We propose a new structure of confocal imaging system based on a direct-view confocal microscope (DVCM) with an electrically tunable lens (ETL). Since it has no mechanical moving parts to scan both the lateral (x-y) and axial (z) directions, the DVCM with an ETL allows for high-speed 3-dimensional (3-D) imaging. Axial response and signal intensity of the DVCM were analyzed theoretically accordi...

Bacterial reinfection and root fracture are the main culprits related to canal treatment failure. This study aimed assess utility of quercetin solution as an adjunctive endodontic irrigant that does not weaken dentin with commitment anti-biofilm activity bio-safety. Based on a noninvasive infection model, tubules infected Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) were irrigated sterile water (control...

concrete labyrinths of the new social work depart-ments?where the central heating automatically goes on on October 1st and automatically goes off on April 1st, whatever the weather?the filing clerks excitedly cried: 'Isn't it amazing to have the windows open in February!' Nervous daffodils appeared on the typists' desks. It was a mild winter. Of course there were one or two contretemps. During ...

By the time these words appear in print, I understand that we shall have taken one more step, whatever that is, towards joining the European Community whatever that is. (We have trouble enough defining what we mean by a community even within Britain; I can't imagine it's going to be any easier, in European terms, even to perceive the community, let alone define it.) Anyway, before very long, pe...

I have recently been renewing my acquaintance with Rudyard Kipling Rudyard Kipling the poet, that is, as distinct from Rudyard Kipling the short-story writer and part-time novelist. R.K. the poet is very much out of favour at present, and has been these twenty years. I suppose this disfavour springs from his identification with the spirit of Empire, with the Raj, with the Great White Sahib, wit...

A personal view of the social services.

One of the most notable phenomena of the last two years has been the sudden growth of what might be called the 'ecological movement'. I think myself that 'ecology' is a bad word to use in this context; I take the word to mean the systematic and dispassionate analysis of interrelationships between various kinds of life-forms and their physical environment?and the movement is not yet very systema...

Confocal endomicroscopy is a recently developed endoscopic technology that allows for histological analysis of tissue in vivo. Conventional endoscopy involves identifying lesions grossly followed by biopsy for histological analysis. Confocal endomicroscopy allows for the performance of real time biopsy during endoscopy by observation of the mucosal layer of the gastrointestinal tract at the cel...

A confocal microscope creates sharp images of a specimen that would otherwise appear blurred when viewed with a conventional microscope. This is achieved by excluding most of the light from the specimen that is not from the microscope’s focal plane. The image has less haze and better contrast than that of a conventional microscope and represents a thin cross-section of the specimen. Thus, apart...