Biomedical subjects

B Hu

Publications and source records attributed to B Hu.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

PubMed2000

Phase order in chaotic maps and in coupled map lattices

By defining a direction phase as the direction of two sequential iterations of the logistic map, a transition of a net direction phase M from zero to a finite value as the parameter &mgr; increases is found. Near the transition point &mgr;(0) a scaling M approximately (&mgr;-&mgr;(0))(alpha) with alpha = 0.5 is obtained. The order state of the direction phases in a coupled map lattice is also studied. A phase synchronization of the direction phases is found although the lattices still remain chaotic.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Phase I clinical trials of aroA aroD and aroA aroD htrA attenuated S. typhi vaccines; effect of formulation on safety and immunogenicity.

PBCC211, an aroA aroD derivative of S. typhi strain CDC10-80, was tested in phase I trials as a single dose typhoid fever vaccine. Three different vaccine preparations, reconstituted lyophilized bacteria, freshly grown bacteria or lyophilized bacteria reconstituted from sachets, were orally administered to a total of 86 adult volunteers. An aroA aroD htrA strain, PBCC222, was also tested in 38 volunteers. Formulation impacted on the determination of a safe and immunogenic dose; reconstituted lyophilized cultures required higher doses than the broth cultures to stimulate seroconversion. In general, doses which seroconverted the majority of group members produced undesirable symptoms regardless of attenuation or formulation. The inability to separate the presence of symptoms from achieving significant immunogenicity in these aroA aroD or aroA aroD htrA strains precludes their use as single dose typhoid vaccines in the formulations tested. Multiple doses of these strains at a lower, safe level may be effective as vectors for foreign antigens.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Behavioral and brain wave evidence for automatic processing of orthographically regular letter strings.

Evidence for the automatic processing of nonword letter strings was sought in subjects who performed two different perceptual tasks. Twelve subjects detected valid words. Twelve other subjects detected Gestalt patterns that contained no letters. The targets and two types of nonword letter strings were interspersed in a stream of nonletter images. Behavioral data showed significant effects of orthographic regularity of letter strings in the group that detected words, but not in the group that detected Gestalt patterns. Brain-wave responses showed the effect of orthographic regularity in both groups. The responses were significantly larger for regular than for irregular strings. This showed that brain waves can be used to study the operation of reading processes in subjects who are performing a task that does not require reading ability.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Study of the adsorption behavior of heavy metal ions on nanometer-size titanium dioxide with ICP-AES.

A new method using nanoparticle TiO2 as solid-phase extractant coupled with ICP-AES was proposed for simultaneous determination of trace elements. The adsorption behavior of nanometer TiO2 towards Cu, Cr, Mn and Ni was investigated by ICP-AES, and the adsorption pH curves, adsorption isotherms and adsorption capacities were obtained. It was found that the adsorption rates of the metal ions studied were more than 90% in pH 8.0-9.0, and 2.0 mol L-1 HCl was sufficient for complete elution. Nanometer TiO2 possesses a significant capacity for the sorption of the metal ions studied which is higher than the capacity of silica, the commonly used extractant. The method has been applied to the analysis of some environmental samples with satisfactory results.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Feasibility of therapeutic pneumoperitoneum in a large animal model using a microvaporisator.

BACKGROUND: Multimodal therapy is used increasingly in advanced gastrointestinal tumors. Potential benefits of using an intraoperative adjuvant therapy during laparoscopy for cancer have been documented in animal studies. The aim of this study was to develop a device that could deliver such an intraoperative drug therapy. METHODS: We developed a micropump suitable for minimally invasive surgery procedures that allowed microdroplets of therapeutic substance to be distributed into the pneumoperitoneum (CO2), creating a "therapeutic pneumoperitoneum." A closed-loop control system regulates drug delivery according to the gas flow. In vitro, the micropump is able to aerosolize various aqueous and ethanol solutions, including cytostatic and bacteriostatic drugs and adhesion-modulating agents. The size of the microdroplets has been optimized to prevent visual artifacts. RESULTS: The micropump was tested in an animal model (pig). The system was inserted into a 5-mm trocar. After insufflation of a 12-mm CO2 pneumoperitoneum, laparoscopic sigmoid colon resections could be performed with no special difficulties. No fog developed, and no system-related complication was observed. At autopsy, the active principle was distributed to all exposed peritoneal surfaces. CONCLUSIONS: As opposed to conventional peritoneal washing, therapeutic pneumoperitoneum reaches the entire peritoneal surface, allowing an optimal drug distribution. Drug diffusion into the tissues is enhanced by the intraperitoneal pressure. Precise determination of the instantaneous and total drug quantity is possible. Therefore, this drug delivery system has several advantages over conventional irrigation. Its potential domains of application are locoregional cancer therapy, prevention of port-site recurrences, immunomodulation, analgesia, peritonitis, and prevention of postoperative adhesions.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗

PubMed2000

Ethidium bromide staining reveals rapid cell dispersion in the rat dentate gyrus following ouabain-induced injury.

The dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation undergoes extensive network remodelling including progenitor cell proliferation, migration as well as apoptotic cell death in response to prolonged excitotoxic insults. Previous studies have shown that such a proliferative cell population may undergo aberrant migration and later persist in ectopically located positions within the molecular cell layer. In this study we have developed an experimental model to characterize the spatiotemporal patterns of such an injury-induced network remodelling. Ouabain (1 microl, 1 mM), a Na+, K+-ATPase blocker, was stereotactically co-injected into the rat dentate gyrus with ethidium bromide (1 microl, 40 microM). The latter is a fluorescent nucleic acid intercalating dye, which was used for labeling cells undergoing early phases of apoptosis or proliferation. Our results revealed that within an hour after the injection, a subpopulation of cells characterized by spindle- or ovoid-shaped somata and bipolar morphology, were intensely labeled with ethidium bromide. These cells were found initially clustered both inside and outside the dentate granule cell layer and later on markedly increased in number as well as spread radially in the next few hours into the dentate molecular layer. The unusual pattern of cell dispersion encountered in our study may represent aberrantly migrating progenitor cells consistent with earlier observations of ectopically-located granule cells in human temporal lobe epilepsy specimens and epilepsy animal models. Alternatively, the described phenomenon may represent dispersion of Cajal-Retzius cells that may be involved in post-lesion network remodelling.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Coordinate induction of collagenase-1, stromelysin-1 and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) by the 120-kDa cell-binding fibronectin fragment in fibrocartilaginous cells: uPA contributes to activation of procollagenase-1.

Specific fibronectin (Fn) fragments found in synovial fluid of arthritic joints potentially contribute to the loss of cartilage proteoglycans by inducing matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression. However, whether or not the Fn fragment-modulated changes in expression of MMPs result in a net increase in matrix-degradative activity through alterations in the balance between MMP activation and inhibition has not been established. To understand the mechanisms by which proteolytic Fn fragments may contribute to joint degeneration, conditioned medium from fibrocartilaginous cells exposed to Fn, its 30-kDa fragment containing the collagen/gelatin-binding domain, its 120-kDa fragment containing the central cell-binding domain, and the RGD peptide were assayed for MMPs, and MMP activators and inhibitors. We found that the 120-kDa fragment of Fn (but not intact Fn), the 30-kDa fragment, and the RGD peptide, dose-dependently induced procollagenase-1 and prostromelysin-1 and decreased levels of the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) -1 and -2. The alpha5beta1 integrin was implicated in the induction of collagenase by the 120-kDa Fn fragment, since collagenase induction was abrogated in the presence of blocking antibody to this integrin. Conditioned medium from cells exposed to the 120-kDa Fn fragment also demonstrated increased levels of the activated collagenase-1, which resulted in significantly elevated collagen degradative activity. That the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) was involved in the activation of procollagenase-1 was suggested by findings that the 120-kDa Fn fragment induced uPA coordinately with procollagenase-1, and the activation of procollagenase-1 was dose-dependently inhibited in the presence of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. These data demonstrate that the 120-kDa cell-binding fragment of Fn induces a net increase in matrix-degradative activity in fibrocartilaginous cells by concomitantly inducing MMPs and their activator, uPA, while decreasing TIMPs.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Generation of T-cell immunity to a murine melanoma using MART-1-engineered dendritic cells.

The murine melanoma B16 expresses the murine counterpart of the human MART-1/Melan-A (MART-1) antigen, sharing a 68.6% amino acid sequence identity. In this study, mice were vaccinated with bone marrow-derived murine dendritic cells genetically modified with a replication-incompetent adenoviral vector to express the human MART-1 gene (AdVMART1). This treatment generated a protective response to a lethal tumor challenge of unmodified murine B16 melanoma cells. The response was mediated by major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes specific for MART-1 antigen, which produced high levels of interferon-gamma when reexposed to MART-1 in vitro and lysed targets in a calcium-dependent mechanism suggestive of perforin/granzyme B lysis. MART-1 was presented by the dendritic cells used for vaccination and not by epitopes cross-presented by host antigen-presenting cells. In conclusion, dendritic cells genetically modified to express the human MART-1 antigen generate potent murine MART-1-specific protective responses to B16 melanoma.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Heat conduction in one-dimensional nonintegrable systems

Two classes of one-dimensional nonintegrable systems represented by the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) model and the discrete straight phi(4) model are studied to seek a generic mechanism of energy transport on a microscopic level sustaining macroscopic behaviors. The results enable us to understand why the class represented by the straight phi(4) model has a normal thermal conductivity and the class represented by the FPU model does not even though the temperature gradient can be established.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Phase synchronization in coupled nonidentical excitable systems and array-enhanced coherence resonance

We study the dynamics of a lattice of coupled nonidentical Fitz Hugh-Nagumo system subject to independent external noise. It is shown that these stochastic oscillators can lead to global synchronization behavior without an external signal. With the increase of the noise intensity, the system exhibits coherence resonance behavior. Coupling can enhance greatly the noise-induced coherence in the system.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Symmetry-breaking on-off intermittency under modulation: robustness of supersensitivity, resonance, and information gain

Nonlinear dynamical systems possessing an invariant subspace in the phase space and chaotic or stochastic motion within the subspace often display on-off intermittency close to the threshold of stability of the subspace. In a class of symmetric systems, the intermittency is symmetry breaking [Ying-Cheng Lai, Phys. Rev. E 53, R4267 (1996)]. We report interesting and practically important universal behavior of robustness of supersensitivity, resonance, and information gain in this class of systems when subjected to a weak modulation. While intermittent loss of synchronization may be harmful to the application of high-quality synchronization of coupled chaotic systems, the features reported here may lead to interesting application of on-off intermittency.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Phase synchronization of two-dimensional lattices of coupled chaotic maps

Phase synchronized states can emerge in the collective behavior of an ensemble of two-dimensional chaotic coupled map lattices, due to a nearest-neighbor interaction. A definition of phase is given for iterated systems, which corresponds to the definition of phase in continuous systems. The transition to phase synchronization is characterized in an ensemble of lattices of logistic maps, in terms of the phase synchronization ratio, the average abnormal ratio, and conditional Lyapunov exponents. The largest Lyapunov exponent of the global system lambda(max) depends on both the number of coupled maps and the coupling strength. If the number of coupled maps is over some threshold, lambda(max) depends only on the coupling strength. The approach of nearest-neighbor coupling is robust against a small difference in the map parameters.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Dynamics of coupled gap solitons in diatomic lattices with cubic and quartic nonlinearities

The dynamics of coupled gap solitons in diatomic lattices with cubic and quartic nonlinearities is considered analytically based on an extended quasidiscreteness approach. For various mass differences (and thus different gap widths of the phonon spectrum), the coupled gap solitons are shown to display very rich dynamical behavior and their properties are strongly dependent on the force-constant ratio K(2)(3)/(K2K4), where K(j)(j=1,2,3) are the force constants for the quadratic, cubic, and quartic parts of the intersite interaction potential, respectively. Several previous theoretical approaches for studying gap soliton dynamics in diatomic lattices are recovered in our scheme, and the relations between these methods are elucidated in a systematic way.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Collective phase slips and phase synchronizations in coupled oscillator systems

Phase synchronization dynamics in coupled limit cycles with distributed natural frequencies are explored. A synchronization tree from free oscillations to local clustering and global phase locking is found. A desynchronization-induced transition to chaos is shown. Near the onset of various phase synchronization points, a simultaneous quantized stick-slip feature of the phases of oscillators is observed on the desynchronization side and heuristically interpreted in terms of a heteroclinic path instability.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Driven kink in the frenkel-kontorova model

The dynamics of dc driven chain of harmonically interacting atoms in the external sinusoidal potential (the Frenkel-Kontorova model) is studied. It is shown that in the underdamped case the motion of the topological soliton (kink) becomes unstable at a high velocity due to excitation of the localized intrinsic kink mode (the discrete shape mode, or discrete breather) in the kink tail. When the amplitude of the breather's oscillation becomes large enough, it decays into a kink-antikink pair. The subsequent collision of newly created kink and antikink leads to a sharp transition to the running state, where all atoms of the chain slide over the external potential almost freely.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Collective topological dynamics in the frenkel-kontorova chains

Topological dynamics of an array of harmonically coupled damped dc-driven nonlinear oscillators are studied by introducing a dynamical contraction factor and a deviation factor. Different dynamical transitions are identified, and topological changes for these transitions are studied. A bifurcation from the kink state to the kink-antikink-pair state is found, which relates the topological change to the spatiotemporal dynamics of the system. The presence of antikinks leads to the extension of the localized kink, and collisions of kinks and antikinks induce strong oscillations of the topology of the array.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Enhancement of phase synchronization through asymmetric couplings

Phase synchronization in lattices of coupled chaotic oscillators is studied. It is found that phase synchronization can be greatly improved by asymmetric biased coupling. The mechanism responsible for this effect is the transition from a localized wave to synchronized flow and nonlocal phase synchronization.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Analytical study of spatiotemporal chaos control by applying local injections

Spatiotemporal chaos control by applying local feedback injections is investigated analytically. The influence of gradient force on the controllability is investigated. It is shown that as the gradient force of the system is larger than a critical value, local control can reach very high efficiency to drive the turbulent system of infinite size to a regular target state by using a single control signal. The complex Ginzburg-Landau equation is used as a model to confirm the above analysis, and a four-wave-mixing mode is revealed to determine the dynamical behavior of the controlled system at the onset of instability.

Journal Article↗