The changes in birefringence in the rigor to relax transition of single triton-extracted rabbit psoas muscle fibers have been investigated with quantitative polarized light techniques. The total birefringence of rest lenght fibers in rigor was (1.46 +/- 0.08) x 10(-3) and increased to (1.67 +/- 0.05) x 10(-3) after Mg-ATP relaxation. Pyrophosphate relaxation increased the total birefringence on...

The relationship between scleral birefringence and biometric parameters of human eyes in vivo is investigated. Scleral birefringence near the limbus of 21 healthy human eyes was measured using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. Spherical equivalent refractive error, axial eye length, and intraocular pressure (IOP) were measured in all subjects. IOP and scleral birefringence of...

Applications of single-mode fibers to coherent optical fiber communication systems1 and fiber sensor systems2 require a definite state of polarization along the fiber length. Polarization-maintaining fibers such as elliptically clad3 and stress-applied4 single-mode fibers have a high internal birefringence that exceeds perturbing birefringence and produces linear polarization along the fiber. O...

Ultrathin (submicrometer) organic films of specified index of refraction are constructed by the sequential deposition of self-assembled zirconium phosphonate (ZP) molecular monolayers that contain two Merent bisphosphonate ions, 1,lO-decanediylbis(phosphonate) (DBP) and 4,4azobis[(p-phenylene)methylenelbis(phosphonate) (AZO). By varying the ratio of DBP to AZO monolayers in the ZP multilayer fi...

background: human menopausal gonadotropin (hmg) has contributed many improvements to human assisted reproduction. however, effects of hmg on oocyte development and clinical results remain controversial. objective: this study was conducted to investigate the effects of hmg on the zona pellucida of oocytes, as well as clinical results in superovulation treatment. materials and methods: this retro...

The mammalian embryo is encased in a glycoproteinaceous coat, the zona pellucida (ZP) during preimplantation development. Prior to implantation, the blastocyst must undergo 'hatching' or ZP escape. In hamsters, there is a thinning of the ZP followed by a focal lysis and a complete dissolution of the ZP during blastocyst hatching. Earlier studies from our laboratory have indicated a role for cys...

Let R be a commutative ring with unity. The unit graph G(R) is defined such that the vertex set of all elements R, and two distinct vertices are adjacent if their sum in R. In this paper, we show for each prime, p,G(Zp) G(Z2p) eigensharp graphs. Likewise, associated Zp[x]∕x2 an graph.

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between seminal zinc concentration and spermatozoa-zona pellucida (ZP) binding and the ZP-induced acrosome reaction (ZPIAR) in subfertile men. Semen analyses and seminal zinc concentration assessments were carried out according to the World Health Organization manual for 458 subfertile men. A spermatozoa-ZP interaction test was carried out...

Human epididymal CRISP1 (hCRISP1) associates with sperm during maturation and participates in gamete fusion through egg complementary sites. Its homology with both rodent epididymal CRISP1 and CRISP4 reported to participate in the previous stage of sperm binding to the zona pellucida (ZP), led us to further investigate the functional role of hCRISP1 by studying its involvement in human sperm-ZP...

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are enzymes that detoxify electrophilic compounds. Earlier studies from our laboratory showed that anti-GST antibodies interfered with the fertilising ability of spermatozoa from Capra hircus (goat) in vitro, suggesting that GSTs are localised at the cell surface. In this study, we provide evidence for the presence of GSTs of 24 kDa on the sperm plasma membrane...