Strategies to improve electrode positioning and safety in cochlear implants

An injection-molded internal supporting rib has been produced to control the flexibility of silicone rubber encapsulated electrodes designed to electrically stimulate the auditory nerve in human subjects with severe to profound hearing loss. The rib molding dies, and molds for silicone rubber encapsulation of the electrode, were designed and machined using AutoCad and MasterCam software packages in a PC environment. After molding, the prototype plastic ribs were iteratively modified based on observations of the performance of the rib/silicone composite insert in a clear plastic model of the human scala tympani cavity. The rib-based electrodes were reliably inserted farther into these models, required less insertion force and were positioned closer to the target auditory neural elements than currently available cochlear implant electrodes. With further design improvements the injection-molded rib may also function to accurately support metal stimulating contacts and wire leads during assembly to significantly increase the manufacturing efficiency of these devices. This method to reliably control the mechanical properties of miniature implantable devices with multiple electrical leads may be valuable in other areas of biomedical device design.     

Spatial correlations of mobility and immobility in a glass-forming Lennard-Jones liquid

Using extensive molecular dynamics simulations of an equilibrium, glass-forming Lennard-Jones mixture, we characterize in detail the local atomic motions. We show that spatial correlations exist among particles undergoing extremely large ("mobile") or extremely small ("immobile") displacements over a suitably chosen time interval. The immobile particles form the cores of relatively compact clusters, while the mobile particles move cooperatively and form quasi-one-dimensional, stringlike clusters. The strength and length scale of the correlations between mobile particles are found to grow strongly with decreasing temperature, and the mean cluster size appears to diverge near the mode-coupling critical temperature. We show that these correlations in the particle displacements are related to equilibrium fluctuations in the local potential energy and local composition.     

Current-induced magnetic resonance phase imaging

Electric current-induced phase alternations have been imaged by fast magnetic resonance image (MRI) technology. We measured the magnetic resonance phase images induced by pulsed current stimulation from a phantom and detected its sensitivity. The pulsed current-induced phase image demonstrated the feasibility to detect phase changes of the proton magnetic resonance signal that could mimic neuronal firing. At the present experimental setting, a magnetic field strength change of 1.7 +/- 0.3 nT can be detected. We also calculated the averaged value of the magnetic flux density BT parallel to B0 produced by electric current I inside the voxel as a function of the wire position. The results of the calculation were consistent with our observation that for the same experimental setting the current-induced phase change could vary with location of the wire inside the voxel. We discuss our findings in terms of possible direct MRI detection of neuronal activity.     

Normalized cuts in 3-D for spinal MRI segmentation

Segmentation of medical images has become an indispensable process to perform quantitative analysis of images of human organs and their functions. Normalized Cuts (NCut) is a spectral graph theoretic method that readily admits combinations of different features for image segmentation. The computational demand imposed by NCut has been successfully alleviated with the Nystr?m approximation method for applications different than medical imaging. In this paper we discuss the application of NCut with the Nystr?m approximation method to segment vertebral bodies from sagittal T1-weighted magnetic resonance images of the spine. The magnetic resonance images were preprocessed by the anisotropic diffusion algorithm, and three-dimensional local histograms of brightness was chosen as the segmentation feature. Results of the segmentation as well as limitations and challenges in this area are presented.     

Following the solvent directly during ultrafast excited state proton transfer

Excited state intramolecular proton transfer in 1-chloroacetylaminoanthraquinone is investigated from the perspective of the solvent. Using a new two-dimensional nonlinear optical spectroscopy the solvent response is probed directly as the proton transfer takes place. The measurements indicate that solvent reorganization controls the proton transfer in acetonitrile by dynamically shifting the position of equilibrium in the excited state, even on subpicosecond time scales.     

Planar nets of Ti atoms comprising squares and rhombs in the new binary antimonide Ti2Sb

The new binary antimonide Ti(2)Sb was found to crystallize in a distorted variant of the La(2)Sb type, which contains a square planar La net with short La-La bonds. In the Ti(2)Sb structure, the corresponding Ti net is deformed to squares and rhombs in order to enhance Ti-Ti bonding, as proven by single-crystal X-ray investigation in combination with the real-space pair distribution function technique utilizing both X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data. Electronic structure calculations revealed a lowering of the total energy caused by the disorder, the major driving force being strengthened Ti-Ti interactions along the diagonal of the Ti(4) rhombs.     

Optimal control of coupled spin dynamics: design of NMR pulse sequences by gradient ascent algorithms

In this paper, we introduce optimal control algorithm for the design of pulse sequences in NMR spectroscopy. This methodology is used for designing pulse sequences that maximize the coherence transfer between coupled spins in a given specified time, minimize the relaxation effects in a given coherence transfer step or minimize the time required to produce a given unitary propagator, as desired. The application of these pulse engineering methods to design pulse sequences that are robust to experimentally important parameter variations, such as chemical shift dispersion or radiofrequency (rf) variations due to imperfections such as rf inhomogeneity is also explained.     

Construction of universal rotations from point-to-point transformations

For a desired range of offsets, universal rotations of arbitrary flip angle can be constructed based on point-to-point rotations of I(y) with half the flip angle. This approach allows, for example, creation of broadband or bandselective refocusing pulses from broadband or bandselective excitation pulses. Furthermore, universal rotations about any axis can be obtained from point-to-point transformations that can easily be optimized using optimal control algorithms. The construction procedure is demonstrated on the examples of a broadband refocusing pulse, a broadband 120(x) degrees rotation and a z-rotation with offset pattern.     

Prediction of a phase transition to a hydrogen bond ordered form of ice VI

Ice VI is a hydrogen bond disordered crystal over its known region of stability. In this work, we predict that ice VI will transform into a hydrogen bond ordered phase near 108 K, and have identified the likely low-temperature phase as ferroelectric (space group Cc) with an antiferroelectric structure (space group P2(1)2(1)2(1)) close by in energy. Electronic density functional theory calculations provide input to our calculations, which are extended to cells large enough for statistical simulations by using graph invariants. A significant decrease in the configurational entropy is predicted as hydrogen bonds exhibit partial order above the transition, provided that the hydrogen bonds can equilibrate on an experimental time scale. Conversely, partial disorder is predicted at temperatures below the transition. Although some evidence for ordering of ice VI has been observed in experiments, a low-temperature proton ordered phase has not been identified experimentally.     

Desymmetrization of glycerol derivatives with peptide-based acylation catalysts

[reaction: see text] Nucleophile-loaded peptides have been evaluated as catalysts for the desymmetrization of glycerol derivatives through an enantioselective acylation process. Enantiomeric excesses of up to 97% have been obtained for the monoacylated products. A range of other substrates have been examined that shed light on the mechanistic basis of the desymmetrizations.