The stool sample was suspended with 4×volume of phosphate-buffered saline and then the mixed specimen was homogenized by vortexing for 1 min.
A 0.5 ml volume of mucus plug, or, if no visible plug the gently mixed specimen, was pipetted into 1 ml of skim milk-tryptone-glucose-glycerol broth and kept at −20°C for up to 72 hours before transporting to Perth where they were stored at −70°C until processed.
A homogeneous whole blood specimen is essential to produce quality results from blood gas analysis, however achieving an adequately mixed specimen can be difficult due to the absence of any dead space in a blood gas syringe.
The Brazilian disk, a classic mixed mode fracture test specimen, was adopted for the experimental characterization of the crack initiation.
The VAlPO4 specimen was mixed with KBr according to the weight ratio of 1 200 and pressed into pellets for measurement.
The catalyst specimen was mixed with KBr in a weight ratio of 1 200, and pressed into pellet to be used in the measurement.
In brief, a 5-g sample from a homogenized 50∼100 g fecal specimen was mixed with saline, shaken and passed through a series of sieves (400, 100, and 45 µm).
In brief, 100 µl of each CVL specimen was mixed (1∶1) with a 2× solution of K buffer (containing Proteinase K at 400 g/mL, 2 mM EDTA, 2% Laureth-12, 100 mM Tris, pH 8.5) and incubated at 55°C for 2 hours followed by a further incubation at 95°C for 10 minutes.
The next day the specimen was mixed with Histogel (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) and was allowed to harden.
For each specimen, a 100 μL sample of diluent and 25 μL test specimen were mixed, and then twofold serial dilutions were made with 25 μL sample diluent.
