Determining the relative permeability and conductivity of thin materials

In order to determine the relative permeability and conductivity of thin materials that could not be found using traditional methods, we constructed a shield box and developed a measuring system to estimate the unknown electric parameters of exotic shielding materials such as thin cloths. Thin electromagnetic shielding sheets of both nonmagnetic materials and ferromagnetic materials were used. The shielding effectiveness of the materials was measured as a function of frequency, and the results were compared with the calculated solutions for a multilayered model that was evaluated using the Sommerfeld integral that expresses near-field spherical waves by a composition of cylindrical waves. In these calculations, the relative permeability and conductivity were varied to determine the solution closest to the measured results. The least squares method was used to determine the best fitted values. Initially the nominal values of relative permeability were assumed, and the conductivity was found using the fitting technique. Then this determined value of the conductivity was assumed, and the relative permeability was found using the fitting technique. For the nonmagnetic materials, the estimated relative permeability was the same as the nominal values. For the ferromagnetic materials, the estimated relative permeability varied 0 percent -30 percent from the nominal values. For both types of materials, the estimated conductivities were 0 percent -9.8 percent different from nominal values. This research details a new method for evaluating the attenuation of interfering electromagnetic waves for thin materials

Three-Body Halos. II. from Two- to Three-Body Asymptotics

The large distance behavior of weakly bound three-body systems is investigated. The Schr\"{o}dinger equation and the Faddeev equations are reformulated by an expansion in eigenfunctions of the angular part of a corresponding operator. The resulting coupled set of effective radial equations are then derived. Both two- and three-body asymptotic behavior are possible and their relative importance is studied for systems where subsystems may be bound. The system of two nucleons outside a core is studied numerically in detail and the character of possible halo structure is pointed out and investigated.Comment: 16 pages, compressed and uuencoded PosrScript file, IFA-94/3

Metabolomics with LC-QTOF-MS Permits the Prediction of Disease Stage in Aortic Abdominal Aneurysm Based on Plasma Metabolic Fingerprint

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a permanent and localized aortic dilation, defined as aortic diameter ≥3 cm. It is an asymptomatic but potentially fatal condition because progressive enlargement of the abdominal aorta is spontaneously evolving towards rupture

Correlations in a Many-Body Calculation of 11^{\bf 11}Li

A many-body calculation of $^{11}$Li is presented where the only input is the well-tested, finite-range {\it D1S} effective interaction of {\it Gogny}. Pairing correlations are included in a constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov calculation, while long-range collective correlations are introduced using a GCM derived calculation. Correlations are found to play an important role in describing $^{11}$Li. A substantive underlying $^9$Li core of $^{11}$Li is found, which has a different density profile than a free $^9$Li nucleus. This may have significant implications in the use of a three-body framework in studies of $^{11}$Li.Comment: 23 pages typeset in revtex 2.0 with 8 postscript figures in accompanying uuencoded fil

Pharmacological preconditioning in type 2 diabetic rat hearts: the roles of mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium channels and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt pathway.

PURPOSE: The authors examined whether olprinone, a phosphodiesterase type 3 inhibitor, or isoflurane, a volatile anesthetic, could protect the heart against myocardial infarction in type 2 diabetic rats and whether the underlying mechanisms involve protein kinase C (PKC), mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium (m-K(ATP)) channels, or the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt pathway. METHODS: All rats underwent 30 min of coronary artery occlusion followed by 2 h of reperfusion. Wistar rats received isoflurane or olprinone before ischemia with or without the PKC inhibitor chelerythrine (CHE), the m-K(ATP) channel blocker 5-hydroxydecanoic acid (5HD), or the PI3K-Akt inhibitor LY294002 (LY). Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats were randomly assigned to receive isoflurane or olprinone. In another group, GK rats received LY before the olprinone. RESULTS: In the Wistar rats, both isoflurane (38 +/- 11%) and olprinone (40 +/- 11%) reduced infarct size as compared to the control group (59 +/- 8%). In the GK rats, olprinone (41 +/- 9%) but not isoflurane (53 +/- 11%) reduced infarct size as compared to the GK control group (58 +/- 14%). The beneficial effects of olprinone were blocked by LY (58 +/- 14%). In the Wistar rats, CHE, 5HD, and LY prevented isoflurane-induced reductions of infarct size. On the other hand, LY but not CHE or 5HD prevented olprinone-induced reductions of infarct size. CONCLUSIONS: Olprinone but not isoflurane protects the heart against myocardial infarction in type 2 diabetic rats. The olprinone-induced cardioprotective effect is mediated by the PI3K-Akt pathway but not PKC or m-K(ATP) channels

OAZ-t/OAZ3 Is Essential for Rigid Connection of Sperm Tails to Heads in Mouse

Polyamines are known to play important roles in the proliferation and differentiation of many types of cells. Although considerable amounts of polyamines are synthesized and stored in the testes, their roles remain unknown. Ornithine decarboxylase antizymes (OAZs) control the intracellular concentration of polyamines in a feedback manner. OAZ1 and OAZ2 are expressed ubiquitously, whereas OAZ-t/OAZ3 is expressed specifically in germline cells during spermiogenesis. OAZ-t reportedly binds to ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and inactivates ODC activity. In a prior study, polyamines were capable of inducing a frameshift at the frameshift sequence of OAZ-t mRNA, resulting in the translation of OAZ-t. To investigate the physiological role of OAZ-t, we generated OAZ-t–disrupted mutant mice. Homozygous OAZ-t mutant males were infertile, although the polyamine concentrations of epididymides and testes were normal in these mice, and females were fertile. Sperm were successfully recovered from the epididymides of the mutant mice, but the heads and tails of the sperm cells were easily separated in culture medium during incubation. Results indicated that OAZ-t is essential for the formation of a rigid junction between the head and tail during spermatogenesis. The detached tails and heads were alive, and most of the headless tails showed straight forward movement. Although the tailless sperm failed to acrosome-react, the heads were capable of fertilizing eggs via intracytoplasmic sperm injection. OAZ-t likely plays a key role in haploid germ cell differentiation via the local concentration of polyamines

Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases and Compartmentation in Normal and Diseased Heart

International audienceCyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) degrade the second messengers cAMP and cGMP, thereby regulating multiple aspects of cardiac function. This highly diverse class of enzymes encoded by 21 genes encompasses 11 families which are not only responsible for the termination of cyclic nucleotide signalling, but are also involved in the generation of dynamic microdomains of cAMP and cGMP controlling specific cell functions in response to various neurohormonal stimuli. In myocardium, the PDE3 and PDE4 families are predominant to degrade cAMP and thereby regulate cardiac excitation-contraction coupling. PDE3 inhibitors are positive inotropes and vasodilators in human, but their use is limited to acute heart failure and intermittent claudication. PDE5 is particularly important to degrade cGMP in vascular smooth muscle, and PDE5 inhibitors are used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. However, these drugs do not seem efficient in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. There is experimental evidence that these PDEs as well as other PDE families including PDE1, PDE2 and PDE9 may play important roles in cardiac diseases such as hypertrophy and heart failure. After a brief presentation of the cyclic nucleotide pathways in cardiac cells and the major characteristics of the PDE superfamily, this chapter will present their role in cyclic nucleotide compartmentation and the current use of PDE inhibitors in cardiac diseases together with the recent research progresses that could lead to a better exploitation of the therapeutic potential of these enzymes in the future

Biological characteristics of a cold-adapted influenza A virus mutation residing on a polymerase gene

The biological function of a cold-adapted (ca) mutation residing on the PB2 gene of an influenza A/Ann Arbor/6/60 (A/AA/6/60) ca variant virus in the viral replication cycle at 25° C was studied. The viral polypeptide synthesis of A/AA/6/60 ca variant at 25° C was evident approximately 6 hours earlier than the wild type (wt) virus and yielded twice as many products. The quantitative analysis of viral complementary RNA (cRNA), synthesized in the presence of cycloheximide, revealed that A/AA/6/60 ca variant and a single gene reassortant that contains only the PB2 gene of the ca variant with remaining genes of the wt virus produced equal amount of cRNA at 25° and 33° C, which was an amount approximately four fold greater than the wt virus' cRNA synthesized at 25° C. These results strongly suggest that the ca mutation residing on the PB2 gene of A/AA/6/60 ca variant affects the messenger RNA synthesis at 25° C in the primary transcription.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41692/1/705_2005_Article_BF01310893.pd

ICAR: endoscopic skull‐base surgery

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