The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method is widely used for the reproduction and amplification of specific DNA segments, and a novel PCR method using nanomaterials such as gold nanoparticles has recently been reported. This paper reports on the effects of superparamagnetic nanoparticles on PCR amplification without an external magnetic field, and clarifies the mechanism behind the effects of ...

For the clustering of chemical structures that are described by the Similog, ISIS count, and ISIS binary fingerprints, we propose a sequential superparamagnetic clustering approach. To appropriately handle nonbinary feature keys, we introduce an extension of the binary Tanimoto similarity measure. In our applications, data sets composed of structures from seven chemically distinct compound clas...

Occupational asthma from nickel sensitivity was confirmed in a male worker (SB) by allergy skin tests and inhalational challenge. In an ammonium sulphate coprecipitation test 63Ni was selectively precipitated from SB plasma indicating antibody with nickel related specificity. Preincubation of 63Ni with human serum albumin (HSA) increased the specificity of the coprecipitation test. Blocking exp...

Serum from an individual with occupational asthma from nickel sulphate inhalation was shown by ammonium sulphate (Farr) and anti-IgG coprecipitation tests to contain antibodies which bind 63Ni2+. This binding was absent from 30 control sera. Ligand competition studies with serum and plasma from the propositus and controls are described, and include serial additions of HSA, L-histidine, EDTA, an...

To utilize iron oxide nanoparticles in biomedical applications, a sufficient magnetic moment is crucial. Since this magnetic moment is directly proportional to the size of the superparamagnetic nanoparticles, synthesis methods of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with tunable size are desirable. However, most existing protocols are plagued by several drawbacks. Presented here is a one-...

Magnetoreception and iron biomineralization in honeybees (Apis mellifera) have been investigated for several decades. Numerous open questions are still been hotly debated, especially the location of superparamagnetic magnetite. To solve this argument, we use the size-density purification technique to purify the iron granules of trophocytes and determined their magnetic properties, which include...

Chemically synthesized superparamagnetic nanoparticles are widely used in biology and medicine for applications that include biomolecule purifications and cell separations, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents, and biomagnetic sensing. Magnetic nanoparticles with high moments are often desired to produce large signals for biomagnetic sensing or to avoid restrictive requirements for ...