The following paper summarises a number of international research projects being undertaken to understand the mechanical properties of natural cellulose fibres and composite materials. In particular the use of novel techniques, such as Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron x-ray and half-fringe photoelastic methods of measuring the physical and micromechanical properties of cellulose fibres is report...

Inflammation, trauma or nerve injury trigger low-level activity in C-fibres and may cause long-lasting hyperalgesia. Long-term potentiation (LTP) at synapses of primary afferent C-fibres is considered to underlie some forms of hyperalgesia. In previous studies, high- but not low-frequency conditioning stimulation of C-fibres has, however, been used to induce LTP in pain pathways. Recently we co...

In the ventral nerve cord of the isopod Idotea emarginata, FMRFamide-immunoreactive efferent neurons are confined to pereion ganglion 5 where a single pair of these neurons was identified. Each neuron projects an axon into the ipsilateral ventral and dorsal lateral nerves, which run through the entire animal. The immunoreactive axons form numerous varicosities on the ventral flexor and dorsal e...

introduction: a number of maternally inherited mitochondrial diseases with distinct clinical phenotypes have been associated with point mutations in mtdna, all of which result in neurologic or neuromuscular disorders. several studies showed that mutations in the trna genes of mtdna could cause mitochondrial disease due to the decreased synthesis of mitochondrial dna coded proteins. materials an...

Despite the use of modern materials, clay bricks are reasonably preferable materials nowadays. However, the moo fetched and flexibility of clay bricks are not related with tall natural and feasible values, particularly with regard to crude fabric sources and fabricating processes. Agricultural world is growing fast, with increased rural arrive development and land cultivation leading to massive...

endometriosis is a common gynaecological disease that can cause severe pelvic pain such as dysmenorrhoea and dyspareunia, however the mechanisms by which pain is generated are not well understood. nerve fibres in endometriotic plaques have been reported by several authors. we have recently demonstrated the presence of unmyelinated sensory nerve fibres (using the pan-neuronal marker pgp9.5) in t...

INTRODUCTION The heart-ganglion preparation of the lobster is an independent nerve-effector system. It can be isolated from the rest of the animal and maintained for many hours, actively contracting, in a cooled saline bath. It is therefore an ideal system for studying the functional organization of a relatively simple organ a pump that is governed by a part of the nervous system composed of on...

rutting in asphalt concrete is a very common form of distress in asphalt concrete pavement which unfortunately has been incurable to date. one of the prime reasons of rutting is attributed to the behaviour of asphalt binder at elevated temperature. this study has investigated the performance of polypropylene fibres modified asphalt concrete mix against rutting. two types of asphalt concrete sam...

The Purpose of present study was to investigate the effect of riboflavin/ultraviolet-A-induced collagen cross-linking (CXL) on central cornea, limbus and intraocular pressure (IOP). This was an animal experimental study. The right corneas of 10 rabbits were ultraviolet-A irradiated (3 mW/cm2 for 30 minutes) after de-epithelialization and instillation of 0.1% riboflavin / 20% Dextran drops. Left...

We examined the mechanical properties of Vicryl (polyglactin 910) mesh in vitro and assessed its use in vivo as a novel biomaterial to attach tendon to a hydroxyapatite-coated metal implant, the interface of which was augmented with autogenous bone and marrow graft. This was compared with tendon re-attachment using a compressive clamp device in an identical animal model. Two- and four-ply sleev...