Using a mechanical model of the giraffe neck and head circulation consisting of a rigid, ascending, 'carotid' limb, a 'cranial' circulation that could be rigid or collapsible, and a descending, 'jugular' limb that also could be rigid or collapsible, we have analyzed the origin of the high arterial and venous pressures in giraffe, and whether blood flow is assisted by a siphon. When the tubes we...

The ability of Aplysia and other gastropod molluscs to exhibit complex behaviors that can be modified by associative learning has encouraged us to search for an elementary behavior controlled by a simple and well analyzed neural circuit that also can be modified by this type of learning. Toward that end, we have now produced classical conditioning in the defensive siphon and gill withdrawal ref...

The geometry of the carotid siphon has a large variability between subjects, which has prompted its study as a potential geometric risk factor for the onset of vascular pathologies on and off the internal carotid artery (ICA). In this work, we present a methodology for an objective and extensive geometric characterization of carotid siphon parameterized by a set of anatomical landmarks. We intr...

CALCIFICATION of the internal carotid artery in the region of the cavernous sinus is an extremely common radiologic finding.' Although it is the only readily available laboratory criterion of cerebrovascular disease its significance has never been determined by combined clinical, radiologic, and pathologic studies. Whether the arterial changes in this region, which we shall refer to as the siph...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Endovascular placement of coronary balloon-expandable stents in patients with recurrent cerebral ischemia has emerged as a treatment option for intracranial arterial occlusive disease. We have developed an in vitro model matching the tortuous curve of the carotid siphon that allows the assessment of apposition of stents to a curved vessel wall. METHODS Six types of ball...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Three-dimensional CT angiography uses the data obtained on a contrast-enhanced CT brain scan to generate 3D images of the intracranial vasculature. We describe the methodology of curved planar reformatting (CPR) for CT angiography and characterize its usefulness in the evaluation of aneurysms at the carotid siphon, comparing it with the shaded surface display technique (S...

We have found that in the gill- and siphon- withdrawal reflex of Aplysia, the memory for short-term sensitization grades smoothly into long-term memory with increased amounts of sensitization training. One cellular locus for the storage of the memory underlying short-term sensitization is the set of monosynaptic connections between the siphon sensory cells and the gill and siphon motor neurons....

Several lines of evidence suggest that 5-HT plays a significant role in presynaptic facilitation of the siphon sensory cells contributing to dishabituation and sensitization of the gill- and siphon-withdrawal reflex in Aplysia. Most recently, Glanzman et al. (1989) found that treatment with the 5-HT neurotoxin, 5,7-DHT markedly reduced both synaptic facilitation and behavioral dishabituation. T...

A tubeless siphon was created by sucking a 1% aqueous Polyox† solution laden with particles from a beaker into a cylinder by moving a piston. The piston speed and particle concentration were varied. At very high rates of withdrawal, all the liquid could be removed before the siphon broke. In this case, the beaker was completely cleaned without a trace of liquid. The addition of small concentrat...