The suitability of hemp fibres as green support material for immobilization of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans cells in ferrous iron bio-oxidation process was investigated. A series of experiments were carried out in shake flasks and bioreactor for both cell immobilization and iron bio-oxidation. In flask experiments, five successive batch colonization cycles resulted in 6-fold increase...

Medial gastrocnemius and sural nerves in one hindlimb of the cat were transected and prevented from regenerating. After periods ranging from 29-273 days, compound action potentials were recorded from axotomised and contralateral control nerves. The amplitude and integrated area of action potentials decreased and conduction velocity slowed following axotomy. The area under compound action potent...

Defects of peripheral nerves still represent a challenge for surgical nerve reconstruction. Recent studies concentrated on replacement by artificial nerve conduits from different synthetic or biological materials. In our study, we describe for the first time the use of spider silk fibres as a new material in nerve tissue engineering. Schwann cells (SC) were cultivated on spider silk fibres. Cel...

The localization and distribution of the adrenergic and acetylcholinesterase (AChE)positive nerve fibres innervating the spleen was studied in pheasant by using histochemical methods. Both visualized nerve fibres entered the pheasant spleen at its hilum in the vicinity of the splenic artery branches and they were gradually distributed into the parenchyma along large arterial branches. The great...

A study was made of 93 cases of mesothelioma who died in 1976 in the United Kingdom. Lung tissue was available for mineral fibre analysis from 86 of these cases, and also from 29 cases of cerebrovascular disease and 27 cases of bronchial carcinoma, matched for place of death, age and sex with the mesothelioma cases. It was observed that: (1) mesothelioma patients had more amphibole fibres in th...

OBJECTIVE The capsaicin receptor TRPV1 (transient receptor potential vanilloid type-1) may play an important role in visceral pain and hypersensitivity states. In irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), abdominal pain is a common and distressing symptom where the pathophysiology is still not clearly defined. TRPV1-immunoreactive nerve fibres were investigated in colonic biopsies from patients with IBS,...

Horseradish peroxidase was used to demonstrate the nature of the retinotectal fibre pathways from normal eyes and from compound double nasal (NN), double temporal (TT) and double ventral (VV) eyes in Xenopus. From normal eyes, nasal fibres were widespread in the optic tract and mostly entered the tectum through the medial and lateral brachia. Ventral retinal fibres approached the tectum via the...

The mechanical performance of red and white muscle fibres from dogfish was compared during a long series of contractions with sinusoidal movement or under isometric conditions at 12 degrees C (normal in vivo temperature). Power output was measured during sinusoidal movement at 0.75 Hz and peak-to-peak amplitude about 12% L(0). Tetanus duty cycle was 33% (0.44 s) at phase -8% (first stimulus at ...

Male Wistar rats were exposed to aluminium silicate ceramic fibres by inhalation to study pulmonary deposition, clearance, and dissolution of the fibres. Rats were killed at one day, one month, three months, and six months after the termination of exposure. After exposure, fibres greater than 50 microns in length were seen with a scanning electron microscope in the alveolar region of the lung. ...

The aim of this study was to examine the nature of fibre-type redistribution in relation to fibre metabolic profile in the vastus lateralis in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and COPD subtypes. Fifteen COPD patients (eight with emphysema stratified by high-resolution computed tomography) and 15 healthy control subjects were studied. A combination of myofibrillar adenosine triphosph...