Clinical experience of functional electrical stimulation in complete paraplegia

In the Riordan (bridle) transfer, the posterior tibialis muscle as motor is routed through the interosseous membrane and anastomosed into a "bridle" formed by the distal tibialis anterior and peroneus longus muscles. In theory, the bridle provides inversion/eversion balance even if the transfer effects only tenodesis. However, the procedure has been criticized because its insertion is not into bone. This review analyzes the use of bridle transfer in flaccid paresis involving musculature innervated by the peroneal nerve. Surgery was performed 1 to 3 years after injury for patients with traumatic etiology. Ten patients are reviewed at 61 months' mean follow-up. Eight patients had traumatic peroneal nerve loss. Two had neuromuscular etiology. Evaluation included review of records, telephone interviews, and physical examinations. Data on functional status included walking barefoot running, need for bracing, return to duty, and patient satisfaction. Physical examination recorded ankle position and motions, gait findings, and results of static electromyograms. All patients were able to walk barefoot, but 6 of 10 had a mild to moderate limp. Five patients returned to running initially; only two were able to keep running. Nine patients were brace-free initially (polio sequela required bracing initially), and four others returned to bracing. Of these, two experienced an acute "tearing" and dorsiflexion loss, one sustained a prolonged gradual loss of dorsiflexion, and one sustained a contralateral cerebrovascular accident. Only three of seven patients returned to active duty, and one is on jump status. All patients were satisfied with their initial result. Only two patients had no detectable swing phase problems (both returned to active duty). Five patients had peroneal nerve exploration with repair or neurolysis; two of them sustained complete transections. Postoperative electromyograms showed insignificant, if any, nerve return. The Riordan transfer works well for neuromuscular flaccid paresis and in patients with peroneal nerve injuries with low demands. It may stretch out over time to the point of acute failure in patients with high demands. Concurrent peroneal nerve exploration and repair did not seem to be beneficial in this small study.     

Thermoelectric properties of Bi and Cu co-doped Ca3Co2O6single crystals

Single crystals of Bi and Cu-doped Ca₃Co₂O₆were synthesized in a molten K₂CO₃flux. Using an obtained single crystal of (Ca_0.985(5)Bi_0.015(5))₃(Co_0.990(3)Cu_0.010(3))₂O₆elongated to the c-axis direction of the crystal structure, the electric resistivity (ρ) and Seebeck coefficient (S) were measured from room temperature to over 1000 K in air. The single crystal showed p-type semiconducting behavior with ρ values of 1.8 Ω cm at 303 K and 0.017 Ω cm at 1000 K. The S values were +254 μ VK^{− 1} at 325 K, +360 μ VK^{− 1} at 420 K, and +214 μ VK^{− 1} at 1000 K. The power factor (S ² ρ ^{− 1}) increased with an increase of temperature and attained 2.70 × 10^{− 4} Wm^{− 1}K^{− 2} at 1000 K.     

InGaAs angled-grating distributed Bragg reflector lasers integrated with grating outcoupler for collimation

An angled-grating distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser integrated with a grating outcoupler (GO) is proposed and demonstrated. It consists of an angled broad-area gain stripe surrounded by angled DBR (/spl alpha/-DBR) gratings parallel to the gain stripe and two DBR gratings for feedback at the stripe ends, and a GO for emitting a collimated output beam. Due to distributed Bragg reflection in the /spl alpha/-DBR gratings, filamentation can be suppressed. Single-mode lasing up to 69 mW peak power was obtained under pulse condition. A collimated output beam with divergence angles, close to the diffraction limit, was obtained. These results confirm the effectiveness of the /spl alpha/-DBR gratings.     

Anthocyanins,but not Anthocyanidins,from Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) Alleviate Pruritus via Inhibition of Mast Cell Degranulation

Abstract: We have previously reported that bilberry anthocyanins exhibit an anti‐pruritic effect in a mouse model of allergic contact dermatitis. It has been reported that anthocyanins are particularly sensitive to thermal treatment and are easily hydrolyzed to anthocyanidins when exposed to high temperatures. The objective of this study was to compare the anti‐pruritic effect of anthocyanin‐rich quality‐controlled bilberry extract and anthocyanidin‐rich degraded extract using a mouse model of allergic contact dermatitis. BALB/c mice with allergic contact dermatitis induced by 4 weeks of repeated application of 2,4,6‐trinitro‐1‐chlorobenzene (TNCB) were administered Bilberon‐25 orally for 4 weeks after sensitization with TNCB. The effect of Bilberon‐25 on pruritus was evaluated by measurement of scratching behavior. RBL‐2H3 mast cells were used to investigate the effect of Bilberon‐25 on degranulation in 48/80‐stimulated mast cells. Compared with nonheated Bilberon‐25, the proportion of anthocyanins in heated Bilberon‐25 decreased, and the proportion of anthocyanidins was increased in heated‐time dependent manner. Treatment with non‐heated Bilberon‐25 significantly attenuated the TNCB‐induced increase in scratching behavior, whereas treatment with 2 h‐heated Bilberon‐25 did not. Moreover, 300 μg/mL nonheated Bilberon‐25 showed significant inhibition of degranulation in RBL‐2H3 mast cells, whereas 2 h‐heated Bilberon‐25 had no effect at any concentration studied. It is assumed that the inhibitory effect of bilberry anthocyanins on pruritus might be mediated, at least in part, by its inhibitory effect on mast cell degranulation. In conclusion, the anthocyanin‐rich but not anthocyanidin‐rich bilberry extract may be a useful dietary supplement for skin diseases involving pruritic symptoms, such as chronic allergic contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, and rhinitis.     

Effects of phosphorus content on generation and growth of cracks in nickel–phosphorus platings owing to thermal cycling

We observed crack generation and structural changes in electroless nickel–phosphorus (Ni–P) plating layers formed on copper-metalized silicon nitride substrates both during thermal cycling from ? 40 to 250 °C and during storage (not cycling) at 250 °C in order to investigate the effect of the phosphorus contents on crack generation and growth in the Ni–P platings. The used platings contained phosphorus at three different contents: 2.1 wt% [Ni–P(low)], 6.5 wt% [Ni–P(med)], and 10.9 wt% [Ni–P(high)]. The generation time and the amount of cracks were strongly dependent on their phosphorus contents. More cracks appeared after thermal cycling than after storage at 250 °C. In Ni–P(low), cracks were generated after 200 thermal cycles, whereas no cracks were observed even after 250 h of storage at 250 °C. In Ni–P(med) and Ni–P(high), both during thermal cycling and storage at 250 °C, cracks formed during or after crystallization of the amorphous layers. These results suggest that the primary factors affecting the generation of cracks in electroless Ni–P platings are crystallization of the Ni–P platings and repeated changes in thermal stress.     

Cooperative enhancement of deoxyribozyme activity by chemical modification and added cationic copolymer

Deoxyribozymes (DNAzymes) having RNA-cleaving activity have widely been explored as tools for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. Both the chemical cleaving step and the turnover step should be improved for enhancing overall activity of DNAzymes. We have shown that cationic copolymer enhanced DNAzyme activity by increasing turnover efficacy. In this paper, effectｓ of the copolymer on DNAzymes modified with locked nucleic acids (LNA) or 2′-O-methylated (2′-OMe) nucleic acids were studied. The copolymer increased activity of these chemically modified DNAzymes. More than 30-fold enhancement in multiple-turnover catalytic activity was observed with 2′-OMe-modified DNAzyme in the presence of the copolymer. DNAzyme catalytic activity was successfully enhanced by cooperation of the added copolymer and chemical modification of DNAzyme.     

Computer-aided prognosis of neuroblastoma on whole-slide images: Classification of stromal development

We are developing a computer-aided prognosis system for neuroblastoma (NB), a cancer of the nervous system and one of the most malignant tumors affecting children. Histopathological examination is an important stage for further treatment planning in routine clinical diagnosis of NB. According to the International Neuroblastoma Pathology Classification (the Shimada system), NB patients are classified into favorable and unfavorable histology based on the tissue morphology. In this study, we propose an image analysis system that operates on digitized H&E stained whole-slide NB tissue samples and classifies each slide as either stroma-rich or stroma-poor based on the degree of Schwannian stromal development. Our statistical framework performs the classification based on texture features extracted using co-occurrence statistics and local binary patterns. Due to the high resolution of digitized whole-slide images, we propose a multi-resolution approach that mimics the evaluation of a pathologist such that the image analysis starts from the lowest resolution and switches to higher resolutions when necessary. We employ an offline feature selection step, which determines the most discriminative features at each resolution level during the training step. A modified k-nearest neighbor classifier is used to determine the confidence level of the classification to make the decision at a particular resolution level. The proposed approach was independently tested on 43 whole-slide samples and provided an overall classification accuracy of 88.4%.