Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2, an introduction and reports on twelve research projects.National Institutes of Health Grant R01 DC00117National Institutes of Health Grant R01 DC02032National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Grant 2 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant 2 R01 DC00270National Institutes of Health Contract N01 DC-5-2107National Institutes of Health Grant 2 R01 DC00100U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N61339-96-K-0002U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N61339-96-K-0003U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-97-1-0635U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-97-1-0655U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Subcontract 40167U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-96-1-0379U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-96-1-0202National Institutes of Health Grant RO1 NS33778Massachusetts General Hospital, Center for Innovative Minimally Invasive Therapy Research Fellowship Gran

Skin dynamics in the tactile sensing of shape

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, February 2000.Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-135).by Joshua P. Cycyk.S.M

A Passively Suspended Tesla Pump Left Ventricular Assist Device

Detail of hoof and texture of the hair; Both wild boars (a male and female) were created in 1926 and cast in 1929. Carl Milles created them on order from an English lord, Lord Melchett. There are multiple casts, and one set was eventually acquired by the Swedish Royal Court and can now be found at Ulriksdal Palace. Carl Milles sculpted many animals. He was often interested in heavyset, large animals, such as bears, elephants and wild boars. There is a beetle and a lizard between the front legs of the boar. The Cranbrook casts stand guard over the painted iron Nichols Gate, designed by Eliel Saarinen. Source: Millesgården [estate website]; http://www.millesgarden.se/ (accessed 7/22/2015

Electric Field Perturbations of Spiral Waves Attached to Millimeter-Size Obstacles

Reentrant spiral waves can become pinned to small anatomical obstacles in the heart and lead to monomorphic ventricular tachycardia that can degenerate into polymorphic tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. Electric field-induced secondary source stimulation can excite directly at the obstacle, and may provide a means to terminate the pinned wave or inhibit the transition to more complex arrhythmia. We used confluent monolayers of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes to investigate the use of low intensity electric field stimulation to perturb the spiral wave. A hole 2–4 mm in diameter was created in the center to pin the spiral wave. Monolayers were stained with voltage-sensitive dye di-4-ANEPPS and mapped at 253 sites. Spiral waves were initiated that attached to the hole (n = 10 monolayers). Electric field pulses 1-s in duration were delivered with increasing strength (0.5–5 V/cm) until the wave terminated after detaching from the hole. At subdetachment intensities, cycle length increased with field strength, was sustained for the duration of the pulse, and returned to its original value after termination of the pulse. Mechanistically, conduction velocity near the wave tip decreased with field strength in the region of depolarization at the obstacle. In summary, electric fields cause strength-dependent slowing or detachment of pinned spiral waves. Our results suggest a means to decelerate tachycardia that may help to prevent wave degeneration