A unique astigmatic nodal property in misaligned Ritchey-Chretien telescopes with misalignment coma removed

We present the aberration field response of Ritchey-Chretien telescopes, with the aperture stop on the primary mirror, to secondary mirror misalignments. More specifically, we derive a general condition for the geometry of the binodal astigmatic aberration field for a telescope that has been aligned to remove field-constant coma. It has been observed that when the coma caused by secondary mirror misalignments is removed the astigmatic field is typically not symmetric around the periphery, but, significantly, it is always effectively zero on-axis. This observation is a manifestation of binodal astigmatism where one of the astigmatic nodes remains near the field center. Here, we show how the condition to remove field-constant coma simultaneously creates a constraint whereby one of the astigmatic nodes must remain effectively on-axis. This result points to why the alignment of a large telescope based on axial imagery is insufficient and demonstrates exactly the geometry of the remaining misalignment aberration field, which dominates the performance of the telescope, providing insights into more complete alignment approaches

A sensitive method to extract DNA from biological traces present on ammunition for the purpose of genetic profiling

Exploring technological limits is a common practice in forensic DNA research. Reliable genetic profiling based on only a few cells isolated from trace material retrieved from a crime scene is nowadays more and more the rule rather than the exception. On many crime scenes, cartridges, bullets, and casings (jointly abbreviated as CBCs) are regularly found, and even after firing, these potentially carry trace amounts of biological material. Since 2003, the Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research is routinely involved in the forensic investigation of CBCs in the Netherlands. Reliable DNA profiles were frequently obtained from CBCs and used to match suspects, victims, or other crime scene-related DNA traces. In this paper, we describe the sensitive method developed by us to extract DNA from CBCs. Using PCR-based genotyping of autosomal short tandem repeats, we were able to obtain reliable and reproducible DNA profiles in 163 out of 616 criminal cases (26.5%) and in 283 out of 4,085 individual CBC items (6.9%) during the period January 2003–December 2009. We discuss practical aspects of the method and the sometimes unexpected effects of using cell lysis buffer on the subsequent investigation of striation patterns on CBCs

Deciduous Teeth as an Alternative DNA Source for Postmortem Genetic Testing

Contains fulltext : 220426.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access

Excitation of low-lying states in 144Nd by means of (e,e') scattering

Abstract The low-lying states of 144Nd have been investigated up to an excitation energy of 3.1 MeV by means of high-resolution inelastic electron scattering. Transition charge densities have been extracted for natural-parity states. The experimental data have been compared with the predictions of the quasiparticle-phonon model. The calculations show that both collective and single-particle degrees of freedom are important for describing the low-lying states of 144Nd. A comparison of the present data with data for 142Nd and 142Ce emphasizes the role played by the two valence neutrons outside the N = 82 closed shell

Contribution of Palmitic Acid to Epidermal Morphogenesis and Lipid Barrier Formation in Human Skin Equivalents

The outermost barrier layer of the skin is the stratum corneum (SC), which consists of corneocytes embedded in a lipid matrix. Biosynthesis of barrier lipids occurs de novo in the epidermis or is performed with externally derived lipids. Hence, in vitro developed human skin equivalents (HSEs) are developed with culture medium that is supplemented with free fatty acids (FFAs). Nevertheless, the lipid barrier formation in HSEs remains altered compared to native human skin (NHS). The aim of this study is to decipher the role of medium supplemented saturated FFA palmitic acid (PA) on morphogenesis and lipid barrier formation in HSEs. Therefore, HSEs were developed with 100% (25 μM), 10%, or 1% PA. In HSEs supplemented with reduced PA level, the early differentiation was delayed and epidermal activation was increased. Nevertheless, a similar SC lipid composition in all HSEs was detected. Additionally, the lipid organization was comparable for lamellar and lateral organization, irrespective of PA concentration. As compared to NHS, the level of monounsaturated lipids was increased and the FFA to ceramide ratio was drastically reduced in HSEs. This study describes the crucial role of PA in epidermal morphogenesis and elucidates the role of PA in lipid barrier formation of HSEs.Drug Delivery Technolog

Human skin equivalents cultured under hypoxia display enhanced epidermal morphogenesis and lipid barrier formation

Human skin equivalents (HSEs) are three-dimensional cell models mimicking characteristics of native human skin (NHS) in many aspects. However, a limitation of HSEs is the altered in vitro morphogenesis and barrier formation. Differences between in vitro and in vivo skin could have been induced by suboptimal cell culture conditions, of which the level of oxygen in vitro (20%) is much higher than in vivo (0.5-8%). Our aim is to study how external oxygen levels affect epidermal morphogenesis and barrier formation in HSEs. In the present study, fibroblast and keratinocyte monocultures, and HSEs were generated under 20% (normoxia) and 3% (hypoxia) oxygen level. In all cultures under hypoxia, expression of hypoxia-inducible factor target genes was increased. Characterization of HSEs generated under hypoxia using immunohistochemical analyses of morphogenesis biomarkers revealed a reduction in epidermal thickness, reduced proliferation, similar early differentiation, and an attenuated terminal differentiation program compared to normoxia, better mimicking NHS. The stratum corneum ceramide composition was studied with liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Under hypoxia, HSEs exhibited a ceramide composition that more closely resembles that of NHS. Consequently, the lipid organization was improved. In conclusion, epidermal morphogenesis and barrier formation in HSEs reconstructed under hypoxia better mimics that of NHS.Drug Delivery Technolog

Mirrors for X-ray telescopes: Fresnel diffraction-based computation of point spread functions from metrology

The imaging sharpness of an X-ray telescope is chiefly determined by the optical quality of its focusing optics, which in turn mostly depends on the shape accuracy and the surface finishing of the grazing-incidence X-ray mirrors that compose the optical modules. To ensure the imaging performance during the mirror manufacturing, a fundamental step is predicting the mirror point spread function (PSF) from the metrology of its surface. Traditionally, the PSF computation in X-rays is assumed to be different depending on whether the surface defects are classified as figure errors or roughness. [...] The aim of this work is to overcome this limit by providing analytical formulae that are valid at any light wavelength, for computing the PSF of an X-ray mirror shell from the measured longitudinal profiles and the roughness power spectral density (PSD), without distinguishing spectral ranges with different treatments. The method we adopted is based on the Huygens-Fresnel principle for computing the diffracted intensity from measured or modeled profiles. In particular, we have simplified the computation of the surface integral to only one dimension, owing to the grazing incidence that reduces the influence of the azimuthal errors by orders of magnitude. The method can be extended to optical systems with an arbitrary number of reflections - in particular the Wolter-I, which is frequently used in X-ray astronomy - and can be used in both near- and far-field approximation. Finally, it accounts simultaneously for profile, roughness, and aperture diffraction. We describe the formalism with which one can self-consistently compute the PSF of grazing-incidence mirrors, [...] Finally, we validate this by comparing the simulated PSF of a real Wolter-I mirror shell with the measured PSF in hard X-rays.Comment: Final version with typos correcte

Excess Quantum Noise due to Nonorthogonal Polarization Modes

We show that the quantum-limited linewidth of a laser can be enhanced when the polarization eigenmodes of the laser resonator are nonorthogonal. For the theoretical description of this phenomenon we introduce a simple coupled two-mode model. Experimentally, we observed an enhancement of the quantum noise by a factor of 60 in a He-Xe gas laser