Ionic Actuators as Manipulators for Microscopy.

Non-destructive handling of soft biological samples at the cellular level is becoming increasingly relevant in life sciences. In particular, spatially dense arrangements of soft manipulators with the capability of monitoring via optical and electron microscopes promises new and exciting experimental techniques. The currently available manipulation technologies offer high positioning accuracy, yet these devices significantly grow in complexity in achieving compliance.

Neonatal screening: identification of children with 11β-hydroxylase deficiency by second-tier testing.

Background: 21-Hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD) is the target disease of newborn screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). We describe the additional detection of patients suffering from 11β-hydroxylase deficiency (11-OHD) by second-tier testing.

Method: Over a period of 5 years, screening for CAH was done in a total of 986,098 newborns by time-resolved immunoassay (DELFIA®) for 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP).