Imaging aspects of cardiovascular disease at the cell and molecular level

Cell and molecular imaging has a long and distinguished history. Erythrocytes were visualized microscopically by van Leeuwenhoek in 1674, and microscope technology has evolved mightily since the first single-lens instruments, and now incorporates many types that do not use photons of light for image formation. The combination of these instruments with preparations stained with histochemical and immunohistochemical markers has revolutionized imaging by allowing the biochemical identification of components at subcellular resolution. The field of cardiovascular disease has benefited greatly from these advances for the characterization of disease etiologies. In this review, we will highlight and summarize the use of microscopy imaging systems, including light microscopy, electron microscopy, confocal scanning laser microscopy, laser scanning cytometry, laser microdissection, and atomic force microscopy in conjunction with a variety of histochemical techniques in studies aimed at understanding mechanisms underlying cardiovascular diseases at the cell and molecular level

Quantification of through drying rate data

For through drying there are three distinct drying rate periods, increasing rate, constant rate and falling rate. The increasing rate period is so important that nearly half of the drying is completed in this period only. A drying rate - moisture content relationship for this period was obtained based on theoretical analysis. It was verified with experimental data. A quantitative representation of the complete drying rate curve was established using this relationship and a modified power law equation for the falling rate period drying rate - moisture content relation. It needs five parameters to quantify the through drying from wet to dry: moisture content at the end of the increasing rate period; exponent for the drying rate - moisture relationship during the increasing rate period; constant drying rate; critical moisture content and the power-law exponent for the falling rate period

Combined impingement and through air drying of paper: A comprehensive model

A comprehensive model predicts combined impingement and through air drying time and the contribution in water removal from impingement and through flow. Experimental results verify the model. Prediction of drying time reduction for combined impingement and through air drying from that of pure impingement drying was made using the ratio of through flow mass flow rate to the total inlet air flow rate. The parameters considered included paper basis weight, drying air temperature, inlet air mass flow rate, paper initial moisture content, and two nozzle geometries. Through flow can significantly reduce the drying time from that of pure impingement drying. The reduction of drying time from that of impingement to that of pure through drying is highly nonlinear. The model can help in parameter selection for a CITAD dryer design

Prehistoric cognition by description: a Russellian approach to the upper paleolithic

A cultural change occurred roughly 40,000 years ago. For the first time, there was evidence of belief in unseen agents and an afterlife. Before this time, humans did not show widespread evidence of being able to think about objects, persons, and other agents that they had not been in close contact with. I argue that one can explain this transition by appealing to a population increase resulting in greater exoteric (inter-group) communication. The increase in exoteric communication triggered the actualization of a dormant potential for greater syntactic computational power; specifically it triggered syntactic movement. Syntactic movement, in turn, made possible variable binding, which crucially figures into cognition by description, a naturalistic analogue of Russell's knowledge by description. Cognition by description made possible the ability to conceive of things one had never experienced, such as mythological beings, places only visited by the dead, and so forth. The Amazonian Pirah (a) over tilde provide some corroboration for this hypothesis, since they exhibit the combination of traits here attributed to Middle Paleolithic individuals, namely exclusively esoteric (intra-group) communication, evident lack of syntactic movement, and a limitation to knowledge (cognition) by acquaintance