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Eye (London, England) Feb 2024This short review begins with the theories of Airy, Rayleigh and Abbe on microscope resolution. Next, the principal developments in microscopy in the last half-century... (Review)
Review
This short review begins with the theories of Airy, Rayleigh and Abbe on microscope resolution. Next, the principal developments in microscopy in the last half-century are examined for relevance to ophthalmology: confocal microscopy, photoactivation light microscopy (PALM), stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), stimulated emission depletion (STED), structured illumination (SI), 2-photon and multiphoton excitation microscopy with a focused beam. Except for confocal, these are difficult to apply to the eye in vivo, as are the interference methods available in microscopes. However, interferometry in the form of coherence tomography is now a major ophthalmic method which has diverged from microscopy. Multiphoton excitation microscopy with an unfocussed beam is a new, low-damage microscope method so-far not exploited in ophthalmoscopy. The Mesolens, which throws off the historic limitations in microscopy set by the human eye, is described as a possible future aid to ophthalmology of the anterior eye.
PubMed: 38374367
DOI: 10.1038/s41433-024-02970-0 -
Trends in Parasitology Jan 2024Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics are simple and effective portable tools that can be used for fast mapping of helminthic diseases and monitoring control programs. Most... (Review)
Review
Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics are simple and effective portable tools that can be used for fast mapping of helminthic diseases and monitoring control programs. Most POC tests (POCTs) available for schistosomiasis diagnosis are lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs). The emergence of simple and rapid DNA isolation methods, along with isothermal nucleic acid amplification strategies - for example, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) - and recent clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based diagnostic methods facilitate the development of molecular-based POC diagnostics for schistosomiasis. Furthermore, smartphone-based techniques increase real-time connectivity and readout accuracy of POCTs. This review discusses the recent advances in immunological-, molecular-based POCTs and mobile phone microscopes for the diagnosis/screening of schistosomiasis.
Topics: Humans; Point-of-Care Testing; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; Schistosomiasis; Communicable Diseases
PubMed: 38000956
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2023.10.005 -
International Journal of Laboratory... Jun 2024The manuscript discusses the historical evolution of observing blood cell morphology under an optical microscope, from the earliest microscopes in the 17th century to... (Review)
Review
The manuscript discusses the historical evolution of observing blood cell morphology under an optical microscope, from the earliest microscopes in the 17th century to the modern digital era, highlighting key advancements and contributions in the field. Blood has historically held symbolic importance in various cultures, with early medical observations dating back to Hippocrates and Galeno. The discovery of cells and subsequent advancements in microscopy by scientists like Hooke and van Leeuwenhoek paved the way for understanding blood cell morphology. Influential figures such as Hewson, Donné, and Ehrlich followed. Diagnostic cytology evolved from manual cell counting to the development of automated hematological systems. Automated complete blood counting came to support microscopic examination in diagnosing hematological disorders. Morphology is crucial in predicting disease outcomes and guiding treatment decisions, particularly hematological neoplasms. The introduction of flow cytometry and its integration with traditional morphological analysis and the new cytogenetic and molecular techniques revolutionized the classification and prognostication of hematologic disorders. Digital microscopy has emerged as a powerful tool in recent years, offering rapid acquisition and sharing of blood cell images. Integrating Artificial Intelligence with digital microscopy has further enhanced morphological analysis, improving diagnostic efficiency. We also discuss the prospects of AI in pre-classifying blood cells in bone marrow aspirate samples, potentially revolutionizing diagnostic pathways for hematologic diseases. Overall, the manuscript provides a comprehensive overview of the historical development, clinical significance and technological advancements in observing blood cell morphology, underscoring its continued relevance in modern hematology practice.
PubMed: 38898733
DOI: 10.1111/ijlh.14330 -
The New Phytologist Oct 2023The endomembrane system consists of various membrane-bound organelles including the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi apparatus, trans-Golgi network (TGN), endosomes,... (Review)
Review
The endomembrane system consists of various membrane-bound organelles including the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi apparatus, trans-Golgi network (TGN), endosomes, and the lysosome/vacuole. Membrane trafficking between distinct compartments is mainly achieved by vesicular transport. As the endomembrane compartments and the machineries regulating the membrane trafficking are largely conserved across all eukaryotes, our current knowledge on organelle biogenesis and endomembrane trafficking in plants has mainly been shaped by corresponding studies in mammals and yeast. However, unique perspectives have emerged from plant cell biology research through the characterization of plant-specific regulators as well as the development and application of the state-of-the-art microscopical techniques. In this review, we summarize our current knowledge on the plant endomembrane system, with a focus on several distinct pathways: ER-to-Golgi transport, protein sorting at the TGN, endosomal sorting on multivesicular bodies, vacuolar trafficking/vacuole biogenesis, and the autophagy pathway. We also give an update on advanced imaging techniques for the plant cell biology research.
Topics: Plants; Endosomes; Vacuoles; Multivesicular Bodies; Protein Transport; Golgi Apparatus; trans-Golgi Network
PubMed: 37507353
DOI: 10.1111/nph.19134 -
Current Opinion in Structural Biology Aug 2023Super-resolution microscopy is a series of imaging techniques that bypass the diffraction limit of resolution. Since the 1990s, optical approaches, such as... (Review)
Review
Super-resolution microscopy is a series of imaging techniques that bypass the diffraction limit of resolution. Since the 1990s, optical approaches, such as single-molecular localization microscopy, have allowed us to visualize biological samples from the sub-organelle to the molecular level. Recently, a chemical approach called expansion microscopy emerged as a new trend in super-resolution microscopy. It physically enlarges cells and tissues, which leads to an increase in the effective resolution of any microscope by the length expansion factor. Compared with optical approaches, expansion microscopy has a lower cost and higher imaging depth but requires a more complex procedure. The integration of expansion microscopy and advanced microscopes significantly pushed forward the boundary of super-resolution microscopy. This review covers the current state of the art in expansion microscopy, including the latest methods and their applications, as well as challenges and opportunities for future research.
Topics: Microscopy, Fluorescence; Single Molecule Imaging
PubMed: 37253290
DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2023.102614 -
Nature Biotechnology Nov 2023Single-molecule localization microscopy enables three-dimensional fluorescence imaging at tens-of-nanometer resolution, but requires many camera frames to reconstruct a...
Single-molecule localization microscopy enables three-dimensional fluorescence imaging at tens-of-nanometer resolution, but requires many camera frames to reconstruct a super-resolved image. This limits the typical throughput to tens of cells per day. While frame rates can now be increased by over an order of magnitude, the large data volumes become limiting in existing workflows. Here we present an integrated acquisition and analysis platform leveraging microscopy-specific data compression, distributed storage and distributed analysis to enable an acquisition and analysis throughput of 10,000 cells per day. The platform facilitates graphically reconfigurable analyses to be automatically initiated from the microscope during acquisition and remotely executed, and can even feed back and queue new acquisition tasks on the microscope. We demonstrate the utility of this framework by imaging hundreds of cells per well in multi-well sample formats. Our platform, implemented within the PYthon-Microscopy Environment (PYME), is easily configurable to control custom microscopes, and includes a plugin framework for user-defined extensions.
Topics: Microscopy, Fluorescence; Software; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Single Molecule Imaging
PubMed: 36914886
DOI: 10.1038/s41587-023-01702-1