Alterations in myocardial collagen content affect rat papillary muscle function

We investigated the influence of myocardial collagen volume fraction (CVF, %) and hydroxyproline concentration (mu g/mg) on rat papillary muscle function. Collagen excess was obtained in 10 rats with unilateral renal ischemia for 5 wk followed by 3-wk treatment with ramipril (20 mg . kg(-1) . day(-1)) (RHTR rats; CVF = 3.83 +/- 0.80, hydroxyproline = 3.79 +/- 0.50). Collagen degradation was induced by double infusion of oxidized glutathione (GSSG rats; CVF 5 2.45 +/- 0.52, hydroxyproline = 2.85 +/- 0.18). Nine untreated rats were used as controls (CFV = 3.04 +/- 0.58, hydroxyproline = 3.21 +/- 0.30). Active stiffness (AS; g . cm(-2) . %L-max(-1)) and myocyte cross-sectional area (MA; mu m(2)) were increased in the GSSG rats compared with controls [AS 5.86 vs. 3.96 (P< 0.05); MA 363 +/- 59 vs. 305 +/- 28 (P< 0.05)]. In GSSG and RHTR groups the passive tension-length curves were shifted downwards, indicating decreased passive stiffness, and upwards, indicating increased passive stiffness, respectively. Decreased collagen content induced by GSSG is related to myocyte hypertrophy, decreased passive stiffness, and increased AS, and increased collagen concentration causes myocardial diastolic dysfunction with no effect on systolic function.

Identification of structural parameters for active vibration control

The study of algorithms for active vibration control in flexible structures became an area of enormous interest for some researchers due to the innumerable requirements for better performance in mechanical systems, as for instance, aircrafts and aerospace structures. Intelligent systems, constituted for a base structure with sensors and actuators connected, are capable to guarantee the demanded conditions, through the application of diverse types of controllers. For the project of active controllers it is necessary, in general, to know a mathematical model that enable the representation in the space of states, preferential in modal coordinates to permit the truncation of the system and reduction in the order of the controllers. For practical applications of engineering, some mathematical models based in discrete-time systems cannot represent the physical problem, therefore, techniques of identification of system parameters must be used. The techniques of identification of parameters determine the unknown values through the manipulation of the input (disturbance) and output (response) signals of the system. Recently, some methods have been proposed to solve identification problems although, none of them can be considered as being universally appropriate to all the situations. This paper is addressed to an application of linear quadratic regulator controller in a structure where the damping, stiffness and mass matrices were identified through Chebyshev's polynomial functions.