A Microfluidic Device Based on Standing Surface Acoustic Waves for Sorting and Trapping Microparticles

Microfluidic devices can provide innovative means to handle and control the transport of (bio)particles within a fluid flow. The advantage of microscale devices is that different components can be integrated in a single chip at low cost, with a negligible power consumption, compared to alternative solutions. In this work, a numerical investigation is developed on the use of standing surface acoustic waves (SAWs) generated within a microfluidic channel in order to manipulate microparticles. Far-field waves are generated via inter-digital transducers (IDTs), travel on the surface of a piezoelectric substrate and finally interfere in the channel, giving rise to a standing wave solution in terms of acoustic pressure. Results are reported for different geometries of the channel, to define the sensitivity of the acoustic pressure field to the relevant geometric features of the channel. This investigation shows how the acoustic radiation and drag forces interact with each other to move and focus the particles, possibly leading to a separation of heterogeneous ones, and generally provide a way to manipulate them at a small scale

Role of computed tomography coronary angiography in the management of coronary anomalies

Congenital abnormalities of coronary arteries are an uncommon cause of sudden cardiac death and are difficult to detect at coronary angiography. We describe two patients with acute coronary syndrome and non-occlusive coronary artery disease in which a 64-multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) coronary angiography showed the presence of a malignant coronary anomaly. Sixty-four-MDCT with the possibility of 3D reconstructions allows for easier diagnosis of coronary anomalies and provides essential details necessary for operative intervention

Linear asymptomatic pneumatosis as an unexpected finding of computed tomography colonography : a case report

INTRODUCTION: We discuss asymptomatic colonic pneumatosis, an unexpected finding of computed tomography colonography that we must see as distinct from perforation. Among the papers detailing complications with computed tomography colonography, we found only one report focusing on linear pneumatosis. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 75-year-old Caucasian woman who had a high level of carcinoembryonic antigen, and who underwent computed tomography colonography. Our patient accidentally fell from a chair in the radiology department just before the examination, experiencing a right hip trauma. The examination was negative for colonic lesions but revealed the presence of some air bubbles in her right colon. Our patient remained asymptomatic throughout the procedure and afterwards; no intervention or treatment was necessary. CONCLUSION: Radiologists should consider colonic linear pneumatosis among the potential complications of computed tomography colonography, even if it is a rare event, to avoid unnecessary therapy and anxiety for the patient

SEEMP: A marketplace for the Labour Market

Employment Services are an important topic in the agenda of local governments and in the EU due to their social implications, such as sustainability, workforce mobility, workers’ re-qualification paths, training for fresh graduates and students. Many administrations started their own E-Government projects whose imitations emerge as the demand of workers mobility increases. The SEEMP system presented in this paper overcomes this issue in different ways: starting bilateral communications with near-border similar offices, building a federation of the local employment services, and merging isolate trials. The SEEMP approach relies on a distributed semantic service oriented infrastructure able to federate local projects, in order to create geographically aggregated services for employment by leveraging existing local ones. The social and technical aspects of the SEEMP project are presented, showing how the SEEMP system is integrated with National level systems

Gene expression profiling of advanced ovarian cancer: characterization of a molecular signature involving fibroblast growth factor 2

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Prognostic impact of the expression of putative cancer stem cell markers CD133, CD166, CD44s, EpCAM, and ALDH1 in colorectal cancer

The aim of this study was to elucidate the prognostic impact of putative cancer stem cell markers CD133, CD166, CD44s, EpCAM, and aldehyde dehydrogenase-1 (ALDH1) in colorectal cancer

A novel human recombinant single-chain antibody targeting CD166/ALCAM inhibits cancer cell invasion in vitro and in vivo tumour growth

Screening a phage-display single-chain antibody library for binding to the breast cancer cell line PM-1 an antibody, scFv173, recognising activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM, CD166) was isolated and its binding profile was characterized. Positive ALCAM immunohistochemical staining of frozen human tumour sections was observed. No ALCAM staining was observed in the majority of tested normal human tissues (nine of ten). Flow cytometry analyses revealed binding to 22 of 26 cancer cell lines of various origins and no binding to normal blood and bone marrow cells. Antibody binding inhibited invasion of the breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 by 50% in an in vitro Matrigel-coated membrane invasion assay. Reduced growth of tumours in nude mice was observed in an in vivo model in which the mice were injected subcutaneously with colorectal carcinoma HCT 116 cells and treated with scFv173 when compared to control. In summary, we have characterized a novel fully human scFv antibody recognising ALCAM on cancer cells and in tumour tissues that reduces cancer cell invasion and tumour growth in accordance with the hypothesised role for ALCAM in cell growth and migration control

Activated Leukocyte Cell Adhesion Molecule Expression and Shedding in Thyroid Tumors

Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM, CD166) is expressed in various tissues, cancers, and cancer-initiating cells. Alterations in expression of ALCAM have been reported in several human tumors, and cell adhesion functions have been proposed to explain its association with cancer. Here we documented high levels of ALCAM expression in human thyroid tumors and cell lines. Through proteomic characterization of ALCAM expression in the human papillary thyroid carcinoma cell line TPC-1, we identified the presence of a full-length membrane-associated isoform in cell lysate and of soluble ALCAM isoforms in conditioned medium. This finding is consistent with proteolytically shed ALCAM ectodomains. Nonspecific agents, such as phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) or ionomycin, provoked increased ectodomain shedding. Epidermal growth factor receptor stimulation also enhanced ALCAM secretion through an ADAM17/TACE-dependent pathway. ADAM17/TACE was expressed in the TPC-1 cell line, and ADAM17/TACE silencing by specific small interfering RNAs reduced ALCAM shedding. In addition, the CGS27023A inhibitor of ADAM17/TACE function reduced ALCAM release in a dose-dependent manner and inhibited cell migration in a wound-healing assay. We also provide evidence for the existence of novel O-glycosylated forms and of a novel 60-kDa soluble form of ALCAM, which is particularly abundant following cell stimulation by PMA. ALCAM expression in papillary and medullary thyroid cancer specimens and in the surrounding non-tumoral component was studied by western blot and immunohistochemistry, with results demonstrating that tumor cells overexpress ALCAM. These findings strongly suggest the possibility that ALCAM may have an important role in thyroid tumor biology

Identification of miRs-143 and -145 that Is Associated with Bone Metastasis of Prostate Cancer and Involved in the Regulation of EMT

The principal problem arising from prostate cancer (PCa) is its propensity to metastasize to bone. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a crucial role in many tumor metastases. The importance of miRNAs in bone metastasis of PCa has not been elucidated to date. We investigated whether the expression of certain miRNAs was associated with bone metastasis of PCa. We examined the miRNA expression profiles of 6 primary and 7 bone metastatic PCa samples by miRNA microarray analysis. The expression of 5 miRNAs significantly decreased in bone metastasis compared with primary PCa, including miRs-508-5p, -145, -143, -33a and -100. We further examined other samples of 16 primary PCa and 13 bone metastases using real-time PCR analysis. The expressions of miRs-143 and -145 were verified to down-regulate significantly in metastasis samples. By investigating relationship of the levels of miRs-143 and -145 with clinicopathological features of PCa patients, we found down-regulations of miRs-143 and -145 were negatively correlated to bone metastasis, the Gleason score and level of free PSA in primary PCa. Over-expression miR-143 and -145 by retrovirus transfection reduced the ability of migration and invasion in vitro, and tumor development and bone invasion in vivo of PC-3 cells, a human PCa cell line originated from a bone metastatic PCa specimen. Their upregulation also increased E-cadherin expression and reduced fibronectin expression of PC-3 cells which revealed a less invasive morphologic phenotype. These findings indicate that miRs-143 and -145 are associated with bone metastasis of PCa and suggest that they may play important roles in the bone metastasis and be involved in the regulation of EMT Both of them may also be clinically used as novel biomarkers in discriminating different stages of human PCa and predicting bone metastasis