We have combined the benefits of a TaqMan assay with surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), to generate a novel DNA detection method which provides increased sensitivity, with clear applications for disease identification through clinical testing. Target DNA detection limits by SERS were shown to be lower than conventional fluorescence detection and clinically relevant samples of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were detected with high specificity.

No abstract

In the current historiography of the Civil Wars of the midseventeenth century it remains under-appreciated that the National Covenant gained widespread support in the north of Scotland. This article offers a corrective to this. It examines the extent to which the Covenant was championed at all levels of northern society and looks at how levels of allegiance and commitment to the cause may have changed over time. The article also argues that the Covenanters of the north played a vital part in bringing about the defeat of armed Royalism in Scotland during the 1640s.

No abstract

No abstract