Over-the-Rotor Liner Investigation via the NASA Langley Normal Incidence Tube

NASA Langley and Glenn Research Centers have collaborated on the usage of acoustic liners mounted very near or directly over the rotor of turbofan aircraft engines. This collaboration began over a decade ago with the investigation of a metallic foam liner. Similar to conventional acoustic liner applications, this liner was designed to absorb sound generated by the rotor-alone and rotor-stator interaction sources within the fan duct. Given its proximity to the rotor tips, the expectation was that the liner would also serve as a pressure release and thereby inhibit the amount of noise generated. Initial acoustic results were promising, but there was concern regarding potential aerodynamic penalties. Nevertheless, there were sufficient positive results to warrant further investigation. To that end, the current report presents results obtained in the NASA Langley Normal Incidence Tube for 20 acoustic liner candidates for the OTR application. The majority contain grooves at their surface, designed to minimize aerodynamic penalties caused by placing the liner in close proximity to the fan rotor tips. The intent is to assess the acoustic properties of each liner configuration, and in particular to assess the effects of including the grooves on the overall acoustic performance. An additional intent of this paper is to provide documentation regarding recent enhancements to the NASA Langley Normal Incidence Tube

The Youthful Appearance of the 2003 EL61 Collisional Family

We present new solar phase curve observations of the 2003 EL61 collisional family showing that all the members have light-scattering properties similar to the bright icy satellites and dwarf planets. Compared to other Kuiper Belt objects, the five family members we observe (2003 EL61, 2002 TX300, 2003 OP32, 2005 RR43, and 1995 SM55) have conspicuously neutral color (V-I = 0.6-0.8 mag) and flat phase curves at small phase angles (phase coefficients of 0.0 - 0.1 mag deg-1). Comparing the phase curves we observe for other icy Kuiper Belt objects to the phase curves of icy satellites, we find that the flat phase curves of the 2003 EL61 family are an indication they have high albedo surfaces coated with fresh ice in the last ~100 Myr. We examine possible resurfacing processes and find none that are plausible. To avoid the influence of cosmic radiation that darkens and reddens most icy surfaces on times scales > ~100 Myr, the family members must be unusually depleted in carbon, or else the collision that created the family occurred so recently that the parent body and fragments have not had time to darken. We also find a rotation period of 4.845 (+/- 0.003) h with amplitude 0.26 (+/- 0.04) mags for 2003 OP32.Comment: 12 pages, 3 tables, 4 figure

Pulvinar Projections to the Striatum and Amygdala in the Tree Shrew

Visually guided movement is possible in the absence of conscious visual perception, a phenomenon referred to as “blindsight.” Similarly, fearful images can elicit emotional responses in the absence of their conscious perception. Both capabilities are thought to be mediated by pathways from the retina through the superior colliculus (SC) and pulvinar nucleus. To define potential pathways that underlie behavioral responses to unperceived visual stimuli, we examined the projections from the pulvinar nucleus to the striatum and amygdala in the tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri), a species considered to be a prototypical primate. The tree shrew brain has a large pulvinar nucleus that contains two SC-recipient subdivisions; the dorsal (Pd) and central (Pc) pulvinar both receive topographic (“specific”) projections from SC, and Pd receives an additional non-topographic (“diffuse”) projection from SC (Chomsung et al., 2008). Anterograde and retrograde tract tracing revealed that both Pd and Pc project to the caudate and putamen, and Pd, but not Pc, additionally projects to the lateral amygdala. Using immunocytochemical staining for substance P (SP) and parvalbumin (PV) to reveal the patch/matrix organization of tree shrew striatum, we found that SP-rich/PV-poor patches interlock with a PV-rich/SP-poor matrix. Confocal microscopy revealed that tracer-labeled pulvino-striatal terminals preferentially innervate the matrix. Electron microscopy revealed that the postsynaptic targets of tracer-labeled pulvino-striatal and pulvino-amygdala terminals are spines, demonstrating that the pulvinar nucleus projects to the spiny output cells of the striatum matrix and the lateral amygdala, potentially relaying: (1) topographic visual information from SC to striatum to aid in guiding precise movements, and (2) non-topographic visual information from SC to the amygdala alerting the animal to potentially dangerous visual images

Poster Session

Posters Presented: Zarah Rahman & Jose E. Garcia, The Future that Flows Through Your Veins Meagan Farrell & Martha Brown, Reproductive System: Know the Risks Not the Myths Abstract: This project will be focused on the male and female reproductive system. There are many myths on this subject that, without being informed, can lead to false misconceptions on the subject. Through an informative video, important facts will be discussed and covered while myths are corrected. This includes problems that occur when trying to achieve pregnancy and health risks that may affect fertility in both males and females. Tips and information about what happens at a urologist and gynecologist appointment will be included to make the idea of scheduling a fertility appointment seem less foreign. Topics that may happen during an appointment will also be listed such as positive and negative impacts on sperm, or ovum, and how the age of the parents can affect the fetus’ health. Patient rights will also be enlightened, as well as the importance of receiving proper medical attention. Overall, the main goal of the project is to encourage and stress the importance of being open with your partner about any STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) or fertility problems before or while trying for a baby. Keywords: [reproductive, fertility, pregnancy, time, health, risks, myths, rights] Minh Luong & Madeline Ngo, Research of a New Medical Innovation: The Bioartificial Liver Teresa Dao, Sanchit Jain, and Angela Atkins, Diseases and Treatments of the Thyroi

In vitro assembly of a prohead-like structure of the Rhodobacter capsulatus gene transfer agent

AbstractThe gene transfer agent (GTA) is a phage-like particle capable of exchanging double-stranded DNA fragments between cells of the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus. Here we show that the major capsid protein of GTA, expressed in E. coli, can be assembled into prohead-like structures in the presence of calcium ions in vitro. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of uranyl acetate staining material and thin sections of glutaraldehyde-fixed material demonstrates that these associates have spherical structures with diameters in the range of 27–35 nm. The analysis of scanning TEM images revealed particles of mass ∼4.3 MDa, representing 101±11 copies of the monomeric subunit. The establishment of this simple and rapid method to form prohead-like particles permits the GTA system to be used for genome manipulation within the photosynthetic bacterium, for specific targeted drug delivery, and for the construction of biologically based distributed autonomous sensors for environmental monitoring

Acute Sterol O-Acyltransferase 2 (SOAT2) Knockdown Rapidly Mobilizes Hepatic Cholesterol for Fecal Excretion

The primary risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is LDL cholesterol, which can be reduced by increasing cholesterol excretion from the body. Fecal cholesterol excretion can be driven by a hepatobiliary as well as a non-biliary pathway known as transintestinal cholesterol efflux (TICE). We previously showed that chronic knockdown of the hepatic cholesterol esterifying enzyme sterol O-acyltransferase 2 (SOAT2) increased fecal cholesterol loss via TICE. To elucidate the initial events that stimulate TICE, C57Bl/6 mice were fed a high cholesterol diet to induce hepatic cholesterol accumulation and were then treated for 1 or 2 weeks with an antisense oligonucleotide targeting SOAT2. Within 2 weeks of hepatic SOAT2 knockdown (SOAT2HKD), the concentration of cholesteryl ester in the liver was reduced by 70% without a reciprocal increase in hepatic free cholesterol. The rapid mobilization of hepatic cholesterol stores resulted in a ∼ 2-fold increase in fecal neutral sterol loss but no change in biliary cholesterol concentration. Acute SOAT2HKD increased plasma cholesterol carried primarily in lipoproteins enriched in apoB and apoE. Collectively, our data suggest that acutely reducing SOAT2 causes hepatic cholesterol to be swiftly mobilized and packaged onto nascent lipoproteins that feed cholesterol into the TICE pathway for fecal excretion

Reduction of VLDL Secretion Decreases Cholesterol Excretion in Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1 Hepatic Transgenic Mice

An effective way to reduce LDL cholesterol, the primary risk factor of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, is to increase cholesterol excretion from the body. Our group and others have recently found that cholesterol excretion can be facilitated by both hepatobiliary and transintestinal pathways. However, the lipoprotein that moves cholesterol through the plasma to the small intestine for transintestinal cholesterol efflux (TICE) is unknown. To test the hypothesis that hepatic very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) support TICE, antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) were used to knockdown hepatic expression of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), which is necessary for VLDL assembly. While maintained on a high cholesterol diet, Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 hepatic transgenic (L1Tg) mice, which predominantly excrete cholesterol via TICE, and wild type (WT) littermates were treated with control ASO or MTP ASO. In both WT and L1Tg mice, MTP ASO decreased VLDL triglyceride (TG) and cholesterol secretion. Regardless of treatment, L1Tg mice had reduced biliary cholesterol compared to WT mice. However, only L1Tg mice treated with MTP ASO had reduced fecal cholesterol excretion. Based upon these findings, we conclude that VLDL or a byproduct such as LDL can move cholesterol from the liver to the small intestine for TICE

Reflecting on loss in Papua New Guinea

This article takes up the conundrum of conducting anthropological fieldwork with people who claim that they have 'lost their culture,' as is the case with Suau people in the Massim region of Papua New Guinea. But rather than claiming culture loss as a process of dispossession, Suau claim it as a consequence of their own attempts to engage with colonial interests. Suau appear to have responded to missionization and their close proximity to the colonial-era capital by jettisoning many of the practices characteristic of Massim societies, now identified as 'kastom.' The rejection of kastom in order to facilitate their relations with Europeans during colonialism, followed by the mourning for kastom after independence, both invite consideration of a kind of reflexivity that requires action based on the presumed perspective of another