Multiple mechanisms of spiral wave breakup in a model of cardiac electrical activity

It has become widely accepted that the most dangerous cardiac arrhythmias are due to reentrant waves, i.e., electrical wave(s) that recirculate repeatedly throughout the tissue at a higher frequency than the waves produced by the heart's natural pacemaker (sinoatrial node). However, the complicated structure of cardiac tissue, as well as the complex ionic currents in the cell, have made it extremely difficult to pinpoint the detailed dynamics of these life-threatening reentrant arrhythmias. A simplified ionic model of the cardiac action potential (AP), which can be fitted to a wide variety of experimentally and numerically obtained mesoscopic characteristics of cardiac tissue such as AP shape and restitution of AP duration and conduction velocity, is used to explain many different mechanisms of spiral wave breakup which in principle can occur in cardiac tissue. Some, but not all, of these mechanisms have been observed before using other models; therefore, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate them using just one framework model and to explain the different parameter regimes or physiological properties necessary for each mechanism (such as high or low excitability, corresponding to normal or ischemic tissue, spiral tip trajectory types, and tissue structures such as rotational anisotropy and periodic boundary conditions). Each mechanism is compared with data from other ionic models or experiments to illustrate that they are not model-specific phenomena. Movies showing all the breakup mechanisms are available at http://arrhythmia.hofstra.edu/breakup and at ftp://ftp.aip.org/epaps/chaos/E-CHAOEH-12-039203/ INDEX.html. The fact that many different breakup mechanisms exist has important implications for antiarrhythmic drug design and for comparisons of fibrillation experiments using different species, electromechanical uncoupling drugs, and initiation protocols. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.     

Diagnostic ultrasound artifacts during imaging of two-body interfaces: part 2--beam thickness artifact

A diagnostic ultrasound method is being developed for measuring surface contact areas at the tibio–femoral interface of a total knee replacement in a non-clinical industrial setting as an engineering design tool. As an initial step towards this, a previous study mathematically predicted the effect of ultrasound beam thickness on contact area measurements at a two-body interface. In the current study, a novel metal-on-polymer acoustic test object was constructed to create circular two-body interfaces of known geometry. The object was ultrasonically imaged, contact areas measured, and the results compared with the theoretical model previously developed.     

Superimposing two-dimensional gels to study genetic variation in malaria parasites.

Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is a valuable tool for studying genetic variation in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. It involves examining the position of protein spots in gel produced from different isolates. Some spots have been seen to vary, while others have had a constant position in all isolates so far examined. These invariant spots provide a reference frame to compare variations in other spots. This paper discusses the usefulness of digital image handling, warping and superimposition in a personal computer environment. Rather than produce a fully automatic interpretation system, we show how the computer may be used as a tool for manipulating gel images, although interpretation of the gels' features remains with the human expert. Autoradiographs are scanned on a desktop scanner, and the images in digital form can be displayed on a monitor attached to a personal computer. The coordinates of the invariant spots on each of several gels are identified by the user. Each of the gels is then warped so that the invariant spots of all the gels coincide as closely as possible. The variable spots are then examined. We have used both affine warping transformations, which match the invariant spots as closely as possible, and thin plate spline transformations, which match them exactly. Colour superimposition proved a useful way of examining the gels.     

Ultrasonic attenuation near the phase transition for the magnetic field induced excitonic phase in bismuth

The fluctuation contribution to the ultrasonic attenuation above T_c is shown to have a log T form similar to the log T components in properties of Kondo systems. The recent results by Mase et al. show this behaviour in bismuth.     

ICP-AES分析光谱条件对中药蒲公英无机元素吸收的影响

在全密闭植物工厂中水培种植中药蒲公英,以发射不同波段光谱的荧光灯及LED灯作为药材生长光源,并结合ICP–AES技术分析了不同光谱条件对蒲公英无机元素吸收和积累的影响。结果表明:(1)相近的光合有效辐射(PAR)条件下,单一红光R及混合光FLRB有利于水培蒲公英可食生物量的积累,单一蓝光B处理下可食生物量最低;(2)荧光灯FL条件下蒲公英地上部分常量无机元素含量比值为K∶Ca∶P∶Mg∶Na=79.74∶32.39∶24.32∶10.55∶1.00,微量无机元素含量比值为Fe∶Mn∶B∶Zn∶Cu=9.28∶9.71∶3.82∶2.08∶1.00;(3)峰值为660nm的红光有利于蒲公英对Ca,Fe,Mn,Zn元素的吸收,Cu元素含量受光谱条件的影响不明显;(4)蒲公英地上部分对Ca,Na,Mn,Zn四种元素的积累量均在纯红光R下最高,而对其余六种元素的积累量以混合光FLRB条件下最高。     

Photodynamic Priming Overcomes Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS)-Induced Platinum Resistance in Ovarian Cancer†

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widespread environmental contaminants linked to adverse outcomes, including for female reproductive biology and related cancers. We recently reported, for the first time, that PFAS induce platinum resistance in ovarian cancer, potentially through altered mitochondrial function. Platinum resistance is a major barrier in the management of ovarian cancer, necessitating complementary therapeutic approaches. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a light-based treatment modality that reverses platinum resistance and synergizes with platinum-based chemotherapy. The present study is the first to demonstrate the ability of photodynamic priming (PDP), a low-dose, sub-cytotoxic variant of PDT, to overcome PFAS-induced platinum resistance. Comparative studies of PDP efficacy using either benzoporphyrin derivative (BPD) or 5-aminolevulinic acid-induced protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) were conducted in two human ovarian cancer cell lines (NIH:OVCAR-3 and Caov-3). BPD and PpIX are clinically approved photosensitizers that preferentially localize to, or are partly synthesized in, mitochondria. PDP overcomes carboplatin resistance in PFAS-exposed ovarian cancer cells, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach to target the deleterious effects of environmental contaminants. Decreased survival fraction in PDP + carboplatin treated cells was accompanied by decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, suggesting that PDP modulates the mitochondrial membrane, reducing membrane potential and re-sensitizing ovarian cancer cells to carboplatin.