Autonomic and olfactory dysfunctions are considered markers for preclinical diagnosis in Parkinson's disease (PD), because pathological changes in these systems can start before motor symptoms develop. We investigated whether cardiac sympathetic function and olfactory function are associated in PD. Participants comprised 40 nondemented patients with idiopathic PD, and age-matched controls. Card...

Predicting and mitigating unwanted vibration of drillstrings is an important subject for oil drilling companies. Uncontrolled vibrations cause premature failure of the drillstring and associated components. The drillstring is a long slender structure that vibrates in three primary coupled modes: torsional, axial and transverse. Among these coupled modes, the transverse mode is the major cause o...

OBJECTIVES To characterize the uptake, washout, and metabolism of lidocaine hydrochloride in the iris/ciliary body and cornea. METHODS Iris/ciliary body uptake of lidocaine hydrochloride was measured by incubating human and rabbit irides in radiolabeled carbon 14-1% lidocaine hydrochloride for 2 to 60 minutes. Washout was determined by incubating the iris in 14C-1% lidocaine hydrochloride for...

OBJECTIVE A comparison between flow and gas washout data for high-frequency percussive ventilation (HFPV) and pressure control ventilation (PCV) under similar conditions is currently not available. This bench study aims to compare and describe the flow and gas washout behavior of HFPV and PCV in a newly designed experimental setup and establish a framework for future clinical and animal studies...

Interconnected compartmental models have been used for decades in physiology and medicine to account for the observed multi-exponential washout kinetics of a variety of solutes (including inert gases) both from single tissues and from the body as a whole. They are used here as the basis for a new class of biophysical probabilistic decompression models. These models are characterized by a relati...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Renal osteodystrophy and eventually osteoporosis are serious long-term complications in children with end-stage renal disease before and after renal transplantation. Strontium (Sr) salts are used for treatment of osteoporosis in adults. METHODS To evaluate the time-dependent effects of Sr on growth plate morphology and their reversibility, chronic renal failure (CRF) rats rece...

Mitochondria play an important role in energy production for the cell. The proper function of a myocardial cell largely depends on the functional capacity of the mitochondria. Therefore it is necessary to establish a novel and reliable method for a non-invasive assessment of mitochondrial function and metabolism in humans. Although originally designed for evaluating myocardial perfusion, (99m)T...