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Micromachines Nov 2023The infield measurement of nutrients, heavy metals, and other contaminants in water is still a needed tool in environmental sciences. The Lab-on-a-chip approach can...
The infield measurement of nutrients, heavy metals, and other contaminants in water is still a needed tool in environmental sciences. The Lab-on-a-chip approach can develop deployable instruments that use the standardized analytical assay in a miniaturized manner in the field. This paper presents a Lab-on-a-chip platform for colorimetric measurements that can be deployed for nutrient monitoring in open water (oceans, rivers, lakes, etc.). Nitrite was selected as an analyte. Change to other analytes is possible by changing the reagents and the detection wavelength. In this paper, the principle of the sensor, technical realization, setup of the sensor, and test deployment are described. The sensor prototype was deployed at the Jade Bay (German Bight) for 9 h, measuring the nitrite value every 20 min. Reference samples were taken and processed in the lab. The work presented here shows that an infield measurement using a colorimetric assay is possible by applying Lab-on-a-chip principles.
PubMed: 38004959
DOI: 10.3390/mi14112102 -
Metabolic Brain Disease Jan 2022Neurological disease and disorders remain a large public health threat. Thus, research to improve early detection and/or develop more effective treatment approaches are... (Review)
Review
Neurological disease and disorders remain a large public health threat. Thus, research to improve early detection and/or develop more effective treatment approaches are necessary. Although there are many common techniques and imaging modalities utilized to study these diseases, existing approaches often require a label which can be costly and time consuming. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is a label-free, innovative and emerging technique that produces 2D ion density maps representing the distribution of an analyte(s) across a tissue section in relation to tissue histopathology. One main advantage of MALDI IMS over other imaging modalities is its ability to determine the spatial distribution of hundreds of analytes within a single imaging run, without the need for a label or any a priori knowledge. Within the field of neurology and disease there have been several impactful studies in which MALDI IMS has been utilized to better understand the cellular pathology of the disease and or severity. Furthermore, MALDI IMS has made it possible to map specific classes of analytes to regions of the brain that otherwise may have been lost using more traditional methods. This review will highlight key studies that demonstrate the potential of this technology to elucidate previously unknown phenomenon in neurological disease.
Topics: Brain; Neurology; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
PubMed: 34347208
DOI: 10.1007/s11011-021-00797-2 -
Biochemia Medica Feb 2023In order to deliver high quality results, detection and elimination of possible analytical interferences, such as lipaemia, is crucial. The aim of this study is to...
INTRODUCTION
In order to deliver high quality results, detection and elimination of possible analytical interferences, such as lipaemia, is crucial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of high-speed centrifugation in eliminating lipaemic interference and to define own lipaemic index (LI) for the studied biochemical analytes.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Evaluated analytes were: albumin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine-aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate-aminotransferase (AST), calcium, creatinine, gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), glucose, phosphates, total proteins, urea and total bilirubin. Those analytes and LIs have been analysed in duplicate in the Roche Diagnostics-c8000 analyser in samples centrifuged at 3000 rpm/10 minutes in the SL16 (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, USA) centrifuge and according to an own high-speed centrifugation protocol (12,900 rpm/15 minutes) in the MicroCL17R (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, USA) centrifuge. Lipaemia has been measured in each sample. The efficiency of high-speed centrifugation is verified by the Wilcoxon test (P < 0.05). In cases where significant differences are observed, our own LI is calculated. For ALT and AST, it is verified by McNemar test (P < 0.05. For creatinine, both Wilcoxon and McNemar test were applied.
RESULTS
There were statistically significant differences in analyte concentration before and after high-speed centrifugation for: albumin, creatinine, GGT, glucose, phosphates, urea and total bilirrubin. Own LI is calculated. McNemar test shows statistically significant diferences in the proportion of delivered results before and after high-speed centrifugation in ALT, AST and creatinine.
CONCLUSIONS
This study confirms the efficacy of high-speed centrifugation protocol for all the considered analytes, excepting calcium, alkaline phosphatase and total proteins.
Topics: Humans; Calcium; Creatinine; Alkaline Phosphatase; Centrifugation; Hyperlipidemias; Glucose; Alanine Transaminase; Albumins; Phosphates
PubMed: 36627977
DOI: 10.11613/BM.2023.010703 -
Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy Jun 2023Chronic liver diseases (CLDs) are a major public health problem. Despite the progress achieved in fighting against viral hepatitis, the emergence of non-alcoholic fatty... (Review)
Review
Chronic liver diseases (CLDs) are a major public health problem. Despite the progress achieved in fighting against viral hepatitis, the emergence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease might pose a serious challenge to the public's health in the coming decades. Medical management of CLDs represents a substantial burden on the public health infrastructures. The health care cost of these diseases is an additional burden that weighs heavily on the economies of developing countries. Effective management of CLDs requires the adoption of reliable and cost-effective screening and diagnosing methods to ensure early detection and accurate clinical assessment of these diseases. Vibrational spectroscopies have emerged as universal analytical methods with promising applications in various industrial and biomedical fields. These revolutionary analytical techniques rely on analyzing the interaction between a light beam and the test sample to generate a spectral fingerprint. This latter is defined by the analyte's chemical structure and the molecular vibrations of its functional groups. Raman spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy have been used in combination with various chemometric tests to diagnose a wide range of malignant, metabolic and infectious diseases. The aim of the current review is to cast light on the use of these optical sensing methods in the diagnosis of CLDs. The vast majority of research works that investigated the potential application of these spectroscopic techniques in screening and detecting CLDs were discussed here. The advantages and limitations of these modern analytical methods, as compared with the routine and gold standard diagnostic approaches, were also reviewed in details.
Topics: Humans; Spectrum Analysis, Raman; Photochemotherapy; Photosensitizing Agents; Liver Diseases; Vibration
PubMed: 36965755
DOI: 10.1016/j.pdpdt.2023.103505 -
Current Pharmaceutical Design 2022Nucleic acid-based carbohydrate sensors (NAbCSs) constitute a strategy involving nucleic acids as recognition elements for the development of a unique, stable,... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Nucleic acid-based carbohydrate sensors (NAbCSs) constitute a strategy involving nucleic acids as recognition elements for the development of a unique, stable, sensitive, mono- or multimodal detection system in the field of nanomedicine, gas sensing, and gene therapy. Thus, this advanced platform for next-generation investigation compromises cost-effective, wearable, and noninvasive sensing devices as diagnostics in healthcare.
OBJECTIVE
This review article highlights the importance of NAbCSs and explores the novel applications of sensors fabricated via the conjugation of nucleic acids and carbohydrates. Additionally, advances in smart portable devices, like smartphones, printers, and digital multimeters, are summarized, followed by the challenges involved in the development of futuristic sensing tools.
METHODS
A novel platform has been unfolded for the detection of different chemical toxins (like aflatoxin B1, ochratoxin A) and biomarkers (like miRNA in cancer) present in biosamples, food and biowarfare agents. The potential applications of biosensing in the areas of miniaturization, reusability, rapid, point-of-care or portable for home analysis techniques, cost-effective, eco-friendly, high throughput and personalized sensors for qualitative analysis of target analyte/s in bio-fluids and food have been explored.
CONCLUSION
NAbCSs provide real-time monitoring of biosamples qualitatively and semi-quantitatively (luminometer, fluorimeter, etc.) in the absence of trained personnel. Explorations of NAbCSs encompass advantages in remote resource-limited access areas with simultaneous monitoring via smart devices for multiple analytes with greater precision, sensitivity, and selectivity.
Topics: Aflatoxin B1; Biological Warfare Agents; Biomarkers; Biosensing Techniques; Carbohydrates; Humans; MicroRNAs; Nucleic Acids
PubMed: 35490323
DOI: 10.2174/1381612828666220427140110 -
Cell May 2023Phenotypic sex-based differences exist for many complex traits. In other cases, phenotypes may be similar, but underlying biology may vary. Thus, sex-aware genetic... (Review)
Review
Phenotypic sex-based differences exist for many complex traits. In other cases, phenotypes may be similar, but underlying biology may vary. Thus, sex-aware genetic analyses are becoming increasingly important for understanding the mechanisms driving these differences. To this end, we provide a guide outlining the current best practices for testing various models of sex-dependent genetic effects in complex traits and disease conditions, noting that this is an evolving field. Insights from sex-aware analyses will not only teach us about the biology of complex traits but also aid in achieving the goals of precision medicine and health equity for all.
Topics: Animals; Female; Male; Models, Genetic; Multifactorial Inheritance; Phenotype; Quality Control; Sex Characteristics; Genome-Wide Association Study; Guidelines as Topic; Gene-Environment Interaction; Humans
PubMed: 37172561
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.04.014 -
Analytical Methods : Advancing Methods... Jun 2021Biological and pharmaceutical analytes like liposomes, therapeutic proteins, nanoparticles, and drug-delivery systems are utilized in applications, such as... (Review)
Review
Biological and pharmaceutical analytes like liposomes, therapeutic proteins, nanoparticles, and drug-delivery systems are utilized in applications, such as pharmaceutical formulations or biomimetic models, in which controlling their size is often critical. Many of the common techniques for sizing these analytes require method development, significant sample preparation, large sample quantities, and lengthy analysis times. In other cases, such as DLS, sizing can be biased towards the largest constituents in a mixture. Therefore, there is a need for more rapid, sensitive, accurate, and straightforward analytical methods for sizing macromolecules, especially those of biological origin which may be sample-limited. Taylor dispersion analysis (TDA) is a sizing technique that requires no calibration and consumes only nL to pL sample volumes. In TDA, average diffusion coefficients are determined via the Taylor-Aris equation by characterizing band broadening of an analyte plug under well-controlled laminar flow conditions. Diffusion coefficient can then be interpreted as hydrodynamic radius (R) via the Stokes-Einstein equation. Here, we offer a tutorial review of TDA, intended to make the method better understood and more widely accessible to a community of analytical chemists and separations scientists who may benefit from the unique advantages of this versatile sizing method. We first provide a tutorial on the fundamental principles that allow TDA to achieve calibration-free sizing of analytes across a wide range of R, with an emphasis on the reduced sample consumption and analysis times that result from utilizing fused silica capillaries. We continue by highlighting relationships between operating parameters and critically important flow conditions. Our discussion continues by looking at methods for applying TDA to sample mixtures via algorithmic approaches and integration of capillary electrophoresis and TDA. Finally, we present a selection of reports that demonstrate TDA applied to complex challenges in bioanalysis and materials science.
Topics: Capillaries; Electrophoresis, Capillary; Hydrodynamics; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Silicon Dioxide
PubMed: 33999088
DOI: 10.1039/d1ay00588j -
Journal of Pharmaceutical and... Oct 2020Recently, volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) has been suggested as an alternative to DBS sampling. With VAMS, a fixed volume of blood (approximately 10 μL) is...
Recently, volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) has been suggested as an alternative to DBS sampling. With VAMS, a fixed volume of blood (approximately 10 μL) is wicked up by the absorbent tip of a collection device, independent of the hematocrit (HT) of the blood sample. This way, VAMS effectively avoids the HT bias which occurs in partial-punch DBS analysis. Nonetheless, the HT remains an important variable in VAMS analysis, particularly if VAMS-based blood results need to be converted to serum or plasma values to allow comparison with e.g. plasma-based therapeutic intervals. Indeed, an analyte's plasma to whole blood ratio may be HT-dependent. Therefore, we developed two straightforward methods to derive the HT value from a VAMS sample based on its potassium content. One of these methods uses an aqueous extraction procedure, whereas the other one requires an organic extraction. Both methods have the potential to be seamlessly integrated with most existing VAMS analyses, allowing both target analyte quantitation and potassium analysis on a single VAMS extract.
Topics: Blood Specimen Collection; Dried Blood Spot Testing; Hematocrit; Specimen Handling; Tandem Mass Spectrometry
PubMed: 32777731
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2020.113491 -
Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) Mar 2022Liquid biopsy is a promising technique for clinical management of oncological patients. The diversity of analytes circulating in the blood useable for liquid biopsy... (Review)
Review
Liquid biopsy is a promising technique for clinical management of oncological patients. The diversity of analytes circulating in the blood useable for liquid biopsy testing is enormous. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and extracellular vesicles (EVs), as well as blood cells and other soluble components in the plasma, were shown as liquid biopsy analytes. A few studies directly comparing two liquid biopsy analytes showed a benefit of one analyte over the other, while most authors concluded the benefit of the additional analyte. Only three years ago, the first studies to examine the value of a characterization of more than two liquid biopsy analytes from the same sample were conducted. We attempt to reflect on the recent development of multimodal liquid biopsy testing in this review. Although the analytes and clinical purposes of the published multimodal studies differed significantly, the additive value of the analytes was concluded in almost all projects. Thus, the blood components, as liquid biopsy reservoirs, are complementary rather than competitive, and orthogonal data sets were even shown to harbor synergistic effects. The unmistakable potential of multimodal liquid biopsy testing, however, is dampened by its clinical utility, which is yet to be proven, the lack of methodical standardization and insufficiently mature reimbursement, logistics and data handling.
PubMed: 35453918
DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics12040870 -
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and... Jan 2022Working with data in table form is usually considered a preparatory and tedious step in the sensemaking pipeline; a way of getting the data ready for more sophisticated...
Working with data in table form is usually considered a preparatory and tedious step in the sensemaking pipeline; a way of getting the data ready for more sophisticated visualization and analytical tools. But for many people, spreadsheets - the quintessential table tool - remain a critical part of their information ecosystem, allowing them to interact with their data in ways that are hidden or abstracted in more complex tools. This is particularly true for data workers [61], people who work with data as part of their job but do not identify as professional analysts or data scientists. We report on a qualitative study of how these workers interact with and reason about their data. Our findings show that data tables serve a broader purpose beyond data cleanup at the initial stage of a linear analytic flow: users want to see and "get their hands on" the underlying data throughout the analytics process, reshaping and augmenting it to support sensemaking. They reorganize, mark up, layer on levels of detail, and spawn alternatives within the context of the base data. These direct interactions and human-readable table representations form a rich and cognitively important part of building understanding of what the data mean and what they can do with it. We argue that interactive tables are an important visualization idiom in their own right; that the direct data interaction they afford offers a fertile design space for visual analytics; and that sense making can be enriched by more flexible human-data interaction than is currently supported in visual analytics tools.
PubMed: 34591767
DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2021.3114830