Emission characteristics of photonic crystal light-emitting diodes

Experimentally measured optical properties of photonic crystal LEDs are reported here. Photonic crystal and photonic quasi-crystal structures were fabricated on GaN epilayer LED wafer material using both direct-write electron beam lithography and nanoimprint lithography. Some of these structures were processed to make finished LEDs. Both electroluminescence and photoluminescence measurements were performed on these structures. Devices were characterized for their current-voltage characteristics, emission spectra, far-field emission pattern, and angular emission pattern. These results are useful for fabricating photonic crystal LEDs and assessing their operational properties.     

Raman spectroscopy using a spatial heterodyne spectrometer: proof of concept

The use of a spatial heterodyne interferometer-based spectrometer (SHS) for Raman spectroscopy is described. The motivation for this work is to develop a small, rugged, high-resolution ultraviolet (UV) Raman spectrometer that is compatible with pulsed laser sources and that is suitable for planetary space missions. UV Raman is a particular technical challenge for space applications because dispersive (grating) approaches require large spectrographs and very narrow slits to achieve the spectral resolution required to maximize the potential of Raman spectroscopy. The heterodyne approach of the SHS has only a weak coupling of resolution and throughput, so a high-resolution UV SHS can both be small and employ a wide slit to maximize throughput. The SHS measures all optical path differences in its interferogram simultaneously with a detector array, so the technique is compatible with gated detection using pulsed lasers, important to reject ambient background and mitigate fluorescence (already low in the UV) that might be encountered on a planetary surface where samples are uncontrolled. The SHS has no moving parts, and as the spectrum is heterodyned around the laser wavelength, it is particularly suitable for Raman measurements. In this preliminary report we demonstrate the ability to measure visible wavelength Raman spectra of liquid and solid materials using an SHS Raman spectrometer and a visible laser. Spectral resolution and bandpass are also discussed. Separation of anti-Stokes and Stokes Raman bands is demonstrated using two different approaches. Finally spectral bandpass doubling is demonstrated by forming an interference pattern in both directions on the ICCD detector followed by analysis using a two-dimensional Fourier transform.     

Specificity of Ubiquitin-Binding Proteins: Recognition of Different Faces of Ubiquitin

To further understand ubiquitin-binding proteins, we have developed a panel of monoubiquitin affinity resins linked through six different positions: residues 6, 11, 29, 48, 63, and 76. Each resin bound a different subset of yeast proteins. MALDI-TOF MS analysis of the eluted proteins identified several of these proteins. Adding excess free ubiquitin competes for the binding of specific ubiquitin-binding proteins. Thus, putative monoubiquitin-binding proteins could be identified by this method. Analysis of yeast protein with this panel of resins demonstrates clear differences in the protein-binding pattern, depending on what ubiquitin residue is coupled to the resin. The results suggested that certain proteins show a preference for binding to different faces of ubiquitin. Sap185, an effector of the Sit4 protein phosphatase, has been identified as a putative ubiquitin-binding protein that binds to a face of ubiquitin other than that containing the hydrophobic patch. The combined affinity chromatography and mass spectrometry approach is a powerful tool for identifying ubiquitin-binding proteins.     

Tools: An environment for time-shared computing and programming

The Yale Tools environment provides integrated modern computing facilities to a mixed group of programmers and users on time-shared machines. Hundreds of people use the environment every day for systems and applications programming, word-processing and university business. The success of the environment is in its integration and engineering detail. Building such a system without a high-level language and a run-time library would have been impossible.     

Stability of the centred finite difference scheme for the three-dimensional equations of elastodynamics

The displacement equations of motion for elastodynamics in 3 space dimensions are approximated by difference equations using 2nd order centred finite differences in space and time. The stability criterion of the difference scheme without boundary conditions is taken to be that condition on the ratio of step sizes which prevents the growth of an arbitray disturbance, and it requures the ratio of time step size to the space grid size to be less than a certain function of the ratio of the shear wave speed to the compressional wave speed. For this ratio less than 0.5, the condition is more stringent than that obtained by a simple extension from the two-dimensional case.     

The effects of L-dopa on the activity of methionine adenosyltransferase: relevance to L-dopa therapy and tolerance

L-dopa, the major treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD), depletes S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM). Since SAM causes PD-like symptoms in rodents, the decreased efficacy of chronic L-dopa administered to PD patients may result from a rebound increase in SAM via methionine adenosyl transferase (MAT), which produces SAM from methionine and ATP. This was tested by administering intraperitoneally saline, or L-dopa to mice and assaying for brain MAT activity. As compared to controls, L-dopa (100 mg/kg) treatments of 1 and 2 times per day for 4 days did not significantly increase MAT activity. However, treatments of 3 times per day for 4 and 8 days did significantly increase the activity of MAT by 21.38% and 28.37%, respectively. These results show that short interval, chronic L-dopa treatments significantly increases MAT activity, which increases the production of SAM. SAM may physiologically antagonize the effects of L-dopa and biochemically decrease the concentrations of L-dopa and dopamine. Thus, an increase in MAT may be related to the decreased efficacy of chronic L-dopa therapy in PD.     

Protective effects of an aptamer inhibitor of neutrophil elastase in lung inflammatory injury

Neutrophils play an important part in the development of acute inflammatory injury. Human neutrophils contain high levels of the serine protease elastase, which is stored in azurophilic granules and is secreted in response to inflammatory stimuli. Elastase is capable of degrading many components of extracellular matrix [1-4] and has cytotoxic effects on endothelial cells [5-7] and airway epithelial cells. Three types of endogenous protease inhibitors control the activity of neutrophil elastase, including alpha-1 protease inhibitor (alpha-1PI), alpha-2 macroglobulin and secreted leukoproteinase inhibitor (SLPI) [8-10]. A disturbed balance between neutrophil elastase and these inhibitors has been found in various acute clinical conditions (such as adult respiratory syndrome and ischemia-reperfusion injury) and in chronic diseases. We investigated the effect of NX21909, a selected oligonucleotide (aptamer) inhibitor of elastase, in an animal model of acute lung inflammatory disease [11-14]. This inhibitor was previously selected from a hybrid library of randomized DNA and a small-molecule irreversible inhibitor of elastase (a valine diphenyl ester phosphonate, Fig. 1), by the blended SELEX process [15]. We show that NX21909 inhibits lung injury and neutrophil influx in a dose-dependent manner, the first demonstration of efficacy by an aptamer in an animal disease model.