Rapid Replication of High Aspect Ratio Molds for UV Embossing

This paper describes a promising fabrication technique for rapid replication of high aspect ratio microstructured molds for UV embossing. The process involves casting silicone rubber on a microstructured master, replicating an epoxy mold using the PDMS rubber mold and finally, metallizing the surfaces of the epoxy mold by electroless plating nickel (EN). The preliminary study suggests that this technique is feasible for rapid replication of high aspect ratio molds for UV embossing. Uniform molds can be replicated rapidly through this technique making the process economical and accessible.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Pharmaceutical Properties of Nanoparticulate Formulation Composed of TPGS and PLGA for Controlled Delivery of Anticancer Drug

A suitable management of the pharmaceutical property is needed and helpful to design a desired nanoparticulate delivery system, which includes the carrier nature, particle size and size distribution, morphology, surfactant stabiliser according to the technique applied, drug-loading ratio and encapsulation efficiency, surface property, etc. All will influence the in vitro release, in vivo behaviour and tissue distribution of administered particulate drug loaded nanoparticles. The main purpose of the present work was to determine the effect of drug loading ratio when employing TPGS as surfactant stabiliser and/or matrix material to improve the nanoparticulate formulation. The model drug employed was paclitaxel.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Renal biopsy outcomes in patients with unexplained rise in serum creatinine

Introduction: Renal biopsy is an invasive but necessary procedure to determine the exact diagnosis of patients, especially in patients with an unexplained renal impairment. The histopathological examination is vital not only for diagnosis, but also to prognosticate patients’ condition. Objective: This study was aimed at evaluating the results of renal bi- opsy in patients with unexplained rise in serum creatinine, and its association with the patients’ clinical characteristics. Methodology: This was a retrospective study done with data collected from biopsy results in Hospital Tg Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan between 2016 until April 2017. Baseline demographics, risk factors, rate and duration of worsening serum creatinine and the biopsy results were recorded. Results: There were 21 patients in which 14 (66.6%) were males, and 7 (33.3%) of the patients were females. The median age of the patients were 32.0 (IQR 21.0) years. A total of 15 (71.4%) patients have got no other disease comorbidities, and 5 (23.8%) were di- abetics. Three (14.2%) patients have history of taking herbal supplements. The median duration of deranged creatinine was 14.0 (IQR 13.0) days. The median urea on presentation was 10.0 (IQR 11.1) mmol/L, and the median Creatinine was 306.0 ( IQR 324.0) mmol/L. The median rise in creatinine was 137.0 (IQR 182.0) mmol/ L. Biopsy complications which were perinephric collection were noted in two patients (9.5%). The median glomeruli number attained was 20 (IQR 16). Mesangial matrix expansion and hyper- cellularity was noted in 12 (57.0%) patients. Tubular atrophy and interstitial inflammation was present in 17 (80.9%) patients. Out of the 21 biopsies, 13 (61.9%) were diagnosed to have glomerulone- phritis. Within that group, two (9.5%) of the patients were diag- nosed with Crescentic Lupus Nephritis Class IV. Other glomerulonephritis included IgA Nephropathy in 2 patients (9.5%) and Minimal change GN (9.5%). Eight (38.1%) of the results showed hypertensive changes (14.3%), Diabetic changes (4.3%), focal global glomerulosclerosis (4.3%) and Thrombotic micro- angiopathy (4.3%). The creatinine on presentation and also inter- stitial inflammation and tubular atrophy is not significantly correlated with the glomerulosclerosis group. Conclusion: Renal biopsy definitely still plays the most vital and irre- placeable role in the investigation of cases with unexplained renal impairment. Despite a vastly variable biopsy results between patients, renal biopsy has helped in determining the best treatment and prog- nosis for the patients in our study

Seroepidemiology of Human Enterovirus 71, Singapore

Human enterovirus 71 has caused outbreaks in many parts of the world, especially Southeast Asia, with some fatal cases. The epidemiology of this viral infection is not well understood. We conducted a serologic survey in Singapore children, and the results indicate that infection occurs largely in preschool settings

A Riemann solver at a junction compatible with a homogenization limit

We consider a junction regulated by a traffic lights, with n incoming roads and only one outgoing road. On each road the Phase Transition traffic model, proposed in [6], describes the evolution of car traffic. Such model is an extension of the classic Lighthill-Whitham-Richards one, obtained by assuming that different drivers may have different maximal speed. By sending to infinity the number of cycles of the traffic lights, we obtain a justification of the Riemann solver introduced in [9] and in particular of the rule for determining the maximal speed in the outgoing road.Comment: 19 page

Replication and Meta-analysis of the Association between BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism and Cognitive Impairment in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy.

Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) adversely affects cancer patients. We had previously demonstrated that the BDNF Val66Met genetic polymorphism is associated with lower odds of subjective CRCI in the multitasking and verbal ability domains among breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. To further assess our previous findings, we evaluated the association of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism with subjective and objective CRCI in a temporally separate cohort of patients and pooled findings from both the original (n = 145) and current (n = 193) cohorts in a meta-analysis. Subjective CRCI was assessed using FACT-Cog. Objective CRCI was evaluated using computerized neuropsychological tests. Genotyping was carried out using Sanger sequencing. The association of BDNF Val66Met genotypes and CRCI was examined with logistic regression. A fixed-effect meta-analysis was conducted using the inverse variance method. In the meta-analysis (n = 338), significantly lower odds of CRCI were associated with Met allele carriers based on the global FACT-Cog score (OR = 0.52, 95% CI 0.29-0.94). Furthermore, Met allele carriers were at lower odds of developing impairment in the domains of memory (OR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.17-0.70), multitasking (OR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.18-0.59), and verbal ability (OR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.24-0.88). Consistent with the previous study, lower odds of subjective CRCI among patients with the BDNF Met allele was observed after adjusting for potential confounders in the multitasking (OR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.14-0.67) domain. In conclusion, carriers of the BDNF Met allele were protected against global subjective CRCI, particularly in the domains of memory, multitasking, and verbal ability. Our findings further contribute to the understanding of CRCI pathophysiology

Tracking Cyber Adversaries with Adaptive Indicators of Compromise

A forensics investigation after a breach often uncovers network and host indicators of compromise (IOCs) that can be deployed to sensors to allow early detection of the adversary in the future. Over time, the adversary will change tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), which will also change the data generated. If the IOCs are not kept up-to-date with the adversary's new TTPs, the adversary will no longer be detected once all of the IOCs become invalid. Tracking the Known (TTK) is the problem of keeping IOCs, in this case regular expressions (regexes), up-to-date with a dynamic adversary. Our framework solves the TTK problem in an automated, cyclic fashion to bracket a previously discovered adversary. This tracking is accomplished through a data-driven approach of self-adapting a given model based on its own detection capabilities. In our initial experiments, we found that the true positive rate (TPR) of the adaptive solution degrades much less significantly over time than the naive solution, suggesting that self-updating the model allows the continued detection of positives (i.e., adversaries). The cost for this performance is in the false positive rate (FPR), which increases over time for the adaptive solution, but remains constant for the naive solution. However, the difference in overall detection performance, as measured by the area under the curve (AUC), between the two methods is negligible. This result suggests that self-updating the model over time should be done in practice to continue to detect known, evolving adversaries.Comment: This was presented at the 4th Annual Conf. on Computational Science & Computational Intelligence (CSCI'17) held Dec 14-16, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada, US

The “crazy paving pattern” lung in a pregnant woman

Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disorder characterized by an abnormal accumulation of a PAS positive material within the alveolar spaces and distal bronchioles. A 29 year old lady in her 29th week of pregnancy presented with prolonged dry cough for two months which was associated with reduced effort tolerance and low grade fever. At presentation she is hypoxic and required oxygen supplement. She was initially treated empirically for tuberculosis but she continued to have worsening hypoxia. A high resolution CT thorax revealed a crazy paving pattern lung which was suggestive of PAP. She delivered a healthy baby at 36 weeks via an elective Caesarean section. Post operatively she underwent diagnostic bronchoalveolar lavage which showed acellular homogenous eosinophilic material which was positive for PAS/PASD and negative for mucin. Therapeutic whole lung lavage was performed and her symptoms and lung function tests improved. In this case report, we will discuss how we made the diagnosis of PAP and share our experience in managing a pregnant woman with this condition

Nocturnal Lifestyle Behaviours and Risk of Poor Sleep during Pregnancy

The extent to which lifestyle practices at night influence sleep quality in pregnant women remains unknown. This study aimed to examine whether nocturnal behaviours were associated with poor sleep during pregnancy. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of a prospective cohort of pregnant women at 18–24 gestation weeks recruited from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, between 2019 and 2021. Nocturnal behaviours were assessed with questionnaires, and sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) with a global score ≥5 indicative of poor sleep quality. Modified Poisson regression and linear regression were used to examine the association between nocturnal behaviour and sleep quality. Of 299 women, 117 (39.1%) experienced poor sleep. In the covariate-adjusted analysis, poor sleep was observed in women with nocturnal eating (risk ratio 1.51; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12, 2.04) and nocturnal artificial light exposure (1.63; 1.24, 2.13). Similarly, nocturnal eating (β 0.68; 95% CI 0.03, 1.32) and light exposure (1.99; 1.04, 2.94) were associated with higher PSQI score. Nocturnal physical activity and screen viewing before bedtime were not associated with sleep quality. In conclusion, reducing nocturnal eating and light exposure at night could potentially improve sleep in pregnancy.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

A new class of pluripotent stem cell cytotoxic small molecules

10.1371/journal.pone.0085039PLoS ONE93-POLN