Anatomical Evidence of Acupuncture Meridians in the Human Extracellular Matrix: Results from a Macroscopic and Microscopic Interdisciplinary Multicentre Study on Human Corpses

For more than 2500 years, acupuncture has been applied to support the healing of different diseases and physiologic malfunctions. Although various theories of the meridian system and mechanisms were formulated to explain the functional basis of acupuncture, the anatomical basis for the concept of meridians has not been resolved. The aim of the present study was to search for replicable anatomical structures that could relate to meridians. To this end, four human specimens and additionally two lower legs were dissected anatomically. Our study found evidence that acupuncture meridians were part of the human extracellular matrix and that fascia was an important part of the anatomic substrate of acupuncture meridians. At the same time, we found vessel-nerve-bundles, which were hypothesized to account for 80% of acupuncture points, only in a few acupuncture points. Therefore, our findings contradict the theory that acupuncture points are only located along the nervous channels

Buffer-Related Degradation Aspects of Single and Double-Heterostructure Quantum Well InAlN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors

We experimentally prove the viability of the concept of the double-heterostructure quantum well InAlN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) for the device higher robustness and reliability. In the single quantum well InAlN/GaN HEMTs, the intrinsic channel resistance increases by 300% after 1 h off-state stress; much less degradation is observed in the double-heterostructure device with an AlGaN back barrier. Physics-based device simulation proves that the back barrier blocks the rate of carrier injection into the device buffer. However, whatever the quantum well design is, the energy of the injected electrons in the buffer of InAlN/GaN-based HEMTs is higher than that in the buffer of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. This energy may be sufficient for releasing hydrogen from GaN point defects. (C) 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physic