ECG noise reduction technique using Antlion Optimizer (ALO) for heart rate monitoring devices

The electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is susceptible to noise and artifacts and it is essential to remove the noise in order to support any decision making for specialist and automatic heart disorder diagnosis systems. In this paper, the use of Antlion Optimization (ALO) for optimizing and identifying the cutoff frequercy of ECG signal for low-pass filtering is investigated. Generally, the spectrums of the ECG signal are extracted from two classes: arrhythmia and supraventricular. Baseline wander is removed using the moving median filter. A dataset of the extracted features of the ECG spectrums is used to train the ALO. The performance of the ALO with various parameters is investigated. The ALO-identified cutoff frequency is applied to a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter and the resulting signal is evaluated against the original clean and conventional filtered ECG signals. The results show that the intelligent AL0-based system successfully denoised the ECG signals more effectively than the conventional method. The percentage of the accuracy increased by 2%

Aptamer-based rapid diagnosis for point-of-care application

Aptasensors have attracted considerable interest and widespread application in point-of-care testing worldwide. One of the biggest challenges of a point-of-care (POC) is the reduction of treatment time compared to central facilities that diagnose and monitor the applications. Over the past decades, biosensors have been introduced that offer more reliable, cost-effective, and accurate detection methods. Aptamer-based biosensors have unprecedented advantages over biosensors that use natural receptors such as antibodies and enzymes. In the current epidemic, point-of-care testing (POCT) is advantageous because it is easy to use, more accessible, faster to detect, and has high accuracy and sensitivity, reducing the burden of testing on healthcare systems. POCT is beneficial for daily epidemic control as well as early detection and treatment. This review provides detailed information on the various design strategies and virus detection methods using aptamer-based sensors. In addition, we discussed the importance of different aptamers and their detection principles. Aptasensors with higher sensitivity, specificity, and flexibility are critically discussed to establish simple, cost-effective, and rapid detection methods. POC-based aptasensors’ diagnostic applications are classified and summarised based on infectious and infectious diseases. Finally, the design factors to be considered are outlined to meet the future of rapid POC-based sensors

Hepatitis C virus diagnosis using microfluidics technique

Conventional techniques for HCV detection required highly sophisticated equipment, huge samples, reagents, and human resources and highly timeconsuming. Rapid test kits detect only HCV Ab and even after no active infection, antibodies can be detected. In RNA detection, filtering of unwanted particles in blood is difficult. Filtration can be achieved using the suitable grade filter paper. The overall results reveal that the large particles are filtered, and HCV particles alone reached the outlet to commence the RT-LAMP reaction

Microheater: material, design, fabrication, temperature control, and applications—a role in COVID‑19

Heating plays a vital role in science, engineering, mining, and space, where heating can be achieved via electrical, induction, infrared, or microwave radiation. For fast switching and continuous applications, hotplate or Peltier elements can be employed. However, due to bulkiness, they are inefective for portable applications or operation at remote locations. Miniaturization of heaters reduces power consumption and bulkiness, enhances the thermal response, and integrates with several sensors or microfuidic chips. The microheater has a thickness of~100 nm to~100 μm and ofers a temperature range up to 1900℃ with precise control. In recent years, due to the escalating demand for fexible electronics, thin-flm microheaters have emerged as an imperative research area. This review provides an overview of recent advancements in microheater as well as analyses diferent microheater designs, materials, fabrication, and temperature control. In addition, the applications of microheaters in gas sensing, biological, and electrical and mechanical sectors are emphasized. Moreover, the maximum temperature, voltage, power consumption, response time, and heating rate of each microheater are tabulated. Finally, we addressed the specifc key considerations for designing and fabricating a microheater as well as the importance of microheater integration in COVID-19 diagnostic kits. This review thereby provides general guidelines to researchers to integrate microheater in micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), which may pave the way for developing rapid and large-scale SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic kits in resource-constrained clinical or home-based environments

Microfluidic Microchannel (Size And Shape) for Single Cell Analysis by Numerical Optimization: Lateral Trapping Method

The primary objective of this work is to show simulation outputs from the developed model of cell flow within a microfluidic device. This work is essential because it requires computational models to offer compact sized biomedical equipment that involves microfluidics technology. Microfluidics has become a common technology for life science applications in latest years. The purpose is to learn the effect of various microchannel size and shape with lateral traps for single cell analysis and to arrive at an optimum design based on a simulation study using COMSOL Multiphysics software. Thus in order to develop software model of various microchannels which execute fluid flow in the microelectronic device. This research provides numerical alternatives from finite element analysissimulation using the software COMSOL-Multiphysics to characterize the shape and size of the microchannel initializing the fluid flow. Optimized design analysis and operating conditions for efficient single cell trap is reported

Design, optimization, fabrication and analysis of Cu microheater for loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) applications

A paper presents the design, fabrication, and thermal evaluation of a printed circuit board (PCB) based copper (Cu) microheater that can be integrated with microfluidic chips to initiate the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). A series of 3D finite element electro-thermal simulations were carried out to analyze the thermal uniformity and power consumption of the micro heater. The optimal design was fabricated using the etching technique and analyzed with a heat spreader to enhance thermal uniformity. The simulation results of the microheater reveal that the meander configuration outperforms other designs. In addition, the microheater with a heat spreader has a thermal difference of only < 5 ℃ when compared with ∼10 ℃ in a microheater without a heat spreader. The developed microheater has a long shelf life and can be used to handle wet biological samples when encapsulated with polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The paper microfluidic chip on the glass substrate has a temperature difference of only 0.5 ℃. The low-cost microheater integrated microfluidic chips has the great potential to develop inexpensive home-based diagnostic kits and trigger the access of diagnostic kits in underdeveloped countries to reduce the spread of infection and initiate treatment plans

Microfluidic hydrodynamic trapping for single cell analysis: mechanisms, methods and applications

The development of hydrodynamic-based microfluidic biochips has been increasing over the years. In this technique, the cells or particles are trapped in a particular region for single cell analysis (SCA) usually without any application of external force fields such as optical, electrical, magnetic or acoustic. There is a need to explore the insights of SCA in the cell's natural state and development of these techniques is highly essential for that study. Researchers have highlighted the vast potential field that needs to be explored to develop biochip devices to suit market/researcher demands. Hydrodynamic microfluidics facilitates the development of passive lab-on-chip applications. This review gives an account of the recent advances in this field, along with their mechanisms, methods and applications

Direct cell imprint lithography in superconductive carbon black polymer composites: process optimization, characterization and in vitro toxicity analysis

Cell imprint lithography (CIL) or cell replication plays a vital role in fields like biomimetic smart culture substrates, bone tissue engineering, cell guiding, cell adhesion, tissue engineering, cell microenvironments, tissue microenvironments, cell research, drug delivery, diagnostics, therapeutics and many other applications. Herein we report a new formulation of superconductive carbon black photopolymer composite and its characterization towards a CIL process technique. In this article, we demonstrated an approach of using a carbon nanoparticle-polymer composite (CPC) for patterning cells. It is observed that a 0.3 wt % load of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) in a carbon polymer mixture (CPM) was optimal for cell-imprint replica fabrication. The electrical resistance of the 3-CPC (0.3 wt %) was reduced by 68% when compared to N-CPC (0 wt %). This method successfully replicated the single cell with sub-organelle scale. The shape of microvesicles, grooves, pores, blebs or microvilli on the cellular surface was patterned clearly. This technique delivers a free-standing cell feature substrate. In vitro evaluation of the polymer demonstrated it as an ideal candidate for biomimetic biomaterial applications. This approach also finds its application in study based on morphology, especially for drug delivery applications and for investigations based on molecular pathways

Blood Flow Separator Design In Passive Lab-On-Chip Device

Nowadays, most of the clinical analytical tests are performed by separating the blood particles and it is exclusively used to diagnose the diseases in the medical field. There are various techniques which can be done through separating the particles, yet there are ways to go further for making the separation of particles efficient. Therefore, an on-chip integrated microfluidic device is required for separating the blood particles. The particle separation can be achieved by using porosity method which comes under the filtration techniques. The designed device consists of an inlet and an outlet reservoir. The device has a top channel and bottom channel for the blood flow where the filters are placed at the middle. By this way of filtration, it can easily separate normal and abnormal blood particles. From the whole blood sample, the particles are trapped by using hydrodynamics trapping method. The passive device is designed by COMSOL Multiphysics software and design results are presented

Anticancer activity of grassy Hystrix brachyura bezoar and its mechanisms of action: An in vitro and in vivo based study

Porcupine bezoar (PB) is a calcified undigested material generally found in porcupine’s (Hystrix brachyura) gastrointestinal tract. The bezoar is traditionally used in South East Asia and Europe for the treatment of cancer, poisoning, dengue, typhoid, etc. However, limited scientific studies have been performed to verify its anticancer potential to substantiate its traditional claims in the treatment of cancers. Hence, this study was aimed at investigating the in vitro and in vivo anticancer properties of two grassy PB aqueous extract (PB-A and PB-B) using A375 cancer cell line and zebrafish model, respectively. This paper presents the first report on in vitro A375 cell viability assay, apoptosis assay, cell cycle arrest assay, migration assay, invasion assay, qPCR experimental assay and in vivo anti-angiogenesis assay using the grassy PBs. Experimental findings revealed IC50 value are 26.59 ± 1.37 μg/mL and 30.12 ± 3.25 μg/mL for PB-A and PB-B respectively. PBs showed anti-proliferative activity with no significant cytotoxic effect on normal human dermal fibroblast (NHDF). PBs were also found to induce apoptosis via intrinsic pathway and arrest cell cycle at G2/M phase. Additionally, the findings indicated its ability to debilitate migration and invasion of A375 cells. Further evaluation using embryo zebrafish model revealed LC50 = 450.0 ± 2.50 μg/mL and 58.7 ± 5.0 μg/mL for PB-A and PB-B which also exerted anti-angiogenesis effect in zebrafish. Moreover, stearic acid, ursodeoxycholic acid and pregnenolone were identified as possible metabolites that might contribute to the anticancer effect of the both PBs. Overall, this study demonstrated that PB-A and PB-B possess potential in vitro and in vivo anticancer effects which are elicited through selective cytotoxic effect, induction of apoptosis, inhibition of migration and invasion and anti-angiogenesis. This study provides scientific evidence that the porcupine bezoar do possess anti-cancer efficacy and further justifies its traditional utility. However, more experiments with higher vertebrae models are still warranted to validate its traditional claims as an anticancer agent