Measuring the phase of vibration of spheres in a viscoelastic medium as an image contrast modality

Detection of calcifications in breast is an important problem in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Vibro-acoustography is a recently developed method that uses the radiation force of ultrasound to create images of the mechanical response of an object at a low frequency using the magnitude or phase of the response. Small spheres are used to explore the use of the phase of vibration as a contrast modality for use in detection and identification of calcifications in breast tissue. An experiment is presented to measure the magnitude and phase of vibration at different frequencies. The theoretical and experimental results are compared for spheres of two different sizes. Phase images are shown in which five spheres of different density can be clearly distinguished from each other. With phase measurements and images, it is demonstrated that predictable image contrast exists for spheres of different density embedded in a viscoelastic medium.     

Using hydrogen bonds to direct the assembly of crowded aromatics

This Minireview details the design, synthesis, and self-assembly of a new class of crowded aromatics that form columnar superstructures. The assembly of these subunits produces helical and polar stacks, whose assembly can be directed with electric fields. In concentrated solutions, these self-assembled helical rods exhibit superhelical arrangements that reflect circularly polarized light at visible wavelengths. Depending on the side chains employed, spin-cast films yield either polar monolayers or isolated strands of molecules that can be visualized with scanning probe microscopy. Also detailed herein are methods to link these mesogens together to produce monodisperse oligomers that fold into defined secondary conformations.     

Determination of molecular parameters for 1,3-butadiene and propylene using infrared tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy

A technique has been developed for the determination of molecular parameters, including infrared absorption line positions, strengths, and nitrogen-broadened half-widths for 1,3-butadiene (C(4)H(6)) and propylene (C(3)H(6)). The parameters for these two molecules are required for quantitation using Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS). These molecules have populations of highly overlapping infrared absorption lines in their room temperature spectra. The technique reported here provides a procedure for estimating the molecular parameters for these overlapping absorption lines from quantitative reference spectra taken with the TDLAS instrument at different pressures and concentrations. The system was developed for the quantitation of gaseous constituents in a single puff of cigarette smoke and this paper will describe the procedure and some of the factors that influence the accuracy of quantitation for 1,3-butadiene, including the approach taken to minimize the adverse effects of the absorption due to propylene in the same spectral region.     

Quad quantum cascade laser spectrometer with dual gas cells for the simultaneous analysis of mainstream and sidestream cigarette smoke

A compact, fast response, infrared spectrometer using four pulsed quantum cascade (QC) lasers has been applied to the analysis of gases in mainstream (MS) and sidestream (SS) cigarette smoke. QC lasers have many advantages over the traditional lead-salt tunable diode lasers, including near room temperature operation with thermoelectric cooling and single mode operation with improved long-term stability. The new instrument uses two 36 m, 0.3 l multiple pass absorption gas cells to obtain a time response of 0.1s for the MS smoke system and 0.4s for the SS smoke system. The concentrations of ammonia, ethylene, nitric oxide, and carbon dioxide for three different reference cigarettes were measured simultaneously in MS and SS smoke. A data rate of 20Hz provides sufficient resolution to determine the concentration profiles during each 2s puff in the MS smoke. Concentration profiles before, during and after the puffs also have been observed for these smoke constituents in SS smoke. Also, simultaneous measurements of CO(2) from a non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) analyzer are obtained for both MS and SS smoke. In addition, during this work, nitrous oxide was detected in both the MS and SS smoke for all reference cigarettes studied.     

Activation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors elicits pigment granule dispersion in retinal pigment epithelium isolated from bluegill

Background

In fish, melanin pigment granules in the retinal pigment epithelium disperse into apical projections as part of the suite of responses the eye makes to bright light conditions. This pigment granule dispersion serves to reduce photobleaching and occurs in response to neurochemicals secreted by the retina. Previous work has shown that acetylcholine may be involved in inducing light-adaptive pigment dispersion. Acetylcholine receptors are of two main types, nicotinic and muscarinic. Muscarinic receptors are in the G-protein coupled receptor superfamily, and five different muscarinic receptors have been molecularly cloned in human. These receptors are coupled to adenylyl cyclase, calcium mobilization and ion channel activation. To determine the receptor pathway involved in eliciting pigment granule migration, we isolated retinal pigment epithelium from bluegill and subjected it to a battery of cholinergic agents.

Results

The general cholinergic agonist carbachol induces pigment granule dispersion in isolated retinal pigment epithelium. Carbachol-induced pigment granule dispersion is blocked by the muscarinic antagonist atropine, by the M₁ antagonist pirenzepine, and by the M₃ antagonist 4-DAMP. Pigment granule dispersion was also induced by the M₁ agonist 4-[N-(4-chlorophenyl) carbamoyloxy]-4-pent-2-ammonium iodide. In contrast the M₂ antagonist AF-DX 116 and the M₄ antagonist tropicamide failed to block carbachol-induced dispersion, and the M₂ agonist arecaidine but-2-ynyl ester tosylate failed to elicit dispersion.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that carbachol-mediated pigment granule dispersion occurs through the activation of M_odd muscarinic receptors, which in other systems couple to phosphoinositide hydrolysis and elevation of intracellular calcium. This conclusion must be corroborated by molecular studies, but suggests Ca²⁺-dependent pathways may be involved in light-adaptive pigment dispersion.

     

Microscopic theory of network glasses

A theory of the glass transition of network liquids is developed using self-consistent phonon and liquid state approaches. The dynamical transition and entropy crisis characteristic of random first-order transitions are mapped as a function of the degree of bonding and density. Using a scaling relation for a soft-core model to crudely translate the densities into temperatures, theory predicts that the ratio of the dynamical transition temperature to the laboratory transition temperature rises as the degree of bonding increases, while the Kauzmann temperature falls explaining why highly coordinated liquids are "strong" while van der Waals liquids without coordination are "fragile."     

Fourier transform spectroscopy of chemiluminescence from the AΠ-XΣ system of SrO

The A^′1Π-X¹Σ⁺ near infrared system of strontium oxide (SrO) was observed at high spectral resolution by measuring the chemiluminescence from a Broida flow reactor using a Fourier transform spectrometer. In total, 32 bands from , , were measured within the spectral region at a resolution of . Vibrational levels of the upper state were observed up to v_A^′=4, and more than 5600 rotational lines were assigned. Incorporating previously published high resolution data for the A¹Σ⁺-X¹Σ⁺ system, a global fit to both data sets yields improved Dunham constants for the ground state and for the lower vibrational levels (v_A^′=0, 1, and 2) of the A^′1Π state. Because perturbations arising from interactions with the b³Σ⁺ and A¹Σ⁺ states affect the higher vibrational levels of the A^′1Π state more strongly, levels v_A^′=3 and 4 were represented by effective band constants in the fits. RKR potentials for the X¹Σ⁺,A^′1Π, and b³Σ⁺ states have been generated utilizing all the available data, Franck-Condon factors have been calculated for the A^′1Π-X¹Σ⁺ system, and A^′1Π∼b³Σ⁺ and A^′1Π∼A¹Σ⁺ perturbations are discussed.     

Pressure-dependent Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of a poly (ester urethane)

The effects of hydrostatic pressure upon (1) a segmented poly (ester urethane), (2) a hydrolytically degraded sample of the same polymer, and (3) models for the polyurethane and polyester segments in this polymer have been studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy using high-pressure diamond anvil cells (DACs). The pressure responses of the vibrational frequencies of specific functional groups of the poly (ester urethane) in the 0-100-kbar range are compared with data for individual segment models and the partially degraded sample. The results indicated that the polymer is highly stable in this pressure regime, with no measurable degradation or phase changes. Differences in the pressure dependency of specific infrared bands between the poly (ester urethane) sample and the partially degraded sample are slight and consistent with changes in hydrogen-bonding interactions and shorter chain lengths in the degraded sample.     

Transient rheology of discotic mesophases

This paper presents an analysis of the role of orientation on the rheology of discotic mesophases subjected to slow shear start-up flows, using a projection of the Landau-de Gennes equations of nematodynamics. Analysis of the shear stress surface as a function of tilt and twist orientation with respect to the shear plane shows that the stress surface is dense in well-oriented and periodically located sets of maxima and minima. Thus overshoots and undershoot stress responses to shear-start up are predicted to be the rule rather than the exception. In-plane (within the shear plane) shear start-up stress responses can exhibit multiple, single, or no overshoots, depending on the number of maxima traversed on the way to steady state. Responses originating from orientations close to the vorticity axis lead to stress undershoots. Complex stress responses, such as a weak overshoot-strong undershoot sequence, are found for intermediate tilt-twist initial states. In-plane modes lead to amplitude and strain scaling. Out-of-plane modes do not display amplitude or strain scaling. These results provide will be useful to interpret and use transient shear rheological data of carbonaceous mesophases and highly filled suspensions of disc-like particles.