The cell walls in plants are made up of just four basic building blocks: cellulose (the main structural fibre of the plant kingdom) hemicellulose, lignin and pectin. Although the microstructure of plant cell walls varies in different types of plants, broadly speaking, cellulose fibres reinforce a matrix of hemicellulose and either pectin or lignin. The cellular structure of plants varies too, f...

Although fabrication technologies of Microstructured Optical Fibres (MOFs) fibres have matured at an impressive rate over the past ten years, these fibres are widely perceived as “challenging” and some key issues are still outstanding in order to improve their manufacturability. One such issue revolves around methods to improve structural control during the fibre draw. Structural control is of ...

A dilute solution of procaine in glucose solution was injected by slow drip into the lumbar theca of patients to cause a differential block. Vasodilatation of the skin vessels of the lower limbs always occurred before any change in sensibility. The first changes in sensibility were inability to fell painful stimuli and warm stimuli; these two forms of sensibility were usually coextensive and oc...

In the crayfish and lobster opener neuromuscular preparations of the walking legs and claws, there are regional differences in synaptic transmission even though the entire muscle is innervated by a single excitatory tonic motor neuron. The innervation of the proximal fibres produced larger excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) than those of the central fibres. The amplitudes of the EPSPs i...

Soleus muscle of adult rat is revascularized 5-8 days after sectioning the supplying blood vessels. The temporary ischaemia thus produced results in the rapid concomitant degeneration of extra- and intrafusal muscle fibres along with their nerve terminals and supplying axons. The basal lamina of all muscle fibres usually remains intact throughout the degenerative phase. Necrotic sarcoplasm is r...

We have used Horseradish peroxidase to investigate the pathways taken by Xenopus optic fibres regenerating from normal and electrophysiologically-confirmed compound eyes to the optic tectum. Optic fibres, when sectioned near the chiasma, regenerate up both sides of the diencephalon to both tecta. We have therefore been able, by using animals in which one eye had or had not been removed at early...

The distribution of muscle fibres classified on the basis of their content of different myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms was analysed in muscle biopsies from the gluteus medius of adult untrained horses by correlating immunohistochemistry with specific anti-MHC monoclonal antibodies and standard myofibrillar ATPase (mATPase) histochemistry. Percutaneous needle biopsies were taken at 3 depths (...

OBJECTIVE To describe the distribution of elastic fibres in the developing male urethra and to provide stereological data of the concentration of elastic fibres in the human urethra. MATERIALS AND METHODS Urethras were obtained from 10 fresh normal human fetuses at 15-36 weeks of gestation. A place-matched spongy urethra of a 27-year-old normal adult man was also analysed. Samples were fixed ...

In juvenile Xenopus retinotopic fibre order in the optic tract near the chiasma was investigated by labelling small groups of optic fibres from peripheral retina with HRP. This selective fibre labelling with HRP was combined with autoradiography following administration of tritiated thymidine to the eye, so that the HRP-labelled fibres could be located within the borders of the optic tract. Fib...

In recent years, many studies have focused on the mix-design and characterization of cementitious composites reinforced with plant fibres. It appears that in fresh state, morphology hydrophilic nature these fibres significantly affect rheology material. hardened mechanical performances are lower than standard (glass, synthetic, etc.). These poor mainly due to weak neo-formed fibre/matrix interf...