Paraganglioma of the Neck: A Rare Case With Spinal Metastasis.

Paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors that arise from the paraganglia, which are clusters of neuroendocrine cells associated with the autonomic nervous system. These tumors are commonly found in the adrenal medulla but can also occur in other locations outside the adrenal gland. Here, we present a case report of a slow-growing paraganglioma in the left neck with spinal metastasis in a 60-year-old man.

Bionanotechnology and bioMEMS (BNM): state-of-the-art applications, opportunities, and challenges.

The development of micro- and nanotechnology for biomedical applications has defined the cutting edge of medical technology for over three decades, as advancements in fabrication technology developed originally in the semiconductor industry have been applied to solving ever-more complex problems in medicine and biology. These technologies are ideally suited to interfacing with life sciences, since they are on the scale lengths as cells (microns) and biomacromolecules (nanometers). In this paper, we review the state of the art in bionanotechnology and bioMEMS (collectively BNM), including developments and challenges in the areas of BNM, such as microfluidic organ-on-chip devices, oral drug delivery, emerging technologies for managing infectious diseases, 3D printed microfluidic devices, AC electrokinetics, flexible MEMS devices, implantable microdevices, paper-based microfluidic platforms for cellular analysis, and wearable sensors for point-of-care testing.

Retrolaminar chiasmal migration of intraocular silicone oil masquerading as subarachnoid hemorrhage on CT head.

Silicone oil is used as a long-term treatment agent for intraocular tamponade to repair retinal detachments following vitrectomy. Retrolaminar migration of oil into the optic nerve is a rare complication, with migration into the optic chiasm being even more rare. Following imaging, this entity can be misdiagnosed as acute hemorrhage, aneurysm, or neoplasm on imaging possibly leading to delay of care or unnecessary interventions.

Solitary Plasmacytoma of the Breast: A Case of an Uncommon Breast Neoplasm.

Plasmacytoma is a rare cancer that originates from a single plasma cell and is characterized by the abnormal proliferation of monoclonal plasma cells. It is typically localized in a single area of the body, most commonly in the bone or soft tissue. Solitary plasmacytoma can be further classified as either solitary plasmacytoma of bone (SPB) or solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma (SEP or EMP).

Surfaces with Adjustable Features-Effective and Durable Materials for Water Desalination.

Materials based on PVDF with desirable and controllable features were successfully developed. The chemistry and roughness were adjusted to produce membranes with improved transport and separation properties. Membranes were activated using the novel piranha approach to generate OH-rich surfaces, and finally furnished with epoxy and long-alkyl moieties via stable covalent attachment.

Sensitivity Enhancement of Point-of-Care for Cardiac Markers Detection using Micro-Impedimetric Immunosensor Arrays.

This paper describes the development and characterisation of a novel, electrical impedance spectroscopy-based (EIS) immunosensor array for point-of-care applications. EIS is a highly sensitive, label-free, real time technique suitable for single use, point-of-care cardiac marker detection devices. However, the underlying source of the observed change in EIS immunoassay response has not been well characterised or understood.

Investigation of Bifurcation Effect on Various Microfluidic Designs for Blood Separation.

In this project, a microfluidic device for blood separation will be designed and tested in order to separate plasma from whole blood for diagnostic purposes. The design will be based on previously implemented designs that will be further discussed in the next sections. When designing microfluidic devices, it is essential to consider the different physical phenomena that arise from switching from the macro scale to the micro scale.

Detection of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) Hormone using Digital Lateral Flow Immunoassay.

The main goal of this work was to establish a hybrid device incorporating an electrochemical-based transducer on a conventional lateral flow assay strip in order to perform an on-chip fast testing method for the detection of various bio-analyses. In this context, the expected development of the digital lateral-flow immunoassay to be considered a reliable low-cost instrument improves the future of the very simple and flexible approach oflateral-flow assays. It is anticipated to achieve a digital quantitative lateral-flow immunoassay by exploring the electrochemical transducers alongwith recognition elements for digitization of commercially available rapid tests.

Advanced Material-Ordered Nanotubular Ceramic Membranes Covalently Capped with Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes.

Advanced ceramic materials with a well-defined nano-architecture of their surfaces were formed by applying a two-step procedure. Firstly, a primary amine was docked on the ordered nanotubular ceramic surface via a silanization process. Subsequently, single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were covalently grafted onto the surface via an amide building block.

A Brain Machine Interface for command based control of a wheelchair using conditioning of oscillatory brain activity.

In this research a new method of wheelchair control using a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is proposed, in an attempt to bridge the gap between in-lab and real life applications, we believe it would provide a high level control over the BCI instead of the normal low level commands. It is anticipated to emphasis on mu rhythm to provide the control signals. The wheelchair is equipped with a mapping system, which scans the area and provides a map containing information about the user's current location and next possible destinations, then provides an optimized list of possible trajectories to reach the destination.

LEGO Mindstorms NXT for elderly and visually impaired people in need: A platform.

This paper presents the employment of LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics as core component of low cost multidisciplinary platform for assisting elderly and visually impaired people. LEGO Mindstorms system offers a plug-and-play programmable robotics toolkit, incorporating construction guides, microcontrollers and sensors, all connected via a comprehensive programming language. It facilitates, without special training and at low cost, the use of such device for interpersonal communication and for handling multiple tasks required for elderly and visually impaired people in-need.

A fall prediction methodology for elderly based on a depth camera.

With the aging of society population, efficient tracking of elderly activities of daily living (ADLs) has gained interest. Advancements of assisting computing and sensor technologies have made it possible to support elderly people to perform real-time acquisition and monitoring for emergency and medical care. In an earlier study, we proposed an anatomical-plane-based human activity representation for elderly fall detection, namely, motion-pose geometric descriptor (MPGD).