Red blood cells estimation using Hough transform technique

The number of red blood cells contributes more to clinical diagnosis with respect to blood diseases. The aim of this research is to produce a computer vision system that can detect and estimate the number of red blood cells in the blood sample image. Morphological is a very powerful tool in image processing, and it is been used to segment and extract the red blood cells from the background and other cells. The algorithm used features such as shape of red blood cells for counting process, and Hough transform is introduced in this process. The result presented here is based on images with normal blood cells. The tested data consists of 10 samples and produced the accurate estimation rate closest to 96% from manual counting

Microfluidic Device for Single Cell Impedance Characterization

Detection of single particle has emerged as a noninvasive technique for diagnostic and prognostic patients with cancer suspected. Microfluidic impedance cytometry has been utilized to detect and measure the electrical impedance of single biological particles at high speed. The detailed information of single cells such as cell size, membrane capacitance, and cytoplasm conductivity also can be obtained by impedance measurement over a wide frequency range. In this work, we developed an integrated microneedle microfluidic device to detect and discriminate 9- and 16-μm microbeads. Two microneedles were utilized as measuring electrodes at the half height of the microfluidic device to perform measurement of electrical impedance under a presence of cells at the sensing area. Furthermore, this device was able to distinguish the cell concentration in the suspension fluid. The reusable microneedles were easy to be inserted and withdrawn from the disposable microfluidic. The ultrasonic cleaning machine has been used to clean the reusable microneedle with a simple cleaning process. Despite of the low-cost device, its capability to detect single particles at the sensing area was preserved. Therefore, this device is suitable for cost-efficient medical and food safety screening and testing process in developing countries

A novel integrated dual microneedle-microfluidic impedance flow cytometry for cells detection in suspensions

In this study, a new, simple and cost-effective impedance detection of yeast cell concentration by using a novel integrated dual microneedle-microfluidic impedance flow cytometry was introduced. The reported method for impedance flow cytometry detection utilizes embedded electrode and probe in the microfluidic device to perform measurement of electrical impedance when a presence of cells at sensing area. Nonetheless, this method requires costly and complicatedly fabrication process of electrode. Furthermore, to reuse the fabricated electrode, it also requires intensive and tedious cleaning process. Due to that, a dual microneedle integrated at the half height of the microchannel for cell detection as well as for electrical measurement was demonstrated. A commercial available Tungsten needle was utilized as a dual microneedle. The microneedle was easy to be removed from the disposable PDMS microchannel and can be reused with the simple cleaning process, such as washed by using ultrasonic cleaning. Although this device was low cost, it preserves the core functionality of the sensor, which is capable of detecting the passing cells at sensing area. Therefore, this device is suitable for low cost medical and food safety screening and testing process in developing countries

Determinants of International Capital Flows: The Case of Malaysia

This paper examines the determinants of international capital inflows into Malaysia in the forms of pull and push factors. The results from Johansen and Juselius cointegration test confirm the existence of a long run stable equilibrium relationship among the variables in the model. In addition, the Error Correction Model (ECM) has been utilized to detect the long run divergence from the equilibrium relationship between the explanatory variables and capital inflows in the specified model. The Wald tests from the ECM further support the notion that real GDP, domestic Treasury bill rate, budget balance, current account balance and US production do Granger cause capital inflows into Malaysia in the short run. The empirical findings in this study show that the pull factors especially budget balance and current account are imperative in explaining inflows of capital into Malaysia. Another interesting finding is the role of real factor as denoted by domestic and industrial country’s outputs in affecting the capital inflows

Red blood cells segmentation and estimation

The erythrocytes are the most numerous blood cells in human body and it also called red blood cells. The number of red blood cells contributes more to clinical diagnosis with respect to blood diseases. The aim of this research is to produce a computer vision system that can detect and estimate the number of red blood cells in blood sample image. The proposed system takes an input, color image of stained peripheral bold smear images. Since the object of interest is the red blood cells, the system is capability to detect or differentiate between the red blood cells with other blood cell based on size of object. In order to detect red blood cells, the segmentation and extraction step must come early before proceeded to the detection process. In addition this system also can provide the capability to estimate the number of red blood cells. This process is based on the circle detection process by considering that the red blood cells always in normal radius and circle shape of red blood cells. Thus, the result presented here is based on images with normal blood cells. The tested data consisting 20 samples produced the accurate estimation rate close to 96% from manual counting

Signal & Image Processing

ABSTRACT The number of red blood cells contributes more to clinical diagnosis with respect to blood diseases. The aim of this research is to produce a computer vision system that can detect and estimate the number of red blood cells in the blood sample image. Morphological is a very powerful tool in image processing, and it is been used to segment and extract the red blood cells from the background and other cells. The algorithm used features such as shape of red blood cells for counting process, and Hough transform is introduced in this process. The result presented here is based on images with normal blood cells. The tested data consists of 10 samples and produced the accurate estimation rate closest to 96% from manual counting

An impedance flow cytometry with integrated dual microneedle for electrical properties characterization of single cell

AbstractElectrical characteristics of living cells have been proven to reveal important details about their internal structure, charge distribution and composition changes in the cell membrane, as well as the extracellular context. An impedance flow cytometry is a common approach to determine the electrical properties of a cell, having the advantage of label-free and high throughput. However, the current techniques are complex and costly for the fabrication process. For that reason, we introduce an integrated dual microneedle-microchannel for single-cell detection and electrical properties extraction. The dual microneedles utilized a commercially available tungsten needle coated with parylene. When a single cell flows through the parallel-facing electrode configuration of the dual microneedle, the electrical impedance at multiple frequencies is measured. The impedance measurement demonstrated the differential of normal red blood cells (RBCs) with three different sizes of microbeads at low and high frequencies, 100 kHz and 2 MHz, respectively. An electrical equivalent circuit model (ECM) was used to determine the unique membrane capacitance of individual cells. The proposed technique demonstrated that the specific membrane capacitance of an RBC is 9.42 mF/m−2, with the regression coefficients, [Formula: see text] at 0.9895. As a result, this device may potentially be used in developing countries for low-cost single-cell screening and detection

Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy for Detection of Cells in Suspensions Using Microfluidic Device with Integrated Microneedles

In this study, we introduce novel method of flow cytometry for cell detection based on impedance measurements. The state of the art method for impedance flow cytometry detection utilizes an embedded electrode in the microfluidic to perform measurement of electrical impedance of the presence of cells at the sensing area. Nonetheless, this method requires an expensive and complicated electrode fabrication process. Furthermore, reuse of the fabricated electrode also requires an intensive and tedious cleaning process. Due to that, we present a microfluidic device with integrated microneedles. The two microneedles are placed at the half height of the microchannel for cell detection and electrical measurement. A commercially-available Tungsten needle was utilized for the microneedles. The microneedles are easily removed from the disposable PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) microchannel and can be reused with a simple cleaning process, such as washing by ultrasonic cleaning. Although this device was low cost, it preserves the core functionality of the sensor, which is capable of detecting passing cells at the sensing area. Therefore, this device is suitable for low-cost medical and food safety screening and testing process in developing countries