Spontaneous onset of atrial fibrillation

Most commonly, atrial fibrillation is triggered by rapid bursts of electrical impulses originating in the myocardial sleeves of pulmonary veins (PVs). However, the nature of such bursts remains poorly understood. Here, we propose a mechanism of bursting consistent with the extensive empirical information about the electrophysiology of the PVs. The mechanism is essentially non-local and involves the spontaneous initiation of non-sustained spiral waves in the distal end of the muscle sleeves of the PVs. It reproduces the experimentally observed dynamics of the bursts, including their frequency, their intermittent character, and the unusual shape of the electrical signals in the pulmonary veins that are reminiscent of so-called early afterdepolarizations (EADs).     

Fiber photo-catheters for laser treatment of atrial fibrillation

A fiber photo-catheter has been developed for surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation with laser radiation. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heart rhythm abnormality, which involves irregular and rapid heartbeats. Recent studies demonstrate the superiority of treating AF disease with optical radiation of the near-infrared region. To produce long continuous transmural lesions, solid-state lasers and laser diodes, along with end-emitting fiber catheters, have been used experimentally. The absence of side-emitting flexible catheters with the ability to produce long continuous lesions limits the further development of this technology. In this research, a prototype of an optical catheter, consisting of a flexible 10-cm fiber diffuser has been used to make continuous photocoagulation lesions for effective maze procedure treatments. The system also includes a flexible optical reflector, a series of openings for rapid self-attachment to the tissue, and an optional closed-loop irrigating chamber with circulating saline to cool the optical diffuser and irrigate the tissue.     

Characterization of patterned irregularity in locally interacting,spatially extended systems: Ventricular fibrillation

The re-entrant ventricular arrhythmias of monomorphic ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation are produced by abnormal spatio-temporal patterns of propagation in the ventricular myocardium. These behaviors can be described by solutions of reaction-diffusion equation excitable medium models. The direct comparison of such solutions with existing experimental observations is virtually impossible as there are too many factors to be taken into account, including not only the complicated dynamics of the re-entrant waves of excitation in the tissue, but also the way the appearance of these waves on the surface is modified by the inhomogeneity, anisotropy and three-dimensional nature of heart tissue. One way of indirect comparison is to compare characteristics of the complexity of the model and the real data, that are invariant under these modifications of the signal. Karhunen-Loeve decomposition is a standard tool for evaluating the complexity of multidimensional signals. A comparison of the separate and conjoint complexities of the signals on the opposite sides of the preparation can be considered as an indicator how much three-dimensional effects are essential in the preparation behavior. (c) 2001 American Institute of Physics.     

Impact of tissue geometry on simulated cholinergic atrial fibrillation: a modeling study

Atrial fibrillation (AF), arising in the cardiac atria, is a common cardiac rhythm disorder that is incompletely understood. Numerous characteristics of the atrial tissue are thought to play a role in the maintenance of AF. Most traditional theoretical models of AF have considered the atrium to be a flat two-dimensional sheet. Here, we analyzed the relationship between atrial geometry, substrate size, and AF persistence, in a mathematical model involving heterogeneity. Spatially periodic properties were created by variations in times required for reactivation due to periodic acetylcholine concentration [ACh] distribution. The differences in AF maintenance between the sheet and the cylinder geometry are found for intermediate gradients of inexcitable time (intermediate [ACh]). The maximum difference in AF maintenance between geometry decreases with increasing tissue size, down to zero for a substrate of dimensions 20 × 10 cm. Generators have the tendency to be anchored to the regions of longer inexcitable period (low [ACh]). The differences in AF maintenance between geometries correlate with situations of moderate anchoring for which rotor-core drifts between low-[ACh] regions occur, favoring generator disappearance. The drift of generators increases their probability of disappearance at the tissue borders, resulting in a decreased maintenance rate in the sheet due to the higher number of no-flux boundaries. These interactions between biological variables and the role of geometry must be considered when selecting an appropriate model for AF in intact hearts.     

The mechanism of lesion formation by focused ultrasound ablation catheter for treatment of atrial fibrillation

Acoustical Physics - The application of therapeutic ultrasound for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) is investigated. The results of theoretical and experimental investigation of ultrasound...     

Anti-synchronization of two different chaotic systems

In this paper, the anti-synchronization of two different chaotic systems is investigated. On the basis of a nonlinear control scheme and Lyapunov theory, sufficient conditions for the stability of the error dynamics are derived, where the controllers are designed by using the sum of the relevant variables in chaotic systems. Numerical simulations are performed for the Genesio-Rossler system to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.     

There are no Goldstone bosons in two dimensions

In four dimensions, it is possible for a scalar field to have a vacuum expectation value that would be forbidden if the vacuum were invariant under some continuous transformation group, even though this group is a symmetry group in the sense that the associated local currents are conserved. This is the Goldstone phenomenon, and Goldstone's theorem states that this phenomenon is always accompanied by the appearance of massless scalar bosons. The purpose of this note is to show that in two dimensions the Goldstone phenomenon can not occur; Goldstone's theorem does not end with two alternatives (either manifest symmetry or Goldstone bosons) but with only one (manifest symmetry).Work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 30819X and Grant No. 30738X.     

How different are the supermanifolds of Rogers and DeWitt?

A DeWitt supermanifold always has the structure of a vector bundle over an ordinary spacetime manifold, whereas a Rogers supermanifold is not so restricted. Corresponding to the vector space fibers of the DeWitt supermanifold, a Rogers supermanifold has a foliation by submanifolds, or leaves, parametrized by soul coordinates only. We show that the universal covering space of any leaf always admits a flat metric. If the covering space is complete in this metric, it must in fact be a vector space. We combine this result with known theorems about foliations to give conditions under which a compact Rogers supermanifold with a single even dimension is necessarily a quotient space of flat superspace. We also show that a supermanifold defined by a polynomial equation in flat superspace is always of the DeWitt type. Finally, we exhibit new supermanifold structures forR ² and the 2-torus which show that the foliation of a Rogers supermanifold can be quite exotic.Enrico Fermi Fellow. Research supported by the NSF: PHY 83-01221, and the Department of Energy: DE AC02-82-ER-40073     

不同结构混沌系统的自适应同步和反同步

针对不同结构混沌系统的同步与反同步问题进行了研究.在系统参数已知时,采用主动控制法实现混沌系统的同步与反同步,并将主动控制器的设计方法进行了推广.在参数未知时,基于Lyapunov稳定性理论和自适应控制方法,给出了自适应控制器和参数自适应律,实现了参数均未知且结构不同的驱动系统和响应系统的同步与反同步.在控制器的设计过程中,将驱动系统和响应系统进行互换,讨论了互换前后的控制器和自适应律之间的关系.数值仿真结果说明了所提出设计方法的有效性. 关键词： 混沌同步 反同步 主动控制法 自适应控制法     

Interference of two photons of different color

We consider the interference of two photons with different colors in the context of a Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment, in which single photons enter each of the input ports of a beam splitter, and exit together in the same, albeit undetermined, output port. Such interference is possible if one uses an active (energy-non-conserving) beam splitter. We find scenarios in which one “red” and one “blue” photon enter the beam splitter, and either two red or two blue photons exit, but never one of each color. We show how the precise form of the active beam-splitter transformation determines in what way the spectral degrees of freedom of the input photons should be related to each other for perfect destructive interference of the different-color components in the output. We discuss two examples of active beam splitters: one is a gedanken experiment involving a moving mirror and the other is a more realistic example involving four-wave mixing in an optical fiber.     

Generalized synchronization of two different chaotic systems

In this paper, generalized synchronization of two different chaotic dynamical systems is investigated. An active control is adopted to construct a response system which synchronizes with a given drive system for a function relation. Based on rigorous analysis, the error system is asymptotically stable at the equilibrium. Numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed theory.     

Noise effects in two different biological systems

We investigate the role of the colored noise in two biological systems: (i) adults of Nezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), and (ii) polymer translocation. In the first system we analyze, by directionality tests, the response of N. viridula individuals to subthreshold signals plus noise in their mating behaviour. The percentage of insects that react to the subthreshold signal shows a nonmonotonic behaviour, characterized by the presence of a maximum, as a function of the noise intensity. This is the signature of the non-dynamical stochastic resonance phenomenon. By using a “soft” threshold model we find that the maximum of the input-output cross correlation occurs in the same range of noise intensity values for which the behavioural activation of the insects has a maximum. Moreover this maximum value is lowered and shifted towards higher noise intensities, compared to the case of white noise. In the second biological system the noise driven translocation of short polymers in crowded solutions is analyzed. An improved version of the Rouse model for a flexible polymer is adopted to mimic the molecular dynamics by taking into account both the interactions between adjacent monomers and the effects of a Lennard-Jones potential between all beads. The polymer dynamics is simulated in a two-dimensional domain by numerically solving the Langevin equations of motion in the presence of thermal fluctuations and a colored noise source. At low temperatures or for strong colored noise intensities the translocation process of the polymer chain is delayed. At low noise intensity, as the polymer length increases, we find a nonmonotonic behaviour for the mean first translocation time of the polymer centre of inertia. We show how colored noise influences the motion of short polymers, by inducing two different regimes of translocation in the dynamics of molecule transport.     

Mechanochemistry and thermochemistry are different: stress-induced strengthening of chemical bonds

Most chemical reactions require activation which is conventionally supplied by heat. In stark contrast, mechanical activation by applied external forces opens intriguing novel possibilities. Here, the first direct comparison of mechanical versus thermal activation of bond breaking is provided. Studying both thiolate-copper interfaces and junctions provides evidence for vastly different reaction pathways and product classes. This is understood in terms of directional mechanical manipulation of coordination numbers and system fluctuations in the process of mechanical activation.     

Development of a computer algorithm for the detection of phase singularities and initial application to analyze simulations of atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia, but its mechanisms are incompletely understood. The identification of phase singularities (PSs) has been used to define spiral waves involved in maintaining the arrhythmia, as well as daughter wavelets. In the past, PSs have often been identified manually. Automated PS detection algorithms have been described previously, but when we attempted to apply a previously developed algorithm we experienced problems with false positives that made the results difficult to use directly. We therefore developed a tool for PS identification that uses multiple strategies incorporating both image analysis and mathematical convolution for automated detection with optimized sensitivity and specificity, followed by manual verification. The tool was then applied to analyze PS behavior in simulations of AF maintained in the presence of spatially distributed acetylcholine effects in cell grids of varying size. These analyses indicated that in almost all cases, a single PS lasted throughout the simulation, corresponding to the central-core tip of a single spiral wave that maintained AF. The sustained PS always localized to an area of low acetylcholine concentration. When the grid became very small and no area of low acetylcholine concentration was surrounded by zones of higher concentration, AF could not be sustained. The behavior of PSs and the mechanisms of AF were qualitatively constant over an 11.1-fold range of atrial grid size, suggesting that the classical emphasis on tissue size as a primary determinant of fibrillatory behavior may be overstated. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.     

Violations of local realism by two entangled N-dimensional systems are stronger than for two qubits

Tests of local realism versus quantum mechanics based on Bell's inequality employ two entangled qubits. We investigate the general case of two entangled quantum systems defined in N-dimensional Hilbert spaces, or " quNits." Via a numerical linear optimization method we show that violations of local realism are stronger for two maximally entangled quNits ( 3相似文献   

Model glasses coupled to two different heat baths

In a p-spin interaction spherical spin-glass model both the spins and the couplings are allowed to change with time. The spins are coupled to a heat bath with temperature T, while the coupling constants are coupled to a bath having temperature T_J. In an adiabatic limit (where relaxation time of the couplings is much larger that of the spins) we construct a generalized two-temperature thermodynamics. It involves entropies of the spins and the coupling constants. The application for spin-glass systems leads to a standard replica theory with a non-vanishing number of replicas, n=T/T _J . For p>2 there occur at low temperatures two different glassy phases, depending on the value of n. The obtained first-order transitions have positive latent heat, and positive discontinuity of the total entropy. This is an essentially non-equilibrium effect. The dynamical phase transition exists only for n<1. For p=2 correlation of the disorder (leading to a non-zero n) removes the known marginal stability of the spin glass phase. If the observation time is very large there occurs no finite-temperature spin glass phase. In this case there are analogies with the non-equilibrium (aging) dynamics. A generalized fluctuation-dissipation relation is derived. Received 12 July 1999 and Received in final form 8 December 1999     

Resonances of two phonons from different dispersion branches

The study of two-phonon resonances is extended to include resonances of two phonons from different branches of the dispersion curve. The condition for forming a resonance as a sharp peak in the two-phonon spectrum is derived. When the ‘effective masses” of the two phonons are nearly equal in magnitude, but opposite in sign, a resonance can be created by a relatively small value of the anharmonic coupling.     

Interference between different photons from two incoherent sources

Intensity interference fringes are observed by using two incoherent light-emitting diodes. It is verified that even an incoherent light interferes with another one.     

Two regularization types as two different Nambu-Iona-Lasinio models

The Nambu-Iona-Lasinio models with 4-dimensional cutting and dimensional-analytical regularization types are compared. It is demonstrated that they describe two different models of light quark interaction. In the average-field approximation, the behavior of the scalar amplitude differs in the threshold region. Unlike the 4-dimensional cutting regularization in which the pole term corresponding to a sigma-meson can be separated near the threshold, the singularity of the scalar amplitude in the dimensional-analytical regularization is non-pole; moreover, it disappears completely for a certain value of the regularization parameter. One more significant difference between the two models is in the first-order expansion of the average field. The calculated meson contributions to the quark chiral condensate and dynamic quark mass demonstrate that despite their relative smallness, they can destabilize the Nambu-Iona-Lasinio model with 4-dimensional cutting regularization. On the contrary, the model with dimensional-analytical regularization is stabilized, which is manifested through a shift of regularization parameter values toward the stability region in which the contributions themselves decrease. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 20–31, April, 2006.