Subcortical volumes across the lifespan: data from 18,605 healthy individuals aged 3-90 years

Age has a major effect on brain volume. However, the normative studies available are constrained by small sample sizes, restricted age coverage and significant methodological variability. These limitations introduce inconsistencies and may obscure or distort the lifespan trajectories of brain morphometry. In response, we capitalized on the resources of the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium to examine age-related trajectories inferred from cross-sectional measures of the ventricles, the basal ganglia (caudate, putamen, pallidum, and nucleus accumbens), the thalamus, hippocampus and amygdala using magnetic resonance imaging data obtained from 18,605 individuals aged 3-90 years. All subcortical structure volumes were at their maximum value early in life. The volume of the basal ganglia showed a monotonic negative association with age thereafter; there was no significant association between age and the volumes of the thalamus, amygdala and the hippocampus (with some degree of decline in thalamus) until the sixth decade of life after which they also showed a steep negative association with age. The lateral ventricles showed continuous enlargement throughout the lifespan. Age was positively associated with inter-individual variability in the hippocampus and amygdala and the lateral ventricles. These results were robust to potential confounders and could be used to examine the functional significance of deviations from typical age-related morphometric patterns.Education and Child Studie

HLA class 2 genes in Singaporean Chinese rheumatoid arthritis

British Journal of Rheumatology338713-717BJRH

Investigation of titanium silicide formation using secondary ion mass spectrometry

Materials Research Society Symposium - Proceedings342117-122MRSP

Immunotherapy of human cancers

Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore251113-119AAMS

Surface and interface studies of titanium silicide formation

Thin Solid Films2831-2130-134THSF

SIMS study of silicon oxynitride rapid thermally grown in nitric oxide

10.1016/S0218-625X(01)00145-2Surface Review and Letters85569-573SRLE

Fabrication of dielectrophoretic microfluidic chips using a facile screen-printing technique for microparticle trapping

Trapping of microparticles finds wide applications in numerous fields. Microfluidic chips based on a dielectrophoresis (DEP) technique hold several advantages for trapping microparticles, such as fast result processing, a small amount of sample required, high spatial resolution, and high accuracy of target selection. There is an unmet need to develop DEP microfluidic chips on different substrates for different applications in a low cost, facile, and rapid way. This study develops a new facile method based on a screen-printing technique for fabrication of electrodes of DEP chips on three types of substrates (i.e. polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA), poly(ethylene terephthalate) and A4 paper). The fabricated PMMA-based DEP microfluidic chip was selected as an example and successfully used to trap and align polystyrene microparticles in a suspension and cardiac fibroblasts in a cell culture solution. The developed electrode fabrication method is compatible with different kinds of DEP substrates, which could expand the future application field of DEP microfluidic chips, including new forms of point-of care diagnostics and trapping circulating tumor cells

Poor Compliance with Guidelines on Anemia Treatment in a Cohort of Chronic Hemodialysis Patients

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND/AIMS: Guidelines for the management of anemia and iron deficiency in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients have been developed to standardize therapy and improve clinical outcome. The present study evaluated compliance with anemia guidelines and investigated whether differences between centers were present. METHODS: Data on anemia management from patients in the baseline cohort of the CONTRAST study (NCT00205556) were analyzed. 598 chronic HD patients (62% male, age 63.6 +/- 14.0 years) from 26 Dutch dialysis centers were included. RESULTS: Mean hemoglobin (Hb) level was 11.9 +/- 1.3 g/dl and Hb was >/=11.0 g/dl in 81% of the patients. Compliance with all anemia targets (Hb 11.0-12.0 g/dl, transferrin saturation ratio >/=20%, ferritin 100-500 ng/ml) was reached in 11.6% (95% CI 7.8-17.0) of the patients, with a wide range among centers (4-26%, adjusted for case mix, treatment-related factors and center-specific characteristics). CONCLUSION: Compliance with anemia targets in stable HD patients was poor and showed a wide variation between treatment facilities