The Microscope – Volume 67, Third Quarter 2019
IN THIS ISSUE
On the cover
Harking back to past photomontage covers of The Microscope journal, here are some of the participants from Inter/Micro 2019; see article on page 122. Top row, from left: Jim Millette, Tony Havics, Brian J. Ford, Susan Young, John A. Reffner, Skip Palenik. 2nd row: Kelly Brinsko Beckert, James Solliday, Jack Hietpas, Walter Rantanen, Rich Brown, Peter Diaczuk. 3rd row: Payam Fallah, Art Struss, Katie White, Bob Kuksuk, Peter Zoon, Eric Chatfield. 4th row: Jan Burmeister, Patrick Buzzini, Wayne Isphording, Brendan Nytes, Anders Juul Lawaetz, Meggan King. 5th row: Steven Barnett, Charles Mazel, Dickey Huntamer, Casey Brown, Sebastian Sparenga, Jerry Jasso. (Photos by Dean Golemis/McCrone Research Institute)
Editorial | Happy 60th Anniversary!
Gary J. LaughlinThe Microscope 67:3, p. ii, 2019https://doi.org/10.59082/CVDZ3919
Excerpt: The McCrone Research Institute is turning 60, and being that 1960 was our first year, this will be a momentous occasion. I was born at a very young age, but I still missed the beginning when Walter and Lucy McCrone envisioned a world in which an abundance of well-trained microscopists would emerge and reveal an array of hidden truths from their lenses.
Since 1960, the institute has reached more than 33,000 student enrollments. Coincidentally, I am reminded that this was also the year that Hugh Hefner opened the very first Playboy Club in Chicago. And I, like so many other budding microscopists, learned how to identify acrylic fibers at the institute, which Dr. McCrone said that he acquired himself from the costume of one of the original Playboy Bunny waitresses. He left it to the students to figure out which part of the costume and what the other particles in his photomicrograph were — let alone how he managed to collect them! Turns out that the mystery particles are types that every well-trained microscopist should be able to identify: specifically, Orlon® together with cheek epithelial cells (see “What Every Microscopist Should Know” editorials in issues 66:2 and 67:2).
Microscopical Analyses of Asbestos-Containing Dental Tape
James R. Millette, Steven Compton, and Christopher DePasquale
The Microscope 67:3, pp. 99–109, 2019https://doi.org/10.59082/YLJQ6709
Abstract: Since the 1930s, asbestos-containing dental ring liner tape has been used in making crowns, bridges,and other metal prostheses. Analyses of 10 samples of the tape in this study show a range of 40% to 95% chrysotile together with small amounts of amphibole asbestos. Fibers are released onto a person handling the tape. Several tests performed in both a glove box and in a room-sized chamber showed similar airborne levels of asbestos ranging from 0.5 to 4 fibers per cubic centimeter (F/cc) during handling and tearing of the tape. Two glove box tests suggest that more than 100,000 asbestos fibers greater than 5 μm in length are released during two tears of the dental tape and over two million asbestos fibers greater than 0.5 μm in length are released during two tears.
Abstract: Since the 1930s, asbestos-containing dental ring liner tape has been used in making crowns, bridges,and other metal prostheses. Analyses of 10 samples of the tape in this study show a range of 40% to 95% chrysotile together with small amounts of amphibole asbestos. Fibers are released onto a person handling the tape. Several tests performed in both a glove box and in a room-sized chamber showed similar airborne levels of asbestos ranging from 0.5 to 4 fibers per cubic centimeter (F/cc) during handling and tearing of the tape. Two glove box tests suggest that more than 100,000 asbestos fibers greater than 5 μm in length are released during two tears of the dental tape and over two million asbestos fibers greater than 0.5 μm in length are released during two tears.
Critical Focus | Vaccines: Sickness or Salvation?
Brian J. FordThe Microscope 67:3, pp.111–121, 2019
https://doi.org/10.59082/CEIT3768
Excerpt: Humanity will be wiped out with a virus epidemic, we are told. That’s the big picture. The small, personal alternative is when you go to the doctor with an unidentifiable illness: “Ah, it’s a virus,” they say. “There’s a lot of it about.” Yes, viruses are everywhere. Some (like Ebola) are confined to specific regions of the globe; others (like hepatitis) are transmitted only in unusual circumstances; a few (like HIV) are not highly infectious, and can now be treated — but those that threaten everybody are widespread around the world, cannot be cured, and are easily spread. New examples, from MERS to SARS, pop up like moles at a funfair.
Inter/Micro 2019 — International Microscopy Conference
Gary J. Laughlin
The Microscope 67:3, pp.122–139, 2019https://doi.org/10.59082/JLTK7744
Abstract: The 71st annual Inter/Micro international microscopy conference, be held at McCrone Research Institute in Chicago on June 10–14, hosted leading microscopists and researchers from around the world, including Canada, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and U.S.
Microscope Past: 35 Years Ago | Applications of Light Microscopy in Food Analysis
Olga Flint
The Microscope 67:3, pp.140–143, 2019
Originally published in The Microscope, Vol. 32, Third Quarter, pp. 133–140, 1984.
Abstract: In the chemical analysis of food, evidence concerning the physical state of constituents is destroyed. By using non-destructive techniques the food microscopist can provide this information but, to do this, methods appropriate for the material being examined must be chosen. Techniques involving minimum disruption of food structure include methods of optical contrast, vapor staining and the use of a stain-mountant. That processed foods are susceptible to artifacts is illustrated by a comparison of the results obtained by solution and vapor staining of starch and lipid present in a commercial food emulsion. The use of a toluidine blue stain-mountant provides a rapid method for detecting plant tissue in this and similar food products.
Afterimage | Astra
Charles Mazel — NIGHTSEAThe Microscope 67:3, p. 144, 2019
Detail of a horizontal section of an apple; fluorescence under blue light excitation, field of view is ~7×7 mm. Best overall winner of the Inter/Micro 2019 Photomicrography Competition (see page 123).
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