Anti-proliferative effect of metformin on a feline injection site sarcoma cell line independent of Mtor inhibition.

Metformin is an oral hypoglycemic drug that has been shown to inhibit cancer cell proliferation via up-regulation of AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase), and possibly inhibition of mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of metformin on a feline injection site sarcoma cell line. Cells from a feline injection site sarcoma cell line were treated with metformin at varied concentrations.

Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Applying Static Magnetic Fields That Align Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents.

Nonrotating ("locked") magnetic islands often lead to complete losses of confinement in tokamak plasmas, called major disruptions. Here locked islands were suppressed for the first time, by a combination of applied three-dimensional magnetic fields and injected millimeter waves. The applied fields were used to control the phase of locking and so align the island O point with the region where the injected waves generated noninductive currents.

Evaluation and quantitative microbial risk assessment of a unique antimicrobial agent for hospital surface treatment.

Background: It is generally agreed that contaminated hospital surfaces play a role in the transmission of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). The ability of an antimicrobial agent, engineered at Emory University, to reduce bacterial bioburden on hospital surfaces was examined. A quantitative microbial risk assessment was also conducted to quantify the potential reduction of human health risks associated with application of this antimicrobial product.

Effects of surface-bound and intravenously administered heparin on cell-surface interactions: inflammation and coagulation.

Intravenous administration of heparin and heparin-bonded extracorporeal circuits are frequently used to mitigate the deleterious effects of blood contact with synthetic materials. The work described here utilized human blood in a micro-perfusion circuit to experimentally examine the effects of intravenous and surface-bound heparin on cellular activation. Activation markers of coagulation and of the inflammatory response were examined using flow cytometry; specifically, markers of platelet, monocyte, polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN), and lymphocyte activation were quantified.

In vitro assessment of blood compatibility: residual and dynamic markers of cellular activation.

The blood compatibility of materials and surfaces used for medical device fabrication is a crucial factor in their function and effectiveness. Expansion of device use into more sensitive and longer term applications warrants increasingly detailed evaluations of blood compatibility that reach beyond the customary measures mandated by regulatory requirements. A panel of tests that assess both deposition on the surface and activation of circulating blood in contact with the surface has been developed.

A correlation electron cyclotron emission diagnostic and the importance of multifield fluctuation measurements for testing nonlinear gyrokinetic turbulence simulations.

A correlation electron cyclotron emission (CECE) diagnostic has been used to measure local, turbulent fluctuations of the electron temperature in the core of DIII-D plasmas. This paper describes the hardware and testing of the CECE diagnostic and highlights the importance of measurements of multifield fluctuation profiles for the testing and validation of nonlinear gyrokinetic codes. The process of testing and validating such codes is critical for extrapolation to next-step fusion devices.

Noise suppression using the coherent onion peeler.

An innovative noise suppression algorithm, called the coherent onion peeler (COP) (patent detained) is derived by minimizing the error in the coherent subtraction of the data from a single plane wave model. The COP solution "collapses" for all beamforming algorithms to the same solution at the complex hydrophone FFT level. Thus, any beamformer can be applied to the residual FFTs after the COP has been applied.

Modification of the current profile in high-performance plasmas using off-axis electron-cyclotron-current drive in DIII-D.

Recent DIII-D experiments using off-axis electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) have demonstrated the ability to modify the current profile in a plasma with toroidal beta near 3%. The resulting plasma simultaneously sustains the key elements required for Advanced Tokamak operation: high bootstrap current fraction, high beta, and good confinement. More than 85% of the plasma current is driven by noninductive means.

Radial transport and electron-cyclotron-current drive in the TCV and DIII-D tokamaks.

Calculation of electron-cyclotron-current drive (ECCD) with the comprehensive CQL3D Fokker-Planck code for a TCV tokamak shot gives 550 kA of driven toroidal current, in marked disagreement with the 100-kA experimental value. Published ECCD efficiencies calculated with CQL3D in the much larger, higher-confinement DIII-D tokamak are in excellent agreement with experiment. The disagreement is resolved by including in the calculations electrostatic-type radial transport at levels given by global energy confinement in tokamaks.

Topical permethrin exposure inhibits antibody production and macrophage function in C57Bl/6N mice.

Permethrin was applied to the shaved dorsal interscapular region of C57Bl/6N mice at doses of 0.5, 1.5 or 5.

Internal kink instability during off-axis electron cyclotron current drive in the DIII-D tokamak.

Experimental evidence is reported of an internal kink instability driven by a new mechanism: barely trapped suprathermal electrons produced by off-axis electron cyclotron heating on the DIII-D tokamak. It occurs in plasmas with an evolving safety factor profile q(r) when q(min) approaches 1. This instability is most active when ECCD is applied on the high field side of the flux surface.

Suspected citrus pulp toxicosis in dairy cattle.

Thirteen lactating dairy cows from a herd of 650 died over a 6-week period. Most animals were down in milk production at 1 milking and were found dead at the next milking. Two cows had elevated heart rate and enlarged mandibular lymph nodes.

Voice therapy. Techniques and applications.

Voice therapy is the cornerstone of treatment for patients with voice disorders. The therapeutic role of the speech pathologist is important in patients with functional and organic voice disorders. Voice rest and various other treatment options, techniques, and applications for voices disorders are examined in this article.

Phonological process development with MLU-referenced guidelines.

Sixty subjects between the ages of 21 and 48 months were placed into groups based on mean length of utterance (MLU) and chronological age (CA) to test Stampe's hypothesis about the development of phonological processes. The subjects were given the Phonological Process Analysis (Weiner, 1979), and a proportion score for each of sixteen phonological processes was derived for each subject. The use of the various phonological processes across MLU groups and age groups was analyzed by multiple regression correlation, three-way ANOVA, and Tukey's HSD tests.

Functions of consonant assimilation and reduplication in early word productions of mentally retarded children.

Spontaneous speech samples were elicited from eight mentally retarded children. Examples of consonant assimilation and reduplication found in their speech samples were separately analyzed to examine how these phonological processes function in the phonologies of retarded children. Results showed wide individual variability in subjects' use of consonant assimilation.