>Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 15:45:14 -0600
>From: Gayle Callis <uvsgc@msu.oscs.montana.edu>
>Subject: squeeze bottles/painful finger joints
>To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
>
>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
>

Gayle,
	In defence of the dropper bottle I hope the suppliers keep them,
although maybe a bit more sqeezeable. I just bought an AEC kit from Sigma,
now in glass bottles, and who knocked over one of the bottles. I jumped
about and uttered a few oaths regarding what I'd do to the soft parts of
the male anatomy of the clown from Sigma who decided to put the AEC kit in
glass bottles. Alright, my own fault, but if the solutions had been in
dropper bottles my accident would have been minor rather than a whole kit
down the pan.
Ian.

Dr. Ian Montgomery,
West Medical Building,
University of Glasgow,
Glasgow,
G12 8QQ,
Scotland.
Tel: 0141 339 8855 Extn. 6602.
Fax: 0141 330 4100.
e-mail: ian.montgomery@bio.gla.ac.uk