This review will present a brief discussion on the recent advancements of bioelectrical impedance cell-based biosensors, especially the electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) system for ...screening of various bioactive molecules. The different technical integrations of various chip types, working principles, measurement systems, and applications for drug targeting of molecules in cells are highlighted in this paper. Screening of bioactive molecules based on electric cell-substrate impedance sensing is a trial-and-error process toward the development of therapeutically active agents for drug discovery and therapeutics. In general, bioactive molecule screening can be used to identify active molecular targets for various diseases and toxicity at the cellular level with nanoscale resolution. In the innovation and screening of new drugs or bioactive molecules, the activeness, the efficacy of the compound, and safety in biological systems are the main concerns on which determination of drug candidates is based. Further, drug discovery and screening of compounds are often performed in cell-based test systems in order to reduce costs and save time. Moreover, this system can provide more relevant results in in vivo studies, as well as high-throughput drug screening for various diseases during the early stages of drug discovery. Recently, MEMS technologies and integration with image detection techniques have been employed successfully. These new technologies and their possible ongoing transformations are addressed. Select reports are outlined, and not all the work that has been performed in the field of drug screening and development is covered.
Each day, a vast amount of data is generated by a range of medical sources (actuators, devices, and sensors). Medical researchers and physicians can discover a wealth of valuable medical information ...by examining this medical data. This information can be utilized to detect diseases at an early stage and to make critical treatment decisions. However, in the era of big data, the machine learning community faces new hurdles when applying classification algorithms to real-world scenarios due to the data's variety, volume, velocity, and validity. The primary goal of this research is to automate the learning procedure (feature extraction, parameters tuning, and optimization) of the existing classification algorithms such as support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF). For this proposed method, Chi-square feature analysis is utilized to automate the feature selection process, and principal component analysis is being used to reduce the dimensionality of large datasets. Further, to improve the parameter tuning of machine learning algorithms, an improved Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) is employed in this article. Finally, S VM and RF classification models are created and compared to find the ideal combinations for big data analysis.
Antioxidant (quercetin) and hypoglycemic (voglibose) drug-loaded poly-D,L-lactideco-glycolide nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using the solvent evaporation method. The dual drug-loaded ...nanoparticles were incorporated into a scaffold film using a solvent casting method, creating a controlled transdermal drug-delivery system. Key features of the film formulation were achieved utilizing several ratios of excipients, including polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol, hyaluronic acid, xylitol, and alginate. The scaffold film showed superior encapsulation capability and swelling properties, with various potential applications, eg, the treatment of diabetes-associated complications. Structural and light scattering characterization confirmed a spherical shape and a mean particle size distribution of 41.3 nm for nanoparticles in the scaffold film. Spectroscopy revealed a stable polymer structure before and after encapsulation. The thermoresponsive swelling properties of the film were evaluated according to temperature and pH. Scaffold films incorporating dual drug-loaded nanoparticles showed remarkably high thermoresponsivity, cell compatibility, and ex vivo drug-release behavior. In addition, the hybrid film formulation showed enhanced cell adhesion and proliferation. These dual drug-loaded nanoparticles incorporated into a scaffold film may be promising for development into a transdermal drug-delivery system.
This paper identifies the non-equilibrium evolution of magnetic field structures at the onset of large-scale recombination of an inhomogeneously ionized plasma. The context for this is the Universe ...during the epoch of recombination. The electromagnetic treatment of this phase transition can produce energetic electrons scattered throughout the Universe, localized near the edges of magnetic domains. This is confirmed by a numerical simulation in which a magnetic domain is modelled as a uniform field region produced by a thin surrounding current sheet. Conduction currents sustaining the magnetic structure are removed as the charges comprising them combine into neutrals. The induced electric field accompanying the magnetic collapse is able to accelerate ambient stationary electrons (that is, electrons not participating in the current sheet) to energies of up to order 10keV. This is consistent with theoretical predictions. The localized electron acceleration leads to local imbalances of charge which has implications for charge separation in the early Universe.
CubeSat missions are flying a variety of battery technologies and range of battery capacities. As the CubeSat form factors continue to grow in size, the battery capacities will need to grow too. Thus ...maximizing battery capacity and the efficiency of battery packs are increasingly more important. To address this need for our university-built CubeSats, a new automated system used for flight testing battery cells was developed to optimize the capacity and long-term performance of a battery pack. The important steps of creating a low-cost, highly-efficient battery pack are described in detail, along with an overview of the safety acceptance testing for CubeSats deployed from the International Space Station (ISS), a location with some of the most demanding acceptance criteria, and often used as a launch platform for CubeSats. These steps include selecting the battery pack materials, developing the testing hardware and related automation software, and selecting matched battery cells for the flight battery packs. Our automation software is publicly available. The task of matching the maximum voltages and capacities of individual battery cells is an important but often time consuming process if not automated. Our battery test system autonomously charges and discharges multiple Lithium Polymer cells independently and at the same time tracks the current, voltage, and elapsed time of each cycle for capacity calculations. From these results we can combine cells to maximize the capacity for a flight battery pack. This battery test system also provides automated battery pack charge / discharge cycling to identify the battery packs with the higher efficiencies to be selected for flight. The measured state of charge curves for a battery pack, and the trending of those curves, is important for mission planning and operations. Our battery test system is low cost, and the build and test processes are easy to replicate, making it highly desirable for small spacecraft.
Plants contain enriched bioactive molecules that can protect against skin diseases. Bioactive molecules become unstable and ineffective due to unfavorable conditions. In the present study, to improve ...the therapeutic efficacy of phytodrugs and enhance photoprotective capability, we used poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) as a carrier of apple peel ethanolic extract (APETE) on permeation-enhanced nanoparticles (nano-APETE). The in vitro toxicity of nano-APETE-treated dermal fibroblast cells were studied in a bioimpedance system, and the results coincided with the viability assay. In addition, the continuous real-time evaluations of photodamage and photoprotective effect of nano-APETE on cells were studied. Among three different preparations of nano-APETE, the lowest concentration provided small, spherical, monodispersed, uniform particles which show high encapsulation, enhanced uptake, effective scavenging, and sustained intracellular delivery. Also, the nano-APETE is more flexible, allowing it to permeate through skin lipid membrane and release the drug in a sustained manner, thus confirming its ability as a sustained transdermal delivery. In summary, 50 μM nano-APETE shows strong synergistic photoprotective effects, thus demonstrating its higher activity on target sites for the treatment of skin damage, and would be of broad interest in the field of skin therapeutics.
We have isolated a maedi-visna-like virus from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a British sheep displaying symptoms of arthritis and pneumonia. After brief passage in fibroblasts this virus ...(designated EV1) was used to infect choroid plexus cells. cDNA clones of the virus were prepared from these cells and sequenced. Gaps between non-overlapping clones were filled using gene amplification by the polymerase chain reaction. The genome structure is similar to that described for visna virus strain 1514, and differs from that described for visna virus strain SA-OMVV in not having a W reading frame. Overall the genome differs by about 20% between each of these strains, but there is fivefold variation in the amount of divergence of derived amino acid sequences of different open reading frames. Two sequenced EV1 clones each contain only one copy of the 43 bp repeat, with paired AP-1 sites, which is a feature of other ruminant lentiviral long terminal repeats (LTRs). However, analysis of viral DNA in infected cells by gene amplification shows that LTRs with two repeats do occur, albeit at a relatively low frequency.
HOLMES is an experiment aimed at directly measuring the neutrino mass through the calorimetric measurement of the 163Ho electron capture decay. The final goal of the project consists in providing a ...sensitivity on the neutrino mass below 2 eV; in addition, it will establish the potential of this approach to achieve a sub-eV sensitivity. The detectors performances play a crucial role in achieving the desired sensitivity. Indeed, for such an experiment, the following characteristics are required: short response time (∼1μs) to solve pile-up events, great energy resolution (∼1 eV @ 2.8 keV) and compatibility to be multiplexed in large detector arrays (≳1000). HOLMES will deploy 1000 Transition Edge Sensors which will be readout with the microwave multiplexing technique. In this contribution we outline the experimental setup used in the characterization phase of the detectors.
•Transition Edge Sensors.•Neutrino mass measurement.•Multiplexed readout.
The HOLMES Experiment Faverzani, M.; Alpert, B.; Backer, D. ...
Journal of low temperature physics,
08/2016, Letnik:
184, Številka:
3-4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The determination of the neutrino mass is an open issue in modern particle physics and astrophysics. The direct mass measurement is the only theory-unrelated experimental tool capable to probe such ...quantity. The HOLMES experiment will measure the end-point energy of the electron capture decay of
163
Ho, aiming at a statistical sensitivity on the neutrino mass around 1 eV/c
2
. In order to acquire the large needed statistics by keeping the pile-up contribution as low as possible, 1000 transition edge sensors will be readout simultaneously with the frequency domain readout, a multiplexing technique where the multiplex factor is only limited by the bandwidth of the available commercial fast digitizers. We outline here the HOLMES project with its technical challenges, and its status and perspectives.
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