Plasma skimming efficiency of human blood in the spiral groove bearing of a centrifugal blood pump

Journal of Artificial Organs - This work investigates the plasma skimming effect in a spiral groove bearing within a hydrodynamically levitated centrifugal blood pump when working with human blood...     

Utility of bedside artificial pancreas for postoperative glycemic control in cardiac surgery

Journal of Artificial Organs - Perioperative hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, and high glycemic variability are independent risk factors for mortality in critically ill patients. After cardiac surgery,...     

Generation and characterization of a novel shoulder contracture mouse model

Frozen shoulder is a relatively common disorder that leads to severe pain and stiffness in the shoulder joint. Although this disorder is self‐limiting in nature, the symptoms often persist for years, resulting in severe disability. Recent studies using human specimens and animal models have shown distinct changes in the gene expression patterns in frozen shoulder tissue, indicating that novel therapeutic intervention could be achieved by controlling the genes that are potentially involved in the development of frozen shoulder. To achieve this goal, it is imperative to develop a reliable animal joint contracture model in which gene expression can be manipulated by gene targeting and transgenic technologies. Here, we describe a novel shoulder contracture mouse model. We found that this model mimics the clinical presentation of human frozen shoulder and recapitulates the changes in the gene expression pattern and the histology of frozen shoulder and joint contracture in humans and other larger animal models. The model is highly reproducible, without any major complications. Therefore, the present model may serve as a useful tool for investigating frozen shoulder etiology and for identifying its potential target genes. © 2015 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 33:1732–1738, 2015.     

Magnetic resonance imaging appropriate for construction of subject-specific head models for diffuse optical tomography

Subject-specific head models of which their geometry is based on structural magnetic resonance images are essential to accurately estimate the spatial sensitivity profiles for image reconstruction in diffuse optical tomography. T1-weighted magnetic resonance images, which are commonly used for structural imaging, are not sufficient for the threshold-based segmentation of the superficial tissues. Two types of pulse sequences, which provide a high contrast among the superficial tissues, are introduced to complement the segmentation to construct the subject-specific head models. The magnetic resonance images acquired by the proposed pulse sequences are robust to the threshold level and adequate for the threshold-based segmentation of the superficial tissues compared to the T1- and T2-weighted images. The total scan time of the proposed pulse sequences is less than one-fourth of that for the T2-weighted pulse sequence.OCIS codes: (170.2655) Functional monitoring and imaging, (170.3660) Light propagation in tissues     

Effect of stretch on improvement of muscular contractures in rats

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate how a stretching torque affects muscular contractures. [Subjects] The subjects of this study were 48 male Wistar rats. [Methods] Subjects were divided into 4 groups as follows: Group 1 was the control; Group 2 had muscles in continuous fixation; Group 3 had muscles stretched in the direction of dorsiflexion by a spring balancer set at a torque of 0.3N for a period of 30 minutes after continuous fixation; and Group 4 had muscles stretched in the direction of dorsiflexion by a spring balancer set at a torque of 3.0N for a period of 30 minutes after continuous fixation. Joint fixation periods were for 2 and 4-weeks. Ankle joint range of motion and soleus flexibility were analyzed. [Results] For the 2-week joint fixation, soleus flexibility in Group 4 showed an increase compared with that of Group 3. For both fixation periods, range of motion in Group 4 showed an increase compared with that of Group 3. [Conclusion] For both fixation periods, stretching improved joint range of motion. In the 2-week joint fixation, soleus flexibility improved. However, soleus flexibility did not improve in the 4-week joint fixation.Key words: Muscular contracture, Stretching, Muscular flexibility