To build a life cycle assessment (LCA) database of Japanese products embracing their global supply chains in a manner requiring lower time and labor burdens, this study estimates the intensity of embodied global environmental burden for commodities produced in Japan. The intensity of embodied global environmental burden is a measure of the environmental burden generated globally by unit product...

BACKGROUND In this study, we developed and validated a new approach for in vivo visualization of inflammatory processes by magnetic resonance imaging using biochemically inert nanoemulsions of perfluorocarbons (PFCs). METHODS AND RESULTS Local inflammation was provoked in 2 separate murine models of acute cardiac and cerebral ischemia, followed by intravenous injection of PFCs. Simultaneous a...

The goal of mechanical ventilation is to maintain adequate gas exchange by opening and stabilizing alveolar units with minimal detriment to the pulmonary and circulatory systems. The optimal ventilatory strategy may be difficult to achieve, especially in patients with respiratory failure. Total liquid ventilation is a process whereby a liquid perfluorocarbon (PFC) replaces both the functional r...

The considerable evidence that Mars once had a wetter, more clement, environment motivates the search for past or present life on that planet. This evidence also suggests the possibility of restoring habitable conditions on Mars. While the total amounts of the key molecules--carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen--needed for creating a biosphere on Mars are unknown, estimates suggest that there ma...

Clinical trials with partial liquid ventilation demonstrate improvement in oxygenation, as well as some adverse side effects linked to the application of liquid perfluorocarbons (PFCs) during liquid ventilation. Thus, we examined the effects of systemic administration of PFC on acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and its effects on heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a compound tha...

Unlike other organs the nervous system is secluded from the rest of the organism by the blood brain barrier (BBB) or blood nerve barrier (BNB) preventing passive influx of fluids from the circulation. Similarly, leukocyte entry to the nervous system is tightly controlled. Breakdown of these barriers and cellular inflammation are hallmarks of inflammatory as well as ischemic neurological disease...

This article is a review of the research findings on the subject of liquid ventilation and how it has shown to improve lung function in patients with respiratory distress syndrome. An overview of the physiology behind the success of liquid ventilation, including current research outcomes, is presented. The literature documenting research data was obtained through an internet search of articles ...

BACKGROUND It has been proposed that partial liquid ventilation (PLV) causes a compression of the pulmonary vasculature by the dense perfluorocarbons and a subsequent redistribution of pulmonary blood flow from dorsal to better-ventilated middle and ventral lung regions, thereby improving arterial oxygenation in situations of acute lung injury. METHODS After induction of acute lung injury by ...

WATER-IN-OIL MICROEMULSIONS: COUNTERION EFFECTS IN AOT SYSTEMS AND NEW FLUOROCARBON-BASED MICROEMULSION GELS FEBRUARY 2010 XIAOMING PAN, B.S., TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Surita R. Bhatia Microemulsions have important applications in various industries, including enhanced oil recovery, reactions, separations, drug delivery, cosmetics and...

BACKGROUND Repeated bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) has been used in animals to induce surfactant depletion and to study therapeutical interventions of subsequent respiratory insufficiency. Intratracheal administration of surface active agents such as perfluorocarbons (PFC) can prevent the alveolar collapse in surfactant depleted lungs. However, it is not known how BAL or subsequent PFC administra...