A Rare Case of Postoperative Encephalopathy in Twin.

The clinical picture of encephalopathy invites a broad differential with multiple etiologies. It is with judicious history, hospital course, lab testing, and imaging that the ultimate cause is identified. We present a unique case of identical twins who share a similar clinical presentation of postoperative encephalopathy. The striking similarities in both twins suggest a genetic component requiring further research to identify patients who are genetically predisposed.

Matriptase-2/NR4A3 axis switches TGF-ß action toward suppression of prostate cancer cell invasion, tumor growth, and metastasis.

Dysregulation of pericellular proteolysis is strongly implicated in cancer metastasis through alteration of cell invasion and the microenvironment. Matriptase-2 (MT-2) is a membrane-anchored serine protease which can suppress prostate cancer (PCa) cell invasion. In this study, we showed that MT-2 was down-regulated in PCa and could suppress PCa cell motility, tumor growth, and metastasis. Using microarray and biochemical analysis, we found that MT-2 shifted TGF-ß action towards its tumor suppressor function by repressing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and promoting Smad2 phosphorylation and nuclear accumulation to upregulate two TGF-ß1 downstream effectors (p21 and PAI-1), culminating in hindrance of PCa cell motility and malignant growth. Mechanistically, MT-2 could dramatically up-regulate the expression of nuclear receptor NR4A3 via iron metabolism in PCa cells. MT-2-induced NR4A3 further coactivated Smad2 to activate p21 and PAI-1 expression. In addition, NR4A3 functioned as a suppressor of PCa and mediated MT-2 signaling to inhibit PCa tumorigenesis and metastasis. These results together indicate that NR4A3 sustains MT-2 signaling to suppress PCa cell invasion, tumor growth, and metastasis, and serves as a contextual factor for the TGF-ß/Smad2 signaling pathway in favor of tumor suppression via promoting p21 and PAI-1 expression.

Navigation of Three Cooperative Object-Transportation Robots Using a Multistage Evolutionary Fuzzy Control Approach.

This article proposes a new multistage evolutionary fuzzy control configuration and navigation of three-wheeled robots cooperatively carrying an overhead object in unknown environments. Based on the divide-and-conquer technique, this article proposes a stage-by-stage evolutionary obstacle boundary following (OBF) fuzzy control of each of the three robots through multiobjective continuous ant colony optimization. In the first stage, a set of evolutionary nondominated fuzzy controllers (FCs) for a single robot (a leader robot) in the execution of the OBF behavior is learned. In the second stage, a follower robot is controlled by two evolutionary FCs in combination with a switched compensation FC so that the leader and follower robots can cooperatively transport an object while executing the OBF behavior along obstacles containing corners with right angles. In the third stage, the third robot functions as an accompanying robot and is learned to enter into a predicted triangular formation with the leader-follower robots to transport a larger object while executing the OBF behavior. In the navigation of the three object-transportation robots, a new cooperative behavior supervisor is proposed to coordinate the learned OBF behavior and a target seeking behavior. Successful navigations in simulations and experiments verify the effectiveness of the multistage evolutionary fuzzy control approach and navigation scheme.

A comparison of disease burden and symptoms with age among CoVid-19 patients from data in a Florida clinic.

Our knowledge of the disease burden and symptoms with age in COVID-19 patients is limited. Therefore, it is of interest to document the clinical aspect of this association with respect to the disease. We used the data of 3363 patients enrolled with an urgent care clinic in Volusia county, Florida for this study. Data shows difference in age among COVID-19 antibody (Ab) - positive patients (48.3 years, 95% CI = 46.9,49.7 years) and Ab-negative patients (46.1 years, 95% CI = 45.4, 46.8 years). However, disease burden by age is not significant on average. Nonetheless, COVID-19 positive patients between 40-69-years of age experienced the highest burden of disease and highest average number of symptoms. Thus, COVID-19 disease burden and number of symptoms experienced were highest among the 40-69-year-old patients. Those above the populations mean age of 46.4 years old were more likely to test positive for COVID-19.

Particle assisted removal of microbes from surfaces.

Increased reliance on kill based approaches for disinfection raises concerns of antimicrobial resistance development and has significantly elevated the need for alternate approaches for skin and substrate disinfection. This study focuses on reducing harmful microbes from substrates primarily via removal and to a lesser extent by kill. HYPOTHESIS: Functional micro-particles designed to adhere to microbes, with a force greater than the force of microbial adhesion to the substrate, would result in enhanced removal-based disinfection of substrates when subject to an external force. EXPERIMENTS: Silica particles were functionalized with a cationic polymer to bind strongly with bacteria via Coulombic interactions. Disinfection efficacies of substrates with functional particles and control groups were evaluated under conditions relevant for handwashing. FINDINGS: Functionalized silica micro-particles result in ∼4 log reduction of E. coli from an artificial skin substrate in 30 s as compared to a maximum of 1.5 log reduction with control particles. Bacterial viability assays indicate a mechanism of action driven by enhanced removal of bacteria with minimal kill. Particle number density, size and suspension velocity along with strong particle - bacteria interactions have been found to be the primary factors responsible for the enhanced bacterial removal from surfaces.

A wireless and sensitive detection of octachlorostyrene using modified AuNPs as signal-amplifying tags.

A wireless, remote query octachlorostyrene (OCS) biosensor was fabricated by coating a mass-sensitive magnetoelastic ribbon with anti-OCS antibody. In response to a time-varying magnetic field, the magnetoelastic sensor mechanically vibrates at a characteristic resonance frequency which inversely depends on the sensor mass loading. As the magnetoelastic film is magnetostrictive itself, the vibrations launch magnetic flux that can be remotely detected using a pickup coil. Au nanoparticles (NPs) were used to amplify the mass loading. In a sample solution containing OCS target and OCS-modified AuNPs (OCS-AuNPs), both OCS and OCS-AuNPs react with the anti-OCS antibody immobilized on the sensor surface in a competition mode. The bound OCS-AuNPs amount is inversely proportional to the OCS target concentration. The reduction of bound OCS-AuNPs induced by free OCS results in significant change in mass loading, which amplifies the responses. The biosensor demonstrates a linear shift in resonance frequency with OCS concentration between 7.4 µM and 9 nM, with a detection limit of 2.8 nM.

An octachlorostyrene electrochemical immunosensor: double amplification strategies with immobilization of nano-Au and Au nanoparticle labels.

Anti-octachlorostyrene (OCS) antibody was derived from an immune rabbit preparation. An OCS immunosensor was constructed by immobilizing the anti-OCS antibody on a glassy carbon electrode coated with chitosan and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs, ∼5 nm, represented as AuNP05). Large-sized AuNPs (∼90 nm, represented as AuNP90) were used as the electrochemical label. The AuNP90-labeled OCS competes with the target OCS for the limited antibody molecules immobilized on the sensor surface. The amount of bound AuNP90 is inversely proportional to the OCS concentration. OCS was quantified based on the bound AuNP90 which was detected by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), i.e. the AuNP90 was firstly electrooxidized in 0.1 M HCl to produce AuCl4(-), then the reduction current of AuCl4(-) was detected. The immobilized AuNP05 increases the loading of anti-OCS antibody. Both the immobilized AuNP05 and the label AuNP90 amplify the sensor response. The proposed electrochemical immunosensor exhibits high selectivity, good storage stability, and high sensitivity with a linear range from 1 to 500 nM (R(2) = 0.971) and a detection limit of 0.4 nM.

Ultrasonic assisted extraction combined with titanium-plate based solid phase extraction for the analysis of PAHs in soil samples by HPLC-FLD.

In this work, ultrasonic assisted extraction combined with solid phase extraction (SPE) was applied in the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in environment samples. A titania nanotubes/titanium plate was modified with n-octadecanethiol monolayer-protected Ag nanoparticles, and developed as the adsorbent in SPE of PAHs. Six different PAHs in soil samples were analyzed with high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection. The experiment conditions including the deposition time of Ag nanoparticles, extraction solvent properties, the amount of extraction solvent, the amount of organic modifier, extraction time, and desorption solvent properties were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, good linearity and low limits of detection of 0.0015-0.4 ng g(-1) were obtained. The analysis of PAHs in real soil samples gave satisfactory recoveries ranging from 70.32% to 115.51% with 3.14%-13.56% intra-day relative standard deviations (RSD) and 4.92%-14.87% inter-day RSD.

Medial column stabilization improves the early result of calcaneal lengthening in children with cerebral palsy.

Calcaneal lengthening is a popular surgical treatment for pronated foot deformity. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of medial column stabilization in improving the results of calcaneal lengthening for pronated foot deformity in ambulatory children with cerebral palsy. Twenty-one consecutive (37 feet) children with cerebral palsy with pronated foot deformity who received calcaneal lengthening from 2004 to 2009 were reviewed. Talonavicular stabilizations were performed by either stapling alone or fusion depending on the children's age and correctability of midfoot deformity. Satisfaction rates were assessed using Mosca's radiographic, Mosca's clinical, and Yoo's clinical criteria. Talonavicular coverage angle was also measured. Results between groups with and without stabilization of the talonavicular joint were compared. Group 1 included 11 children (19 feet) who had no talonavicular stabilization. Group 2 included 10 children (18 feet) who had talonavicular fixation. Groups were further divided into subgroups A [Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS)≤II] and B (GMFCS≥III). Factors including demography, geographical classification, functional status, and preoperative degree of deformity were similar between the two groups. After the operation, all four radiographic parameters improved significantly. The talonavicular coverage angle was better in group 2 than in group 1. Mosca's radiographic results were satisfactory in 73.68% of cases in group 1 and 100% in group 2; the difference was statistically significant (P=0.027). As for Mosca's clinical results, 63.16% in group 1 and 83.33% in group 2 achieved satisfactory results (P=0.156). On the basis of Yoo's criteria, the results were satisfactory in 57.89% of cases in group 1 and in 94.44% of cases in group 2 (P=0.012). Further analysis on the satisfaction rates between the subgroups showed similar results between the patients in subgroup 1A and 2A, and significantly better results in subgroup 2B than in subgroup 1B. Concurrent stabilization of the talonavicular joint is an effective method to improve clinical and radiographic results of calcaneal lengthening in children with cerebral palsy with pronated feet, and the effect is more significant in children with worse GMFCS levels.

Electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection of trace level pentachlorophenol using carbon quantum dots.

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is an environmental pollutant of serious concern due to its high toxicity and long persistence property. Fast and sensitive detection of PCP is therefore of great interest. In this work, carbon quantum dots (QDs) are synthesized by hydrothermal reaction, and characterized by fluorescence spectrophotometer, fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, UV/vis/NIR spectrophotometer and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The carbon QDs show stable and intensive electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) in the presence of the coreactant S2O8(2-). Under the scanning potential of -1.2 to 0.5 V, PCP reacts with the excited C˙(-), resulting in a decrease in ECL. The detection of trace level PCP is therefore achieved using the carbon QDs and Pt working electrode. Parameters that may affect the ECL intensity including the pH of solution, ionic strength, concentrations of coreactant and carbon QDs are optimized. Under the optimal conditions, a detection limit of 1.3 × 10(-12) g L(-1) is achieved with a linear range of 10 pg L(-1)∼1.0 µg L(-1).