Demonstration of a compact double-reflection transmissive beam scanner operating at 1550 nm wavelength.

A compact forward-directed transmissive beam scanner operating at a wavelength of 1550 nm was constructed and characterized. The scanner consists of two wire-grid polarizers (WGPs) surrounding a 45° Faraday rotator, causing incident light to reflect once from each WGP before transmitting through the second polarizer. Scanning is achieved by tilting one of the WGPs.

Transthyretin Glu54Leu - an unknown mutation within the Swedish population associated with amyloid cardiomyopathy and a unique fibril type.

For the first time, we report of a Swedish family of five individuals with a (p. ) mutation in the transthyretin gene. This mutation has been previously described a few times in the literature, but no phenotypic or clinical description has been done before.

NOVEL RADIOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUE FOR PREGNANCY DETECTION IN THE MANED WOLF (CHRYSOCYON BRACHYURUS) WITHOUT ANESTHESIA.

Maned wolves ( Chrysocyon brachyurus ) maintained in ex situ populations challenge veterinarians and managers with high neonatal mortality and parental incompetence. These challenges led to the development of a novel diagnostic approach for pregnancy detection using radiographic imaging without anesthesia or sedation. To do this, a specialized crate was constructed to easily contain a single maned wolf, allowing the capture of lateral projection radiographic images of the abdomen prior to and throughout a 66-day pregnancy (days 20, 34, 48, and 55 of 66).

Undifferentiated murine embryonic stem cells used to model the effects of the blue-green algal toxin cylindrospermopsin on preimplantation embryonic cell proliferation.

Undifferentiated mouse embryonic stem cell (mES) proliferation in vitro resembles aspects of in vivo pre-implantation embryonic development. mES were used to assess the embryo-toxicity of cylindrospermopsin (CYN), a water contaminant with an Australian Drinking Water Guideline (ADWG) of 1 μg/L. mES exposed to 0-1 μg/mL CYN for 24-168 h were subjected to an optimised crystal violet viability assay.

Differentiation of embryonic stem cells to a neural fate: a route to re-building the nervous system?

The many and varied proposed applications of cell replacement therapies in the treatment of human disease states, particularly those arising from cell loss or dysfunction, have been discussed widely in both the scientific and popular press. Although an attractive concept, cell therapies require the development of a readily available source of donor cells suitable for transplantation. Embryonic stem (ES) cells, with proven ability to differentiate to all cell populations of the embryo and adult in vitro, provide a potential source of therapeutic cells.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha mRNA contains an internal ribosome entry site that allows efficient translation during normoxia and hypoxia.

HIF-1alpha is the regulated subunit of the HIF-1 transcription factor, which induces transcription of a number of genes involved in the cellular response to hypoxia. The HIF-1alpha protein is rapidly degraded in cells supplied with adequate oxygen but is stabilized in hypoxic cells. Using polysome profile analysis, we found that translation of HIF-1alpha mRNA in NIH3T3 cells is spared the general reduction in translation rate that occurs during hypoxia.