A gel technique for the detection of red blood cell (rbc) antigen-antibody reactions was evaluated for use in antenatal antibody screening and identification procedures. The evaluation was undertaken on 3,900 random antenatal samples. Results obtained in the gel test system were compared with those obtained from parallel testing using conventional serological methods. The ID gel system detected 148 (3.7%) red cell antibodies, compared with 95 (2.4%) using traditional techniques. The number of non-specific antibodies and false-positive screens were reduced using the gel test system. Antibody titres performed using the gel system were more sensitive than with our tube IAT method. The gel system was easy to use and gave reliable, reproducible results. Antibody detection rates were enhanced compared with our existing routine techniques.

The desire of skilled nursing facilities to increase quality of service to meet changes in residents' expectations, improve marketability, and adhere to regulations warrant a new look at culture change and homelike dining as defined by residents in skilled nursing facilities (SNF). The objectives of this study were to determine residents' home dining practices, to define residents' desired dining style practices in the SNF, and to determine the relationship between home dining practices and dining preferences in SNF. One hundred and four residents in three SNF in the central Texas area who met the cognition criteria and consumed facility-provided food were engaged in a standardized interview using the Resident Dining Style Preferences Survey. Data were analyzed to determine the degree to which home practices determine SNF dining preferences. Our findings showed that the majority of the participants want hot, home cooked meals served in the dining room. They want to be seated at the table with friends and neighbors and served on every day plates in a quiet atmosphere, with food served restaurant or table service style. Length of stay and generational group were not significant predictors of dining style preferences. Study limitations included small sample size and lack of ethnic diversity. Our study results show that removing dining time restrictions may be the most valuable adaptation for a SNF looking to initiate culture change.

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Those that handle explosives materials invariably become contaminated with particulates of materials, which become entrapped in the grooves of the fingers and are then transferred by contact to other surfaces. These particles provide an evidentiary trail which is useful for security applications, a fact which is enhanced by the fact that many explosives materials of interest have low vapor pressures, augmenting their longevity. The persistence or stability of explosives particles on a substrate is a function of several environmental parameters or particle properties, including vapor pressure, particle size and geometry, airflow, particle field size, substrate topography, humidity, reactivity, adlayers, admixtures, particle areal density, and temperature. In this work we deposited particles of 2,4-dinitrotoluene on standard microscope glass slides by particle sieving and studied their sublimation as a function of temperature and relative humidity. A custom airflow cell allowed us to monitor the particles with in situ photomicroscopy while keeping the airflow over the particles, substrate type, and areal field size constant for each experiment. We define the size-independent radial sublimation velocity for the equivalent sphere of a particle as the parameter to characterize the sublimation rate. The dependence of the sublimation rate for an ensemble of particles on temperature was quantified according the radial sublimation velocity, while the sublimation of 2,4-dinintrotoluene was found to independent of relative humidity between 25-90%.