Automated Cardiomyocyte Isolation

Myocardial infarction is characterized by the death of cardiomyocytes, the fundamental contractile units of the heart. Due to the cardiomyocyte\u27s physiological importance, a more efficient and economical alternative to manual cell isolation is needed to obtain cells for in vitro studies. We designed a device that automates the teasing and mechanical agitation of heart tissue to obtain isolated cardiomyocytes. Through testing, our device met design goals for cell yield and viability while greatly reducing overall isolation duration and user interaction

Sclerosing lymphocytic lobulitis mimicking a tumor relapse in a young woman with a history of breast cancer

Sclerosing lymphocytic lobulitis or diabetic mastopathy is a benign entity with non-specific imaging features which can mimic breast carcinoma. It is a condition commonly associated with long standing diabetes and has also been linked with various auto-immune diseases. We present the case of a 27-year-old woman with a history of carcinoma of the left breast and otherwise unremarkable medical history, who developed sclerosing lymphocytic lobulitis in the right breast during follow-up

Dynamic load-balancing of finite element applications with the DRAMA library

The DRAMA library, developed within the European Commission funded (ESPRIT) project DRAMA, supports dynamic load-balancing for parallel (message-passing) mesh-based applications. The target applications are those with dynamic and solution-adaptive features. The focus within the DRAMA project was on finite element simulation codes for structural mechanics. An introduction to the DRAMA library will illustrate that the very general cost model and the interface designed specifically for application requirements provide simplified and effective access to a range of parallel partitioners. The main body of the paper will demonstrate the ability to provide dynamic load-balancing for parallel FEM problems that include: adaptive meshing, re-meshing, the need for multi-phase partitioning