Neuroblastoma, a solid tumor caused by rapid division of undifferentiated neuroblasts, is the most common childhood malignancy affecting children aged <5 years. Several approaches and strategies developed and tested to cure neuroblastoma have met with limited success due to different reasons. Many oncogenes are deregulated during the onset and development of neuroblastoma and thus offer an opportunity to circumvent this disease if the expression of these genes is restored to normalcy. Gene therapy is a powerful tool with the potential to inhibit the deleterious effects of oncogenes by inserting corrected/normal genes into the genome. Both viral and non-viral vector-based gene therapies have been developed and adopted to deliver the target genes into neuroblastoma cells. These attempts have given hope to bringing in a new regime of treatment against neuroblastoma. A few gene-therapy-based treatment strategies have been tested in limited clinical trials yielding some positive results. This mini review is an attempt to provide an overview of the available options of gene therapy to treat neuroblastoma.
We propose a novel refractive index sensor based on multimode microfiber knot-type loop (NL) interferometer. The middle portion (~5 cm) of a 15 cm long multimode fiber is etched in 48% hydrofluoric acid to reduce its diameter to ~12 μm. A NL of diameter <1 mm is made from the etched fiber. The ends of etched fiber are spliced with single-mode fibers for launching and detecting light from the NL interferometer. The NL introduces path differences to produce interferometric spectra with free spectral range ~16 nm. The spectrum shifts as the surrounding refractive index of the loop is changed by adding chemicals. We observe the highest sensitivity of the NL interferometer ~172 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) at a refractive index value 1.370 as obtained experimentally using commonly available chemicals. The design could be used as simple, low cost, and highly sensitive biological and chemical sensor.
A new mechanics of linear mode conversion of terahertz (THz) radiation into THz surface magnetoplasmons on a rippled surface of magnetized n-InSb is proposed. The normally incident THz radiation, polarized in the direction of a ripple wave vector, imparts oscillatory velocity to electrons in the ripple layer. This velocity beats with surface ripple to produce a nonlinear current that resonantly drives the THz surface magnetoplasmons. In the presence of an applied magnetic field, the surface plasmon (SP) mode splits into two modes-an upper mode and a lower mode. The amplitude of the SP for the upper branch mode is higher than that for the lower mode.
The nonlinear mixing of two Gaussian laser beams in a magnetized plasma channel to excite a difference frequency terahertz (THz) radiation is investigated. The beat frequency ponderomotive force imparts an oscillatory velocity to electrons that couples with the pre-existing density ripple to produce a nonlinear current driving the THz radiation. The density ripple provides phase synchronism while the axial magnetic field enhances the nonlinear coupling through cyclotron resonance. The THz power scales with the square of density ripple amplitude and inversely with the square of laser frequencies.
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