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Biomedical subjects

B Borwein

Publications and source records attributed to B Borwein.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

High resolution microchemical analysis using soft X-ray lithographic techniques.

High resolution x-ray lithographic studies of cells from chick embryo hearts dried by the CO2 critical point method have been made with soft x-ray radiation of different wavelengths. A marked difference in the relief replica in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) resulting from the differential absorption by the dried cells of carbon K alpha radiation at 4.48 nm and broad band synchrotron radiation (SR) with lambda is greater than 1.5 nm demonstrates the potential usefulness of the technique in making high resolution (approximately or equal to 10 nm) chemical identification of the constitutents which make up the various parts of the cell.

Animals

Convolution in human rods: an ageing process.

In a morphological survey of 73 human retinae spanning 9 decades, and including 20 retinae which were obtained from eyes enucleated for malignant melanomas, nodular excrescences were noted in the outer segments of rods with an incidence which increased with age. These structures were sectioned in both their vertical and horizontal axes and on electron microscopical examination were seen to result from the localised convolution of affected outer segments. The topographic morphology of such convolutions is described and their modes of formation are discussed.

Adolescent

Application of optical transform techniques to laser irradiation of retina.

Novel retinal irradiation techniques for laser damage studies are described; these are straightforward applications of the Fourier transform properties of an optical system. Interposing an appropriate diffracting screen between the laser source and the test eye enables one to simultaneously induce a number of discrete and precisely located retinal exposures with a known gradation of energy. Various kinds of diffracting objects are considered, and it is seen that transparent sinusoidal phase gratings offer the most promise for damage threshold studies. The method provides an objective measure of the ocular focal length at the time of the exposure. The production of arbitrary retinal irradiation patterns for more general research or clinical applications is possible with the extension of the technique by the use of simple holographic methods for forming the appropriate diffracting screens.

Animals

Fusing human rod outer segments from an eye enucleated for choroidal melanoma.

In the retina from an eye enucleated for choroidal melanoma apposed rod outer segments were seen by transmission electron microscopy to be fusing together in groups by the confluence of their plasma membranes and the formation of cytoplasmic bridges between adjacent outer segments. These fusions were seen in areas distant from the melanoma but where the retina was not normal in appearance.

Cell Membrane

Scanning electron microscopy of normal and lased rabbit pigment epithelium.

Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observations of the rabbit retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) are reported both for normal tissue and for tissue subjected to laser radiation. In normal RPE, cells were observed to be closely packed and to have the characteristic hexagonal shape. The microvilli were abundant and of two types. Suprathreshold lesions were produced with 0.4 musec pulses of high-intensity yellow light (585 nm.) from a dye laser. In the lased RPE, cells were denuded of their microvilli, and a number of cells with single discrete holes were observed. Hypertrophied cells were always present. Within 5 days of irradiation groups of small proliferating RPE cells were found in the lesion area.

Animals