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pp. 20. Westing Software of Tiburon, Calif., has released Bookends Pro, a bibliography management system for professionals who track and cite reference information. Designed for the Macintosh, the software collects, manages, and formats references, citations, and quotes. In addition, it automatically generates bibliographies and footnotes that conform to publication specifications. Users can import reference information from a variety of online database services, including Medline, Dialog, and BRS, as well as from CD-ROMs and delimited text files. Bookends Pro also offers enhancement features, including previous-entry "peeking" and quick selection from a journal glossary or from a keyword or author list. The system includes more than 90 predefined formats for generating references and footnotes that conform to journal specifications. While these include many major required formats, the user can also customize the reference style to his or her specifications. Once a format is chosen, Bookends Pro offers a scan-and-replace feature to automatically scan manuscripts for reference and footnote citations, replace them with properly abbreviated citations, and generate a fully formatted bibliography in the process. Users can also save formatted bibliographic material as a word-processing file, print from a menu, or paste directly into documents using the copy-and-paste option. Galactic Industries of Salem, Mass., and Bio-Rad Sadtler of Cambridge, Mass., have teamed up to produce the IR Search/Sadtler software package, which supports Bio-Rad Sadtler Digital FT-IR search libraries. The IR Search/Sadtler option displays chemical structures and enables the user to display and search chemical and physical property information contained in Sadtler libraries. Additionally, the system can search either Galactic or SearchMaster user libraries. IR/Search Sadtler supports multiple-search algorithms, including full-spectrum, peak, and text/information searches. Users can define new algorithms with Galactic's Array Basic programming language. A special feature allows researchers to include or exclude multiple regions of a spectrum during a search. A "hit report" is generated for each search, and the system's Auto-Subtract feature enables users to automatically subtract out the library spectrum from the unknown and re-search the results. Keithley MetraByte of Taunton, Mass., has introduced TestPoint, a multitasking, object-oriented software package designed to simplify the creation of custom test, measurement, and data-acquisition applications in the Microsoft Windows environment without using conventional programming techniques. The package, which supports a wide array of hardware, develops test routines, creates custom user interfaces, modifies applications processes, displays data, creates report files, and exchanges information with other Windows applications. The package provides hundreds of library programs for controlling popular test and measurement instruments, including Keithley's Model 2001 Digital Multimeter and the Model 182 Sensitive Digital Voltmeter. The program also supports Keithley's KPC-488.2AT IEEE cards and many Keithley MetraByte DAS data-acquisition boards, including the DAS-1800, DAS-1600, DAS-1200, DAS-800, and DAS-TC boards. Alternative To Radioactive Compounds The Applied Biosystems Division of Perkin-Elmer Corp. in Norwalk, Conn., has announced three new fluorescent dye phosphoramidites, 6-FAM, HEX, and TET, which enable direct 5'-end labeling of primers and probes at coupling efficiencies greater than 90 percent. Designed as an alternative to radioactive compounds, fluorescently labeled oligonucleotides pose no environmental threat in use, storage, and disposal, according to the company. The products can facilitate gene analysis on the Model 373A DNA Sequencing System equipped with 672 GENESCAN software. They can also be used for in-situ hybridization, cell-uptake studies, target sequence identification, and other applications that would otherwise involve radioactivity. The fluorescent dye phosphoramidites dissolve completely in acetonitrile and attach to all Perkin-Elmer synthesizers. In addition, the products are compatible with the four-color, one-lane detection technology of the Model 373A. Dye-labeled primers yield correspondingly labeled polymerase chain reaction products that can be sized and quantified by GENESCAN software. According to Perkin-Elmer, this system is ideal for linkage, gene expression, forensic studies, and all other applications in which accurate, consistent genetic analysis is essential. Sarasota, Fla.-based World Precision Instruments introduces the EVC-4000, a voltage and current clamp that allows clamping of up to four epithelial membranes simultaneously. The product uses moderate voltages on wire leads and is modular, housing from one to four amplifiers. Each module, with its companion preamplifier and potentiostat, operates independently, actively maintaining one surface of the test membrane at zero potential relative to the ground under all operating conditions. Each module can operate as a voltage clamp, a current clamp, or an open circuit potential. Collection Gilson Inc., based in Middleton, Wis., has released the FC 205 Fraction Collector, designed for applications requiring routine collection in time or drop modes. Up to 10 collection windows can be added in either mode to divert non-desired eluent to waste, thus optimizing use of collection tubes. It can be as a stand-alone instrument or integrated with Gilson high-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography systems, or systems built by other manufacturers. Features of the FC 205 include a stationary rack system, x-y stepper motor technology, metal internal drive components, and a chemically resistant keypad and case. To adapt to changing conditions, collection parameters can be edited during runs, with the most recent set of parameters automatically stored in the memory. In addition, 23 different rack options, capability for 10, 12, and 13 mm test tubes, standard and deep-well microtiter plates, microcentrifuge tubes, scintillation vials, and Teflon funnels are available. An optional multi-column adapter permits simultaneous collection from up to eight separate columns. An optional three-way diverter valve facilitates collection at high flow rates, or into small-diameter tubes or plates. Polysaccharides The American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), located in Rockville, Md., offers 25 types of purified pneumococcal polysaccharides, including components of the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae and one type of menigococcal polysaccharide, W-135. The pneumonal polysaccharides are available as 2, 10, or 200 mg/vial, and the menigococcal polysaccharide is available as 25 or 200 mg/vial. According to ATCC, the use of these polysaccharides as model antigens has greatly extended the understanding of basic immune responses. In addition to their use in assaying for type-specific antibody, these antigens are useful in the analysis of other immune responses and immunodeficiency studies. The MCS high-precision, non-contact coating and film thickness measuring system, from Carl Zeiss Inc. of Thornwood, N.Y., uses a fiber-optically coupled thickness measurement technique to provide repeatable measurements of optically transparent coatings and films from 0.5 micron to 150 microns. A non-destructive, non-contact method that provides on- and off-line precision measurements and calculations in less than 0.1 second, the MCS system is applicable to packaging films, protective coatings, photoresists, and liquid films. White light is reflected off the front and back surfaces of the film or coating layer. Interference effects are measured and analyzed with software and firmware on an IBM PC or compatible computer. CSPI, located in Billerica, Mass., announces the acquisition of the AMBIS line of radioisotopic detecting and imaging systems to be marketed through its Scanalytics Biological Imaging Division. AMBIS instruments feature systems for analyzing radioactive electrophoretic gels and thin-layer chromatography plates using isotopes such as 14C, 32P, 35S, 125I, and other beta and gamma emitters by directly detecting radioactive emissions from sample surfaces.

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