Only IT injection of peptide 5 (93-109) among the seven RT1.Au peptides induced donor-spe cific tolerance to cardiac allografts in the WF-to-ACI rat combination. In addition, intravenous injection of peptide 5 did not prolong WF graft survival in ACI recipients. Analysis of cytokine production by the tolerant recipients showed significant Ag-specific reduction in the production of interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in the thymus, mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen, and peripheral blood leukocytes, which was not associated with a concomitant Ag-specific increase in IL-4 and IL-10 production. Measurement of cytokine mRNA expression confirmed undetectable

In this paper, a locomotion mechanism for mobile robots inspired by how single celled organisms use cytoplasmic streaming to generate pseudopods for locomotion is presented. Called the whole skin locomotion, it works by way of an elongated toroid, which turns itself inside out in a single continuous motion, effectively generating the overall motion of the cytoplasmic streaming ectoplasmic tube in amoebae. With an elastic membrane or a mesh of links acting as its outer skin, the robot can easily squeeze between obstacles or under a collapsed ceiling and move forward using all of its contact surfaces for traction, even squeezing itself through holes of a diameter smaller than its nominal width. Therefore this motion is well suited for search and rescue robots that need to traverse over or under rubble, or for applications where a robot needs to enter into and maneuver around tight spaces such as for robotic endoscopes. This paper summarizes the many existing theories of amoeboid motility mechanisms and examines how these can be applied on a macroscale as a mobile robot locomotion concept, illustrating how biological principles can be used for developing novel robotic mechanisms. Five specific mechanisms are introduced, which could be implemented to such a robotic system. Descriptions of an early prototype and the preliminary experimental and finite element analysis results demonstrating the feasibility of the whole skin locomotion strategy are also presented, followed by a discussion of future work.

In this paper, we present a novel locomotion mechanism for mobile robots inspired by the motility mechanisms of single celled organisms that use cytoplasmic streaming to generate pseudopods for locomotion. The Whole Skin Locomotion, as we call it, works by way of an elongated toroid which turns itself inside out in a single continuous motion, effectively generating the overall motion of the cytoplasmic streaming ectoplasmic tube in amoebae. With an elastic membrane or a mesh of links acting as its outer skin, the robot can easily squeeze between obstacles or under a collapsed ceiling and move forward using all of its contact surfaces for traction, or even squeeze itself through holes with diameters smaller than its nominal width by actively changing its cross section diameter making this the ideal locomotion method for search and rescue robots that need to traverse over or under rubble, or for applications where a robot needs to move in and maneuver itself into tight spaces such as for robotic endoscopes. This paper summarizes the many existing theories of amoeboid motility mechanisms, and examines how these can be applied on a macro scale as a novel mobile robot locomotion concept. Four locomotion mechanism models are presented with preliminary experiments and their results, demonstrating the feasibility of the whole skin locomotion strategy.

In this paper, the effects of cross-sectional geometry and friction on the mechanical advantage and efficiency of the whole skin locomotion (WSL) mechanism concentric solid tube (CST) model are presented. WSL is a novel locomotion mechanism for mobile robots, which is inspired by the motility mechanisms of single celled organisms that use cytoplasmic streaming to generate pseudopods for locomotion. It works by way of an elongated toroid which turns itself inside out in a single continuous motion, effectively generating the overall motion of the cytoplasmic streaming ectoplasmic tube in amoebae. WSL can be considered as a new class of mechanism that converts the expanding and contracting motion of rings to an everting motion of the body. A brief description of the WSL mechanism is presented first, followed by the mechanics of a single and multiple actuator rings over a CST showing the relationship between the input ring tension force and the output propulsion force for a quasi-static case. Then a study of the force transmission characteristics is presented by studying the effects of cross-section geometry and friction on the efficiency and mechanical advantage of a single actuator ring over a semicircular and composite cross section CST.

Background: Classifying the types of extracellular potentials recorded when neural structures are activated is an important component in understanding nerve pathophysiology. Varying definitions and approaches to understanding the factors that influence the potentials recorded during neural activity have made this issue complex.