Co-axial dual-core resonant leaky fibre for optical amplifiers

We present a co-axial dual-core resonant leaky optical fibre design, in which the outer core is made highly leaky. A suitable choice of parameters can enable us to resonantly couple power from the inner core to the outer core. In a large-core fibre, such a resonant coupling can considerably increase the differential leakage loss between the fundamental and the higher order modes and can result in effective single-mode operation. In a small-core single-mode fibre, such a coupling can lead to sharp increase in the wavelength dependent leakage loss near the resonant wavelength and can be utilized for the suppression of amplified spontaneous emission and thereby gain equalization of an optical amplifier. We study the propagation characteristics of the fibre using the transfer matrix method and present an example of each, the large-mode-area design for high power amplifiers and the wavelength tunable leakage loss design for inherent gain equalization of optical amplifiers.Comment: 6 page

Monoclonal antibodies against human astrocytomas and their reactivity pattern

The establishment of hybridomas after fusion of X63-Ag8.653 mouse myeloma cells and splenocytes from mice hyperimmunized against human astrocytomas is presented. The animals were primed with 5 × 106 chemically modified uncultured or cultured glioma cells. Six weeks after the last immunization step an intrasplenal booster injection was administrated and 3 days later the spleen cells were prepared for fusion experiments. According to the specificity analysis of the generated antibodies 7 hybridoma products (MUC 7-22, MUC 8-22, MUC 10-22, MUC 11-22, MUC 14-22, MUC 15-22 and MUC 2-63) react with gliomas, neuroblastomas and melanomas as well as with embryonic and fetal cells but do not recognize non-neurogenic tumors. The selected monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) of IgG1 and IgG2a isotypes are not extensively characterized but these antibodies have been demonstrated to be reactive with a panel of glioma cell lines with varying patterns of antigen distribution. Using the McAbs described above and a series of cryosections of glioma biopsies and paraffin sections of the same material as well as glioma cultures established from these, variable antigenic profiles among glioma cell populations could be demonstrated. From these results it is evident that there is not only a distinct degree of antigenic heterogeneity among and within brain tumors, but also that the pattern of antigenic expression can change continuously. Some of the glioma associated antigens recognized by the selected antibodies persist after fixation with methanol/acetone and Karnovsky's fixative and probably are oncoembryonic/oncofetal antigen(s). The data suggest that the use of McAbs recognizing tumor associated oncofetal antigens in immunohistochemistry facilitates objective typing of intracranial malignancies and precise analysis of fine needle brain/tumor biopsies in a sensitive and reproducible manner

Adipose Tissue Serves as a Reservoir for Recrudescent Rickettsia prowazekii Infection in a Mouse Model

Brill-Zinsser disease, the relapsing form of epidemic typhus, typically occurs in a susceptible host years or decades after the primary infection; however, the mechanisms of reactivation and the cellular reservoir during latency are poorly understood. Herein we describe a murine model for Brill-Zinsser disease, and use PCR and cell culture to show transient rickettsemia in mice treated with dexamethasone >3 months after clinical recovery from the primary infection. Treatment of similarly infected mice with cyclosporine failed to produce recrudescent bacteremia. Therapy with doxycycline for the primary infection prevented recrudescent bacteremia in most of these mice following treatment with dexamethasone. Rickettsia prowazekii (the etiologic agent of epidemic typhus) was detected by PCR, cell culture, and immunostaining methods in murine adipose tissue, but not in liver, spleen, lung, or central nervous system tissues of mice 4 months after recovery from the primary infection. The lungs of dexamethasone-treated mice showed impaired expression of β-defensin transcripts that may be involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary lesions. In vitro, R. prowazekii rickettsiae infected and replicated in the murine adipocyte cell line 3T3-L1. Collectively these data suggest a role for adipose tissue as a potential reservoir for dormant infections with R. prowazekii

eine prospektive Risiko-Nutzen-Analyse

Bostock and Wombwell's Menagerie loads photographed 1913. Digitisation and record funded by the Pilgrim Trust. See negative 178C77.1