News from the Biological Stain Commission,No. 17

In the 17^th issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC) under the heading of Regulatory affairs, the Biological Stain Commission’s International Affairs Committee presents information from the 20^th meeting of ISO/TC 212 Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems held on October 15 ? 17, 2014 in Toronto, Canada, and from the 29^th meeting of CEN/TC 140 In vitro diagnostic medical devices held on February 3, 2015 in Berlin, Germany.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission No. 14

Abstract

In the 14^th issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC) the BSC’s International Affairs Committee presents information from the meetings of ISO/TC 212/WG 3, In vitro diagnostic products, and from the final plenary meeting of ISO/TC 212, Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems, held on 17-19 October 2011 in Las Vegas, NV. Information is also presented from the 26th meeting of CEN/TC 140, In vitro diagnostic medical devices, held on 5 December 2011 in Berlin, Germany.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission No. 12

Abstract

In this 12^th issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC) under the heading of Regulatory affairs, the Biological Stain Commission’s International Affairs Committee presents information from the meetings of ISO/TC 212/WG 1 Quality and competence in the medical laboratory and ISO/TC 212/WG 3 In vitro diagnostic products both held on 2 – 3 June 2010, plus information on the second plenary meeting of ISO/TC 212 Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems held on 4 June 2010. All meetings took place in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Finally, information is provided concerning the 25^th meeting of CEN/TC 140 In vitro diagnostic medical devices held on 23 June 2010 in Berlin, Germany.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission No. 13

Abstract

In the 13^th issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC) under the heading of Regulatory affairs, the Biological Stain Commission’s International Affairs Committee presents information from the first plenary meeting of the International Standards Organization ISO/TC 212 Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems held on 17–19 October 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission No. 15

In the 15^th issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC), under the heading of Regulatory affairs, the Biological Stain Commission’s International Affairs Committee presents information from the plenary meetings of the International Standards Organization ISO/TC 212 Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems held on August 22–24, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. An additional discussion of the use of food dyes in India also is included.     

News from the BSC No. 8

Abstract

In the 8th and following issues of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC), under the heading of Regulatory affairs, the BSC's International Affairs Committee will present information from a meeting held in Ghent, Belgium on 15–18 June 2009 concerning the progress achieved by the International Standards Organization Committee ISO/TC 212 Clinical Laboratory Testing and in Vitro Diagnostic Test Systems since the last meeting held in Vancouver, Canada in 2008. A note on the meaning and significance of E numbers found on the labels of foodstuffs and beverages sold for human consumption concludes this edition of News from the Biological Stain Commission.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission No. 11

The 11th issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC) provides our first impressions of the REACH and ECHA programs. We intend to give a more thorough account of what these important programs actually mean in later editions of News from the Biological Stain Commission. Under the heading of Regulatory Affairs, the Biological Stain Commission’s International Affairs Committee presents information from the opening session of the meeting of the International Standards Organization ISO/TC 212 Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems held on 2-4 June 2010 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission No. 7

Abstract

In this issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC), under the heading of Regulatory affairs, the Biological Stain Commission's International Affairs Committee presents information from a meeting held in Berlin by the International Standards Organization ISO/TC 212/WG 1, “Quality and Competence in the Medical Laboratory,” on 11–12 December 2008. After this, we turn again to problems with impure dyes and find that solvent dyes are impure even for non-biological use.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission No. 5

In this fifth issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC), under the heading of Regulatory Affairs, the BSC's International Affairs Committee provides more information from the meeting of the International Standards Organization ISO/TC 212 Committee that took place on June 2–4, 2008 at Vancouver, Canada. In addition, we give an update on the current situation regarding the supplies of hematoxylin.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission no. 12

In this 12(th) issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC) under the heading of Regulatory affairs, the Biological Stain Commission's International Affairs Committee presents information from the meetings of ISO/TC 212/WG 1 Quality and competence in the medical laboratory and ISO/TC 212/WG 3 In vitro diagnostic products both held on 2 - 3 June 2010, plus information on the second plenary meeting of ISO/TC 212 Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems held on 4 June 2010. All meetings took place in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Finally, information is provided concerning the 25(th) meeting of CEN/TC 140 In vitro diagnostic medical devices held on 23 June 2010 in Berlin, Germany.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission No. 6

Abstract

In this issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC), under the heading of Regulatory affairs, HO Lyon of the BSC's International Affairs Committee presents information from a joint meeting held in Berlin by the International Standards Organization ISO/TC 212/WG 2 and the European Committee for Standardization CEN/TC 140/WG 4 on 9–10 December 2008. As a slightly less bureaucratic contribution, RW Horobin presents some news about tartrazine, a dye used as a biological stain, but very much more widely as a food color.     

News from the Biological Stain Commission No. 11

The 11th issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC) provides our first impressions of the REACH and ECHA programs. We intend to give a more thorough account of what these important programs actually mean in later editions of News from the Biological Stain Commission. Under the heading of Regulatory Affairs, the Biological Stain Commission's International Affairs Committee presents information from the opening session of the meeting of the International Standards Organization ISO/TC 212 Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems held on 2-4 June 2010 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.     

Orcein,a traditional stain revealed: some introductory remarks

In the three earlier editions of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC), under the heading of “Regulatory affairs,” the BSC's International Affairs Committee reported on the work of Technical Committee 212, Clinical Laboratory Testing and in Vitro Diagnostic Test Systems of the International Standards Organization (ISO/TC 212) and its working groups, WG 1, WG 2 and WG 3. In this issue of News from the BSC, H.O. Lyon provides information from the annual meeting of ISO/TC 212 that took place June 2–4, 2008 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In addition, under the heading of “Certification,” J.A. Kiernan examines the certification procedure for thionine used by the BSC laboratory in Rochester, NY.     

Announcing the call for the Special Issue on the 20th International Congress of the International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB)—virtual meeting,October 2021

This Commentary describes a call for submissions for the upcoming Special Issue focused on the science presented at the 20^th IUPAB Congress to be held in conjunction with the 45^th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Biophysical Society and the 49^th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 20^th International IUPAB Congress will take place as a virtual meeting this year from October 4 to 8, 2021. This triennial IUPAB Congress will be held in loose conjunction with the 45^th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Biophysical Society and the 49^th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. To act as a complement to this virtual meeting, the Biophysical Reviews journal will base a Special Issue on the scientific topics of the meeting contributors selected from the range of invited speakers and poster presenters. This Special Issue will also work to highlight the host country’s (Brazil) National Biophysical Society. Finally, this Special Issue will also serve to publish the meeting abstracts in supplemental form.Review articles from IUPAB Congress speakers and poster presenters to the IUPAB Congress and associated conferences (the 45^th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Biophysical Society and the 49^th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) are solicited. Similar to the SI based on the 19^th IUPAB Congress held in Edinburgh summarizing Commentaries from session chairs are also requested (Hall and dos Remedios 2017). The Special Issue for the 20^th IUPAB International Congress will be prepared and edited by the current authors (Rosangela Itri, Mauricio Baptista, Richard Garratt, and Antonio Jose Costa-Filho).     

Standardization in Biological Staining. The Influence of Dye Manufacturing

The purpose of biological staining is to obtain specimens of biological material that can be assessed in the microscope. These specimens are influenced by all processes from removal from the intact organism to mounting on the microscopic slide. To achieve comparable results with various techniques for biological staining, standardization of all procedures and reagents is mandatory. In this paper, I focus particularly on dyes and consider the possibilities for obtaining standardized dyes. In general practice, most biological staining takes place with available commercial dyes. These dyes may or may not have been subjected to quality assessment either internally by the producer or vendor or externally by independent investigators or organizations such as the Biological Stain Commission. Concerted attempts at standardization in Europe are discussed. The latest results of this work, the European standard EN 12376, is presented. This standard is concerned with information supplied by the manufacturer with in vitro diagnostic reagents for biological staining. The standard has been prepared by a Working Group on Staining in Biology under Technical Committee 140, In Vitro Medical Devices, of the European committee for standardization, CEN.     

Accomplishments of the Trustees and laboratory staff of the Biological Stain Commission, 2002–2013

During the 12 years from 2002 to 2013, the Trustees and laboratory personnel of the Biological Stain Commission (BSC) can claim many accomplishments. These accomplishments are itemized under 11 categories: continuous publication of the official journal, Biotechnic & Histochemistry; production of four special issues of Biotechnic & Histochemistry devoted to specific dyes or stains; standardization of staining and dye purity; mechanisms of staining and prediction of dye behavior; publication of books or book chapters; effects of fixation and processing on staining; cancer research; immunohistochemistry; BSC Laboratory activities; miscellaneous publications; and administrative accomplishments.     

Micropropagation of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.)

A method for callus induction, adventitious bud regeneration, shoot multiplication and rooting of in vitro formed shoots of Helianthus annuus L. var. Argentario is described. Hypocotyl and cotyledon explants formed callus on medium containing 2 mgl^–1 naphthalene acetic acid and 0.5 mgl^–1 benzyladenine. Adventitious buds were formed on hypocotyl segments on medium containing 0.5–2 mgl^–1 benzyladenine. The optimal level of sucrose concentration for shoot regeneration from hypocotyls was 1.5%. Multiplication from shoot apices was promoted by kinetin (2 mgl^–1) plus gibberellic acid (5 mgl^–1), benzyladenine (2 mgl^–1) plus gibberellic acid (10 mgl^–1) or at lower frequency by benzyladenine (1 mgl^–1). A general feature of the plantlets formed in vitro was the precocious flowering.     

Report on the 2nd Workshop on Fluorescence Chemosensors and Bioimaging,Dalian, China: one participant’s view

Abstract

I was invited to this Workshop, because I have published papers on the mechanisms of action of small molecule fluorescent probes used with living cells. The Workshop provided an opportunity to interact with some significant figures in the chemosensor and bioimaging field from across the planet; to spend time with a large, friendly and active group of local investigators and their graduate students; and to take a brief look at a vibrant modern city. Many scientific connections were made and collaborations planned for the Biological Stain Commission and for my own future work.     

Progress in the Standardization of Stains the Work of the Stain Commission

Organization of the Commission.—Nearly all readers of Stain Technology are familiar with the organization of the Biological Stain Commission. It has been explained more than once in statements published in these pages. Nevertheless, it seems well to repeat a little to recall its history to the reader's mind, and to explain again the present form of the organization.     

Report from the President the Biological Stain Commission: Its Goals, Its Past and Its Present Status

This is a brief overview of the goals, evolution, and present status of the Biological Stain Commission. The main function of the Commission is the testing and certification of dye batches intended for biological applications. The testing is supported by charges made for batch testing and by the sale of certification labels affixed to individual dye containers. Submission of dyes for testing is voluntary, depending on the cooperation of the companies who sell them and the consumers who buy them. The supportive role of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry—both past and present—is not well known and should be. Increasingly federal regulations affect the production, availability, and cost of dyes. Commission income from the sale of labels has decreased in recent years. Continuation of its work requires changes that will produce more income. Much dye is now sold in solutions instead of dry powders. The value of using Stain Commission certified dyes whenever possible is illustrated by the case of basic fuchsin. Years ago this dye was a mixture. Most basic fuchsin now marketed consists mainly of either pararosanilin (Colour Index No. 42500) or rosanilin (C.I. No. 42510). The Biological Stain Commission discovered that some certified batches of both pararosanilin and rosanilin sold as “basic fuchsin” had incorrect C.I. numbers on the labels. Sometimes that caused failure of the aldehyde fuchsin stain. Unless made with pararosanilin, aldehyde fuchsin does not stain pancreatic islet B-cells, elastic fibers, and hepatitis B surface antigen in unoxidized sections. Mislabelling by packagers may interfere with other applications of pararosanilin and rosanilin. The Commission acted to publicize and correct this problem. Biological Stain Commission publications help educate microscopists and histotechnologists about dyes and their best use. Stain Commission representatives from member scientific societies provide valuable input about changes in the availability and quality of such dyes as hematoxylin and others; they also provide useful feedback to their societies about dye problems. Each new generation of biologists and histotechnologists should be taught the importance of using only Stain Commission certified stains when available. They should be taught also to notify the Stain Commission whenever they experience problems with any certified dye.