Re: Management of cancer-related and non-cancer-related chronic pain in Connecticut: successes and failures.
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Analgesics, Opioid↗
Biomedical subjects
Michael J Brennan
Publications and source records attributed to Michael J Brennan.
Development of combinatorial chemistry methods for coatings: high-throughput optimization of curing parameters of coatings libraries.
An automated analytical system has been implemented for the high-throughput optimization of processing conditions such as curing parameters in fabrication of UV-cured automotive organic protective coatings. Selection of optimum process conditions of combinatorial arrays of coatings is essential to correlate the high-throughput screening and conventional processes and to achieve the desired physical properties of coatings. For monitoring of curing conditions of each coating in the array, a viscosity-sensitive fluorophore 4,4'-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)stilbene was incorporated into coating formulations. This fluorescence tagging approach permitted us to combine a gradient temperature heater and a UV curing system with the full capabilities of our high-throughput screening system, including generation of spectroscopic data and its analysis. This investigation demonstrated the possibility of rapid decoupling of temperature and radiation effects in curing of UV-curable coating formulations by using multiple coatings and process conditions at once. While the system described here was implemented for high-throughput optimization of temperature conditions of radiation curing of arrays of organic protective coatings for automotive applications, this system can be further applied for a variety of other applications where optimization of process parameters can be studied in situ or off-line using optical spectroscopic tools.
Journal Article↗
Development of combinatorial chemistry methods for coatings: high-throughput screening of abrasion resistance of coatings libraries.
Design, validation, and implementation of an optical spectroscopic system for high-throughput analysis of combinatorially developed protective organic coatings are reported. Our approach replaces labor-intensive coating evaluation steps with an automated system that rapidly analyzes 8 x 6 arrays of coating elements that are discretely deposited on a single plastic substrate. Each coating element of the library is 10 mm in diameter and 2-5 microm thick. Performance of coatings is evaluated with respect to their resistance to wear abrasion because this parameter is one of the primary considerations in end-use applications. Upon testing, the coating materials undergo changes that are impossible to quantitatively predict using existing knowledge. Coatings are abraded using industry-accepted abrasion test methods at a single or multiple abrasion conditions followed by the high-throughput analysis of abrasion-induced light scatter. The developed automated system is optimized for the analysis of diffusively scattered light that corresponds to 0-30% haze. System precision of 0.1-2.5% relative standard deviation provides capability for the reliable ranking of coatings performance. Although the system was implemented for high-throughput screening of combinatorially developed organic protective coatings for automotive applications, it can be applied for a variety of other applications for which materials ranking can be achieved using optical spectroscopic tools.
Journal Article↗
The PE multigene family: a 'molecular mantra' for mycobacteria.
The PE multigene family of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is remarkable in that it is composed of approximately 100 highly homologous genes that are found only in mycobacteria. Early evidence suggests that proteins encoded by certain members of this gene family could be present in the mycobacterial cell wall, impact antigen-presentation pathways and the ensuing host immune responses, and also provide a mechanism for generating antigenic diversity in mycobacteria.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Enhanced bacterial virulence through exploitation of host glycosaminoglycans.
Present in the extracellular matrix and membranes of virtually all animal cells, proteoglycans (PGs) are among the first host macromolecules encountered by infectious agents. Because of their wide distribution and direct accessibility, it is not surprising that pathogenic bacteria have evolved mechanisms to exploit PGs for their own purposes, including mediating attachment to target cells. This is achieved through the expression of adhesins that recognize glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) linked to the core protein of PGs. Some pathogens, such as Bordetella pertussis and Chlamydia trachomatis, may express more than one GAG-binding adhesin. Bacterial interactions with PGs may also facilitate cell invasion or systemic dissemination, as observed for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis respectively. More-over, pathogenic bacteria can use PGs to enhance their virulence via a shedding of PGs that leads to there lease of effectors that weaken the host defences. The exploitation of PGs by pathogenic bacteria is thus a multifaceted mechanistic process directly related to the potential virulence of a number of microorganisms.
Animals↗
Active vibroacoustic control with multiple local feedback loops.
When multiple actuators and sensors are used to control the vibration of a panel, or its sound radiation, they are usually positioned so that they couple into specific modes and are all connected together with a centralized control system. This paper investigates the physical effects of having a regular array of actuator and sensor pairs that are connected only by local feedback loops. An array of 4 x 4 force actuators and velocity sensors is first simulated, for which such a decentralized controller can be shown to be unconditionally stable. Significant reductions in both the kinetic energy of the panel and in its radiated sound power can be obtained for an optimal value of feedback gain, although higher values of feedback gain can induce extra resonances in the system and degrade the performance. A more practical transducer pair, consisting of a piezoelectric actuator and velocity sensor, is also investigated and the simulations suggest that a decentralized controller with this arrangement is also stable over a wide range of feedback gains. The resulting reductions in kinetic energy and sound power are not as great as with the force actuators, due to the extra resonances being more prominent and at lower frequencies, but are still worthwhile. This suggests that an array of independent modular systems, each of which included an actuator, a sensor, and a local feedback control loop, could be a simple and robust method of controlling broadband sound transmission when integrated into a panel.
Acoustics↗