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Effects of peripheral nerve stimulation on the blood flow of the spinal cord and the nerve root.

Hemodynamic changes in the spinal cord and the nerve root caused by electrical sciatic nerve stimulation in anesthetized dogs were measured with a thermal diffusion method. The electrical stimulation increased the blood flow of the stimulated spinal cord and the nerve root. The conditions of stimulation giving the maximum increase of blood flow were different for the spinal cord and the nerve root. Strong stimulation at a high frequency of 50 to 100 Hz was effective for increasing the blood flow. In the spinal cord, an increase of the local metabolic rate appeared to be important for the blood flow increase. In the nerve root, the sympathetic nerves may have an important effect in the blood flow increase.

Animals↗

Multimodal monitoring in the neurological intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND: Neurocritical care is a specialty that focuses on the critical care management of patients with catastrophic neurologic diseases. Brain ischemia and hypoxia are often central causes of brain damage in these patients. Until recently, the only methods widely accepted for monitoring in the neurological intensive care unit have been intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure monitoring. Recent developments in technology have resulted in several new monitoring techniques that can provide the neurointensivist with information, at the cellular level, that can help guide management. REVIEW SUMMARY: The brain requires a continuous blood-borne supply of oxygen and glucose for normal metabolism. Ischemia occurs when supply is insufficient to meet the metabolic demand. Cerebral blood flow can now be directly monitored using laser Doppler or thermal diffusion techniques. Transcranial cerebral oximetry can estimate regional cerebral oxygen saturation, although the reliability is questionable. Jugular bulb oximetry can provide a global assessment of oxygen delivery, and consumption and brain tissue oxygen tension monitoring can provide a focal measurement of cerebral oxygenation. Intracerebral microdialysis can provide information about glucose metabolism and the overall health of the neuron. CONCLUSIONS: New monitoring techniques can provide the neurointensivist with crucial information about brain physiology and metabolism. Combining these techniques ("multimodal monitoring") can produce a more accurate overall picture. This approach, along with new computer systems for integrating data at the bedside, may change the way patients with brain injury are monitored and treated in the future.

Brain↗

Air movement and heat loss from sheep. II. Thermal insulation of fleece in wind.

Penetration of an animal's coat by wind reduces its thermal insulation and increases heat loss to the environment. From studies of the sensible heat loss from a life-sized model sheep covered with fleece, the average fleece resistance -rf(s cm-1) was related to windspeed u (m s-1) by 1/-rf(u) = 1/-rf(0)+cu, where c is a dimensionless constant. As c is expected to be inversely proportional to coat depth l, the more general relation -k(u) = -k(0)+c'u was evaluated, where -k = l/-rf is the thermal diffusivity (cm2 s-1) of the fleece and c' = cl is another constant (cm). The orientation of the model to the wind had little effect on the bulk resistance of the fleece, but the resistance on the windward side was substantially lower than on the leeward side.

Air Movements↗

Decoration of surfaces with size-selected clusters and molecular manipulation at room temperature: precision and uncertainty in organizing atoms.

The deposition onto surfaces of clusters of atoms, prepared and size-selected in the gas phase, is, like atomic or molecular manipulation with the scanning tunnelling microscope, an appealing (but parallel) route to the creation of nanoscale surface features. Both of these seemingly orthogonal approaches allow, in principle, a selected number of atoms to be organized, and both are strongly affected by the lateral thermal diffusion of the constituent atoms, molecules or clusters over the surface. In this sense, the room-temperature (as opposed to cryogenic-temperature) regime can be regarded as a hostile environment for organizing atoms. In this paper we review recent achievements in size-selected cluster deposition and molecular manipulation at room temperature and thus address the fundamental question: with what precision can we organize atoms at room temperature?

Journal Article↗

Frequency-dependent viscosity of xenon near the critical point.

We used a novel, overdamped oscillator aboard the Space Shuttle to measure the viscosity eta of xenon near its critical density rho(c) and temperature Tc. In microgravity, useful data were obtained within 0.1 mK of Tc, corresponding to a reduced temperature t=(T-Tc)/Tc=3 x 10(-7). Because they avoid the detrimental effects of gravity at temperatures two decades closer to T(c) than the best ground measurements, the data directly reveal the expected power-law behavior eta proportional, variant t(-nuz(eta)). Here nu is the correlation length exponent, and our result for the viscosity exponent is z(eta)=0.0690+/-0.0006. (All uncertainties are one standard uncertainty.) Our value for z(eta) depends only weakly on the form of the viscosity crossover function, and it agrees with the value 0.067+/-0.002 obtained from a recent two-loop perturbation expansion [H. Hao, R.A. Ferrell, and J.K. Bhattacharjee, (unpublished)]. The measurements spanned the frequency range 2 Hz< or = f < or =12 Hz and revealed viscoelasticity when t < or = 10(-5), further from Tc than predicted. The viscoelasticity's frequency dependence scales as Aftau, where tau is the fluctuation-decay time. The fitted value of the viscoelastic time-scale parameter A is 2.0+/-0.3 times the result of a one-loop perturbation calculation. Near Tc, the xenon's calculated time constant for thermal diffusion exceeded days. Nevertheless, the viscosity results were independent of the xenon's temperature history, indicating that the density was kept near rho(c) by judicious choices of the temperature versus time program. Deliberately bad choices led to large density inhomogeneities. At t>10(-5), the xenon approached equilibrium much faster than expected, suggesting that convection driven by microgravity and by electric fields slowly stirred the sample.

Journal Article↗

Frequency-dependent shear viscosity, sound velocity, and sound attenuation near the critical point in liquids. III. The shear viscosity.

We compare theoretical results for the shear viscosity calculated in one-loop order within the field-theoretical method of the renormalization-group theory with experiments. Our expressions describe the nonasymptotic crossover in both temperature and density, and allow us to consider effects of finite gravitation and finite frequency at which the experiments are performed. In doing so we treat the critical exponent x(eta) of the shear viscosity as an independent parameter, keeping the one-loop value of the Kawasaki amplitude fixed. Within our model we also consider the temperature and density dependence of the thermal diffusion including gravitational effects.

Journal Article↗

Modified lattice Boltzmann method for compressible fluid simulations.

A modified lattice Boltzmann algorithm is shown to have much better stability to growing temperature perturbations, when compared with the standard lattice Boltzmann algorithm. The damping rates of long-wavelength waves, which determine stability, are derived using a collisional equilibrium distribution function which has the property that the Euler equations are obtained exactly in the limit of zero time step. Using this equilibrium distribution function, we show that our algorithm has inherent positive hyperviscosity and hyperdiffusivity, for very small values of viscosity and thermal diffusivity, which are lacking in the standard algorithm. Short-wavelength modes are shown to be stable for temperatures greater than a lower limit. Results from a computer code are used to compare these algorithms, and to confirm the damping rate predictions made analytically. Finite amplitude sound waves in the simulated fluid steepen, as expected from gas dynamic theory.

Journal Article↗

Reflectivity and energy balance in pulsed-laser deposition experiments from mono- and bi-atomic targets.

Reflectivity and complete energy balance from the planar targets of aluminum, copper, nickel, and molybdenum have been measured using a Nd: glass laser (lambda=1060 nm,tau=5 ns) in the low intensity regime of laser plasma interaction as a function of focal spot size. The magnitude of partition of total incident laser energy into different channels is observed to decrease as the focal spot size increases. It is further observed that the magnitude of partition of the incident energy into these channels, in general, decreases as the atomic number increases for any given focal spot size, although, the reflectivity component of the partitioned energy increases with focal spot size for any given element. The reflectivities of copper and tungsten and their alloy were measured separately. The reflectivity from the alloy plasma was reduced by a factor of 6 compared to either element separately. This observation confirms the recent theory that in the multiion plasma the ion acoustic waves are additionally damped due to additional Joule, thermal diffusion, and viscous terms in the modified ion-fluid theory of the ion acoustic waves in a multiion species plasma.

Journal Article↗

Surface instability of icicles.

Quantitatively unexplained stationary waves or ridges often encircle icicles. Such waves form when roughly 0.1-mm-thick layers of water flow down an icicle. These waves typically have a wavelength of about 1 cm, which is independent of external temperature, icicle thickness, and the volumetric rate of water flow. In this paper, we show that these waves cannot be obtained by a naive Mullins-Sekerka instability but are caused by a quite different type of surface instability related to thermal diffusion and the hydrodynamic effect of a thin water flow.

Journal Article↗

Propagating hydrodynamic modes in confined fluids.

In molecular dynamics simulations in the microcanonical ensemble (MEMD) we calculate the intermediate scattering function F(k(||),t) for a "simple" fluid confined to nanoscopic slit pores with chemically homogeneous, planar substrate surfaces. Since system properties are translationally invariant in the x-y plane, we focus on the propagation of density modes parallel with the confining substrates by choosing a two-dimensional wave vector |k(||)|=k(||)=(k(x),k(y)) for our analysis. Within the framework of classical hydrodynamics, we develop conservation laws for z-averaged fluxes of heat and momentum. Using in-plane versions of the macroscopic stress tensor and internal-energy current as constitutive equations we derive an expression for F(k(||),t) in the hydrodynamic limit depending on the thermal diffusivity D(T), the sound attenuation coefficient Gamma, the in-plane adiabatic velocity of sound v(||), and the ratio of heat capacities at constant transverse stress and volume gamma. Through a fit of F(k(||),t) in the hydrodynamic limit and its associated memory function M(k(||),t) to MEMD data, reliable values for the set [D(T),Gamma,v(||),gamma] of material coefficients can be obtained. Variations in [D(T),Gamma,v(||),gamma] with s(z) may be correlated with variations in the solvation pressure -tau(zz)-P(b) with s(z) (tau(zz) is the stress exerted by the fluid along the surface normal and P(b) is the bulk pressure) and therefore linked to stratification of the confined fluid.

Journal Article↗

Onset of convection in a very compressible fluid: the transient toward steady state.

We analyze the time profile deltaT(t) of the temperature difference, measured across a very compressible supercritical 3He fluid layer in its convective state. The experiments were done along the critical isochore in a Rayleigh-Bénard cell after starting the vertical constant heat flow q. For q sufficiently well above that needed for the convection onset, the transient deltaT(t) for a given epsilon identical with (T-T(c))/T(c), with T(c)=3.318 K, shows a damped oscillatory profile with period t(osc) modulating a smooth base profile. The smooth profile forms the exponential tail of the transient which tends to the steady-state deltaT( infinity ) with a time constant tau(tail). The scaled times t(osc)/t(D) and tau(tail)/t(D) from all the data could be collapsed onto two curves as a function of the Rayleigh number over approximately 3.5 decades. Here t(D) is the characteristic thermal diffusion time. Furthermore, comparisons are made between measurements of a third characteristic time t(m) between the first peak and the first minimum in the deltaT(t) profile and its estimation by Onuki et al. Also, comparisons are made between the observed oscillations and the two-dimensional simulations by Onuki et al. and by Amiroudine and Zappoli. For epsilon<9 x 10(-3), the experiments show a crossover to a different transient regime. This regime, which we briefly describe, is not understood at present.

Journal Article↗

Observation of electro-osmotic flow echoes in porous media by nuclear magnetic resonance.

A method for assessing the time reversibility of molecular displacements in fluids is presented. The method utilizes pulsed field gradient NMR experiments, in which the flow driving force is inverted during the magnetization lifetime in each measurement cycle. The method is suitable for opaque three-dimensional systems and short displacements, and provides inherent separation between thermal diffusion and displacements driven by externally controlled forces. This approach was applied to study the time reversibility of an electric-field-driven flow of water in natural sand samples, over time scales of up to 0.4 s and displacement scales of the order of one particle diameter. It is demonstrated that the intensity loss of the NMR signal, caused by flow-induced phase dispersion, is fully refocused upon inversion of the polarity of the applied electric field, resulting in flow echoes.

Journal Article↗

Mechanisms in the size segregation of a binary granular mixture.

A granular mixture of particles of two sizes that is shaken vertically will in most cases segregate. If the larger particles accumulate at the top of the sample, this is called the Brazil-nut effect (BNE); if they accumulate at the bottom, it is called the reverse Brazil-nut effect (RBNE). While this process is of great industrial importance in the handling of bulk solids, it is not well understood. In recent years ten different mechanisms have been suggested to explain when each type of segregation is observed. However, the dependence of the mechanisms on driving conditions and material parameters and hence their relative importance is largely unknown. In this paper we present experiments and simulations where both types of particles are made from the same material and shaken under low air pressure, which reduces the number of mechanisms to be considered to seven. We observe both BNE and RBNE by varying systematically the driving frequency and amplitude, diameter ratio, ratio of total volume of small to large particles, and overall sample volume. All our results can be explained by a combination of three mechanisms: a geometrical mechanism called void filling, transport of particles in sidewall-driven convection rolls, and thermal diffusion, a mechanism predicted by kinetic theory.

Journal Article↗

Thermoacoustic separation of a He-Ar mixture

We report observation of a new mixture-separation process: an insonified mixture of helium and argon in a narrow duct spatially separates along the acoustic-propagation axis. We measure mole-fraction differences across the ends of the duct as large as 7%. We measure initial separation flux densities as high as 10(-3) M2 c, where M is the acoustic Mach number and c is the sound speed. This initial separation flux, as a function of both the amplitudes and the relative phasing of the pressure and velocity oscillations in the duct, agrees well with a recent theory involving oscillating thermal diffusion in the acoustic boundary layer.

Journal Article↗

X-ray studies of phonon softening in tise2.

The charge-density-wave transition in TiSe (2), which results in a commensurate (2x2x2) superlattice at temperatures below approximately 200 K, presumably involves softening of a zone-boundary phonon mode. For the first time, this phonon-softening behavior has been examined over a wide temperature range by synchrotron x-ray thermal diffuse scattering.

Journal Article↗

Trapping of DNA by thermophoretic depletion and convection.

Thermophoresis depletes DNA from a heated spot. We quantify for the first time the thermal diffusion constant D(T)=0.4x10(-8) cm(2)/s K for DNA, using fluorescent dyes and laser heating. For 5 kB DNA we extrapolate a 1000-fold depletion from a temperature difference of 50 K. Surprisingly, convection generated by the same heating can turn the depletion into trapping of DNA. Trapped DNA can form point geometries 20 microm in diameter with more than 1000-fold enhanced concentrations. The accumulation is driven only by temperature gradients and offers a new approach to biological microfluidics and replicating systems in prebiotic evolution.

Buffers↗

Thermal fluctuations and positional correlations in oriented lipid membranes.

We have determined the positional correlation functions in aligned stacks of fully hydrated phospholipid bilayers from the thermal diffuse scattering measured by nonspecular x-ray reflectivity. While fair agreement can be obtained between experiment and linear smectic theory at length scales above 120 A, significant deviations occur at small r, which are tentatively attributed to collective protrusion modes.

Biomimetic Materials↗

Behavior of complex knots in single DNA molecules.

We used optical tweezers to tie individual DNA molecules in knots. Although these knots become highly localized under tension, they remain surprisingly mobile and undergo thermal diffusion with classical random walk statistics. The diffusion constants of knots with different complexities correlate with theoretical calculations of knot sizes. We show that this correlation can be explained by a simple hydrodynamical model of "self-reptation" of the knot along a polymer.

Bacteriophage lambda↗