Award Data

THE USE OF LASERS AS A SURGICAL MODALITY HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED IN RECENT YEARS. LASERS OF VARIOUS WAVELENGTHS ARE SUITED FOR DIFFERENT SPECIFIC SURGICAL FUNCTIONS. CO2 (10.6 ) RADIATION HAS SMALL PENETRATION DEPTHS IN TISSUES. THIS LEADS TO HIGH SURFACE TEMPERATURES WHICH ARE DESIRABLE FOR TISSUE INCISION THROUGH EVAPORATION. ND:YAG LASERS (1.06 ) PROVIDE VOLUMETRIC TISSUE HEATING WHICH IS EFFECTIV ...

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PULSED MID-IR LASER IN THE 3.5 TO 4.1 MICROMETER ATMOSPHERIC TRANSMISSION WINDOW. SUCH SPECTRAL SOURCE IS RELEVANT TO A VARIETY OF TACTICAL APPLICATIONS. THE DF CHEMICAL LASER HAS BEEN THE CHOICE, BUT SUFFERS FROM WASTE FUEL MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS. NO OTHER EFFICIENT DIRECT LASING SOURCE IS AVAILABLE. TO OBTAIN SUCH A SOURCE, WE PROPOSE THE USE O ...

THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED 600,000 CHILDREN UNDER SIX YEARS OLD WITH ELEVATED BLOOD LEAD LEVELS AND ONLY 5,000 PER YEAR UNDERGOING TREATMENT; AS YET, NO TECHNIQUE IS AVAILABLE TO MEASURE TOTAL BODY LEAD BURDEN. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES A TECHNIQUE WHICH USES X-RAY FLUORESCENCE IN A TRANSMISSION GEOMETRY TO MEASURE THE TOTAL BODY-BURDEN OF LEAD, IN VIVO, NONINVASIVELY. A SYSTEM USING A GOLD CALIBRATION ...

THE SCATTERING OF X-RAYS CAN BE USED TO IMAGE THE DENSITY OFANATOMICAL STRUCTURES UP TO SEVERAL CENTIMETERS DEEP IN THE HUMAN BODY. THIS RESEARCH DESCRIBES A TECHNIQUE OF USING COMPTOM SCATTERED X-RAYS IN AN IPSILATERAL (BACKSCATTER) GEOMETRY TO OBTAIN THREE-DIMENSIONAL DENSITY INFORMATION FORMAXILLODENTAL IMAGING. THE TECHNIQUE IS CALLED COMPTON SCATTER TOMOGRAPHY (CST). CURRENTLY, IN THIS ANATOM ...

N/A

THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVISE AUTOMATED METHODS OF ANALYZING THE AUDITORY BRAINSTEM RESPONSE (ABR) WHEN IT IS RECORDED USING THREE ORTHOGONAL CHANNELS. THE RESULTING 3- CHANNEL LISSAJOUS TRAJECTORY (3-CLT) SHOWS BOTH LINEAR AND PLANAR PORTIONS, WHICH WILL BE DETECTED USING ALGORITHMS TESTED UNDER REALISTIC CONDITIONS OF BACKGROUND NOISE. THE 3-CLT METHODOLOGY IS LIKELY TO BE MORE SENSITIV ...

THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF COMBINING THREE-CHANNEL RECORDING OF THE AUDITORY BRAINSTEM RESPONSE (ABR) WITH A STIMULUS-PAIRS TECHNIQUE SO AS TO MEASURE THE DECREMENT IN RESPONSE THAT OCCURS IN THE RELATIVE REFRACTORY PERIOD (RRP). THIS METHOD WILL PERMIT DETECTION OF ANY ABNORMALITIES THAT AFFECT THE RRP, AS THE PARAMETERS CAN BE ADJUSTED SO THAT THERE IS DECREMENT ...

THE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO PROVIDE THE NUCLEAR MEDICINE COMMUNITY WITH A COMPACT LINEAR ACCELERATOR (LINAC) FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THE PRINCIPAL SHORT-LIVED RADIOISOTOPES USED IN POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY. THE DESIGN OF THIS LINAC WILL BE BASED ON EXCITING NEW TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPED FOR A PION-GENERATING LINAC (PIGMI) AT THE LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY AND FUNDED BY THE NATIONAL ...

N/A

DURING THE PAST 20 YEARS, DIFFERENT BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES HAVE BEEN DESCRIBED FOR LYMPHOKINES PRODUCED BY ACTIVATED LEUKOCYTES. INTERLEUKIN-1 (IL-1) IS A FACTOR PRODUCED BY ACTIVATED MONONUCLEAR PHAGOCYTES AND IS ESSENTIAL FOR SUPPORTING BOTH T-CELL AND B-CELL RESPONSES. ACTIVATED T CELLS PRODUCE INTERLEUKIN-2 (IL-2), A FACTOR NECESSARY FOR T-CELL PROLIFERATION. THIS SOLUBLE FACTOR EXERTS ITS BIOL ...