Congenital Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia: A Brief Review of the Literature

Congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia (CAMT) is a rare inherited autosomal recessive disorder that presents with thrombocytopenia and absence of megakaryocytes. It presents with bleeding recognized on day 1 of life or at least within the first month. The cause for this disorder appears to be a mutation in the gene for the thrombopoeitin (TPO) receptor, c-Mpl, despite high levels of serum TPO. Patients with severe Type I-CAMT carry nonsense Mpl mutations which causes a complete loss of the TPO receptor whereas those with Type II CAMT carry missense mutations in the Mpl gene affecting the extracellular domain of the TPO receptor. Differential diagnosis for severe CAMT includes thrombocytopenia with absent radii (TAR) and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS). The primary treatment for CAMT is bone marrow transplantation. Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT) is the only thing that ultimately cures this genetic disease. Newer modalities are on the way, such as TPO-mimetics for binding towards partially functioning c-Mpl receptors and gene therapy. Prognosis of CAMT patients is poor, because all develop in childhood a tri-linear marrow aplasia that is always fatal when untreated. Thirty percent of patients with CAMT die due to bleeding complications and 20% -due to HSCT if it has been done

Power Allocation and Cooperative Diversity in Two-Way Non-Regenerative Cognitive Radio Networks

In this paper, we investigate the performance of a dual-hop block fading cognitive radio network with underlay spectrum sharing over independent but not necessarily identically distributed (i.n.i.d.) Nakagami-$m$ fading channels. The primary network consists of a source and a destination. Depending on whether the secondary network which consists of two source nodes have a single relay for cooperation or multiple relays thereby employs opportunistic relay selection for cooperation and whether the two source nodes suffer from the primary users' (PU) interference, two cases are considered in this paper, which are referred to as Scenario (a) and Scenario (b), respectively. For the considered underlay spectrum sharing, the transmit power constraint of the proposed system is adjusted by interference limit on the primary network and the interference imposed by primary user (PU). The developed new analysis obtains new analytical results for the outage capacity (OC) and average symbol error probability (ASEP). In particular, for Scenario (a), tight lower bounds on the OC and ASEP of the secondary network are derived in closed-form. In addition, a closed from expression for the end-to-end OC of Scenario (a) is achieved. With regards to Scenario (b), a tight lower bound on the OC of the secondary network is derived in closed-form. All analytical results are corroborated using Monte Carlo simulation method

On the spectral efficiency for selection combiner diversity (SCD) over slow fading

In this paper we derive closed-form expressions for the single-user capacity of selection combining diversity (SCD) system, taking into account the effect of imperfect channel estimation at the receiver. The channel considered is a slowly varying spatially independent flat Rayleigh fading channel. The complex channel estimate and the actual channel are modelled as jointly Gaussian random variables with a correlation that depends on the estimation quality. Two adaptive transmission schemes are analyzed: 1) optimal power and rate adaptation; and 2) constant power with optimal rate adaptation. Our numerical results show the effect of Gaussian channel estimation error on the achievable spectral efficiency

Advanced Computational Methods in Bio-Mechanics

A novel partnership between surgeons and machines, made possible by advances in computing and engineering technology, could overcome many of the limitations of traditional surgery. By extending surgeons’ ability to plan and carry out surgical interventions more accurately and with fewer traumas, computer-integrated surgery (CIS) systems could help to improve clinical outcomes and the efficiency of healthcare delivery. CIS systems could have a similar impact on surgery to that long since realised in computer-integrated manufacturing. Mathematical modelling and computer simulation have proved tremendously successful in engineering.Computational mechanics has enabled technological developments in virtually every area of our lives. One of the greatest challenges for mechanists is to extend the success of computational mechanics to fields outside traditional engineering, in particular to biology, the biomedical sciences, and medicine. Biomechanics has significant potential for applications in orthopaedic industry, and the performance arts since skills needed for these activities are visibly related to the human musculoskeletal and nervous systems.Although biomechanics is widely used nowadays in the orthopaedic industry to design orthopaedic implants for human joints, dental parts, external fixations and other medical purposes, numerous researches funded by billions of dollars are still running to build a new future for sports and human healthcare in what is called biomechanics era

The role of surface modification on zirconia implants to enhance osteoblasts adhesion and proliferation

The surface structure of the implant plays a crucial role in the success of implantation. Therefore, the surfaces of dental implants have been under continuous development over the past few decades. In zirconia implants, generating surface roughness by sandblasting may induce surface damage and phase transformation from tetragonal to monoclinic phase. To avoid these negative effects, sandblasting prior to sintering is one strategy to generate a rough zirconia surface. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of surface roughening zirconia base material, TZP, by sandblasting prior to sintering process under defined parameters. The new surface structure was then examined in vitro on the basis of cellular adhesion (after 60 min with crystal violet), cell coverage (after 72 h with crystal violet), proliferation and metabolic activity (24-48 h with BrdU assay and after 48 h with XTT assay, respectively) of human SAOS-2 osteoblasts. Using a Perthometer, the roughened zirconia variants exhibited negligible changes in surface roughness before and after sintering, and they maintained their original mechanical properties by avoiding post-treatment of the surfaces. Initial cell adhesion was positively enhanced by a roughened surface compared to a machined surface. The metabolic activity and proliferation in the log-growth phase were not affected. Surface coverage by cells was slightly decreased on rough zirconia surfaces compared to the machined reference; however, surface coverage on all zirconia surfaces was comparable to that of titanium, indicating good biocompatibility. Therefore, the method used to roughen the zirconia surface in this experiment is suitable for zirconia implants, which is an alternative implant material. Sandblasting before sintering zirconia implants is an appropriate method to create surface roughness without compromising the mechanical strength

The prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity symptoms in schoolchildren in a highly consanguineous community

Objective: The objective of the present study was to find the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity (ADH) symptoms in a sample of primary schoolchildren in Qatar and investigate the behaviour of the children with and without ADH symptoms in a highly consanguineous community. Subjects and Methods: A total of 2,500 primary school students, aged 6-12 years, were randomly selected from the government primary schools, and 1,869 students (947 boys and 922 girls) gave consent to participate in this study. An Arabic questionnaire was used to collect the sociodemographic variables and a standardized Arabic version of the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale for ADH symptoms. Results: Of the 947 boys, 158 (16.7%; 95% confidence interval, CI, 14.4-19.2) and of the 922 girls, 50 (5.4%; 95% CI 4.1-7.1) scored above the cut-off (≥15) for ADH symptoms, thus giving an overall prevalence of 11.1% (95% CI 9.7-12.6). The children who had higher scores for ADH symptoms were in the age group of 6-9 years. Children who had higher scores for ADH symptoms had a poorer school performance than those with lower scores (p = 0.002). Two hundred (96.2%) children with ADH were disobedient, 126 (60.6%) noisy and hyperactive, 76 (36.5%) very cranky, 78 (37.5%) troublesome and 79 (37.9%) nervous. The logistic regression identified socio-economic condition, number of children, school performance and poor relationship between parents as the main contributors to ADH. Although the univariate analysis showed a significant relationship (p = 0.010) between ADH symptoms and consanguineous parents, logistic regression did not support this association (p = 0.075). This suggests that consanguinity has no impact on ADH children. Conclusion: The study revealed that ADH is a common problem among schoolchildren. The children with higher scores for ADH symptoms had a poorer school performance than those with lower scores. A significant difference exists between the behaviour of children with and without ADH

Botulinum toxin: Non cosmetic and off-label dermatological uses

AbstractBotulinum toxin (BT-A) is a neurotoxin which is produced by the Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The efficacy of Botulinum toxin in treating hyperhidrosis and the glabellar lines is well known and FDA approved.Because BT-A inhibits the release of acetylcholine and many other neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and substance P at the level of nerve ending, this toxin has been used to treat a lot of dermatological disorders which are thought to be triggered by these neurotransmitters.In this article we are discussing the medical off-label uses of BT-A in dermatology

On Using Magnetic and optical methods to determine the size and characteristics of nanoparticles embedded in oxide semiconductors

Films of oxides doped with transition metals are frequently believed to have magnetic inclusions. Magnetic methods to determine the amount of nanophases and their magnetic characteristics are described. The amount of the sample that is paramagnetic may also be measured. Optical methods are described and shown to be very powerful to determine which defects are also magnetic.Comment: Manuscript of poster to be presented at MMM-Intermag 2010. Accepted for publication in Magnetic Trans of IEE