Pressure in isochoric systems containing aqueous solutions at subzero Centigrade temperatures.

ObjectivePreservation of biological materials at subzero Centigrade temperatures, cryopreservation, is important for the field of tissue engineering and organ transplantation. Our group is studying the use of isochoric (constant volume) systems of aqueous solution for cryopreservation. Previous studies measured the pressure-temperature relations in aqueous isochoric systems in the temperature range from 0°C to - 20°C. The goal of this study is to expand the pressure-temperature measurement beyond the range reported in previous publications.Materials and methodsTo expand the pressure-temperature measurements beyond the previous range, we have developed a new isochoric device capable of withstanding liquid nitrogen temperatures and pressures of up to 413 MPa. The device is instrumented with a pressure transducer than can monitor and record the pressures in the isochoric chamber in real time. Measurements were made in a temperature range from - 5°C to liquid nitrogen temperatures for various solutions of pure water and Me2SO (a chemical additive used for protection of biological materials in a frozen state and for vitrification (glass formation) of biological matter). Undissolved gaseous are is carefully removed from the system.ResultsTemperature-pressure data from - 5°C to liquid nitrogen temperature for pure water and other solutions are presented in this study. Following are examples of some, temperature-pressure values, that were measured in an isochoric system containing pure water: (- 20°C, 187 MPa); (-25°C, 216 MPa); (- 30°C, 242.3 MPa); (-180°C, 124 MPa). The data is consistent with the literature, which reports that the pressure and temperature at the triple point, between ice I, ice III and water is, - 21.993°C and 209.9 MPa, respectively. It was surprising to find that the pressure in the isochoric system increases at temperatures below the triple point and remains high to liquid nitrogen temperatures. Measurements of pressure-temperature relations in solutions of pure water and Me2SO in different concentrations show that, for concentrations in which vitrification is predicted, no increase in pressure was measured during rapid cooling to liquid nitrogen temperatures. However, ice formation either during cooling or warming to and from liquid nitrogen temperatures produced an increase in pressure.ConclusionsThe data obtained in this study can be used to aid in the design of isochoric cryopreservation protocols. The results suggest that the pressure measurement is important in the design of "constant volume" systems and can provide a simple means to gain information on the occurrence of vitrification and devitrification during cryopreservation processes of aqueous solutions in an isochoric system

Bringing up the Green-Eyed Monster: Conceptualizing and Communicating Jealousy with a Partner Who Has Other Partners

This paper presents a qualitative analysis of 423 open-ended survey responses from 141 individuals involved in polyamorous intimate partnerships. Grounded in literature on jealousy and polyamory, this analysis offers a reinforcement and extension of romantic jealousy. Participants described how jealousy is conceptualized and discussed within polyamorous relationships. Conceptualizations of jealousy primarily involved jealousy as an umbrella term for insecurity, possessiveness, or needs not being met. Participants discuss jealousy within the context of partner agreements to add or remove another partner, to explicitly seek validation and acknowledgment, and less frequently meeting negative reactions. Importantly, results indicate that within polyamorous relationships, feelings of jealousy are usually communicated, and for the purpose of seeing affirmation and validation, not with the goal of behavior change

A Study on Nonthermal Irreversible Electroporation of the Thyroid.

BackgroundNonthermal irreversible electroporation is a minimally invasive surgery technology that employs high and brief electric fields to ablate undesirable tissues. Nonthermal irreversible electroporation can ablate only cells while preserving intact functional properties of the extracellular structures. Therefore, nonthermal irreversible electroporation can be used to ablate tissues safely near large blood vessels, the esophagus, or nerves. This suggests that it could be used for thyroid ablation abutting the esophagus. This study examines the feasibility of using nonthermal irreversible electroporation for thyroid ablation.MethodsRats were used to evaluate the effects of nonthermal irreversible electroporation on the thyroid. The procedure entails the delivery of high electric field pulses (1-3 kV/cm, 100 microseconds) between 2 surface electrodes bracing the thyroid. The right lobe was treated with various nonthermal irreversible electroporation pulse sequences, and the left was the control. After 24 hours of the nonthermal irreversible electroporation treatment, the thyroid was examined with hemotoxylin and eosin histological analysis. Mathematical models of electric fields and the Joule heating-induced temperature raise in the thyroid were developed to examine the experimental results.ResultsTreatment with nonthermal irreversible electroporation leads to follicular cells damage, associated with cell swelling, inflammatory cell infiltration, and cell ablation. Nonthermal irreversible electroporation spares the trachea structure. Unusually high electric fields, for these types of tissue, 3000 V/cm, are needed for thyroid ablation. The mathematical model suggests that this may be related to the heterogeneous structure of the thyroid-induced distortion of local electric fields. Moreover, most of the tissue does not experience thermal damage inducing temperature elevation. However, the heterogeneous structure of the thyroid may cause local hot spots with the potential for local thermal damage.ConclusionNonthermal irreversible electroporation with 3000 V/cm can be used for thyroid ablation. Possible applications are treatment of hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer. The highly heterogeneous structure of the thyroid distorts the electric fields and temperature distribution in the thyroid must be considered when designing treatment protocols for this tissue type

Sperm Use During Egg Fertilization in the Honeybee (Apis Mellifera)

A technique to quantify sperm use in honeybee queens (Apis mellifera) was developed and used to analyze the number of sperm used in different groups of honeybee queens. To do this a queen was placed on a frame with worker cells containing no eggs, and an excluder box was placed around her. The frame was put back into the colony and removed after two and a half hours. This method reduced stress on the queen so that she felt comfortable enough to lay eggs and did not require the queen to be killed so that she could be sampled multiple times to look at effects of age and time after introduction into a colony. The eggs were guaranteed to be fresh and sperm number present on the egg could be counted with a fluorescence microscope by using DAPI to dye the DNA in the sperm heads. The queens were found to be very economic in their sperm use and an overall median of three sperm per egg was found. Individual queens were found to vary significantly in sperm used per egg, however no queen had a median of over ten sperm per egg. Days after introduction into the colony also had a significant effect on sperm use when looking at the queens individually and it was found that newly introduced queens used more sperm than established queens. Overall, the study shows that freshly laid eggs can be collected and sperm on these eggs can be counted directly. This is an important finding for further research into the factors affecting different patterns of sperm use and possibly for beekeepers to breed queens who use their sperm most efficiently, and who will therefore be able to maintain a successful colony for the longest time

A comparison of freezing-damage during isochoric and isobaric freezing of the potato.

BACKGROUND:Freezing is commonly used for food preservation. It is usually done under constant atmospheric pressure (isobaric). While extending the life of the produce, isobaric freezing has detrimental effects. It causes loss of food weight and changes in food quality. Using thermodynamic analysis, we have developed a theoretical model of the process of freezing in a constant volume system (isochoric). The mathematical model suggests that the detrimental effects associated with isobaric freezing may be reduced in an isochoric freezing system. To explore this hypothesis, we performed a preliminary study on the isochoric freezing of a produce with which our group has experience, the potato. METHOD:Experiments were performed in an isochoric freezing device we designed. The device is robust and has no moving parts. For comparison, we used a geometrically identical isobaric freezing device. Following freezing and thawing, the samples were weighed, examined with colorimetry, and examined with microscopy. RESULTS:It was found that potatoes frozen to -5 °C in an isochoric system experienced no weight loss and limited enzymatic browning. In contrast the -5 °C isobaric frozen potato experienced substantial weight loss and substantial enzymatic browning. Microscopic analysis shows that the structural integrity of the potato is maintained after freezing in the isochoric system and impaired after freezing in the isobaric system. DISCUSSION:Tissue damage during isobaric freezing is caused by the increase in extracellular osmolality and the mechanical damage by ice crystals. Our thermodynamic analysis predicts that during isochoric freezing the intracellular osmolality remains comparable to the extracellular osmolality and that isochoric systems can be designed to eliminate the mechanical damage by ice. The results of this preliminary study seem to confirm the theoretical predictions. CONCLUSION:This is a preliminary exploratory study on isochoric freezing of food. We have shown that the quality of a food product preserved by isochoric freezing is better than the quality of food preserved to the same temperature in isobaric conditions. Obviously, more extensive research remains to be done to extend this study to lower freezing temperatures and other food items

Distributed Network, Wireless and Cloud Computing Enabled 3-D Ultrasound; a New Medical Technology Paradigm

Medical technologies are indispensable to modern medicine. However, they have become exceedingly expensive and complex and are not available to the economically disadvantaged majority of the world population in underdeveloped as well as developed parts of the world. For example, according to the World Health Organization about two thirds of the world population does not have access to medical imaging. In this paper we introduce a new medical technology paradigm centered on wireless technology and cloud computing that was designed to overcome the problems of increasing health technology costs. We demonstrate the value of the concept with an example; the design of a wireless, distributed network and central (cloud) computing enabled three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound system. Specifically, we demonstrate the feasibility of producing a 3-D high end ultrasound scan at a central computing facility using the raw data acquired at the remote patient site with an inexpensive low end ultrasound transducer designed for 2-D, through a mobile device and wireless connection link between them. Producing high-end 3D ultrasound images with simple low-end transducers reduces the cost of imaging by orders of magnitude. It also removes the requirement of having a highly trained imaging expert at the patient site, since the need for hand-eye coordination and the ability to reconstruct a 3-D mental image from 2-D scans, which is a necessity for high quality ultrasound imaging, is eliminated. This could enable relatively untrained medical workers in developing nations to administer imaging and a more accurate diagnosis, effectively saving the lives of people

Single exponential decay waveform; a synergistic combination of electroporation and electrolysis (E2) for tissue ablation.

BackgroundElectrolytic ablation and electroporation based ablation are minimally invasive, non-thermal surgical technologies that employ electrical currents and electric fields to ablate undesirable cells in a volume of tissue. In this study, we explore the attributes of a new tissue ablation technology that simultaneously delivers a synergistic combination of electroporation and electrolysis (E2).MethodA new device that delivers a controlled dose of electroporation field and electrolysis currents in the form of a single exponential decay waveform (EDW) was applied to the pig liver, and the effect of various parameters on the extent of tissue ablation was examined with histology.ResultsHistological analysis shows that E2 delivered as EDW can produce tissue ablation in volumes of clinical significance, using electrical and temporal parameters which, if used in electroporation or electrolysis separately, cannot ablate the tissue.DiscussionThe E2 combination has advantages over the three basic technologies of non-thermal ablation: electrolytic ablation, electrochemical ablation (reversible electroporation with injection of drugs) and irreversible electroporation. E2 ablates clinically relevant volumes of tissue in a shorter period of time than electrolysis and electroporation, without the need to inject drugs as in reversible electroporation or use paralyzing anesthesia as in irreversible electroporation

Development and characterization of a laser-induced acoustic desorption source

A laser-induced acoustic desorption source, developed for use at central facilities, such as free-electron lasers, is presented. It features prolonged measurement times and a fixed interaction point. A novel sample deposition method using aerosol spraying provides a uniform sample coverage and hence stable signal intensity. Utilizing strong-field ionization as a universal detection scheme, the produced molecular plume is characterized in terms of number density, spatial extend, fragmentation, temporal distribution, translational velocity, and translational temperature. The effect of desorption laser intensity on these plume properties is evaluated. While translational velocity is invariant for different desorption laser intensities, pointing to a non-thermal desorption mechanism, the translational temperature increases significantly and higher fragmentation is observed with increased desorption laser fluence.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

A statistical model for multidimensional irreversible electroporation cell death in tissue

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a minimally invasive tissue ablation technique which utilizes electric pulses delivered by electrodes to a targeted area of tissue to produce high amplitude electric fields, thus inducing irreversible damage to the cell membrane lipid bilayer. An important application of this technique is for cancer tissue ablation. Mathematical modelling is considered important in IRE treatment planning. In the past, IRE mathematical modelling used a deterministic single value for the amplitude of the electric field required for causing cell death. However, tissue, particularly cancerous tissue, is comprised of a population of different cells of different sizes and orientations, which in conventional IRE are exposed to complex electric fields; therefore, using a deterministic single value is overly simplistic.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We introduce and describe a new methodology for evaluating IRE induced cell death in tissue. Our approach employs a statistical Peleg-Fermi model to correlate probability of cell death in heterogeneous tissue to the parameters of electroporation pulses such as the number of pulses, electric field amplitude and pulse length. For treatment planning, the Peleg-Fermi model is combined with a numerical solution of the multidimensional electric field equation cast in a dimensionless form. This is the first time in which this concept is used for evaluating IRE cell death in multidimensional situations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We illustrate the methodology using data reported in literature for prostate cancer cell death by IRE. We show how to fit this data to a Fermi function in order to calculate the critical statistic parameters. To illustrate the use of the methodology, we simulated 2-D irreversible electroporation protocols and produced 2-D maps of the statistical distribution of cell death in the treated region. These plots were compared to plots produced using a deterministic model of cell death by IRE and the differences were noted.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this work we introduce a new methodology for evaluation of tissue ablation by IRE using statistical models of cell death. We believe that the use of a statistical model rather than a deterministic model for IRE cell death will improve the accuracy of treatment planning for cancer treatment with IRE.</p

Prostate cancer treatment with Irreversible Electroporation (IRE): Safety, efficacy and clinical experience in 471 treatments.

BackgroundIrreversible Electroporation (IRE) is a novel image-guided tissue ablation technology that induces cell death via very short but strong pulsed electric fields. IRE has been shown to have preserving properties towards vessels and nerves and the extracellular matrix. This makes IRE an ideal candidate to treat prostate cancer (PCa) where other treatment modalities frequently unselectively destroy surrounding structures inducing severe side effects like incontinence or impotence. We report the retrospective assessment of 471 IRE treatments in 429 patients of all grades and stages of PCa with 6-year maximum follow-up time.Material and findingsThe patient cohort consisted of low (25), intermediate (88) and high-risk cancers (312). All had multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging, and 199 men had additional 3D-mapping biopsy for diagnostic work-up prior to IRE. Patients were treated either focally (123), sub-whole-gland (154), whole-gland (134) or for recurrent disease (63) after previous radical prostatectomy, radiation therapy, etc. Adverse effects were mild (19.7%), moderate (3.7%) and severe (1.4%), never life-threatening. Urinary continence was preserved in all cases. IRE-induced erectile dysfunction persisted in 3% of the evaluated cases 12 months post treatment. Mean transient IIEF-5-Score reduction was 33% within 12-month post IRE follow-up and 15% after 12 months. Recurrences within the follow-up period occurred in 10% of the treated men, 23 in or adjacent to the treatment field and 18 outside the treatment field (residuals). Including residuals for worst case analysis, Kaplan Maier estimation on recurrence rate at 5 years resulted in 5.6% (CI95: 1.8-16.93) for Gleason 6, 14.6% (CI95: 8.8-23.7) for Gleason 7 and 39.5% (CI95: 23.5-61.4) for Gleason 8-10.ConclusionThe results indicate comparable efficacy of IRE to standard radical prostatectomy in terms of 5-year recurrence rates and better preservation of urogenital function, proving the safety and suitability of IRE for PCa treatment. The data also shows that IRE, besides focal therapy of early PCa, can also be used for whole-gland ablations, in patients with recurrent PCa, and as a problem-solver for local tumor control in T4-cancers not amenable to surgery and radiation therapy anymore