All the Better to See You With

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-8
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Carmichael
Keyword(s):  
Optical System ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Small Variety ◽  
Functional Forms ◽  
Experimental Approaches

In the animal kingdom, eyes come in a relatively small variety of functional forms. When a new optical system is found, it usually is a variation of a known form. It is very rare to discover a novel form of an eye. Such a sensational discovery has been made by Annette Stowasser, Alexandra Rapaport, John Layne, Randy Morgan, and Elke Buschbeck. Using two different experimental approaches, they demonstrated an eye with a truly bifocal lens, something that has only been suggested for certain long-extinct trilobites

scholarly journals Questionable Thymic Nurse Cell

2001 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Pezzano ◽  
Michael Samms ◽  
Marcia Martinez ◽  
Jerry Guyden
Keyword(s):  
T Cell ◽  
Nurse Cell ◽  
T Cell Development ◽  
Evolutionary Conservation ◽  
Cell Development ◽  
Nurse Cells ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Thymic Nurse Cells ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Uptake And Release

SUMMARY Since their discovery in 1980, thymic nurse cells (TNCs) have been controversial. Questions pertaining to the existence of the TNC as a “unit” cell with thymocytes completely enclosed within its cytoplasm were the focus of initial debates. Early skeptics proposed the multicellular complex to be an artifact of the procedures used to isolate TNCs from the thymus. Since that time, TNCs have been found in fish, frogs, tadpoles, chickens, sheep, pigs, rats, mice, and humans. Their evolutionary conservation throughout the animal kingdom relieved most speculations about the existence of TNCs and at the same time demonstrated their apparent importance to the thymus and T-cell development. In this review we will discuss and debate reports that describe (i) the organization or structure of TNCs, (ii) the thymocyte subset(s) found within the cytoplasm of TNCs and their uptake and release, and (iii) the function of this fascinating multicellular interaction that occurs during the process of T-cell development. Discussions about the future of the field and experimental approaches that will lead to answers to remaining questions are also presented.

A Field Emission System For Transmission Electron Microscopy

1973 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 298-299
Author(s):  
Michel Troyonal ◽  
Huei Pei Kuoal ◽  
Benjamin M. Siegelal
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Field Emission ◽  
Optical System ◽  
High Vacuum ◽  
Ultra High Vacuum ◽  
Objective Lens ◽  
Electron Optical System ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Emission System

A field emission system for our experimental ultra high vacuum electron microscope has been designed, constructed and tested. The electron optical system is based on the prototype whose performance has already been reported. A cross-sectional schematic illustrating the field emission source, preaccelerator lens and accelerator is given in Fig. 1. This field emission system is designed to be used with an electron microscope operated at 100-150kV in the conventional transmission mode. The electron optical system used to control the imaging of the field emission beam on the specimen consists of a weak condenser lens and the pre-field of a strong objective lens. The pre-accelerator lens is an einzel lens and is operated together with the accelerator in the constant angular magnification mode (CAM).

Information and estimation in image processing

1987 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 14-17
Author(s):  
B. Roy Frieden
Keyword(s):  
Image Processing ◽  
Optical System ◽  
Large Amplitude ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Image Data ◽  
Direct Approach ◽  
Ill Posed

Despite the skill and determination of electro-optical system designers, the images acquired using their best designs often suffer from blur and noise. The aim of an “image enhancer” such as myself is to improve these poor images, usually by digital means, such that they better resemble the true, “optical object,” input to the system. This problem is notoriously “ill-posed,” i.e. any direct approach at inversion of the image data suffers strongly from the presence of even a small amount of noise in the data. In fact, the fluctuations engendered in neighboring output values tend to be strongly negative-correlated, so that the output spatially oscillates up and down, with large amplitude, about the true object. What can be done about this situation? As we shall see, various concepts taken from statistical communication theory have proven to be of real use in attacking this problem. We offer below a brief summary of these concepts.

On the cross-sectional shape of the cellulose crystallites in the tunicate Halocynthia papillosa

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 566-567
Author(s):  
J.-F. Revol ◽  
Y. Van Daele ◽  
F. Gaill
Keyword(s):  
Contrast Imaging ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Bright Field ◽  
Field Mode ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Ultrathin Sections ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Sectional Shape ◽  
Valonia Ventricosa ◽  
C Nmr

The only form of cellulose which could unequivocally be ascribed to the animal kingdom is the tunicin that occurs in the tests of the tunicates. Recently, high-resolution solid-state l3C NMR revealed that tunicin belongs to the Iβ form of cellulose as opposed to the Iα form found in Valonia and bacterial celluloses. The high perfection of the tunicin crystallites led us to study its crosssectional shape and to compare it with the shape of those in Valonia ventricosa (V.v.), the goal being to relate the cross-section of cellulose crystallites with the two allomorphs Iα and Iβ.In the present work the source of tunicin was the test of the ascidian Halocvnthia papillosa (H.p.). Diffraction contrast imaging in the bright field mode was applied on ultrathin sections of the V.v. cell wall and H.p. test with cellulose crystallites perpendicular to the plane of the sections. The electron microscope, a Philips 400T, was operated at 120 kV in a low intensity beam condition.

Atomic Resolution in Crystal Aperture Stem

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 236-237
Author(s):  
J T Fourie
Keyword(s):  
Optical System ◽  
Spherical Aberration ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Transmission Function ◽  
Optical Systems ◽  
Bragg Angle ◽  
Electron Optical System ◽  
Intimate Contact ◽  
Diffraction Effects ◽  
Design Aspect

The attempts at improvement of electron optical systems to date, have largely been directed towards the design aspect of magnetic lenses and towards the establishment of ideal lens combinations. In the present work the emphasis has been placed on the utilization of a unique three-dimensional crystal objective aperture within a standard electron optical system with the aim to reduce the spherical aberration without introducing diffraction effects. A brief summary of this work together with a description of results obtained recently, will be given.The concept of utilizing a crystal as aperture in an electron optical system was introduced by Fourie who employed a {111} crystal foil as a collector aperture, by mounting the sample directly on top of the foil and in intimate contact with the foil. In the present work the sample was mounted on the bottom of the foil so that the crystal would function as an objective or probe forming aperture. The transmission function of such a crystal aperture depends on the thickness, t, and the orientation of the foil. The expression for calculating the transmission function was derived by Hashimoto, Howie and Whelan on the basis of the electron equivalent of the Borrmann anomalous absorption effect in crystals. In Fig. 1 the functions for a g220 diffraction vector and t = 0.53 and 1.0 μm are shown. Here n= Θ‒ΘB, where Θ is the angle between the incident ray and the (hkl) planes, and ΘB is the Bragg angle.

STEM and ELS Observation of Early Oxide Formation on the Surface of Cr Thin Films

1980 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 412-413
Author(s):  
Fumio Watari ◽  
J. M. Cowley
Keyword(s):  
Thin Films ◽  
Optical System ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
Oxide Formation ◽  
Initial Nucleation ◽  
Diffraction Patterns ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Multiple Twinning ◽  
Moderately High Temperature

STEM coupled with the optical system was used for the investigation of the early oxidation on the surface of Cr. Cr thin films (30 – 1000Å) were prepared by evaporation onto the polished or air-cleaved NaCl substrates at room temperature and 45°C in a vacuum of 10−6 Torr with an evaporation speed 0.3Å/sec. Rather thick specimens (200 – 1000Å) with various preferred orientations were used for the investigation of the oxidation at moderately high temperature (600 − 1100°C). Selected area diffraction patterns in these specimens are usually very much complicated by the existence of the different kinds of oxides and their multiple twinning. The determination of the epitaxial orientation relationship of the oxides formed on the Cr surface was made possible by intensive use of the optical system and microdiffraction techniques. Prior to the formation of the known rhombohedral Cr2O3, a thin spinel oxide, probably analogous to γ -Al203 or γ -Fe203, was formed. Fig. 1a shows the distinct epitaxial growth of the spinel (001) as well as the rhombohedral (125) on the well-oriented Cr(001) surface. In the case of the Cr specimen with the (001) preferred orientation (Fig. 1b), the rings explainable by spinel structure appeared as well as the well defined epitaxial spots of the spinel (001). The microdif fraction from 20A areas (Fig. 2a) clearly shows the same pattern as Fig. Ia with the weaker oxide spots among the more intense Cr spots, indicating that the thickness of the oxide is much less than that of Cr. The rhombohedral Cr2O3 was nucleated preferably at the Cr(011) sites provided by the polycrystalline nature of the present specimens with the relation Cr2O3 (001)//Cr(011), and by further oxidation it grew into full coverage of the rest of the Cr surface with the orientation determined by the initial nucleation.

The Animal Kingdom

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges Cuvier ◽  
Edward Griffith
Keyword(s):  
Animal Kingdom

The Animal Kingdom

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges Cuvier ◽  
Edward Griffith
Keyword(s):  
Animal Kingdom

Learned Placebo Effects in the Immune System

2014 ◽  
Vol 222 (3) ◽  
pp. 148-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Vits ◽  
Manfred Schedlowski
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Placebo Response ◽  
Immunosuppressive Drug ◽  
Immune Functions ◽  
Placebo Effects ◽  
New Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Biological Variables ◽  
Experimental Approaches

Associative learning processes are one of the major neuropsychological mechanisms steering the placebo response in different physiological systems and end organ functions. Learned placebo effects on immune functions are based on the bidirectional communication between the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral immune system. Based on this “hardware,” experimental evidence in animals and humans showed that humoral and cellular immune functions can be affected by behavioral conditioning processes. We will first highlight and summarize data documenting the variety of experimental approaches conditioning protocols employed, affecting different immunological functions by associative learning. Taking a well-established paradigm employing a conditioned taste aversion model in rats with the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporine A (CsA) as an unconditioned stimulus (US) as an example, we will then summarize the efferent and afferent communication pathways as well as central processes activated during a learned immunosuppression. In addition, the potential clinical relevance of learned placebo effects on the outcome of immune-related diseases has been demonstrated in a number of different clinical conditions in rodents. More importantly, the learned immunosuppression is not restricted to experimental animals but can be also induced in humans. These data so far show that (i) behavioral conditioned immunosuppression is not limited to a single event but can be reproduced over time, (ii) immunosuppression cannot be induced by mere expectation, (iii) psychological and biological variables can be identified as predictors for this learned immunosuppression. Together with experimental approaches employing a placebo-controlled dose reduction these data provide a basis for new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of diseases where a suppression of immune functions is required via modulation of nervous system-immune system communication by learned placebo effects.

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