Multiple extradigital glomus tumors of the ankle and foot with limb hypoplasia in a child: a case report

Glomus tumors are rare tumors, and mostly occur in the fingertips and/ or subungual location. Multiple extradigital glomus tumors are extremely rare. We hereby described a rare case of multiple extradigital glomus tumor of the ankle and foot in a 11 year old girl with hypoplasia of the affected limb. The patient presented with swellings over her right ankle and foot for the past 5 years. The swellings were initially painless but became painful for the past 15 months. On examination, patient’s right leg and foot appeared to be smaller when compared to the left side. There were multiple vague swellings over the dorsum of right food and lateral aspect of right ankle, which were very tender to touch. There was no overlying skin changes observed. Magnetic resonance imaging showed multiple well defined, encapsulated lesions of varying sizes at the level of distal third right fibula and foot. The lesions appeared isointense to muscle in T1-weighted image, hyperintense in T2-weighted image with enhancement post-contrast. Excision biopsy of the right lateral distal leg swelling was performed. Histopathological examination of the excised mass confirmed the diagnosis of glomus tumor. In view of her parents were not keen for any further surgical intervention, the patient will be evaluated regularly, and any enlarging painful lesions will be excised as required. The clinical diagnosis of multiple extradigital glomus tumors is much more problematic due to its rarity. The physicians must be aware of this differential diagnosis so that early diagnosis and treatment could be administered to the patients

Model-Based Estimation With Boundary Side Information or Boundary Regularization

The authors have previously developed a model-based strategy for joint estimation of myocardial perfusion and boundaries using ECT (emission computed tomography). They have also reported difficulties with boundary estimation in low contrast and low count rate situations. Here they propose using boundary side information (obtainable from high resolution MRI and CT images) or boundary regularization to improve both perfusion and boundary estimation in these situations. To fuse boundary side information into the emission measurements, the authors formulate a joint log-likelihood function to include auxiliary boundary measurements as well as ECT projection measurements. In addition, they introduce registration parameters to align auxiliary boundary measurements with ECT measurements and jointly estimate these parameters with other parameters of interest from the composite measurements. In simulated PET O-15 water myocardial perfusion studies using a simplified model, the authors show that the joint estimation improves perfusion estimation performance and gives boundary alignment accuracy of <0.5 mm even at 0.2 million counts. They implement boundary regularization through formulating a penalized log-likelihood function. They also demonstrate in simulations that simultaneous regularization of the epicardial boundary and myocardial thickness gives comparable perfusion estimation accuracy with the use of boundary side information.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85825/1/Fessler106.pd

The diabatic picture of electron transfer, reaction barriers and molecular dynamics

Diabatic states have a long history in chemistry, beginning with early valence bond pictures of molecular bonding and extending through the construction of model potential energy surfaces to the modern proliferation of methods for computing these elusive states. In this review, we summarize the basic principles that define the diabatic basis and demonstrate how they can be applied in the specific context of constrained density functional theory. Using illustrative examples from electron transfer and chemical reactions, we show how the diabatic picture can be used to extract qualitative insight and quantitative predictions about energy landscapes. The review closes with a brief summary of the challenges and prospects for the further application of diabatic states in chemistry.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF-CAREER Award (CHE-0547877)David & Lucile Packard FoundationAlfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Efficacy and safety of nanohybrids comprising silver nanoparticles and silicate clay for controlling Salmonella infection

Developing effective and safe drugs is imperative for replacing antibiotics and controlling multidrug-resistant microbes. Nanoscale silicate platelet (NSP) and its nanohybrid, silver nanoparticle/NSP (AgNP/NSP), have been developed, and the nanohybrids show a strong and general antibacterial activity in vitro. Here, their efficacy for protecting Salmonella-infected chicks from fatality and septicemia was evaluated. Both orally administrated NSP and AgNP/NSP, but not AgNPs alone, effectively reduced the systemic Salmonella infection and mortality. In addition, quantitative Ag analyses demonstrated that Ag deposition from AgNP/NSP in the intestines was less than that from conventional AgNPs, indicating that the presence of NSP for immobilizing AgNPs reduced Ag accumulation in tissue and improved the safety of AgNPs. These in vivo results illustrated that both NSP and AgNP/NSP nanohybrid represent potential agents for controlling enteric bacterial infections