Rapid clinical diagnostics assays using injection-molded planar waveguides

Journal ArticleThe goal of our research program is to develop an evanescent wave immunoassay system that can be used in point-of-care and critical care settings. Several key attributes are required to accomplish this goal: (i) the assay system should be at least as sensitive as present day immunoassays; (ii) assay time should be 5 minutes or less; (iii) the assay protocol should be relatively simple; (iv) the sensor should be capable of performing more than one assay on a single specimen; (v) the assay system should be able to accommodate specimens such as serum, plasma and whole blood; and (vi) the sensor should be an inexpensive, disposable cartridge. Our laboratory has developed an injection-molded planar waveguide sensor that meets most, if not alt, of these attributes. This sensor has been evaluated in a number of different immunoassays for analytes such as bovine serum albumin, human chorionic gonadotrophin, creatine phosphokinase MB and cardiac troponin I

Disordered Fe vacancies and superconductivity in potassium-intercalated iron selenide (K2-xFe4+ySe5)

The parent compound of an unconventional superconductor must contain unusual correlated electronic and magnetic properties of its own. In the high-Tc potassium intercalated FeSe, there has been significant debate regarding what the exact parent compound is. Our studies unambiguously show that the Fe-vacancy ordered K2Fe4Se5 is the magnetic, Mott insulating parent compound of the superconducting state. Non-superconducting K2Fe4Se5 becomes a superconductor after high temperature annealing, and the overall picture indicates that superconductivity in K2-xFe4+ySe5 originates from the Fe-vacancy order to disorder transition. Thus, the long pending question whether magnetic and superconducting state are competing or cooperating for cuprate superconductors may also apply to the Fe-chalcogenide superconductors. It is believed that the iron selenides and related compounds will provide essential information to understand the origin of superconductivity in the iron-based superconductors, and possibly to the superconducting cuprates

Establishing engineering S-curves to evaluate supervision engineer allocations for highway construction projects

An engineering consultant firm needs to allocate engineers to supervise a highway construction project in each month during the construction phase. Properly assigning the supervision engineers under a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract has been a key factor affecting the profitability of the firm and the quality assurance of the project. Assigning too many engineers will be a waste, while allocating too few engineers may harm the supervision quality. This work proposes a two-stage model to develop engineering S-curves (called ES-curves) for planning and controlling the engineering super­vision schedule. In the planning stage, a predictive ES-curve model is established based on historical ES-curves. In the controlling stage, an ES-curve is built according to the relationships between the engineering progress and construction progress. A cluster analysis and regression analysis are applied to the model development. A case study demonstrates that the produced ES-curves can help management in planning and evaluating when to increase or decrease the number of supervision engineers assigned to a project

Association Between Platelet Count and Components of Metabolic Syndrome in Geriatric Taiwanese Women

SummaryBackgroundThe growing elderly population in Taiwan, as in many other countries, has resulted in increased importance of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Although it has been reported in different age groups, the relationship between platelets and MetS remains unknown in geriatric patients.Patients and MethodsWe enrolled 1460 women >65 years old. Women with a known history of diabetes, hyperlipidemia or hypertension or those taking medication for these conditions were all excluded. The women were further divided into quartiles arbitrarily according to platelet count (PC) (PC1–PC4, lowest to highest accordingly).ResultsAmong the MetS components, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and log transformation triglyceride (Log TG) were all significantly higher in the PC4 group (p < 0.05), and they were also positively correlated with PC. However, in multiple regression, BMI became nonsignificant. Both LDL-C and Log TG were the only two factors that remained positively and independently correlated with PC. Compared to PC1, all the other three groups had significantly higher odds ratios for having MetS (2.013, 1.473–2.751; 1.486, 1.081–2.042; 1.537, 1.117–2.114; odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for PC4, PC3 and PC2, respectively).ConclusionElderly women with MetS had higher PC. Among the five components, TG was positively correlated with PC. There was a positive correlation between PC and LDL-C but not high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The importance of both lipids might be re-evaluated in the future in older women

InGaN-based light-emitting diodes with an embedded conical air-voids structure

The conical air-void structure of an InGaN light-emitting diode (LEDs) was formed at the GaN/sapphire interface to increase the light extraction efficiency. The fabrication process of the conical air-void structure consisted of a dry process and a crystallographic wet etching process on an undoped GaN layer, followed by a re-growth process for the InGaN LED structure. A higher light output power (1.54 times) and a small divergent angle (120o) were observed, at a 20mA operation current, on the treated LED structure when compared to a standard LED without the conical air-void structure. In this electroluminescence spectrum, the emission intensity and the peak wavelength varied periodically by corresponding to the conical air-void patterns that were measured through a 100nm-optical-aperture fiber probe. The conical air-void structure reduced the compressed strain at the GaN/sapphire interface by inducing the wavelength blueshift phenomenon and the higher internal quantum efficiency of the photoluminescence spectra for the treated LED structure

Seabed gas emissions and submarine landslides off SW Taiwan

Methane emissions out of the seabed could seriously affect Earthâs climate and are usually associated with the dissociation of gas hydrates stored in marine sediments on the continental margins. Spatially, gas emissions out of the seafloor are not evenly distributed in continental margins. Gas emissions out of the seabed generally occur through submarine mud volcanoes and gas seeps. To understand the seabed gas emissions off SW Taiwan, we investigate the distributions of active submarine mud volcanoes, gas seeps, and gas plumes off SW Taiwan. We examine all of the available sub-bottom profiler and EK echo sounder data. We identified 19 submarine mud volcanoes, 220 gas seeps, and 295 gas plumes. The gas emissions are generally distributed at the crests of mud diapiric ridges. Most of the active mud volcanoes and gas seeps cluster at the KASMVG (Kaoping submarine mud volcanoes group) area. We speculate that the intensive mud volcanism and gas seepage at the KASMVG area are ascribed to submarine channel erosion along the continental slope base. The erosion causes a deep V-shaped channel and a steep BSR (Bottom-Simulating Reflector) slope curve across the continental margin. The upward migration rate of free gas beneath the BSR is thus increased and intensifies mud volcanism and gas seepage at the KASMVG area. The gas seeps can reduce the slope stability and generate small-scale slides. The development of mud volcanoes in an area could effectively disturb the seabed morphology so that large-scale submarine landslides cannot easily happen

FASTSNP: an always up-to-date and extendable service for SNP function analysis and prioritization

Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) prioritization based on the phenotypic risk is essential for association studies. Assessment of the risk requires access to a variety of heterogeneous biological databases and analytical tools. FASTSNP (function analysis and selection tool for single nucleotide polymorphisms) is a web server that allows users to efficiently identify and prioritize high-risk SNPs according to their phenotypic risks and putative functional effects. A unique feature of FASTSNP is that the functional effect information used for SNP prioritization is always up-to-date, because FASTSNP extracts the information from 11 external web servers at query time using a team of web wrapper agents. Moreover, FASTSNP is extendable by simply deploying more Web wrapper agents. To validate the results of our prioritization, we analyzed 1569 SNPs from the SNP500Cancer database. The results show that SNPs with a high predicted risk exhibit low allele frequencies for the minor alleles, consistent with a well-known finding that a strong selective pressure exists for functional polymorphisms. We have been using FASTSNP for 2 years and FASTSNP enables us to discover a novel promoter polymorphism. FASTSNP is available at

Postchemoradiotherapy Pathologic Stage Classified by the American Joint Committee on the Cancer Staging System Predicts Prognosis of Patients with Locally Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

IntroductionTo determine whether the postchemoradiotherapy (post-CRT) pathologic stage predicts the outcomes of patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) undergoing preoperative CRT followed by surgery.MethodsFrom three phase II trials of preoperative CRT for locally advanced ESCC, 140 patients were included. Preoperative CRT comprised twice weekly paclitaxel and cisplatin-based regimens and 40-Gy radiotherapy in 20 fractions. The post-CRT pathologic stage was classified according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer, 7th edition staging system. The prognostic effects of clinicopathologic factors were analyzed using Cox regression.ResultsWith a median follow-up of 61.9 months, the median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort were 24.5 and 30.9 months, respectively. The post-CRT pathologic stage was 0 in 34.5%, I in 12.9%, II in 29.3%, III in 13.6%, and ypT0N1-2 in 6.4% of the patients. The median PFS was 47.2, 25.9, 16.0, 9.4, and 15.1 months, and the median OS was 57.4, 34.1, 26.2, 14.1, and 17.6 months for patients with post-CRT pathologic stage 0, I, II, III, and ypT0N1-2, respectively. In multivariate analysis, performance status (p < 0.001), tumor location (p = 0.016), and extranodal extension (p = 0.024) were independent prognostic factors for PFS, whereas performance status (p < 0.001) and post-CRT pathologic stage (p = 0.027) were independent prognostic factors for OS.ConclusionsThe post-CRT pathologic stage classified by American Joint Committee on Cancer, 7th edition staging system predicted the survival of locally advanced ESCC patients who underwent preoperative paclitaxel and cisplatin-based CRT followed by esophagectomy