by utilising only one reagent channel. The simple assay protocol means that the assay can be easily adapted to suit any clinical chemistry analyser and applications are available from Axis-Shield for many widely-used systems. The use of a specific anti-HbA1c antibody removes the need for a separate Haemoglobin measurement. A 5-level calibrator pack and 2-level control pack are also available.
Read more

This fully automated electrolyte analyser is available in two versions: model EX-D with autosampler and EX-Ds without autosampler. It is equipped with an ion selective electrode for measuring sodium, potassium, and chloride in whole blood, serum and diluted urine. Twenty samples can be processed in one run and results are available within 36 seconds/test. An auto-retest function allows for the automatic retesting of samples with abnormal values. Emergency samples can be tested at any time during routine measurement. Electrodes are highly sensitive and C.V is less than 0.5%. A radiofrequency identification (RFID) reader attached to the analyser and IC (integrated circuit) tags attached to reagents provides reagent identification. The IC tag records the expiry date and the concentration of the reagent at the time of shipment.
Read more

Shimadzu’s LCMS-8050 triple quadrupole LC-MS/MS meets the growing demand for trace-level quantitation in clinical research and other markets. It incorporates proprietary ultrafast technologies as well as a newly developed ion source and collision cell technology. As the flagship model of Shimadzu’s UFMS (Ultra-Fast Mass Spectrometry) product line, the LCMS-8050 features high sensitivity, high data quality and also claims the the world’s fastest data acquisition rates in the market.

Read more

Acute dengue virus infections can be diagnosed at an early stage using a new ELISA which detects the viral antigen NS1 (non-structural protein 1). NS1 is a highly conserved glycoprotein which is present in the serum of infected persons at the onset of clinical symptoms in both primary and secondary infections. It is detectable before the appearance of IgM and IgG antibodies in first infections and also before IgM in subsequent infections, and it remains detectable for a longer time frame than viral RNA. The combined analysis of NS1 and specific antibodies enables reliable diagnosis of dengue virus infections in all stages. The microplates of the new Dengue Virus NS1 ELISA are coated with monoclonal anti-NS1 antibodies, which specifically detect the NS1 protein from all dengue virus serotypes (DENV 1, 2, 3 and 4). The ELISA has been extensively evaluated in clinical studies and quality assessment schemes, and shows a high sensitivity and specificity. NS1 detection by ELISA offers the additional advantage of being technically simpler and less expensive than other early-stage detection methods such as viral RNA analysis by reverse transcription PCR, or virus cultivation. Serological detection of specific antibodies provides confirmation of acute infections at later stages and past infections. Anti-dengue virus antibodies can be determined by ELISA based on highly purified viral particles from dengue virus-infected cells, or by indirect immunofluorescence using a mosaic of four cell substrates, each infected with a different serotype. To exclude cross reactions with other structurally similar flaviviruses, a further BIOCHIP mosaic of cells infected with e.g. tick-borne encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, yellow fever virus and Japanese encephalitis virus can be incubated in parallel.

Read more