Effect of blood's velocity on blood resistivity

Blood resistivity is an important quantity whose value influences the results of various methods used in the study of heart and circulation. In this paper, the relationship between blood resistivity and velocity of blood flow was evaluated and analyzed based upon a probe using six-ring electrodes and a circulatory model. The experimental results indicated that the change in blood resistivity was only ±1.1% when the velocity of blood flow changed from 2.83 to 40 cm/s and it rose to 23% when the velocity was lower than 2.83 cm/s

Theoretical and experimental studies of a novel cone-jet sensor

Modeling of a novel cone-jet sensor using two-dimensional (2-D) finite element analysis was investigated for dimensional measurement. Theoretical and experimental studies demonstrated that a cone-jet sensor supplied with air can be used to accurately measure displacement, and its work range of 1.5 to 4.2 mm is some ten times greater than a simple back-pressure sensor. It is anticipated that this type of sensor will find wide applications in manufacturing industry due to its wider working range, high precision, and other features

Effects of the size of the measured surface on the performance of an air cone-jet sensor for in-process inspection

This paper investigates the effects of the size of the measured surface on the performance of an air-jet sensor using 2-D finite element method. The modeling and experimental results have shown that in the measuring range of 1.5 mm to 4.5 mm with a nozzle of diameter of 6 mm, the output of the cone-jet is not significantly affected by the size change from 10 mm to 14 mm. It also proved that this particular sensor is not suitable for measuring an object with a size less than 9 mm

Optimization of sensor locations for measurement of flue gas flow in industrial ducts and stacks using neural networks

This paper presents a novel application of neural network modeling in the optimization of sensor locations for the measurement of flue gas flow in industrial ducts and stacks. The proposed neural network model has been validated with an experiment based upon a case-study power plant. The results have shown that the optimized sensor location can be easily determined with this model. The industry can directly benefit from the improvement of measurement accuracy of the flue gas flow in the optimized sensor location and the reduction of manual measurement operation with Pitot tube

Mitochondrial DNA Evidence for a Diversified Origin of Workers Building Mausoleum for First Emperor of China

Variant studies on ancient DNA have attempted to reveal individual origin. Here, based on cloning sequencing and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms, we analyzed polymorphisms in the first hypervariable region and coding regions of mitochondrial DNA of 19 human bone remains which were excavated from a tomb near the Terra Cotta Warriors and dated some 2,200 years before present. With the aim of shedding light on origins of these samples who were supposed to be workers building the mausoleum for the First Emperor of China, we compared them with 2,164 mtDNA profiles from 32 contemporary Chinese populations at both population and individual levels. Our results showed that mausoleum-building workers may be derived from very diverse sources of origin

Islet-Like Cell Aggregates Generated from Human Adipose Tissue Derived Stem Cells Ameliorate Experimental Diabetes in Mice

BACKGROUND: Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus is caused by auto immune destruction of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. Currently available treatments include transplantation of isolated islets from donor pancreas to the patient. However, this method is limited by inadequate means of immuno-suppression to prevent islet rejection and importantly, limited supply of islets for transplantation. Autologous adult stem cells are now considered for cell replacement therapy in diabetes as it has the potential to generate neo-islets which are genetically part of the treated individual. Adopting methods of islet encapsulation in immuno-isolatory devices would eliminate the need for immuno-suppressants. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study we explore the potential of human adipose tissue derived adult stem cells (h-ASCs) to differentiate into functional islet like cell aggregates (ICAs). Our stage specific differentiation protocol permit the conversion of mesodermic h-ASCs to definitive endoderm (Hnf3β, TCF2 and Sox17) and to PDX1, Ngn3, NeuroD, Pax4 positive pancreatic endoderm which further matures in vitro to secrete insulin. These ICAs are shown to produce human C-peptide in a glucose dependent manner exhibiting in-vitro functionality. Transplantation of mature ICAs, packed in immuno-isolatory biocompatible capsules to STZ induced diabetic mice restored near normoglycemia within 3-4 weeks. The detection of human C-peptide, 1155±165 pM in blood serum of experimental mice demonstrate the efficacy of our differentiation approach. CONCLUSIONS: h-ASC is an ideal population of personal stem cells for cell replacement therapy, given that they are abundant, easily available and autologous in origin. Our findings present evidence that h-ASCs could be induced to differentiate into physiologically competent functional islet like cell aggregates, which may provide as a source of alternative islets for cell replacement therapy in type 1 diabetes

Characterization of Spontaneous Bone Marrow Recovery after Sublethal Total Body Irradiation: Importance of the Osteoblastic/Adipocytic Balance

Many studies have already examined the hematopoietic recovery after irradiation but paid with very little attention to the bone marrow microenvironment. Nonetheless previous studies in a murine model of reversible radio-induced bone marrow aplasia have shown a significant increase in alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) prior to hematopoietic regeneration. This increase in ALP activity was not due to cell proliferation but could be attributed to modifications of the properties of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). We thus undertook a study to assess the kinetics of the evolution of MSC correlated to their hematopoietic supportive capacities in mice treated with sub lethal total body irradiation. In our study, colony-forming units – fibroblasts (CFU-Fs) assay showed a significant MSC rate increase in irradiated bone marrows. CFU-Fs colonies still possessed differentiation capacities of MSC but colonies from mice sacrificed 3 days after irradiation displayed high rates of ALP activity and a transient increase in osteoblastic markers expression while pparγ and neuropilin-1 decreased. Hematopoietic supportive capacities of CFU-Fs were also modified: as compared to controls, irradiated CFU-Fs significantly increased the proliferation rate of hematopoietic precursors and accelerated the differentiation toward the granulocytic lineage. Our data provide the first evidence of the key role exerted by the balance between osteoblasts and adipocytes in spontaneous bone marrow regeneration. First, (pre)osteoblast differentiation from MSC stimulated hematopoietic precursor's proliferation and granulopoietic regeneration. Then, in a second time (pre)osteoblasts progressively disappeared in favour of adipocytic cells which down regulated the proliferation and granulocytic differentiation and then contributed to a return to pre-irradiation conditions

Exploring molecular variation in Schistosoma japonicum in China

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