PURPOSE The authors previously reported that rat retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells exhibit an ionic current through voltage-operated calcium channels that is dihydropyridine sensitive. They attempted to record the same current from freshly isolated fetal or adult primate RPE cells, as well as from cultured cells. METHODS The whole-cell version of the patch-clamp technique was applied to ...

BACKGROUND There have been results showing the influence of bolus viscosities and consistency on esophageal motility and transit. However, there is no description about the influence of two different viscous boluses on esophageal contractions, bolus transit and perception of transit. Our objective in this investigation was to evaluate the esophageal transit and contraction after swallows of two...

BACKGROUND Diagnostic methods used in screening and detecting colorectal carcinoma are digitorectal examination, faecal occult blood testing, sigmoidoscopy, DNA stool analysis, barium enema, colonoscopy, and as of recently CT colonography. The aim of this study was to establish diagnostic accuracy and comfort of CT colonography compared to colonoscopy and barium enema. PATIENTS AND METHODS We...

BACKGROUND Real-time esophageal imaging is critical in avoiding esophageal injury. However, the safety of esophageal imaging with barium has not been specifically explored. METHODS Three hundred seventy consecutive patients underwent left atrial (LA) ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) under conscious sedation. One hundred eighty-five patients (50%) underwent the ablation procedure with, and...

Since many dyspeptic patients are still investigated initially by radiology, a policy was initiated whereby all such patients were directly referred for combined simultaneous double-contrast barium meal and cholecystogram. This policy was aimed at reducing patient visits to hospital and increasing diagnostic yield. The results of 1,444 combined procedures are presented. Of these, 310 (25.5%) ha...

Introduction Soot particles and NOx are the main pollutants from diesel engines. Good alternatives to abate these contaminants are the use of catalytic filters, which burn the soot particles, and NOx traps which adsorb the NOx during normal operation and released them during reduction cycles [1]. We recently studied BaK/CeO2 catalysts for this application[2]. Barium plays the role of NOx adsorb...

Colourless single crystals of KBaPS4 (a = 11.587(2), b = 6.700(1), c = 10.118(2) Å), and pale orange ones of KBaPSe4 (a = 11.972(2), b = 6.973(1), c = 10.388(2) Å) were obtained by reactions of Ba3(PS4)2 and Ba3(PSe4)2, respectively, with KCl (790 ◦C; 30 h). The isotypic compounds crystallize with a slightly modified TlEuPS4 type structure (Pnma, Z = 4); that is, the characteristic units are di...

Nanostructured materials are not immune from surface segregation, as can be shown for solid samples made from nanosized BaFelz.2xCoxTix019 barium femte particles and a variety of free clusters. Both theory and experiment provide ample demonstration that very limited dimensions of very small clusters does not necessarily impart stability against surface and grain boundary segregation. In fact, w...

This study aimed to develop and evaluate barium and calcium microcapsules as candidates for scaffolding in artificial dermal papilla. Dermal papilla cells (DPCs) were isolated and cultured by one-step collagenase treatment. The DPC-Ba and DPC-Ca microcapsules were prepared by using a specially designed, high-voltage, electric-field droplet generator. Selected microcapsules were assessed for lon...

the hyperpolarization of cones. This proposal together with the suggestion that barium ions reduce the potassium efflux in cones predicts that the receptor potential amplitude of cones should decline in the presence of barium. Such a decrease is noted in this study and elsewhere. Also consistent with this interpretation is our present finding that barium ions delay the onset of rapid dark adapt...