Permeability of blood-tear barrier to fluorescein and albumin after application of platelet-activating factor to the eye of the guinea pig

One of the inflammatory responses of the eye to local application of platelet-activating factor (PAF) is oedema of the conjunctiva, caused by extravasation of plasma. Aim of the study was to investigate if fluorescein would leak from the blood into the tears together with plasma protein after application of PAF to the eye. Fluorescein was given intraperitoneally 30 min prior to application of 25 μl of 0.1% solution of PAF. Thirty min after PAF the tear film was collected by washing the surface of the eye with 25 μl of phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Fluorescein in eye washings and in plasma was measured by fluorophotometry and albumin by immunodiffusion. Both fluorescein and albumin appeared in a related fashion in tears, being absent in washings of placebo-treated control eyes. Extravasation of fluorescein can be used as a measure for plasma leakage in the conjunctiva with the advantage over the Evans Blue method that the former is a non-invasive method

Triangle Diagram with Off-Shell Coulomb T-Matrix for (In-)Elastic Atomic and Nuclear Three-Body Processes

The driving terms in three-body theories of elastic and inelastic scattering of a charged particle off a bound state of two other charged particles contain the fully off-shell two-body Coulomb T-matrix describing the intermediate-state Coulomb scattering of the projectile with each of the charged target particles. Up to now the latter is usually replaced by the Coulomb potential, either when using the multiple-scattering approach or when solving three-body integral equations. General properties of the exact and the approximate on-shell driving terms are discussed, and the accuracy of this approximation is investigated numerically, both for atomic and nuclear processes including bound-state excitation, for energies below and above the corresponding three-body dissociation threshold, over the whole range of scattering angles.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, figures can be obtained upon request from the Authors, revte

Generalized Faddeev equations in the AGS form for deuteron stripping with explicit inclusion of target excitations and Coulomb interaction

Theoretical description of reactions in general, and the theory for $(d,p)$ reactions, in particular, needs to advance into the new century. Here deuteron stripping processes off a target nucleus consisting of ${A}$ nucleons are treated within the framework of the few-body integral equations theory. The generalized Faddeev equations in the AGS form, which take into account the target excitations, with realistic optical potentials provide the most advanced and complete description of the deuteron stripping. The main problem in practical application of such equations is the screening of the Coulomb potential, which works only for light nuclei. In this paper we present a new formulation of the Faddeev equations in the AGS form taking into account the target excitations with explicit inclusion of the Coulomb interaction. By projecting the $(A+2)$-body operators onto target states, matrix three-body integral equations are derived which allow for the incorporation of the excited states of the target nucleons. Using the explicit equations for the partial Coulomb scattering wave functions in the momentum space we present the AGS equations in the Coulomb distorted wave representation without screening procedure. We also use the explicit expression for the off-shell two-body Coulomb scattering $T$-matrix which is needed to calculate the effective potentials in the AGS equations. The integrals containing the off-shell Coulomb T-matrix are regularized to make the obtained equations suitable for calculations. For $NN$ and nucleon-target nuclear interactions we assume the separable potentials what significantly simplifies solution of the AGS equations.Comment: 34 pages, 13 figure

Scattering theory with the Coulomb potential

Basic features of a new surface-integral formulation of scattering theory are outlined. This formulation is valid for both short-range and Coulombic long-range interactions. New general definitions for the potential scattering amplitude are given. For the Coulombic potentials the generalized amplitude gives the physical on-shell amplitude without recourse to a renormalization procedure. New post and prior forms for the amplitudes of breakup, direct and rearrangement scattering in a Coulomb three-body system are presented

Scattering theory for arbitrary potentials

The fundamental quantities of potential scattering theory are generalized to accommodate long-range interactions. New definitions for the scattering amplitude and wave operators valid for arbitrary interactions including potentials with a Coulomb tail are presented. It is shown that for the Coulomb potential the generalized amplitude gives the physical on-shell amplitude without recourse to a renormalization procedure.Comment: To be published in Phys Rev

Adult male patient with severe intellectual disability caused by a homozygous mutation in the HNMT gene

Histamine is involved in various physiological functions like sleep-wake cycle and stress regulation. The histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT) enzyme is the only pathway for termination of histamine neurotransmission in the central nervous system. Experiments with HNMT knockout mice generated aggressive behaviours and dysregulation of sleep-wake cycles. Recently, seven members of two unrelated consanguineous families have been reported in whom two different missense HNMT mutations were identified. All showed severe intellectual disability, delayed speech development and mild regression from the age of 5 years without, however, any dysmorphisms or congenital abnormality. A diagnosis of mental retardation, autosomal recessive 51 was made. Here, we describe a severely mentally retarded adolescent male born from second cousins with a homozygous mutation in HNMT. His phenotypic profile comprised aggression, delayed speech, autism, sleep disturbances and gastro-intestinal problems. At early age, regression occurred. Treatment with hydroxyzine combined with a histamine-restricted diet resulted in significant general improvement

"Optical conductance fluctuations: diagrammatic analysis in Landauer approach and non-universal effects"

The optical conductance of a multiple scattering medium is the total transmitted light of a diffuse incoming beam. This quantity, very analogous to the electronic conductance, exhibits universal conductance fluctuations. We perform a detailed diagrammatic analysis of these fluctuations. With a Kadanoff-Baym technique all the leading diagrams are systematically generated. A cancellation of the short distance divergencies occurs, that yields a well behaved theory. The analytical form of the fluctuations is calculated and applied to optical systems. Absorption and internal reflections reduce the fluctuations significantly.Comment: 25 pages Revtex 3.0, 18 seperate postscript figure

N-d scattering above the deuteron breakup threshold

The complex Kohn variational principle and the (correlated) Hyperspherical Harmonics technique are applied to study the N--d scattering above the deuteron breakup threshold. The configuration with three outgoing nucleons is explicitly taken into account by solving a set of differential equations with outgoing boundary conditions. A convenient procedure is used to obtain the correct boundary conditions at values of the hyperradius $\approx 100$ fm. The inclusion of the Coulomb potential is straightforward and does not give additional difficulties. Numerical results have been obtained for a simple s-wave central potential. They are in nice agreement with the benchmarks produced by different groups using the Faddeev technique. Comparisons are also done with experimental elastic N--d cross section at several energies.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages, 3 figure