Langer’s lines

Figure 3.8. Diagram illustrating the structure of skin. Note orientation of collagen and elastic fibers with respect to Langer s lines. Both the epidermis and dermis are under tension.

The directional dependence of the mechanical properties of skin was first observed by Langer in 1861. C. R. von E. Langer (1819-1887), an Austrian anatomist, pierced small circular holes in the skin of cadavers and observed that these holes became elliptical with time. By joining the long axes of the ellipses, he produced a series of lines that subsequently were named after him. It is well known to surgeons that incisions made along the direction of Ranger s lines close and heal more rapidly. 

CO is one of the few molecules that can also be observed by its emission lines at millimeter wavelengths in diffuse clouds. The order of magnitude higher spectral resolution of these measurements shows CO line widths <0.5 km s in the Oph cloud, which indicates that the molecule exists in gas with a kinetic temperature T <100 K a hot component of shocked CO is apparently excluded (Langer et aJ. 1987, see Figure 3 in 7). CO millimeter observations for other diffuse clouds would be valuable. 

Libnow, S., Methling, K., Hein, M., Michalik, D., Harms, M Wende, K., Flemming, A., Kockerling, M., Reinke, H., Bednarski, P.J., Lalk, M., and Langer, P. (2008) Synthesis of indirubin-V-glycosides and their anti-proliferative activity against human cancer cell lines. Bioorg. Med. Chem., 16, 5570-5583. 

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