Single-cell tracking of therapeutic cells using Laser Ablation–Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry

Cellular therapy is emerging as a clinically viable strategy in the field of solid organ transplantation, where it is expected to reduce the dependency on conventional immunosuppression. This has produced a demand for highly sensitive methods to monitor the persistence and tissue distribution of administered cells in vivo. However, tracking cells presents significant challenges. In many cases transplanted cells are autologous with the immune system of the transplant recipient, and hence are invisible to typical methods of detection. To enable their differentiation, the cells must be labelled with a suitable, non-toxic and long lifetime label, prior to their administration to patients. In addition, administered cells represent only a small fraction of the recipient’s endogenous cells, which necessitates the use of an extremely sensitive detection method. Laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is an exquisitely sensitive analytical technique, capable of imaging trace elements in complex samples, at high spatial resolution. [Continues.

Example Based Caricature Synthesis

The likeness of a caricature to the original face image is an essential and often overlooked part of caricature production. In this paper we present an example based caricature synthesis technique, consisting of shape exaggeration, relationship exaggeration, and optimization for likeness. Rather than relying on a large training set of caricature face pairs, our shape exaggeration step is based on only one or a small number of examples of facial features. The relationship exaggeration step introduces two definitions which facilitate global facial feature synthesis. The first is the T-Shape rule, which describes the relative relationship between the facial elements in an intuitive manner. The second is the so called proportions, which characterizes the facial features in a proportion form. Finally we introduce a similarity metric as the likeness metric based on the Modified Hausdorff Distance (MHD) which allows us to optimize the configuration of facial elements, maximizing likeness while satisfying a number of constraints. The effectiveness of our algorithm is demonstrated with experimental results

An investigation into spinal injury from vehicle crashes in Saudi Arabia

The primary purpose of this thesis is to present a comprehensive analysis of occupant kinematics and spinal injuries, during road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia from the points of view of statistical analysis, modeling of occupant kinematics, and biomechanics. An in-depth database containing information on 512 real world vehicle crashes was constructed. The study identifies the characteristics of the collisions and occupant spinal injuries in Saudi Arabia, and suggests measures to mitigate them. A logistic model has been presented which can be used to provide information about the crashes and spinal injuries. The model may serve as an initial prediction to establish the risk of spinal injury sustained by occupants at road crash, and a paramedic’s protocol, as part of the emergency response, could be revised according to the developed model. State of the art techniques for accident reconstruction have been demonstrated as a tool to investigate the crashes, and the probable cause of crashes, and to make recommendations to prevent crashes and/or mitigate the severity of the accidents and resulting spinal injuries. Computational simulations of crashes provide a tool for understanding the dynamics of crashes and injuries, and are being used worldwide to study dynamics of crashes and efficacy of safety devices. The work conducted here has demonstrated how crashes can be simulated to estimate the injury parameters, and the likelihood of injuries on various parts of the body. While this study presents a detailed multi-dimensional study on road traffic crashes and spinal cord injuries therein, it remains a pilot study for Saudi Arabia. It demonstrates how this type of study can have far reaching consequences and the need to collect such data and carry out this kind of a study on a regular basis at the national level.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

An arborizing, multiport catheter for maximizing drug distribution in the brain via convection enhanced delivery

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a high-grade malignant glioma with a mortality rate that exceeds 95% despite over eight decades of medical research dedicated to improve outcomes. GBM is extremely difficult to treat and practically incurable with standard treatment involving surgical resection, radiation, concomitant and/or adjuvant chemotherapy. Therefore, convection enhanced delivery (CED) was developed to improve therapeutic outcomes. CED involves intraparenchymal delivery of drugs into diseased tissue via a small catheter. CED has proven to bypass the blood brain barrier and achieve better drug distribution than diffusion-based therapies. Nevertheless, the large volumes necessary to target entire tumors and peritumor volumes have been previously unachievable with currently-available catheters. This dissertation describes the development of a multiport, arborizing catheter designed specifically for improving drug distribution in the brain. The performance of early-stage arborizing catheter prototypes was compared to single-port catheters in infusion studies using agarose brain phantoms. Volume dispersed (V [subscript d]) and mean distribution ratios (V [subscript d] :V [subscript i]) were quantified and compared between the two catheters. The arborizing catheter produced higher V [subscript d] values; however, it did not exhibit the greatest V [subscript d] :V [subscript i], likely due to overlapping distribution volumes from the multiple individual ports. Following infusion in brain phantoms, a biotransport study of the arborizing catheter was conducted using a multiphasic finite element framework. The model was used to predict dispersion volume of a solute in a permeable hyperelastic solid matrix as a function of separation distance between adjacent ports. Results show that increasing port distance can increase V [subscript d]; however, infusion time also increases significantly with greater port distance. One way to mitigate increased infusion times is to employ higher infusion flow rates. Finally, the performance of improved arborizing catheters was compared to reflux-preventing single-port catheters in excised pig brains. CT scans were used to quantify V [subscript d] and V [subscript d] :V [subscript i] of infused iohexol (contrast-enhancing agent). The average volume dispersed for the arborizing catheter was 5.8 times greater than the single-port catheter. Mean distribution ratios for both catheters were similar. Using the multiple ports of the arborizing catheter, high V [subscript d] was achieved at a low infusion rate with negligible reflux. Given that previous attempts of CED reported poor drug distribution, the arborizing catheter may help overcome the limitations of CED.Biomedical Engineerin