Physikalische Parameter extrakorporaler Stoßwellen

Prerequisites for the successful investigation of the mechanism of action of ESWT (extracorporeal shockwave therapy) and the establishment of treatment standards, are the ability to measure, and a knowledge of, the physical parameters involved. The most accurate measurements are obtained with laser hydrophones. Various parameters (amplitude, rise time, pulse width, pressure pulse decay, rarification phase) of a typical shock wave can thus be determined. These can then be used to calculate energy flux density, focal extent, focal volume and as well as focal energy, effective energy in a defined area, and effective biological energy. These parameters can be utilized to work out a theoretical treatment protocol

Proteomics Characterization of Cytoplasmic and Lipid-Associated Membrane Proteins of Human Pathogen Mycoplasma fermentans M64

Mycoplasma fermentans is a potent human pathogen which has been implicated in several diseases. Notably, its lipid-associated membrane proteins (LAMPs) play a role in immunomodulation and development of infection-associated inflammatory diseases. However, the systematic protein identification of pathogenic M. fermentans has not been reported. From our recent sequencing results of M. fermentans M64 isolated from human respiratory tract, its genome is around 1.1 Mb and encodes 1050 predicted protein-coding genes. In the present study, soluble proteome of M. fermentans was resolved and analyzed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. In addition, Triton X-114 extraction was carried out to enrich amphiphilic proteins including putative lipoproteins and membrane proteins. Subsequent mass spectrometric analyses of these proteins had identified a total of 181 M. fermentans ORFs. Further bioinformatics analysis of these ORFs encoding proteins with known or so far unknown orthologues among bacteria revealed that a total of 131 proteins are homologous to known proteins, 11 proteins are conserved hypothetical proteins, and the remaining 39 proteins are likely M. fermentans-specific proteins. Moreover, Triton X-114-enriched fraction was shown to activate NF-kB activity of raw264.7 macrophage and a total of 21 lipoproteins with predicted signal peptide were identified therefrom. Together, our work provides the first proteome reference map of M. fermentans as well as several putative virulence-associated proteins as diagnostic markers or vaccine candidates for further functional study of this human pathogen

Development of a high-performance haptic telemanipulation system with dissimilar kinematics

This work addresses selected practical issues regarding the development of a telerobotic system for 6-d.o.f. tasks. The system consists of a hyper-redundant 10-d.o.f. haptic input device ViSHaRD10, a redundant 7-d.o.f. manipulator and a stereo vision system. The redundancy of the haptic input device is exploited to assure large convex workspaces and singularity-free operation. The anthropomorphic construction of the telemanipulator enables intuitive manipulation and increases the user-friendliness of the overall system. As a practical benchmark, an assembly experiment in 6 d.o.f. for the case of a negligible time delay was performed. Issues regarding inverse kinematics, spatial interaction control, transparency and intuitiveness of teleoperation are discussed. © 2006 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Evaluation of an MR compatible Doppler ultrasound device as a new trigger method in cardiac MRI: a quantitative comparison

Auch erschienen als Abstract 5666, in ISMR