Fast 3D coronary artery contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography with magnetization transfer contrast, fat suppression and parallel imaging as applied on an anthropomorphic moving heart phantom

A magnetic resonance sequence for high-resolution imaging of coronary arteries in a very short acquisition time is presented. The technique is based on fast low-angle shot and uses fat saturation and magnetization transfer contrast prepulses to improve image contrast. GeneRalized Autocalibrating Partially Parallel Acquisitions (GRAPPA) is implemented to shorten acquisition time. The sequence was tested on a moving anthropomorphic silicone heart phantom where the coronary arteries were filled with a gadolinium contrast agent solution, and imaging was performed at varying heart rates using GRAPPA. The clinical relevance of the phantom was validated by comparing the myocardial relaxation times of the phantom's homogeneous silicone cardiac wall to those of humans. Signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio were higher when parallel imaging was used, possibly benefiting from the acquisition of one partition per heartbeat. Another advantage of parallel imaging for visualizing the coronary arteries is that the entire heart can be imaged within a few breath-holds.     

Hyperbranched PEG by Random Copolymerization of Ethylene Oxide and Glycidol

The synthesis of hyperbranched poly(ethylene glycol) (hbPEG) in one step was realized by random copolymerization of ethylene oxide and glycidol, leading to a biocompatible, amorphous material with multiple hydroxyl functionalities. A series of copolymers with moderate polydispersity ( < 1.8) was obtained with varying glycidol content (3–40 mol‐%) and molecular weights up to 49 800 g mol⁻¹. The randomly branched structure of the copolymers was confirmed by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and thermal analysis (differential scanning calorimetry). MTS assay demonstrated low cell toxicity of the hyperbranched PEG, comparable to the highly established linear PEG.

     

JKR adhesion in cylindrical contacts

Planar JKR adhesive solutions use the half-plane assumption and do not permit calculation of indenter approach or visualization of adhesive force–displacement curves unless the contact is periodic. By considering a conforming cylindrical contact and using an arc crack analogy, we obtain closed-form indenter approach and load–contact size relations for a planar adhesive problem. The contact pressure distribution is also obtained in closed-form. The solutions reduce to known cases in both the adhesion-free and small-contact solution (Barquins, 1988) limits. The cylindrical system shows two distinct regimes of adhesive behavior; in particular, contact sizes exceeding the critical (maximum) size seen in adhesionless contacts are possible. The effects of contact confinement on adhesive behavior are investigated. Some special cases are considered, including contact with an initial neat-fit and the detachment of a rubbery cylinder from a rigid cradle. A comparison of the cylindrical solution with the half-plane adhesive solution is carried out, and it indicates that the latter typically underestimates the adherence force. The cylindrical adhesive system is novel in that it possesses stable contact states that may not be attained even on applying an infinite load in the absence of adhesion.     

Scaling and mesostructure of Carbopol dispersions

Rheological measurements were performed on aqueous dispersions of two commercial crosslinked polymer microgels, Carbopol Ultrez 10 and Carbopol ETD 2050, prepared over a wide range of concentration and pH. For all concentrations studied, both the yield stress and the elastic modulus initially increased dramatically with pH and displayed broad peaks at intermediate pH. This is consistent with the onset of jamming of the Carbopol particles due to a rapid increase in particle size caused by osmotic swelling in the presence of NaOH. Scaling of both yield stress and elasticity with concentration was observed only at higher concentrations, which we believe indicates a change from a percolated structure at low volume fractions to a space filling network of compressed particles at high volume fractions. This model is supported by confocal microscopy of fluorescently dyed Carbopol dispersions.     

Triplex-directed covalent cross-linking of a DNA nanostructure

The triplex approach to DNA recognition is exploited to direct covalent inter-strand cross-links to unique locations within a pre-assembled DNA nanostructure. This approach can be used to improve the stability of DNA nanostructures and demonstrates the feasibility of directing other reactive groups to unique locations within these complexes.     

Latent energy of deformation of bisphenol A polycarbonate

The thermodynamic behavior of poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (PC) during uniaxial cold drawing and the properties of the drawn polymer were examined. Isothermal deformation calorimetric measurements were made during the drawing process. The deformation calorimeter measures heat, work, and internal energy changes for deformation. It was found that PC exhibited nonideal plasticity with approximately 50–80% of the work of deformation dissipated as heat. The remainder of the work of deformation was stored as a latent internal energy change. The value of the internal energy change was dependent on strain rate at 20°C but was not strongly dependent on temperature in the range 20–65°C. Thermomechanical measurements on cold-drawn PC samples demonstrated striking behavior at temperatures far below the glass transition temperature T_g. Stress-temperature experiments showed that the stress increased for uniaxially constrained samples, and this stress increase began at temperatures just above the deformation temperature. Additional experiments indicated that the changes which took place during cold drawing were physical in nature and were thermoreversible. These changes in physical properties are related to those which occur due to physical aging below T_g.     

Completely classifying all vertex-transitive and edge-transitive polyhedra

Recently A. Dress completed the classification of the regular polyhedra in E ³ by adding one class to the enumeration given by Grünbaum on this subject. This classification is the only systematic study of a collection of polyhedra possessing special symmetries which uses the generalized definition of a polygon allowing for skew polygons as well as planar polygons in E ³. This study gives necessary conditions for polyhedra to be vertex-transitive and edge-transitive. These conditions are restrictive enough to make the task of completely enumerating such polyhedra realizable and efficient. Examples of this process are given, and an explanation of the basic process is discussed. These new polyhedra are appearing more frequently in applications of geometry, and this examination is a beginning of the classifications of polyhedra having special symmetries even though there are many other such classes which lack this scrutiny.