Retronychia: the importance of proper footwear.

Retronychia is commonly underdiagnosed and exhibits classic features of proximal nail fold elevation and nail plate layering. Herein we summarize the literature and discuss cause, diagnosis, and treatment of this condition.

Herbal extracts: the future treatment option for drug-resistant epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterised by two or more unprovoked seizures. The high prevalence and incidence of epilepsy globally, especially in Asia, has remained a big concern over the course of centuries. Patients are usually prescribed the already known anti-epileptic drugs, but even after going through three different generations of anti-epileptic drugs, some people still suffer from drug-resistant form of epilepsy. These patients are usually prescribed a higher dose of anti-epileptic drugs, which results in more adverse effects. That is why new treatment options, like herbal extracts, should be explored for patients who do not respond to the classic anti-epileptic drugs. The current narrative review was planned to explore if herbal extracts can be the future for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy.

A narrative review on manifestations of gluten free casein free diet in autism and autism spectrum disorders.

Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are specific neurological disorders that affect the brain, frequently characterised by challenging paediatric behaviour. The current narrative review using PubMed and Google Scholar was conducted in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols, and comprised randomised controlled trials and clinical control trials with gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) diets published till 2020. Of the 80 studies selected, 7(8.75%) were included in the review. It was observed that the gluten-free, casein-free diet was safe with therapeutic benefits in autistic children. Therefore, a tailored dietary approach can be a beneficial management regimen. The trials related to utility of gluten-free, casein-free diet among autistic children are sparse, with limited sampling size, and indication of bias in the findings. Therefore, larger cohort studies on gluten-free, casein-free trials are required to provide further insight into the therapeutic benefits of the diet.

Robust dipstick urinalysis using a low-cost, micro-volume slipping manifold and mobile phone platform.

We introduce a novel manifold and companion software for dipstick urinalysis that eliminate many of the aspects that are traditionally plagued by user error: precise sample delivery, accurate readout timing, and controlled lighting conditions. The proposed all-acrylic slipping manifold is reusable, reliable, and low in cost. A simple timing mechanism ensures results are read out at the appropriate time. Results are obtained by capturing videos using a mobile phone and by analyzing them using custom-designed software. We show that the results obtained with the proposed device are as accurate and consistent as a properly executed dip-and-wipe method, the industry gold-standard, suggesting the potential for this strategy to enable confident urinalysis testing in home environments.

Metal-insulator-metal waveguides for particle trapping and separation.

Optical particle trapping and separation are essential techniques in the fields of biology and chemistry. In many applications, it is important to identify passive separation techniques that only rely on intrinsic forces in a system with a fixed device geometry. We present a dual-waveguide sorter that utilizes the loss of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguides for completely passive particle trapping and separation and is created using a unique angle sidewall deposition process. Our experiments show that an inner Au-Si3N4-Au waveguide is able to trap particles within the propagation distance of its dominant modes and release the particles into an outer Au-H2O-Au waveguide. The outer waveguide then propels the particles and separates them by size. The separation results are accurately modeled by a first-principles, analytical model.

Optical separation of heterogeneous size distributions of microparticles on silicon nitride strip waveguides.

We demonstrate two complementary optical separation techniques of dielectric particles on the surface of silicon nitride waveguides. Glass particles ranging from 2 µm to 10 µm in diameter are separated at guided powers below 40 mW. The effects of optical, viscous, and frictional forces on the particles are modeled and experimentally shown to enable separation. Particle interactions are investigated and shown to decrease measured particle velocity without interfering with the overall particle separation distribution. The demonstrated separation techniques have the potential to be integrated with microfluidic structures for cell sorting.

Label-free and non-contact optical biosensing of glucose with quantum dots.

We present a label-free, optical sensor for biomedical applications based on changes in the visible photoluminescence (PL) of quantum dots in a thin polymer film. Using glucose as the target molecule, the screening of UV excitation due to pre-absorption by the product of an enzymatic assay leads to quenching of the PL of quantum dots (QDs) in a non-contact scheme. The irradiance changes in QD PL indicate quantitatively the level of glucose present. The non-contact nature of the assay prevents surface degradation of the QDs, which yields an efficient, waste-free, cost-effective, portable, and sustainable biosensor with attractive market features. The limit of detection of the demonstrated biosensor is ~3.5 µm, which is competitive with existing contact-based bioassays. In addition, the biosensor operates over the entire clinically relevant range of glucose concentrations of biological fluids including urine and whole blood. The comparable results achieved across a range of cost-affordable detectors, including a spectrophotometer, portable spectrometer, and iPhone camera, suggest that label-free and visible quantification of glucose with QD films can be applied to low-cost, point-of-care biomedical sensing as well as scientific applications in the laboratory for characterizing glucose or other analytes.

Scalable multiplexing for parallel imaging with interleaved optical coherence tomography.

We demonstrate highly parallel imaging with interleaved optical coherence tomography (iOCT) using an in-house-fabricated, air-spaced virtually-imaged phased array (VIPA). The air-spaced VIPA performs spectral encoding of the interferograms from multiple lateral points within a single sweep of the source and allows us to tune and balance several imaging parameters: number of multiplexed points, ranging depth, and sensitivity. In addition to a thorough discussion of the parameters and operating principles of the VIPA, we experimentally demonstrate the effect of different VIPA designs on the multiplexing potential of iOCT. Using a 200-kHz light source, we achieve an effective A-scan rate of 3.2-MHz by multiplexing 16 lateral points onto a single wavelength sweep. The improved sensitivity of this system is demonstrated for 3D imaging of biological samples such as a human finger and a fruit fly.

Three-dimensional, distendable bladder phantom for optical coherence tomography and white light cystoscopy.

We describe a combination of fabrication techniques and a general process to construct a three-dimensional (3-D) phantom that mimics the size, macroscale structure, microscale surface topology, subsurface microstructure, optical properties, and functional characteristics of a cancerous bladder. The phantom also includes features that are recognizable in white light (i.e., the visual appearance of blood vessels), making it suitable to emulate the bladder for emerging white light+optical coherence tomography (OCT) cystoscopies and other endoscopic procedures of large, irregularly shaped organs. The fabrication process has broad applicability and can be generalized to OCT phantoms for other tissue types or phantoms for other imaging modalities. To this end, we also enumerate the nuances of applying known fabrication techniques (e.g., spin coating) to contexts (e.g., nonplanar, 3-D shapes) that are essential to establish their generalizability and limitations. We anticipate that this phantom will be immediately useful to evaluate innovative OCT systems and software being developed for longitudinal bladder surveillance and early cancer detection.