Posttranslational modifications and proteolytic processing regulate almost all physiological processes. Dysregulation can potentially result in pathologic protein species causing diseases. Thus, tissue species proteomes of diseased individuals provide diagnostic information. Since the composition of tissue proteomes can rapidly change during tissue homogenization by the action of enzymes released from their compartments, disease specific protein species patterns can vanish. Recently, we described a novel, ultrafast and soft method for cold vaporization of tissue via desorption by impulsive vibrational excitation (DIVE) using a picosecond-infrared-laser (PIRL). Given that DIVE extraction may provide improved access to the original composition of protein species in tissues, we compared the proteome composition of tissue protein homogenates after DIVE homogenization with conventional homogenizations. A higher number of intact protein species was observed in DIVE homogenates. Due to the ultrafast transfer of proteins from tissues via gas phase into frozen condensates of the aerosols, intact protein species were exposed to a lesser extent to enzymatic degradation reactions compared with conventional protein extraction. In addition, total yield of the number of proteins is higher in DIVE homogenates, because they are very homogenous and contain almost no insoluble particles, allowing direct analysis with subsequent analytical methods without the necessity of centrifugation.Biological significanceEnzymatic protein modifications during tissue homogenization are responsible for changes of the in-vivo protein species composition. Cold vaporization of tissues by PIRL-DIVE is comparable with taking a snapshot at the time of the laser irradiation of the dynamic changes that occur continuously under in-vivo conditions. At that time point all biomolecules are transferred into an aerosol, which is immediately frozen.

Background and ObjectiveAs a result of wound healing the original tissue is replaced by dysfunctional scar tissue. Reduced tissue damage during surgical procedures beneficially affects the size of the resulting scar and overall healing time. Thus the choice of a particular surgical instrument can have a significant influence on the postoperative wound healing. To overcome these problems of wound healing we applied a novel picosecond infrared laser (PIRL) system to surgical incisions. Previous studies indicated that negligible thermal, acoustic, or ionization stress effects to the surrounding tissue results in a superior wound healing.Study Design/Materials and MethodsUsing the PIRL system as a surgical scalpel, we performed a prospective wound healing study on rat skin and assessed its final impact on scar formation compared to the electrosurgical device and cold steel. As for the incisions, 6 full‐thickness, 1‐cm long‐linear skin wounds were created on the dorsum of four rats using the PIRL, an electrosurgical device, and a conventional surgical scalpel, respectively. Rats were euthanized after 21 days of wound healing. The thickness of the subepithelial fibrosis, the depth and the transverse section of the total scar area of each wound were analyzed histologically.ResultsAfter 21 days of wound healing the incisions made by PIRL showed minor scar tissue formation as compared to the electrosurgical device and the scalpel. Highly significant differences (P < 0.001) were noted by comparing the electrosurgical device with PIRL and scalpel. The transverse section of the scar area also showed significant differences (P = 0.043) when comparing PIRL (mean: 141.46 mm2; 95%CI: 105.8–189.0 mm2) with scalpel incisions (mean: 206.82 mm2; 95%CI: 154.8–276.32 mm2). The subepithelial width of the scars that resulted from using the scalpel were 1.3 times larger than those obtained by using the PIRL (95%CI: 1.0–1.6) though the difference was not significant (P < 0.083).ConclusionsThe hypothesis that PIRL results in minimal scar formation with improved cosmetic outcomes was positively verified. In particular the resection of skin tumors or pathological scars, such as hypertrophic scars or keloids, are promising future fields of PIRL application. Lasers Surg. Med. 48:385–391, 2016. © 2016 The Authors. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

20 hr, and the solvent was evaporated. The residue had spectra essentially identical with those of 16a, obtained by crystallization first from methanol-acetone, then from benzene-pentane, as pale yellow prisms (

Geophysical field surveys can be used for mapping soil properties such as clay and water content. For this the choice of adequate geophysical pedo‐transfer functions (GPTF) is a still debated question because of ambiguities of influencing factors. To investigate the applicability of different GPTFs to typical central European soils, we conducted laboratory measurements on 23 samples. The results are datasets of electrical resistivity and dielectric permittivity as a function of water content and partly temperature. We used these data to validate and improve existing GPTFs. For the relationship between permittivity and water content, we applied published empirical regressions, volumetric mixing, and effective media models. All models show low RMSE (0.3−6.8l%, v/v), but the curvatures of the data points are not reproducible by the empirical models. The volumetric mixing and the effective media models can fit the trend of the data points for sandy soils but not for clayey soils. To improve these models, we propose a modification to the Hanai–Bruggeman‐type effective media approach. It uses the permittivity of almost dry soil as a background and embeds stepwise increasing amounts of water. It turned out that our approach yields satisfying fits with respect to both data trends and RMSE (0.3–1.5l% v/v). Based on this approach we define a joint model for permittivities and resistivities, which yield RMSE of only 0.7 to 1.4% (v/v)—better than most published models. Our validations show that the temperature effects on electrical resistivity can be reliably corrected using existing empirical relationships.