The compound light microscope has been used by patholo gists for centuries, and remains the common tool for making a diagnosis. A half century ago, the electron microscope (EM) was introduced, and has aiso been proven to be a valuable, but expensive, tool. In the meantime, other tools and methods have worked their way into the pathologists’ armamentarium, with immunohistochemical, genetic, and molecular techniques being the most obvious examples. Josep Lloreta-Truil, Lola Ferrer, Teresa Ribalta, Marco Pavesi, and Sergio Serrano examined the literature to determine the frequency and appropriateness with which pathologists use the EM in their studies.

Highly localized probing of surface nanomechanical properties with a submicron resolution can be accomplished with scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The SPM ability to probe local surface topography in conjunction with mechanical, adhesive, friction, thermal, magnetic, and electric properties is unique.1 However, the quantitative probing of the nanomechanical materials properties is still a challenge and only a few examples have been published to date.

In this note, we briefly review the latest developments in the nanomechanical probing of compliant materials (predominantly polymers). We solely focus our analysis of SPM-based approach in a so-called static force spectroscopy (SFS) mode.

Today's newer homes are built to be energy efficient. Better insulation, better caulking, better windows restrict heat and airflow movements. Dust and contamination getting into the house has a harder time getting out. PLM examination of dust is a direct approach to assessing the magnitude of the problem and identifying the contamination responsible. Several actual cases of dust problems in the home and the role of microscopy in solving these problems are discussed.

Osmium tetroxide is indeed wonderful stuff. Osmium is a rare element, so disposal of used solutions should consist of recycling, not dumping, even though osmium compounds are not considered environmentally hazardous (Smith et al., 1978 Trace Metal in the Environment, vol 4. Ann Arbor Science Publishers). The colorless and soluble toxic tetroxide. is rapidly reduced by almost any kind of dirt to a black, insoluble dioxide, usually in a colloidal form that's readily dispersed by moving water if it isn't firmly stuck to the solid organic matter that brought about the reduction.

Gluteraldehyde (GA) has proven to be an extraordinarily versatile product. Its many uses range from softening leather and paper to disinfecting and sterilizing hospital instruments. It is used, of course, as a fixative in preparing biological samples for microscopic investigations that most readers of this publication will be familiar with. Even though quality questions relating to GA have been well researched and documented, there is still enough disagreement between industry experts to stimulate an enthusiastic discussion on microscopic list servers.

Pressure scales can be extremely confusing to new operators. This is not surprising. To my mind, there are three primary areas of confusion.

Firstly, the pressure of gas inside an instrument changes over many orders of magnitude during pump-down. The change is about 9 orders of magnitude for a traditional Scanning Electron Microscope and about 13 orders of magnitude for an ultra-high vacuum instrument such as a Scanning Auger Microprobe.

I'm somewhat amazed by how many varied techniques there are for rotary shadowing, and how few seem to agree with what works for us. So, here is our method.

We shadow biological molecules from the connective tissue matrix, usually ranging in size from 16 to 300 kilodaltons. Many are linear but some are globular. We spray the molecules in solution with 70% glycerol. The other 30% is 100 microgram/mL of protein, preferably in a volatile buffer such as 1% acetic acid or 0.1M ammonium bicarbonate, pH 7.8. Other buffers can be used, but salt crystals can be a big problem.