Metabolic rate measurement system

The Metabolic Rate Measurement System (MRMS) is an uncomplicated and accurate apparatus for measuring oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of a test subject. From this one can determine the subject's metabolic rate for a variety of conditions, such as resting or light exercise. MRMS utilizes an LSI/11-03 microcomputer to monitor and control the experimental apparatus

A microprocessor-based cardiotachometer

The development of a highly accurate and reliable cardiotachometer for measuring the heart rate of test subjects is discussed. It measures heart rate over the range of 30 to 250 beats/minute and gives instantaneous (beat to beat) updates on the system output so that occasional noise artifacts or ectopic beats could be more easily identified except that occasional missed beats caused by switching ECG leads should not cause a change in the output. The cardiotachometer uses an improved analog filter and R-wave detector and an Intel 8080A microprocessor to handle all of the logic and arithmetic necessary. By using the microprocessor, future hardware modifications could easily be made if functional changes were needed

Network and user interface for PAT DOME virtual motion environment system

The Device for Orientation and Motion Environments Preflight Adaptation Trainer (DOME PAT) provides astronauts a virtual microgravity sensory environment designed to help alleviate tye symptoms of space motion sickness (SMS). The system consists of four microcomputers networked to provide real time control, and an image generator (IG) driving a wide angle video display inside a dome structure. The spherical display demands distortion correction. The system is currently being modified with a new graphical user interface (GUI) and a new Silicon Graphics IG. This paper will concentrate on the new GUI and the networking scheme. The new GUI eliminates proprietary graphics hardware and software, and instead makes use of standard and low cost PC video (CGA) and off the shelf software (Microsoft's Quick C). Mouse selection for user input is supported. The new Silicon Graphics IG requires an Ethernet interface. The microcomputer known as the Real Time Controller (RTC), which has overall control of the system and is written in Ada, was modified to use the free public domain NCSA Telnet software for Ethernet communications with the Silicon Graphics IG. The RTC also maintains the original ARCNET communications through Novell Netware IPX with the rest of the system. The Telnet TCP/IP protocol was first used for real-time communication, but because of buffering problems the Telnet datagram (UDP) protocol needed to be implemented. Since the Telnet modules are written in C, the Adap pragma 'Interface' was used to interface with the network calls

Using virtual environment technology for preadapting astronauts to the novel sensory conditions of microgravity

A unique training device is being developed at the Johnson Space Center Neurosciences Laboratory to help reduce or eliminate Space Motion Sickness (SMS) and spatial orientation disturbances that occur during spaceflight. The Device for Orientation and Motion Environments Preflight Adaptation Trainer (DOME PAT) uses virtual reality technology to simulate some sensory rearrangements experienced by astronauts in microgravity. By exposing a crew member to this novel environment preflight, it is expected that he/she will become partially adapted, and thereby suffer fewer symptoms inflight. The DOME PAT is a 3.7 m spherical dome, within which a 170 by 100 deg field of view computer-generated visual database is projected. The visual database currently in use depicts the interior of a Shuttle spacelab. The trainee uses a six degree-of-freedom, isometric force hand controller to navigate through the virtual environment. Alternatively, the trainee can be 'moved' about within the virtual environment by the instructor, or can look about within the environment by wearing a restraint that controls scene motion in response to head movements. The computer system is comprised of four personal computers that provide the real time control and user interface, and two Silicon Graphics computers that generate the graphical images. The image generator computers use custom algorithms to compensate for spherical image distortion, while maintaining a video update rate of 30 Hz. The DOME PAT is the first such system known to employ virtual reality technology to reduce the untoward effects of the sensory rearrangement associated with exposure to microgravity, and it does so in a very cost-effective manner

Macrophages enhance Vegfa-driven angiogenesis in an embryonic zebrafish tumour xenograft model

Tumour angiogenesis has long been a focus of anti-cancer therapy; however, anti-angiogenic cancer treatment strategies have had limited clinical success. Tumour-associated myeloid cells are believed to play a role in the resistance of cancer towards anti-angiogenesis therapy, but the mechanisms by which they do this are unclear. An embryonic zebrafish xenograft model has been developed to investigate the mechanisms of tumour angiogenesis and as an assay to screen anti-angiogenic compounds. In this study, we used cell ablation techniques to remove either macrophages or neutrophils and assessed their contribution towards zebrafish xenograft angiogenesis by quantitating levels of graft vascularisation. The ablation of macrophages, but not neutrophils, caused a strong reduction in tumour xenograft vascularisation and time-lapse imaging demonstrated that tumour xenograft macrophages directly associated with the migrating tip of developing tumour blood vessels. Finally, we found that, although macrophages are required for vascularisation in xenografts that either secrete VEGFA or overexpress zebrafish vegfaa, they are not required for the vascularisation of grafts with low levels of VEGFA, suggesting that zebrafish macrophages can enhance Vegfa-driven tumour angiogenesis. The importance of macrophages to this angiogenic response suggests that this model could be used to further investigate the interplay between myeloid cells and tumour vascularisation

Immunoresponsive Gene 1 Augments Bactericidal Activity of Macrophage-Lineage Cells by Regulating β-Oxidation-Dependent Mitochondrial ROS Production

SummaryEvidence suggests the bactericidal activity of mitochondria-derived reactive oxygen species (mROS) directly contributes to killing phagocytozed bacteria. Infection-responsive components that regulate this process remain incompletely understood. We describe a role for the mitochondria-localizing enzyme encoded by Immunoresponsive gene 1 (IRG1) during the utilization of fatty acids as a fuel for oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and associated mROS production. In a zebrafish infection model, infection-responsive expression of zebrafish irg1 is specific to macrophage-lineage cells and is regulated cooperatively by glucocorticoid and JAK/STAT signaling pathways. Irg1-depleted macrophage-lineage cells are impaired in their ability to utilize fatty acids as an energy substrate for OXPHOS-derived mROS production resulting in defective bactericidal activity. Additionally, the requirement for fatty acid β-oxidation during infection-responsive mROS production and bactericidal activity toward intracellular bacteria is conserved in murine macrophages. These results reveal IRG1 as a key component of the immunometabolism axis, connecting infection, cellular metabolism, and macrophage effector function

Vertical distribution of sub-micron aerosol chemical composition from North-Western Europe and the North-East Atlantic

A synthesis of UK based airborne in-situ measurements of aerosol properties representing air masses from North-West Europe and the North-East Atlantic is presented. The major focus of the study is the vertical distribution of sub-micron aerosol chemical composition. Vertical profiles are derived from a Quadrupole Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (Q-AMS). Background sub-micron aerosol vertical profiles are identified and are primarily composed of organic matter and sulphate aerosol. Such background conditions occurred predominantly during periods associated with long-range air mass transport across the Atlantic. These instances may serve as useful model input of aerosol to Western Europe. Increased mass concentration episodes are coincident with European outflow and periods of stagnant/recirculating air masses. Such periods are characterised by significantly enhanced concentrations of nitrate aerosol relative to those of organic matter and sulphate. Periods of enhanced ground level PM<sub>2.5</sub> loadings are coincident with instances of high nitrate mass fractions measured on-board the aircraft, indicating that nitrate is a significant contributor to regional pollution episodes. The vertical structure of the sulphate and organic aerosol profiles were shown to be primarily driven by large-scale dynamical processes. The vertical distribution of nitrate is likely determined by both dynamic and thermodynamic processes, with chemical partitioning of gas phase precursors to the particle phase occurring at lower temperatures at the top of the boundary layer. Such effects have profound implications for the aerosol's lifetime and subsequent impacts, highlighting the requirement for accurate representation of the aerosol vertical distribution

Observations and comparisons of cloud microphysical properties in spring and summertime Arctic stratocumulus clouds during the ACCACIA campaign

Measurements from four case studies in spring and summer-time Arctic stratocumulus clouds during the Aerosol-Cloud Coupling And Climate Interactions in the Arctic (ACCACIA) campaign are presented. We compare microphysics observations between cases and with previous measurements made in the Arctic and Antarctic. During ACCACIA, stratocumulus clouds were observed to consist of liquid at cloud tops, often at distinct temperature inversions. The cloud top regions precipitated low concentrations of ice into the cloud below. During the spring cases median ice number concentrations (~ 0.5 L−1) were found to be lower by about a factor of 5 than observations from the summer campaign (~ 3 L−1). Cloud layers in the summer spanned a warmer temperature regime than in the spring and enhancement of ice concentrations in these cases was found to be due to secondary ice production through the Hallett–Mossop (H–M) process. Aerosol concentrations during spring ranged from ~ 300–400 cm−3 in one case to lower values of ~ 50–100 cm−3 in the other. The concentration of aerosol with sizes Dp > 0.5 μm was used in a primary ice nucleus (IN) prediction scheme (DeMott et al., 2010). Predicted IN values varied depending on aerosol measurement periods but were generally greater than maximum observed median values of ice crystal concentrations in the spring cases, and less than the observed ice concentrations in the summer due to the influence of secondary ice production. Comparison with recent cloud observations in the Antarctic summer (Grosvenor et al., 2012), reveals lower ice concentrations in Antarctic clouds in comparable seasons. An enhancement of ice crystal number concentrations (when compared with predicted IN numbers) was also found in Antarctic stratocumulus clouds spanning the H–M temperature zone; however, concentrations were about an order of magnitude lower than those observed in the Arctic summer cases but were similar to the peak values observed in the colder Arctic spring cases, where the H–M mechanism did not operate

Microphysical properties of cold frontal rainbands

Observations have been obtained within an intense (precipitation rates > 50 mm h−1 ) narrow cold-frontal rainband (NCFR) embedded within a broader region of stratiform precipitation. In situ data were obtained from an aircraft which flew near a steerable dual-polarisation Doppler radar. The observations were obtained to characterise the microphysical properties of cold frontal clouds, with an emphasis on ice and precipitation formation and development. Primary ice nucleation near cloud top (−55◦ C) appeared to be enhanced by convective features. However, ice multiplication led to the largest ice particle number concentrations being observed at relatively high temperatures (> −10◦ C). The multiplication process (most likely rime splintering) occurs when stratiform precipitation interacts with supercooled water generated in the NCFR. Graupel was notably absent in the data obtained. Ice multiplication processes are known to have a strong impact in glaciating isolated convective clouds, but have rarely been studied within larger organised convective systems such as NCFRs. Secondary ice particles will impact on precipitation formation and cloud dynamics due to their relatively small size and high number density. Further modelling studies are required to quantify the effects of rime splintering on precipitation and dynamics in frontal rainbands. Available parametrizations used to diagnose the particle size distributions do not account for the influence of ice multiplication. This deficiency in parametrizations is likely to be important in some cases for modelling the evolution of cloud systems and the precipitation formation. Ice multiplication has significant impact on artefact removal from in situ particle imaging probes