Effects of hypophysis adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide on female cycle and embryo development in mice - preliminary results

SUMMARY Background: Due to the antiapoptotic effect of pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) and its widespread presence in the organ system, PACAP is considered as a general cytoprotective peptide. The peptide was found in the gonads in high levels, what drew attention to that the peptide might play a central role in reproduction.objectives: The aim of the present study is to assess the effect of the endogen peptide on embryo development and quality compared with PACAP KO mice. Moreover, the authors examine the role of the PACAP to the production of progesterone and oestradiol (with radioimmunoassay) in females and to the quality of the semen in male mice.Materials and methods: PACAP-producing (wild type) and KO CD1 mice were examined through the experiments. Zygotes produced by natural mating were obtained from donor superovulated females 5-6 hours after copulation. Embryos were cultured for 96 hours in vitro and developmental state, cell number and micronuclei rate were assessed. Faeces were collected for 3 weeks from 10 mice (5 KO and 5 wild type) and oestradiol and progesterone levels were measured with radioimmunoassay. Results and discussion: Higher blastomere number was found in PACAP KO embryos than in wild ones (p = 0,0022). However, the advanced PACAP KO embry-os have significantly higher micronucleus rate compared to advanced wild type embryos (p = 0,01). Although oestradiol peak levels did not differ significantly, PACAP-KO mice showed higher concentrations as in the case of progesterone. Due to their data, further experiments will be carried out

Comparison of simultaneous on-line optical and acoustic laser damage detection methods in the nanosecond pulse duration domain

We carried out single-shot laser-induced damage threshold measurements on dielectric high reflectors guided by the corresponding ISO standard. Four simultaneous on-line detection techniques were tested and compared using 532 nm, 9 ns and 266 nm, 6 ns laser pulses. Two methods, microscope aided visual inspection and detection of scattered light off the damaged surface, were based on optical signals. The other two techniques exploited the acoustic waves accompanying a damage event in ambient air and in the substrate by a microphone and a piezoelectric sensor, respectively. A unified criterion based on the statistical analysis of the detector signals was applied to assign an objective and unambiguous damage threshold value for all of our diverse detection methods. Microscope aided visual inspection showed the lowest damage thresholds for both wavelengths. However, the sensitivity of the other three techniques proved to be only slightly lower. © 2015 Astro Ltd

Single thin-plate compression of multi-TW laser pulses to 3.9 fs

Post-compression of 12-fs laser pulses with multi-TW peak power from an optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) system was performed by using a single thin fused silica plate in a vacuum. By optimizing the input pulses in both spatial and temporal domains, after compression with customized chirped mirrors, we achieved pulses as short as 3.87 fs, in combination with 12-mJ energy. The spatio-spectral quality of the post-compressed pulses was thoroughly analyzed. The generated 1.4-cycle pulses pave the way for next generation attosecond and particle acceleration experiments

Calibration of micro-channel plate detector in a Thomson spectrometer for protons and carbon ions with energies below 1 MeV

The calibration of an ion detection system was carried out for protons and carbon ions from a few tens of keV up to about 1 MeV energies. A Thomson spectrometer deflecting the particle beam accelerated from a laser plasma creates the ion spectra on a phosphor screen behind a micro-channel plate (MCP), which are recorded by a camera. During calibration, the ion spectra simultaneously hit the slotted CR-39 track detector installed in front of the MCP and, passing through the adjacent CR-39 stripes, the MCP. The calibration provides the ratio of the interpolated values between two consecutive stripes of the camera signal and the total number of particles recorded on the corresponding stripe of CR-39. The efficiency of proton detection by CR-39 was also measured in a conventional accelerator beam and found to drop by 20% below 100 keV