Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma of the neck in a two-months-old baby: diagnostic challenges

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue malignancy in children and adolescents. The rarity of its occurrence in infant poses a great difficulty in terms of diagnosis and management. Here, we report an aggressive case of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma in an infant who presented with neck swelling and neurological complications. The Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) revealed a soft tissue swelling of the neck with intraspinal extension and spinal cord compression, raising the possibility of a neurogenic or malignant nerve sheath tumour. Histopathological examination revealed a primitive, small round cell tumour with no rhabdoid differentiation. The clinical presentation, neurological symptoms, tumor location and the histopathologic features were highly suggestive of neuroblastoma. However, the tumour cells were positive for desmin with focal and weak nuclear positivity for myogenin and MyoD1; immunoexpressions which were in favour of rhabdomyosarcoma. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) confirmed the presence of a translocation t(2;13)(q35;q14), supporting the diagnosis of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. Despite chemotherapy, patient succumbed to death after two months due to septic shock. Rhabdomyosarcoma is highly aggressive mesenchymal neoplasm which may present with diagnostic difficulty. This case highlights the importance of molecular studies in making an accurate diagnosis so that appropriate chemotherapy may be instituted

Synthesis And Characterization of Polymeric V2O5/AIO(OH) With Nanopores On Alumina Support

Polymeric vanadium pentixide gel was formed via the reaction of V2O5 powder with hydrogen peroxide. The polymeric vanadium pentoxide gel was then dispersed in alumina gel. Different vanadium loading composites were coated on alumina support and calcined at 500C for 1 hr. These composite layers were characterized using EDX, FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TGA and Autosorb. It was found that the lamellar structure of polymerized vanadium pentoxide was retained in the inorganic matrix. Crystalline alumina in gamma phase was formed after calcinations. However, crystalline V2O5 was not found in the composite layer and it was possibly due to low calcination temperature. Alumina top layer with 21.81 wt% of V2O5 gel showed smaller pore diameter (5.483.nm) and improved BET surface area (380.4m2/g)

Surface Fractal Study of Perovskite Alumina Ceramic Membrane Prepared By Sol-Gel Method From Adsorption Isotherm Description

Perovskite alumina membrane has been synthesized by the sol-gel method. The molar ratio of alkoxide to water and acid 1:100:0.07 was used to prepare the sol. Observation were made on pore size and BET surface area at different temperature using N2 sorption analysis. The average pore size increased with increasing of temperature. Pore surface roughness changes in perovskite-alumina mebrane have been investigated by surface fractal dimension analysis. The Frenkel-Halsey-Hill (FHH) model for multilayer adsorption was applied to obtain the surface fractal dimension. Surface fractal dimension increases while calcined from 400C to 600C but decreases at temperature 800C. SEM analysis observed the surface morphology of the mebrane

Effects of annealing temperature on magnesium deficient in MgB2 superconductor

The Mg-deficient Mg0.8B2 superconductors were prepared using the solid-state reaction method at different annealing temperature between 650 °C and 800 °C. The x-ray diffraction patterns indicated that magnesium diboride (MgB2) is a major phase and magnesium oxide (MgO) is the secondary phase. However, no unreacted Mg was detected by XRD at all annealing temperatures. The SEM images showed hexagonal grain structures with nano thickness distributions. The highest critical current density (Jc) at 5 K and 20 K was found in sample annealed at 700 °C. At 5 K and 6 T, the highest Jc achieved was 1.2×104 A/cm2 . At 20 K, the highest Jc achieved by 3.6×103 A/cm2 . The values of the onset superconducting transition temperature, Tc for all Mg0.8B2 were 37.0 K. The samples annealed at 700° C showed a sharper diamagnetic drop with ∆Tc = 3.0 K compared to all samples

Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of a Distillation Column Using Wavenet Based Hammerstein Model

Distillation columns are fairly complex multivariable systems and needs to be controlled close to optimum operating conditions because of economic incentives. Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) scheme is one of the best options to be explored for proper control of distillation columns. In the present work, a new wavenet based Hammerstein model NMPC has been developed to control distillation column. An experimentally validated equilibrium model was used as plant model in nonlinear system identification and in NMPC. Two multiple-input-single-output (MISO) wavenet based Hammerstein models are developed to model the dynamics of the distillation column. The nonlinear model parameters were estimated using iterative prediction error minimization method. The Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) was used to estimate the state variables in NMPC and the NLP problem was solved using sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method. The closed loop control studies have indicated that the performance of developed NMPC scheme was good in controlling the distillation colum

Development of magnesium-doped biphasic calcium phosphate through sol-gel method

Calcium phosphate is an interesting material for bone implant applications, as it shows biocompatibility and bioactivity to tissue bone. Among calcium phosphate-based materials, biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP), a mixture of non-resorbable hydroxyapatite (HA) and resorbable tricalcium phosphate (TCP), has shown to possess unique characteristics appropriate for bone replacement. Doping of magnesium ions into BCP will bring biological improvement. Magnesium ion was found to cause the acceleration of nucleation kinetics of bone minerals. Magnesium depletion adversely affects all stages of skeletal metabolism, leading to decrease in osteoblastic activities and bone fragility. Therefore, the incorporation of magnesium ions into the calcium phosphate structure is of great interest for the development of artificial bone implants. Here we present magnesium-doped biphasic calcium phosphate (Mg-BCP) using chemical doping process through a solgel method. Mg-BCP was produced using calcium nitrate tetrahydrate and di-ammonium hydrogen phosphate as the precursors for calcium and phosphorus, respectively. Magnesium nitrate was used as the source of the dopant. An ammoniacal solution of the monomers was heated until a white gel was obtained. The obtained gel was then dried and subsequently subjected to calcinations. The change in physicochemical properties has been evaluated by using XRD, FTIR, TG/DTA, and FESEM. Individual particles are of less than 100 nm in size, spherical shapes and tightly agglomerated. XRD measurement shown that the powder is Mg-doped BCP with 100% purity, and crystallinity increased with increased of Mg content. FTIR spectroscopy measurement also showed that the increment of crystallinity is directly proportional to the amount of dopant leading to the conclusion that magnesium acts as a sintering additive. This result is in good agreement with the analysis of FESEM where the particles of the Mgdoped BCP are larger as the amount of dopant increased as a result of more progressive fusion of particles

One pot synthesis of monodisperse Fe3O4 nanocrystals by pyrolysis reaction of organometallic compound

This paper reports on a simple and reproducible technique to prepare high quality colloidal Fe3O4 nanocrystals (NCs) with controlled size, shape and narrow size distribution without any size sorting process. The method is based on the pyrolysis of self-made iron oleate precursor by using oleic acid which was extracted from natural palm-oil as capping ligands. By controlling the growth time, the size of the NCs can be tuned within the range of 4-18 nm diameter with a standard deviation less than 18 of the mean diameter. TEM micrograph shows that NCs are highly monodisperse and spherical in shape. By controlling the evaporation of the solvents, the NCs self-assembled into monolayer and bi-layer into triangle "island" in an ordered hexagonal closed-packed superlattices. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern reveals that all the peaks of the NCs can be indexed with the standard sample. Measurements from vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) showed that the magnetic properties correlate directly with the size of the NCs. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Synthesis of two-dimensional ZnO nanopellets by pyrolysis of zinc oleate

We report the non-hydrolytic solution phase synthesis of two-dimensional zinc oxide (ZnO) nanopellets by using self-made organometallic compound (zinc (II) oleate, Zn(C18H33O2)2) as single precursor. Zn(C18H33O2)2 is prepared by ion exchange reaction between non-toxic fatty acid (palm oil extract) and ion Zn2+. The controlling process of thermal pyrolysis of precursor is carried out under inert argon (Ar) atmosphere. This technique is very effective and reproducible in controlling the shape of ZnO semiconductor nanostructures. The as-synthesized ZnO nanocrystals are found in two-dimensionally well-faceted triangular and hexagonal thin pellet structures. Transmission electron micrograph(s) (TEM) show that the morphologies of ZnO nanopellets can be controlled by annealing duration. X-ray powder diffraction patterns reveal that all the peaks of ZnO nanopellets can be well indexed with standard hexagonal phase of ZnO crystal structure. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved