In order to study whether hyperplasia or hypertrophy of cells is responsible for the thickening of airway muscles, 3-D morphometry of airway muscle cells was performed on resin-embedded semithin serial sections of autopsied lungs from 10 asthmatics and five control subjects. There were five Type I and five Type II asthmatic lungs, as defined in an earlier study, thickened muscles being found only in the central bronchi in Type I and distributed over the whole airway tree in Type II. The analysis was based on "unbiased" 3-D morphometry to obtain the numerical density NV of muscle cells using a "disector," a spatial probe introduced by Sterio in 1984, which we modified into a stack of serial sections. The mean number NL of cells per unit airway length and the mean volume Vc of a single muscle cell were also determined. In Type I asthmatics, the number of cells increased in the larger bronchi unaccompanied by cellular hypertrophy at any level of the airway tree. In contrast, in Type II asthmatics, hypertrophy was shown to prevail over the whole airway, but it was most remarkable in the bronchioles, whereas hyperplasia was mild and localized only in the bronchi. The two types of asthmatic lungs may therefore result from different pathogeneses.

Febrifugine (1) and isofebrifugine (2), isolated from the roots of Dichroa febrifuga Lour. (Chinese name: Cháng Shan), are active principles against malaria. Adducts of 1 and 2 with acetone, Df-1 (3) and Df-2 (4), respectively, were obtained using silica gel and acetone. They showed high activity against P. falciparum malaria in vitro. Compound 3 was found to be equally effective against P. berghei in vivo as the clinically used drug chloroquine, whereas 4 showed only 1/24 of the activity of 3. Metabolism studies of these compounds revealed that compound 4 is readily metabolized in mouse liver. Accordingly, the dose of 4 must be higher than that of 3 to attain blood levels sufficient for a favorable therapeutic effect.

Photoluminescence enhancement, photoetching and photostability of CdS nanocrystals were investigated under light irradiation. Strongly photoluminescent nanocrystals were obtained when the nanocrystal was weakly photoexcited in an aqueous solution at pH = 11 in the presence of oxygen. With the support of XPS measurements, the following photoactivation mechanism is proposed: Cd(2+) ions are released from the CdS surface owing to slow photocorrosion in the presence of oxygen, and Cd-OH bond formation occurs on the CdS surface under the alkaline conditions, removing the surface trap states. The wavelength of the irradiating light and the pH of the solution were determined as key parameters for nanocrystal surface modification. For the stability measurements the nanocrystals were extracted with an ammonium salt in a non-polar solvent. The photoluminescence quantum yield for the nanocrystals in the non-polar phase reached approximately 30%. The extracted nanocrystals were remarkably stable even under UV light irradiation, and the photoluminescence intensity was maintained for several months.

Continuous collection of imaging spectroscopic data is feasible and may provide reliable quantification of the hemodynamic responses in the brain. The HSC system may be useful for monitoring intraoperative changes in cortical surface hemodynamics during revascularization procedures in humans.

No abstract

No abstract

Somatic cell counts (SCC) measurements are typically performed using quantitative methods, such as the Breed method (Breed) and the Fossomatic method (FSCC). The DeLaval cell counter (DCC) developed recently is a quantitative somatic cell counter with a low initial cost and superior portability. However, since the DCC was specifically developed for measuring SCC of ≤ 4 × 10(6) cells/mL milk from bulk tanks or individual cows, its reliability for estimating SCC that exceed this concentration has not yet been clarified. This study therefore examined whether it is possible to accurately measure SCC by diluting milk samples with initial SCC of 4 × 10(6) cells/mL, as seen in clinical mastitis milk. We collected milk samples from 99 quarters of 99 Holstein cows with clinical mastitis. These milk samples were diluted 10-fold with saline and thoroughly mixed before performing SCC measurement with the DCC. The correlation coefficients of SCC measured by the FSCC, Breed and DCC methods indicated strong correlations between each pair of methods. The findings showed that DCC can be used to identify bovine clinical mastitis milk and is useful as a quantitative SCC measurement device on farm sites.

No abstract