We measure the anisotropy of sheared carbon-nanotube suspensions for a broad range of concentration, aspect ratio, and strain rate using a variety of methods. Our measurements highlight the importance of excluded-volume interactions in the semidilute regime, with scaling in terms of a dimensionless shear rate. Our results also suggest that such interactions might be exploited to fractionate carbon nanotubes by length in simple shear flow.

We examined the effects of ankle and knee joint cooling on 20-m sprint times and maximal vertical jump heights during high-intensity intermittent exercise. 21 healthy collegiate male basketball (n=14) and handball players (n=7) underwent 3 experimental sessions. Each session consisted of four 15-min quarters of high-intensity intermittent exercises including various intensities of 20-m shuttle running and jumping. A 20-min bilateral joint cooling (ankle, knee, or control-no cooling: in a counterbalanced order) was applied before quarters 1 and 3. After joint cooling, no warm-up activity other than the exercise protocol was given. The 20-m sprint times and maximal vertical jump heights in each experimental session were recorded at baseline (prior to quarter-1) and during each quarter. To test joint cooling effects over time, we performed 3×5 mixed model ANOVAs. Neither ankle nor knee joint cooling changed 20-m sprint times (F8,280=1.45; p=0.18) or maximal vertical jump heights (F8,280=0.76; p=0.64). However, a trend was observed in which joint cooling immediately decreased (quarters 1 and 3) but active warm-up for approximately 20 min improved 20-min sprint times (quarters 2 and 4). Our study suggests that athletic performance such as sprinting and jumping are not altered by joint cooling applied prior to or during high-intensity intermittent exercise.

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Background: Although organic extracts of gromwell (Lithospermum erythrorhizon) have been shown to promote wound healing, the wound healing effects of water extracts of gromwell (WG) that are commonly used in traditional remedies have not been elucidated. Objective: We investigated whether WG promotes the migration and/or proliferation of cultured human keratinocytes (CHK) or dermal fibroblasts in parallel with increases in lipid synthesis during in vitro wound healing. Methods: CHK or fibroblasts were treated with 1–1,000 µg/ml WG for up to 48 h following scratch wound formation. Cell migration was assessed by measuring coverage (in percent) from the wound margin, while cell proliferation and lipid synthesis were determined by [³H]thymidine incorporation into DNA fractions, and [³H]palmitate or [³H]serine incorporation into lipid fractions, respectively. Results: Low-dose WG (1 µg/ml) enhanced the wound coverage for both CHK and fibroblasts at 24 h, while cell proliferation was not altered in either cell types. Synthesis of both total lipids and individual lipid classes, including phospholipids, sphingolipids and neutral lipids, were found to be increased at 24 h in CHK treated with 1 µg/ml WG; in similarly treated fibroblasts, only the syntheses of sphingolipids (such as ceramides and glucosylceramides), but not other lipid species, were significantly increased. In contrast, a higher dose of WG (10–1,000 µg/ml) did not enhance wound coverage, and 100 µg/ml WG neither altered cell proliferation nor lipid synthesis in both CHK and fibroblasts. Conclusion: Low-dose WG (1 µg/ml) enhances the migration of both CHK and fibroblasts with increased lipid synthesis in an in vitro wound scratch model.

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