Electrophoretic Determination of Formaldehyde in Human Urine: Application to Alzheimer’s Disease

The primary clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is mainly based on medical history and neuropsychiatric inventory. It is urgent to seek biological indicators with better sensitivity and higher specificity to clinically diagnose and evaluate Alzheimer’s disease. In this work, an electrophoretic method based on 2-thiobarbituric acid derivatization and amperometric detection was developed to determine formaldehyde as a urinary biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease. Under the optimum conditions, the formaldehyde derivative was well separated from the coexisting interferences in urine sample. The limit of detection for formaldehyde was 80.0?nM (2.4?ng/?mL) based on an electrophoretic stacking technology. The average recovery values were in the range of 91.7–110%, and the relative standard deviation values were less than 4.1%. This method has been applied to analyze human urine samples from healthy volunteers and patients with different degrees of Alzheimer’s disease. The assay results showed that the content of urinary formaldehyde in patients suffering Alzheimer’s disease was significantly higher than that in healthy subjects (P?noninvasive biomarker for the preliminary diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. High separation efficiency, simple sample preparation, environmental friendliness, and low cost are the main advantages of this proposed method.     

生物组织光传播的时域特征分析

采用蒙特卡罗方法对脉冲光在组织中传播的时域特征作了研究，并把计算结果与漫射理论的解析解作了比较，文中详细分析了组织光学特性参数与组织表面时间分辨的漫反射光分布之间的关系。结果表明：散射系影响着漫反射光强到达峰值的时间，吸收系数影响着漫反射光强在峰值之后随时间下降的速度，而ｇ因子对响应曲线的前沿影响较大，在后沿阶段基本上没有影响。     

Geometric Analysis and Symbol Calculus: Fourier Transform Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Wavelets

Due to its unequalled advantages, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modality has truly revolutionized the diagnosis and evaluation of pathology. Because many morphological anatomic details that may not be visualized by other high tech imaging methods can now be readily shown by diagnostic MRI, it has already become the standard modality by which all other clinical imaging techniques are measured. The unique quantum physical basis of the MRI modality combined with the imaging capabilities of current computer technology has made this imaging modality a target of interdisciplinary interest for clinicians, physicists, biologists, engineers, and mathematicians. Due to the fact that MRI scanners perform corticomorphic processing, this modality is by far more complex than all the other high tech clinical imaging techniques. The purpose of this paper is to outline a phase coherent wavelet approach to Fourier transform MRI. It is based on distributional harmonic analysis on the Heisenberg nilpotent Lie group G and the associated symplectically invariant symbol calculus of pseudodifferential operators. The contour and contrast resolution of MRI scans which is controlled by symplectic filter bank processing gives the noninvasive MRI modality superiority over X-ray computed tomography (CT) in soft tissue differentiation.     

晚期糖基化终末产物的特性及其研究现状分析

分析了晚期糖基化终末产物的生化特性和主要结构形式,介绍了目前检测晚期糖基化终末产物的主要方法和各自的优缺点,讨论了荧光光谱检测方法。用检测系统测试了晚期糖基化终末产物的激发光谱,同时采用370nm的单色光作为激发光源,分别对正常人和糖尿病患者的皮肤进行了荧光光谱检测,通过获得的发射荧光光谱分析可以发现两者在450nm附近的荧光存在明显的差异。结果表明该荧光光谱测量系统快速、无创、简单,可应用于对糖尿病、人体衰老、氧化应激等病情进行早期预测和诊断。     

Non-invasive and low-artifact in vivo brain imaging by using a scanning acoustic-photoacoustic dual mode microscopy

Photoacoustic imaging is a potential candidate for in vivo brain imaging, whereas, its imaging performance could be degraded by inhomogeneous multi-layered media, consisted of scalp and skull. In this work, we propose a low-artifact photoacoustic microscopy (LAPAM) scheme, which combines conventional acoustic-resolution photoacoustic microscopy with scanning acoustic microscopy to suppress the reflection artifacts induced by multi-layers. Based on similar propagation characteristics of photoacoustic signals and ultrasonic echoes, the ultrasonic echoes can be employed as the filters to suppress the reflection artifacts to obtain low-artifact photoacoustic images. Phantom experiment is used to validate the effectiveness of this method. Furthermore, LAPAM is applied for in-vivo imaging mouse brain without removing the scalp and the skull. Experimental results show that the proposed method successfully achieves the low-artifact brain image, which demonstrates the practical applicability of LAPAM. This work might improve the photoacoustic imaging quality in many biomedical applications which involve tissues with complex acoustic properties, such as brain imaging through scalp and skull.     

Noninvasive Detection of the Gases Inside the Sealed Batteries by the On-line Mass Spectrometry

Mass spectrometer is connected through an adaptor to a sealed small battery to probe the gas phase changes inside the battery. The factors influencing the response time are analyzed with a simplified model. The feasibility of the new technique is demonstrated with a Ni-Cd battery, showing different profiles of MS intensities for O2 and H2. Compared with gas chromatography, this technique has the advantage of being noninvasive and should be useful for the study and diagnostic examination of small sealed batteries.     

Applicability of Time Integrated Spectroscopy Based on the Microscopic Beer-Lambert Law to Finite Turbid Media with Curved Boundaries

Finite curved boundaries are unavoidable in the practical field of non-invasive tissue spectroscopy. This being the case, a technique derived from the microscopic Beer-Lambert law (MBL) can be applied regardless of what geometry is assumed. Here, experimental tests on a type of time integrated spectroscopy based on the MBL for a tissue-like phantom with curved boundaries are presented. The experiments employed a cylindrical liquid phantom 56 mm in diameter, which resembles a human forearm. Two independent measurements were made on the surface of the phantom at various absorption levels (the absorption coefficients of the phantom were from 2.45 × 10⁻³ to 4.12 × 10⁻² mm⁻¹ at 782 nm), one in the direction along the circumference and the other along the long axis of symmetry. In both cases, the absorber concentrations were successfully recovered within error values of a few percent using a single equation.     

生物组织血液灌注率的无损测量研究

本文提出了无损测量生物组织血液灌注率的体表绝热法。推导出了体表绝热时生物组织内温度响应的一维解析解。采用二维生物传热模型,分析了生物组织有限厚度、体表有限绝热面积和血液灌注率分布不均匀的影响。对人体组织的血液灌注率进行了测量,实测温度响应与理论预测值吻合。由于利用的只是体表的瞬态温度信息,对生物组织不会造成损伤,也不会干扰生物组织正常的生理状态,整个测量系统也比较简单。     

Noninvasive temperature estimation by detecting echo-strain change including thermal expansion

This article studies the feasibility of noninvasive temperature estimation by detecting echo-strain including thermal expansion in therapeutic ultrasound treatment. This technique evaluates distributions of echo-strain and temperature inside the tissue by detecting echo signals pre- and post-heating, in combination with the temperature dependence of sound speed and thermal expansion. In the computer simulation and experimental study, echo signals pre- and post-heating are acquired and then the temperature elevation is evaluated by correlation analysis. Results demonstrate that this technique can effectively extend the measured temperature range up to 75$^{\circ}$C with an accuracy of $\pm $2$\,^{\circ}$C.     

Depth‐resolved in vivo micro‐Raman spectroscopy of a murine skin tumor model reveals cancer‐specific spectral biomarkers

We have developed a micro‐Raman spectrometer system for use to differentiate tumor lesions from normal skin using an in vivo animal model. A study of 494 Raman spectra from 24 mice revealed different spectral patterns at different depths and between normal and tumor‐bearing skin sites. A peak at 899 cm⁻¹ (possibly from proline or fatty acids) and one with higher intensity in the 1325–1330 cm⁻¹ range (assigned to nucleic acids) were correlated with the presence of tumors, which can potentially be used as biomarkers for skin cancer detection. Spectral diagnosis performed on the murine tumor model achieved a diagnostic sensitivity of 95.8% and specificity of 93.8%. These results encourage us to develop further the use of confocal Raman spectroscopy as a clinical tool for noninvasive human skin biochemical analysis, particularly in relation to skin cancer. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.