Multifocal ventricular tachycardia after resuscitation by direct current counter shock in a dog

Cardiac arrest occurred in a male Labrador Retriever dog weighing 27.8 kg during induction to anesthesia. Immediately after the failure of resuscitation by the external cardiac compression, thoracotomy was performed and open chest direct current (DC) counter shocks were applied with routine emergency medications. Then the dog recovered consciousness. Although cardiac rhythm just after resuscitation was sinus tachycardia with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, multifocal ventricular arrhythmia occurred 2 hr after resuscitation. This arrhythmia might be the result from reversible cardiac lesions due to DC counter shock.     

Transfer of semicrystalline polymers sliding against a smooth steel surface

The interrelationships between transfer and wear in polymers were studied using a pin-disk-type wear testing apparatus. The wear rates of polymers except polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were high for up to about the first 100 revolutions of the disk and decreased gradually until the steady low wear rates which generally occurred after about 2000 revolutions. However, PTFE exhibited an almost constant high wear rate throughout the wear process. The thickness of transferred polymer increased rapidly with increasing number of revolutions in the initial wear stage but after about several hundred revolutions remained constant. A coherent transfer film was formed in most parts of the friction track after about 100 revolutions. It was found that polymer wear could occur in polymers sliding on a transferred polymer layer. All polymers except PTFE exhibited smaller wear rates when sliding on the transferred layer. The load dependence of the thickness was very small compared with that of the wear rate. PTFE produced a very dense and coherent transferred layer compared with that of other polymers. However, there was no clear relationship between friction and the thickness of the transferred polymer layer.     

Dielectrophoretic interaction of two spherical particles calculatedby equivalent multipole-moment method

A generalized equivalent multipole-moment theory is developed for the dielectrophoretic interactions between two arbitrarily oriented spherical dielectric particles in an external field. The method is based on the re-expansion technique: first, the electrostatic potential disturbance created by one of the dielectric spheres is expressed as a series of spherical harmonic terms with r^-(n+1)-dependence. This potential, having no singularities except at the center of the sphere, is then re-expanded about the center of the second sphere as a new series of spherical harmonics with rⁿ-dependence. Once this re-expansion is done, the effect of one sphere on its neighbor can be represented by an externally applied potential, and the interaction force thus calculated. The analytical results make it possible to investigate the strong angular dependence of the interaction force as particle spacing and permittivity are varied     

Characterisation of optically driven microstructures for manipulating single DNA molecules under a fluorescence microscope

Optical tweezers are powerful tools for manipulating single DNA molecules using fluorescence microscopy, particularly in nanotechnology‐based DNA analysis. We previously proposed a manipulation technique using microstructures driven by optical tweezers that allows the handling of single giant DNA molecules of millimetre length that cannot be manipulated by conventional techniques. To further develop this technique, the authors characterised the microstructures quantitatively from the view point of fabrication and efficiency of DNA manipulation under a fluorescence microscope. The success rate and precision of the fabrications were evaluated. The results indicate that the microstructures are obtained in an aqueous solution with a precision ∼50 nm at concentrations in the order of 10⁶ particles/ml. The visibility of these microstructures under a fluorescence microscope was also characterised, along with the elucidation of the fabrication parameters needed to fine tune visibility. Manipulating yeast chromosomal DNA molecules with the microstructures illustrated the relationship between the efficiency of manipulation and the geometrical shape of the microstructure. This report provides the guidelines for designing microstructures used in single DNA molecule analysis based on on‐site DNA manipulation, and is expected to broaden the applications of this technique in the future.Inspec keywords: DNA, molecular biophysics, fluorescence, optical microscopy, radiation pressure, biological techniquesOther keywords: optically driven microstructures, single DNA molecule analysis, fluorescence microscopy, optical tweezers, nanotechnology‐based DNA analysis, manipulation technique, aqueous solution, fine tune visibility, yeast chromosomal DNA molecules, geometrical shape, on‐site DNA manipulation     

Separation of Small Particles Suspended in Liquid by Nonuniform Traveling Field

A study of size and charge-dependent separation of small particles in liquid using a traveling-field-type electric curtain device is made. The principle of the separation is to make use of the spatial harmonic components of the rotating traveling field produced by such a device, the first harmonic propagating in one direction, which plays a dominant role in the region distant from the electrodes, and the second harmonic propagating in the opposite direction, which becomes dominant near the electrodes. Small particles brought into this field undergo circular motion and, as a result of field nonuniformity, are repelled from the electrodes and drift in the direction of the dominant harmonics. The lighter or more charged particles are strongly repelled from the electrodes and swept by the first harmonic, while the heavier or less charged particles can approach the electrodes and are transported by the second harmonic in the opposite direction, thus enabling separation by mass and charge. First a theoretical investigation of this method is made to clarify the operation conditions for the separation, then the experimental observations of particle motion are made and scaling laws of transport velocity with the applied voltage and frequency are confirmed. Finally, an example of a cell separator design using this method is presented.     

Application of the finite element method to minimum mass design of a bar with two specified natural frequencies

In the first part of the present paper, a problem of minimum mass design of a bar with two specified longitudinal natural frequencies is treated. A discussion is given to whether the bar thus optimally designed has any other natural frequencies between the two specified natural frequencies or not. In the second part of the paper, an extension is made to a problem in which some inequality constraints on the mass distribution are also imposed. Optimality conditions for the inequality constraints are presented.These problems are formulated by the use of the finite element method. The Newton-Raphson method is employed to solve the necessary conditions for optimality. A computational algorithm is developed. Some numerical results are shown.     

Survival for 145 days with a total artificial heart

A calf into which a biolized, total artificial heart (TAH) had been implanted survived for 145 days. All measured physiological parameters except central venous pressure (CVP) were back to normal one month after implantation, and thereafter the animal's physiological development was similar to that of a normal calf. The intimal weight, which was 96 kilograms at implantation, reached 190 kilogram at the end of experiment, with a daily gain rate of 0.9 kilogram per day. After the nineteenth postoperative week, signs of congestive heart failure appeared, such as high venous pressure, ascites, and enlarged liver although the calf outwardly appeared well. On postoperative day 146, the animal started foaming at the mouth, and a convulsion occurred; then, the experiment was terminated after 3,494 hours of pumping. At autopsy, there were acute bilateral bronchopneumonia involving mostly both upper lobes, pulmonary edema, slight chronic pneumonitis, and hepatomegaly. There were no serious thrombotic deposits inside the cardiac prosthesis.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of elastohydrodynamic lubrication oil film

This paper reviews recent research in molecular dynamics studies of the traction properties of hydrocarbon fluids under elastohydrodynamic lubrication, focusing on the technical problems that arise on making predictions of the traction properties of an oil film with a submicron thickness at the actual sliding contacts of the machine elements by at a nanoscale molecular simulation. The effect of the oil film thickness and shear rate are examined including the result of a submicron thickness simulation of the oil film using a tera‐flops computer. The mechanism of the phase transition of the fluids under high pressure, the boundary slip, and the momentum transfer related to the molecular structure of the fluids are also presented. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.