Coherent X-ray beam metrology using 2D high-resolution Fresnel-diffraction analysis.

Direct metrology of coherent short-wavelength beamlines is important for obtaining operational beam characteristics at the experimental site. However, since beam-time limitation imposes fast metrology procedures, a multi-parametric metrology from as low as a single shot is desirable. Here a two-dimensional (2D) procedure based on high-resolution Fresnel diffraction analysis is discussed and applied, which allowed an efficient and detailed beamline characterization at the SACLA XFEL. So far, the potential of Fresnel diffraction for beamline metrology has not been fully exploited because its high-frequency fringes could be only partly resolved with ordinary pixel-limited detectors. Using the high-spatial-frequency imaging capability of an irradiated LiF crystal, 2D information of the coherence degree, beam divergence and beam quality factor M2 were retrieved from simple diffraction patterns. The developed beam metrology was validated with a laboratory reference laser, and then successfully applied at a beamline facility, in agreement with the source specifications.

Soft-x-ray harmonic comb from relativistic electron spikes.

We demonstrate a new high-order harmonic generation mechanism reaching the "water window" spectral region in experiments with multiterawatt femtosecond lasers irradiating gas jets. A few hundred harmonic orders are resolved, giving µJ/sr pulses. Harmonics are collectively emitted by an oscillating electron spike formed at the joint of the boundaries of a cavity and bow wave created by a relativistically self-focusing laser in underdense plasma. The spike sharpness and stability are explained by catastrophe theory. The mechanism is corroborated by particle-in-cell simulations.

Efficient multi-keV x-ray generation from a high-Z target irradiated with a clean ultra-short laser pulse.

Kα line emissions from Mo and Ag plates were experimentally studied using clean, ultrahigh-intensity femtosecond laser pulses. The absolute yields of Kα x-rays at 17 keV from Mo and 22 keV from Ag were measured as a function of the laser pulse contrast ratio and irradiation intensity. Significantly enhanced Kα yields were obtained for both Mo and Ag by employing high contrast ratios and irradiances. Conversion efficiencies of 4.28×10⁻5/sr for Mo and 4.84×10⁻5/sr for Ag, the highest values obtained to date, were demonstrated with contrast ratios in the range 10⁻¹° to 10⁻¹¹.

Wide-field-of-view phase-contrast imaging of nanostructures with a comparatively large polychromatic soft x-ray plasma source.

Polychromatic soft x-ray plasma sources were not previously considered to be among the sources suitable for the propagation based phase contrast imaging because of their comparatively large emission-zone size. In the current work a scheme based on the combination of soft x-ray emission of multicharged ions, generated by the interaction of femtosecond laser pulses with an ultrasonic jet of gas clusters, and an LiF crystal detector was used to obtain phase-enhanced high-resolution images of micro- and nanoscale objects in a wide field of view.

Enhancement of photon number reflected by the relativistic flying mirror.

Laser light reflection by a relativistically moving electron density modulation (flying mirror) in a wake wave generated in a plasma by a high intensity laser pulse is investigated experimentally. A counterpropagating laser pulse is reflected and upshifted in frequency with a multiplication factor of 37-66, corresponding to the extreme ultraviolet wavelength. The demonstrated flying mirror reflectivity (from 3 x 10(-6) to 2 x 10(-5), and from 1.3 x 10(-4) to 0.6 x 10(-3), for the photon number and pulse energy, respectively) is close to the theoretical estimate for the parameters of the experiment.

Carcinogenicity in mice of mutagenic compounds from a tryptophan pyrolyzate.

The compounds 3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole and 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole, which are potent mutagens in a tryptophan pyrolyzate, ar hepatic carcinogens when given orally to mice at concentrations of 200 parts per million in a pellet diet. Female mice showed higher susceptibilities to both compounds than male mice.

Enhancement of double auger decay probability in xenon clusters irradiated with a soft-x-ray laser pulse.

The interaction of large Xe clusters with a soft x-ray laser pulse having a wavelength of 13.9 nm and an intensity of up to 2x10(10) W/cm2 was investigated using a time-of-flight ion mass spectrometer. The corresponding laser photon energy was sufficiently high to photoionize Xe 4d innershell electrons. It was found that Xe3+ ions (which result from double Auger decay of 4d vacancies) became the dominant final ionic product with increasing cluster size and x-ray intensity. This is in contrast to the results of synchrotron radiation experiments involving free Xe atoms, in which Xe2+ is the dominant resultant ion species. Possible mechanisms responsible for the enhancement of the double Auger transition probability in x-ray laser and cluster interaction are discussed.

Burst intensification by singularity emitting radiation in multi-stream flows.

Burst Intensification by Singularity Emitting Radiation (BISER) is proposed. Singularities in multi-stream flows of emitting media cause constructive interference of emitted travelling waves, forming extremely localized sources of bright coherent emission. Here we for the first time demonstrate this extreme localization of BISER by direct observation of nano-scale coherent x-ray sources in a laser plasma. The energy emitted into the spectral range from 60 to 100 eV is up to ~100 nJ, corresponding to ~1010 photons. Simulations reveal that these sources emit trains of attosecond x-ray pulses. Our findings establish a new class of bright laboratory sources of electromagnetic radiation. Furthermore, being applicable to travelling waves of any nature (e.g. electromagnetic, gravitational or acoustic), BISER provides a novel framework for creating new emitters and for interpreting observations in many fields of science.

Effect of leupeptin, a protease inhibitor, on induction of bladder tumors in rats by n-butyl-n-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine.

Leupeptin, isolated from Actinomycetes, is a potent and specific inhibitor of proteases. We found that the administration of leupeptin enhanced that size of urinary bladder tumors induced in rats by the oral administration of N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine (BBN). BBN was given as a 0.05% solution in the drinking water for 6 weeks, and then animals were fed a diet with or without 0.1% leupeptin for 30 weeks. The average weight of the bladders with tumors in rats fed a leupeptin diet was about eight times that of rats on a diet without leupeptin, though the incidences and average numbers of tumors in the bladders were similar in the two groups.

Further studies on the effect of leupeptin, a protease inhibitor, on induction of bladder tumors in rats by N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine.

The effect of a microbial protease inhibitor, leupeptin, on the induction of urinary bladder tumors in W rats by N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine (BBN) was examined. Three groups of animals were given 0.01% BBN in their drinking water for 12 weeks. A basal powder diet supplemented with 0.1% leupeptin was given to group A throughout the experiment and to group B when BBN administration was stopped. Group C was given the basal diet without leupeptin throughout the study. The total preservation period was 40 weeks. Results clearly showed that when leupeptin was given during the promotion step of bladder carcinogenesis (as in group B), it increased the size of tumors and the incidences of cancer and invasion. When leupeptin was given throughout the experiments, its effect was counteracted (as in group A).

Esophageal and gastric cancers with metastases induced in dogs by N-ethyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine.

Three 6-month-old male beagle dogs were given a solution of 150 microng N-ethyl-N'-nitrosoguanidine (ENNG)/ml to drink ad libitum for 9 months. They all developed esophageal squamous cell carcinomas and gastric adenocarcinomas. The stomach adenocarcinomas were mostly in the antrum along the lesser curvature and were either well differentiated or poorly differentiated, with or without signet ring cells. The well-differentiated adenocarcinomas metastasized to the liver, and the poorly differentiated ones metastasized to the lymph nodes. The gastric mucosa in the antrum was atrophic, and the muscularis mucosae was fibrotic. Esophageal lesions were multicentric moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinomas, and they developed without diffuse hyperplastic changes of the epithelium. One dog with a large ulcerated carcinoma of the esophagus had metastases in the lung, liver, peritoneum, and abdominal lymph nodes. One dog also had a hemangiosarcoma with hepatic metastasis and spindle cell sarcoma in the stomach and duodenum, respectively.

Induction of intestinal metaplasia in the stomachs of rats by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine.

N-Methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) was administered orally to male Wistar rats at a concentration of 83 microgram/ml in the drinking water for 2, 4, 5, and 7 months; the rats were killed at about month 15. Intestinal metaplasia was found in the stomachs of 80-100% of the rats treated with MNNG for 4 or more months, of 37.5% treated with MNNG for 2 months, and of 10% of the controls. Metaplastic glands, composed of goblet cells and columnar cells with striated borders, were found in the pyloric region. Paneth's cells were found at the bottom of metaplastic glands in a rat treated with MNNG for 4 months. The incidence of well-differentiated adenocarcinomas of the stomach was 63-90% in rats treated with MNNG for 4 or more months and 25% in those treated with MNNG for 2 months.

Changes in pepsinogen isozymes in stomach carcinogenesis induced in rats by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine.

Changes in the isozymes of pepsinogen (Pg) separated from the glandular stomachs of rats were studied by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis during carcinogenesis induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), from the beginning of MNNG administration to 3 months after the end of its 7-month regimen. In 13 of 25 rats killed successively, one (Pg 1) of the three pepsinogen isozymes (Pg 1, 3, 4) normally present in the pyloric mucosa had decreased or disappeared. It decreas was observed from 1 week after the beginning of MNNG treatment to at least 3 months after the end of the 7-month MNNG administration. Remarkable histopathologic changes were found from 8 months after MNNG was given, and rats showing such unusual histopathologic alterations also had changes in their pepsinogen isozyme pattern. In 4 of 27 rats, two (Pg 1, 2) of the four isozymes of pepsinogen (Pg 1-4) in the fundic mucosa decreased or disappeared from 3 months after the beginning of MNNG treatment to at least 2 months after the end of its 7-month administration. Histopathologic changes induced by MNNG were not as remarkable in the fundic mucosa as in the pyloric mucosa.

Induction of liver tumors in Wistar rats by sodium nitrite given in pellet diet.

Sodium nitrate was given to male noninbred Wistar rats at levels of 800 ppm and 1,600 ppm in a pellet diet for 646 experimental days. The first tum or was found on day 441 in the liver of a rat given a diet containing 800 ppm sodium nitrite. On day 646, liver tumors were found in 1 of 22 rats (4.5%) on an 800-ppm sodium nitrite diet and in 5 of 19 rats (26.3%) on a 1,600-ppm sodium nitrite diet. The incidence of liver tumors in the rats fed 1,600 ppm sodium nitrite was significantly different from that in controls as judged by the t-test (P < 0.05). A hepatocellular carcinoma and a hemangioendothelial sarcoma of the liver were found on day 646 in 2 rats fed 1,600 ppm sodium nitrite. One mammary tumor but no liver tumors were found in the 19 control rats. The concentration of sodium nitrite decreased after preparation of the pellet diet, but it was still at least 70% of the initial amount when the pellets were given to the rats. Volatile N-nitroso compounds, especially dimehylnitrosamine, at ppm levels were detected in the pellet diet with a gas chromatography-thermal energy analyzer.

Distribution of marker enzymes and mucin in intestinal metaplasia in human stomach and relation to complete and incomplete types of intestinal metaplasia to minute gastric carcinomas.

Intestinal metaplasia of the human stomach was classified into two types, complete and incomplete. The complete type was associated with the intestinal marker enzymes sucrose alpha-D-glucohydrolase, alpha, alpha-trehalase, aminopeptidase (microsomal) (APM), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Tissue of this type contained goblet cells and Paneth's cells but not high-iron diamine (HID)-positive mucin staining with HID-Alcian blue. The incomplete type of intestinal metaplasia was associated with sucrose alpha-D-glucohydrolase, APM, goblet cells, and HID-positive mucin but not with alpha, alpha-trehalase, ALP, or Paneth's cells. For the examination of the distribution of the complete and incomplete types in 84, 27, and 16 resected specimens of human stomach with gastric carcinoma, gastric ulcer, and duodenal ulcer, respectively, disaccharidases were located with Tes-Tape. Specimens with intestinal metaplasia were divided into three classes: complete type only (class I), incomplete type only (class II), and a mixture of areas of the complete and incomplete types (class III). Of the 84 specimens from patients with gastric carcinoma, intestinal metaplasia was found in 76 (01%), and the percentages of specimens of classes I, II, and III were 32, 22, and 46, respectively. In these specimens, the percent incidence of class I increased and that of class II decreased with age. Of the 27 specimens from patients with gastric ulcer, 16 (59%) shopwed intestinal metaplasia and 10 of the 16 (63%) specimens were of class II. Of the 16 specimens from patients with duodenal ulcer, only 3 (19%) specimens showed intestinal metaplasia and all of them were of class II. The relationships of the complete and incomplete types of intestinal metaplasia to gastric carcinoma wre studied in 26 foci of minute carcinoma of the stomach less than 5 mm in largest diameter. Nineteen of 20 (05%) foci of the intestinal type of minute carcinoma were surrounded by intestinal metaplasia and 16 foci (80%) were surrounded by the incomplete type of intestinal metaplasia.

Agglutination of bladder cells by concanavalin A during the early phase of treatment of rats with N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine.

N-Butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine was given to male Wistar rats at a dose of 0.05% in the drinking water for one to five weeks, and agglutination of cell isolated from their bladder by concanavalin A (Con A) was determined at intervals during and after treatment. Mucosal cells were isolated from everted bladder by ethylenediaminetetraacetate treatment and sonication. As early as one week after the start of treatment, Con A caused some agglutination of isolated bladder cells, and this agglutination increased with time, reaching an almost constant value from the third week. Con A agglutination of bladder cells induced by N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine treatment for only one week appeared to be irreversible, and it was still observed two weeks after the end of treatment. Scanning electron microscopy showed that microvilli developed on the luminal surface of mucosal cells in situ at the time when the isolated cells became agglutinable with Con A. Measurement of agglutinability of isolated bladder cells with Con A might be a useful way of detecting very early changes in bladder carcinogenesis.

Mutagenicity of several classes of antitumor agents to Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA100, and TA92.

The mutagenic activities of antitumor agents, including 5 antibiotics, 19 antimetabolites, 5 alkylating agents, 2 alkaloids, 1 enzyme, and 1 adrenal steroid hormone, were tested on Salmonella tyhimurium TA100, TA98, and TA92. Four of these, busulfan, carbazilquinone, 1-(4-amino-2-methylpyrimidine-5-yl)methyl-3-(2-chloroethyl)-3-nitrosourea hydrochloride, and pipobroman were shown for the first time to be mutagenic. Further, the known mutagenicities of five others, daunomycin hydrochloride, Adriamycin hydrochloride, mitomycin C, 6-mercaptopurine, and cyclophosphamide, were confirmed.

Precancerous changes in the stomach.

Intestinal metaplasia is often associated with human gastric carcinoma. Intestinalization seems to be a typical example of abnormal differentiation and is possibly a precancerous state. For investigation of intestinal metaplasia, a method for visualizing disaccharidases using Tes-Tape was developed; this method was applied to many specimens of stomach surgically removed for the treatment of gastric carcinoma. More than 130 specimens of human stomach were investigated. Intestinalization was classified into types I and II intestinal metaplasia. In type I intestinal metaplasia, sucrase, maltase, trehalase, alkaline phosphatase, goblet cells, and Paneth cells were present; while the type II intestinal metaplasia, sucrase and maltase were present but alkaline phosphatase and trehalase were absent. In type II, goblet cells were present but not Paneth cells. The histochemical technique for sucrase was newly devised. Some of the villi with goblet cells in the area of intestinalization in the stomach were not stained by sucrase activity, although most of the villi were stained. The presence of a third type of metaplasia was suggested. Purified sucrases obtained from the intestine and one case of type I intestinal metaplasia showed blood group reactivity due to the oligosaccharide side chain. However, purified sucrases obtained from two cases of type II intestinal metaplasia were negative in blood group reactivity. A close relation between distribution of alpha-fetoprotein and carcinoembryonic antigen in gastric carcinoma and that in surrounding intestinal metaplasia is discussed.

Genetic control of susceptibility of rats to gastric carcinoma.

Genetic control of the induction of gastric tumors by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) was studied in susceptible ACI rats, resistant Buffalo rats, and their F1 and F2 offspring. Both sexes of all strains, initially 7 to 9 weeks old, were given MNNG at a concentration of 83 micrograms/ml in their drinking water for 32 weeks and were sacrificed at experimental Week 72. The incidence of gastric adenocarcinoma in ACI rats was 80% in males and 47% in females; in Buffalo rats, the incidence was 18% in males and 0% in females. F1 hybrids showed the same resistance to MNNG as did Buffalo rats; the incidence of gastric adenocarcinoma was 17% in males and 8% in females. These results suggest that resistance to induction of gastric adenocarcinoma by MNNG is a dominant characteristic. The incidence of gastric adenocarcinoma in the F2 generation was 36% in males and 14% in females, which is close to the 3:1 ratio expected from the segregation of a single resistant gene. In ACI and Buffalo strains and their hybrids, males were more susceptible than females to induction of gastric carcinoma by MNNG. Intestinal tumors were observed mainly in the duodenum and jejunum in both strains and their hybrids, and the incidences were as follows: ACI: males, 67% and females 42%; Buffalo: males, 12% and females, 18%; F1: males, 18% and females, 15%; and F2: males, 15% and females, 19%. Thus, there seems to be a common genetic basis for both gastric and intestinal carcinogenesis by MNNG.

Maintenance by saccharin of membrane alterations of rat bladder cells induced by subcarcinogenic treatment with bladder carcinogens.

Saccharin is known to have a tumor-promoting effect on bladder cancer in rats, but its mechanism of action is unknown. We demonstrated that the increased agglutinability of isolated epithelial cells of the bladder in the presence of concanavalin A caused by a subcarcinogenic dose of bladder carcinogens disappeared shortly after the end of their administration. However, saccharin maintained the increased agglutinability when given continuously after administration of carcinogen. Moreover, the agglutinability of bladder cells previously exposed to a subcarcinogenic dose of bladder carcinogens increased again when saccharin was given after the agglutinability had disappeared completely.