Harnessing the ability to precisely and reproducibly actuate fluids and manipulate bioparticles such as DNA, cells, and molecules at the microscale, microfluidics is a powerful tool that is currently revolutionizing chemical and biological analysis by replicating laboratory bench-top technology on a miniature chip-scale device, thus allowing assays to be carried out at a fraction of the time an...

BACKGROUND Neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) is a pneumatically-independent mode of mechanical ventilation controlled by diaphragm electrical activity (EAdi), and has not yet been implemented in very small species. OBJECTIVES The aims of the study were to evaluate the feasibility of applying NAVA in very small species and to compare this to pressure support ventilation (PSV) in term...

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) derives health based guidance values called minimal risk levels (MRLs) to assist with assessment of risks posed by exposures to hazardous chemicals. Current MRLs are posted on ATSDR's web site (www.atsdr.cdc.gov). From the total 326 MRLs currently posted, 79 MRLs are based on hepatic endpoints. The paper reports on endpoints used for ...

The Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI) provides vehicle-based tools that could assist drivers in reacting both more rapidly and effectively to a range of external stimuli. Intelligent or adaptive cruise control systems (ICC or ACC), for example, attempt to assist drivers in better maintaining a safe headway under normal driving conditions. In addition, automatic braking systems may provide ad...

This paper presents a generic and configurable model of an electronic informer to assist the evaluation for agent-based interactive systems. In order to propose this model, the current state of the art concerning architectures used for traditional interactive systems is presented, along with that for agent-based interactive systems. In this article, we propose an agent-oriented architecture tha...

Oligociliated epithelial cells or cells with a solitary cilium were observed lining hepatic bile ductules in pigs. The cilia were situated in the midst of microvilli, and arose from a basal body that was located in the vicinity of the free surface of the epithelium. The axonemal pattern revealed in transverse sections of the cilia was 7 + 1, 8 + 1, 8 + 2 or 9 + 0, Although devoid of the classic...

INTRODUCTION Measurement of the evolution of the physical activity in assistive devices (ADs) of daily use might increase the flexibility of the rehabilitation programmes [1]. Also, while walking ADs become more a more autonomous and intelligent [2], reliable and simple methods to assess and adapt performance are demanded. MEMs-based Inertial sensors are called to become standard devices for hu...

INTRODUCTION The objective was to compare the impact of three assistance levels of different modes of mechanical ventilation; neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA), proportional assist ventilation (PAV), and pressure support ventilation (PSV) on major features of patient-ventilator interaction. METHODS PSV, NAVA, and PAV were set to obtain a tidal volume (VT) of 6 to 8 ml/kg (PSV₁₀₀, NA...