Solar Sails: Towards An Early Profitable PowerSat

Successful development of space solar power would provide vast quantities of clean electrical energy for the next few billion years. Such a prize is worth considerable effort and risk. However, the technical difficulties and the huge scale of proposed systems, requiring enormous up front costs and long development times, have prevented SSP from making much progress. If a way could be found to field a small SSP system profitably, even if limited to niche markets, operational progress could be made with relatively small investments over short time scales. This visualization explores the concept of a “thin-film heliogyro” – a solar sail - as a lower cost approach to producing energy in space and transmitting it to earth as an infrared (IR) power beam. Advisors: Al Globus, Tyler Ayres, John Bowditch Solar Sails: Towards an Early Profitable PowerSat from Space Communication Journal on Vimeo

In vitro spontaneous contractile activity of colonic smooth muscle in naive Lewis rats: Acute effect of gonadal hormones.

OBJECTIVE Functional gastrointestinal disorders affect females more often. Changes in colonic motility may be etiological co-factors for the clinical symptoms. The aim of the present study was to analyze the influence of gonadal hormones on colonic contractile activity. METHODS In vitro measurements of colonic contractile activity in longitudinal smooth muscle strips of female and male Lewis rats were performed in an organ chamber experiment. After the administration of a gonadal hormone estradiol [EST], progesterone [PROG] and testosterone [TEST]) or ethanol solution as control, stimulation with acetylcholine (ACh) or inhibition with norepinephrine (NE) was performed. RESULTS Compared to the smooth muscle strips of male rats, significantly higher spontaneous colonic contractile activity (SCCA) was observed in female animals. Increasing doses of ACh showed the progressive stimulation of SCCA whereas rising doses of NE resulted in a stepwise inhibition of SCCA, respectively. EST superfusion displayed an inhibitory effect on SCCA in both sexes and inhibited the ACh effect in female rats. Similarly, acute superfusion with high-dose PROG inhibited SCCA in females. Acute TEST superfusion inhibited SCCA in males and led to significant higher colonic contractile activity in males following subsequent stimulation with ACh. In female rats, the inhibitory effect of NE was reduced by prior exposure to TEST. CONCLUSION In our in vitro study the acute exposure of colonic smooth muscle tissue to gonadal hormones led to sex-dependent changes in SCCA and translated in a modified response of smooth muscle strips to both pro-contractile and anti-contractile neurotransmitters

Age, Gender, and Women’s Health and the Patient

Patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) often experience distress, reduced quality of life, a perceived lack of validation, and an unsatisfactory experience with health care providers. A health care provider can provide the patient with a framework in which to understand and legitimize their symptoms, remove self-doubt or blame, and identify factors that contribute to symptoms that the patient can influence or control. This framework is implemented with the consideration of important factors that impact FGIDs, such as gender, age, society, and the patient’s perspective. Although the majority of FGIDs, including globus, rumination syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, bloating, constipation, functional abdominal pain, sphincter of Oddi dyskinesia, pelvic floor dysfunction, and extraintestinal manifestations, are more prevalent in women than in men, functional chest pain, dyspepsia, vomiting, and anorectal pain do not appear to vary by gender. Studies have suggested sex differences in somatic, but not visceral, pain perception, motility, and central processing of visceral pain; although further research is required in autonomic nervous system dysfunction, genetics, and immunologic/microbiome. Gender differences in response to psychological treatments, antidepressants, fiber, probiotics, and anticholinergics have not been studied adequately. However, a greater clinical response to 5-HT3 antagonists but not 5-HT4 agonists has been reported in women compared with men