Thickness and design features of clinical cranial implants-what should automated methods strive to replicate?

Purpose: New deep learning and statistical shape modelling approaches aim to automate the design process for patient-specific cranial implants, as highlighted by the MICCAI AutoImplant Challenges. To ensure applicability, it is important to determine if the training data used in developing these algorithms represent the geometry of implants designed for clinical use.

Methods: Calavera Surgical Design provided a dataset of 206 post-craniectomy skull geometries and their clinically used implants.

Quantifying the Effect of Guest Binding on Host Environment.

The environment around a host-guest complex is defined by intermolecular interactions between the complex, solvent molecules, and counterions. These interactions govern both the solubility of these complexes and the rates of reactions occurring within the host molecules and can be critical to catalytic and separation applications of host-guest systems. However, these interactions are challenging to detect using standard analytical chemistry techniques.

Measuring 3D facial displacement of increasing smile expressions.

Background: Following paralysis, facial reanimation surgery can restore movement by nerve and/or muscle transfer within the face. The subtleties of lip and cheek movements during smiling are important aspects in assessing reanimation. This study quantifies average 3D movement vectors of the face during smiling based on the diverse Binghamton University 3D facial expression database to yield normative measures of lip and cheek movement.

Assessing the Nasal Midline in Rhinoplasty: How Good Are We?

Background: The challenge of assessing nasal alignment and asymmetry can contribute to high revision rates in rhinoplasty. Comparing to a validated computer algorithm for nasal alignment, the accuracy with which plastic surgeons can assess deviation of the nasal midline from the facial midline was measured.

Methods: Using 20 faces from the Binghamton University 3-dimensional face database, deviation was evaluated from facial midline of the middorsal line for the upper, middle, and lower thirds of the nose.

Forehead Flap Templates for Nasal Reconstruction Digitally Developed From 2D and 3D Images.

The forehead flap is the gold standard procedure for nasal reconstruction to address a partial or complete rhinectomy. Traditionally, the three-dimensional (3D) nasal defect is manually templated intraoperatively to design the two-dimensional (2D) flap shape on intact morphology. In this clinical study, digital preoperative planning is used to template with computer-assisted design and manufacturing.

Selective adsorption of arsenic over phosphate by transition metal cross-linked chitosan.

The ability of transition metal chitosan complexes (TMCs) of varying valence and charge to selectively adsorb As(III) and As(V) over their strongest adsorptive competitor, phosphate is examined. Fe(III)-chitosan, Al(III)-chitosan, Ni(II)-chitosan, Cu(II)-chitosan, and Zn(II)-chitosan are synthesized, characterized via Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray Diffractometry (XRD), and their selective sorption capabilities towards As(III) and As(V) in the presence of phosphate are evaluated. It was found that the stability of the metal-chitosan complexes varied, with Al(III)- and Zn(II)-chitosan forming very unstable complexes resulting in precipitation of gibbsite, and Wulfingite and Zincite, respectively.

AutoImplant 2020-First MICCAI Challenge on Automatic Cranial Implant Design.

The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the MICCAI 2020 AutoImplant Challenge. The approaches and publications submitted and accepted within the challenge will be summarized and reported, highlighting common algorithmic trends and algorithmic diversity. Furthermore, the evaluation results will be presented, compared and discussed in regard to the challenge aim: seeking for low cost, fast and fully automated solutions for cranial implant design.

Nano-structural effects on Hematite (α-FeO) nanoparticle radiofrequency heating.

Nano-sized hematite (α-FeO) is not well suited for magnetic heating via an alternating magnetic field (AMF) because it is not superparamagnetic-at its best, it is weakly ferromagnetic. However, manipulating the magnetic properties of nano-sized hematite (i.e.

Top-Down Control of Sweet and Bitter Taste in the Mammalian Brain.

Hardwired circuits encoding innate responses have emerged as an essential feature of the mammalian brain. Sweet and bitter evoke opposing predetermined behaviors. Sweet drives appetitive responses and consumption of energy-rich food sources, whereas bitter prevents ingestion of toxic chemicals.

Modeling and measuring average nasal asymmetry by dorsum midline and nose tip lateral deviation.

In rhinoplasty and nasal reconstruction, achieving symmetry is critical for optimal patient outcomes and reducing re-operation rates. Assessing nasal asymmetry is challenging, both pre- and intra-operatively, if based on only a surgeons' visual perception to assess and adjust the small distances important to cosmesis (<2-3 mm). To measure nasal symmetry, we first developed an algorithm to analyze lateral nasal deviation on facial three-dimensional (3D) scans captured by external surface scanning.

Tuning two-dimensional phase formation through epitaxial strain and growth conditions: silica and silicate on NiPd(111) alloy substrates.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials can have multiple phases close in energy but with distinct properties, with the phases that form during growth dependent on experimental conditions and the growth substrate. Here, the competition between 2D van der Waals (VDW) silica and 2D Ni silicate phases on NiPd(111) alloy substrates was systematically investigated experimentally as a function of Si surface coverage, annealing time and temperature, O partial pressure, and substrate composition and the results were compared with thermodynamic predictions based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations and thermochemical data for O. Experimentally, 2D Ni silicate was exclusively observed at higher O pressures (∼10 Torr), higher annealing temperatures (1000 K), and more prolonged annealing (10 min) if the substrate contained any Ni and for initial Si coverages up to 2 monolayers.

Catalytic manganese oxide nanostructures for the reverse water gas shift reaction.

Understanding the fundamental structure-property relationships of nanomaterials is critical for many catalytic applications as they comprise of the catalyst designing principles. Here, we develop efficient synthetic methods to prepare various MnO structures and investigate their catalytic performance as applied to the reverse Water Gas Shift (rWGS) reaction. We show that the support-free MnO derived from MnO 1D, 2D and 3D nanostructures are highly selective (100% CO to CO), thermally stable catalysts (850 °C) and differently effective in the rWGS.

Hydrophobic CuO Nanosheets Functionalized with Organic Adsorbates.

A new class of hydrophobic CuO nanosheets is introduced by functionalization of the cupric oxide surface with p-xylene, toluene, hexane, methylcyclohexane, and chlorobenzene. The resulting nanosheets exhibit a wide range of contact angles from 146° (p-xylene) to 27° (chlorobenzene) due to significant changes in surface composition induced by functionalization, as revealed by XPS and ATR-FTIR spectroscopies and computational modeling. Aromatic adsorbates are stable even up to 250-350 °C since they covalently bind to the surface as alkoxides, upon reaction with the surface as shown by DFT calculations and FTIR and H NMR spectroscopy.

Hard templating ultrathin polycrystalline hematite nanosheets: effect of nano-dimension on CO to CO conversion via the reverse water-gas shift reaction.

Understanding how nano-dimensionality impacts iron oxide based catalysis is central to a wide range of applications. Here, we focus on hematite nanosheets, nanowires and nanoparticles as applied to catalyze the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) probe reaction. We introduce a novel approach to synthesize ultrathin (4-7 nm) hematite nanosheets using copper oxide nanosheets as a hard template and propose a reaction mechanism based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Fundamental Role of Oxygen Stoichiometry in Controlling the Band Gap and Reactivity of Cupric Oxide Nanosheets.

CuO is a nonhazardous, earth-abundant material that has exciting potential for use in solar cells, photocatalysis, and other optoelectronic applications. While progress has been made on the characterization of properties and reactivity of CuO, there remains significant controversy on how to control the precise band gap by tuning conditions of synthetic methods. Here, we combine experimental and theoretical methods to address the origin of the wide distribution of reported band gaps for CuO nanosheets.

Shape-Dependent Surface Reactivity and Antimicrobial Activity of Nano-Cupric Oxide.

Shape of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) can be used as a design handle to achieve controlled manipulation of physicochemical properties. This tailored material property approach necessitates the establishment of relationships between specific ENM properties that result from such manipulations (e.g.

Polyphenolic disaccharides endow proteins with unusual resistance to aggregation.

Protein aggregation is a common problem during the purification and formulation of therapeutic proteins. Here we report that polyphenolic disaccharides are unusually effective at preventing protein aggregation. We find that two polyphenolic glycosides-naringin and rutin-endow diverse proteins with the ability to unfold without aggregating when heated, as well as the ability to refold without aggregating when cooled at low glycoside concentrations (<5 mM).

Polyphenolic glycosides and aglycones utilize opposing pathways to selectively remodel and inactivate toxic oligomers of amyloid β.

Substantial evidence suggests that soluble prefibrillar oligomers of the Aβ42 peptide associated with Alzheimer's disease are the most cytotoxic aggregated Aβ isoform. Limited previous work has revealed that aromatic compounds capable of remodeling Aβ oligomers into nontoxic conformers typically do so by converting them into off-pathway aggregates instead of dissociating them into monomers. Towards identifying small-molecule antagonists capable of selectively dissociating toxic Aβ oligomers into soluble peptide at substoichiometric concentrations, we have investigated the pathways used by polyphenol aglycones and their glycosides to remodel Aβ soluble oligomers.

A serosurvey of Hepatozoon canis and Ehrlichia canis antibodies in wild red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) from Israel.

A seroepidemiological survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of antibodies reactive with Ehrlichia canis and Hepatozoon canis antigens in free-ranging red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Israel. Of 84 fox sera assayed, 36% were seropositive for E. canis by the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test and 24% were positive for H.

Down-regulation of MHC class II receptors of DH82 cells, following infection with Ehrlichia canis.

In order to evaluate whether infection with E. canis alters the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and/or MHC class II receptors, and by doing so alters the immune response to the organism, flow cytometry was performed on DH82 cells infected with Ehrlichia canis (90% infection) and on uninfected DH82 cells of the same passage, using anti-canine MHC class I and II antibodies. MHC class II expression was evident in 47.