Resolution optimization of an off-axis lensless digital holographic microscope.

Microscopes aimed at detecting cellular life in extreme environments such as ocean-bearing solar system moons must provide high resolution in a compact, robust instrument. Here, we consider the resolution optimization of a compact off-axis lensless digital holographic microscope (DHM) that consists of a sample placed between an input point-source pair and a detector array. Two optimal high-resolution regimes are identified at opposite extremes-a low-magnification regime with the sample located near a small-pixel detector array, and a high-magnification regime with the sample near the input plane. In the former, resolution improves with smaller pixels, while in the latter, the effect of the finite pixel size is obviated, and the spatial resolution improves with detector array size. Using an off-axis lensless DHM with a 2 k×2 k array of 5.5 µm-pixels in the high-magnification regime, and standard aberration correction software, a resolution of ∼0.95 µm has been demonstrated, a factor of 5.8 smaller than the pixel size. Our analysis further suggests that with yet larger detector arrays, a lensless DHM should be capable of near wavelength-scale resolution.

Doppler ultrasonographic examination of the leg veins of patients with Parkinson disease.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in patients with Parkinson disease. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Outpatient neurology clinic. PATIENTS: Eighty-one patients with Parkinson disease. OUTCOME MEASURES: Duplex ultrasonographic scans consisting of M mode images and compression images, Doppler flow assessment and augmentation of flow assessment. RESULTS: Four patients had leg DVT; in 3 of the patients the thrombi were in calf veins, whereas in 1 patient the thrombosis was in the superficial femoral vein. Of the patients with DVT, 1 (1.23%) had stage 2 Parkinson disease, 1 (1.23%) had stage 2.5, and the other 2 (2.46%) had stage 4. CONCLUSIONS: There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of DVT among patients who were more severely disabled by Parkinson disease. However, an overall incidence of DVT of 4.9% in a group of asymptomatic patients is clinically meaningful, suggesting that patients with Parkinson disease are at risk for asymptomatic leg DVT.

Deep nulling of visible laser light.

Nulling interferometry, a proposed technique for dimming a star relative to its surroundings by destructively interfering the light collected by two individual telescopes [Bracewell, Nature 274, 780-781 (1978); Shao and Colavita, Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 30, 457-498 (1992)], has the potential to permit the direct detection of nearby extrasolar planets. However, because of the extremely high degree of symmetry required for useful levels of starlight nulling, the technique remains in its infancy. We present results of laboratory experiments with a rotational shearing interferometer that are aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of deep nulling at the levels needed for direct planet detection. Our first results include the successful nulling of red laser light to a part in 10(5) and the stabilization of the null leakage to a part in 10(4).

Characteristics of the vitamin K-dependent carboxylating system in human placenta.

Gamma-carboxyglutamic acid, formed during the post-translational vitamin K-dependent carboxylation of glutamic acid residues in polypeptides has been identified not only in coagulation factors II (prothrombin),, VII, IX and X [1--4], but also in several other plasma proteins [3,5,6] and in protein of bone [7,8] and kidney [9]. In rat liver, carboxylation is mediated through an enzyme system located in the microsomal membrane [10]. The enzyme system requires CO2, O2 and the reduced (hydroquinone) form of the vitamin, as well as a suitable substrate [10,11]. Rat liver microsomes also convert vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) to its stable 2,3-epoxide [12]. Several studies suggest a link between carboxylation and the formation of the epoxide [12--14]. In one of these [14], a survey of rat tissues for vitamin K1 epoxidation revealed that, in addition to liver, this activity was also possessed by kidney, bone, spleen and placenta. In preliminary experiments, vitamin K-dependent carboxylating systems have been found in rat and chick kidney [9], in chick bone [15] and in rat spleen and placenta (unpublished observations). In this communication, we describe some of the basic characteristics of the vitamin K-dependent carboxylating system as found in human placental microsomes.

A saturable high affinity binding site for transcobalamin II-vitamin B12 complexes in human placental membrane preparations.

Studies were designed to evaluate the binding of binding of vitamin B12 to cell membrane preparations from human placenta. The transcobalamin II-vitamin B12 complex (TCII-B12), which has a much greater affinity for the membranes than vitamin B12 alone, binds to a single saturable binding site with an approximate Ka = 7.2 mM-1. The binding requires a divalent cation and is temperature-dependent. Free TCII can compete with TCII-B12 for the binding site but has somewhat less affinity than does TCII-B12. Rat TCII-B12 has an affinity constant that is less than one-fifth that of human TCII-B12; human TCI-B12, bovine TCII-B12, hog intrinsic factor-B12 (IF-B12), and human IF-B12 do not bind to the membranes. Pretreating the membranes with trypsin causes a marked decrease in subsequent binding; this suggests the binding site includes a relatively exposed membrane protein. These data suggest that a specific cell surface receptor for the TCII-B12 complex exists in placenta. This TCII-B12 receptor can be solubilized with Triton X-100.