Multiple functions of microfluidic platforms: Characterization and applications in tissue engineering and diagnosis of cancer

Microfluidic system, or lab-on-a-chip, has grown explosively. This system has been used in research for the first time and then entered in the clinical section. Due to economic reasons, this technique has been used for screening of laboratory and clinical indices. The microfluidic system solves some difficulties accompanied by clinical and biological applications. In this review, the interpretation and analysis of some recent developments in microfluidic systems in biomedical applications with more emphasis on tissue engineering and cancer will be discussed. Moreover, we try to discuss the features and functions of microfluidic systems. © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei

A Case of Linear IgA Bullous Dermatosis Induced by Aspirin Therapy

Linear IgA bullous dermatosis (LABD) is a rare autoimmune blistering disease that may be triggered by some diseases and medications. For the latter one, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been identified as one of the potential causative agents to develop LABD. Here, a rare case of drug-induced LABD is introduced. A 13-month-old Iranian boy presented with a history of generalized blisters, displaying the classic "string of pearls" sign who was eventually diagnosed as a case of LABD. In his admission, he was diagnosed whit Mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome and treated with aspirin. Some features like appearing the characteristic lesions one week following the administration of aspirin, rapid clearance of lesions after the withdrawal of the drug, and reappearance of new lesions after readministration of aspirin were highly suggestive of aspirin-induced LABD. To establish the diagnosis, we used the "Naranjo probability score" which determined the probable causative role of aspirin. The diagnosis was confirmed by showing the positive IgA deposition in the basement membrane zone in a direct immunofluorescence study of the skin biopsy. The child was treated with dapsone with dramatical response to the drug

Failure and Delamination in Microelectronic Packages

Thin layers of dissimilar materials are used in most microelectronic components in order to achieve special functional requirements. Generally, the interface between two adjacent materials forms a weak link, not only because of the relatively low delamination strength, but also because of the existing mismatch in thermo-mechanical properties, such as Young’s modulus, coefficient of thermal expansion, hygro-swelling, and vapor pressure induced expansion. Residual stresses from the production processes and initial strains due to the changing thermal and humidity conditions together with acting mechanical loading form the crack driving factors for interface delamination. Failure of interface induces decreased reliability of microelectronic components. Nowadays, interfacial delamination forms one of the key reliability issues in the microelectronic industry and therefore is getting more and more attention. The analysis of a laminate structure with a crack along the interface is central to the characterization of the delamination toughness. The delamination toughness is highly dependent to temperature, moisture and mode mixity. In recent years, several studies were directed at the determination of the delamination behavior of Cu-EMC interfaces. In the event that moisture sensitivity was included in these studies, the temperature had to be limited to below 100oC. This limitation reduces the applicability of the toughness data obtained in a number of reliability studies of micro-electronic components. This is due to the fact that, in preconditioned (humid) micro-electronic components the interface delamination often occurs above this temperature limit. In many cases the damage is initiated during heating up in subsequent production steps, where temperatures can reach far above 100oC. Therefore the present research focuses on interface delamination measurements, especially interested in harsh environment (humidity combined with temperatures above the 100oC limit). In this thesis the thermal-mechanical properties of epoxy molding compounds in dry conditions are first investigated. The coefficient of thermal expansion and bulk modulus were measured via a dilatometer (PVT apparatus). DMA experiments in relaxation mode as well as in multi frequency mode were employed for obtaining the viscoelastic master curve and corresponding shift factors. Secondly, the thermo-mechanical properties of EMC during cure were studied. The volumetric contraction of the material during the curing period was measured via a PVT test. Furthermore the increasing shear modulus of the EMC because of the progressing cure was established through DMA experiments. For the dry state, the previous two-material characterization steps are sufficient to be able to interpret the measurement results of delamination tests via FEM simulation. For the humid state with T> 100 °C, in the delamination measurements the effect of (trapped) steam at the interface should be compensated by performing the measurements in a pressure chamber. Therefore, in a third step a pressure vessel surrounding the delamination test setup is designed and built. For the sake of simplicity the humid delamination measurements with T> 100 °C were only performed under full steam pressure (=relative humidity is 100%). The functionality of the setup has been verified by the measurement of the viscoelastic creep compliance of an EMC in dry state and to compare this with the result from measurements obtained from a commercially available measurement instrument. In order to be able to perform delamination measurements a mixed-mode bending setup is installed in the pressure vessel. Interfacial delamination measurements for a EMC-Cu lead frame interface (as obtained from a real production process) are subsequently performed for dry conditions as well as under pressurized steam conditions(= relative humidity 100%). A (I / II) mixed mode mechanical load is applied to the test sample, in which the initial stress state due to the manufacturing and the steam pressure (relative humidity 100%) is already present, in order to initiate and propagate the delamination. In conclusion: This dissertation shows that the temperature, the mix mode and the humidity under these conditions (T> 100 °C and 100% relative humidity) results in a significant effect on the delamination properties of interfaces. As far as known to the author, here for the first time a good insight on the impact of this harsh environment on the delamination properties is presented.Precision and Microsystems EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin

Vitamin D and COVID‐19 in an immunocompromised patient with multiple comorbidities—A Case Report

Routine 25-OH-Vitamin D3 measurement in COVID-19 patients could be of great importance, either for clinical course estimation or deciding on supplementatio

Effect of inbreeding on intellectual disability revisited by trio sequencing

In outbred Western populations, most individuals with intellectual disability (ID) are sporadic cases, dominant de novo mutations (DNM) are frequent, and autosomal recessive ID (ARID) is very rare. Due to the high rate of parental consanguinity which raises the risk for ARID and other recessive disorders, the prevalence of ID is significantly higher in Near- and Middle-East countries. Indeed, homozygosity mapping and sequencing in consanguineous families have already identified a plethora of ARID genes, but due to the design of these studies, DNMs could not be systematically assessed, and the proportion of cases that are potentially preventable by avoiding consanguineous marriages or through carrier testing is hitherto unknown. This prompted us to perform whole exome sequencing in 100 sporadic ID patients from Iran and their healthy consanguineous parents. In 61 patients, we identified apparently causative changes in known ID genes. Of these, 44 were homozygous recessive and 17 dominant de novo mutations. Assuming that the DNM rate is stable, these results suggest that parental consanguinity raises the ID risk about 3.6-fold, and about 4.1-4.25-fold for children of first-cousin unions. These results do not rhyme with recent opinions that consanguinity-related health risks are generally small and have been 'overstated' in the past. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved