RESUMEN
The unusual exhibition of a biaxial nematic phase in nonlinear thermotropic mesogens derived from the 2,5-oxadiazole biphenol (ODBP) core is placed in a general context; the uniaxial nematic phase of the prototypical rod-like mesogen para-quinquephenyl does not follow the classical mean-field behaviour of nematics, thus questioning the utility of such theories for quantitative predictions about biaxial nematics. The nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of labelled probe molecules dissolved in ODBP biaxial nematic phases suggest that a second critical rotation frequency, related to the differences in the transverse diamagnetic susceptibilities of the biaxial nematic, must be exceeded in order to create an aligned two-dimensional powder sample. Efforts to find higher viscosity and lower temperature biaxial nematics (with lower critical rotation rates) to confirm the above conjecture are described. Several chemical modifications of the ODBP mesogenic core are presented.
RESUMEN
The electroretinographic (ERG) changes and the retinal lesions shown by electron microscopy were studied in rabbits after intravitreal use of amikacin and tobramycin. We studied 40 eyes of 20 rabbits in which different doses ranging from 250 micrograms to 1000 micrograms of aminoglycosides were injected into the vitreous cavity. Tobramycin, and to some extent amikacin, were toxic to the retina even in doses of 500 micrograms as shown by ERG changes. The pathologic retinal lesions shown by electron microscopy were characterized by membranous inclusions in the retinal pigment epithelium, tumefaction of the photoreceptors, and partial disorganization of the inner layers. In doses of 250 micrograms or less, these two antibiotics seem to be nontoxic after a follow-up of three months.