PATENT ABSTRACTS 427

4882426 attached at its upper end to a lateral portion of the support structure of the device. The lower

B E A D S O F CROSS-LINKED free end of the assay tube is engageable with an G L U C O M A N N A N A N D absorbent material upon manual downward

P R O D U C T I O N T H E R E O F deflection of the support structure. The assay tube is filled through a funnel shaped aperture in the lateral portion of the device, and the tube is

Yoshiaki Motozato, Kumamoto, Japan as- drained by engaging the lower free end of the signed to Kurita Water Industries Ltd tube with the absorbent material. By attaching

appropriate antibody, antigen or hapten to the Beads product of Glucomannan having a cross- inner surface of the tube, immunoassays may be linked structure and exhibiting a degree of swel- performed in the tube. ling 0f in the range from 1.5 to 15, an exclusion limit molecular weight in the range from 200 to 100,000,000 and an average bead diameter in the range from l to 500 mum. The glucomannan beads are useful for packing material for gel ill- 4885087 tration and for gel chromatography. They can be produced by a process which comprises pre- A P P A R A T U S F O R M A S S paring a starting process solution by dissolving T R A N S F E R I N V O L V I N G an esterified glucomannan solely or together B I O L O G I C A L / with a diluent in a solvent, introducing this star- P H A R M A C E U T I C A L M E D I A ting process solution into an aqueous medium so as to cause formation of liquid droplets of the H~nry B Kopf starting process solution suspended in said aqueous medium, evaporating off the solvent A mass transfer apparatus and method is based contained in the liquid droplets to leave spherical upon use of a mass transfer chamber, such as a beads of the glucomannan ester, saponifying the hollow fiber membrane bioreactor, with means so formed beads of glucomannan ester to con- to change the directional flow therethrough for vert into beads of glucomannan and effecting enhancement of tbemass transfer operation. The then cross linking of the saponified beads by invention has particular utility in cell growth sys- reacting with a cross linking solvent. tems, where the periodic reversal of flow direc-

tion of a nutrient stream passed through the bioreactor equalizes dispersion of cell growth

48837.54 through the bioreactor and enhances the trans- port of metabolic waste from the cells being

B A C T E R I A L F C R E C E P T O R S grown.

Michael D P Boyle, Micbele Yarnall assigned to University of Florida Research Foundation

4885239 A type II, Proteinaceous, antigenic factor derived from a Group A streptococcus which is a R A P I D D I F F E R E N T I A T I O N O F receptior for the Fc region of human Ig G3 and B A C T E R I A U S I N G P O L Y E T H E R which exhibits a major diffuse protein band on A N T I B I O T I C S polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and which has a molecular weight of about 38,000 daltons. Peggy W Cichanowicz, Robert T Belly assigned

to Eastman Kodak Company

4883760 Rapid differentiation between viable gram- positive and gram-negative bacteria is ac- complished with polyether antibiotics which are

D E V I C E F O R P E R F O R M I N G used in combination with a compound which is E N Z Y M E I M M U N O A S S A Y S normally reducible by the bacteria. The anti-

biotics selectively and substantially inhibit the Donald R Hcelies, Mississauga, Canada as- reduction of the reducible compound by gram- signed to Adi Diagnostics Inc positive bacteria but do not substantially affecf

the reducing capacity of the gram-negative bac- The device has a transparent capillary assay tube teria.