An Air-Coupled Multiple Moving Membrane Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer With Inverse Biasing Functionality.

A novel air-coupled multiple moving membrane-capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer ( [Formula: see text]-CMUT) with individually biased deflectable plates has been developed. Unlike the conventional capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer, this device cell structure includes an additional deflectable plate that is suspended underneath the transducer top plate. This added flexible plate contributes to the device signal transmission and reception.

Diagnosis of vocal cord dysfunction in asthma with high resolution dynamic volume computerized tomography of the larynx.

Background And Objective: Vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) often masquerades as asthma and reports have suggested that up to 30% of patients with asthma may have coexistent VCD. Diagnosis of VCD is difficult, in part because it involves laryngoscopy which has practical constraints, and there is need for rapid non-invasive diagnosis. High speed 320-slice volume CT demonstrates laryngeal function during inspiration and expiration and may be useful in suspected VCD.

Functional dissection of the intramolecular Src homology 3-guanylate kinase domain coupling in voltage-gated Ca2+ channel beta-subunits.

The beta-subunit of voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels is essential for trafficking the channels to the plasma membrane and regulating their gating. It contains a Src homology 3 (SH3) domain and a guanylate kinase (GK) domain, which interact intramolecularly. We investigated the structural underpinnings of this intramolecular coupling and found that in addition to a previously described SH3 domain beta strand, two structural elements are crucial for maintaining a strong and yet potentially modifiable SH3-GK intramolecular coupling: an intrinsically weak SH3-GK interface and a direct connection of the SH3 and GK domains.