Immunohistochemical and electron-microscopical identification of neuroendocrine cells in the respiratory tract of rats with experimental uraemia

The aim of the present study was to characterise immunohistochemically and ultrastructurally the neuroendocrine cells in the pulmonary systems of uraemic rats. Pieces of lung and trachea were collected 1, 2 and 4 weeks after nephrectomy. Paraffin-embedded sections were stained with H+E and by silver impregnation. For the identification of neuroendocrine cells immunohistochemical reactions were performed with the use of specific antibodies against calcitonin (CT), somatostatin (SOM), synaptophysin (SYN), neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). For electron microscopy, ultrathin sections were used. The analysis showed an increased number of both the solitary neuroendocrine cells and of neuroepithelial bodies in uraemic rats when compared to control animals

An exploratory study investigating factors associated with adherence to chest physiotherapy and exercise in adults with cystic fibrosis

Copyright @ 2009 European Cystic Fibrosis Society. This article is available through Elsevier's Open Access Archives and covered by Elsevier's user license: http://www.elsevier.com/about/open-access/open-access-policies/oa-license-policy/elsevier-user-license.This study explored the relationship between psychological and demographic variables relating to chest physiotherapy (CP) and exercise in adults with cystic fibrosis. The main results were that adherence to both treatments was low and analysis of variance indicated that severity and gender were associated with exercise adherence, importance and burden. These results suggest potential areas for interventions to improve exercise adherence

Improvements of the local bosonic algorithm

We report on several improvements of the local bosonic algorithm proposed by M. Luescher. We find that preconditioning and over-relaxation works very well. A detailed comparison between the bosonic and the Kramers-algorithms shows comparable performance for the physical situation examined.Comment: Talk presented at LATTICE96(algorithms), 3 pages, Latex, espcrc

Effect of acute exposure to cadmium on the expression of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), calcitonin (CT), somatostatin (SST) and synaptophysin (SYN) in the C cells of the rat thyroid - a preliminary study

The aim of the present study was to determine to what degree acute exposure to cadmium affects the expression of CGRP, CT, SST and SYN in the C cells of the rat thyroid. Animals from 7 experimental groups received CdCl2 iv. in doses of 3.5, 3, 2.5, 2, 1.5, 1 and 0.5 mg/kg b.w. respectively, while the control animals were given 0.9% NaCl iv. 24 hours after the iv. administration of CdCl2, a correlation was found between a single dose of cadmium and the intensity of the immunocytochemical reactions for CGRP, CT, SST and SYN in C cells of the rat thyroid when compared to the control. The weakest immunocytochemical reactions were noted in C cells of the thyroid of rats from Groups I and II, their intensity gradually increasing in Groups III, IV and V in comparison to the control. The reaction intensity in animals of Groups VI and VII resembled those of the control

Properties and characterization of ALD grown dielectric oxides for MIS structures

We report on an extensive structural and electrical characterization of under-gate dielectric oxide insulators Al2O3 and HfO2 grown by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). We elaborate the ALD growth window for these oxides, finding that the 40-100 nm thick layers of both oxides exhibit fine surface flatness and required amorphous structure. These layers constitute a base for further metallic gate evaporation to complete the Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor structure. Our best devices survive energizing up to ~3 MV/cm at 77 K with the leakage current staying below the state-of-the-art level of 1 nA. At these conditions the displaced charge corresponds to a change of the sheet carrier density of 3 \times 1013 cm-2, what promises an effective modulation of the micromagnetic properties in diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 14 reference

The Evolution of the Global Star Formation History as Measured from the Hubble Deep Field

The Hubble Deep Field (HDF) is the deepest set of multicolor optical photometric observations ever undertaken, and offers a valuable data set with which to study galaxy evolution. Combining the optical WFPC2 data with ground-based near-infrared photometry, we derive photometrically estimated redshifts for HDF galaxies with J<23.5. We demonstrate that incorporating the near-infrared data reduces the uncertainty in the estimated redshifts by approximately 40% and is required to remove systematic uncertainties within the redshift range 1<z<2. Utilizing these photometric redshifts, we determine the evolution of the comoving ultraviolet (2800 A) luminosity density (presumed to be proportional to the global star formation rate) from a redshift of z=0.5 to z=2. We find that the global star formation rate increases rapidly with redshift, rising by a factor of 12 from a redshift of zero to a peak at z~1.5. For redshifts beyond 1.5, it decreases monotonically. Our measures of the star formation rate are consistent with those found by Lilly et al. (1996) from the CFRS at z 2, and bridge the redshift gap between those two samples. The overall star formation or metal enrichment rate history is consistent with the predictions of Pei and Fall (1995) based on the evolving HI content of Lyman-alpha QSO absorption line systems.Comment: Latex format, 10 pages, 3 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in Ap J Letter

Reorientation Transition in Single-Domain (Ga,Mn)As

We demonstrate that the interplay of in-plane biaxial and uniaxial anisotropy fields in (Ga,Mn)As results in a magnetization reorientation transition and an anisotropic AC susceptibility which is fully consistent with a simple single domain model. The uniaxial and biaxial anisotropy constants vary respectively as the square and fourth power of the spontaneous magnetization across the whole temperature range up to T_C. The weakening of the anisotropy at the transition may be of technological importance for applications involving thermally-assisted magnetization switching.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure