A self-filling graduated cylinder system for efficiently filling a graduated cylinder with a chemical solution. The self-filling graduated cylinder system generally includes a graduated cylinder having an interior, an upper end, an upper opening in the upper end a lower end opposite of the upper end, and a check valve attached to the graduated cylinder near the lower end of the graduated cylinder. The check valve is adapted to allow a liquid chemical to flow upwardly through the check valve into the graduated cylinder and to prevent the liquid chemical within the interior of the graduated cylinder from flowing downwardly through the check valve. A vacuum device is fluidly connected to the graduated cylinder to draw the liquid chemical upwardly to an upper level within the graduated cylinder. Alternatively, a pump device pumps liquid chemical into the graduated cylinder.

Many hand-held diagnostics are limited in their functionality due to the challenging physics associated with small dimensional systems. An example of this is capillary forces in hydrophilic systems, such as the tight retention of liquid passing through a small pore filtration membrane, or capillary force driven microfluidics where, to keep liquid flowing the dimensions of the system become so small that the flow rates are too low to be useful, or the manufacturing of such devices becomes uneconomical. This disclosure details methods to reset the capillary force condition to avoid the requirement of transient pressure spikes associated with the breakthrough pressure of small pore membranes, and avoid the necessity of extremely small microfluidic channels, which can be useful in applications such as filtration of whole blood to plasma using only suction pressure or passive capillary pressure.

A device for visual quantification of an amount of target species in a sample solution. The device includes an inlet, a separator, and a trap. The inlet is arranged to receive the sample solution. The separator in fluid communication with the inlet and arranged to separate one or more species from the sample solution. The trap is arranged downstream of the separator, in fluid communication with the separator, and arranged to trap one or more species of the sample solution. The trap is arranged such that the trapped species is visible for determination of the amount of target species in the sample solution.

A biological false bottom transport tube system includes a top section of a specimen tube body, the top section comprising a top, a semi-spherical interior floor, and a bottom below the interior floor, the top section manufactured from a material transparent to both visible and infrared light, wherein the top section may hold a sample on the interior floor; and a bottom section of the specimen tube body, the bottom section comprises a top of a diameter less than a dimeter defined by a remainder of the bottom section, the top of the bottom section fits into the bottom of the top section below the interior floor such that the top of the bottom section is secured within the bottom of the top section, the bottom section manufactured from a material that is not transparent to either visible or infrared light.

This invention relates to microfluidic chips for and their applications in acquiring sperms with high velocity and/or motility. The microfluidic chip comprises an inlet region, a first flow channel, a divergent channel, an optional block structure with rounded corners and one or more outlet region(s). The invention mimics sperm activation process in body and designs a microfluidic chip mimicking the activation process so that higher amount of populations and/or subpopulations of sperms with high motility can be acquired.

An object of the present invention is to provide a blood test kit and a blood analysis method, which are for performing quantitative analysis of components by precisely obtaining a dilution factor. According to the present invention, provided is a blood test kit for analyzing a concentration of a target component in a blood sample using a normal component which is homeostatically present in blood, the kit including a diluent solution for diluting the blood sample, a first storing instrument for storing the diluent solution, a separation instrument for separating and recovering blood plasma from the blood sample diluted with the diluent solution, a holding instrument for holding the separation instrument, a second storing instrument for storing the recovered blood plasma, and a sealing instrument for keeping the stored blood plasma within the second storing instrument, in which the separation instrument is composed of glass fiber coated with a resin.

A stretch blow molding method may include fabricating a preform (e.g., by molding, optionally while a core pin rotates within a mold cavity), heating the preform to a softening temperature, stretching and thereby elongating at least a portion of the heated preform, blowing the elongated preform with pressurized fluid within a mold cavity, and cooling the resulting pipette. A system for fabricating a stretch blow molded pipette includes a first mold defining a mold cavity for producing a preform. A stretch rod drive unit is configured to move a stretch rod within an interior of the preform to form an elongated preform, and a second mold defines blow molding cavity and a molding surface to contain expansion of the elongated perform when subjected to blowing by supplying pressurized fluid to an interior thereof.

A thin film vessel useable in gravimetric methods for measuring the total dissolved solids or total solids in a liquid sample, or the moisture content of a solid sample. The vessel includes a main body formed of a thin walled polymeric material having a melting temperature greater than 180 C. The main body comprises an open top edge and a sealed bottom edge which define an inner cavity configured to hold a volume of liquid, and indicia applied to a portion of the main body, wherein the indicia include a tare weight of the vessel.

An apparatus comprises a biosensor disk structure including a first substrate with a first inner surface, a second substrate with a second inner surface facing oppositely toward the first inner surface, and fluidic channels reaching between the first and second inner surfaces; wherein the first inner surface has binding sites and non-binding sites adjoining the binding sites, the first substrate is transparent at the non-binding sites, and the non-binding sites have discrete polygonal configurations of equal size and shape; and the second inner surface has non-reflective areas and reflective areas bounded by the non-reflective areas, and the reflective areas have discrete polygonal configurations sized and shaped equally with the non-binding sites such that the reflective areas are located coextensively opposite the non-binding sites.

A measurement device containing one or more capillaries to measure the volume of a dispensed fluid and determine the volumetric accuracy of the dispensing device. The measurement device can contain a reservoir containing the fluid to be measured and there may be an additional reservoir for a secondary fluid. A viewing window is necessary to complete a manual measurement and may include a magnifying lens. The liquid well by the capillary inlet may be shaped such that the measurement fluid is directed toward the capillary. The well may have features designed to position the dispensing device toward the capillary, or to position the well proximal to the capillary after it is filled. The well may also have surfaces or coatings which attract or do not attract various types of substances. The measurement device may interface with sensors to output measurement data.