Clinical findings associated with a de novo partial trisomy 10p11.22p15.3 and monosomy 7p22.3 detected by chromosomal microarray analysis.

We present the case of an 18-month-old boy with dysmorphic facial features, developmental delay, growth retardation, bilateral clubfeet, thrombocytopenia, and strabismus, whose array CGH analysis revealed concurrent de novo trisomy 10p11.22p15.3 and monosomy 7p22.3. We describe the patient's clinical presentation, along with his cytogenetic analysis, and we compare the findings to those of similar case reports in the literature. We also perform a bioinformatic analysis in the chromosomal regions of segmental aneuploidy to find genes that could potentially explain the patient's phenotype

Dosimetric Analysis of Neural and Vascular Structures in Skull Base Tumors Treated with Stereotactic Radiosurgery.

Objective To examine the relationship between the prescribed target dose and the dose to healthy neurovascular structures in patients with vestibular schwannomas treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting SRS center from 2011 to 2013. Subjects Twenty patients with vestibular schwannomas treated at the center from 2011 to 2013. Methods Twenty patients with vestibular schwannomas were included. The average radiation dose delivered to healthy neurovascular structures (eg, carotid artery, basilar artery, facial nerve, trigeminal nerve, and cochlea) was analyzed. Results Twenty patients with vestibular schwannomas who were treated with fused computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging-guided SRS were included in the study. The prescribed dose ranged from 10.58 to 17.40 Gy over 1 to 3 hypofractions to cover 95% of the target tumor volume. The mean dose to the carotid artery was 5.66 Gy (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.53-6.80 Gy), anterior inferior cerebellar artery was 8.70 Gy (95% CI, 4.54-12.86 Gy), intratemporal facial nerve was 3.76 Gy (95% CI, 3.04-4.08 Gy), trigeminal nerve was 5.21 Gy (95% CI, 3.31-7.11 Gy), and the cochlea was 8.70 Gy (95% CI, 7.81-9.59 Gy). Conclusions SRS for certain vestibular schwannomas can expose the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) and carotid artery to radiation doses that can potentially initiate atherosclerotic processes. The higher doses to the AICA and carotid artery correlated with increasing tumor volume. The dose delivered to other structures such as the cochlea and intratemporal facial nerve appears to be lower and much less likely to cause immediate complications when shielded

Adaptive design of nano-scale dielectric structures for photonics

Using adaptive algorithms, the design of nano-scale dielectric structures for photonic applications is explored. Widths of dielectric layers in a linear array are adjusted to match target responses of optical transmission as a function of energy. Two complementary approaches are discussed. The first approach uses adaptive local random updates and progressively adjusts individual dielectric layer widths. The second approach is based on global updating functions in which large subgroups of layers are adjusted simultaneously. Both schemes are applied to obtain specific target responses of the transmission function within selected energy windows, such as discontinuous cut-off or power-law decay filters close to a photonic band edge. These adaptive algorithms are found to be effective tools in the custom design of nano-scale photonic dielectric structures.Comment: 4 pages Revtex, 4 embedded EPS figure

Quantum Phase Transitions in Coupled Dimer Compounds

We study the critical properties in cubic systems of antiferromagnetically coupled spin dimers near magnetic-field induced quantum phase transitions. The quantum critical points in the zero-temperature phase diagrams are determined from quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Furthermore, scaling properties of the uniform magnetization and the staggered transverse magnetization across the quantum phase transition in magnetic fields are calculated. The critical exponents are derived from Ginzburg-Landau theory. We find excellent agreement between the quantum Monte Carlo simulations and the analytical results.Comment: 7 pages, 9 eps-figure

Forecasting Oxygen Demand in Treatment Plant Using Artificial Neural Networks

Modeling the wastewater treatment plant is difficult due to nonlinear properties of most of its different processes. Due to the increasing concerns over environmental effects of treatment plants considering the poor operation, fluctuations in process variables and problems of linear analyses, algorithms developed using artificial intelligence methods such as artificial neural networks have attracted a great deal of attention. In this research, first using regression analysis, the parameters of biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, and pH of the input wastewater were chosen as input parameter among other different parameters. Next, using error analysis, the best topology of neural networks was chosen for prediction. The results revealed that multilayer perception network with the sigmoid tangent training function, with one hidden layer in the input and output as well as 10 training nodes with regression coefficient of 0.92 is the best choice. The regression coefficients obtained from the predictions indicate that neural networked are well able to predict the performance of the wastewater treatment plant in Yazd

Microfluidic Platform for Combinatorial Synthesis and Optimization of Targeted Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

Taking a nanoparticle (NP) from discovery to clinical translation has been slow compared to small molecules, in part by the lack of systems that enable their precise engineering and rapid optimization. In this work we have developed a microfluidic platform for the rapid, combinatorial synthesis and optimization of NPs. The system takes in a number of NP precursors from which a library of NPs with varying size, surface charge, target ligand density, and drug load is produced in a reproducible manner. We rapidly synthesized 45 different formulations of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) NPs of different size and surface composition and screened and ranked the NPs for their ability to evade macrophage uptake in vitro. Comparison of the results to pharmacokinetic studies in vivo in mice revealed a correlation between in vitro screen and in vivo behavior. Next, we selected NP synthesis parameters that resulted in longer blood half-life and used the microfluidic platform to synthesize targeted NPs with varying targeting ligand density (using a model targeting ligand against cancer cells). We screened NPs in vitro against prostate cancer cells as well as macrophages, identifying one formulation that exhibited high uptake by cancer cells yet similar macrophage uptake compared to nontargeted NPs. In vivo, the selected targeted NPs showed a 3.5-fold increase in tumor accumulation in mice compared to nontargeted NPs. The developed microfluidic platform in this work represents a tool that could potentially accelerate the discovery and clinical translation of NPs.Prostate Cancer Foundation (Award in Nanotherapeutics)National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at MIT-Harvard U54-CA151884National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Programs of Excellence in Nanotechnology HHSN268201000045C)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research FellowshipAmerican Society for Engineering Education. National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate FellowshipNational Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence. Graduate Research Fellowship

Universal scaling at field-induced magnetic phase transitions

We study field-induced magnetic order in cubic lattices of dimers with antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions. The thermal critical exponents at the quantum phase transition from a spin liquid to a magnetically ordered phase are determined from Stochastic Series Expansion Quantum Monte Carlo simulations. These exponents are independent of the interdimer coupling ratios, and converge to the value obtained by considering the transition as a Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons, alpha_(BEC) = 1.5. The scaling results are of direct relevance to the spin-dimer systems TlCuCl_3 and KCuCl_3, and explain the broad range of exponents reported for field-induced ordering transitions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps-figure