Mouse Protocadherin-1 gene expression is regulated by cigarette smoke exposure in vivo

Protocadherin-1 (PCDH1) is a novel susceptibility gene for airway hyperresponsiveness, first identified in families exposed to cigarette smoke and is expressed in bronchial epithelial cells. Here, we asked how mouse Pcdh1 expression is regulated in lung structural cells in vivo under physiological conditions, and in both short-term cigarette smoke exposure models characterized by airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness and chronic cigarette smoke exposure models. Pcdh1 gene-structure was investigated by Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends. Pcdh1 mRNA and protein expression was investigated by qRT-PCR, western blotting using isoform-specific antibodies. We observed 87% conservation of the Pcdh1 nucleotide sequence, and 96% conservation of the Pcdh1 protein sequence between men and mice. We identified a novel Pcdh1 isoform encoding only the intracellular signalling motifs. Cigarette smoke exposure for 4 consecutive days markedly reduced Pcdh1 mRNA expression in lung tissue (3 to 4-fold), while neutrophilia and airway hyperresponsiveness was induced. Moreover, Pcdh1 mRNA expression in lung tissue was reduced already 6 hours after an acute cigarette-smoke exposure in mice. Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke induced loss of Pcdh1 protein in lung tissue after 2 months, while Pcdh1 protein levels were no longer reduced after 9 months of cigarette smoke exposure. We conclude that Pcdh1 is highly homologous to human PCDH1, encodes two transmembrane proteins and one intracellular protein, and is regulated by cigarette smoke exposure in vivo

Phase-resolved semiconductor overlay metrology with a dark field holographic microscope

Current optical sensors used for overlay metrology during semiconductor manufacturing are limited on the available stack-thickness wavelength combinations. We present a dark field holographic sensor concept that lifts this limitation and show an experimental demonstration

The influence of feedback intensity on longitudinal mode properties and optical noise in index-guided semiconductor lasers

\u3cp\u3eTheory and experiments on optical feedback effects in index-guided singlemode semiconductor lasers are presented. Evidence is found for the existence of a characteristic parameter C which indicates the relative strength of the optical feedback. Near the transition (C \approx 1.0) from low to high feedback, the feedback-induced low-frequency intensity noise shows a maximum. At higher feedback hysteresis and instabilities are dominant, whereas the feedback-induced noise is low again.\u3c/p\u3

Theoretical and experimental demonstration of a state-of-the-art dark-field holographic microscope for advanced semiconductor metrology

We describe a dark-field holographic microscope, that aims to surpass metrology requirements with novel phase-DBO measurements. We present parameters that improve overlay (OV) metrology and test the validation of our analysis with an experimental demonstration

Lens aberration calibration and correction with plasmonic nanoparticles in off-axis dark-field digital holographic microscope for semiconductor metrology

We present a method to calibrate and correct lens aberrations in dark-field Digital Holographic Microscope (df-DHM). In this method a gold nanoparticle is used to measure the point-spread function (PSF) of the df-DHM

Parallel acquisition of multiple images using coherence gating in off-axis dark-field digital holographic microscope for semiconductor metrology

We present an Off-Axis dark-field digital holographic microscope capable of parallel acquisition of multiple holograms. With this microscope we aim to measure overlay (OV) with sub-nanometer precision and milli-second acquisition times over large wavelength range

Improving the precision of semiconductor overlay measurements using dark-field digital holographic microscopy

We present dark-field d igital h olographic m icroscopy f or diffraction-based overlay metrology in semiconductor layers with feature size of a few nanometers. We aim for higher accuracy and precision by calibrating the illumination profile on the targets