Common-path on-axis Fresnel holography based on a pinhole array plate.

A common-path and on-axis configuration for improving the resolution power of a lensless Fresnel holographic imaging system is proposed. In this configuration, a pinhole array plate (PAP) is inserted between the object and the recording plane. We demonstrated that the complex amplitude of the object wave can be directly extracted from a single Fresnel hologram of the object wave sampled by the PAP, and the numerical aperture of the effective imaging system can be increased because of the diffraction effect of the pinhole array. It may provide one approach for improving the capabilities of digital holography available for a wide range of wavelengths from far-infrared to x-ray and electron beams.

Maternal immune activation increases seizure susceptibility in juvenile rat offspring.

Epidemiological data suggest a relationship between maternal infection and a high incidence of childhood epilepsy in offspring. However, there is little experimental evidence that links maternal infection with later seizure susceptibility in juvenile offspring. Here, we asked whether maternal immune challenge during pregnancy can alter seizure susceptibility and seizure-associated brain damage in adolescence. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or normal saline (NS) on gestational days 15 and 16. At postnatal day 21, seizure susceptibility to kainic acid (KA) was evaluated in male offspring. Four groups were studied, including normal control (NS-NS), prenatal infection (LPS-NS), juvenile seizure (NS-KA), and "two-hit" (LPS-KA) groups. Our results demonstrated that maternal LPS exposure caused long-term reactive astrogliosis and increased seizure susceptibility in juvenile rat offspring. Compared to the juvenile seizure group, animals in the "two-hit" group showed exaggerated astrogliosis, followed by worsened spatial learning ability in adulthood. In addition, prenatal immune challenge alone led to spatial learning impairment in offspring but had no effect on anxiety. These data suggest that prenatal immune challenge causes a long-term increase in juvenile seizure susceptibility and exacerbates seizure-induced brain injury, possibly by priming astroglia.

Three-dimensional coordinate measurements using a multiple-pinhole interferometer.

We propose a method for noncontact measurements of three-dimensional (3D) coordinates based on a Y-typed multiple-pinhole (MP) interferometer and demonstrate its feasibility in experiments. In this method, a Y-typed MP plate is inserted between the target and an image sensor to form a common-path interferometer. The 3D coordinates of the target are found by an effective algorithm using the discrete phase values on the measurement pinholes of the MP plate. These phase values can be directly extracted from a Fourier transform of the recorded intensity pattern without need of any iterative or phase-shifting algorithm. The method could be significant in real-time coordinate measurements and position tracking applications.

Real-time coherent diffractive imaging with convolution-solvable sampling array.

We propose a noniterative method for real-time measuring and imaging of a complex-valued object based on a specially designed sampling array, named as the convolution-solvable sampling array (CSSA). We demonstrate that the wavefront of an object wave can be directly filtered from the Fourier transform of the diffraction intensity pattern of the object wave through a CSSA. As this method requires only a single measurement of the diffraction intensity pattern and does not need any iterative algorithm and lens systems in principle, it provides a practically valuable approach for real-time imaging of a complex-valued object in a wide range of wavelengths.