Multiwell laser heterostructures fabricated by liquid-phase epitaxy

A methodology has been developed for growing InGaAsP/InP multiwell laser heterostructures by liquid-phase epitaxy. Depth profiling using a secondary ion mass spectrometer was used to investigate the distribution profiles of the composition of multiwell laser heterostructures. Liquid-phase epitaxy was used to fabricate InGaAsP/InP multiwell laser heterostructures with active regions having emission wavelengths of 1.3 and 1.55 μm and their radiative characteristics were studied. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 24, 61–67 (November 12, 1998)     

Inhibitory effects of quinidine and quinine on liver microsome oxidation enzymes in man and rat

AIM: To compare the inhibitory effects of quinidine and quinine on liver microsome bufuralol 1'-hydroxylase (BH), aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH), and 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase (ED) activities in man and rat. METHODS: A normal phase HPLC and the fluorescence spectrometry were used to assay the enzyme activities. RESULTS: Both quinidine and quinine produced a concentration-dependent inhibition to liver microsome BH, AHH, and ED in man and rat. Their median inhibitory concentrations (IC50) on liver microsome BH, AHH, and ED low and high affinity phases were 0.2, 378, 2952, and > 5000 mumol.L-1 for quinine in man, 290, 613, 1465, 1595, mumol.L-1 for quinidine in rat; 29, 207, 808, and > 5000 mumol.L-1 for quinine in man, and 31, 54, 597, and 2508 mumol.L-1 for quinine in rat, respectively. CONCLUSION: Quinidine is a species- and stereo-selective potent inhibitor to human liver microsome BH.     

The heat-shock gene hsp83 of Drosophila auraria: genomic organization, nucleotide sequence, and long antiparallel coupled ORFs (LAC ORFs)

The genomic organization of the hsp83 gene of Drosophila auraria, a far-eastern endemic species belonging to the montium subgroup of the melanogaster species group, is presented here. Based on in situ hybridization on polytene chromosomes, cDNA and genomic clone mapping, nucleotide sequencing, and genomic Southern analysis, hsp83 is shown to be present as a single-copy gene at locus 64B on the 3L chromosome arm in D. auraria. This gene is organized into two exons separated by a 929-bp intron. The first exon represents the mRNA leader sequence and is not translated, while the coding region, having a length of 2,151 bp, is solely included in the second exon. Nucleotide sequence comparisons of D. auraria hsp83 with homologous sequences from other organisms show high conservation of the coding region (88-92% identity) in the genus Drosophila, in addition to the conserved genomic organization of two-exons-one-intron, of comparable size and arrangement. A phylogenetic tree based on the protein sequences of homologous genes from representative organisms is in accord with the accredited phylogenetic position of D. auraria. In the hsp83 gene region, a second case of long antiparallel coupled open reading frames (LAC ORFs) for this species was found. The antiparallel to the hsp83 gene ORF is 1,554 bases long, while the two ORFs overlap has a size of 1,548 bp. The anti-hsp83 ORF does not show significant homology to any known gene sequences. In addition, no similar LAC ORF structures were found in homologous gene regions of other organisms.     

Clonal analysis of the in vivo differentiation potential of keratinocytes

PURPOSE: This study investigated the in vivo differentiation of conjunctival keratinocytes. METHODS: Keratinocytes from the fornical region of the conjunctival epithelium were isolated and plated at low density (5 x 102 per 100-mm dish) in Dulbecco's minimum essential medium containing 20% fetal bovine serum in the presence of mitomycin C-treated 3T3 feeder cells. At this density, only single, isolated cells were attached after overnight culture. Eight days later, small, well-isolated colonies separated from one another by the feeder cells were detached as a sheet from the dish and were injected subcutaneously into the flanks of BALB/c athymic mice through an 18-gauge needle. Within a day, a small firm nodule appeared at the site of injection. At different time points, the animals were killed, and the nodules were excised for morphologic, histogeometric, and cell kinetic analyses. RESULTS: Each implanted colony derived from a single cell gave rise to a single epithelial cyst lined with a reconstituted stratified epithelium. Goblet-like cells loaded with periodic acid-Schiff-positive cytoplasmic granules began to appear singularly in some of the cysts by day 8 postimplantation and were observed in approximately 85% of the cysts by day 14. CONCLUSIONS: Because the cysts formed were derived from clonal populations of epithelial cells and the majority of cysts had a mixed keratinocyte-goblet cell phenotype, these results suggest strongly the existence of a bipotent precursor cell in conjunctival epithelium that can give rise to both goblet and nongoblet cells. This system can be used to study factors that can influence the commitment of pluripotent epithelial stem cells to divergent pathways of differentiation.     

Use of coal tar pitch and petroleum bitumen in the production of thermally expanded graphite (short communication)

The applicability of coal tar pitch and petroleum bitumen to the production of thermally expanded graphite was studied. The dependence of the coefficient of thermal expansion and the specific surface area on the amount of added substances was examined.     

Pulsed semiconductor lasers with higher optical strength of cavity output mirrors

Asymmetric heterostructures with an ultrathick waveguide based on an AlGaAs/GaAs alloy system that allow lasing at a wavelength of 905 nm have been developed and fabricated by hydride metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy. The internal optical loss and internal quantum efficiency of semiconductor lasers based on such structures were 0.7 cm^-1 and 97%, respectively. It is shown that the highest output optical power of laser diodes with antireflecting (SiO₂) and reflecting (Si/SiO₂) coatings deposited on untreated Fabry-Perot cavity facets obtained by cleaving in an oxygen atmosphere reached 67 W in the pulsed mode and is limited by mirror damage. Treatment of Fabry-Perot cavity facets by etching in argon plasma and the formation of coatings with passivating and oxygen-blocking GaN and Si₃N₄ layers allowed an increase in the maximum output optical power to 120 W. Mirror damage was not observed at the attained output optical power.