Low-Cost Refractometer for Measurement of Protein Concentration and Specific Gravity of Body Fluids

The measurement of protein concentration in serum and other body fluids can be helpful in disease diagnosis and prognosis. It is commonly helpful to know whether a collection of fluid is transudate or exudate. The specific gravity of fluids, including urine, can also be a useful diagnostic tool. The estimation of protein concentration is usually possible only in hospitals where costly chemistry analysers are available. Specific gravity can be measured by standard methods only if large volumes of fluid are available: it is often not possible to measure the specific gravity of cerebrospinal, pleural, pericardial, or pancreatic fluids, or of urine if the volume is less than 50 μl. Recently, we have obtained a small and very handy device by which one can measure both the specific gravity of fluids in small volumes and also their protein content. The method is based on the refraction of light. Both purchase and running costs are very low by comparison with standard laboratory techniques. We describe the use of this instrument and compare its performance with other available methods.

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IMPORTANCE OF ASHTAVIDHA PARIKSHA – AS A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL

November 2020 - International Ayurvedic Medical Journal ◽

10.46607/iamj0909052021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 1000-1006

Author(s):

Bhoomika Patel ◽

Sanjay Srivastava

Keyword(s):

Clinical Practice ◽

Clinical Examination ◽

Diagnostic Tool ◽

Clinical Utility ◽

Disease Diagnosis ◽

Effective Management ◽

Therapeutic Tool ◽

Diagnosis And Prognosis ◽

Different Types

For effective management of disease, diagnosis and prognosis are two important aspects. Clinical examination is an important tool for assessment of disease as well as condition of patient. Different types of examination depicted in Ayurveda among that Ashtavidha Pariksha viz. Nadi (Pulse), Mootra (Urine), Mala (Faeces), Jihwa (Tongue), Shabda (Speech), Sparsha (Touch), Drika (Eyes) and Akriti (Posture) an effective tool for clinical examination of patient, which was routinely used by traditional Ayurvedic practitioner, but is missing in present era. In this paper, the clinical utility of Ashtavidha Pariksha is discussed which will be helpful for scholars to use it as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in their clinical practice. Keywords: Ashtasthana Pariksha, Ayurveda, Examination, Diagnosis, Prognosis.

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Exosome: An Emerging Source of Biomarkers for Human Diseases

Current Molecular Medicine ◽

10.2174/1566524019666190429144310 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (6) ◽

pp. 387-394 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Li Xu ◽

Long-Fei Wu ◽

Fei-Yan Deng

Keyword(s):

Breast Milk ◽

Intercellular Communication ◽

Translational Medicine ◽

Disease Diagnosis ◽

Human Diseases ◽

Isolation And Identification ◽

Biomarker Identification ◽

Biological Features ◽

Diagnosis And Prognosis ◽

Novel Biomarkers

Exosomes are 30-120nm long endocytic membrane-derived vesicles, which are secreted by various types of cells and stably present in body fluids, such as plasma, urine, saliva and breast milk. Exosomes participate in intercellular communication. Recently accumulative studies have suggested that exosomes may serve as novel biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis. Herein, we reviewed the biological features of exosomes, technologies for exosome isolation and identification, as well as progress in exosomal biomarker identification, highlighting the relevance of exosome to human diseases and significance and great potential in translational medicine.

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A low-cost diagnostic tool for stepping motors

IMTC/99. Proceedings of the 16th IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (Cat. No.99CH36309) ◽

10.1109/imtc.1999.776802 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

A. Flammini ◽

D. Marioli ◽

A. Taroni

Keyword(s):

Diagnostic Tool ◽

Low Cost

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Rapid RNase Inhibitor Production to Enable Low‐cost, On‐demand Cell‐Free Protein Synthesis Biosensor use in Human Body Fluids

Biotechnology and Bioengineering ◽

10.1002/bit.27874 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mehran Soltani ◽

J. Porter Hunt ◽

Bradley C. Bundy

Keyword(s):

Protein Synthesis ◽

Human Body ◽

Low Cost ◽

Body Fluids ◽

Rnase Inhibitor ◽

Free Protein ◽

On Demand ◽

Cell Free Protein Synthesis

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Urine specific gravity as a diagnostic tool for dehydration in children

Paediatrica Indonesiana ◽

10.14238/pi50.5.2010.269-73 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 50 (5) ◽

pp. 269 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kalis Joko Purwanto ◽

Mohammad Juffrie ◽

Djauhar Ismail

Keyword(s):

Weight Loss ◽

Body Weight ◽

Specific Gravity ◽

Diagnostic Tool ◽

Clinical Judgment ◽

Plasma Osmolality ◽

Body Weight Loss ◽

Urine Osmolality ◽

Urine Specific Gravity ◽

Urine Production

Background Using clinical judgment to diagnose dehydration can be highly subjective. To diagnose dehydration, it would be ideal to have an accurate, inexpensive, objective and easy-to-perform diagnostic tool. In cases of dehydration, plasma osmolality rises, causing an increase in antidiuretic hormone (ADH) secretion. The increased ADH reduces urine production and increases urine osmolality. Previous studies have show that urine osmolality correlates well to urine specific gravity. We investigated if urine specific gravity can be a reliable and objective detennination of dehydration status.Objective To assess the accuracy of using urine specific gravity as a diagnostic tool to determine dehydration status of children with diarrhea.Methods We conducted the study in the pediatric ward of Sardjito Hospital from September 2009 to December 2009. Using a refractometer we measured urine specific gravity from patients with diarrhea. This measurement was then compared to a standard of acute body weight loss, with dehydration defined as weight loss of 5% or more. The cut-off value for defining dehydration using specific gravity measurements was detennined by a receiver-operator curve (ROC).Results Out of 61 pediatric patients who were recruited in this study, 18 (30%) had dehydration as defined by a body weight loss of 5% or more. Based on the ROC, we determined the cut off value for urine specific gravity to be 1.022. Using this value, urine specific gravity was 72% sensitive (95% CI 52 to 93), and 84% specific (95% CI 73 to 95) in determining dehydration status.Conclusion Urine specific gravity is less accurate than clinical judgment in determining dehydration status in children with diarrhea.

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Identifying the Mineralogy of Rock Temper in Ceramics Using X-Radiography

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/282055 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 60 (4) ◽

pp. 723-749 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Christopher Carr ◽

Jean-Christophe Komorowski

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Specific Gravity ◽

Atomic Number ◽

Low Cost ◽

Gray Level ◽

Middle Woodland ◽

Scattered Electron ◽

Thin Sectioning ◽

Internal Texture

Industrial and medical x-radiography can be used in a manner analogous to back-scattered electron microscopy to identify the approximate mineralogy of rock temper particles in ceramics, but without their destruction by thin-sectioning, and at low cost. Particle traits similar to those used in petrography to identify a mineral are visible in a magnified x-radiograph. The traits include particle x-radiographic gray level, which varies with a particle’s mean atomic number, specific gravity, and mineralogy; size; morphology; cleavage; and internal texture. Blind tests are made to evaluate the specificity and accuracy of the method. Its utility is shown through a study of the exchange of Ohio Middle Woodland ceramics.

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Methodology and Applications of Disease Biomarker Identification in Human Serum

Biomarker Insights ◽

10.1177/117727190700200034 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 117727190700200 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Ziad J. Sahab ◽

Suzan M. Semaan ◽

Qing-Xiang Amy Sang

Keyword(s):

Human Serum ◽

Protein Separation ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

Disease Diagnosis ◽

Plasma Lipoproteins ◽

Great Promise ◽

Protein Biomarkers ◽

Serum Samples ◽

Disease Biomarkers ◽

Diagnosis And Prognosis

Biomarkers are biomolecules that serve as indicators of biological and pathological processes, or physiological and pharmacological responses to a drug treatment. Because of the high abundance of albumin and heterogeneity of plasma lipoproteins and glycoproteins, biomarkers are difficult to identify in human serum. Due to the clinical significance the identification of disease biomarkers in serum holds great promise for personalized medicine, especially for disease diagnosis and prognosis. This review summarizes some common and emerging proteomics techniques utilized in the separation of serum samples and identification of disease signatures. The practical application of each protein separation or identification technique is analyzed using specific examples. Biomarkers of cancers of prostate, breast, ovary, and lung in human serum have been reviewed, as well as those of heart disease, arthritis, asthma, and cystic fibrosis. Despite the advancement of technology few biomarkers have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for disease diagnosis and prognosis due to the complexity of structure and function of protein biomarkers and lack of high sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility for those putative biomarkers. The combination of different types of technologies and statistical analysis may provide more effective methods to identify and validate new disease biomarkers in blood.

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Recent Approaches for the Production of High Value-Added Biofuels from Gelatinous Wastewater

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14164936 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (16) ◽

pp. 4936

Author(s):

Ahmed Tawfik ◽

Shou-Qing Ni ◽

Hanem. M. Awad ◽

Sherif Ismail ◽

Vinay Kumar Tyagi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Anaerobic Digestion ◽

Energy Recovery ◽

Protein Concentration ◽

Volatile Fatty Acids ◽

Low Cost ◽

Large Fraction ◽

Value Added ◽

Organic Loading Rate ◽

Simultaneous Treatment ◽

Factors Affecting

Gelatin production is the most industry polluting process where huge amounts of raw organic materials and chemicals (HCl, NaOH, Ca2+) are utilized in the manufacturing accompanied by voluminous quantities of end-pipe effluent. The gelatinous wastewater (GWW) contains a large fraction of protein and lipids with biodegradability (BOD/COD ratio) exceeding 0.6. Thus, it represents a promising low-cost substrate for the generation of biofuels, i.e., H2 and CH4, by the anaerobic digestion process. This review comprehensively describes the anaerobic technologies employed for simultaneous treatment and energy recovery from GWW. The emphasis was afforded on factors affecting the biofuels productivity from anaerobic digestion of GWW, i.e., protein concentration, organic loading rate (OLR), hydraulic retention time (HRT), the substrate to inoculum (S0/X0) ratio, type of mixed culture anaerobes, carbohydrates concentration, volatile fatty acids (VFAs), ammonia and alkalinity/VFA ratio, and reactor configurations. Economic values and future perspectives that require more attention are also outlined to facilitate further advancement and achieve practicality in this domain.

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Liquid Metal Ink Enabled Rapid Prototyping of Electrochemical Sensor for Wireless Glucose Detection on the Platform of Mobile Phone

Journal of Medical Devices ◽

10.1115/1.4031659 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Liting Yi ◽

Jingjing Li ◽

Cangran Guo ◽

Lei Li ◽

Jing Liu

Keyword(s):

Liquid Metal ◽

Mobile Phone ◽

Detection System ◽

Point Of Care ◽

Low Cost ◽

Smart Phone ◽

Disease Diagnosis ◽

Glucose Detection ◽

Sensor Material ◽

Liquid Metal Ink

Pervasive detection of blood glucose is rather critical for the real-time disease diagnosis which would provide valuable guidance for treatment planning. Here, we established a health care platform for this purpose through incorporating the glucose detection with liquid metal printed sensor and the smart phone monitoring system together. The liquid metal ink composed of bismuth indium stannic (BIS) alloy was identified as an appropriate sensor material to be quickly written or printed on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) substrate at around 59 °C to form desired electrodes. It thus eliminated the complicated procedures as usually required in conventional sensor fabrication strategies. The alloy electrodes were characterized via cyclic voltammetry to demonstrate their practical functionality. Further, unlike using the commonly adopted glucometer, a smart phone was developed as the data acquisition and display center to help improve the portability and ubiquitous virtue of the detection system. Glucose solution in different concentrations was assayed via this platform. It was shown that there is a good linear relationship between the concentration and the integral value of the curve recorded by the mobile phone, which confirms the feasibility of the present method. This quantitative point-of-care system has pervasive feature and is expected to be very useful for future low-cost electrochemical detection.

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