Responses of plasma transaminase activity in Cyprinus carpio var. communis to mercury toxicity

The present study reports the behavioural and enzymological responses in a freshwater teleost fish, Cyprinus carpio var. communis, exposed to acute and sublethal toxicities of mercuric chloride. During acute treatment, significant behavioural changes like erratic swimming, excess mucus secretion and increased opercular movements were noticed. During acute and sublethal treatments, both aspartate amino transferase and alanine amino transferase activity increased throughout the study period. Comparing the treatments, the changes in enzyme activities were found high in acute treatment and all the values were significant at 5% level. The above findings can be used as non-specific biomarkers of environmental pollutants.

Optical gap in carbon nitride films

In this paper we study the effect of introducing nitrogen into different carbon networks. Two kinds of carbon nitride films were deposited: (a) Using a DC-magnetron sputtering system sp2 bonded carbon nitride (a-CN) films were deposited and (b) Using a combination of filtered cathodic vacuum arc and a low-pressure N2 plasma source, N was introduced into sp3 carbon networks (ta-C), leading to the formation of a more dense CN film named ta-CN. For ta-CN films we found that the optical gap initially decreases as the N content and the sp2 fraction rises, but above a certain N quantity there is a level-off of the value, and the gap then remains constant despite further increases in the fraction and clustering of the sp2 phase. However, for a-CN films the optical gap increases with the nitrogen content. These two different trends are not easily explained using the same framework as that for carbon films, in which any decrease in the band gap is associated to an increase in the sp2 fraction or its clustering. Here we discuss the conditions that lead to high optical gap in sp2-bonded carbon nitride samples, which are clearly not associated to the presence of any crystalline super-hard phase. We also compared other differences in properties observed between the two films, such as deposition rate, infrared and Raman spectra. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Towards a complete dense geometric and photometric reconstruction under varying pose and illumination

This paper proposes a novel framework to construct a geometric and photometric model of a viewed object that can be used for visualisation in arbitrary pose and illumination. The method is solely based on images and does not require any specialised equipment. We assume that the object has a piece-wise smooth surface and that its reflectance can be modelled using a parametric bidirectional reflectance distribution function. Without assuming any prior knowledge on the object, geometry and reflectance have to be estimated simultaneously and occlusion and shadows have to be treated consistently. We exploit the geometric and photometric consistency using the fact that surface orientation and reflectance are local invariants. In a first implementation, we demonstrate the method using a Lambertian object placed on a turn-table and illuminated by a number of unknown point light-sources. A discrete voxel model is initialised to the visual hull and voxels identified as inconsistent with the invariants are removed iteratively. The resulting model is used to render images in novel pose and illumination. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identification of novel semenogelin I-derived antimicrobial peptide from liquefied human seminal plasma

Semenogelin I (SgI) is one of the most abundant proteins in human seminal plasma. SgI plays a key role in sperm coagulation and spermatozoon immobilization. in addition, SgI and/or its proteolytic fragments are involved in regulating spermatozoon motility

Methylation of tumor associated genes in tissue and plasma samples from liver disease patients

To investigate whether aberrant hypermethylation in plasma DNA could be used as diagnosis makers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we performed methylation-specific PCR (MSP) to check the methylation status of five tumor associated genes in 36 cases of

Optical emission spectroscopy of the plasma during sputter deposition of YBCO films for microwave applications

YBCO thin films are currently used in several HTS-based electronics applications. The performance of devices, which may include microwave passive components (filters, resonators), grain boundary junctions or spintronic multilayer structures, is determined by film quality, which in turn depends on the deposition technology used and growth parameters. We report on results from nonintrusive Optical Emission Spectroscopy of the plasma during YBCO thin film deposition in a high-pressure on-axis sputtering system under different conditions, including small trace gas additions to the sputtering gas. We correlate these results with the compositional and structural changes which affect the DC and microwave properties of YBCO films. Film morphology, composition, structure and in- and out-of-plane orientation were assessed; T, and microwave surface resistance measurements were made using inductive and resonator techniques. Comparison was made with films sputtered in an off-axis 2-opposing magnetron system.

Plasmonic band gaps and waveguide effects in carbon nanotube arrays based metamaterials.

Highly dense periodic arrays of multiwalled carbon nanotubes behave like low-density plasma of very heavy charged particles, acting as metamaterials. These arrays with nanoscale lattice constants can be designed to display extended plasmonic band gaps within the optical regime, encompassing the crucial optical windows (850 and 1550 nm) simultaneously. We demonstrate an interesting metamaterial waveguide effect displayed by these nanotube arrays containing line defects. The nanotube arrays with lattice constants of 400 nm and radius of 50 nm were studied. Reflection experiments conducted on the nanoscale structures were in agreement with numerical calculations.