Atomic Resolution Electron Holography

It has been demonstrated that electron holography is a very powerful tool to investigate an electromagnetic potential in medium resolution, since the phase of an electron wave is approximately proportional to the potential. Now, electron holography is at the second stage of development: to establish holography at atomic resolution and further to realize Gabor\u27s idea to improve the resolution restricted by the spherical aberration of the objective lens. We investigate the possibility of electron holography to get information at atomic resolution by computer simulations as well as by digital processing of electron holograms. We show that the phase distribution has more resemblance to the specimen structure than the amplitude distribution. We also compare electron holography with electron microscopy from an image processing point of view

A Study of Sum Peak Method in Biological Substances by Using 111In

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Modeling deficit irrigation in alfalfa production

A conceptual agronomic model EPIC was extended to consider the effects of salinity in alfalfa production under optimal and water stress irrigation conditions. The extended model was calibrated and validated with observed lysimeter data. The model parameters that affected alfalfa yield and soil salinity the most were wilting point, field capacity, hydraulic conductivity, nitrate concentration, biomass energy ratio, seeding rate, average soil salinity EC e at which crop yield is reduced by 50% ( EC50 ), and initial soil gypsum concentration. The calibrated and validated model was then applied to an alfalfa deficit irrigation study. The four irrigation treatments included optimum check, minimum stress, short stress, and long stress, each of which produced differential alfalfa yields. The purpose of summer deficit irrigation was to ascertain how much agricultural water at what cost could be made available for urban water uses during water shortfalls. The results of model simulation were found to be satisfactory under all irrigation treatments though the model slightly overestimated the yields and underestimated the soil EC e at the end of short and long stress treatments. An economic component is included to determine the appropriate compensation for farmers undergoing a range of deficit irrigations

Overview of soil erosion from irrigation

Of the 15,000,000 ha (37,000,000 acres) of irrigated land in the U.S., 21% is affected by soil erosion to some extent. Irrigation-induced soil erosion has been studied, primarily in the Northwestern United States, since 1940. A number of studies have measured annual sediment yields from furrow-irrigated fields exceeding 20 t/ha (9 tons/acre) with some fields exceeding 100 t/ha (45 tons/acre). Under the center-pivot sprinkler method, sediment yields as high as 33 t/ha (15 tons/acre) have been measured. Annual sediment yields as high as 4.5 t/ha (2 tons/ acre) were measured from irrigation tracts. Erosion is seldom excessive on slopes less than 1% and is often excessive on slopes greater than 2%. Erosion reduces the agricultural productivity of the fields and causes off-farm damages. In southern Idaho, crop yield potential has been reduced by 25% due to 80 years of irrigation-induced erosion. Some irrigation districts spend more than $50,000 annually to remove sediment from drains. Sediment in irrigation return flows causes major water-quality degredation problems in several rivers in the Western United State

Gastric Endocrine Cell Carcinoma with Long-Term Survival Developing Metachronous Remnant Cancer

A rare case of primary gastric endocrine cell carcinoma in a 79-year-old man is reported. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed a large Bormann's type 2 tumour located in the middle of the stomach. On computed tomography, the gastric wall was thickened by the large tumour, and there were no distant metastases. Distal gastrectomy, lymph node dissection, and partial resection of the transverse colon were performed because the tumour involved the transverse mesocolon. The final pathological diagnosis was endocrine cell carcinoma, with tumour infiltration up to the subserous layer. Adjuvant chemotherapy was given, but metachronous remnant gastric cancer developed 2 years after surgery. Endoscopic submucosal dissection was performed for the early 0-IIc type gastric cancer, and the surgical margin was preserved. The patient has survived for 5 years after the primary surgery, remaining disease-free so far

Acute renal failure in an AIDS patient on tenofovir: a case report

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Microangiopathy in the cerebellum of patients with mitochondrial DNA disease

Neuropathological findings in mitochondrial DNA disease vary and are often dependent on the type of mitochondrial DNA defect. Many reports document neuronal cell loss, demyelination, gliosis and necrotic lesions in post-mortem material. However, previous studies highlight vascular abnormalities in patients harbouring mitochondrial DNA defects, particularly in those with the m.3243A>G mutation in whom stroke-like events are part of the mitochondrial encephalopathy lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes syndrome. We investigated microangiopathic changes in the cerebellum of 16 genetically and clinically well-defined patients. Respiratory chain deficiency, high levels of mutated mitochondrial DNA and increased mitochondrial mass were present within the smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells comprising the vessel wall in patients. These changes were not limited to those harbouring the m.3243A>G mutation frequently associated with mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes, but were documented in patients harbouring m.8344A>G and autosomal recessive polymerase (DNA directed), gamma (POLG) mutations. In 8 of the 16 patients, multiple ischaemic-like lesions occurred in the cerebellar cortex suggestive of vascular smooth muscle cell dysfunction. Indeed, changes in vascular smooth muscle and endothelium distribution and cell size are indicative of vascular cell loss. We found evidence of blood–brain barrier breakdown characterized by plasma protein extravasation following fibrinogen and IgG immunohistochemistry. Reduced immunofluorescence was also observed using markers for endothelial tight junctions providing further evidence in support of blood–brain barrier breakdown. Understanding the structural and functional changes occurring in central nervous system microvessels in patients harbouring mitochondrial DNA defects will provide an important insight into mechanisms of neurodegeneration in mitochondrial DNA disease. Since therapeutic strategies targeting the central nervous system are limited, modulating vascular function presents an exciting opportunity to lessen the burden of disease in these patients

Effects of ecstasy/polydrug use on memory for associative information

Rationale Associative learning underpins behaviours that are fundamental to the everyday functioning of the individual. Evidence pointing to learning deficits in recreational drug users merits further examination. Objectives A word pair learning task was administered to examine associative learning processes in ecstasy/polydrug users. Methods After assignment to either single or divided attention conditions, 44 ecstasy/polydrug users and 48 non-users were presented with 80 word pairs at encoding. Following this, four types of stimuli were presented at the recognition phase: the words as originally paired (old pairs), previously presented words in different pairings (conjunction pairs), old words paired with new words, and pairs of new words (not presented previously). The task was to identify which of the stimuli were intact old pairs. Results Ecstasy/ploydrug users produced significantly more false-positive responses overall compared to non-users. Increased long-term frequency of ecstasy use was positively associated with the propensity to produce false-positive responses. It was also associated with a more liberal signal detection theory decision criterion value. Measures of long term and recent cannabis use were also associated with these same word pair learning outcome measures. Conjunction word pairs, irrespective of drug use, generated the highest level of false-positive responses and significantly more false-positive responses were made in the divided attention condition compared to the single attention condition. Conclusions Overall, the results suggest that long-term ecstasy exposure may induce a deficit in associative learning and this may be in part a consequence of users adopting a more liberal decision criterion value