Mechanical Ventilator for Delivery of 17O2 in Brief Pulses

The 17O nucleus has been used recently by several groups for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of cerebral metabolism. Inhalational delivery of 17O2 in very brief pulses could, in theory, have significant advantages for determination of the cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen (CMRO2) with MR imaging. Mechanical ventilators, however, are not typically capable of creating step changes in gas concentration at the airway. We designed a ventilator for large animal and human studies that provides mechanical ventilation to a subject inside an MR scanner through 25 feet of small-bore connecting tubing, and tested its capabilities using helium as a surrogate for 17O2. After switching the source gas from oxygen to helium, the 0-90% response time for helium concentration changes at the airway was 2.4 seconds. The capability for creating rapid step changes in gas concentration at the airway in large animal and human studies should facilitate the experimental testing of the delivery 17O2 in brief pulses, and its potential use in imaging CMRO2

Strong Coupling Correction in Superfluid 3^3He in Aerogel

Effects of impurity scatterings on the strong coupling (SC) contribution, stabilizing the ABM (axial) pairing state, to the quartic term of the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) free energy of superfluid $^3$He are theoretically studied to examine recent observations suggestive of an anomalously small SC effect in superfluid $^3$He in aerogels. To study the SC corrections, two approaches are used. One is based on a perturbation in the short-range repulsive interaction, and the other is a phenomenological approach used previously for the bulk liquid by Sauls and Serene [Phys.Rev.B 24, 183 (1981)]. It is found that the impurity scattering favors the BW pairing state and shrinks the region of the ABM pairing state in the T-P phase diagram. In the phenomenological approach, the resulting shrinkage of the ABM region is especially substantial and, if assuming an anisotropy over a large scale in aerogel, leads to justifying the phase diagrams determined experimentally.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Evolution of HCl Concentrations in the Lower Stratosphere from 1991 to 1996 Following the Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo

Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 25, No. 7, pp. 995-998, April 1, 1998.In situ measurements of hydrochloric acid in the lower stratosphere reveal that its mean abundance relative to that of total inorganic chlorine..

In-situ observations of an Antarctic polar stratospheric cloud: Similarities with Arctic observations

Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 23, pp. 1913-1916, July 15, 1996

Hypothermia after Acute Ischemic Stroke

Induced hypothermia after ischemic stroke is a promising neuroprotective therapy and is the most potent in pre-clinical models. Technological limitations and homeostatic mechanisms that maintain core body temperature, however, have limited the clinical application of hypothermia. Advances in intravascular cooling and successful trials of hypothermia after global cerebral ischemia, such as in cardiac arrest and neonatal asphyxia, have renewed interest in hypothermia for stroke

Observations of large reductions in NO/NOy ratio near the mid-latitude tropopause and the role of heterogeneous chemistry

Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 23, No. 22, pp. 3223-3226, November 1, 1996.During the 1993 NASA Stratospheric Photochemistry, Aerosols and Dynamics Expedition (SPADE), anomalously low nitric oxide (NO) was found in a distinct sunlit layer located above the mid-latitude tropopause..

Evaluating the role of NAT, NAD, and liquid H2SO4/H2O/HNO3 solutions in Antarctic polar stratospheric cloud aerosol: Observations and implications

Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 102, No. D11 pp. 13,255-13,282.Airborne measurements of total reactive nitrogen (NOy) and polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) aerosol particles were made in the Antarctic (68 degrees S) as part of the NASA Airborne Southern Hemisphere Ozone Experiment/Measurements for Assessing the Effects of the Stratospheric Aircraft (ASHOE/MAESA) campaign in late July 1994..

Non-linear mechanical response of the a-like phase of superfluid He-3 in aerogel.

We present measurements of the response of the A-like phase of superfluid He-3 in aerogel to an applied flow. The measurements are made using a cylindrical piece of 98% silica aerogel attached to a vibrating wire resonator. The resonator is immersed in superfluid He-3 at low temperatures and relatively high magnetic fields such that the aerogel confined superfluid is in the A-like phase, while the surrounding fluid is in the bulk B-phase. We observe a variety of interesting non-linear and hysteretic effects when the resonator is driven to higher velocities. We present some of our preliminary findings and speculate on their implications