Automated diagnosis of encephalitis in pediatric patients using EEG rhythms and slow biphasic complexes.

Slow biphasic complexes (SBC) have been identified in the EEG of patients suffering for inflammatory brain diseases. Their amplitude, location and frequency of appearance were found to correlate with the severity of encephalitis. Other characteristics of SBCs and of EEG traces of patients could reflect the grade of pathology.

Chromosomal instability analysis and regional tumor heterogeneity in colon cancer.

Chromosomal instability (CIN) is classically defined as an increase in the rate at which numerical or structural chromosomal aberrations are acquired in a cancer cell. The number of somatic copy number abnormalities (CNAs) revealed by high resolution genomic array can be considered as a surrogate marker for CIN, but several points, related to sample processing and data analysis, need to be standardized. In this work we analyzed 51 CRC samples and matched normal mucosae by whole genome SNP arrays and compared different bioinformatics tools in order to identify broad (>25% of a chromosomal arm) and focal somatic copy number abnormalities (BCNAs and FCNAs respectively).

Value and Anisotropy of the Electron and Hole Mass in Pure Wurtzite InP Nanowires.

The effective mass of electrons and holes in semiconductors is pivotal in determining the dynamics of carriers and their confinement energy in nanostructured materials. Surprisingly, this quantity is still unknown in wurtzite (WZ) nanowires (NWs) made of III-V compounds (e.g.

Long-Lived Hot Carriers in III-V Nanowires.

Heat management mechanisms play a pivotal role in driving the design of nanowire (NW)-based devices. In particular, the rate at which charge carriers cool down after an external excitation is crucial for the efficiency of solar cells, lasers, and high-speed transistors. Here, we investigate the thermalization properties of photogenerated carriers by continuous-wave (cw) photoluminescence (PL) in InP and GaAs NWs.

Temperature Dependence of Interband Transitions in Wurtzite InP Nanowires.

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) formed by non-nitride III-V compounds grow preferentially with wurtzite (WZ) lattice. This is contrary to bulk and two-dimensional layers of the same compounds, where only zincblende (ZB) is observed. The absorption spectrum of WZ materials differs largely from their ZB counterparts and shows three transitions, referred to as A, B, and C in order of increasing energy, involving the minimum of the conduction band and different critical points of the valence band.

Polarized light absorption in wurtzite InP nanowire ensembles.

We investigate the absorption properties of ensembles of wurtzite (WZ) InP nanowires (NWs) by high-resolution polarization-resolved photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopy at T = 10 K. The degree of linear polarization of absorbed light, ρ(abs), resulting from the PLE spectra is governed by a competition between the dielectric mismatch effect and the WZ selection rules acting differently on different optical transitions. These two contributions are deconvoluted with the help of finite-difference time-domain simulations, thus providing information about the symmetry of the three highest valence bands (A, B, and C) of WZ InP and the extent of the spin-orbit interaction on these states.

Magneto-optical properties of wurtzite-phase InP nanowires.

The possibility to grow in zincblende (ZB) and/or wurtzite (WZ) crystal phase widens the potential applications of semiconductor nanowires (NWs). This is particularly true in technologically relevant III-V compounds, such as GaAs, InAs, and InP, for which WZ is not available in bulk form. The WZ band structure of many III-V NWs has been widely studied.

Determination of exciton reduced mass and gyromagnetic factor of wurtzite (InGa)As nanowires by photoluminescence spectroscopy under high magnetic fields.

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have the prospect of being employed as basic units for nanoscale devices and circuits. However, the impact of their one-dimensional geometry and peculiar crystal phase on transport and spin characteristics remains largely unknown. We determine the exciton reduced mass and gyromagnetic factor of (InGa)As NWs in the wurtzite phase by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy under very high magnetic fields.

Recent advances in molecular diagnostics of colorectal cancer by genomic arrays: proposal for a procedural shift in biological sampling and pathological report.

Two forms of genetic instability have been described in colorectal cancer: chromosomal instability, characterized by structural and numerical chromosomal abnormalities and associated to aneuploidy; and microsatellite instability, characterized by a deficiency in the mismatch repair system that leads to slippage in microsatellites and is associated to euploidy. Thirteen colorectal cancer sample DNAs were analyzed after colectomy. High-resolution genome-wide DNA copy number and Single Nucleotide Polimorphism genotyping analysis was performed by Affymetrix SNP 6.

Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding via pars flaccida versus perigastric positioning: technique, complications, and results in 2,549 patients.

Aim: Retrospective multicenter analysis of the results of two different approaches for band positioning: perigastric and pars flaccida.

Methods: Data were collected from the database of the Italian Group for LapBand (GILB). Patients operated from January 2001 to December 2004 were selected according to criteria of case-control studies to compare two different band positioning techniques: perigastric (PG group) and pars flaccida (PF group).

Insulin-like growth factor I (CA) repeats are associated with higher melanoma's Breslow index but not associated with the presence of the melanoma. A pilot study.

Background: IGF-I-(CA) repeats have been previously analysed in few types of cancer and the results, although discordant in different studies, showed possible associations between cancer and IGF-I(CA)(19) repeats. Aim of this pilot study was to detect a possible association between some of the IGF-I(CA) repeats and the presence of malignant melanoma and its Breslow index.

Methods: Two hundred patients affected with cutaneous malignant melanoma and 100 control healthy subjects were analysed for IGF-I(CA) repeats by fragment analysis sequencing and, partially, confirmed by direct sequencing.