Fahr’s syndrome with seizure presentation

Fahr's disease (FD) or Fahr’s syndrome is characterized by basal ganglia calcification with clinical manifestations in the form of neuropsychiatric disorders, neurological symptoms, and cognitive symptoms. FD commonly affects young to middle aged adults. The etiology of this syndrome does not identify a specific agent. Clinical manifestations of this disease incorporate a wide variety of symptoms. The diagnostic criteria of Fahr’s Syndrome consist of bilateral calcification of basal ganglia, progressive neurologic dysfunction, absence of biochemical abnormalities, infectious, traumatic, and a significant family history. Medical imaging techniques for the diagnosis consist of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and plain radiography of the skull. This paper presents a case of Fahr’s syndrome in a 60-year-old married prisoner with antisocial personality and seizures. Furthermore, CT and MRI scans showed bilateral symmetric calcifications in the basal ganglia calcification (BGC) and dentate nuclei, cerebellum, and centrum semiovale

Pareidolia as additional approach to improving education and learning in neuroradiology; New cases and literature review

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon including the simulation of images and sounds which it is somewhat beneficial for the physician in diagnostic strategies. Radiology is one of the important training courses for many students, especially medical students and resident doctors. Due to the brain, neck and cervical spine is crucial for learning as well as disorders and histo-pathological finding in this area are very similar, therefore, a diagnostic system with specific criteria for each type of pathologic signs is essential for learning and training. The mental illusions and pareidolia is one of the key strategies in the diagnosis of various diseases and likened to an object, animal or anything tangible. For radiologist and neurologist in addition to having, proper knowledge of the theoretical and academic information should also be a good artist because they will be able to diagnose diseases of the brain, neck and cervical spine. Pareidolia are a useful method of recognizing clinical and radiologic patterns that aid in the memorization and im-prove general diagnostic skills. Therefore, main purpose of pareidolia in radiology and medical imaging is establishment and foundation of universal diagnostic sign for faster and most correct diseases differentiation especially the brain, neck and cervical spine

Scattering statistics of rock outcrops: Model-data comparisons and Bayesian inference using mixture distributions

The probability density function of the acoustic field amplitude scattered by the seafloor was measured in a rocky environment off the coast of Norway using a synthetic aperture sonar system, and is reported here in terms of the probability of false alarm. Interpretation of the measurements focused on finding appropriate class of statistical models (single versus two-component mixture models), and on appropriate models within these two classes. It was found that two-component mixture models performed better than single models. The two mixture models that performed the best (and had a basis in the physics of scattering) were a mixture between two K distributions, and a mixture between a Rayleigh and generalized Pareto distribution. Bayes' theorem was used to estimate the probability density function of the mixture model parameters. It was found that the K-K mixture exhibits significant correlation between its parameters. The mixture between the Rayleigh and generalized Pareto distributions also had significant parameter correlation, but also contained multiple modes. We conclude that the mixture between two K distributions is the most applicable to this dataset.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, Accepted to the Journal of the Acoustical Society of Americ

Ambient Assistive Technology Considered Harmful

Abstract. Ambient assistive technology (AAT) is envisioned as a powerful tool for facing the growing demands the demographic change toward an aging society puts on care. While AAT is often expected to increase the quality of life of older people, this paper holds that relevant interventions often embody values that can contradict such visions, and in some cases even be harmful to care receivers. We argue that the strong focus AAT puts on illness and risk management reflects a medical model of care, which often disregards the psychosocial challenges that impairments and disabilities associated with old age can rise. We suggest that design of AAT could benefit from using the social model of care as design inspiration and value foundation. Such an approach puts focus on the person rather than the illness. The paper ends by providing a short description of work in which the social model of care is adopted as a basis for design of AAT

3D integration of micro- and nanostructures into bio-analytical devices

This study aims to develop a process which allows 3D integration of micro and nanostructures in microchannels. A fabrication process was established for the large area integration of hierarchical micro and nanostructures in microchannels. This novel process, which is called 3D molding, takes advantage of an intermediate thin flexible stamp such as PDMS from soft lithography and a hard mold such as brass from hot embossing process. However, the use of a thin intermediate polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp inevitably causes dimensional changes in the 3D molded channel, with respect to those in the brass mold protrusion and the intermediate PDMS stamp structures. We have investigated the deformation behavior of the 3D molded poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrate and the intermediate PDMS stamp in 3D molding through both experimentation and numerical simulation. It was found that for high aspect ratio brass mold protrusion, the maximum strain of the intermediate layer occurs in the bottom center of the 3D channels. However, with decreasing the aspect ratio of brass mold protrusion the highest elongation occurs at the bottom corners of the channel causing less elongation of the intermediate PDMS stamp and imprinted structures on the bottom surface of the 3D channel. A modified 3D molding process which is called 3D nanomolding is developed which allows nanopatterning the surface of small microfeatures. Using 3D nanomolding process and solvent assisted bonding microdevices with no side, one side, three sides and four sides patterned were fabricated. To characterize 3D flow patterns induced by the surface structures on microdevices, confocal microscopy was used as dyed water and undyed water injected from separate inlets of micromixer were mixed along the microchannel at flow rates of 10 and 40 μL/min. The standard deviation of the normalized intensity measured in the confocal image of the cross section of the channel was used for quantifying the degree of mixing and evaluating the mixing performance of all four different microdevices. Experimental and simulation results show that by patterning the surface of the micromixer, flow patterns can be manipulated, which can improve mixing through stretching and folding of fluid elements and therefore increasing the interfacial area between fluids and cutting down the diffusion length. The effect of increasing velocity on increasing standard deviation (decreasing mixing) was also found to be less for the micromixers whose surfaces are patterned compared to the plain channel

Roles of novel biomarkers in progression of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

Roles of novel biomarkers was studied in progression of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) as the most common metastatic skin cancer. The incidence of cSCC is increasing worldwide due to lifestyle changes such as recreational exposure to sunlight and the aging of the population. Because of an emerging need for molecular markers for the progression of cSCC, we set our goal to characterize three distinct novel markers overexpressed in cSCC cells. Our results identified overexpression of serpin peptidase inhibitor clade A member 1 (SerpinA1), EphB2 and absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) in cSCC cell lines compared with normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs). Immunohistochemical analysis of SerpinA1, EphB2 and AIM2 revealed abundant tumor cell-specific expression of cytoplasmic SerpinA1 and AIM2 and cytoplasmic and membranous EphB2 in cSCC tumors in vivo. The staining intensity of SerpinA1, EphB2 and AIM2 was significantly stronger in cSCC as compared with carcinoma in situ (cSCCIS) and actinic keratosis (AK). Tumor cell-associated SerpinA1 and EphB2 was noted in chemically induced mouse skin SCC, and the staining intensity was stronger in mouse cSCCs than in untreated skin. AIM2 staining intensity was significantly more abundant in cSCC of organ transplant recipients (OTR) than in sporadic cSCC in vivo. EphB2 knockdown resulted in inhibition of migration in cSCC cells. In addition, knockdown of EphB2 and AIM2 was found to inhibit the proliferation and invasion of cSCC cells and to delay the growth and vascularization of cSCC xenografts in vivo. Altogether, these findings identify SerpinA1 as a novel biomarker for cSCC. In addition, characterization of the roles of EphB2 and AIM2 in the progression of cSCC was implicated them as possible therapeutic targets for the treatment of cSCC particularly in unresectable and metastatic tumors.Ihon levyepiteelisyövän kehittymiseen liittyvät uudet merkkitekijät Keratinosyyttiperäinen ihon okasolusyöpä on yleisin metastasoituva ihosyöpä. Sen ilmaantuvuus kasvaa maailmanlaajuisesti elintapojen muutoksen kuten auringonvalolle altistumisen sekä väestön ikääntymisen takia. Tarvitaankin uusia merkkitekijöitä tämän syövän etenemisen ennustamiseksi. Työssämme löysimme kolme uutta merkkitekijää ja selvitimme niiden roolia ihon okasolusyövässä. Havaitsimme, että seriiniproteaasin estäjä A1 (SerpinA1), EphB2 ja absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) ovat voimakkaasti koholla ihon okasolusyövästä eristetyissä solulinjoissa verrattuna ihmisen normaaleihin epidermaalisiin keratinosyytteihin. Tämän ohella havaitsimme immunohistokemiallisessa analyysissä SerpinA1:n, EphB2:n ja AIM2:n ilmentyvän spesifisti kasvaimen soluissa sekä ilmentyvän merkitsevästi enemmän okasolusyövissä verrattuna in situ karsinoomaan ja aktiiniseen keratoosiin in vivo. Lisäksi SerpinA1:n ja EphB2:n havaittiin olevan yliekspressoituja hiiren ihoon kemiallisesti aiheutetussa okasolusyövässä. AIM2:n värjäytymisintensiteetti oli merkitsevästi voimakkaampi elinsiirtopotilaista peräisin olevissa ihon okasolusyövissä kuin sporadisissa okasolusyövissä. EphB2:n hiljentäminen esti merkitsevästi okasolusyövästä eristettyjen solujen migraatiota. Lisäksi EphB2:n ja AIM2:n hiljentäminen syöpäsoluissa vähensi merkitsevästi solujen jakaantumista ja invaasiota sekä tuumorien vaskularisaatiota ja kasvua xenograftimallissa in vivo. Yhdessä nämä havainnot antavat aiheen otaksua, että SerpinA1 voisi toimia merkkitekijänä ihon okasolusyövässä. Lisäksi havaitsimme, että EphB2:lla ja AIM2:lla on tärkeä rooli ihon okasolusyövän kehittymisessä, joten ne voisivat mahdollisesti toimia uusina hoidon kohteina erityisesti metastaattisten ja vaikeasti kirurgisesti poistettavien ihon okasolusyöpien hoidossa.Siirretty Doriast

Complement Component C3 and Complement Factor B Promote Growth of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is one of the most common metastatic skin cancers with increasing incidence. We examined the roles of complement component C3 and complement factor B (CFB) in the growth of cSCC. Analysis of cSCC cell lines (n = 8) and normal human epidermal kerati-nocytes (n = 11) with real-time quantitative PCR and Western blotting revealed up-regulation of C3 and CFB expression in cSCC cells. Immunohistochemical staining revealed stronger tumor cell specific Labeling for C3 and CFB in invasive cSCCs (n = 71) and recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa-associated cSCCs (n = 11) than in cSCC in situ (n = 69), actinic keratoses (n = 63), and normal skin (n = 5). Significant up-regulation of C3 and CFB mRNA expression was noted in chemically induced mouse cSCCs, compared to benign papillomas. Knockdown of C3 and CFB expression inhibited migration and proliferation of cSCC cells and resulted in potent inhibition of extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 activation. Knockdown of C3 and CFB markedly inhibited growth of human cSCC xenograft tumors in vivo. These results provide evidence for the rotes of C3 and CFB in the development of cSCC and identify them as biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets in this metastatic skin cancer.Peer reviewe

Salt-Flavored Green Binder (SAFGB): Focus on Flowability, Microstructure and Strength

The construction industry is expanding rapidly as a result of global economic expansion, resulting in increasing demand for and production of building materials. Regrettably, this expansion contributes significantly to CO2 emissions, mainly from the cement industry. Furthermore, it increases the lack of natural resources and the scarcity of fresh water. Given these obstacles, it is critical to investigate more efficient methods of producing environmentally friendly construction materials. In response to the previous problems in the concrete industry, this study suggests the manufacture of a sustainable and innovative cement paste. The proposed method comprises replacing a significant percentage of cement with a low-carbon binder, such as fly ash or microsilica (about 20% and 30%, respectively). In addition, seawater will be utilized in place of freshwater. By combining these components, a green and salt-flavored cement paste with ecological and economic benefits may be created. To cost-effectively predict and optimize the properties (mainly compressive strength) of paste made from any combination of the binders, several models and corresponding iso-term contours will be defined from experimental data of several mixture proportions selected by statical design method in a system consisting of 70-100% cement, 10-20% fly ash and 0-10% microsilica. The accuracy of the models will be checked by comparing the predicted and experimental properties of some mixtures selected within the system boundaries. To quantify the feasibility of producing a green and unreinforced salt-flavored paste, the changes in the properties of the paste, subjected to several freeze-thaw cycles to mimic the long-term natural aging process of the mortar, in the forms weight loss, compressive strength and microstructure will be examined.publishedVersio

FROM REPRESENTATIVE TO TRANSFORMATIVE USER PARTICIPATION – A CASE STUDY OF PUBLIC HEALTHCARE DIGITALIZATION

User participation in IS implementation is a core topic for the IS community. While most of our current participation theories emerged in the 1990s and 2000s, recent developments such as the emergence of large half-built products and the increased emphasis on digital transformation necessitate revisiting current understanding of participation. User participation is not anymore about merely representing the organization\u27s domain knowledge - what we call representative participation. Users participating in modern IS implementation projects need to possess additional types of knowledge and skills. This includes knowledge about the products, knowledge about the intended transformation, and leadership skills, to name a few. We investigate this emerging type of user participation - what we call transformative participation through a case study of an IS implementation project within healthcare. We discuss the knowledge and skills needed to function as transformative users as well as the challenges faced by these users