Photothermal generation of programmable microbubble array on nanoporous gold disks.

We present a novel technique to generate microbubbles photothermally by continuous-wave laser irradiation of nanoporous gold disk (NPGD) array covered microfluidic channels. When a single laser spot is focused on the NPGDs, a microbubble can be generated with controlled size by adjusting the laser power. The dynamics of both bubble growth and shrinkage are studied.

Compressed sensing hyperspectral imaging in the 0.9-2.5 μm shortwave infrared wavelength range using a digital micromirror device and InGaAs linear array detector.

A hyperspectral imaging system based on compressed sensing has been developed to image in the 0.9-2.5 μm shortwave infrared wavelengths.

DNA-Corralled Nanodiscs for the Structural and Functional Characterization of Membrane Proteins and Viral Entry.

Here we present a modular method for manufacturing large-sized nanodiscs using DNA-origami barrels as scaffolding corrals. Large-sized nanodiscs can be produced by first decorating the inside of DNA barrels with small lipid-bilayer nanodiscs, which open up when adding extra lipid to form large nanodiscs of diameters ∼45 or ∼70 nm as prescribed by the enclosing barrel dimension. Densely packed membrane protein arrays are then reconstituted within these large nanodiscs for potential structure determination.

An Electronic Handover System to Improve Information Transfer for Surgical Patients.

Proper clinical transfers of patient care (known as handovers) are important to patient safety. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and satisfaction of an electronic system for clinical transfers of patients with complex surgical procedures. The design was a single-center observational study auditing the handover process.

Integrated Nanogap Platform for Sub-Volt Dielectrophoretic Trapping and Real-Time Raman Imaging of Biological Nanoparticles.

A rapid, label-free, and broadly applicable chemical analysis platform for nanovesicles and subcellular components is highly desirable for diagnostic assays. We demonstrate an integrated nanogap plasmonic sensing platform that combines subvolt dielectrophoresis (DEP) trapping, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), and a lineated illumination scheme for real-time, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) imaging of biological nanoparticles. Our system is capable of isolating suspended sub-100 nm vesicles and imaging the Raman spectra of their cargo within seconds, 100 times faster than conventional point-scan Raman systems.

Phase I trial of selenium plus chemotherapy in gynecologic cancers.

Purpose: Preclinical studies performed in our laboratory have shown that high-dose selenium inhibits the development of carboplatin drug resistance in an ovarian cancer mouse xenograft model. Based on these data, as well as the potential serious toxicities of supranutritional doses of selenium, a phase I trial of a combination of selenium/carboplatin/paclitaxel was designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose, safety, and effects of selenium on carboplatin pharmacokinetics in the treatment of chemo-naive women with gynecologic cancers. Correlative studies were performed to identify gene targets of selenium.

Antioxidant activity and leukemia initiation prevention and by N-acetyl-L-cysteine.

-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) is the most abundant water-soluble component of garlic. No study to date has studied the leukemia prevention ability of NAC in mouse systemic leukemia model. The current study aimed to investigate the leukemia initiation prevention potential of NAC in a mouse model.

The impact of implementation support on the use of a social engagement intervention for children with autism in public schools.

Several interventions have demonstrated efficacy in improving social outcomes for children with autism; however, few have been successfully implemented in schools. This study compared two implementation strategies to improve the use of a social engagement intervention for children with autism in public schools. In total, 31 children with autism in grades K-5 and 28 school personnel participated in a randomized controlled trial.

Work Stress, Resilience, and Professional Quality of Life Among Nurses Caring for Mass Burn Casualty Patients After Formosa Color Dust Explosion.

A Dust explosion that injured 499 patients occurred on June 27, 2015 in Taiwan. This tragedy inundated hospitals across northern Taiwan with an unprecedented number of burn patients. It caused extreme pressure and challenges for nurses.

Tocopherols inhibit estrogen-induced cancer stemness and OCT4 signaling in breast cancer.

Estrogen plays an important role in breast cancer development. While the mechanism of the estrogen effects is not fully elucidated, one possible route is by increasing the stem cell-like properties in the tumors. Tocopherols are known to reduce breast cancer development and progression.

Variable piezoelectricity of electrospun chitin.

Investigations into the piezoelectricity of natural polymers is a continuing area of interest due to their potential role in the complex interplay of mechanical and electrical forces present in biological organisms. Their synthetic counterparts, when electrospun using the air gap electrospinning method, are known to have increased crystallinity and tensile strength as compared to randomly aligned nanofibers composed of the same constituent polymers. Using the air gap electrospinning method with the naturally-occurring, semi-crystalline polymer chitin, the nanofibers were determined to have a 300% increase in tensile strength over randomly collected ones.

Multi-institution analysis of racial disparity among African-American men eligible for prostate cancer active surveillance.

There is a significant controversy on whether race should be a factor in considering active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer. To address this question, we analyzed a multi-institution database to assess racial disparity between African-American and White-American men with low risk prostate cancer who were eligible for active surveillance but underwent radical prostatectomy. A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected clinical, pathologic and oncologic outcomes of men with low-risk prostate cancer from seven tertiary care institutions that underwent radical prostatectomy from 2003-2014 were used to assess potential racial disparity.

Modulation of the Cellular Uptake of DNA Origami through Control over Mass and Shape.

Designer nanoparticles with controlled shapes and sizes are increasingly popular vehicles for therapeutic delivery due to their enhanced cell-delivery performance. However, our ability to fashion nanoparticles has offered only limited control over these parameters. Structural DNA nanotechnology has an unparalleled ability to self-assemble three-dimensional nanostructures with near-atomic resolution features, and thus, it offers an attractive platform for the systematic exploration of the parameter space relevant to nanoparticle uptake by living cells.

Exploring the speed limit of toehold exchange with a cartwheeling DNA acrobat.

Dynamic DNA nanotechnology has yielded nontrivial autonomous behaviours such as stimulus-guided locomotion, computation and programmable molecular assembly. Despite these successes, DNA-based nanomachines suffer from slow kinetics, requiring several minutes or longer to carry out a handful of operations. Here, we pursue the speed limit of an important class of reactions in DNA nanotechnology-toehold exchange-through the single-molecule optimization of a novel class of DNA walker that undergoes cartwheeling movements over a field of complementary oligonucleotides.

Color rendering based on a plasmon fullerene cavity.

Fullerene in the plasmon fullerene cavity is utilized to propagate plasmon energy in order to break the confinement of the plasmonic coupling effect, which relies on the influential near-field optical region. It acts as a plasmonic inductor for coupling gold nano-islands to the gold film; the separation distances of the upper and lower layers are longer than conventional plasmonic cavities. This coupling effect causes the discrete and continuum states to cooperate together in a cavity and produces asymmetric curve lines in the spectra, producing a hybridized resonance.

Short Play and Communication Evaluation: Teachers' assessment of core social communication and play skills with young children with autism.

Children with autism spectrum disorder experience delays in the development of nonverbal social communication gestures to request and to share (joint attention) as well as play skills such that intervention is required. Although such tools exist in research settings, community stakeholders also require access to brief, simple, and reliable tools to assess students' skills and set appropriate intervention targets. This study includes a sequence of two trials to examine implementation outcomes including adoption, fidelity, and feasibility of The Short Play and Communication Evaluation by educational professionals who work with preschoolers and toddlers with autism spectrum disorder in low-resource community classrooms.

Family Characteristics and Children's Receipt of Autism Services in Low-Resourced Families.

Objectives: Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face competing demands when caring for their child and fulfilling family commitments. It remains unknown whether family obligations and parental stress might decrease the use of intervention services for young children with ASD.

Methods: The current study is a secondary analysis of baseline date from a published randomized control trial with 147 low-resourced caregiver-child dyads.

Priapism and hemodialysis: Case report and literature review .

Background: Priapism is a known but rarely described complication of patients on dialysis. The incidence of priapism in the general population is estimated at 1.5 in 100,000 patients and 2.

Mitigating fringing in discrete frequency infrared imaging using time-delayed integration.

Infrared (IR) spectroscopic microscopes provide the potential for label-free quantitative molecular imaging of biological samples, which can be used to aid in histology, forensics, and pharmaceutical analysis. Most IR imaging systems use broadband illumination combined with a spectrometer to separate the signal into spectral components. This technique is currently too slow for many biomedical applications such as clinical diagnosis, primarily due to the availability of bright mid-infrared sources and sensitive MCT detectors.

Plasmonic nanoparticle-based expansion microscopy with surface-enhanced Raman and dark-field spectroscopic imaging.

Fluorescence-based expansion microscopy (ExM) is a new technique which can yield nanoscale resolution of biological specimen on a conventional fluorescence microscope through physical sample expansion up to 20 times its original dimensions while preserving structural information. It however inherits known issues of fluorescence microscopy such as photostability and multiplexing capabilities, as well as an ExM-specific issue in signal intensity reduction due to a dilution effect after expansion. To address these issues, we propose using antigen-targeting plasmonic nanoparticle labels which can be imaged using surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy (SERS) and dark-field spectroscopy.

Left centro-parieto-temporal response to tool-gesture incongruity: an ERP study.

Background: Action semantics have been investigated in relation to context violation but remain less examined in relation to the meaning of gestures. In the present study, we examined tool-gesture incongruity by event-related potentials (ERPs) and hypothesized that the component N400, a neural index which has been widely used in both linguistic and action semantic congruence, is significant for conditions of incongruence.

Methods: Twenty participants performed a tool-gesture judgment task, in which they were asked to judge whether the tool-gesture pairs were correct or incorrect, for the purpose of conveying functional expression of the tools.

Unbound bilirubin measurements by a novel probe in preterm infants.

Background: Hyperbilirubinemia occurs in over 80% of newborns and severe bilirubin toxicity can lead to neurological dysfunction and death, especially in preterm infants. Currently, the risk of bilirubin toxicity is assessed by measuring the levels of total serum bilirubin (TSB), which are used to direct treatments including immunoglobulin administration, phototherapy, and exchange transfusion. However, free, unbound bilirubin levels (Bf) predict the risk of bilirubin neurotoxicity more accurately than TSB.

A phase II trial of riluzole, an antagonist of metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (GRM1) signaling, in patients with advanced melanoma.

Studies demonstrate that GRM, expressed by >60% of human melanomas, may be a therapeutic target. We performed a phase II trial of 100 mg PO bid of riluzole, an inhibitor of GRM1 signaling, in patients with advanced melanoma with the primary endpoint of response rate. Thirteen patients with GRM1-positive tumors were enrolled.

Predictors of Health-related Quality of Life in Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients Compared With Healthy Individuals.

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) reduces health-related quality of life (HRQOL). It is unclear how having IBS modifies the impact of gastrointestinal (GI), psychosocial, and somatic symptom variables on HRQOL compared with healthy controls (HCs).

Aims: (1) Determine psychosocial, somatic, and physical status variables most predictive of HRQOL in IBS and HCs and (2) determine if IBS status modifies relationships between predictive factors and HRQOL.

Brief Report: Caregiver Strategy Implementation-Advancing Spoken Communication in Children Who are Minimally Verbal.

Research has demonstrated that caregivers' use of intervention strategies can support their children's social engagement and communication. However, it is not clear to what degree caregivers must master the strategies to effectively support gains in social communication, specifically, core challenges such as joint attention language (comments). Twenty-two minimally verbal school-age children with autism received a social communication intervention with caregiver coaching.