Magnetoresistive biosensors with on-chip pulsed excitation and magnetic correlated double sampling.

Giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors have been shown to be among the most sensitive biosensors reported. While high-density and scalable sensor arrays are desirable for achieving multiplex detection, scalability remains challenging because of long data acquisition time using conventional readout methods. In this paper, we present a scalable magnetoresistive biosensor array with an on-chip magnetic field generator and a high-speed data acquisition method. The on-chip field generators enable magnetic correlated double sampling (MCDS) and global chopper stabilization to suppress 1/f noise and offset. A measurement with the proposed system takes only 20 ms, approximately 50× faster than conventional frequency domain analysis. A corresponding time domain temperature correction technique is also presented and shown to be able to remove temperature dependence from the measured signal without extra measurements or reference sensors. Measurements demonstrate detection of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) at a signal level as low as 6.92 ppm. The small form factor enables the proposed platform to be portable as well as having high sensitivity and rapid readout, desirable features for next generation diagnostic systems, especially in point-of-care (POC) settings

Post-mortem computed tomography is a useful tool for determining the pulmonary ventilation status in newborns

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec> <jats:title>Introduction</jats:title> <jats:p>Lung ventilation is a standard sign of life in newborns. Post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) is highly sensitive to the presence of gas in the body including the lungs. Current standard examinations to determine the pulmonary ventilation status in newborns are the flotation test and histology. The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of PMCT with the flotation test for determining the lung ventilation status with histological control as reference standard. A cut-off value as CT number in Hounsfield Units (HU) determining lung ventilation of newborns in PMCT should be established.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>A total of 38 infant lungs were examined of which 21 lungs were from infants deceased shortly after live birth (control group) and 17 lungs belonged to infants where live birth was in question (study group). All lungs were examined using PMCT, flotation test, and histological examination.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>The control group showed an overall mean attenuation ± standard deviation of −219 HU ± 135; the study group of 45 ± 15 HU in histologically nonventilated lungs versus −192 ± 207 HU; (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> < 0.001) in ventilated lungs. The best cut-off value for optimal discrimination of ventilated and nonventilated lungs in newborns was −35 mean HU.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title> <jats:p>PMCT is equally well suited to determine lung ventilation as the flotation test. It provides additional information regarding pulmonary infiltration, degree of putrefaction, or signs of trauma (fractures, pneumothorax). Histology remains mandatory in ambiguous cases.</jats:p> </jats:sec&gt

LICC: L-BLP25 in patients with colorectal carcinoma after curative resection of hepatic metastases--a randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter, multinational, double-blinded phase II trial

Background: 15-20% of all patients initially diagnosed with colorectal cancer develop metastatic disease and surgical resection remains the only potentially curative treatment available. Current 5-year survival following R0-resection of liver metastases is 28-39%, but recurrence eventually occurs in up to 70%. To date, adjuvant chemotherapy has not improved clinical outcomes significantly. The primary objective of the ongoing LICC trial (L-BLP25 In Colorectal Cancer) is to determine whether L-BLP25, an active cancer immunotherapy, extends recurrence-free survival (RFS) time over placebo in colorectal cancer patients following R0/R1 resection of hepatic metastases. L-BLP25 targets MUC1 glycoprotein, which is highly expressed in hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer. In a phase IIB trial, L-BLP25 has shown acceptable tolerability and a trend towards longer survival in patients with stage IIIB locoregional NSCLC. Methods: This is a multinational, phase II, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with a sample size of 159 patients from 20 centers in 3 countries. Patients with stage IV colorectal adenocarcinoma limited to liver metastases are included. Following curative-intent complete resection of the primary tumor and of all synchronous/metachronous metastases, eligible patients are randomized 2:1 to receive either L-BLP25 or placebo. Those allocated to L-BLP25 receive a single dose of 300 mg/m2 cyclophosphamide (CP) 3 days before first L-BLP25 dose, then primary treatment with s.c. L-BLP25 930 mug once weekly for 8 weeks, followed by s.c. L-BLP25 930 mug maintenance doses at 6-week (years 1&2) and 12-week (year 3) intervals unless recurrence occurs. In the control arm, CP is replaced by saline solution and L-BLP25 by placebo. Primary endpoint is the comparison of recurrence-free survival (RFS) time between groups. Secondary endpoints are overall survival (OS) time, safety, tolerability, RFS/OS in MUC-1 positive cancers. Exploratory immune response analyses are planned. The primary endpoint will be assessed in Q3 2016. Follow-up will end Q3 2017. Interim analyses are not planned. Discussion: The design and implementation of such a vaccination study in colorectal cancer is feasible. The study will provide recurrence-free and overall survival rates of groups in an unbiased fashion. Trial Registration EudraCT Number 2011-000218-2

Advancing Transplantation:New Questions, New Possibilities in Kidney and Liver Transplantation

Disclosure and contributions: This supplement collects a number of the sessions from the meeting 'Advancing Transplantation: New Questions, New Possibilities'. The meeting was sponsored by Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd; the agenda was developed by Astellas in collaboration with the meeting's scientific committee: J Wadström, BG Ericzon, WO Bechstein, D Serón and PF Halloran. The event was approved by the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom for 12 category 1 (external) CPD credits. The scientific committee and faculty developed their own content for the meeting with editorial support from iS Health Group. Editorial support for the meeting was funded by Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. Previously unpublished data that could not be included, due to existing embargo policies or to protect intellectual property, have been excluded from this report. The unpublished data in this report were included at the discretion of the authors as personal communications. Based on the presentations given at the meeting and under the direction of the authors, iS LifeScience provided editorial support throughout the development of this supplement. Editorial support was funded by Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. A.L., in his role as the Guest Editor, reviewed this supplement and advised on the content throughout the development process. The authors had final authority over the editorial content and approved the final version of this supplement before submission. Astellas Pharma and associated companies developed, manufacture and supply tacrolimus (tacrolimus hard capsules (Prograf), tacrolimus prolonged-release hard capsules (Advagraf)). Prescribing information and adverse event reporting information can be found on pages S40-S41. J.W. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. B-G.E reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; honoraria and consultancy fees from Astellas, Pfizer and Novartis and clinical trial support from Novartis and Astellas, outside of the submitted work. P.H. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work shares in TSI, a university company with an interest in molecular diagnostics. W.B. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. G.O. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work D.S. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work J.G. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. A.L. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. D.K. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work CM. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. M.C. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. A.J. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, Opsona Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer and Pfizer, outside the submitted work. L.G. reports personal fees from Astellas during the conduct of the study for acting as a conference speaker; personal fees from Astellas, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Pfizer, personal fees from Roche, outside the submitted work. B.F. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, grants from BMS, grants and consulting fees from Pharmalink, and lecturing fees from Sandoz, outside of the submitted work. J.O.G. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. J.P. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. J.O.L. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, personal fees from Novartis, and grants from Fisher Scientific, outside of the submitted work. V.A. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. P.T. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. U.B. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support from and personal fees from Astellas, outside the submitted work. J.N. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, and personal fees from Novartis, outside of the submitted work; employment as a consultant physician at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. A.S.-G. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. E.G. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support from Astellas, and personal fees from Astellas, Pfizer and Novartis, outside the submitted work. M.M. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas, during the development of this supplement; non-financial support and personal fees from Astellas, outside of the submitted work. M.G. reports nonfinancial support from Astellas during the development of this supplement; nonfinancial support from Astellas and personal fees from Astellas, outside the submitted wor

Evolving trends in the management of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 waves. The ACIE appy II study

Background: In 2020, ACIE Appy study showed that COVID-19 pandemic heavily affected the management of patients with acute appendicitis (AA) worldwide, with an increased rate of non-operative management (NOM) strategies and a trend toward open surgery due to concern of virus transmission by laparoscopy and controversial recommendations on this issue. The aim of this study was to survey again the same group of surgeons to assess if any difference in management attitudes of AA had occurred in the later stages of the outbreak. Methods: From August 15 to September 30, 2021, an online questionnaire was sent to all 709 participants of the ACIE Appy study. The questionnaire included questions on personal protective equipment (PPE), local policies and screening for SARS-CoV-2 infection, NOM, surgical approach and disease presentations in 2021. The results were compared with the results from the previous study. Results: A total of 476 answers were collected (response rate 67.1%). Screening policies were significatively improved with most patients screened regardless of symptoms (89.5% vs. 37.4%) with PCR and antigenic test as the preferred test (74.1% vs. 26.3%). More patients tested positive before surgery and commercial systems were the preferred ones to filter smoke plumes during laparoscopy. Laparoscopic appendicectomy was the first option in the treatment of AA, with a declined use of NOM. Conclusion: Management of AA has improved in the last waves of pandemic. Increased evidence regarding SARS-COV-2 infection along with a timely healthcare systems response has been translated into tailored attitudes and a better care for patients with AA worldwide

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Electrical initialization to erase history in hysteretic carbon nanotube transistors for sensing applications

Typically, carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNFETs) based sensors exhibit substantial gate hysteresis and therefore, prior to measurements, require electrical initialization to erase electrical history of their threshold voltage (Vth(t)). Particularly, for CNFET gas sensors, which respond with small Vth shifts to analyte concentration changes, electrical initialization is necessary for reliable sensor operation. Here, we propose and demonstrate electrical initialization of CNFETs for sensing applications by applying triangular ambipolar pulse (TAP) sequences to the gate electrode

Magnetoresistive biosensors with on-chip pulsed excitation and magnetic correlated double sampling.

Giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors have been shown to be among the most sensitive biosensors reported. While high-density and scalable sensor arrays are desirable for achieving multiplex detection, scalability remains challenging because of long data acquisition time using conventional readout methods. In this paper, we present a scalable magnetoresistive biosensor array with an on-chip magnetic field generator and a high-speed data acquisition method. The on-chip field generators enable magnetic correlated double sampling (MCDS) and global chopper stabilization to suppress 1/f noise and offset. A measurement with the proposed system takes only 20 ms, approximately 50× faster than conventional frequency domain analysis. A corresponding time domain temperature correction technique is also presented and shown to be able to remove temperature dependence from the measured signal without extra measurements or reference sensors. Measurements demonstrate detection of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) at a signal level as low as 6.92 ppm. The small form factor enables the proposed platform to be portable as well as having high sensitivity and rapid readout, desirable features for next generation diagnostic systems, especially in point-of-care (POC) settings