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Don Hammer, Administrative Director            UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON 
Hospital Pathology, Box 356100                     MEDICAL CENTER
1995 NE Pacific St.                                
Seattle Washington, 98195                  ~Where Knowledge Comes To Life~ 
(206) 598-6401 Fax: (206) 598-4928         
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On Tue, 11 May 1999, Gayle Callis wrote:

> Those nasty little squeeze bottles are getting to me also.  I have 
> begun to tell vendors, starting with Vector (their small substrate 
> bottles are the worse, extremely hard to squeeze, and particularly when
> you just remove them from the refrig).  Using anything like this is
> often grounds for changing suppliers just to avoid pain.
> They also have bottles, as do many other vendors, Dako's come to 
> mind, that are much easier to use, softer sided AND you can see into the
> bottle.    
> 
> The smaller the bottle, it seems, more force is needed to
> squeeze.  I must hand it to Vector on their new NovaRed substrate for HRP,
> they have put the volume of one drop (for their bottles)  at 45 ul.  I would
> rather pipette than squeeze, and can use the other hand to push plungers,
> and now have a full set of very good pipettes.   Maybe the vendors will supply
> volume per drop for their particular kits. 
> 
> I also advise those using pipettes to look at new automated electronic designs 
> just demo'd an Eppendorf, a lovely instrument that uses a side tip ejector
> which uses all fingers, like squeezing a tennis ball.  It was less tiring
> to use.  Pricey, but worth the money in the long run, there are others
> out there, ask for a demo.  It also helps to not do a pipettor mix, 
> aspirate/dispense several times, a vortex mixer replaced that method and 
> with fewer bubbles1
> 
> Hopefully vendors are seeing this, and help us out.  Dropper bottles are
> nice and convenient, but contribute to the repetitive motion syndrome.
> When I find a squeeze bottle I like, I recycle it into usage for other 
> things, like mixing the substrates and having a softer squeeze experience
> (definitely a leading statement!).
> 
> I think we also need to rethink and scrutinize how we do some things,
> microtoming with wider handles on m'tomes (build them up with thick wrap),
> and not use forceps to separate sections on a waterbath, helped me.
> 
> For those who do hand held PMMA ground sections, arise, go on strike and
> make your boss buy a grinder, with a head to hold the section.  You will be
> in osetoarthritis city before your time if you don't, have the fingerjoints
> to prove it. 
> 
> Enough said about this painful subject.
> 
> Gayle Callis
> 
>