3D imaging through a highly heterogeneous double-composite random medium by common-path phase-shift digital holography.

A method is proposed for 3D imaging through a highly heterogeneous double-composite random medium made of a thick mildly inhomogeneous medium followed by a thin strongly scattering layer. To realize the immunity to the heterogeneous random medium, a system of common-path phase-shift digital holography is designed in such a manner that the wavefront distortion caused by the first inhomogeneous medium is canceled out by the common-path geometry, and the influence of the random phase introduced by the second scattering layer is removed by the intensity-based recording of the digital hologram on the thin scattering layer. The validity of the method was confirmed by experiments.

Electronic interactions between a quaternary pyridyl-ß-diketonate and anionic clay nanosheets facilitate intense photoluminescence.

Electrostatic interactions between a quaternary pyridyl-ß-diketonate and anionic charged nanosheets were observed to produce a highly emissive dispersion in a rich water solution. A greater fluorescence quantum yield of approximately 50% was obtained when a luminogenic ß-diketonate, 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3-(3-hydroxyethyl-pyridinium bromide)-1,3-propandione (prepared by the Claisen condensation reaction and subsequent quaternization), was molecularly dispersed and enclosed by a couple of atomically flat ultrathin (approximately 1.0 nm) silicate sheets of anionic layered clay. By accommodating ß-diketonate into a narrow interlamellar space (approximately 0.4 nm distance), the molecular motion was suppressed, as confirmed by a smaller non-radiative relaxation rate constant, which was obtained by time-resolved luminescence and quantum yield measurements. Because the dense packing of ß-diketonate quenched the excited state, the isolation of luminogens by the co-adsorption of photochemical inert cations (tetramethylammonium and benzylammonium) was prevented by concentration quenching. A lower quantum yield was obtained by expanding the interlayer distance above 1.0 nm by co-adsorbing a photo-inactive water-soluble polymer, poly(vinylpyrrolidone). Therefore, the fixation and spatial separation of ß-diketonate in the narrow interlayer space was determined to be essential for obtaining strong emission.

Three-dimensional microscopic imaging through scattering media based on in-line phase-shift digital holography.

Microscopic three-dimensional imaging and phase quantification for objects hidden behind a scattering medium by using in-line phase-shift digital holography are proposed. A spatial resolution of 1.81 µm and highly accurate quantitative phase imaging are demonstrated for objects behind a scatter plate. Three-dimensional imaging was confirmed using objects with a depth difference of 1.32 mm. Further, imaging was performed using rat skin as a demonstration for imaging through a complex multilayer scattering medium, where a spatial resolution close to the theoretically predicted value was achieved by experiment.

Hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma in a Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata).

Primary neuroendocrine neoplasm of the liver is extremely rare in both humans and non-human primates. The present report describes the clinical and pathological findings of an aged Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) with hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of hepatic neuroendocrine neoplasm in macaques.

Measurement of the radial mode spectrum of photons through a phase-retrieval method.

We propose and demonstrate a simple and easy-to-implement projective-measurement protocol to determine the radial index p of a Laguerre-Gaussian (LGpl) mode. Our method entails converting any specified high-order LGp0 mode into a near-Gaussian distribution that matches the fundamental mode of a single-mode fiber (SMF) through the use of two phase screens (unitary transforms) obtained by applying a phase-retrieval algorithm. The unitary transforms preserve the orthogonality of modes before the SMF and guarantee that our protocol can, in principle, be free of crosstalk. We measure the coupling efficiency of the transformed radial modes to the SMF for different pairs of phase screens. Because of the universality of phase-retrieval methods, we believe that our protocol provides an efficient way of fully characterizing the radial spatial profile of an optical field.

Relationship between morphological development and sex hormone receptor expression of mammary glands with age in male rats.

The aim of this study is to investigate the changes with age on morphology and sex hormone receptor expression in the mammary glands of male Sprague-Dawley rats, focusing on male-specific cells, "oxyphilic cells", observed after sexual maturity. The mammary glands of male rats at 14, 21, 35, 50, 75 and 100 days old were examined by gross observation, microscopic observation using whole mount specimens, histological and immunohistochemical sections. Grossly, mammary glands showed brown color at 50-100 days old. In whole mount specimens, terminal end buds (TEBs) were observed at 14-50 days old and the number of TEBs was highest at 35 days old. Histologically, the male mammary glands contained small epithelial cells with scanty cytoplasm at 14-35 days old while ductal and lobular epithelial cells were changed into oxyphilic cells with abundant cytoplasm at 50-100 days old. Immunohistochemicaly, androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) expressions were found in both mammary glands found at a young age and oxyphilic cells. In oxyphilic cells, AR expression was dominant compared to ER and PgR expressions and increased with age. From these results, the development at 50-100 days old might be strongly related to AR. Ultrastructural observation of oxyphilic cells confirmed a number of lipid droplets, deformed and/or enlarged mitochondria, lysosomes and peroxisomes in their cytoplasm.

Scattering of Poincaré beams: polarization speckles.

Polarization speckle is a fine granular light pattern having spatially varying random polarization profile. We generate these speckle patterns by using the scattering of Poincaré beams, a special class of vector vortex beams, through a ground glass plate. Here, the Poincaré beams are generated using a polarization sensitive spatial light modulator displaying an on-axis hologram corresponding to an optical vortex phase profile. The different inhomogeneities of the rough surface experience different polarizations, which control the ability for scattered waves to interfere at the detection plane and causes a spatially varying polarization profile. We experimentally determined the spatial variation of local degree of polarization and orientation of the polarization ellipse for these speckle patterns from the Stokes analysis. We also determined the size of scalar speckles using the auto-correlation function of Stokes parameter S0 and the size of polarization speckles using the sum of auto-correlation functions of remaining three Stokes parameters. We found that the change in scalar speckle size with the index of the vector beam is very small and of the order of 1 pixel size of the camera but the size of polarization speckles decreases with the increase in index of the vector beam.

The first Japanese patient with mandibular hypoplasia, deafness, progeroid features and lipodystrophy diagnosed via POLD1 mutation detection.

Mandibular hypoplasia, deafness, progeroid features and lipodystrophy (MDPL) syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant disorder caused by heterozygous POLD1 mutations. To date, 13 patients affected by POLD1 mutation-caused MDPL have been described. We report a clinically undiagnosed 11-year-old male who noted joint contractures at 6 years of age. Targeted exome sequencing identified a known POLD1 mutation [NM_002691.3:c.1812_1814del, p.(Ser605del)] that diagnosed him as the first Japanese/East Asian MDPL case.

Hepatocellular carcinoma with intracranial metastasis in a Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata).

BACKGROUND: A 23-year-old male Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) showed left ptosis, which progressed to exophthalmos. METHODS: The macaque underwent a clinical examination, CT and MRI, and was euthanized. Necropsy and histopathological examination were performed after euthanasia. RESULTS: The CT revealed and MRI confirmed an intracranial mass at the skull base with orbital extension. At necropsy, there were a large hepatic mass and an intracranial mass compressing the left temporal lobe of the brain. Histopathological and immunohistological examinations revealed that the masses were hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and a metastatic lesion. In both the primary and metastatic lesions, neoplastic hepatocytes were arranged mainly in a trabecular pattern. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for cytokeratin (AE1/AE3 and CAM5.2) and hepatocyte paraffin 1 and negative for cytokeratin 7 and 20 and vimentin. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first case report of HCC with intracranial metastasis in a macaque.

Highly uniform holographic microtrap arrays for single atom trapping using a feedback optimization of in-trap fluorescence measurements.

We report on the novel optimization method to realize highly uniform microtrap arrays for single atom trapping with a spatial light modulator (SLM). This method consists of two iterative feedback loops with the measurements of both diffracted light intensities and in-trap fluorescence intensities from each microtrap. By applying this method to the single 87Rb atom trapping, we can reduce the variance of trap depths from 20.8% to 1.7% for 4 × 4 square arrays and less than 4% for various arrays with up to 62 sites. The detection error of individual single atoms is also reduced from 1.7% to 0.0054% on average.

Changing image of correlation optics: introduction.

This feature issue of Applied Optics contains a series of selected papers reflecting recent progress of correlation optics and illustrating current trends in vector singular optics, internal energy flows at light fields, optical science of materials, and new biomedical applications of lasers.

Enhanced super resolution using Fresnel incoherent correlation holography with structured illumination.

The structured illumination (SI) technique has already been well established as a resolution enhancer in many studies and well demonstrated in many optical imaging systems during the past decade. The ability to use the SI in incoherent imaging systems was also introduced, especially in fluorescence microscopy. In this Letter, we propose and demonstrate a new approach to combine the SI technique with the recently innovated motionless incoherent holographic system, called Fresnel incoherent correlation holography (FINCH), in order to enhance the resolution beyond the limits achieved in regular imaging with SI. The results obtained by use of SI-FINCH were compared against regular imaging, regular FINCH and SI-imaging.

Creation of polarization gradients from superposition of counter propagating vector LG beams.

We present a detailed theoretical analysis of the formation of standing waves using cylindrically polarized vector Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams. It is shown that complex interplay between the radial and azimuthal polarization state can be used to realize different kinds of polarization gradients with cylindrically symmetric polarization distribution. Expressions for four different cases are presented and local dynamics of spatial polarization distribution is studied. We show cylindrically symmetric Sisyphus and corkscrew type polarization gradients can be obtained from vector LG beams. The optical landscape presented here with spatially periodic polarization patterns may find important applications in the field of atom optics, atom interferometry, atom lithography, and optical trapping.

Correlation optics in progress: introduction to the feature issue.

This feature issue of Applied Optics contains a series of selected papers reflecting recent progress of correlation optics and showing, in part, the trend from micro-optics to nano-optics.

Vectorial van Cittert-Zernike theorem based on spatial averaging: experimental demonstrations.

The van Cittert-Zernike theorem is extended to the vectorial regime based on spatial averaging over the observation plane, and experimental demonstrations are presented. The theorem connects complex vectorial source structure to the degree of coherence and polarization of the spatially fluctuating vectorial field in the far field. Experimentation is carried out by making use of the space averages as a replacement of ensemble averages for the Gaussian stochastic field. For quantitative comparison with the theorem, analytical and experimental results are presented for a rectangular aperture with different vectorial source structures.

A zinc-binding citrus protein metallothionein can act as a plant defense factor by controlling host-selective ACR-toxin production.

Metallothionein is a small cysteine-rich protein known to have a metal-binding function. We isolated three different lengths of rough lemon cDNAs encoding a metallothionein (RlemMT1, RlemMT2 and RlemMT3), and only RlemMT1-recombinant protein had zinc-binding activity. Appropriate concentration of zinc is an essential micronutrient for living organisms, while excess zinc is toxic. Zinc also stimulates the production of host-selective ACR-toxin for citrus leaf spot pathogen of Alternaria alternata rough lemon pathotype. Trapping of zinc by RlemMT1-recombinant protein or by a zinc-scavenging agent in the culture medium caused suppression of ACR-toxin production by the fungus. Since ACR-toxin is the disease determinant for A. alternata rough lemon pathotype, addition of RlemMT1 to the inoculum suspension led to a significant decrease in symptoms on rough lemon leaves as a result of reduced ACR-toxin production from the zinc trap around infection sites. RlemMT1-overexpression mutant of A. alternata rough lemon pathotype also produced less ACR-toxin and reduced virulence on rough lemon. This suppression was caused by an interruption of zinc absorption by cells from the trapping of the mineral by RlemMT1 and an excess supplement of ZnSO(4) restored toxin production and pathogenicity. Based on these results, we propose that zinc adsorbents including metallothionein likely can act as a plant defense factor by controlling toxin biosynthesis via inhibition of zinc absorption by the pathogen.

Coherence holography by achromatic 3-D field correlation of generic thermal light with an imaging Sagnac shearing interferometer.

We propose a new technique for achromatic 3-D field correlation that makes use of the characteristics of both axial and lateral magnifications of imaging through a common-path Sagnac shearing interferometer. With this technique, we experimentally demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, 3-D image reconstruction of coherence holography with generic thermal light. By virtue of the achromatic axial shearing implemented by the difference in axial magnifications in imaging, the technique enables coherence holography to reconstruct a 3-D object with an axial depth beyond the short coherence length of the thermal light.

Single-shot full-field interferometric polarimeter with an integrated calibration scheme.

A simple interferometric polarimeter with an integrated calibration scheme is proposed for accurate and fast mapping of the state of polarization (SOP). Conventional single-shot polarimeters that detect the amplitude and phase of orthogonally polarized field components by interferometry using Fourier fringe analysis suffers from errors caused by the imperfect reference beam and ambiguity in the spatial carrier frequency in the fringe pattern. In the proposed system, the integrated calibration scheme eliminates those error sources and enables accurate measurement of SOP without prior knowledge of the reference beam and the spatial carrier frequency.

Role of the pathotype-specific ACRTS1 gene encoding a hydroxylase involved in the biosynthesis of host-selective ACR-toxin in the rough lemon pathotype of Alternaria alternata.

The rough lemon pathotype of Alternaria alternata produces host-selective ACR-toxin and causes Alternaria leaf spot disease of the rootstock species rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri) and Rangpur lime (C. limonia). Genes controlling toxin production were localized to a 1.5-Mb chromosome carrying the ACR-toxin biosynthesis gene cluster (ACRT) in the genome of the rough lemon pathotype. A genomic BAC clone containing a portion of the ACRT cluster was sequenced which allowed identification of three open reading frames present only in the genomes of ACR-toxin producing isolates. We studied the functional role of one of these open reading frames, ACRTS1 encoding a putative hydroxylase, in ACR-toxin production by homologous recombination-mediated gene disruption. There are at least three copies of ACRTS1 gene in the genome and disruption of two copies of this gene significantly reduced ACR-toxin production as well as pathogenicity; however, transcription of ACRTS1 and production of ACR-toxin were not completely eliminated due to remaining functional copies of the gene. RNA-silencing was used to knock down the remaining ACRTS1 transcripts to levels undetectable by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The silenced transformants did not produce detectable ACR-toxin and were not pathogenic. These results indicate that ACRTS1 is an essential gene in ACR-toxin biosynthesis in the rough lemon pathotype of A. alternata and is required for full virulence of this fungus.

Geraniol synthase whose mRNA is induced by host-selective ACT-toxin in the ACT-toxin-insensitive rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri).

Host-selective toxins (HSTs) produced by some strains of Alternaria alternata are selectively toxic to certain cultivars of plants. However, the role of HSTs in toxin-insensitive plants is currently unknown. Here, we studied the role of ACT-toxin using an ACT-toxin producing A. alternata strain SH20 and the ACT-toxin-insensitive plant rough lemon. Induction of some defense related genes in response to SH20 were faster or stronger than in response to the ACT-toxin deficient SH20 mutant. By sequencing subtractive PCR clones obtained from mRNA of rough lemon leaves inoculated with SH20 after subtraction with that of the ACT-toxin deficient SH20 mutant, we isolated the SH20-responsive genes in rough lemon. Among the SH20-responsive genes analyzed in this study, we isolated a terpene synthase (TPS) gene, RlemTPS3. We also determined that RlemTPS3 localizes to the chloroplast and produces the monoterpene geraniol.