Deciphering the emission dynamics of colloidal PbS quantum dots: a spectroscopic exploration under diverse environmental and experimental conditions.

This study employs a combination of spectroscopic techniques, including absorption, photoluminescence (PL), time-resolved PL kinetics, and transient absorption measurements, to elucidate the dynamics of excited states of oleic acid (OA)-capped colloidal PbS quantum dots (QDs) in toluene with a mean size of approximately 3 nm. PL decay profiles were properly treated employing either fitting or fitting-free models to extract average decay lifetimes and lifetime distributions. Our findings highlight the profound impact of factors such as particle concentration, size, surface treatment, and the surrounding environment on the optical properties of PbS QDs.

Monoaminergic Systems in Flight-Induced Potentiation of Phonotactic Behavior in Female Crickets .

We have recently shown that experience of flight remarkably enhanced subsequent terrestrial phonotaxis in females in response to the male calling song. Here, we elucidated the possible roles of octopamine and serotonin in the enhancing effect of flying on phonotactic behavior. Octopamine is known to be released into the hemolymph during flight in insects; however, the octopamine receptor antagonist epinastine did not abolish the effects of flight in our study.

Mapping the Auditory Space of Female Mosquitoes in 3D.

The task of directional hearing faces most animals that possess ears. They approach this task in different ways, but a common trait is the use of binaural cues to find the direction to the source of sound. In insects, the task is further complicated by their small size and, hence, minute temporal and level differences between two ears.

Intense Locomotion Enhances Oviposition in the Freshwater Mollusc : Cellular and Molecular Correlates.

Intense species-specific locomotion changes the behavioural and cognitive states of various vertebrates and invertebrates. However, whether and how reproductive behaviour is affected by previous increased motor activity remains largely unknown. We addressed this question using a model organism, the pond snail .

Compression OCT-elastography combined with speckle-contrast analysis as an approach to the morphological assessment of breast cancer tissue.

Currently, optical biopsy technologies are being developed for rapid and label-free visualization of biological tissue with micrometer-level resolution. They can play an important role in breast-conserving surgery guidance, detection of residual cancer cells, and targeted histological analysis. For solving these problems, compression optical coherence elastography (C-OCE) demonstrated impressive results based on differences in the elasticity of different tissue constituents.

Adsorption Kinetics of Type-III Antifreeze Protein on Ice Crystal Surfaces.

The spatio-temporal distribution of type-III antifreeze protein (AFP-III) molecules labeled with fluorescent isocyanate (FITC) was visualized at the interfaces between ice and solutions with an FITC-labeled AFP-III (F-AFP-III) concentration of 20-800 μg/mL by fluorescence microscopy. The number density of F-AFP-III on the surface of ice microcrystals was calculated from the calibrated fluorescence intensity. The adsorption of F-AFP-III molecules on the ice crystal surfaces proceeded at a finite rate and then reached the saturation level.

Intraoperative Assessment of Breast Cancer Tissues after Breast-Conserving Surgery Based on Mapping the Attenuation Coefficients in 3D Cross-Polarization Optical Coherence Tomography.

Intraoperative differentiation of tumorous from non-tumorous tissue can help in the assessment of resection margins in breast cancer and its response to therapy and, potentially, reduce the incidence of tumor recurrence. In this study, the calculation of the attenuation coefficient and its color-coded 2D distribution was performed for different breast cancer subtypes using spectral-domain CP OCT. A total of 68 freshly excised human breast specimens containing tumorous and surrounding non-tumorous tissues after BCS was studied.

Beyond the Limits of Light: An Application of Super-Resolution Confocal Microscopy (sCLSM) to Investigate Eocene Amber Microfossils.

Amber is known as one of the best sources of fossil organisms preserved with exceptional fidelity. Historically, different methods of imaging have been applied to amber, including optical microscopy and microtomography. These methods are sufficient to resolve millimeter-scaled fossils.

Compression optical coherence elastography versus strain ultrasound elastography for breast cancer detection and differentiation: pilot study.

The aims of this study are (i) to compare ultrasound strain elastography (US-SE) and compression optical coherence elastography (C-OCE) in characterization of elastically linear phantoms, (ii) to evaluate factors that can cause discrepancy between the results of the two elastographic techniques in application to real tissues, and (iii) to compare the results of US-SE and C-OCE in the differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions. On 22 patients, we first used standard US-SE for assessment of breast cancer before and then after the lesion excision C-OCE was applied for intraoperative visualization of margins of the tumors and assessment of their type/grade using fresh lumpectomy specimens. For verification, the tumor grades and subtypes were determined histologically.

Nonlinear Elasticity Assessment with Optical Coherence Elastography for High-Selectivity Differentiation of Breast Cancer Tissues.

Soft biological tissues, breast cancer tissues in particular, often manifest pronounced nonlinear elasticity, i.e., strong dependence of their Young’s modulus on the applied stress.

Multimodal Optical Coherence Tomography for Intraoperative Evaluation of Tumor Margins and Surgical Margins in Breast-Conserving Surgery.

The Aim Of The Study: We compare the effectiveness of multimodal optical coherence tomography (MM OCT) in the traditional structural OCT mode and the OCT elastography (OCE) mode in addressing two clinically important tasks: (1) detecting groups of tumor cells at surgical margins during breast-сonserving surgery (BСS) in breast cancer (BC) and (2) identifying breast tumor margins. The obtained results were correlated with corresponding histological sections.

Materials And Methods: The study was performed on 100 surgical margin samples (top, bottom, medial, and lateral - four samples from each patient in total) obtained from 25 patients with BC who underwent BCS (lumpectomy), and on 25 postoperative tumor samples (to determine tumor margins).

Sentinel lymph node detection by combining nonradioactive techniques with contrast agents: State of the art and prospects.

The status of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) has a substantial prognostic value because these nodes are the first place where cancer cells accumulate along their spreading route. Routine SLN biopsy ("gold standard") involves peritumoral injections of radiopharmaceuticals, such as technetium-99m, which has obvious disadvantages. This review examines the methods used as "gold standard" analogs to diagnose SLNs.

A transitional fossil mite (Astigmata: Levantoglyphidae fam. n.) from the early Cretaceous suggests gradual evolution of phoresy-related metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis is a key innovation allowing the same species to inhabit different environments and accomplish different functions, leading to evolutionary success in many animal groups. Astigmata is a megadiverse lineage of mites that expanded into a great number of habitats via associations with invertebrate and vertebrate hosts (human associates include stored food mites, house dust mites, and scabies). The evolutionary success of Astigmata is linked to phoresy-related metamorphosis, namely the origin of the heteromorphic deutonymph, which is highly specialized for phoresy (dispersal on hosts).

Frequency tuning of swarming male mosquitoes (Aedes communis, Culicidae) and its neural mechanisms.

The primary function of hearing in mosquitoes is believed to be intraspecific communication. This view dictated the principle of many behavioral studies, namely, the attraction of male mosquitoes to the sounds that mimicked a female tone. However, after the avoidance response to certain frequencies of sound was demonstrated, it became clear that attraction tests cannot fully account for all the capabilities of the mosquito auditory system.

Multiphoton tomography in differentiation of morphological and molecular subtypes of breast cancer: A quantitative analysis.

In this study multiphoton tomography, based on second harmonic generation (SHG), and two-photon-excited fluorescence (TPEF) was used to visualize both the extracellular matrix and tumor cells in different morphological and molecular subtypes of human breast cancer. It was shown, that quantified assessment of the SHG based imaging data has great potential to reveal differences of collagen quantity, organization and uniformity in both low- and highly- aggressive invasive breast cancers. The values of quantity and uniformity of the collagen fibers distribution were significantly higher in low-aggressive breast cancer compared to the highly-aggressive subtypes, while the value representing collagen organization was lower in the former type.

Previous flight facilitates partner finding in female crickets.

In the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus, flying occurs soon after the last imaginal molt and precedes the mating behavior in natural conditions. Here, we tested the hypothesis that flying may improve subsequent behavioral performance in a novel environment in female crickets. We developed a behavioral set-up to test female cricket responsiveness to male calling song as well as their ability to locate and find the source of the song.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Cross-Polarization OCT and OCT-Elastography for Differentiation of Breast Cancer Subtypes: Comparative Study.

The possibility to assess molecular-biological and morphological features of particular breast cancer types can improve the precision of resection margin detection and enable accurate determining of the tumor aggressiveness, which is important for treatment selection. To enable reliable differentiation of breast-cancer subtypes and evaluation of resection margin, without performing conventional histological procedures, here we apply cross-polarization optical coherence tomography (CP-OCT) and compare it with a novel variant of compressional optical coherence elastography (C-OCE) in terms of the diagnostic accuracy (Ac) with histological verification. The study used 70 excised breast cancer specimens with different morphological structure and molecular status (Luminal A, Luminal B, Her2/Neo+, non-luminal and triple-negative cancer).

Distribution of alien plant species of the Middle Volga Region (South-East of the European part of Russia): a dataset.

Background: The dataset presented in the current study contains information regarding alien vascular plant species found in the Middle Volga Region (South-East of the European part of Russia). The dataset overall includes 413 species belonging to 247 genera and 67 families. The described dataset is based on the data published during floristic studies from 1851 to 2019.

Two-step light conversion with quantum dots inside non-linear crystals.

Up-conversion of infrared (IR) to visible light is demonstrated via an unconventional two-step process combining second harmonic generation with photoluminescence. This is achieved in a composite material formed by single crystals of KHPO (KDP), in which CdTe/CdS quantum dots (QDs) are embedded during a crystal growth. The second harmonic generation from the IR laser frequency in KDP takes place, and then, generated light is absorbed by QDs and luminescence is emitted.

The Role of Serotonin in the Influence of Intense Locomotion on the Behavior Under Uncertainty in the Mollusk .

The role of serotonin in the immediate and delayed influence of physical exercise on brain functions has been intensively studied in mammals. Recently, immediate effects of intense locomotion on the decision-making under uncertainty were reported in the Great Pond snail, (Korshunova et al., 2016).

Directional and frequency characteristics of auditory neurons in male mosquitoes.

The paired auditory organ of the mosquito, the Johnston's organ (JO), being the receiver of the particle velocity component of sound, is directional by its structure. However, to date almost no physiological measurements of its directionality have been made. In addition, the recent finding on the grouping of the JO auditory neurons into antiphase pairs demands confirmation by different methods.

OCT-elastography-based optical biopsy for breast cancer delineation and express assessment of morphological/molecular subtypes.

Application of compressional optical coherence elastography (OCE) for delineation of tumor and peri-tumoral tissue with simultaneous assessment of morphological/molecular subtypes of breast cancer is reported. The approach is based on the ability of OCE to quantitatively visualize stiffness of studied samples and then to perform a kind of OCE-based biopsy by analyzing elastographic B-scans that have sizes ~several millimeters similarly to bioptates used for "gold-standard" histological examinations. The method relies on identification of several main tissue constituents differing in their stiffness in the OCE scans.

Growth suppression of ice crystal basal face in the presence of a moderate ice-binding protein does not confer hyperactivity.

Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) affect ice crystal growth by attaching to crystal faces. We present the effects on the growth of an ice single crystal caused by an ice-binding protein from the sea ice microalga (IBP) that is characterized by the widespread domain of unknown function 3494 (DUF3494) and known to cause a moderate freezing point depression (below 1 °C). By the application of interferometry, bright-field microscopy, and fluorescence microscopy, we observed that the IBP attaches to the basal faces of ice crystals, thereby inhibiting their growth in the direction and resulting in an increase in the effective supercooling with increasing IBP concentration.

Light-dark decision making in snails: Do preceding light conditions matter?

We have recently demonstrated that preceding motor activity can facilitate decision-making not only in humans and mammals but also in molluscs. In the behavioral paradigm used, snails were removed from their natural environment (water) and placed in a dry, asymmetrically lit arena from which they had to decide which way to go in order to reach an aquatic environment. One possible explanation of the observed effects of preceding motor activity was that it could affect the snail's memory of light conditions that corresponded to its previous aquatic habitat.

Frequency organization of the Johnston's organ in male mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae).

The Johnston's organs (JO) of mosquitoes are the most complex mechanosensitive organs yet found in insects. Previous findings on the behavior of mosquitoes suggest that, together with exceptional sensitivity, their auditory system can discriminate frequencies. Analysis of compound responses of the JO did not provide unambiguous evidence of such discrimination, nor did it help to find its mechanism.