In the lighting industry, the concept of ceramic cold cathodes provided with an inside tungsten coating is under consideration to be applied in mercury-free fluorescent lamps for advertising purposes. In this regard, the applicability of chemical solution deposition to fabricate metallic films on the inner surface of alumina tubules was established. The technique involves the preparation of tungsten oxide layers from a peroxotungstic acid precursor solution and their subsequent reduction to tungsten in the presence of hydrogen. Diverse characterisation of the precursor and the intermediates was carried out in order to determine the influence of their properties on the quality of the final coatings. By acquiring the optimum process parameters, highly-conducting tungsten films were obtained. The temperatures allowing for conversion of the oxide to the metal as well as for sintering of the derived tungsten films were observed to be substantially lower than in bulk processes. Electrode prototypes of the described type were accordingly realised and operated successfully in a fluorescent tube test setup, thus proving the feasibility of the hitherto theoretical idea.

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) occurs as three dimeric isofornis, AA, BB, and AB. Two distinct receptor subunits, alpha and beta, have been identified which bind either all three isofornis of PDGF (alpha) or PDGF-BB only (beta). Here, we have compared the effect of purified PDGF homodimers on the early intracellular signaling events and mitogenesis in Swiss 3T3 cells, which possess equivalent numbers of the alpha and beta subunits. Both PDGF-AA and I'DGF-BB stimulated receptor phosphorylation, inositol phosphate formation, activation of protein kinase C, calcium mobilization, EGF receptor transmodulation, sodium uptake, arachidonic acid release, cyclic AMP accumulation, and c-fos induction in a comparable, dose-dependent manner (half-maximal values for all these responses were in the 2-10 ng/ml range for both homodimers). At high concentrations of PDGF (> 10 ng/ml), the BB homodimer effect on early membrane and cytosolic signals was 20-30% greater than PDGF-AA, retlecting the greater number of available binding sites for PDGF-BB. DNA synthesis studies indicated that PDGF-AA and PDGF-BB were potent mitogens for Swiss 3T3 cells, displaying identical dose-response effects. Moreover, the mitogenic activities of both homodimers were equally potentiated in the presence of insulin. These results indicate that both PDGF-AA and PDGF-BB stimulate the full complement of molecular responses required for the synergistic interactions mediating long-term mitogenesis. We conclude that alpha and beta receptor subunits do not differ in their ability to transduce PDGF-mediated signals leading to DNA synthesis in Swiss 3T3 cells.

"Verlängerung der Haftfähigkeit von Kernpolyederviren durch Einsatz von Polyvinylazetat-Latex: (Kurze Mitteilung)." Archives of Phytopathology & Plant Protection, 25(1), pp. 95–96

(1989). Entwicklung einer Zellinie aus Hamozyten von Mamestra brossicae L. und ihre Empfindlichkeit fur ein homologes Kernpolyeder-Virus. Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection: Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 387-401.

MDGI, a 14.5-KDa protein, is a chemically defined growth inhibitor, which we have purified from lactating bovine mammary gland and characterized biologically in a mouse Ehrlich ascites mammary tumour (EAT) short term suspension culture. It has now been tested for its inhibitory activity on proliferation of four malignant mammary epithelial cell lines of human and mouse origin and normal human mammary epithelial cells. In all experiments, cells were brought to quiescence by serum or growth factor deprivation. Using [3H]TdR pulse labelling the effect of MDGI was measured on the restimulation of proliferation after medium change. MaTu and T47 D, human malignant mammary epithelial cell lines, as well as the mouse malignant mammary epithelial cell line mMaCa 20177 could be inhibited, whereas the human malignant mammary epithelial cell line MCF7 showed a slight stimulation. MDGI showed no activity on the residual DNA synthesis of all cell lines after starvation. Normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC) of different passages could also be inhibited. Their responsiveness seemed to be dependent on the number of passages. Cells from high passages (10-14) showed a higher sensitivity, which is also about 10 times higher than that of the malignant cell lines. Furthermore, growth factors like insulin, epidermal growth factor (EGF) and fetal calf serum (FCS), known to be potent antagonists to the MDGI activity in the EAT and, in the case of insulin, also in the MaTu culture (shown in the present study), do not abolish the inhibitory activity of MDGI on HMEC cells. These results demonstrate that the inhibitory activity of MDGI is not exclusively restricted to EAT cells studied so far.

A mammary-derived growth inhibitor (MDGI) inhibits the resumption of growth of stationary Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cells in vitro. The present study shows that the resumption of growth is accompanied by a rapid increase of the steady state mRNA level of the proto-oncogenes c-fos, c-myc and c-ras, which is reduced by MDGI. EAC cells from the exponential growth phase insensitive to MDGI did not show a reduced RNA expression. The effect of MDGI represents a novel activity at the level of gene expression and suggests a link to exist between growth inhibition and the reduction of c-fos, c-myc and c-ras expression.