Accessories

General

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  What can swabs without medium be used for?

  Swabs without medium are often used to swab intact skin and natural orifices in the body which are examined rapidly (within one hour). We offer two versions: swabs made of plastic and aluminium.

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  What can our swabs with transport medium be used for?

  80.1361 – e.g. throat, vagina, wounds and skin

  80.1362 – e.g. throat, urogenital wounds

  80.1363 + 80.1366 – for paediatrics and narrow orifices such as ears, nose, corners of the eyes, urethra in men and women

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  In which wavelength range can Sarstedt cuvettes be used?

  Thanks to their optical properties, our polystyrene cuvettes can be used from the visual range to the UV range to 330 nanometres (nm). In contrast to this, acrylic (PMMA) cuvettes are characterised by a high level of transparency in the UV range and can therefore be used to approximately 300 nm. The plastic material of the UV cuvette enables measurements in the UV range from a wavelength of 220 nm.

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  What are the advantages of Sarstedt inoculation loops, inoculation needles and inoculation spreaders and for which applications are they suitable?

  Our inoculation loops, inoculation needles and inoculation spreaders are comfortable to handle and increase safety in the workplace. They reduce the risk of cross contamination and save time due to the omission of sterilising with heat or flame-scarfing between two inoculations. They also prevent pathogenic aerosols which harbour the risk of spreading germs. Flexible inoculation loops are used for the simple carrying out of swabs or inoculation in liquid medium. Two versions are available, 1 µl and 10 µl, which are colour-coded to make them easier to differentiate. The inoculation needles should be used for seeding or withdrawing individual colonies. We recommend the use of the inoculation spreaders to place large volumes on culture media.

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  What plastics are the Sarstedt DishRack Petri dish stands made from and can these racks generally be autoclaved?

  Both the DishRack 50 (93.1647) and the DishRack 80 (93.1646) are made from polycarbonate. In principle, it is possible to autoclave the racks, but if they are autoclaved several times (more than three times) tension cracks can occur on the rivet lugs of the racks, although this does not affect the stability of the racks.  

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  How high is the accuracy of the 1 µl and 10 µl inoculation loops?

  The internal diameter of the inoculation loops is within a tolerance range of ± 5%. The tolerance of the acceptance capacity of the inoculation loops is ± 30% and is dependent on several factors, in particular the quality of the medium and the user's method of working. Plastic inoculation loops cannot therefore generally be recommended beyond half quality work processes.

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  Are Sarstedt Petri dishes suitable for use in automated plate casting machines?

  The high level of dimensional stability means that our Petri dishes are optimally suited to use in automated plate casting machines.

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  What are the advantages of Petri dishes with and without ventilation cams?

  Petri dishes with ventilation cams offer improved gas exchange. Variants without ventilation cams offer the possibility of longer incubation due to lower rates of evaporation.

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  What can Petri dishes with two compartments be used for?

  A Petri dish divided into two separate compartments offers the option to carry out parallel tests under comparable conditions or to use two different culture media.

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  What are swabs with transport medium suitable for?

  Our swabs with transport medium are suitable for extended transport (up to several days) of the samples collected, thereby increasing the recovery rate. In this way, even sensitive pathogens can survive transport. The rod material is available in both plastic and aluminium.

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  What are the advantages of swabs with charcoal in the transport medium?

  A swab with Amies transport medium enables the transport of the samples and increases the recovery rate. Charcoal in the medium neutralises bacterial toxins and other inhibitory substances and also causes an improved recovery rate of various different bacteria. However, the charcoal can disrupt the analysis on the Petri dishes. The user must therefore check the suitability of the transport medium under laboratory conditions.

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  Can the 80.625 swab be autoclaved?

  Our 80.625 swab cannot be autoclaved. The tube in the swab is made out of the autoclavable plastic polypropylene, but both the cap (polyethylene) and the swab stem (polystyrene) are not autoclavable. This is due to the low temperature resistance of the PE and PS plastic, which have a maximum long-term use temperature of 60–80°C. Autoclaving is carried out at temperatures of at least 121°C and it is not possible to rule out an impairment of the product as a result of this.

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  How is the centre height (Z) of cuvettes defined?

  The distance between the base of the cuvette and the centre of the photometer light beam is defined as the centre height (Z). The centre height can vary depending on the manufacturer and the type of photometer, which is why Sarstedt offers UV cuvettes in two different centre heights (Z = 8 mm and Z = 15 mm). If customers do not know the exact centre height of the photometer, this information can be requested from the device manufacturer.

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  Are there cuvettes which are suitable for fluorescence measurements?

  Fluorescence measurements are carried out at a 90° angle to the direction of the photometer beam and can therefore only be used in quadruple optical cuvettes. We offer a quadruple optical cuvette made of polystyrene (67.754) or PMMA (67.755) especially for this application.

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