Effects of lung volume and fatigue on evoked diaphragmatic phonomyogram in normal subjects

BACKGROUND: A diaphragmatic phonomyogram (PMG) evoked by maximal phrenic nerve stimulation at end expiratory lung volume (FRC) has been previously described as a good index of changes in diaphragmatic contractility with fatigue. A study was undertaken to assess whether this conclusion could be extended to different lung volumes. METHODS: Diaphragmatic compound motor action potentials (CMAPs) were recorded on each side of the chest by the means of surface electrodes placed over the eight intercostal spaces in five healthy subjects. Diaphragmatic PMGs from both sides were recorded with condenser microphones fixed to the skin close to the CMAP recording electrodes. Oesophageal and gastric balloon tipped catheters were employed to measure transdiaphragmatic pressure twitches (TwPDI) which served as the standard measure of changes in diaphragmatic contractility. PMG and TwPDI responses were compared at different lung volumes over inspiratory capacity both before and after fatiguing inspiratory resistive loading. RESULTS: No consistent relationship was found in different subjects or on different days in the same subject between PMG and lung volume or between PMG and TwPDI. However, the PMG:CMAP ratio from both sides at any given lung volume decreased after fatigue in roughly the same proportion as the TwPDI. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that, although PMG can detect changes in diaphragmatic contractility caused by fatigue in normal subjects, lung volume changes need to be controlled and each subject should serve as his or her own control.     

Judgments of synchrony between auditory and moving or still visual stimuli.

The flash-lag effect is a visual illusion wherein intermittently flashed, stationary stimuli seem to trail after a moving visual stimulus despite being flashed synchronously. We tested hypotheses that the flash-lag effect is due to spatial extrapolation, shortened perceptual lags, or accelerated acquisition of moving stimuli, all of which call for an earlier awareness of moving visual stimuli over stationary ones. Participants judged synchrony of a click either to a stationary flash of light or to a series of adjacent flashes that seemingly bounced off or bumped into the edge of the visual display. To be judged synchronous with a stationary flash, audio clicks had to be presented earlier--not later--than clicks that went with events, like a simulated bounce (Experiment 1) or crash (Experiments 2-4), of a moving visual target. Click synchrony to the initial appearance of a moving stimulus was no different than to a flash, but clicks had to be delayed by 30-40 ms to seem synchronous with the final (crash) positions (Experiment 2). The temporal difference was constant over a wide range of motion velocity (Experiment 3). Interrupting the apparent motion by omitting two illumination positions before the last one did not alter subjective synchrony, nor did their occlusion, so the shift in subjective synchrony seems not to be due to brightness contrast (Experiment 4). Click synchrony to the offset of a long duration stationary illumination was also delayed relative to its onset (Experiment 5). Visual stimuli in motion enter awareness no sooner than do stationary flashes, so motion extrapolation, latency difference, and motion acceleration cannot explain the flash-lag effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning disability indices derived from a principal components analysis of the WISC--R: A study of learning disabled and normal boys.

Compared learning disability indices (LDIs) derived from the factor score coefficients of the 2nd factor secured from a principal components analysis of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC—R) in combination with the individual subtest scaled scores of 24 learning disabled boys (mean age 10.4 yrs) with the same indices obtained from the scores of the WISC-R standardization sample of normal boys. Reliable differences between these groups confirm the validity of the LDI for discriminating between learning disabled and normal boys. (French abstract) (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fatigue crack initiation and propagation in polyamide-6 and in polyamide-6 nanocomposites

Recent developments in polymer nanocomposites have led to improvements in conventional short-term, but the long-term mechanical properties have received little attention. The objective of the present study was to characterize the effect of nanoparticles on the fatigue crack initiation and propagation mechanisms and on the fatigue properties of polyamide-6 (PA6) nanocomposite (PA6NC) prepared by in situ polymerization with montmorillonite clay. Two approaches were employed: fatigue life measurements and crack growth monitoring. Compared with non-filled PA6 at the same stress amplitude, the number of cycles to fracture was higher for the nanocomposite, which suggests an increase in the intrinsic resistance of the material to crack initiation. However, the crack growth rate results indicated that nanoparticles decreased the resistance to crack propagation. Post-fatigue fractographic observations indicated a change in the fatigue crack propagation mechanism resulting from the addition of nanoparticles, primarily attributed to the increase in yield stress, which favors the development of a fibrillated deformation zone. The fibrillation process in the relatively high crack propagation rate regime appeared to be preceded by plastic deformation at approximately constant volume. Most of the effect of nanoparticles on the fatigue behavior and properties results probably from the mechanical reinforcement on the microstructure and its effect on the yield stress and Young's modulus rather than from the effect of the inorganic filler to act as a stress concentrator. Polym. Compos. 25:433–441, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.     

Rough ocean surface and sunglint region characteristics

The sunglint geometrical optics equations of a statistically faceted sea, supported by the so-called interaction probability density and employing an averaging hybrid of the Cox-Munk and Mermelstein slope statistics, was successful in simulating 0.5 microm sunglint region characteristics. The results match independent experimental data, and good agreement is reported for various sea conditions and Sun locations, on sunglint amplitude, sunglint location, and azimuth range. In particular, the peak reflectance shift from the specular direction toward the horizon is correctly predicted, and it is found that the physical mechanism responsible for the shift is the accumulation of contributing facets near the horizon.     

Characterization of AT4 receptor from bovine aortic endothelium with photosensitive analogues of angiotensin IV

Newly developed photosensitive analogues of AngIV were used to characterize the AT4 receptor of bovine aortic endothelial cells. The photoactivatable AngIV analogues [N3-Phe6]AngIV and [Bpa6]AngIV displayed high affinities for AT4 receptor, with IC50's of 3.7 +/- 0.3 and 19.1 +/- 3.5 nM, respectively. The radioiodinated ligands showed a good efficiency of photoaffinity labeling demonstrated by high proportions (60-75%) of acid-resistant binding. Covalently labeled receptor was solubilized under reducing or nonreducing conditions and subjected to SDS-PAGE. Under nonreducing conditions, autoradiographies revealed a major band of Mr 186 +/- 2 kDa and a minor band of Mr 241 +/- 6 kDa. The labeling of these bands was completely abolished in the presence of 10 microM AngIV. Under reducing conditions, only the low Mr 186 kDa band was revealed. After endoglycosidase digestion with an enzyme that cleaves N-linked saccharides, the Mr of the denatured AT4 receptor was decreased by 31% to a value of 129 +/- 10 kDa. Kinetic studies revealed a stepwise process of AT4 receptor deglycosylation by endoglycosidase F, suggesting at least two different sites of N-linked saccharides. Mild trypsin treatment of photolabeled endothelial cell membranes released a large fragment of Mr 177 +/- 3 kDa which accounts for about 95% of the whole receptor molecular mass. These results demonstrate that [N3-Phe6]AngIV and [Bpa6]AngIV are very efficient tools for selective photoaffinity labeling of AT4 receptor. We have shown that AT4 receptor is a 186 kDa integral membrane glycoprotein with a very large extracellular domain. These properties are consistent with those of a growth factor or cytokine receptor.     

Structural and evolutionary relationships among chitinases of flowering plants

The analysis of nuclear-encoded chitinase sequences from various angiosperms has allowed the categorization of the chitinases into discrete classes. Nucleotide sequences of their catalytic domains were compared in this study to investigate the evolutionary relationships between chitinase classes. The functionally distinct class III chitinases appear to be more closely related to fungal enzymes involved in morphogenesis than to other plant chitinases. The ordering of other plant chitinases into additional classes mainly relied on the presence of auxiliary domains-namely, a chitin-binding domain and a carboxy-terminal extension-flanking the main catalytic domain. The results of our phylogenetic analyses showed that classes I and IV form discrete and well-supported monophyletic groups derived from a common ancestral sequence that predates the divergence of dicots and monocots. In contrast, other sequences included in classes I* and II, lacking one or both types of auxiliary domains, were nested within class I sequences, indicating that they have a polyphyletic origin. According to phylogenetic analyses and the calculation of evolutionary rates, these chitinases probably arose from different class I lineages by relatively recent deletion events. The occurrence of such evolutionary trends in cultivated plants and their potential involvement in host-pathogen interactions are discussed.     

Digital correction of A/D conversion error due to multiplexingdelay

A measurement channel which consists of a multiplexer, sample-and-hold circuit, and analog-to-digital (A/D) converter is studied. It is designed for the synchronous sampling and measurement of two or more voltage signals V₁(t), V ₂(t), . . ., but the finite time of A/D conversion (ΔT) makes it impossible to acquire consecutive samples closer in time than ΔT. This can become a source of measurement error if further processing of the measurement data is based on the assumption of ideal synchronism. It has been found that interpolation filters, developed from the Lagrange polynomial interpolation, are useful tools for solving the problem of correction. An illustrative example of their use is presented     

A Diffeomorphic Mapping Based Characterization of Temporal Sequences: Application to the Pelvic Organ Dynamics Assessment

In various imaging applications, shape variations are studied in order to define the transformations involved or to quantify a distance between each change performed. Regardless of the way the shapes may be extracted, with 2D imaging, shapes concern essentially curves or sets of points depending on the available data. Wether time is related to the shape variations or not, one can consider a set of shapes as the observation of the temporal evolution of an initial shape. In this context, we present a methodology aiming at quantifying the evolution of a set of contours without landmarks. Our characterization of temporal sequences is based on the large deformation diffeomorphic mapping paradigm and the shape representation based on currents, which allow both to propose a shape metric and a curve matching of the timed variations. Then, mechanics related features are extracted as they are physically meaningful and quite painless understandable. In this paper, the process is applied within the scope of a pelviperineology study. Available clinical diagnoses are combined with statistical analysis to show the soundness of the approach. Indeed, pelvic floor disorders are characterized by abnormal organ descents and deformations during abdominal strains. As they are soft-tissue organs, the pelvic organs have no fixed landmarks, in addition to wide shape differences. Routinely used, 2D sagittal mri sequences are segmented to provide the contour sets from which the characterization should highlight pelvic organ behaviors. We believe that a statistical analysis of these behaviors on several dynamic mri sequences could help to a better understanding of the pelvic floor pathophysiology. The methodology is applied on a dataset of 30 patients with different clinical diagnoses. Some promising results are presented, where the pathology detection capability of the deformation features is assessed, and the principal organ dynamics modes are computed, through an inter-patient analysis. Also, an organ parcellation is proposed thanks to the local deformation analysis, it identifies spatial references which are clinically relevant.