Mimicking the cardiac cycle in intact cardiomyocytes using diastolic and systolic force clamps; measuring power output

A single isolated cardiomyocyte is the smallest functional unit of the heart. Yet, all single isolated cardiomyocyte experiments have been limited by the lack of proper methods that could reproduce a physiological cardiac cycle. We aimed to investigate the contractile properties of a single cardiomyocyte that correctly mimic the cardiac cycle.By adjusting the parameters of the feedback loop, using a suitably engineered feedback system and recording the developed force and the length of a single rat cardiomyocyte during contraction and relaxation, we were able to construct force-length (FL) relations analogous to the pressure-volume (PV) relations at the whole heart level. From the cardiac loop graphs, we obtained, for the first time, the power generated by one single cardiomyocyte.Here, we introduce a new approach that by combining mechanics, electronics, and a new type optical force transducer can measure the FL relationship of a single isolated cardiomyocyte undergoing a mechanical loop that mimics the PV cycle of a beating heart

An integrative approach to knowledge transfer and integration: Spanning boundaries through objects, people and processes

Knowledge transfer and integration is the main challenge in many knowledge management projects. This challenge follows from the observation that it is difficult to determine how and what knowledge may transfer from one person to another, from one team to another and from one network or organization to the next. A management attempt to deliberately organize specific knowledge transfer and integration between these entities is even a bigger challenge when considering the construction of knowledge as an outcome of social relations which is manifest in people doing things together through, “language, action and interaction” (Weick, 2001). Nevertheless the challenge of boundary spanning to facilitate knowledge transfer and integration between separate entities is widely discussed in literature and probed in many knowledge management projects (Brown & Duguid, 2000; Snyder et al., 200