New Easy-to-Use Handbook Provides One-Stop Access to Comprehensive Range of Reagents and Solvents

LOUGHBOROUGH, England (October 22, 2012) – Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced the launch of its new Fisher Chemical and Fisher BioReagents Laboratory Reagents Handbook, an essential, easy-to-use reference guide for one-stop access to its comprehensive laboratory reagent ranges.

The new Fisher Chemical and Fisher BioReagents Laboratory Reagents Handbook features 250 new products, including an extended range of Optima™ liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) solvents and high-purity acids for trace elemental analysis, microbiology media and modifying enzymes. In addition, the Laboratory Reagents Handbook includes more than 4,400 Fisher Chemical products and solutions dedicated to analytical applications and more than 1,000 Fisher BioReagents products for molecular biology research, biochemistry and cellular biology.

Designed to be easy to navigate, the Fisher Chemical and Fisher BioReagents Laboratory Reagents Handbook allows users to quickly access product information by application or product name. The handbook provides detailed specifications and GHS-compliant hazard symbols for all products, along with grade, application, physical, chemical and transportation information. With many different product grades available, there are products to suit every analytical and life science application.

Analytical reagents and solvents are produced in an ISO 9001:2000- and ISO 14001-compliant manufacturing site. All products feature innovative, environmentally friendly packaging that is designed for quality, safety and convenience.

Customers can order the Fisher Chemical and Fisher BioReagents Laboratory Reagents Handbook from local Fisher Chemical distributors or by sending a request to info@acros.com. For more information on Fisher Chemical products, please visit www.acros.com, or view the full range available on www.fisher.co.uk.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. With revenues of $12 billion, we have approximately 39,000 employees and serve customers within pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions and government agencies, as well as in environmental and process control industries. We create value for our key stakeholders through three premier brands, Thermo Scientific, Fisher Scientific and Unity™ Lab Services, which offer a unique combination of innovative technologies, convenient purchasing options and a single solution for laboratory operations management. Our products and services help our customers solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics and increase laboratory productivity. Visit www.thermofisher.com.

The ‘Macmillan Coffee Morning’ was part of a nationwide initiative to raise funds and was held in the staff canteen over the busy lunch time period.

The stalls boasted an array of mouth-watering delights to rival any Great British bake off; from good old’ fruit cake to the more exotic Rocky Road slice, there was something for everyone and donations flooded in.

Fundraisers Gail Walker and Tina Siena.

A total of £1,200.00 was raised.

This was the second year that Fisher Scientific has hosted the event, last year raising over £700 and securing a place in the top 30 of all participating coffee morning hosts in Leicestershire for the most amount of money raised.

“What a fantastic achievement. Well done us!” said Gail Walker and Tina Siena who were at the helm of the event “Thank you to all colleagues who contributed the delicious cakes and who donated funds so generously.”

As part of this quest, the ‘Arthritic Scientist’ had tried out the Gilson Pipetman range through Fisher Scientific.

Here, @ArthriticSci talks about their experience since being diagnosed with the condition, the effects it has upon day to day life as a scientist, and how these problems can be overcome:

“I’m just finished my first year as a PhD student in the biological sciences. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Ever since I was small, I wanted to be a scientist when I grew up. Any sort of scientist, physics, biology, I’d have even settled for being a chemist! I completed an undergraduate in biomedical sciences and I knew I wanted to get into research for the long term.

“Just after I finished my degree, I got a summer job in a lab, which I found to be very tiring and stressful. I was increasingly cranky and every day I would go home very tired and aching. Soon after I experienced my first arthritic “flare”, where joints in my finger swelled up and were very painful and I couldn’t move them. I went to the doctor and she suggested that the likely cause was arthritis, as I have psoriasis and the presentation of my arthritis was very similar to that of psoriatic arthropathy. The rheumatologist confirmed it, I had arthritis and would be dealing with it for the rest of my life.

“Happilly, it’s not the debilitating disease you might have seen your grandparents suffering from. The new drugs (especially the biological antibody based treatments) can help to keep it under control, and many people can live a perfectly normal life with no long term joint damage. Well, that’s what they tell me. So far we have gotten my arthritis largely under control, but I still have to deal with occasional flare-ups and the dexterity required in the lab is more challenging than I had expected.

“After my diagnosis, I began a taught masters (also in biomedical sciences), and further developed my love of science and desire to go into research. I was accepted for a PhD position during my second semester, and I was thrilled! However, as part of the masters, I had a 3 month research project to undertake. This really opened my eyes to how much the arthritis would affect me in the lab.

“The high level of manual dexterity needed for handling small volumes of liquids and keeping samples sterile was something I had never considered before I developed arthritis. After the initial flare in my finger, I had lost some strength and suddenly microfuge tubes became one of the most challenging pieces of labware to deal with. Pipetting also became hard, one day after washing a microtitre plate by hand I was almost in tears and ready to give up science entirely.

“I have since learned that I have limits. I can no longer stand all day, I can’t work extra long hours on a regular basis, I can’t use a manual pipette for much longer than five minutes, and I certainly can’t open a microfuge tube with one hand! Knowing my limits allows me to figure out better ways to do my work though. I now spend a lot more time planning experiments so that I don’t do unnecessary work due to insufficient controls or try to set up a larger experiment than I can handle. Where sample volumes are less than 300uL, I use a microtitre plate instead of rows of microfuge tubes.

“Possibly the biggest improvement I made to my lab work was getting electronic pipettes. Instead of using a manual spring-based pipette, I now have a set of Gilson Pipetman-M’s and a pair of Eppendorf Xplorers. I simply adore these pipettes, when people visit the lab I make them hold them and admire how much an improvement they are. Even if you don’t have arthritis, I think these are a great help for repetitive liquid handling.

“When I started the PhD itself, I was much more aware of the limitations I would have compared with my colleagues. The first thing to do was discuss with my supervisor what’s reasonable and what’s not. Understanding what my limits are helped my supervisor help me plan my work, and also suggest relevant work that might be less taxing on my hands. Talking to colleagues helped too, as they can help with some things and there’s still a chance for you to do favours in return. In fact, talking to colleagues was a huge eye-opener, I don’t think anyone I know is physically 100% fit, there’s something ‘wrong’ with everyone!

“The disability office in the college itself was a great help, they don’t just arrange exams for undergrads! They can help with grants for adaptive equipment, and also contact a network of other disability officers to find people in the same situation who can offer help and guidance. It’s good to know that you’re not alone.

“In the long run, I hope having arthritis doesn’t affect my career prospects as it certainly won’t stop me becoming a good researcher. While my hands are not perfect, I still have a good brain filled with experience and understanding. I might not stay at the bench for the whole of my career (though maybe if robots become very fancy…) but while I am at the bench, I can make my work fit within my limits and still do quality science. I suppose, one of the few concerns I have for my career is not whether I can do it, but whether others in a hiring role think I’d be able for it. I’m still not sure how widely I should disclose my disability, in case future employers or collaborators would judge against me.

“To other people who want to pursue a career in research or science or anything at all, I’d say go for it, just know how far you can push yourself. If you can find a better way to do your work, it shows you can overcome your disability AND you can solve problems! I hope in a few years, I can can tell you my success story, but for now, I have a PhD to finish!”

To connect with the Arthritic Scientist, follow @ArthriticSci on Twitter, or read the Arthritic Scientist blog.

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame found that when people managed to reduce their lies in given weeks across a 10-week study, they reported significantly improved physical and mental health in those same weeks.

Lead author Anita Kelly, a Notre Dame psychology professor whose research includes the study of secrets and self-disclosure, said: “We found that the participants could purposefully and dramatically reduce their everyday lies, and that in turn was associated with significantly improved health.”

The study focused on 110 people over a period of ten weeks. Half the participants involved were told to stop telling both minor and major lies for the duration of the study, with the other half acting as a control group.

They found the link between less lying and better health was significantly stronger for participants in the no-lie group. This included fewer mental-health complaints, such as feeling tense or melancholy, and about three fewer physical complaints, such as sore throats and headaches.

The anthropological research has applications for how westerners perceive weight loss, revealing that the notion of exercise being more important than diet in the fight against obesity is a misnomer. It also shows that the obesity epidemic in the Western world is caused by over-eating rather than having inactive lifestyles, say scientists.

One in ten people are expected to be obese by 2015, and one in three of the worldwide population is expected to be overweight. Figures from the World Health Organisation have pointed towards an obesity epidemic in the west.

The Hadza people, who still live as hunter gatherers, were used as a model of the ancient human lifestyle. The tribe hunt animals and forage berries, roots and fruit as their staple diet, in comparison to the west, where processed foods high in sugar and fat, large portion sizes, and a sedentary lifestyle is the norm.

Dr Herman Pontzer of the department of anthropology at Hunter College, New York, said: “This to me says that the big reason that Westerners are getting fat is because we eat too much – it’s not because we exercise too little.

“Being active is really important to your health but it won’t keep you thin – we need to eat less to do that. Daily energy expenditure might be an evolved trait that has been shaped by evolution and is common among all people and not some simple reflection of our diverse lifestyles.”

A rent study was carried out by researchers from VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, and other institutions in The Netherlands found that two-thirds of obese children show early signs of heart disease. Most of the children studied showed risk factors for CVD that you would normally only expect to see in older adults, such as high blood pressure and high blood glucose levels.

Sulphur has long been thought to play a secondary role in regulating atmospheric oxygen, with most of the heavy lifting done by carbon. However, new research has found that sulphur’s role may have been underestimated.

Drs Itay Halevy of the Weizmann Institute’s Environmental Science and Energy Research Department (Faculty of Chemistry), Shanan Peters of the University of Wisconsin and Woodward Fischer of the California Institute of Technology, have found that the formation and burial of a second sulfur-bearing mineral – pyrite – has apparently been much more important in regulating oxygen.

Shanan Peters said: “This is the first use of Macrostrat to quantify chemical fluxes in the Earth system.”

Woodward Fischer of the California Institute of Technology added: “For me, the truly surprising result is that pyrite weathering and burial appear to be such important processes in the sulfur cycle throughout all of Earth’s history. The carbon cycle is recognized as the central hub controlling redox processes on Earth, but our work suggests that nearly as many electrons are shuttled through the sulfur cycle.”

Google Currents, recently made available in the UK, allows users to view a wide variety of web content on iOS and Android devices as a swipeable magazine.

Subscribing to Fisher Scientific on Google Currents allows you to read the latest science news, view our YouTube videos as they are released, engage directly with us on Twitter, and be the first to hear about our exciting products, offers and promotions – all from one app!

Tens of thousands of other popular publications are also available, and it’s all totally free – just imagine being able to read a newspaper every morning tailored exactly to your interests, including the latest Fisher Scientific content!

Check our web page for more information on the Fisher Scientific publication and Google Currents, or click here to subscribe directly.

Fisher Scientific are committed to utilising the latest developments to let you access our services in whatever way works for you. Don’t forget, we also have an iPhone app to save you time in the lab.

Let us know what you think! Leave us a comment or tweet us via @science_world.

The visit allowed Mrs Morgan to learn more about employment and manufacturing at a local level and to hear firsthand about the experiences of Loughborough employees.

Mrs Morgan was shown around Fisher Scientific which employs over 400 people at its Loughborough plant and headquarters and recently ranked 35 in the top 200 businesses in Leicestershire.  The tour of the premises included the recently expanded warehouse facility along with initiatives to protect the environment and local community projects organised by Fisher Scientific staff.

“We were delighted to host the visit today,” said Chris Bridges, Marketing Director for Fisher Scientific Northern Europe “We are invested in our local community and employ many local people so it’s great to make a connection with local government and share experience from every aspect of the business.”

Nicky Morgan added “It was a pleasure to visit Fisher Scientific in Loughborough and to learn about all the recent investment in their warehouse designed to offer customers a fast and accurate service.  I was impressed with how all the staff I met were very committed to the company and particularly heartened to hear about their Community Action Council.  This has already helped a group of Limehurst High School pupils who took their scientific idea to Fisher Scientific’s Science World exhibition.”

Stanford University researchers have found that Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster could eventually lead to between 15 and 1,300 deaths and between 24 and 2,500 cases of cancer. Most of these cases are likely to occur in Japan, the researchers concluded.

Although the estimates have large uncertainty ranges, they offer an interesting insight in that they conflict with previous estimates which calculated that the radioactive release would likely cause no severe health effects. These deaths are on top of the roughly 600 deaths caused by the evacuation of the area surrounding the nuclear plant directly after the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and meltdown.

The findings are set to be published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, and directly contravene with previous estimates of the long-term effects of the event. Stanford civil engineering professor Mark Z Jacobson, a senior fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, said: “There are groups of people who have said there would be no effects.”

The head of the United Nations Science Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, for example, predicted that there would be no serious public health consequences resulting from the radiation.

However, PhD graduate John Ten Hoeve and Mr Jacobson used a 3D global atmospheric model, developed over 20 years of research, to predict the transport of radioactive material.

Because of inherent uncertainties in the emissions and the health-effects model, the researchers found a range of possible death tolls, with a best estimate of 130. A wide span of cancer morbidities was also predicted, with a best estimate of 180.

Jacobson stressed, however, that none of the calculations expressed the full scope of a nuclear disaster, with soil and water contamination as well as the displacement of lives, confidence in government oversight, cost and anguish all making this a devastating disaster.

The study, conducted by Dengfeng Yan and Jaideep Sengupta of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and published in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that this is having significant implications for public health professionals as well as consumers.

“In today’s wired world, self-diagnosis via internet search is very common. Such symptom-matching exercises may lead consumers to overestimate the likelihood of getting a serious disease because they focus on their symptoms while ignoring the very low likelihood that their symptoms are related to any serious illness,” the authors explain.

Because most consumers fear the worst when it comes to their own health, the internet can often exacerbate these problems. But conversely, when other people are suffering from similar anxiety, we maintain calm objectivity.

For example, when someone else suffers from indigestion, we tend to accurately perceive it as indigestion, but experiencing the same symptom might lead us to panic and worry that we’re having a heart attack.

“One of the easiest ways to get rid of this bias is to see a real doctor instead of Dr. Google. A real doctor possesses much more knowledge and will take the prevalence of a disease into consideration because she is viewing the patient from a distance. This will prevent symptoms from exerting a disproportionate influence on the diagnosis,” the authors conclude.

Fisher Scientific reported similar results from British health practitioners in May. Dr Victor Chua, a partner at Candesic Healthcare, said: “Few conditions can be diagnosed by patients online.” He added that patients are increasingly coming to doctors with lists of illnesses rather than symptoms, believing they can self-diagnose online.