Rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis using a novel ultrafast chip-type real-time polymerase chain reaction system.

Background: NBS LabChip G2-3 is a novel, ultrafast, chip-type portable real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system. We evaluated the clinical usefulness of this system in detecting pulmonary TB and assessed its diagnostic performance compared with a conventional tube-type PCR system.

Methods: A total of 247 sputum samples were collected from patients suspected of having pulmonary TB.

Analysis of passive mixing behavior in a poly(dimethylsiloxane) microfluidic channel using confocal fluorescence and Raman microscopy.

Confocal fluorescence microscopy (CFM) and confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) have been applied to monitor the laminar flow mixing behavior in a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic channel. Two passive PDMS micromixing devices were fabricated for this purpose: a two-dimensional round-wave channel and a three-dimensional serpentine channel. The microscale laminar flow mixing of ethanol and isopropanol was evaluated using the CFM and CRM at various flow rates.