A composite core material and methods for making same are disclosed herein. The composite core material comprises mineral filler discontinuous portions disposed in a continuous encapsulating resin. Further, the method for forming a composite core material comprises the steps of forming a mixture comprising mineral filler, an encapsulating prepolymer, and a polymerization catalyst; disposing the mixture onto a moving belt; and polymerizing said encapsulating prepolymer to form a composite core material comprising mineral filler discontinuous portions disposed in a continuous encapsulating resin.

The present invention relates to the field of microscopy, preferably electron microscopy. Especially, the present invention concerns an embedding medium for imaging a biological sample by microscopy comprising: from 60% to 99% wt. of a glycol dimethacrylate selected from alkylene glycol dimethacrylate and/or oligo(alkylene glycol) dimethacrylate; from 0% to 38% wt. of a polyalkylene glycol diacrylate or of a polyalkylene glycol methacrylate; said polyalkylene glycol diacrylate or polyalkylene glycol methacrylate being optionally substituted by at least one hydrophilic group such as hydroxyl, amino, or an oxo group; at least one additive, preferably comprising at least one heavy metal salt or lanthanide salt; and from 0.1% to 2% wt. of a radical polymerization initiator.

The present invention also refers to the electro-conductive material resulting from the polymerization of the embedding medium of the invention, and the process and kits of preparation thereof; said material embedding at least one biological sample.

The present invention also relates to a method for imaging by microscopy, a biological sample comprising using the embedding medium and/or the electro-conductive material of the invention.

A method for visualizing neurons is provided. The method comprises a staining step and a visualizing step. The staining step comprises following steps: placing a neural tissue sample in an acrolein solution in the dark for fixation; placing the fixed neural tissue sample in a Golgi-Cox solution in the dark; replacing the Golgi-Cox solution; incubating the neural tissue sample placed in the replaced Golgi-Cox solution at a range of 36 C. to 38 C.; gradiently dehydrating the neural tissue sample; and embedding the dehydrated neural tissue sample with Petropoxy 154 resin. The visualizing step comprises: performing data acquisition and image reconstruction on the neural tissue sample using X-ray microscopy.

This disclosure provides a biological sample processing system and methods for processing biological samples. The processing may include one or both of removing wax from wax-embedded biological samples and applying a reagent to biological samples. Aspects of the dewaxing technique and the technique for applying the reagent may be combined to achieve energy efficiencies. Additional efficiency may be achieved by recirculating heated reagent. A hybrid power system may use a source of stored power to supplement external power at times of peak demand. Uniform distribution of liquids across a surface of the biological samples may be achieved by self-leveling using an inclinometer.

Improved methods for treating cancer are provided herein by determining if a cancer patient, particularly a colon cancer patient or a gastric cancer patient, will clinically respond in a favorable manner to a therapeutic strategy comprising the FOLFOX regimen (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) or a combination of capecitabine and cisplatin. Diagnostic methods for measuring the OPRT, TYMP, and/or UCK2 proteins in a tissue sample, such as a tumor sample, from the patient are provided.

Realtime on-site mechanical characterization of wellbore cuttings is described. At a surface of a wellbore being drilled at a wellbore drilling site, multiple cuttings resulting from drilling the wellbore are received. At the wellbore drilling site, nano-indentation tests on each of the multiple cuttings are performed. At the wellbore drilling site, mechanical properties of the multiple cuttings are determined based on the results of the nano-indentation tests.

A specimen for analyzing the shape of an antistatic antifouling layer and a method for preparing the same are provided. The specimen includes Pt coated on an antistatic antifouling layer comprising a conductive polymer formed on a polymer substrate, so that a contrast difference between the polymer substrate layer and the antistatic antifouling layer is caused by the diffusion of Pt by means of the conductive polymer and the dyeing effect of the antifouling layer. Accordingly, it is possible to clearly distinguish the shape of the antistatic antifouling layer formed on the polymer substrate by using TEM.

Tissue samples embedded in settable, sectionable media such as paraffin can be cut into sections. Embedding one or more sectionable fiducial indicia in the medium permits identification of the plane along which the medium has been cut. However, prior methods of inserting indicia into embedded tissue sample blocks are cumbersome and difficult to perform. Sectionable fiducial indicia can be embedded in a block of medium by releasibly fixing the indicia to the sidewall or base of a mold used to shape the tissue block during embedding of a tissue sample in the medium block.

This disclosure provides a biological sample processing system and methods for processing biological samples. The processing may include one or both of removing wax from wax-embedded biological samples and applying a reagent to biological samples. Aspects of the dewaxing technique and the technique for applying the reagent may be combined to achieve energy efficiencies. Additional efficiency may be achieved by recirculating heated reagent. A hybrid power system may use a source of stored power to supplement external power at times of peak demand. Uniform distribution of liquids across a surface of the biological samples may be achieved by self-leveling using an inclinometer.

A TEM electromechanical in-situ testing method of one-dimensional materials is provided. A multi-function sample stage which can compress, buckle and bend samples is designed and manufactured. A carbon film on a TEM grid of Cu is eliminated, and the TEM grid of Cu is cut in half through the center of the circle. The samples are dispersed ultrasonically in alcohol and dropped on the edge of the semicircular grid of Cu with a pipette. A single sample is fixed on the edge of a substrate of the sample stage with conductive silver epoxy by using a micromechanical device under an optical microscope, and conductive silver paint is applied to the surface of the substrate of the sample stage; and an electromechanical in-situ testing is conducted in a TEM. This provides a simple and efficient sample preparation and testing method for a TEM electromechanical in-situ observing experiment.