A pulsed-gas jet with interesting properties has been developed. A typical pressure obtained at the output of this pulsed-gas jet is 25 Torr for a backing pressure of 150 Torr. At a repetition rate of 10 Hz, the background pressure stays below 1.5×10-4 Torr. Laser-induced fluoresence measurements permit one to determine the pressure and the divergence of the gas jet accurately.

Hypoglycaemia (low plasma glucose) is a serious and potentially fatal complication of insulin-treated diabetes. In healthy individuals, hypoglycaemia triggers glucagon secretion, which restores normal plasma glucose levels by stimulation of hepatic glucose production. This counterregulatory mechanism is impaired in diabetes. Here we show in mice that therapeutic concentrations of insulin inhibit g

We report the self-compression of linearly and circularly polarized light pulses down to the few-cycle regime by self-guided beam propagation of intense 38-fs pulses in different gases with uniform density and with a pressure gradient.

In this paper, we review the optimization and characterization of a high-order harmonic generation (HHG) source for application in coherence imaging, and the use of this light source in a digital in-line holography setup. The high-order harmonic beam is generated by focusing a powerful infrared beam into an Ar gas cell. The length of the cell and the focusing parameters are optimized to maximize t

The authors report the observation of very-high-order odd harmonics of Nd:YAG laser radiation in rare gases at an intensity of about 1013 W cm-2. Harmonic light as high as the 33rd harmonic in the XUV range (32.2 nm) is generated in argon. The key point is that the harmonic intensity falls slowly beyond the fifth harmonic as the order increases. Finally, a UV continuum, beginning at 350 nm and ext

We demonstrate that we can use the extreme ultraviolet radiation produced by high order harmonic generation to perform photoionization experiments. With harmonics from the 11th to the 69th of a 140 fs Cr:LiSAF laser operating at 825 nm, we measure the relative photoionization cross sections of xenon, krypton, argon and neon over the range 10 to 110 eV. With narrow bandwidth harmonics produced by a

In a laboratory investigation using tunable picosecond lasers in a pump-probe configuration, lifetimes of the E 1u, v = 0 and v = 1 states of CO are experimentally determined. For E 'D, v = 1, the lifetime is found to vary significantly for the isotopomers. Combining the data with existing oscillator strengths, predissociation probabilities within the range of 93.6%-98.6% result for 12C16O, 13C16O

High-content real-time imaging of hormone secretion in tissues or cell populations is a challenging task, which is unlikely to be resolved directly, despite immense translational value. We approach this problem indirectly, using compensatory endocytosis, a process that closely follows exocytosis in the cell, as a surrogate read-out for secretion. The tissue is immobilized in an open-air perifusion

Adrenaline is a powerful stimulus of glucagon secretion. It acts by activation of β-adrenergic receptors, but the downstream mechanisms have only been partially elucidated. Here, we have examined the effects of adrenaline in mouse and human α-cells by a combination of electrophysiology, imaging of Ca2+ and PKA activity, and hormone release measurements. We found that stimulation of glucagon secret

We present temporal characterization of attosecond pulse trains generated during selfguided propagation of intense pulses in a long gas target. Spectral phase jumps are observed, affecting the temporal shape of the attosecond pulse train.

Huge dynamic Stark shifts of atomic energy levels in xenon induced by high-intensity laser light have been measured by a new method based upon multiphoton ionization by a tunable femtosecond laser source. Stark-induced multiphoton resonances appear as identifiable structures in the photoelectron energy spectra. The change in the structures positions, when the photon energy is tuned, is directly re

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is associated with pancreatic islet dysfunction. Loss of β-cell identity has been implicated via dedifferentiation or conversion to other pancreatic endocrine cell types. How these transitions contribute to the onset and progression of T2DM in vivo is unknown. The aims of this study were to determine the degree of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition occurring in α and β cel

We present the carrier-envelope phase dependent high-order harmonic generation in argon at 200 kHz repetition rate using ultra-short laser pulses from an optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier.

Pancreas transplantation is a successful treatment for a selected group of people with type 1 diabetes. Continued insulin production can decrease over time and identifying predictors of long-term graft function is key to improving survival. The aim of this study was to screen subjects for variation in the Caveolin-1 gene (Cav1), previously shown to correlate with long-term kidney transplant functi

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with accelerated cardiovascular disease and heart failure. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) Glu298Asp single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype has been associated with a worse phenotype amongst patients with established heart failure and in patients with progression of their renal disease. The association of a cardiac functional d

PURPOSE:To develop a phantom for validating MRI pulse sequences and data processing methods to quantify microscopic diffusion anisotropy in the human brain.METHODS:Using a liquid crystal consisting of water, detergent, and hydrocarbon, we designed a 0.5-L spherical phantom showing the theoretically highest possible degree of microscopic anisotropy. Data were acquired on the Connectome scanner usin

CONTEXT: Viral/bacterial infection is proposed as a trigger for the autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD): Graves' disease (GD) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). Previous studies in European Caucasian AITD subjects found higher birth rates in the autumn/winter, suggesting those born in the autumn/winter experience increased viral/bacterial exposure after birth, impacting upon immune system developmen

We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally a robust method based on sequential filamentation to optimize compression of high-energy pulses in gases. We gain insight into this process by comparing compression dynamics for linear- and circularly-polarized pulses.

Attosecond extreme ultraviolet light pulses have the potential to resolve the ultrafast electron dynamics that govern basic properties of atoms, molecules, and solids. Here we present three different interferometric pump-probe methods aiming to access not only the temporal dynamics, but also state specific phase information after excitation/ionization using attosecond pulses.