Crosstalk of platelets with macrophages and fibroblasts aggravates inflammation, aortic wall stiffening, and osteopontin release in abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Aims: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a highly lethal disease with progressive dilatation of the abdominal aorta accompanied by degradation and remodelling of the vessel wall due to chronic inflammation. Platelets play an important role in cardiovascular diseases, but their role in AAA is poorly understood.

Methods And Results: The present study revealed that platelets play a crucial role in promoting AAA through modulation of inflammation and degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM).

Relaxation stretching, fast dynamics, and activation energy: a comparison of molecular and ionic liquids as revealed by depolarized light scattering.

Depolarized light scattering (DLS) spectra of a series of 16 molecular and 6 room temperature ionic liquids are investigated by applying tandem-Fabry-Pérot interferometry, double monochromator, and photon correlation spectroscopy. Temperatures up to well above the melting point, in some cases, even up to the boiling point, are covered, and all liquids can be supercooled. The accessed time constants are between 1 ps and 10 ns; in some cases, even longer times are reached.

Reorientational dynamics in molecular liquids as revealed by dynamic light scattering: from boiling point to glass transition temperature.

We determine the reorientational correlation time τ of a series of molecular liquids by performing depolarized light scattering experiments (double monochromator, Fabry-Perot interferometry, and photon correlation spectroscopy). Correlation times in the range 10(-12) s-100 s are compiled, i.e.

Evolution of the dynamic susceptibility in molecular glass formers: results from light scattering, dielectric spectroscopy, and NMR.

Although broadly studied, molecular glass formers are not well investigated above their melting point. Correlation times down to 10(-12) s are easily accessible when studying low-T(g) systems by depolarized light scattering, employing a tandem-Fabry-Perot interferometer and a double monochromator. When combining these techniques with state-of-the-art photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS), broad band susceptibility spectra become accessible which can compete with those of dielectric spectroscopy (DS).

Porosity of pillared clays studied by hyperpolarized 129Xe NMR spectroscopy and Xe adsorption isotherms.

The influence of the layer charge on the microstructure was studied for a series of three hybrid pillared interlayered clays based on the organic dication Me(2)DABCO(2+) and charge reduced synthetic fluorohectorites. To get a detailed picture of the local arrangements within the interlayer space, multinuclear solid-state NMR spectroscopy was performed in conjunction with high-resolution (129)Xe MAS NMR, temperature-dependent wide-line 1D and 2D (129)Xe NMR, and Ar/Ar(l) and Xe/Xe(l) physisorption measurements. The resulting layer charge (x) for the three samples are 0.