Special Section Guest Editorial:Polarized Light for Biomedical Applications

International audienc

In Vitro Evaluation of Fluorescence Glucose Biosensor Response

Rapid, accurate, and minimally-invasive glucose biosensors based on Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) for glucose measurement have the potential to enhance diabetes control. However, a standard set of in vitro approaches for evaluating optical glucose biosensor response under controlled conditions would facilitate technological innovation and clinical translation. Towards this end, we have identified key characteristics and response test methods, fabricated FRET-based glucose biosensors, and characterized biosensor performance using these test methods. The biosensors were based on competitive binding between dextran and glucose to concanavalin A and incorporated long-wavelength fluorescence dye pairs. Testing characteristics included spectral response, linearity, sensitivity, limit of detection, kinetic response, reversibility, stability, precision, and accuracy. The biosensor demonstrated a fluorescence change of 45% in the presence of 400 mg/dL glucose, a mean absolute relative difference of less than 11%, a limit of detection of 25 mg/dL, a response time of 15 min, and a decay in fluorescence intensity of 72% over 30 days. The battery of tests presented here for objective, quantitative in vitro evaluation of FRET glucose biosensors performance have the potential to form the basis of future consensus standards. By implementing these test methods for a long-visible-wavelength biosensor, we were able to demonstrate strengths and weaknesses with a new level of thoroughness and rigor

Synthetic photoplethysmography (PPG) of the radial artery through parallelized Monte Carlo and its correlation to body mass index (BMI)

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United States and obesity significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The measurement of blood pressure (BP) is critical in monitoring and managing cardiovascular disease hence new wearable devices are being developed to make BP more accessible to physicians and patients. Several wearables utilize photoplethysmography from the wrist vasculature to derive BP assessment although many of these devices are still at the experimental stage. With the ultimate goal of supporting instrument development, we have developed a model of the photoplethysmographic waveform derived from the radial artery at the volar surface of the wrist. To do so we have utilized the relation between vessel biomechanics through Finite Element Method and Monte Carlo light transport model. The model shows similar features to that seen in PPG waveform captured using an off the shelf device. We observe the influence of body mass index on the PPG signal. A degradation the PPG signal of up to 40% in AC to DC signal ratio was thus observed

Sources of inaccuracy in photoplethysmography for continuous cardiovascular monitoring

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a low-cost, noninvasive optical technique that uses change in light transmission with changes in blood volume within tissue to provide information for cardiovascular health and fitness. As remote health and wearable medical devices become more prevalent, PPG devices are being developed as part of wearable systems to monitor parameters such as heart rate (HR) that do not require complex analysis of the PPG waveform. However, complex analyses of the PPG waveform yield valuable clinical information, such as: blood pressure, respiratory information, sympathetic nervous system activity, and heart rate variability. Systems aiming to derive such complex parameters do not always account for realistic sources of noise, as testing is performed within controlled parameter spaces. A wearable monitoring tool to be used beyond fitness and heart rate must account for noise sources originating from individual patient variations (e.g., skin tone, obesity, age, and gender), physiology (e.g., respiration, venous pulsation, body site of measurement, and body temperature), and external perturbations of the device itself (e.g., motion artifact, ambient light, and applied pressure to the skin). Here, we present a comprehensive review of the literature that aims to summarize these noise sources for future PPG device development for use in health monitoring

Symmetric decomposition of Mueller matrices reveals a new parametric space for polarimetric assistance in colon cancer histopathology

Tissue polarimetry could be identified as a complementary optical and non-invasive technique to assist the gold standard histopathology analysis of tissue. In general, polarimetric diagnostics is based on tracing different polarimetric responses (including light depolarization) in tissue zones with structure altered by the benign and pre/cancerous formations. In this manuscript, both healthy and malignant tissue zones of a thick formalin-fixed colon specimen were used for Mueller matrix measurements. Additionally, two more Mueller matrices from Monte Carlo simulation and tissue mimicking phantom were also evaluated, in order to assess polarimetric char- acterization and modeling of turbid media. Symmetric decomposition algorithm of Mueller matrices developed in house was adopted to extract both polarization and depolarization properties, encoded in the Mueller matrix elements. The decomposition products allowed to reveal important information about the internal tissue struc- ture and morphology. The depolarization and polarization parameters were found to follow the particular trends that depend on a choice of parametric space

The 2023 wearable photoplethysmography roadmap

Photoplethysmography is a key sensing technology which is used in wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. Currently, photoplethysmography sensors are used to monitor physiological parameters including heart rate and heart rhythm, and to track activities like sleep and exercise. Yet, wearable photoplethysmography has potential to provide much more information on health and wellbeing, which could inform clinical decision making. This Roadmap outlines directions for research and development to realise the full potential of wearable photoplethysmography. Experts discuss key topics within the areas of sensor design, signal processing, clinical applications, and research directions. Their perspectives provide valuable guidance to researchers developing wearable photoplethysmography technology

The 2MASS Redshift Survey - Description and Data Release

We present the results of the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS), a ten-year project to map the full three-dimensional distribution of galaxies in the nearby Universe. The 2 Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) was completed in 2003 and its final data products, including an extended source catalog (XSC), are available on-line. The 2MASS XSC contains nearly a million galaxies with Ks <= 13.5 mag and is essentially complete and mostly unaffected by interstellar extinction and stellar confusion down to a galactic latitude of |b|=5 deg for bright galaxies. Near-infrared wavelengths are sensitive to the old stellar populations that dominate galaxy masses, making 2MASS an excellent starting point to study the distribution of matter in the nearby Universe. We selected a sample of 44,599 2MASS galaxies with Ks =5 deg (>= 8 deg towards the Galactic bulge) as the input catalog for our survey. We obtained spectroscopic observations for 11,000 galaxies and used previously-obtained velocities for the remainder of the sample to generate a redshift catalog that is 97.6% complete to well-defined limits and covers 91% of the sky. This provides an unprecedented census of galaxy (baryonic mass) concentrations within 300 Mpc. Earlier versions of our survey have been used in a number of publications that have studied the bulk motion of the Local Group, mapped the density and peculiar velocity fields out to 50 Mpc, detected galaxy groups, and estimated the values of several cosmological parameters. Additionally, we present morphological types for a nearly-complete sub-sample of 20,860 galaxies with Ks = 10 deg.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. The 2MRS catalogs and a version of the paper with higher-resolution figures can be found at http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/2mrs

Dynamic eye phantom for retinal oximetry measurements

Measurements of oxygen saturation and flow in the retina can yield information about eye health and the onset of eye pathologies such as diabetic retinopathy. Recently, we developed a multiaperture camera that uses the division of the retinal image into several wavelength-sensitive subimages to compute retinal oxygen saturation. The calibration of such instruments is particularly difficult due to the layered structure of the eye and the lack of alternative measurement techniques. For this purpose, we realize an in vitro model of the human eye composed of a lens, the retina vessel, and three layers: the choroid, the retinal pigmented epithelium, and the sclera. The retinal vessel is modeled with a microtube connected to a micropump and a hemoglobin reservoir in a closed circulatory system. Hemoglobin oxygenation in the vessel could be altered using a reversible fuel cell. The sclera is represented by a Spectralon slab. The optical properties of the other layers are mimicked using titanium dioxide as a scatterer, ink as an absorber, and epoxy as a supporting structure. The optical thickness of each layer of the eye phantom is matched to each respective eye layer