Light Scattering Changes in Isolated Brain Mitochondria during Anoxia - Magnesium Effect on Morphological Changes and Respiration -

Under pathological conditions, morphological changes of the cells and tissues may differ from those of normal conditions, which can be reflected by changes in light scattering (LS). Consequently, LS has been recognized as a potential non-invasive tool for optical diagnosis of living tissue. This paper aimed to identify the basic properties of LS of isolated brain mitochondria in vitro under normoxic and anoxic conditions in the presence and absence of Mg²⁺. An increase in LS was observed during anoxia in both the presence and absence of Mg²⁺. In both cases, the changes in LS initiated by anoxia and reoxygenation started concomitantly with the reduction of heme aa₃. The rates of LS changes were slower than those of heme aa₃, particularly in the presence of Mg²⁺. Mg²⁺ inhibited the morphological responses of mitochondria caused by the addition of ADP and ATP, and significantly reduced the oxygen consumption rate in state 4. These results are due to modulation of the K⁺/H⁺ antiporter affected by Mg²⁺. In addition, the mitochondria were well coupled, although the basal level of LS fell after addition of Mg²⁺. Therefore, the observed responses of mitochondria at anoxia were physiological and independent of the presence or absence of Mg²⁺. The relationship between LS and redox state of cytochrome c oxidase, an anoxic indicator, provides a basis to assess the tissue conditions in vivo.     

Low-Temperature Anti-Stokes Luminescence in Zn1-xMgxSe Mixed Crystals

Investigations of photoluminescence and Raman scattering in the ternary Zn_1-xMg_xSe compounds at 4.2 K were performed both in the Stokes and anti-Stokes regions using cw laser excitation with various wavelengths within the transparency band of the crystals. The anti-Stokes luminescence was observed for the first time in the ternary Zn_1-xMg_xSe compounds. We have found variations in the shape and position of the Stokes and anti-Stokes luminescence bands with an increase in the band gap energy, which depends on magnesium content. We assume that the anti-Stokes emission is generated by two-step excitation via deep-level centers. It is shown that the low-temperature anti-Stokes photoluminescence can probe the spatial distribution profiles of impurities in the bulk of crystals.     

Characteristic variations in the effect of diluents on polymer crystallization and melting observed for a sample of poly(ethylene-co-octene)

Melting points in mixtures of a crystallizable polymer with a low-molar-mass diluent depend on both, the diluent fraction and the crystal thickness. A differentiation of the two factors can be achieved by temperature-dependent SAXS experiments. A corresponding study, complemented by DSC, dilatometry, microscopy and AFM-imaging, was carried out for mixtures of a poly(ethylene-co-octene) with n-C₁₆H₃₄, c-C₁₆H₃₂ and methyl-anthracene, respectively. All diluents lead for a constant crystal thickness to melting point depressions in agreement with Raoult's law. On the other hand, the effect of the diluents on the thickness of the crystals formed at a fixed crystallization temperature varies. While in the presence of the two alkanes thicker crystals form, no effect arises for the methyl-anthracene—as was previously found for the octene-co-units. We consider these observations as a further support for our view that polymer crystallization follows a multi-stage route which includes a passage through an intermediate mesomorphic phase. Under such conditions crystal thicknesses would only be affected if the diluent is still present in the mesomorphic phase and stay invariant if the diluent molecules are already rejected when this intermediate phase forms.     

Single-particle quadrupole electromagnetic transitions in p-shell and sd-shell nuclei

Electron scattering Coulomb form factors for the single-particle quadrupole transitions in p-shell and sd-shell nuclei have been studied. Core polarization effects are included through a microscopic theory that includes excitations from the core orbits up to higher orbits with 2ω excitations. The modified surface delta interaction is adopted as a residual interaction. The results are discussed for the ( 1p _1/2 ^-1↦1p _3/2 ^-1) proton transition in ¹⁵N, ( 1d _5/2↦2s _1/2) neutron transition in ¹⁷O and ( 1d _3/2 ^-1↦2s _1/2 ^-1) proton transition in ³⁹K. The inclusion of core polarization effects modifies the form factors markedly and describes the experimental data very well in both the absolute strength and the momentum transfer dependence. Received: 18 April 2002 / Accepted: 1 July 2002 / Published online: 6 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: baguniv@uruklink.net Communicated by A. Molinari     

The electrostatics of Einstein’s unified field theory

When sources are added at their right-hand sides, and g_(ik) is a priori assumed to be the metric, the equations of Einstein’s Hermitian theory of relativity were shown to allow for an exact solution that describes the general electrostatic field of n point charges. Moreover, the injunction of spherical symmetry of g_(ik) in the infinitesimal neighbourhood of each of the charges was proved to yield the equilibrium conditions of the n charges in keeping with ordinary electrostatics. The tensor g_(ik), however, cannot be the metric of the theory, since it enters neither the eikonal equation nor the equation of motion of uncharged test particles. A physically correct metric that rules both the behaviour of wave fronts and of uncharged matter is the one indicated by Hély.In the present paper it is shown how the electrostatic solution predicts the structure of the n charged particles and their mutual positions of electrostatic equilibrium when Hély’s physically correct metric is adopted.     

Excitation functions of the analyzing power in elastic proton-proton scattering from 0.45 to 2.5 GeV

Excitation functions A_N(p_lab,_c.m.) of the analyzing power in elastic proton-proton scattering have been measured in an internal target experiment at the Cooler Synchrotron COSY with an unpolarized proton beam and a polarized atomic hydrogen target. Data were taken continuously during the acceleration and deceleration for proton kinetic energies T_lab (momenta p_lab) between 0.45 and 2.5 GeV (1.0 and 3.3 GeV/c) and scattering angles 30 ^° _c.m. 90^°. The results provide excitation functions and angular distributions of high precision and internal consistency. The data can be used as calibration standard between 0.45 and 2.5 GeV. They have significant impact on phase shift solutions, in particular on the spin triplet phase shifts between 1.0 and 1.8 GeV.     

Growth process and structure of Fe/Si(1 1 1) ultrathin film: Transition from single-domain Fe(1 1 1)/Si(1 1 1) to β-FeSi2

The growth processes and structures of Fe/Si(1 1 1) ultrathin films grown by solid-phase reactive epitaxy were investigated by coaxial impact-collision ion scattering spectroscopy (CAICISS). It has been revealed that the Fe(1 1 1) thin films with a bcc-type structure were epitaxially grown on a Si(1 1 1) crystal, even at room temperature, and formed a single-domain structure: Fe(1 1 1)∥Si(1 1 1). After annealing at above 600 °C, the Fe(1 1 1) films were transformed into β-FeSi₂ via the collapse of the bcc-type structure to an amorphous or polycrystalline structure. On the basis of the thickness dependences of the growth processes, this phenomenon was discussed in terms of the diffusion of Si into Fe thin films.     

Multi-conjugate solar adaptive optics at the Vacuum Tower Telescope on Tenerife

We present a breadboard multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) system for high angular resolution solar observations which we operate at the Vacuum Tower Telescope. We have developed methods to estimate quantitatively the performance of solar adaptive optics from science data. Several sets of short exposure images of the solar photosphere were analyzed to assess the performance of the MCAO. We demonstrate that a 30 arcsec field of view is substantially improved when the MCAO system is turned on. This compares favourably with an improvement of a 10 arcsec field with conventional solar adaptive optics. We also show how irradiance fluctuations in the MCAO compensated focus can be suppressed. To cite this article: O. von der Lühe et al., C. R. Physique 6 (2005).     

The K<Superscript>-</Superscript>α scattering length and the reaction dd↦αK<Superscript>+</Superscript>K<Superscript>-</Superscript>

We present predictions for the K^-α scattering length obtained within the framework of the multiple-scattering approach. Evaluating the pole position of the K^-α scattering amplitude within the zero-range approximation, we find a loosely bound K^-α state with a binding energy of E_R = - 2,..., - 7 MeV and a width Γ_R = 11,..., 18 MeV. We propose to measure the K^-α scattering length through the final-state interaction between the α and K^--meson produced in the reaction dd↦αK⁺K^-. It is found that the K^-α invariant-mass distribution from this reaction at energies near the threshold provides a new tool to determine the s-wave K^-α scattering length.     

Total cross sections for electron scattering from sulfur compounds

The original additivity rule method cannot give good results for electron scattering from SO,SO2,SO2Cl2,SO2ClF,and SO2F2 molecules at low energy,because the electron-molecule scattering is simply reduced to electron-atom scattering.Considering the difference between the bound atom in a molecule and the corresponding free atom,the original additivity rule is revised.With the revised additivity rule,the total cross sections for electron scattering from these molecules are calculated over a wide energy range below 3000 eV and compared with the available experimental and theoretical data.A better agreement between them is obtained.