Smartphone-driven centrifugal microfluidics for diagnostics in resource limited settings.

The broad availability of smartphones has provided new opportunities to develop less expensive, portable, and integrated point-of-care (POC) platforms. Here, a platform that consists of three main components is introduced: a portable housing, a centrifugal microfluidic disc, and a mobile phone. The mobile phone supplies the electrical power and serves as an analysing system.

Neomorphic Gαo mutations gain interaction with Ric8 proteins in GNAO1 encephalopathies.

GNAO1 mutated in pediatric encephalopathies encodes the major neuronal G protein Gαo. Of the more than 80 pathogenic mutations, most are single amino acid substitutions spreading across the Gαo sequence. We performed extensive characterization of Gαo mutants, showing abnormal GTP uptake and hydrolysis and deficiencies in binding Gβγ and RGS19.

Dosimetric impact of different multileaf collimators on cardiac and left anterior descending coronary artery dose reduction.

Introduction: Radiotherapy (RT) may increase the dose of heart structure like left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the impact of various multileaf collimators (MLCs) in shielding organ at risks (OARs), especially LAD, of patients with left breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: Forty-five patients with left breast cancer were selected.

The Efficacy of Multi-Leaf Collimator in the Reduction of Cardiac and Coronary Artery Dose in Left-Sided Breast Cancer Radiotherapy.

Background: Multi-leaf collimator (MLC) is one of the efficient and cost-effective methods for protecting sensitive tissues around the target. This study aimed to evaluate the protective effect of MLC on the protection of sensitive organs in patients with left breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: This study was performed on computed tomography (CT) scans of 45 patients with left breast cancer.

A review of bismuth-based nanoparticles and their applications in radiosensitising and dose enhancement for cancer radiation therapy.

About 50% of cancer patients receive radiation therapy. Despite the therapeutic benefits of this method, the toxicity of radiation in the normal tissues is unavoidable To improve the quality of radiation therapy, in addition to other methods such as IMRT, IGRT, and high radiation dose, nanoparticles have shown excellent potential when ionising radiation is applied to the target volume. Recently, bismuth-based nanoparticles (BiNPs) have become particularly popular in radiation therapy due to their high atomic numbers (Z), high X-ray attenuation coefficient, low toxicity, and low cost.

Comparison of Nebulized Lidocaine and Intratracheally Injected (Spray-as-you-go) Lidocaine in Pain and Cough Reduction during Bronchoscopy.

Background: Patients undergoing bronchoscopy often suffer from pain, coughing, and suffocation. Therefore, lidocaine is prescribed through various methods to induce local anesthesia. This study aimed to compare nebulized lidocaine and intratracheally injected lidocaine in pain and cough reduction during bronchoscopy.

Local and substrate-specific S-palmitoylation determines subcellular localization of Gαo.

Peripheral membrane proteins (PMPs) associate with cellular membranes through post-translational modifications like S-palmitoylation. The Golgi apparatus is generally viewed as the transitory station where palmitoyl acyltransferases (PATs) modify PMPs, which are then transported to their ultimate destinations such as the plasma membrane (PM). However, little substrate specificity among the many PATs has been determined.

Effective CBMIR System Using Hybrid Features-Based Independent Condensed Nearest Neighbor Model.

In recent times, a large number of medical images are generated, due to the evolution of digital imaging modalities and computer vision application. Due to variation in the shape and size of the images, the retrieval task becomes more tedious in the large medical databases. So, it is essential in designing an effective automated system for medical image retrieval.

Quality of life and asthma control in pregnant women with asthma.

Background: Asthma is the most commonly occurring respiratory illness during pregnancy. Associations with complications of pregnancy and adverse perinatal outcome have been established. However, little is known about quality of life (QoL) in pregnant women with asthma and how it relates to asthma control particularly for Iran.

A radiobiological comparison of hypo-fractionation versus conventional fractionation for breast cancer 3D-conformal radiation therapy.

Background: The present research was aimed to compare the toxicity and effectiveness of conventional fractionated radiotherapy versus hypo-fractionated radiotherapy in breast cancer utilizing a radiobiological model.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-five left-sided breast cancer patients without involvement of the supraclavicular and axillary lymph nodes (with the nodal stage of N0) that had been treated with conventional or hypo-fractionated were incorporated in this study. A radiobiological model was performed to foretell normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) and tumor control probability (TCP).

Study on the Dose Enhancement of Gold Nanoparticles When Exposed to Clinical Electron, Proton, and Alpha Particle Beams by Means of Geant4.

Background: Various factors effecting deposited energy and dose enhancement ratio (DER) in the simplified model of cell caused by the interaction of a cluster of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with electron beams were assessed, and the results were compared with other sources through Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation toolkit.

Method: The effect of added GNPs on the DNA strand breaks level, irradiated to electron, proton, and alpha beams, is assessed.

Results: Presence of GNPs in the cell makes DER value more pronounced for low-energy photons rather than electron beam.

Prone-Position Ventilation in a Pregnant Woman with Severe COVID-19 Infection Associated with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

A 25-year-old pregnant woman (gestational age: 24 weeks) presented with severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection. Deterioration of her respiratory status resulted in her admission to the intensive care unit and mechanical ventilator support. Considering the lack of improvement in oxygen saturation, teleconsultation was performed, suggesting prone-position ventilation (PPV).

Environmental tobacco smoke exposure during pregnancy affects complications and birth outcomes in women with and without asthma.

Background: It is known that environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has adverse effects on pregnancy and birth outcomes. We aimed to assess the impact of ETS in pregnant women with and without asthma.

Methods: A cohort study was conducted from August 2014 to June 2015 enrolling 1603 pregnant women during their 2nd trimester.

Frequency dependent multiphase flows on centrifugal microfluidics.

The simultaneous flow of gas and liquids in large scale conduits is an established approach to enhance the performance of different working systems under critical conditions. On the microscale, the use of gas-liquid flows is challenging due to the dominance of surface tension forces. Here, we present a technique to generate common gas-liquid flows on a centrifugal microfluidic platform.

Predicting degradation rate of genipin cross-linked gelatin scaffolds with machine learning.

Genipin can improve weak mechanical properties and control high degradation rate of gelatin, as a cross-linker of gelatin which is widely used in tissue engineering. In this study, genipin cross-linked gelatin biodegradable porous scaffolds with different weight percentages of gelatin and genipin were prepared for tissue regeneration and measurement of their various properties including morphological characteristics, mechanical properties, swelling, degree of crosslinking and degradation rate. Results indicated that the sample containing the highest amount of gelatin and genipin had the highest degree of crosslinking and increasing the percentage of genipin from 0.

Predicting environmental suitability and geographical distribution of Dicrocoelium dendriticum at littoral of Caspian Sea: An ecological niche-based modeling.

Dicrocoeliasisis caused by the small liver fluke (Dicrocoelium spp.), mainly Dicrocoelium dendriticum in domestic and wild ruminants. The small liver fluke is the probable predisposing cause of economic burden.

Microfluidic centrifugation assisted precipitation based DNA quantification.

Nucleic acid amplification methods are increasingly being used to detect trace quantities of DNA in samples for various diagnostic applications. However, quantifying the amount of DNA from such methods often requires time consuming purification, washing or labeling steps. Here, we report a novel microfluidic centrifugation assisted precipitation (μCAP) method for single-step DNA quantification.

Effect of synthetic amorphous calcium phosphate nanoparticles on the physicochemical and biological properties of resin-modified glass ionomer cements.

The aim of this study was to find an optimum dose of the synthetic amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) nanoparticles to be incorporated in resin-modified glass ionomer cements (RMGICs) for triggering the release of PO/Ca, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) without significantly affecting the essential properties of the cements. RMGICs were formulated from the powder composed of melt-derived strontium fluoro-aluminosilicate glass (SFAG) and synthetic ACP nanoparticles (0-20 wt%), as well as commercial polyalkenoic acid liquid. The effect of ACP incorporation on the workability, microstructure, Ca/PO/F ion release and compressive strength was investigated.

A micro-dispenser for long-term storage and controlled release of liquids.

The success of lab-on-a-chip systems may depend on a low-cost device that incorporates on-chip storage and fluidic operations. To date many different methods have been developed that cope separately with on-chip storage and fluidic operations e.g.

Correction to: Prospective cohort study of pregnancy complications and birth outcomes in women with asthma.

In the original publication, the university name of the authors in the affiliations was published as University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran. The correct university name should read as Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran.

Prospective cohort study of pregnancy complications and birth outcomes in women with asthma.

Background: Asthma is the most common potentially serious medical complication in pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between maternal asthma and a spectrum of adverse neonatal and maternal outcomes.

Methods: Events during pregnancy and birth outcome were evaluated in 34 asthmatic as well as 1569 non-asthmatic pregnant women who were enrolled in a prospective cohort study undertaken at the antenatal clinics of Mobini Hospital in Iran.

Hydrodynamic performance of a single-use aerated stirred bioreactor in animal cell culture: applications of tomography, dynamic gas disengagement (DGD), and CFD.

The hydrodynamics of gas-liquid two-phase flow in a single-use bioreactor were investigated in detail both experimentally and numerically. Electrical resistance tomography (ERT) and dynamic gas disengagement (DGD) combined with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were employed to assess the effect of the volumetric gas flow rate and impeller speed on the gas-liquid flow field, local and global gas holdup values, and Sauter mean bubble diameter. From the results obtained from DGD coupled with ERT, the bubble sizes were determined.

The Effect of Moment of Inertia on the Liquids in Centrifugal Microfluidics.

The flow of liquids in centrifugal microfluidics is unidirectional and dominated by centrifugal and Coriolis forces (i.e., effective only at T-junctions).

Strategies for Disseminating Information on Biomedical Research on Autism to Hispanic Parents.

Low income Hispanic families experience multiple barriers to accessing evidence-based information on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study utilized a mixed-strategy intervention to create access to information in published bio-medical research articles on ASD by distilling the content into parent-friendly English- and Spanish-language ASD Science Briefs and presenting them to participants using two socially-oriented dissemination methods. There was a main effect for short-term knowledge gains associated with the Science Briefs but no effect for the dissemination method.