Optical Diagnostics of the Maxillary Sinuses by Digital Diaphanoscopy Technology

The work is devoted to the development of a scientific and technical basis for instrument implementation of a digital diaphanoscopy technology for the diagnosis of maxillary sinus inflammatory diseases taking into account the anatomical features of patients (differences in skin structure, skull bone thickness, and sinus size), the optical properties of exercised tissues, and the age and gender characteristics of patients. The technology is based on visualization and analysis of scattering patterns of low-intensity radiation as it passes through the maxillary sinuses. The article presents the experimental data obtained using the digital diaphanoscopy method and the results of numerical simulation of the optical radiation passage through the study area. The experimental setup has been modernized through the installation of a a device for controlling the LED applicator brightness. The approach proposed may have considerable promise for creating diagnostic criteria for various pathological changes and can be used to assess the differences in the optical and anatomical features of males and females

WAVELET-BASED ANALYSIS OF CEREBROVASCULAR DYNAMICS IN NEWBORN RATS WITH INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGES

Intracranial hemorrhage (IH) is a major problem of neonatal intensive care. The incidence of IH is typically asymptomatic and cannot be effectively detected by standard diagnostic methods. The mechanisms underlying IH are unknown but there is evidence that stress-induced disorders in adrenergic regulation of cerebral venous blood flow (CVBF) are among the main reasons. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of CVBF could significantly advance understanding of the nature of IH in newborns. In this work, we analyze variations of CVBF in newborn rats with an experimental model of stress-induced IH and adrenaline injection. Our analysis is based on the Doppler optical coherence tomography (DOCT) and a proposed adaptive wavelet-based approach that provides sensitive markers of abnormal reactions of the sagittal vein to external factors. The obtained results demonstrate that the incidence of IH in newborn rats is accompanied by a suppression of CVBF with the development of venous insufficiency and areactivity to adrenaline. We introduce a numerical measure θ, quantifying reactions of CVBF and show that the values θ < 1.23 estimated in the low-frequency (LF) spectral range corresponding to the sympathicus indicate abnormal reactions associated with the development of IH. We conclude that the revealed areactivity of the cerebral veins to adrenaline represents a possible mechanism responsible for pathological changes in CVBF

Towards effective photothermal/photodynamic treatment using plasmonic gold nanoparticles

Abstract Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of different size and shape are widely used as photosensitizers for cancer diagnostics and plasmonic photothermal (PPT)/photodynamic (PDT) therapy, as nanocarriers for drug delivery and laser-mediated pathogen killing, even the underlying mechanisms of treatment effects remain poorly understood. There is a need in analyzing and improving the ways to increase accumulation of AuNP in tumors and other crucial steps in interaction of AuNPs with laser light and tissues. In this review, we summarize our recent theoretical, experimental, and pre-clinical results on light activated interaction of AuNPs with tissues and cells. Specifically, we discuss a combined PPT/PDT treatment of tumors and killing of pathogen bacteria with gold-based nanocomposites and atomic clusters, cell optoporation, and theoretical simulations of nanoparticle-mediated laser heating of tissues and cells

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for identification and discrimination of beverage spoilage yeasts using patterned substrates and gold nanoparticles

Abstract In the beverage industry, the detection of spoilage yeasts such as Wickerhamomyces anomalus and Brettanomyces bruxellensis can be labourious and time-consuming. In the present study, a simple and repeatable technique was developed for rapid yeast detection using a combination of patterned gold-coated surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates and gold nanoparticles. W. anomalus and B. bruxellensis showed several characteristic peaks, enabling the discrimination of these yeasts without chemometric analysis. The control yeast used as an indicator yeast, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, showed 7 cell wall-related peaks originating from lipids and haemoproteins. Analysing W. anomalus SERS spectra with differently sized and shaped gold nanoparticles revealed the benefit of using either large, spherical, chemically synthesised gold nanoparticles or small, laser-synthesised, gold-silicon nanoparticles for yeast detection. Additionally, the spectra showed differences in SERS signal construction for small molecules and biological cells, as the nanoparticles with best response in biological cell detection did not excel in small molecule detection. The use of small composite gold-silicon nanoparticles in combination with the SERS substrate gave distinctive spectra for all detected yeast species

Targeted genetic modification of cell lines for recombinant protein production

Considerable increases in productivity have been achieved in biopharmaceutical production processes over the last two decades. Much of this has been a result of improvements in media formulation and process development. Though advances have been made in cell line development, there remains considerable opportunity for improvement in this area. The wealth of transcriptional and proteomic data being generated currently hold the promise of specific molecular interventions to improve the performance of production cell lines in the bioreactor. Achieving this—particularly for multi-gene modification—will require specific, targeted and controlled genetic manipulation of these cells. This review considers some of the current and potential future techniques that might be employed to realise this goal

DNA methylation dynamics during B cell maturation underlie a continuum of disease phenotypes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Charting differences between tumors and normal tissue is a mainstay of cancer research. However, clonal tumor expansion from complex normal tissue architectures potentially obscures cancer-specific events, including divergent epigenetic patterns. Using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing of normal B cell subsets, we observed broad epigenetic programming of selective transcription factor binding sites coincident with the degree of B cell maturation. By comparing normal B cells to malignant B cells from 268 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), we showed that tumors derive largely from a continuum of maturation states reflected in normal developmental stages. Epigenetic maturation in CLL was associated with an indolent gene expression pattern and increasingly favorable clinical outcomes. We further uncovered that most previously reported tumor-specific methylation events are normally present in non-malignant B cells. Instead, we identified a potential pathogenic role for transcription factor dysregulation in CLL, where excess programming by EGR and NFAT with reduced EBF and AP-1 programming imbalances the normal B cell epigenetic program