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Facts About Water

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:06:17 GMT

Facts about Water ● Water is the only natural substance with all three states -- liquid, solid (ice), and gas (steam) -- visible in everyday life; ● Water freezes at 0 C (32 F) and boils at 100 C (212 F) with which temperature is based on. Except in USA and Jamaica, the entire world uses Celsius to mark temperature. ● Water is unusual in that the solid form, ice, is less dense than the liquid form, which is why ice floats. Without this property, life will not be possible, since all the waterways will be frozen into ice core, thus a frozen globe; ● Water has a high specific heat index. Water can absorb a lot of heat. The high specific heat index of water also helps regulate air temperature more gradually. Cars and big buildings use water to cool. ● Water has a very high surface tension. Water is sticky and elastic, and tends to clump together in drops. Water's capillary action, allows water to move through the roots of plants and...

Facts about Fungi

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:03:03 GMT

Facts about Fungi (also including Molds) · Nature's recyclers, decomposers of our bio-wastes -- most fungi, and most actinomycetes, as well as some bacteria are cleansing our environment! · Life savers -- antibiotics: produced by fungi, mostly Hyphomycetes, such as Penicillin, Neosporin, Cephalosporin, etc. are all derived from Hyphomycetes; · Human life's ambrosia -- wine: fermented and produced by the baker's yeast, Sacchromyces cerevisiae, which had a history as old as the human civilization itself. Interestingly wine brewery (yeast fermentation) was independently invented by many old civilizations, such as the Egyptians, the Sumerians and the Chinese thousands of years ago. · Mother Nature's delicacies -- morels (ascomycetous mushroom), truffles (underground basidiomycetous tube), mushrooms (mostly basidiomycetes, a few Ascomycetes), but excluding yuck- poisonous toadstools...

How to interpret your report?

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:59:49 GMT

How to interpret your mold report? Air Cassette (Spore Traps, M11-M15): 1. Mold spores are Raw numbers (actually how many mold spores are counted in a certain percentage reading, say, 25% reading of the whole impact area inside the cassette), and numbers in volume converted to standardized 1000 liters (how many mold spores in 1000 liters of sampled air). 2. Your samples were scanned 100%, then read at the indicated percentage (25%, 30 or 50%). 3. Some mold spores are grouped together due to morphological similarity. 4. Background debris indicates how clean or dirty you air is. Rating 1= 0-19%; 2=20-39%; 3=40- 59%; 4=60-79%; 5=80-100% covered by particulates, fibers, pollens, mold spores/conidia, insect parts etc inside the impact area of the cassette. 5. For abbreviation: Asperg=Aspergillus; Clado=Cladosporium, Cladoph=Cladophialophora; Pith/Stem/Uloclad=Pithomyces/ Stemphylium / Ulocladium; Zygo=Zygomycete; Direct Exam (Surface Samples...

How to Submit Your Samples?

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:48:01 GMT

BioIdea is working 7 days a week to serve you. You can submit your samples with this COC /Sample submission form ( Fillable mold and drinking water submission form at any time during the day and evening to the Drop Box at 11511 Early Forest Lane, Houston, TX 77043. For directions: This location is just 100 yards away from I-10, to reach this location, please exit Wilcrest on I-10 if travel toward Houston, make a U-turn at Wilcrest, right turn to West Forest; or exit at Wilcrest on I-10 if travel toward Katy, pass the traffic light, make a right turn at West Forest. View Larger Map BioIdea is Texas State Licensed, License No. LAB1007.

How to Do Your Sampling?

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:45:20 GMT

Be careful if you never did sampling before. Very importantly, if you are sampling using air cassettes (which are awefully expensive), follow each manufacturer's instruction!!! BioIdea is not liable for any mistake you make. The following are some guidlines for doing sampling suggested by BioIdea if Manufacturers' instructions are not available. Make sure the air-flow direction through cassettes or E6 Microbial Impactor (Anderson Impactor) is correct! Overloading air cassettes will render reading impossible, wasting expensive air cassettes. Overloading molds or bacteria onto medium plates in Anderson Impactor will make reading inaccurate. A. Sample your air with Air-Cassette (below, Diagram A ) For those following air-cassettes, with a vacuum pump of flow-rate of 15 L/Min, sample relatively clean indoor air for 10 min, dirty air for 2-3 min, very dirty air in such as demolition site, moldy basement etc, for only one minute! M11 Air-O-Cell,...

Services -- Microbiology Testing

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:22:41 GMT

Environmental Microbiology Testing We'll beat any competitor's price in Texas in a 3-6 hour same night turn-around! (see conditions and restrictions) Our service is 7 days a week! PhD mycologist is reading your samples ! And your testing could come with an interpretation report ! see a sample) Mold Testing Air Cassettes (Spore Trap): M11 Air-O-Cell, (Zefon); M12 Allergenco (EMS); M13 Cyclex-D (EMS); M14 Micro5 (EMS); M15 Bio-Cell (Graf-Tech) M19 Customer defined cassette; Surface Materials: M21 Direct exam (Tape samples); M22 Direct exam (Bulk samples); M23 Direct exam (Swab samples); Live Cultures on Medium Plates: M31 EMS E6 or Anderson impactors (using a vacuum); M32 Stationary plates (without using a vacuum); M33 Derived from Swabs, Tapes, and Bulk samples; M34 Aspergillus species determination (culture only); M35 Penicillim species determination (culture only); M36 ...

Sample Submission and Rental & Supplies

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:05:46 GMT

BioIdea currently accept mold samples for testing in air cassettes, direct exam samples and culturable mold medium plates, as well as drinking water samples.

Mold and Water Sample Submission form;

BioIdea currently provides Sampling Equipment Rental and Sampling Supplies.

Equipment Rental and Sampling Supplies form;

Services

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:53:51 GMT

Currently BioIdea is providing the following services: Microbiology Services Environmental Microbiology Testing; Mold testing;(Air-O-Cell; Bio-Cell; Cyclex-D; Micro5; Burkas, etc) Direct exam (Surface tape samples; Bulk samples; Swabs); Live cultures on medium (Anderson impactors; Stationary medium plates; Derived from swabs, tape samples, and bulk samples) Drinking water testing; Total coliform; E. coli detection; Specialty Mushroom Technology (Service discontinued, info limited to the content listed in this web site) BioIdea is Texas State Licensed, License No. LAB1007.

Download Forms Sample Submission and Rental & Supplies

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:46:59 GMT

BioIdea currently accept mold samples for testing in air cassettes, direct exam samples and culturable mold medium plates, as well as drinking water samples.

Mold and Water Sample Submission form;

BioIdea currently provides Sampling Equipment Rental and Sampling Supplies.

Equipment Rental and Sampling Supplies form;

BioIdea is Texas State Licensed, License No. LAB1007.

Houston Mold Testing, Texas Mold Testing for Toxic Molds, Black Molds, etc.

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:23:54 GMT

BioIdea for Houston Mold Test, Houston Mold Testing, Texas Mold Test, Texas Mold Testing. BioIdea, a mold-testing company, is a Houston based small company (serving Greater Houston area), intended to provide environmental mold testing, including testing of Sick-Home Syndrome agent Stachybotrys sp., and other human opportunistic pathogenic molds (such as Aspergillus, Penicillium, Mucor, Fusarium etc), pathogenic yeasts (such as Cryptococcus, Candida), allergenic molds, as well as testing drinking water, and bacteria. For your mold testing, and drinking water testing, please click buttons in the left column. We'll beat any competitor's price in Texas in a 3-7 hour same night turn-around! (see conditions and restrictions) Our service is 7 days a week! PhD mycologist is reading your samples ! And your testing could come with an interpretation report ! (see a sample) This BioIdea website also includes some info for wild...

Contact Us

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:13:06 GMT

If you already have samples (bulk materials, swab, tape lift samples, air cassettes) ready, you can directly drop them to the drop-box at 11511 Early Forest Lane, Houston, TX 77043 (located at Beltway 8 and I-10), you will have the testing results mostly in the same evening. If you have samples for mold lab testing analysis, but still have questions, please call Jay @ 832-495-5301 or email support@bioidea.net.

If you need to know how to collect samples yourself, please click the buttons at left "How to?".

If you need a state-licenced mold inspector / accessor /consultant to collect samples from your property / dwelling / business, please call our affiliated business partners:

For Greater Houston area, West Houston, Katy, Cypress, Memorial, Spring Branch, Bellaire, Richmond, Sugar Land, Rosenberg, Missouri City, etc, contact Linda: 713-305-2719.

For Greater Houston area, Northwest Houston, Tomball, Spring, Humble, Magnolia, College Station, Bryan, Conroe, The Woodlands, etc, contact Scott: 281-687-4102.

For Greater Houston area, Pearland, Manvel, Texas Medical Center area, Pasadena, La Porte, Clear Lake, League City, Galveston area, etc, contact Dan: 713-301-1179.

BioIdea is Texas State Licensed, License No. LAB1007.

Turn-Around Time, Pricing, Conditions and Restrictions

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:12:24 GMT

Turn-Around Time applies to microbiology samples only. BioIdea is working around the clock to serve you. We'll beat any competitor's price in Texas in a 3-6 hour same night turn-around! (see conditions and restrictions) Our service is 7 days a week! PhD mycologist is reading your samples ! And your testing could come with an interpretation report ! (see a sample) Turn-around time For Spore trap air cassettes, Direct exam samples: Turn-around time for mold testing is usually 3-6 hours same night in most cases (i.e. BioIdea will report to you at night around 8:00 -10:30 pm, please call Jay if you are submitting rush samples. For Water samples: Standard 24-28 hours. For culture plate culturable molds: Standard 5-7 days. Please drop your samples @ the Drop Box at 11511 Early Forest, Houston, TX 77043 Call Jay @ 832-495-5301 (cell), 281-920-3066 (Home) you are going to drop your samples or you want to have equipment rental. ...

Sampling Supplies

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:06:29 GMT

BioIdea has the following Sampling Supplies for Microbiology Testing: For Rental (Pump may not be available for rental during busy seasons): High volume vacuum pump, 30 LPM with flowmeter, AC powered (for mold Air Cassette Spore Trap, mold or bacteria Medium Plate sampling); with flow rotameter, tubing and a timer; $50 per day; EMS E6 Microbial Impactor(or called Anderson Impactor), 400 holes (for mold and bacterial Medium Plate sampling); $20 per day; High volume vacuum pump AND E6 Microbial Impactor; $70 per day. For Consumable Supplies (must return equal numbers for testing): Zefon AOC Air-O-Cell mold spore trap cassette; $6 a piece; Versa Trap SKC mold air cassette; N/A; CyclexD mold air cassette; N/A; Micro5 mold air cassette; N/A; BioIdea made Mold Medium Plate with antibiotic; $1 a plate (free when equal numbers of samples are submitted to BioIdea); VWR brand single wrapped Sterile Swab; $0.25 a...

Comments or Suggestions

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 21:37:06 GMT

Please choose any of the following:

1. Click here to open The Email Box;

2. Use your own email, write to support@bioidea.net;

3. Call Jay @ 832-495-5301 cell phone, or 281-920-3066 (leave a message).

Your effort is greatly appreciated.

BioIdea is Texas State Licensed, License No. LAB1007.

Black Mold Stachybotrys

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:10:10 GMT

We'll beat any competitor's price in Texas in a 3-6 hour same night turn-around! (see conditions and restrictions) Our service is 7 days a week! PhD mycologist is reading your samples ! And your testing could come with an interpretation report ! (see a sample) This article is also available on the Blog on Mold, Environment and Health @ http://bioideamold.blogspot.com/ Black Mold Stachybotrys The really black Black Mold Stachybotrys, or so-called Sick Home Syndrome mold Stachybotrys is the biggest fear in the Indoor Air Quality industry. It is a cellulolytic saprophyte with a worldwide distribution and is frequently recovered in water-damaged buildings. This black mold aroused significant notification when infants in Cleveland, Ohio, died of pulmonary hemorrhage after lived in Stachybotrys infested houses. From the authoritative book Atlas of clinical Fungi (de Hoog et al., 2000, CBS Netherland), this mold is not described but referred to as a toxigenic...

Mycoses - What Diseases Molds Can Cause?

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:09:13 GMT

We'll beat any competitor's price in Texas in a 3-6 hour same night turn-around! (see conditions and restrictions) Our service is 7 days a week! PhD mycologist is reading your samples ! And your testing could come with an interpretation report ! (see a sample) There are four categories of fungal infections (mycosis), i.e. Superficial mycosis (without tissue response), Mucocutaneous mycosis (skin, eyes, sinuses, oropharynx, external ears, vagina), Subcutaneous mycosis, and Deep organ mycosis. Recently, there is an increase of opportunistic, systemic mycoses in immunocompromised patients. The patients may have been impaired as a result of the development of neoplasia, leukemia, metabolic diseases (diabetes mellitus), drug therapy (cytostatics, antibiotics, corticosteroids), intravenous drug abuse or infections (AIDS). Piedra mold on a hair shaft (Ref: doctorfungus.org) Superficial Mycoses (human or animal body, skin surface, such as hair or lipids, without provoking...

What are Molds, Fungi, Mushrooms and Yeasts?

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 03:18:49 GMT

Molds are a group of fungi called "Hyphomycetes", which are chracterized with having filamentous hyphae, and producing airborne spores or conidia (asexual propagules). In nature, molds are decomposers to recycle nature's organic wastes. In medicine, they are the producers of antibiotics.

Fungi are a glomeration of organisms in a separate taxanomic kingdom, in which they differ from Monera (Bacteria), Protista (single-cell eucaryotes mostly), Plants and Animals. Fungi are eucaryotes (with true nuclei in cells) chracterized with having filamentous hyphae, or having yeast forms, obtaining nutrition as decomposers. (For fugal characters, see Facts about Fungi).

Mushrooms are another goup of fungi, which are mainly Basidiomycetes and partially Ascomycetes, both of which share a same feature --having a macroscopic "Fruiting-body, a Mushroom". Fruiting-body is the reproductive organ of the fungus, from which sexual spores are produced and then dispersed either by air or by insects or other animals. All mushrooms are fungi, but only small proportions are edible. It requires an experienced knowledge to know which mushroom is edible, some mushrooms are very deadly.

Agaricus sp. possibly A. campestris, collected from lawn of Second Baptist Church in Katy, Houston in New Year's Day 2009. Cooked and tasted delicious (Warning: Eating wild mushrooms without knowledge poses great danger).

Yeasts are fungi, which don't have filamentous hyphae, but in oval or elliptical shapes visible under a microscope. Some fungi could take both the shapes of filamentous or yeast-like, under different conditions, thus those fungi are called "Dimorphic".

BioIdea is Texas State Licensed, License No. LAB1007

Wild Mushroom Photos (For Curiosity)

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 03:17:13 GMT

There are thousands of mushroom (Macrofungi) species across the globe. It is said to have >4000 species of mushrooms in North America alone. During many field trips, Jay has been curious in finding all kinds of brilliant species of mushrooms. In fact, Most of mushrooms are Basidiomycetes, a few are Ascomycetes. Below there are the only 2 Ascomycetes. One is Morchella esculenta, a delicious fungus found in South America. The other Ascomycete is called Cordyceps, or Dong-cong-xia-chao (Winter-worm-summer-herb), as called in Chinese, are Ascomycetes invading worm pupas or caterpillars underground during spring and emerge as club fungi above the forest floor in summer. The medicinal Basidiomycete Ganoderma tsugae is found in NC. A sister species called Ganoderma luciderm has been long regarded as Fairy Herb, a miracle medcine in the East. Interestingly, the tree-dwelling Volvariella bombycina is actually found at the side of the reflection pond of Lincoln Memorial in...

Mold Photos

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 03:16:40 GMT

Molds-- Hyphomycetes

There are estimated 400,000 species of mold species, or the Hyphomycetes. However, a few hundreds common mold species frequently appear in our indoor environment and in the atmosphere.

During humid and warm summer, molds flourish everywhere, but for mold to grow, there must have 3 conditions met: humidity, moderate or warm temperature, and biodegradable organic materials to be present.

Besides molds are the producers of antibiotics, and producers of some special organic chemicals and Nature's decomposer, is there any mold that is good for our respiratory system? the answer is NO!!!

Some expamles are depicted in the following diagram.

BioIdea can tell you how good or bad your indoor air quality is, what are they if you have molds, and how dangerous they are, because we know biology, we know fungi.

BioIdea is Texas State Licensed, License No. LAB1007.

About Bacteria

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 03:16:01 GMT

This testing is under development.

BioIdea is Texas State Licensed, License No. LAB1007.