Is it possible to perform immediate cardiac assist using untrained latissimus dorsi muscle in a work-rest regimen?

The authors investigated what contractile force (CF) could be obtained from unconditioned latissimus dorsi muscle immediately after mobilization and for the 2 week vascular period of recovery. Latissimus dorsi muscle mobilization was performed on seven adult (4 experimental and 3 control) sheep leaving only the pedicle and the peripheral muscle intact. Telectronics stimulators (Myostim 7220; Teletronics Pacing Systems, Inc, Englewood, CO) were implanted. Immediately after mobilization 11-35% of the initial CF was lost. A 30 min fatigue test was performed 1 hr after mobilization (20 g/kg preload, 10 V, 10 Hz, 15 BPM, 6 impulses per burst) using a 1 min work-1 min rest regimen. Two sheep lost 2-12% of initial CF; two increased CF by 14-24%. At the end of the fatigue test, CF consisted of 74-89% of immobilized CF. Electrical stimulation training of the muscle was then initiated with the following regimen in the experimental animals only: 15 BPM, single impulses, 5 V, 10 Hz. Every day the muscle was exercised using a work-rest regimen to mimic cardiac assist, starting with 20 min on day 2, and increasing by 2 min per day until a total of 50 min was reached on day 16. All animals were retested for CF using a 42 min fatigue test on days 6, 11, and 16. On day 6, there was no fatigue evident in the experimental group during the 42 min test. CF after testing was 59-81% (mean 67%) of initial data. In the control group (animals with no electrical stimulation training protocol), CF decreased by 11% (from 64 to 53%). On day 11, there was no fatigue evident in the experimental group; CF in all animals increased by 2-8%. On day 16, there was also no fatigue evident in the experimental group; CF increased by 0-9%. An additional 20 min of continuous contraction (15 BPM) fatigue testing was performed on the muscle without rest between the tests. No fatigue was evident at the end of testing. Light microscopic analysis of latissimus dorsi muscle biopsy specimens taken on the days of testing showed no evidence of necrotic damage. Our investigations suggest that it may be possible to start muscle transformation immediately after mobilization and use the untrained latissimus dorsi muscle for cardiac assist immediately after surgery for short periods.     

Security Driven Scheduling Model for Computational Grid Using NSGA-II

Number of software applications demands various levels of security at the time of scheduling in Computational Grid. Grid may offer these securities but may result in the performance degradation due to overhead in offering the desired security. Scheduling performance in a Grid is affected by the heterogeneities of security and computational power of resources. Customized Genetic Algorithms have been effectively used for solving complex optimization problems (NP Hard) and various heuristics have been suggested for solving Multi-objective optimization problems. In this paper a security driven, elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm, Optimal Security with Optimal Overhead Scheduling (OSO₂S), based on NSGA-II, is proposed. The model considers dual objectives of minimizing the security overhead and maximizing the total security achieved. Simulation results exhibit that the proposed algorithm delivers improved makespan and lesser security overhead in comparison to other such algorithms viz. MinMin, MaxMin, SPMinMin, SPMaxMin and SDSG.     

Adsorption of haematoporphyrins on the planar bilayer membrane

Adsorption of haematoporphyrin derivatives with different hydrophobicities of peripheral groups on a planar bilayer lipid membrane (BLM) was studied in the dark and upon illumination by the visible light. Haematoporphyrin molecules were shown to adsorb on the BLM as anions. The adsorption changed the boundary potential at the membrane/water interface, in particular, it altered the potential in the diffuse part of the double layer outside the membrane and increased an additional unscreenable potential drop inside it. Illumination decreased the value of the negative potential drop due probably to the appearance of a positive charge in the haematoporphyrin macrocycle. The adsorption of haematoporphyrins affected the BLM conductivity induced by different ionophores, which can be explained by changes in membrane structure. Haematoporphyrin derivatives with higher hydrophobicities adsorbed deeper inside the membrane, caused greater changes in its structure and displayed a stronger photodynamic effect.