6,847 research outputs found
Localized Activation of Bending in Proximal, Medial and Distal Regions of Sea-Urchin Sperm Flagella
Spermatozoa from the sea urchin, Colobocentrotus atratus, were partially demembranated by extraction with solutions containing Triton X-100 at a concentration which was insufficient to solubilize the membranes completely. The resulting suspension was a mixture containing some spermatozoa in which a proximal, medial, or distal portion of the flagellum was membrane-covered, while the remaining portion was naked axoneme. In reactivating solutions containing 12 µM ATP, only the naked portions of the flagellum became motile. In reactivating solutions containing 0.8 mM ADP, the membrane-covered regions became motile and beat at 6-10 beats/s, while the naked regions remained immobile, or beat very slowly at about 0.3 beat/s. Activation of membrane-covered regions in ADP solutions probably results from the membrane restricting the diffusion of ATP which is formed from ADP by the axonemal adenylate kinase. The results indicate that any region of the flagellum has the capacity for autonomous beating, and that special properties of the basal end of the flagellum are not required for bend initiation. However, the beating of different regions of the flagellum is not completely independent, for in a fair number of spermatozoa the beating of the distal, membrane-covered region in 0.8 mM ADP was intermittent, and was turned on and off in phase with the much slower bending cycle in the proximal region of naked axoneme
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FES rehabilitation platform with real-time control and performance feedback.
Osteoporosis after spinal cord injury is associated with low-trauma fractures, and consequently with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. The loss of bone mass density (BMD) due to paraplegia can be reduced through cyclical electrically-induced muscle contractions. Here we propose an FES control system based on posture switching, that induces transient loading of the lower limbs during a set of standing postures. This aims to produce an increased, evenly distributed BMD, whilst minimising FES-induced muscle fatigue. Here we describe the design and assessment of the FES exercising platform, comprising a controllable multi-channel electrical stimulator and an instrumented standing frame. The platform supports standing and postural shifting, provides real-time human-in-the-loop FES control with on-line feedback to the user. The platforms is used to investigate the effect of regular exercise on the distribution of BMD in people with paraplegia
On boundary terms and conformal transformations in curved space-times
We intend to clarify the interplay between boundary terms and conformal
transformations in scalar-tensor theories of gravity. We first consider the
action for pure gravity in five dimensions and show that, on compactifing a la
Kaluza-Klein to four dimensions, one obtains the correct boundary terms in the
Jordan (or String) Frame form of the Brans-Dicke action. Further, we analyze
how the boundary terms change under the conformal transformations which lead to
the Pauli (or Einstein) frame and to the non-minimally coupled massless scalar
field. In particular, we study the behaviour of the total energy in
asymptotically flat space-times as it results from surface terms in the
Hamiltonian formalism.Comment: LaTeX 2e, 12 pages, no figure
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