Biological Effects of Antiprotons Are Antiprotons a Candidate for Cancer Therapy?

2009 Status Report of AD-4 Experimen

Pushing of Magnetic Microdroplet Using Electromagnetic Actuation System

Treatment of certain diseases requires the administration of drugs at specific areas of tissues and/or organs to increase therapy effectiveness and avoid side effects that may harm the rest of the body. Drug targeting is a research field that uses various techniques to administrate therapies at specific areas of the body, including magnetic systems able to drive nano “vehicles”, as well as magnetically labeled molecules, in human body fluids and tissues. Most available actuation systems can only attract magnetic elements in a relatively small workspace, limiting drug target applications to superficial tissues, and leaving no alternative cases where deep targeting is necessary. In this paper, we propose an electromagnetic actuation system able to push and deflect magnetic particles at distance of ~10 cm, enabling the manipulation of magnetic nano- and microparticles, as well as administration of drugs in tissues, which are not eligible for localized drug targeting with state-of-the-art systems. Laboratory experiments and modeling were conducted to prove the effectiveness of the proposed system. By further implementing our device, areas of the human body that previously were impossible to treat with magnetically labeled materials such as drugs, cells, and small molecules can now be accessible using the described system

A Portable Screening Device for SARS-CoV-2 with Smartphone Readout

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, great emphasis has been placed on the development of rapid virus detection devices, the principle of operation of many of which is the detection of the virus structural protein spike. Although several such devices have been developed, most are based on the visual observation of the result, without providing the possibility of its electrical processing. This paper presents a biosensor platform for the rapid detection of spike proteinboth in laboratory conditions and in swab samples from hospitalized patients. The platform consists of a microcontroller-based readout circuit, which measures the capacitance change generated in an interdigitated electrode transducer by the presence of the spike protein. The circuit efficiency is calibrated by its correlation with the capacitance measurement of an LCR meter. The test result is made available in less than 2 min through the microcontroller’s LCD screen, and at the same time, the collected data are sent wirelessly to a mobile application interface. In this way, the continuous and effective screening of SARS-CoV-2 patients is facilitated and enhanced, providing big data statistics of COVID-19 in terms of space and time

Packaging and Optimization of a Capacitive Biosensor and Its Readout Circuit

In pipeline production, there is a considerable distance between the moment when the operation principle of a biosensor will be verified in the laboratory until the moment when it can be used in real conditions. This distance is often covered by an optimization and packaging process. This article described the packaging and optimization of a SARS-CoV-2 biosensor, as well as the packaging of its electronic readout circuit. The biosensor was packed with a photosensitive tape, which forms a protective layer and is patterned in a way to form a well in the sensing area. The well is meant to limit the liquid diffusion, thereby reducing the measurement error. Subsequently, a connector between the biosensor and its readout circuit was designed and 3D-printed, ensuring the continuous and easy reading of the biosensor. In the last step, a three-dimensional case was designed and printed, thus protecting the circuit from any damage, and allowing its operation in real conditions

A Biosensor Platform for Point-of-Care SARS-CoV-2 Screening

The COVID-19 pandemic remains a constant threat to human health, the economy, and social relations. Scientists around the world are constantly looking for new technological tools to deal with the pandemic. Such tools are the rapid virus detection tests, which are constantly evolving and optimizing. This paper presents a biosensor platform for the rapid detection of spike protein both in laboratory conditions and in swab samples from hospitalized patients. It is a continuation and improvement of our previous work and consists of a microcontroller-based readout circuit, which measures the capacitance change generated in an interdigitated electrode transducer by the presence either of sole spike protein or the presence of SARS-CoV-2 particles in swab samples. The circuit efficiency is calibrated by its correlation with the capacitance measurement of an LCR (inductance (L), capacitance (C), and resistance (R)) meter. The test result is made available in less than 2 min through the microcontroller’s LCD (liquid-crystal display) screen, whereas at the same time, the collected data are sent wirelessly to a mobile application interface. The novelty of this research lies in the potential it offers for continuous and effective screening of SARS-CoV-2 patients, which is facilitated and enhanced, providing big data statistics of COVID-19 in terms of space and time. This device can be used by individuals for SARS-CoV-2 testing at home, by health professionals for patient monitoring, and by public health agencies for monitoring the spatio-temporal spread of the virus

Proceeding of the 1st Workshop on Social Robots Personalisation At the crossroads between engineering and humanities (CONCATENATE)

Nowadays, robots are expected to interact more physically, cognitively, and socially with people. They should adapt to unpredictable contexts alongside individuals with various behaviours. For this reason, personalisation is a valuable attribute for social robots as it allows them to act according to a specific user's needs and preferences and achieve natural and transparent robot behaviours for humans. If correctly implemented, personalisation could also be the key to the large-scale adoption of social robotics. However, achieving personalisation is arduous as it requires us to expand the boundaries of robotics by taking advantage of the expertise of various domains. Indeed, personalised robots need to analyse and model user interactions while considering their involvement in the adaptative process. It also requires us to address ethical and socio-cultural aspects of personalised HRI to achieve inclusive and diverse interaction and avoid deception and misplaced trust when interacting with the users. At the same time, policymakers need to ensure regulations in view of possible short-term and long-term adaptive HRI. This workshop aims to raise an interdisciplinary discussion on personalisation in robotics. It aims at bringing researchers from different fields together to propose guidelines for personalisation while addressing the following questions: how to define it - how to achieve it - and how it should be guided to fit legal and ethical requirements

Status Report for Experiment AD-4/ACE Biological Effectiveness of Antiproton Annihilation

Status report for experiment AD-4/ACE showing recent progress in RBE measurements for V79 Chinese Hamster cells irradiated with antiprotons. Also discussed are initial test experiments using the H2AX assay to study DNA damage to cells and initial experiments using liquid ionization chambers