Human placenta extract (hPE) has therapeutic potential against certain diseases such as burn injury, liver cirrhosis and chronic wound through stimulating tissue repair processes. However, the effects of hPE on liver regeneration in animals are unknown. This study investigated the effect of hPE on the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) during liver regeneration induced by partial hepatectomy (PH) in rats. The activities of AST, ALT and ALP increased during a few days after PH. A high level of ALP was particularly seen at day 3 in the control group. All the levels of experimental groups were normalized by day 5 after PH. On immunohistochemistry, the expression of PCNA increased at the early days, showed a peak at day 3 after PH. The PCNA staining was more obvious in the experimental group over the whole period. By western blotting, PCNA seemed to be more strongly expressed in the hPE injected group in the early stage and fell to almost undetectable levels at day 7. On immunocytochemical observations, the number of PCNA-gold particles in the nuclei at day 1 of the hPE treated groups was more than those of the untreated groups. The results suggest that hPE could accelerate liver regeneration induced by PH involving the expression of PCNA in rats.

Leaf surface structures were investigated in the Chinese juniper Juniperus chinensis by scanning electron microscopy. Adult scale leaves were collected from the tree, air-dried at room temperature, and sputter-coated with gold without further specimen preparation. Approximately fi ve stomata were locally distributed and arranged in clusters on the leaf surface. Stomata were ovoid and ca. 40 ${\mu}m$ long. The epicuticular wax structures of J. chinensis leaves were tubules and platelets. Numerous tubules were evident on the leaf regions where stomata were found. The tubules were cylindrical, straight, and ca. 1 ${\mu}m$ in length. They almost clothed the stomatal guard cells, and occluded the slit-shaped stomatal apertures. Moreover, the wax ridges were flat crystalloids that were connected to the surface by their narrow side. They did not have distinct edges, and their width/height ratio varied. In particular, the wax ridges could be discerned on the leaf regions where stomata were not present nearby. Since the wax ridges did not have distinct edges on their margin, they were identified as platelets. Instances were noted where platelets were oriented either parallel to each other or perpendicular to the cuticle surface. These results can be used in biomimetics to design the hierarchical structures for mimicking the plant innate properties such as hydrophobicity and self-cleaning effects of the leaf surface.

In this study, the changes in hair quality before and after Magic straight perm have been evaluated through a hair damage measurement method. For this, a healthy high school student's (age18 years) wavy hair was selected and permed on the left and right sides. Then, the changes caused by physical methods which were applied during the fl at iron-based Magic straight perm were evaluated based on the hair damage measurement method before and after the Magic straight perm. According to the protein release test after the Magic straight perm, 1.26% in average and 0.14% was observed in Cool Magic straight perm sample. In a field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) test, saw teeth-shaped partial desquamation of cuticle cells and impurities were observed in the warm-treated hair sample. In atomic force microscope (AFM), line-profile is a method to represent roughness data on hair. According to analysis on 3-dimensional (3D) images, the hair with Cool Magic straight perm was lower than the hair with Warm Magic perm in terms of the color change of 3D images. In addition, vertical changes were observed in the hair with Cool Magic perm. As a result, irregular surface roughness was observed. This study proposed a method to minimize hair damage by cooling down the heat with the cool hair straightener as soon as the Warm Magic was finished.

Diversification and individualization are pursued to fulfill the increasing human desire for beauty. There are many methods to change human appearances; of these, a permanent wave is often applied to improve beauty. A permanent wave uses physical and chemical methods to break and reform the bonds of natural hair. Thus, research into the optimized conditions for permanent waves is necessary to minimize hair damage and improve the efficiency of the treatment. The object of this study is to examine the effect of varying the alkalinity (8%, 12%, and 16%) of the permanent wave treatment on the wave efficiency, degree of hair damage via tensile strength, and degree of hair protein release. The results indicate that the treatment with the highest alkalinity (16%) is more effective than that with 8% alkalinity; however, the degree of hair damage when treated with the 16% alkalinity wave is higher than with the 8% alkalinity wave. Additionally, hair proteins increasingly dissolve with increasing alkalinity of the permanent wave.

Doublecortin (DCX) is a microtuble-associated protein that is required for the migration of immature neuroblasts within the chick and mammalian brain. Although it is generally thought that DCX is expressed only in the neuroblasts, some mature neurons maintain DCX expression; for example, horizontal cells in adult rat retina. In this study, we demonstrate that retinal neural progenitors in the early embryonic stage of the chick also expressed DCX, as do developing ganglion cells and horizontal cells in later stages of development. These findings raise the possibility of a role for DCX in retinal neural progenitors, before they become specialized into neuroblasts in the chick.

A recently introduced helium ion microscopy (HIM) was employed to observe uncoated pine leaf specimens. Adult leaves were collected from the seedlings of Pinus densiflora and P. rigida, air-dried at room temperature, and observed by HIM without metal coating. Ovoid or round stomata and distinct Florin rings could be discerned. The epicuticular waxes were present in the epistomatal chambers and Florin rings of stomata on the leaf surface. The epicuticular waxes were mostly straight, cylindrical, and ca. 1 ${\mu}m$ in length. The epistomatal chambers of P. rigida were filled with the epicuticular waxes, whereas those of P. densiflora were not filled with the epicuticular waxes. Based on their micromorphology, the epicuticular wax structures of the pine species were identified as tubules. These results suggest that the HIM could be used for the investigation of the plant stomata and epicuticular waxes of uncoated plant leaves. Due to the smaller ion probe and interaction volume, the HIM has advantages over conventional field emission scanning electron microscopy in terms of image resolution and charge neutralization.

The microstructure of various shapes of stacking fault pyramids (SFPs) formed in multiple implant/anneal Separation by Implanted Oxygen (SIMOX) material were investigated by plan-view and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. In the multiple implant/anneal SIMOX, the defects in the top silicon layer are confined at the interface of the buried oxide layer at a density of ${\sim}10^6\;cm^{-2}$. The dominant defects are perfect and imperfect SFPs. The perfect SFPs were formed by the expansion and interaction of four dissociated dislocations on the {111} pyramidal planes. The imperfect SFPs show various shapes of SFPs, including I-, L-, and Y-shapes. The shape of imperfect SFPs may depend on the number of dissociated dislocations bounded to the top of the pyramid and the interaction of Shockley partial dislocations at each edge of {111} pyramidal planes.

Detailed comparison of low-voltage scanning electron microscopy and electron holography techniques for two-dimensional (2D) dopant profiling was carried out with using the same multilayered p-n junction specimen. The dopant profiles obtained from two methods are in good agreement with each other. It demonstrates that reliability of dopant profile measurement can be increased through precise comparison of 2D profiles obtained from various microscopic techniques.

The relaxor ferroelectric feature in lead-free perovskite oxides, where the dipoles are randomly oriented and they can be feasibly aligned parallel to the external bias, is attracting lots of attention in the field of piezoelectric materials science, since it is one of candidates to replace the toxic lead-based materials that are still being commercially used. However, the origin of relaxor characteristic and its related atomic structure are still ambiguous. In this study, $Na_{1/2}Bi_{1/2}TiO_3$, chosen as a model relaxor system, was found to exhibit a cationic-disordered atomic structure; and furthermore the nonpolar atomic structure and its related oxygen tilting were ascertained via annular bright field imaging skill. We also found that this cationic disordering gives rise to the local formation of atomic vacancies.

In the present study, the oxidation behavior of $Cu_{50}Zr_{50}$ and $Cu_{46}Zr_{46}Al_8$ metallic glasses has been investigated using transmission electron microscopy with a particular attention on the oxidation behavior in the supercooled liquid state. Identification of the oxidation product after continuous heating treatment shows that in $Cu_{50}Zr_{50}$ metallic glass, $ZrO_2$ with the monoclinic structure forms on the supercooled liquid as well as on the crystallized matrix. On the contrary, in $Cu_{46}Zr_{46}Al_8$ metallic glass, $ZrO_2$ with the tetragonal structure forms on the supercooled liquid, but that with the monoclinic structure forms on the crystallized matrix. The result indicates that the $Cu_{50}Zr_{50}$ metallic glass exhibits far better oxidation resistance in the supercooled liquid state than the $Cu_{46}Zr_{46}Al_8$ metallic glass.