Role of endothelial glycocalyx in sliding friction at the catheter-blood vessel interface.

Catheterization is a common medical operation to diagnose and treat cardiovascular diseases. The blood vessel lumen is coated with endothelial glycocalyx layer (EGL), which is important for the permeability and diffusion through the blood vessels wall, blood hemodynamics and mechanotransduction. However EGL's role in catheter-blood vessel friction is not explored. We use a porcine aorta to mimic the blood vessel and a catheter loop was made to rub in reciprocating sliding mode against it to understand the role of catheter loop curvature, stiffness, normal load, sliding speed and EGL on the friction properties. Trypsin treatment was used to cause a degradation of the EGL. Decrease in catheter loop stiffness and EGL degradation were the strongest factors which dramatically increased the coefficient of friction (COF) and frictional energy dissipation at the aorta-catheter interface. Increasing sliding speed caused an increase but increase in normal load first caused a decrease and then an increase in the COF and frictional energy. These results provide the basic data for safety of operation and damage control during catheterization in patients with degraded EGL.

Laser-Plasma Spatiotemporal Cyanide Spectroscopy and Applications.

This article reports new measurements of laser-induced plasma hypersonic expansion measurements of diatomic molecular cyanide (CN). Focused, high-peak-power 1064 nm Q-switched radiation of the order of 1 TW/cm 2 generated optical breakdown plasma in a cell containing a 1:1 molar gas mixture of N 2 and CO 2 at a fixed pressure of 1.1 × 10 5 Pascal and in a 100 mL/min flow of the mixture. Line-of-sight (LOS) analysis of recorded molecular spectra indicated the outgoing shockwave at expansion speeds well in excess of Mach 5. Spectra of atomic carbon confirmed increased electron density near the shockwave, and, equally, molecular CN spectra revealed higher excitation temperature near the shockwave. Results were consistent with corresponding high-speed shadowgraphs obtained by visualization with an effective shutter speed of 5 nanoseconds. In addition, LOS analysis and the application of integral inversion techniques allow inferences about the spatiotemporal plasma distribution.

Laser-Plasma Spectroscopy of Hydroxyl with Applications.

This article discusses laser-induced laboratory-air plasma measurements and analysis of hydroxyl (OH) ultraviolet spectra. The computations of the OH spectra utilize line strength data that were developed previously and that are now communicated for the first time. The line strengths have been utilized extensively in interpretation of recorded molecular emission spectra and have been well-tested in laser-induced fluorescence applications for the purpose of temperature inferences from recorded data. Moreover, new experiments with Q-switched laser pulses illustrate occurrence of molecular recombination spectra for time delays of the order of several dozen of microseconds after plasma initiation. The OH signals occur due to the natural humidity in laboratory air. Centrifugal stretching of the Franck-Condon factors and r-centroids are included in the process of determining the line strengths that are communicated as a Supplementary File. Laser spectroscopy applications of detailed OH computations include laser-induced plasma and combustion analyses, to name but two applications. This work also includes literature references that address various diagnosis applications.

Optical diagnostic and therapy applications of femtosecond laser radiation using lens-axicon focusing.

Diagnostic modalities by means of optical and/or near infrared femtosecond radiation through biological media can in principle be adapted to therapeutic applications. Of specific interest are soft tissue diagnostics and subsequent therapy through hard tissue such as bone. Femto-second laser pulses are delivered to hydroxyapatite representing bone, and photo-acoustic spectroscopy is presented in order to identify the location of optical anomalies in an otherwise homogeneous medium. Imaging through bone is being considered for diagnostic, and potentially therapeutic, applications related to brain tumors. The use of mesomeric optics such as lens-axicon combinations is of interest to achieve the favorable distribution of focused radiation. Direct therapy by increasing local temperature to induce hyperthermia is one mode of brain tumor therapy. This can be enhanced by seeding the tumor with nanoparticles. Opto-acoustic imaging using femtosecond laser radiation is a further opportunity for diagnosis.

Temperature distribution in dental tissue after interaction with femtosecond laser pulses.

Algebraic and numerical solutions are presented of the temperature rise in dental tissue due to interaction with ultrashort optical radiation. Results of the studies with femtosecond laser pulses show agreement between theory and experiment. A temperature rise of typically 5 K is found for a 40 millisecond train of 7 nJ, 70 fs laser pulses at a repetition rate of 80 MHz. The peak irradiance in our experimental studies was limited to 3x10(6) W/cm(2). Applications include photoacoustic imaging and tomography of dental tissue.

New perspectives on catheter-based ablation of ventricular tachycardia complicating Chagas' disease: experimental evidence of the efficacy of near infrared lasers for catheter ablation of Chagas' VT.

Chronic Chagas' myocarditis can alter the myocardial substrate in a way that facilitates the emergence of fatal VT in a way similar to the long-term consequences of myocardial infarction. Post-myocardial infarction and Chagas' VT share many similarities: they are both macroreentrant circuits, entrainable, involving any wall segment from the endocardium to the epicardium. However, as compared to patients with post-MI VT, Chagasic patients tend to be younger and have a higher left ventricular ejection fraction. It is assumed, therefore, that their prognosis is closely related to VT treatment rather than the progression of the myocardial damage caused by the disease itself. Although sudden death is a rare event in patients in NYHA functional class I and II treated with amiodarone, VT recurrence rate is 30% a year. Drug therapy is ineffective for patients with advanced heart failure (100% recurrence rate/40% mortality in 1 year). Open-chest surgery is effective but requires very specialized centers and great expertise making its widespread use unrealistic. The results of combining RF endo/epicardial catheter ablation are still disappointing. Thus, research protocols on the search for new ablation technologies may greatly impact overall mortality in this subset of patients. This review will focus on the limitations of the current catheter-based ablation technology and suggest that an alternative approach is urgently needed. Experimental evidence of the efficacy of near infrared Lasers for catheter ablation will be reported along with investigations of the optical properties of the chagasic myocardium in the near infrared region to indicate that it might be not only feasible but also an appropriate choice to treat these patients.