Abstract Background The artificial mussel (AM) is a passive sampling device that was originally developed for monitoring metal concentrations in the marine environment, but also increasingly used freshwater environments. AM consists of non-permeable Perspex tube, which closed on both sides with semi-permeable membrane. space between contains Chelex-100 beads, bind metals. allows determination d...

Microbial communities present on eggshell surfaces of wild birds are weakly studied, especially their influence on embryo infection and, thus, egg viability. Bacterial density of wild bird eggshells is very low, and most DNA extraction protocols are frequently unsuccessful. We have efficiently adapted a chelex-based DNA isolation method for 16S ribosomal gene amplification from the total commun...

We have established a PCR assay for the detection of Helicobacter pylori in gastric biopsy specimens with primers specific to adhesin subunit gene. The minimum amount of H. pylori DNA that could be detected was 0.4 pg. Seventy-two antral biopsy specimens were taken from patients with gastritis and/or duodenal ulcer. H. pylori was found in 58.3%, 44.4% and 54.2% of patients according to the resu...

Asymptomatic Plasmodium infection is a new challenge for public health in the American region. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the best method for diagnosing subpatent parasitemias. In endemic areas, blood collection is hampered by geographical distances and deficient transport and storage conditions of the samples. Because DNA extraction from blood collected on filter paper is an effici...

Trace element determination in seawater is analytically challenging due to the typically very low concentrations of the trace elements and the potential interference of the salt matrix. A common way to address the challenge is to pre-concentrate the trace elements on a chelating resin, then rinse the matrix elements from the resin and subsequently elute and detect the trace elements using induc...

Na-Ca exchange activity in bovine cardiac sarcolemmal vesicles was stimulated up to 10-fold by preincubating the vesicles with 1 microM FeSO4 plus 1 mM dithiothreitol (DTT) in a NaCl medium. The increase in activity was not reversed upon removing the Fe and DTT. Stimulation of exchange activity under these conditions was completely blocked by 0.1 mM EDTA or o-phenanthroline; this suggests that ...

In this study a sensitive macrophage-based in vitro reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay was coupled with chemical fractionation tools and a year-long sampling program to further our understanding of the role of water-soluble metals in aerosol toxicity. The location is the polluted urban environment of Lahore, Pakistan, where we collected 24 h PM10 and PM2.5 samples every 6(th) day from January ...

A new green method for trace level quantification of four herbicides, glyphosate (GLYP), glufosinate (GLUF), and their main metabolites, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) 3-(methyl-phosphinico)-propionic (MPPA), was developed. The purification step without any derivatization conducted by solid-phase extraction using Chelex-100 resin in the Fe (III) form, followed elution with 5% NH4OH. analytes...