Microchips and their significance in isolation of circulating tumor cells and monitoring of cancers

In micro-fluid systems, fluids are injected into extremely narrow polymer channels in small amounts such as micro-, nano-, or pico-liter scales. These channels themselves are embedded on tiny chips. Various specialized structures in the chips including pumps, valves, and channels allow the chips to accept different types of fluids to be entered the channel and along with flowing through the channels, exert their effects in the framework of different reactions. The chips are generally crystal, silicon, or elastomer in texture. These highly organized structures are equipped with discharging channels through which products as well as wastes of the reactions are secreted out. A particular advantage regarding the use of fluids in micro-scales over macro-scales lies in the fact that these fluids are much better processed in the chips when they applied as micro-scales. When the laboratory is miniaturized as a microchip and solutions are injected on a micro-scale, this combination makes a specialized construction referred to as "lab-on-chip". Taken together, micro-fluids are among the novel technologies which further than declining the costs; enhancing the test repeatability, sensitivity, accuracy, and speed; are emerged as widespread technology in laboratory diagnosis. They can be utilized for monitoring a wide spectrum of biological disorders including different types of cancers. When these microchips are used for cancer monitoring, circulatory tumor cells play a fundamental role

Short view of leukemia diagnosis and treatment in Iran

Background: Early diagnosis and treatment of leukemia patients remains a fundamental aim in clinical oncology, especially in developing country. Present study highlights the basic requirements of these patients in Iran. Better understanding of these issues may lead to improve the healthcare standards toward leukemia diagnosis and treatment. Methods: This descriptive study included 101 specialists in hematology-oncology and pathology serving in oncology centers. The participants were then asked to fill out a standard questionnaire on the issues around diagnosis and treatment of blood malignancies. Results: According to specialists, unfair distribution of facilities across the country, delayed diagnosis of disease, absence of psychological support for patients, and insufficient financial support were the main reasons of inappropriate diagnosis and treatment in leukemia patients. Conclusions: Our results show that making an amendment to health policies by preparing well-equipped medical centers in all provinces, improving the morale of patients through consultation during the process of treatment, and above all, subsiding leukemia patients' financial problems will promote the health standard regarding the leukemia diagnosis and treatment in Iran. © 2015, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). All rights reserved

Study of Intraventricular Hemorrhage in VLBW Neonates Admitted in Al-Zahra Hospital, Tabriz, Iran

Introduction and Aim: Intra-ventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is an important predictor of adverse neurodevelopmental outcome. IVH risk factor identification may conduct improvement of quality of care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. The aim of the current study was to determine possible risk factors associated with IVH in VLBW neonates admitted in our hospital. Patients and Methods: All neonates with birth weight below 1500 gr admitted to NICU. Cranial ultrasonography was done for premature neonates weighed <1000 g in 3 to 5 days and in 1 month again. In premature infants weighed >1000 g, sonography was done in 7 days and 30 days of life respectively. If there is any conditions such as apnea, seizure, significant decrease in level of hemoglobin, increased head circumference, increased oxygen consumption, and other significant changes another sonography was done again. Exclusion criteria were cerebral malformations, metabolic disturbances, chromosomal anomalies, central nervous system infection, and genetic syndromes. Data was analyzed by SPSS ver 16.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA) Results: In this study 64 cases with IVH and 110 without IVH were included. Mean of gestational age was 28.78±2.08. From neonates, 54.6% were boys and 45.4% were girls. Vaginal delivery and cesarean section was done in 56 (32.2%) and 118(67.8%) cases respectively. Mean±SD of pH in cases with IVH and without IVH was 7.19±0.22 and 7.30±0.12 respectively(p=0.001). Mean ±SD of pco2 in cases with IVH and without IVH was 65.15±29.89 and 49.88±40.89 respectively(p=0.001). Mean of 5th min APGAR score in patients required CPR was 7.36±1.57 and in patients without CPR was 8.68±1.25(P=0.001). From cases with IVH, hydrocephaly was detected in 20 cases. From cases without IVH, hydrocephaly was detected in 6 cases. Result of chi-square showed significant correlation between IVH and prematurity( X2=21.94, df=1, P<0.001). From cases with IVH, 18 cases (28.1%) expired. From cases without IVH, 11 cases(10%) expired(X2=9.398, df=1, P=0.002). Results of chi-square test showed that there were a correlation between IVH and PDA, pressure support, surfactant therapy, inotrop drug administration, vaginal delivery, neonatal resuscitation, and antenatal corticosteroid therapy(p<0.05). Hyaline membrane disease, history of preclampsia in mother was significantly higher in cases without IVH(Chi-square, p<0.05). Conclusion: PDA, pressure support, surfactant therapy, inotrop drug administration, vaginal delivery, neonatal resuscitation, and antenatal corticosteroid therapy were significantly higher in cases with IVH. Hyaline membrane disease and preeclampsia in mother was significantly higher in cases without IVH.Keywords: Intraventricular hemorrhage, APGAR, low birth weight, hyaline membrane disease, corticosteroid, surfactant, inotrop, pre-eclampsi

Development of an Effective Procedure Writer’s Guide using a Human Factors and Regulatory Compliance Approach

PresentationWell-written procedures are an integral part of any industrial organization for safe operation, managing risks, and continuous improvement. Regulatory bodies around the world require industries to have current, accurate, and appropriate procedures for most processes. Although the importance of procedures is recognized by all industries in general, significant incidents have occurred in the past due to procedural breakdowns. Some of the procedural breakdowns come from obvious problems such as the procedure not being available or the procedure being wrong. However, some incidents have occurred when correct procedures were available and the operator used those procedures. In these instances, the reason why operators do not follow procedures correctly may be attributable to many factors, one of them being that the procedure is presented or designed in a manner that does not sufficiently communicate to the operators the information that is needed in a manner that is easily and quickly understood. The work presented here is focused on the latter circumstance and is part of a program of research that will ultimately lead to the development of a writer’s guide for procedures that supports operators’ comprehension and compliance with all types of industrial procedures. The writer’s guide is based on empirical findings from human factors and human performance studies and provides writers with information on how to present procedures in a manner that is clear, thorough, and (if necessary) implementable with short notice. For the first phase of the project, a sample of the regulations and standards from several industries were used to identify procedure writing practices necessary for ensure regulatory compliance. Regulations and industrial standards from around the world were organized to reflect common ideas and the implications in terms of human factors needs were identified with regard to procedure design. Any human factors (HF) that had implications for the writer’s guide that had empirical support, were included in the writer’s guide (with the reference) with an explanation of the HF implication and empirical support. The writer’s guide developed is structured to allow procedure writers access to guidance on various types of procedures they are writing, the type of information they are trying to communicate, and methods for maintaining accurate and current procedures. As mentioned, the current project is the beginning of a program of research and then next phase will include feedback from operators regarding the challenges they face when using procedures

Transcriptional regulation of Î6-desaturase by peroxisome proliferative-activated receptor δ agonist in human pancreatic cancer cells: Role of MEK/ERK1/2 pathway

The Î6-desaturase (Î6D), also known as fatty acid desaturase 2, is a regulatory enzyme in de novo fatty acid synthesis, which has been linked to obesity and diabetes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of peroxisome proliferative-activated receptor δ (PPARδ) agonist and MEK/ERK1/2-dependent pathway on the expression of Î6D in human pancreatic carcinoma cell line PANC-1. PANC-1 cells cultured in RPMI-1640 were exposed to the commonly used ERK1/2 pathway inhibitor PD98059 and PPARδ agonist GW0742. Changes in mRNA and protein expression of Î6D were then determined using real-time RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. The expression of Î6D (P 40, P 25, P < 0.05) pretreatment. PPARδ and MEK/ERK1/2 signaling pathways affect differentially the expression of Î�6D in pancreatic cancer cells. Furthermore, there may be an inhibitory crosstalk between these two regulatory pathways on the mRNA expression of Î�6D and subsequently on Î�6D protein expression. © 2013 Maryam Darabi et al

Flexural Behavior of Functionally Graded-Graphene Reinforced Composite Plates

A first order shear deformation theory based finite element numerical investigation on flexure behaviour of functionally graded thin, moderately thick and thick composite plates reinforced with graphene platelets (GPLs) is presented in this paper. The maximum deflection plays a major role in the design of composite structures. Therefore, maximum deflection and percentage maximum deflection ratio of reinforced to unreinforced composite plate are investigated for a range of GPL distribution patterns along plan and thickness directions of the composite plate. Modified Halpin-Tsai equation is used to determine the effective Young’s modulus for each layer in thickness direction for different distribution patterns. The rule of mixture is used to calculate effective mass density and Poisson’s ratio for each layer. Initially, the results from this study are verified by comparing with the reported results from the literature. Thereafter, validated methodology is used to conduct case study for a simply supported plate, focusing on the effect of thickness, GPL distribution patterns along plan and thickness directions, percentage weight fraction of GPL on the maximum deflection and percentage maximum deflection ratio of reinforced to unreinforced composite plate. It is found that by adding just 1% weight fraction of GPL, the maximum deflection can be reduced by almost 65% to 90% for all thicknesses and distribution patterns considered

A high-order FEM formulation for free and forced vibration analysis of a nonlocal nonlinear graded Timoshenko nanobeam based on the weak form quadrature element method

The purpose of this paper is to provide a high-order finite element method (FEM) formulation of nonlocal nonlinear nonlocal graded Timoshenko based on the weak form quadrature element method (WQEM). This formulation offers the advantages and flexibility of the FEM without its limiting low-order accuracy. The nanobeam theory accounts for the von Kármán geometric nonlinearity in addition to Eringen’s nonlocal constitutive models. For the sake of generality, a nonlinear foundation is included in the formulation. The proposed formulation generates high-order derivative terms that cannot be accounted for using regular first- or second-order interpolation functions. Hamilton’s principle is used to derive the variational statement which is discretized using WQEM. The results of a WQEM free vibration study are assessed using data obtained from a similar problem solved by the differential quadrature method (DQM). The study shows that WQEM can offer the same accuracy as DQM with a reduced computational cost. Currently the literature describes a small number of high-order numerical forced vibration problems, the majority of which are limited to DQM. To obtain forced vibration solutions using WQEM, the authors propose two different methods to obtain frequency response curves. The obtained results indicate that the frequency response curves generated by either method closely match their DQM counterparts obtained from the literature, and this is despite the low mesh density used for the WQEM systems