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An acousto-optical method for the inspection of fibrous materials is presented, with particular regard to paper mill applications. This technique permits very fast on-line differentiation between pulp suspensions containing fibers of different average sizes. The basic principle is presented which is related to the Rayleigh disk phenomenon, as well as preliminary experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While cancer survivorship has increased due to advances in treatments, chemotherapy often carries long-lived neurotoxic side effects which reduce quality of life. Commonly affected domains include memory, executive function, attention, processing speed and sensorimotor function, colloquially known as chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) or "chemobrain". Oxidative stress and neuroimmune signaling in the brain have been mechanistically linked to the deleterious effects of chemotherapy on cognition and sensorimotor function. With this in mind, we tested if activation of the master regulator of antioxidant response nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) alleviates cognitive and sensorimotor impairments induced by doxorubicin. The FDA-approved systemic Nrf2 activator, diroximel fumarate (DRF) was used, along with our recently developed prodrug 1c which has the advantage of specifically releasing monomethyl fumarate at sites of oxidative stress. DRF and 1c both reversed doxorubicin-induced deficits in executive function, spatial and working memory, as well as decrements in fine motor coordination and grip strength, across both male and female mice. Both treatments reversed doxorubicin-induced loss of synaptic proteins and microglia phenotypic transition in the hippocampus. Doxorubicin-induced myelin damage in the corpus callosum was reversed by both Nrf2 activators. These results demonstrate the therapeutic potential of Nrf2 activators to reverse doxorubicin-induced cognitive impairments, motor incoordination, and associated structural and phenotypic changes in the brain. The localized release of monomethyl fumarate by 1c has the potential to diminish unwanted effects of fumarates while retaining efficacy.

An instrument has been developed to characterize the mean dimensions of softwood fiber samples. It is based on the phenomenon that particles of cylindrical shape diluted in water and shorter than one fourth of the acoustic wavelength migrate to nodal planes of acoustic radiation pressure and reorient parallel to these planes when subjected to a stationary ultrasonic field. As the resonator operating frequency is 72 kHz, fibers up to 5 mm in length can be measured. The time evolution of the fiber suspension during ultrasonic excitation is monitored with a collimated beam of light. Scattered light signals collected off-axis in the plane perpendicular to the acoustic nodal planes are shown to be a function of the weighted average fiber length. Results are presented for pulp samples in the average fiber length range of 0.2 to 3 mm. It was found that there is a region where the scattered light is linearly related to concentration. Acoustooptical measurements obtained at initial concentration in this linear region, for all fractions, have shown that the longer the average length from screen classifier is, the faster the layer formation is. Since the fiber length the radius are proportional for a wood species, this observation is in agreement with the theoretical prediction.