Gout is most easily and commonly diagnosed by placing a needle into the inflamed joint and withdrawing fluid that is examined under a polarized light microscope.

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When the results were double-checked with a laboratory light microscope, the device had managed to pick up 70% of the samples with infections present - and 90% of the heavier infections.

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The high-frequency sound from the transmitter produces sharp reflections of small objects for the same reason that an electron microscope (which operates at high frequencies) can see smaller things than a light microscope (which operates at low frequencies).

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Recording the blips also requires sending this gathered-up light through microscope lenses to filter out rival light from the laser itself.

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But during the trial Astra brought in a drug-delivery expert from the University of Nottingham who analyzed Andrx's pellets under a microscope with infrared and ultraviolet light and concluded they contain a third layer after all, thus infringing Astra's patents.

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The bending creates a lensing effect in the same way that light is bent through glass or plastic in a microscope or your eyeglasses.

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The new microscope, called Multi-View SPIM (MuVi-SPIM) shines a thin sheet of light on the embryo, illuminating one layer of the embryo at a time to prevent light damage.

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