Design, fabrication and characterization of micro flow sensor inspired by biological hair cell

Design, fabrication and characterization of micro flow sensor were investigated based on the inspiration of biological hair cell in a nature. The micro scale artificial hair cell sensor was designed as considering two parts; first the high aspect ratio cilium structure which works as a hair cell of fish and second the mechanoreceptor structure where the drag force by flow are actually measured. Parameters of cilium structure were designed based on static modelling as follow: 300 mu m diameter and 2 mm height. The high aspect ratio cilium structure was precisely fabricated using a hot embossing process with the developed separated micro mold system prepared by LIGA (from the German Lithographi, Galvanoformung, Abformung) process. The mechanoreceptor was formulated with a force sensitive resistor with four symmetric electrodes to analyze the direction and the magnitude of target flow. Performance of assembled sensor was characterized using the prepared water channel. Flow velocity was sensed with the magnitude of signal and the direction of flow was distinguished by analyzing the signals from four mechanoreceptors.111sciescopu

Overexpression of renal tumor antigen is associated with tumor invasion and poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

X1

Evaluating a New International Risk-Prediction Tool in IgA Nephropathy

ImportanceAlthough IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common glomerulonephritis in the world, there is no validated tool to predict disease progression. This limits patient-specific risk stratification and treatment decisions, clinical trial recruitment, and biomarker validation. ObjectiveTo derive and externally validate a prediction model for disease progression in IgAN that can be applied at the time of kidney biopsy in multiple ethnic groups worldwide. Design, Setting, and ParticipantsWe derived and externally validated a prediction model using clinical and histologic risk factors that are readily available in clinical practice. Large, multi-ethnic cohorts of adults with biopsy-proven IgAN were included from Europe, North America, China, and Japan. Main Outcomes and MeasuresCox proportional hazards models were used to analyze the risk of a 50% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) or end-stage kidney disease, and were evaluated using the R-D(2) measure, Akaike information criterion (AIC), C statistic, continuous net reclassification improvement (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), and calibration plots. ResultsThe study included 3927 patients; mean age, 35.4 (interquartile range, 28.0-45.4) years; and 2173 (55.3%) were men. The following prediction models were created in a derivation cohort of 2781 patients: a clinical model that included eGFR, blood pressure, and proteinuria at biopsy; and 2 full models that also contained the MEST histologic score, age, medication use, and either racial/ethnic characteristics (white, Japanese, or Chinese) or no racial/ethnic characteristics, to allow application in other ethnic groups. Compared with the clinical model, the full models with and without race/ethnicity had better R-D(2) (26.3% and 25.3%, respectively, vs 20.3%) and AIC (6338 and 6379, respectively, vs 6485), significant increases in C statistic from 0.78 to 0.82 and 0.81, respectively (Delta C, 0.04; 95% CI, 0.03-0.04 and Delta C, 0.03; 95% CI, 0.02-0.03, respectively), and significant improvement in reclassification as assessed by the NRI (0.18; 95% CI, 0.07-0.29 and 0.51; 95% CI, 0.39-0.62, respectively) and IDI (0.07; 95% CI, 0.06-0.08 and 0.06; 95% CI, 0.05-0.06, respectively). External validation was performed in a cohort of 1146 patients. For both full models, the C statistics (0.82; 95% CI, 0.81-0.83 with race/ethnicity; 0.81; 95% CI, 0.80-0.82 without race/ethnicity) and R-D(2) (both 35.3%) were similar or better than in the validation cohort, with excellent calibration. Conclusions and RelevanceIn this study, the 2 full prediction models were shown to be accurate and validated methods for predicting disease progression and patient risk stratification in IgAN in multi-ethnic cohorts, with additional applications to clinical trial design and biomarker research.Nephrolog