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16817634

The physiological effect of conventional treatment with epigallocatechin-3-gallate, thymoquinone, and tannic acid on the LNCaP cell line.

Antioxidants are substances that function to protect cells from damage caused by unstable free radicals, which are responsible for damage that may lead to cancer. (Blot et al., 1993). Several antioxidants have been discussed for use in prevention and treatment of prostate carcinoma. Epidemiological evidence has indicated that these antioxidants may reduce the risk of prostate cancer by underlying mechanisms that remain unclear. The LNCaP cell line was introduced by inoculation from a supraclavicular lymph node metastasis of human prostate cancer (Horoszewicz et al., 1983). The aim of this study was to use the androgen-dependent LNCaP human prostate cancer cell line as a cell model to evaluate the physiological effects to conventional treatments with both low (LD) and high doses (HD) of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), thymoquinone (TQ), and tannic acid (TA). Following treatment, cells were incubated and the various groups were evaluated at 24, 48, and 72 hours. After 24, 48, and 72 hours of incubation, all treated cells caused a reduction in cell growth, but the TQHD treated group seemed to be the most potent. The TQHD group also demonstrated the greatest decrease in total protein levels parison to the control. According to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), significant differences were observed (P < 0.001). Upon observation of the prostatic specific antigen (PSA) values, all groups showed decreased levels; however, the TQHD treated group showed an initial suppression after 24 hours and then finally adapted to treatment after 48 and 72 hours. Malondialdehyde (MDA) values were also assessed at the same three time periods (24, 48, and 72 hours) as an indicator of membrane integrity. After 24 hours of incubation, the TAHD group demonstrated the greatest increase in MDA levels. Morphologically, the cells demonstrated significant changes, such as swelling and irregularity in appearance upon antioxidant exposure. These findings reveal that antioxidants may serve as agents for prostate cancer prevention by providing safer and effective treatments for prostate cancer; however, further experiments are needed to understand the interactions involved.

16817635

Effects of (-)epigallocatechin gallate and thymoquinone on proliferation of a PANC-1 cell line in culture.

The limited ability of current treatments for pancreatic cancer prompted us to examine the effects of antioxidants on proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells. Antioxidants have been reported to possess antioxidant activity in vitro. The specific aim of this study was to investigate the role of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a ponent of green tea and thymoquinone on the proliferation and viability of PANC-1 cell line using a standard method of treatment. The PANC-1 cells were treated with three predetermined doses of thymoquinone and EGCG (5, 25, and 50 ug/dL) for 24, 48, and 72 hours in culture medium. Determination of viability and morphology was examined microscopically after each 24 hour interval. Data collected from this study indicated a dose dependent relationship with direct administration of EGCG alone or bination with thymoquinone. However, a rebound effect was observed after 48 and 72 hours during direct administration of both antioxidants. These results indicate that direct administration of EGCG alone or bination with thymoquinone can limit PANC-1 cell proliferation (p < 0.05). EGCG and thymoquinone may be a potent biologic inhibitor of human pancreatic carcinomas, reducing their propagation activities.

16817636

The effects of extraocular muscles on static displacements of the human eye.

More than 30,000 people lose sight in at least one eye every year in the United States. Globe rupture is one of the most severe injuries and can often result in the loss of an eye. Previous studies to determine the injury tolerance of the human eye to globe rupture have not investigated the effects of extraocular muscles on the response of the eye. The purpose of the current study is to quantify the effects of the extraocular muscles using quasistatic displacement tests of the human eye in situ. A total of three post-mortem human heads were used for the matched pair tests designed to elucidate any differences in the force-deflection response of the human eye with the extraocular muscles intact and transected. Computed tomography imaging was utilized to observe the deformation of the eye within the orbit for each displacement, from 0 mm to 30 mm. Slight differences in the force-deflection response are observed; however, it is not clear how these differences will influence impact response at a dynamic rate. It was also observed that under quasistatic displacements that the eye is able to translate out of the way of the impactor assembly, even under large deflections, and without globe rupture. Additional dynamic tests are mended to determine the effects of the extraocular muscles on eye impact response.

16817637

A new infusion pathway monitoring system utilizing electrostatic induced potential.

We have developed a new infusion pathway monitoring system employing linear integrated circuits and a low-power 8-bit single chip puter. The system is available for hospital and home use and it constantly monitors the intactness of the pathway. The sensor is an electro-conductive polymer electrode wrapped around the infusion polyvinyl chloride infusion tube. This records an AC (alternating current) voltage induced on the patient's body by electrostatic coupling from the normal 100 volt, 60 Hz AC power line wiring field in the patient's room. If the injection needle or infusion tube es detached, then the system detects changes in the induced AC voltage and alerts the nursing station, via the nurse call system or PHS (personal handy phone System).

16817639

Effect of crosslinking density on swelling and mechanical properties of PEGDA400/PCLTMA900 hydrogels.

A biodegradable polymer network hydrogel was fabricated and characterized for neural tissue engineering purposes. The proposed hydrogel contains both hydrophobic and ponents. The ponent is a three-arm poly(e-caprolactone) maleic acid with molecular weight of 900 (PCLTMA), and the ponent is poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate macromer (PEGDA) with molecular weight of 400. A monolithic hard gel was generated by chemical photo-crosslinking. Three different networks, with varied ratios of PEGDA to PCLTMA including 25/75, 50/50 and 75/25, were characterized pression testing, and the swelling properties were studied in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, 7.4). The results of this study show that a wide-range of swelling data was obtained when position of PEGDA to PCLTMA was changed. pressive modulus was measured for position, and the 75/25 gel was stiffer than the positions. These basic material properties will provide preliminary data for hydrogel development to be conducted in our laboratory.

16817640

A new communication support system employing a tablet computer.

A munication support system has been developed for assisting elderly municating by telephone and e-mail. The system consists of a conventional puter, puter-telephony interface board, a microphone, a speaker, a telephone line and the Internet. The tablet liquid crystal screen (TLCS) is used as a display device and an entry device, instead of a keyboard. When an elderly person telephones or sends an email, they then choose munication person from the registered support personnel pictures displayed on the TLCS. puter dials or sends e-mail, which is directly handwritten on the TLCS. When their home system receives a telephone call or e-mail, puter displays the munication person's picture and name on the TLCS. The elderly person can therefore easily recognize and verify the person. Since this munication support system does not employ a keyboard, it is easily operated by elderly persons.

16817638

Head acceleration is less than 10 percent of helmet acceleration in football impacts.

Sports-related concussions constitute 20 percent of brain injuries each year in the United States. Concussion research has included a variety of instrumentation and techniques to measure head accelerations. Most recently, the Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System (Simbex, Lebanon, NH), a wireless system that provides real-time data from impacts, is used to measure in-situ head accelerations in collegiate football. The purpose of this study is pare helmet shell acceleration to head center of gravity acceleration using two measures of linear head acceleration. A study of 50 helmet to helmet impact tests using a pendulum provided a range of head accelerations from 5 g to 50 g. The primary measure of head acceleration is accelerometers mounted at the center of gravity of the Hybrid III head. A secondary measure is the in-helmet HIT System. The series of 50 pendulum impacts included three impact velocities of 2.0 m/s, 3.5 m/s and 5.0 m/s at four different impact locations. The impact locations were on the side, back, top and just above the facemask on the front. paring these two measured head accelerations and the helmet acceleration during a pendulum impact, it is shown that the response of the head and the helmet vary greatly and the in-helmet system matches the head and not helmet acceleration. Specifically, head acceleration is less than 10 percent of helmet acceleration in football impacts; moreover, the HIT System is able to accurately measure the head acceleration.

16817641

Amelioration of acute and relapsing stages of the experimental allergic encephalomyelitis by cobra toxins.

Neurological deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS) and in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) show demyelination of the nerve fibers, which are responsible for transmission of signals. The myelin appears to be attacked by the cells of the immune system. A viral etiology has been implicated in patients with MS. Oxidized toxins (MN) have been shown over the past 50 years to act as antiviral agents that are capable of inhibiting viral replication, and have shown promise in alleviating symptoms in EAE models of MS. The safety of pounds has been a factor in their limited use. Development of a modified cobra toxin (MCTX) may prove more beneficial in inhibiting symptoms of EAE. In this study a modified cobra toxin (MCTX) pared with the older oxidized toxin (MN) in an established EAE animal model. The results show that MCTX is capable of inhibiting the development as well as the relapsing phase of EAE in Lewis rats more efficiently than MN. It is possible that a safe cobra toxin can be developed with therapeutic efficacy for treatment of MS or vaccine development.

16817642

Possible role of ependymal proliferation in improving experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in Lewis rats.

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) animal models is an autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, which is widely accepted as an animal for human multiple sclerosis (MS). Ependymal cells line the spinal canal and cerebral ventricles and proliferate in response to damage. These cells have the potential to differentiate into neural support cells. However, there is controversy as whether the response of the ependymal cells is a result of injury or repair. This study demonstrates using the rat EAE model a proliferative response of the ependymal cells occurred as a result of the disease. Interestingly, a more pronounced ependymal proliferative effect was seen in animals being fed a phase 2 enzyme inducer. The data suggests ependymal cells play a role in the post-inflammatory response of the brain and also may be involved in the remyelination process.

16817643

Thoracic and lumbar spine accelerations in everyday activities.

The purpose of this study was to quantify thoracic and lumbar spine accelerations for men and women of different body sizes during daily activities. Measured spine accelerations pared to determine if there were significant differences in peak accelerations based on gender, size, and spine location. Each subject performed seven activities, which included sitting in a chair, sitting quickly in a chair, walking at 1.3 m/s, running at 2.7 m/s, performing jumping jacks, achieving maximum vertical leap, and jumping off a step approximately 20 cm high. Overall, the peak lumbar spine accelerations were significantly greater than the thoracic spine accelerations. Based on the statistical analysis, it was determined that gender and body size did not have a significant effect on peak accelerations of the thoracic and lumbar spine. The findings from the present study are of great value to researchers in order to understand the acceleration patterns of the human body during low impact accelerations.

16817644

Hep-2 cellular function following either a bolus administration or continuous sustained release of IP-6.

Inositol 6-phosphate (IP-6) has demonstrated novel anti-cancer activity using several different tumor models. IP-6, or phytic acid, has antioxidant properties that directly act to inhibit cancer cell growth. In previous experiments using Hep-2 cells treated with a single treatment dose of IP-6 (1 mM) showed decreases in number only after 72 hours. The goal of this experiment was to deliver IP-6 in a sustained continuous manner for periods of 24, 48 and 72 hours to Hep-2 cancer cells pare the changes in cell growth and morphology after a single bolus dose of IP-6. Our results indicated that IP-6 administered as a bolus dose was unable to reduce Hep-2 cell numbers after 24 hours. By 48 and 72 hours an approximate 50% increase in cell numbers were seen in the single dose treatment group. Sustained delivery of IP-6 resulted in significant reduction of cells over 48 hours. The dose of IP-6 given (1 mM) did not induce changes in cellular protein concentrations nor increase cellular membrane damage. Morphologically, the Hep-2 cell appear small, round to cuboidal in shape with dark eccentric nuclei and scant cytoplasm. After treatment with 1 mM IP-6, the cells showed evidence of degeneration with irregular cell borders and hyperchromatic nuclei. Overall, 1 mM IP-6 was unable to reduce Hep-2 cell proliferation for periods greater than 48 hours; however, further evaluation of the Hep-2 cytology revealed significant cellular degenerative changes that warrant additional studies to understand the action of IP-6.

16817645

Special treatments for valve/hole regions in endocardial potential estimates from non-contact intracavitary probes.

The EnSite intracavitary probe system developed by Endocardial Solutions, Inc (St. Jude Medical, St. Paul, MN) was used to simultaneously record geometric information, probe potentials, and endocardial potentials within the right atria for four patients. First-order Tikhonov regularization was then used to estimate endocardial potentials from the probe potentials for each patient at each endocardial site, and relative errors and correlation coefficients between the estimates and measured data puted. Next, three treatments for valve/hole regions of the heart were examined to determine whether they were able to improve the endocardial potential estimates outside the valve/hole regions: thetaphi/theta(n) = 0, c thetaphi/theta(n) = phi, and infinite elements. The correlation coefficients and relative errors for the estimates with the special treatments were extremely close to (and sometimes slightly worse than) the estimates without any special treatments, for all four patients.

16817646

Localized pulsed magnetic fields for tendonitis therapy.

Energy medicine has existed for centuries in some parts of the world, but in recent years, western health care practitioners have taken a heightened interest in these therapies. Treatment by use of pulsed magnetic fields (PMF) is currently being explored in both chronic and inflammatory diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and tendinitis. In the U.S., PMFs have already been approved for use in treatment of bone fractures in humans and clinical trials have been conducted for lower back pain. This study presents a summary of the therapeutic potential of a localized PMF treatment for tendinitis using the Softpulse III system. This system has been used to accelerate wound healing and soft tissue swelling. It generates a specific PMF that induces an electrical field within the tendon. This induced electrical field is thought to influence the healing process by affecting the inflammatory cells that line the tendon sheath. In this study, we have used an established model of tendinitis along with a validated method for appraising edema and gait (Achilles' Functional Index), to test the hypothesis that the proposed PMF signal is effective in reducing the indicators of acute tendinitis injury. These experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Our findings suggest a role for the treatment of soft tissue injury using the Softpulse III therapeutic device. The symbolic stand point of PMF treatments is to push the need for a revolutionary leap, from the more dominant pharmaceutical and surgical interventions, to the advanced applications of non-invasive therapies that would minimize the medicinal risk of side effects, and eliminate the risk plicated drug interactions.

16817647

Linear and non-linear assessment of heart rate variability in congenital central hypoventilation syndrome.

Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is characterised by the failure of the autonomic control of breathing and is defined as a multi-system disorder with symptoms of diffuse autonomic nervous system dysfunction. The present study, considering the heart rate variability (HRV) parameters as expression of cardiac autonomic nervous system activity, reports higher heart rate (HR) levels and reduced HRV, at rest in supine position, in CCHS patient parison with controls. The CCHS subject presented lower values of HF ponent and SD1 Poincaré plot parameter, indicating a decrease of vagal cardiac influence. Also the ponent and SD2 parameter were reduced, while the LF/HF ratio presented a higher value as expression of sympatho-vagal dysregulation with dominant sympathetic activity and prevalent vagal withdrawal. The fractal dimension and beta values suggest lower plexity and a probable lack of integrity of autonomic control mechanisms in CCHS subject parison to controls.

16817648

The DaVinci Group: a second modern Ophthalmotrope.

A group of undergraduate students at the University of Connecticut Biomedical Engineering Program has formed a "club" in order to more fully understand and educate themselves in modeling anatomical processes. This group is called the DaVinci Robot or DaVinci Group. Experiments to mechanically model the six extraocular muscles of the eye have been performed, each meeting little success. While researching methods that would lead to better success, the concept of the Ophthalmotrope was discovered. The Ophthalmotrope is a mechanical visual aide used in teaching the function of the extraocular muscles, prevalent in the mid 1800's. The Group decided to study this device and ultimately decided to build one. The paper presented here discusses our third experiment, currently under investigation, that is, to build an Opthalmotrope. Difficulties with this task are lack of any information with regard to how to construct this device. Presented are descriptions of the Group's initial experiments and research conducted into the construction of the Ophthalmotrpe. In the main body of the presented paper is a description of how the DaVinci Group Ophthalmotrope is constructed. Concluding is a discussion of the progress of the construction of the Ophthalmotrope along with a brief listing of research conducted in order to build the device.

16817649

Single versus double ended high frequency pressurization of mock arteries: symmetry of expansion.

A series of experiments was carried out to evaluate the expansion characteristics of silicone mock arteries at frequencies from 5 to 100 Hz. Of particular interest was the magnitude of expansion along the length of the tube versus frequency. The tubes were pressurized from one end or from both ends. In general, results indicate asymmetric expansion along the length of the tube. This asymmetry, however, changed dramatically with frequency. These changes are not fully explainable by standard experimental considerations such pliance and harmonics.

16817650

Development of the transtibial prosthesis controlled pneumatically and electrically by microcomputer system.

This report represents the development of the prototype transtibial prosthesis to assist a smooth fortable walking for an unilateral amputee. This prosthesis posed of two air cylinders, solenoid valves, portable and small air tank pressed air storage, a multiple sensor system and a microprocessor. Two air cylinders are located around the rods to act as antagonistic and agonistic muscles. The system causes flexion and extension of the foot plate jointed at the ankle pressed air, injected -or discharged via a solenoid or electromagnetic valves. The valves or solenoids are controlled with a microprocessor (Microchip Technology Inc., PIC16F876), the microprocessor generates control signals to the interface circuits for valve opening and closing consistent with the foot position during the walking phase. The control patterns generated in the microprocessor are modified with feedback from the touch sensor, ankle joint angle sensor and the two dimensional acceleration sensor. The primary walking pattern for an individual amputee should be developed through the gait analysis with video.