Structure, fluorescent properties and proposed function in phototaxis of the stigma apparatus in the ciliate chlamydodon mnemosyne

Chlamydodon mnemosyne, a brackish-water ciliate which feeds on cyanobacteria, is capable of sensing the direction of light. Cells are negatively phototactic in the well-fed state and tend to swim towards the light source when mildly starved. Severely starved cells normally fail to show phototactic responses. An autofluorescent substance, which is present in all life cycle stages, occurs in, or immediately beneath, the plasma membrane of this ciliate. It is located in the anterior left side of a cell, in the same region where mildly starved cells accumulate small orange globules that form a structure known as the stigma. The diameter of the whole area where the autofluorescent substance is located appears to be smaller than the stigma; typically, it consists of two rows of blue-green fluorescence, each row subdivided into 5-10 squares. Since the blue-green autofluorescence is excited by both blue (450-490 nm) and near-ultraviolet (340-380 nm) light, it possibly originates from flavin- and/or pterin-like molecules. We suggest that the autofluorescent substance located in or beneath the plasma membrane of Chlamydodon mnemosyne acts as a photoreceptor pigment in phototaxis and that photo-orientation of this ciliate is triggered by a combined mechanism involving the photoreceptor and either the stigma or a number of light-absorbing food vacuoles as a shading device

Phototaxis in Chlamydodon mnemosyne: Determination of the illuminance-response curve and the action spectrum

The cyrtophorid ciliate Chlamydodon mnemosyne shows accurate orientation with respect to the direction of light. Positive phototaxis occurs during mild starvation, while the cells are negatively phototactic in the well-fed state. Beside the determination of the illuminance-response curve for white light, we have measured the action spectrum of phototaxis in this ciliate by means of an automatic cell-tracking system. Phototactic reactions occur at illuminances from 100 lx to 100 klx, with an optimum at 10 klx. The action spectrum has one main peak centred at 470 nm, and two secondary ones at 450 and 390 nm. Responses also occur at other wavelengths in the blue and near-UV range of the spectrum, while no significant phototactic reactions are measured between 500 and 710 nm. Results confirm the view that bluelight photoreceptor molecules, e.g., flavins or flavin-like pigments, are responsible for light perception in C. mnemosyne and trigger phototactic orientation

KL Manual - The GKS Level Impelmentations

SIGLETechnische Informationsbibliothek Hannover: RN 5690 (80-8) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische Informationsbibliothekrev. versionDEGerman

Imaging PPG for In Vivo Human Tissue Perfusion Assessment during Surgery

Surgical excision is the golden standard for treatment of intestinal tumors. In this surgical procedure, inadequate perfusion of the anastomosis can lead to postoperative complications, such as anastomotic leakages. Imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) can potentially provide objective and real-time feedback of the perfusion status of tissues. This feasibility study aims to evaluate an iPPG acquisition system during intestinal surgeries to detect the perfusion levels of the microvasculature tissue bed in different perfusion conditions. This feasibility study assesses three patients that underwent resection of a portion of the small intestine. Data was acquired from fully perfused, non-perfused and anastomosis parts of the intestine during different phases of the surgical procedure. Strategies for limiting motion and noise during acquisition were implemented. iPPG perfusion maps were successfully extracted from the intestine microvasculature, demonstrating that iPPG can be successfully used for detecting perturbations and perfusion changes in intestinal tissues during surgery. This study provides proof of concept for iPPG to detect changes in organ perfusion levels

High-performance 6-inch EUV mask blanks produced under real production conditions by ion-beam sputter deposition

EUV mask blanks consist of two thin film systems deposited on low thermal expansion 6 inch substrates (LTEM). First there is the multilayer stack with around 100 alternating layers of elements with different optical properties which are topped by a capping layer. The absorber stack which consists of a buffer and a absorber layer is next. Here a minimum absorption of EUV light of 99 % is required. The stress in both layer systems should be as low as possible. The reduction of defects to an absolute minimum is one of the main challenges. The high-reflective Mo/Si multilayer coatings were designed for normal incidence reflectivity and successfully deposited on 6-inch LTEM substrates by ion-beam sputtering. X-ray scattering, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used for characterization of the multilayer interfaces and the surface morphology. The results are correlated to the measured normal incidence reflectivity using synchrotron radiation at the "Physikalisch- Technischen Bundesanstalt" (PTB) reflectometer at BESSY II, Berlin, Germany. A high resolution laser scanner was used to measure the particle distribution. First multilayer defect results are presented

Imaging Photoplethysmography for Noninvasive Anastomotic Perfusion Assessment in Intestinal Surgery

Introduction: Anastomotic leakage after gastrointestinal surgery has a high impact on patient's quality of life and its origin is associated with inadequate perfusion. Imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) is a noninvasive imaging technique that measures blood-volume changes in the microvascular tissue bed and detects changes in tissue perfusion. Materials and methods: Intraoperative iPPG imaging was performed in 29 patients undergoing an open segment resection of the small intestine or colon. During each surgery, imaging was performed on fully perfused (true positives) and ischemic intestines (true negatives) and the anastomosis (unknowns). Imaging consisted of a 30-s video from which perfusion maps were extracted, providing detailed information about blood flow within the intestine microvasculature. To detect the predictive capabilities of iPPG, true positive and true negative perfusion conditions were used to develop two different perfusion classification methods. Results: iPPG-derived perfusion parameters were highly correlated with perfusion—perfused or ischemic—in intestinal tissues. A perfusion confidence map distinguished perfused and ischemic intestinal tissues with 96% sensitivity and 86% specificity. Anastomosis images were scored as adequately perfused in 86% of cases and 14% inconclusive. The cubic-Support Vector Machine achieved 90.9% accuracy and an area under the curve of 96%. No anastomosis-related postoperative complications were encountered in this study. Conclusions: This study shows that noninvasive intraoperative iPPG is suitable for the objective assessment of small intestine and colon anastomotic perfusion. In addition, two perfusion classification methods were developed, providing the first step in an intestinal perfusion prediction model

Donor cell memory confers a metastable state of directly converted cells

Generation of induced oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (iOPCs) from somatic fibroblasts is a strategy for cell-based therapy of myelin diseases. However, iOPC generation is inefficient, and the resulting iOPCs exhibit limited expansion and differentiation competence. Here we overcome these limitations by transducing an optimized transcription factor combination into a permissive donor phenotype, the pericyte. Pericyte-derived iOPCs (PC-iOPCs) are stably expandable and functionally myelinogenic with high differentiation competence. Unexpectedly, however, we found that PC-iOPCs are metastable so that they can produce myelination-competent oligodendrocytes or revert to their original identity in a context-dependent fashion. Phenotypic reversion of PC-iOPCs is tightly linked to memory of their original transcriptome and epigenome. Phenotypic reversion can be disconnected from this donor cell memory effect, and in vivo myelination can eventually be achieved by transplantation of O4(+) pre-oligodendrocytes. Our data show that donor cell source and memory can contribute to the fate and stability of directly converted cells

Nerve detection during surgery: optical spectroscopy for peripheral nerve localization

Precise nerve localization is of major importance in both surgery and regional anesthesia. Optically based techniques can identify tissue through differences in optical properties, like absorption and scattering. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of optical spectroscopy (diffuse reflectance spectroscopy) for clinical nerve identification in vivo. Eighteen patients (8 male, 10 female, age 53 ± 13 years) undergoing inguinal lymph node resection or resection or a soft tissue tumor in the groin were included to measure the femoral or sciatic nerve and the surrounding tissues. In vivo optical measurements were performed using Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (400–1600 nm) on nerve, near nerve adipose tissue, muscle, and subcutaneous fat using a needle-shaped probe. Model-based analyses were used to derive verified quantitative parameters as concentrations of optical absorbers and several parameters describing scattering. A total of 628 optical spectra were recorded. Measured spectra reveal noticeable tissue specific characteristics. Optical absorption of water, fat, and oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin was manifested in the measured spectra. The parameters water and fat content showed significant differences (P < 0.005) between nerve and all surrounding tissues. Classification using k-Nearest Neighbor based on the derived parameters revealed a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 79%, for identifying nerve from surrounding tissues. Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy identifies peripheral nerve bundles. The differences found between tissue groups are assignable to the tissue composition and structure