Development of a handheld diffuse optical breast cancer assessment probe

Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy (DOS) is a promising non-invasive and non-ionizing technique for breast anomaly detection. In this study, we have developed a new handheld DOS probe to measure optical properties of breast tissue. In the proposed probe, the breast tissue is illuminated with four near infrared (NIR) wavelengths light emitting diodes (LED), which are encapsulated in a package (eLEDs), and two PIN photodiodes measure the intensity of the scattered photons at two different locations. The proposed technique of using eLEDs is introduced, in order to have a multi-wavelength pointed-beam illumination source instead of using the laser-coupled fiber-optic technique, which increases the complexity, size, and cost of the probe. Despite the fact that the proposed technique miniaturizes the probe and reduces the complexity of the DOS, the study proves that it is accurate and reliable in measuring optical properties of the tissue. The measurements are performed at the rate of 10Hz which is suitable for dynamic measurement of biological activity, in-vivo. The multi-spectral evaluation algorithm is used to reconstruct four main absorber concentrations in the breast including oxy-hemoglobin (cHb), deoxy-hemoglobin (cHbO2), water (cH2O), fat (cFat), and average scattering coefficient of the medium, as well as concentration changes in Hb (ΔcHb) and HbO2 (ΔcHbO2). Although the probe is designed for breast cancer diagnosis, it can be used in a wide range of applications for both static and dynamic measurements such as functional brain imaging. A series of phantoms, comprised of Delrin®, Intralipid®, PierceTM and Black ink, are used to verify performance of the device. The probe will be tested on human subjects, in-vivo, in the next phase

Developing a Permutation Method Using Tabu Search Algorithm: A Case Study of Ranking Some Countries of West Asia and North Africa Based on Important Development Criteria

The recent years have witnessed an increasing attention to the methods of multiple attribute decision making in solving the problems of the real world due to their shorter time of calculation and easy application. One of these methods is the ‘permutation method’ which has a strong logic in connection with ranking issues, but when the number of alternatives increases, solving problems through this method becomes NP-hard. So, meta-heuristic algorithm based on Tabu search is used to find optimum or near optimum solutions at a reasonable computational time for large size problems. This research is an attempt to apply the ‘permutation method’ to rank some countries of the West Asia and the North Africa based on the development criteria. Knowing the situation of each country as compared with other countries, particularly the respective neighbouring countries, is one of the most important standards for the assessment of performance and planning for the future activities

Designing an integrated production/distribution and inventory planning model of fixed-life perishable products

This paper aims to investigate the integrated production/distribution and inventory planning for perishable products with fixed life time in the constant condition of storage throughout a two-echelon supply chain by integrating producers and distributors. This problem arises from real environment in which multi-plant with multi-function lines produce multi-perishable products with fixed life time into a lot sizing to be shipped with multi-vehicle to multi-distribution-center to minimize multi-objective such as setup costs between products, holding costs, shortage costs, spoilage costs, transportation costs and production costs. There are many investigations which have been devoted on production/distribution planning area with different assumption. However, this research aims to extend this planning by integrating an inventory system with it in which for each distribution center, net inventory, shortage, FIFO system and spoilage of items are calculated. A mixed integer non-linear programming model (MINLP) is developed for the considered problem. Furthermore, a genetic algorithm (GA) and a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm are proposed to solve the model for real size applications. Also, Taguchi method is applied to optimize parameters of the algorithms. Computational characteristics of the proposed algorithms are examined and tested using t-tests at the 95% confidence level to identify the most effective meta-heuristic algorithm in term of relative percentage deviation (RPD). Finally, Computational results show that the GA outperforms SA although the computation time of SA is smaller than the GA

Multi-Modality Breast Cancer Assessment Tools Using Diffuse Optical and Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy

Diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS) and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are promising non-invasive and non-ionizing techniques for breast anomaly detection. This research aims at development of low-cost and novel hand-held devices that are able to differentiate between malignant and benign lesions in human subjects. Three probes have been designed and developed in this research, including a diffuse optical spectroscopy probe for measuring the optical properties of breast tissue, a combined diffuse optical spectroscopy probe with electrical impedance spectroscopy probe for measuring the optical and electrical properties of the breast tissue simultaneously, and a diffuse optical breast-scanning (DOB-Scan) probe for creating cross-sectional optical images of the breast.In addition to a detailed description of the developed instruments, two studies are presented: a phantom study detecting inhomogeneity in the homogeneous phantom using DOS and DOB-Scan probe, and a clinical study to diagnosis malignant lesions in the patients who have breast cancer.The DOS-EIS probe was successfully used in an initial clinical study on cancer patients, and the results conclusively demonstrated its ability to differentiate between cancerous breast tissue and healthy tissue using diffuse optical spectroscopy combined with electrical impedance spectroscopy. The results of DOB-Scan imaging probe in the clinical study reflect that the probe can capture malignant tissues underneath of the probe. These studies demonstrate that diffuse optical spectroscopy and electrical impedance spectroscopy are valuable modalities that can play an important role in breast tumor detection and monitoring

The effect of copper and zinc as effective trace elements in human body

Background: During the last decade, advances in the analytical methods have greatly increased our understanding of the role of trace elements in the human body. Minerals were categorized into macro and micronutrients, but it has become clear that trace elements such as copper and zinc can be as unique as vitamins in the human body.Materials and Methods: An animal model was used for clinical studies. A diet containing inorganic copper was considered for the animals.Results: Recently Brewer provided an understanding of the role of ingestion of inorganic copper on cognitive loss and its possible contributions to Alzheimer�s disease (AD). Similarly, Rosanna Squitti reviewed studies that indicate that the copper dysfunction may be a causative factor in the pathology of AD. Prasad' studies also revealed that zinc was not considered essential for the human body until 1963, but now it is believed that Zinc deficiency affects nearly 2 billion people around the world. Conclusion: Zinc is a growth factor for the human and its deficiency resulting in growth retardation, gonadal failure, and premature death in children. Also, the copper in drinking water and copper supplements are a major factor triggering the AD epidemics. Therefore, people can reduce their risk of AD by stopping the use of copper supplements and testing the copper levels in their drinking water

Handheld diffuse optical breast scanner probe for cross-sectional imaging of breast tissue

Diffuse optical spectroscopy is a relatively new, noninvasive and nonionizing technique for breast cancer diagnosis. In the present study, we have introduced a novel handheld diffuse optical breast scan (DOB-Scan) probe to measure optical properties of the breast in vivo and create functional and compositional images of the tissue. In addition, the probe gives more information about breast tissue’s constituents, which helps distinguish a healthy and cancerous tissue. Two symmetrical light sources, each including four different wavelengths, are used to illuminate the breast tissue. A high-resolution linear array detector measures the intensity of the back-scattered photons at different radial destinations from the illumination sources on the surface of the breast tissue, and a unique image reconstruction algorithm is used to create four cross-sectional images for four different wavelengths. Different from fiber optic-based illumination techniques, the proposed method in this paper integrates multi-wavelength light-emitting diodes to act as pencil beam sources into a scattering medium like breast tissue. This unique design and its compact structure reduce the complexity, size and cost of a potential probe. Although the introduced technique miniaturizes the probe, this study points to the reliability of this technique in the phantom study and clinical breast imaging. We have received ethical approval to test the DOB-Scan probe on patients and we are currently testing the DOB-Scan probe on subjects who are diagnosed with breast cancer