scholarly journals Infection-Mediated Clinical Biomarkers for a COVID-19 Electrical Biosensing Platform

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3829
Author(s):  
Reena Sri Selvarajan ◽  
Subash C. B. Gopinath ◽  
Noraziah Mohamad Zin ◽  
Azrul Azlan Hamzah
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Studies ◽  
Acute Phase Proteins ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Diagnosis And Prognosis ◽  
Clinical Biomarkers ◽  
Electrical Biosensors ◽  
Electronic Biosensors ◽  
Severity Of The Disease ◽  
Antigen Antibody ◽  
User Friendly

The race towards the development of user-friendly, portable, fast-detection, and low-cost devices for healthcare systems has become the focus of effective screening efforts since the pandemic attack in December 2019, which is known as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Currently existing techniques such as RT-PCR, antigen–antibody-based detection, and CT scans are prompt solutions for diagnosing infected patients. However, the limitations of currently available indicators have enticed researchers to search for adjunct or additional solutions for COVID-19 diagnosis. Meanwhile, identifying biomarkers or indicators is necessary for understanding the severity of the disease and aids in developing efficient drugs and vaccines. Therefore, clinical studies on infected patients revealed that infection-mediated clinical biomarkers, especially pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute phase proteins, are highly associated with COVID-19. These biomarkers are undermined or overlooked in the context of diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of infected patients. Hence, this review discusses the potential implementation of these biomarkers for COVID-19 electrical biosensing platforms. The secretion range for each biomarker is reviewed based on clinical studies. Currently available electrical biosensors comprising electrochemical and electronic biosensors associated with these biomarkers are discussed, and insights into the use of infection-mediated clinical biomarkers as prognostic and adjunct diagnostic indicators in developing an electrical-based COVID-19 biosensor are provided.

ASSESSMENT OF THE PLATELET COUNT IN THE PREGNANT WOMEN IN IGIMS, PATNA, BIHAR

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanwi Singh ◽  
Anshuman Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Platelet Count ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Screening Test ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Medical Science ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Platelet Indices ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Low Platelet Count ◽  
Severity Of The Disease

The major risk associated with low platelet count in pregnancy is the increased risk of bleeding during the childbirth or post that. There is an increased blood supply to the uterus during pregnancy and the surgical procedure requires cutting of major blood vessels. Women with thrombocytopenia are at increased risk of losing excessive blood. The risk is more in case of caesarean delivery as compared to vaginal delivery. Hence based on above findings the present study was planned for Assessment of the Platelet Count in the Pregnant Women in IGIMS, Patna, Bihar. The present study was planned in Department of Pathology, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science, Patna, Bihar, India. The present study was planned from duration of January 2019 to June 2019. In the present study 200 pregnant females samples received for the platelet estimation were enrolled in the present study. Clinically platelet indices can be a useful screening test for early identification of preeclampsia and eclampsia. Also platelet indices can assess the prognosis of this disease in pregnant women and can be used as an effective prognostic marker because it correlates with severity of the disease. Platelet count is a simple, low cost, and rapid routine screening test. Hence the data generated from the present study concludes that platelet count can be used as a simple and cost effective tool to monitor the progression of preeclampsia, thereby preventing complications to develop during the gestational period. Keywords: Platelet Count, Pregnant Women, IGIMS, Patna, Bihar, etc.

Tools of Transformation: Appropriate Technology in U.S. Countercultural Literature

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-93
Author(s):  
Peter Mortensen
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Environmental Transformation ◽  
Buckminster Fuller ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Environmentally Sound ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Second Wave

This essay takes its cue from second-wave ecocriticism and from recent scholarly interest in the “appropriate technology” movement that evolved during the 1960s and 1970s in California and elsewhere. “Appropriate technology” (or AT) refers to a loosely-knit group of writers, engineers and designers active in the years around 1970, and more generally to the counterculture’s promotion, development and application of technologies that were small-scale, low-cost, user-friendly, human-empowering and environmentally sound. Focusing on two roughly contemporary but now largely forgotten American texts Sidney Goldfarb’s lyric poem “Solar-Heated-Rhombic-Dodecahedron” (1969) and Gurney Norman’s novel Divine Right’s Trip (1971)—I consider how “hip” literary writers contributed to eco-technological discourse and argue for the 1960s counterculture’s relevance to present-day ecological concerns. Goldfarb’s and Norman’s texts interest me because they conceptualize iconic 1960s technologies—especially the Buckminster Fuller-inspired geodesic dome and the Volkswagen van—not as inherently alienating machines but as tools of profound individual, social and environmental transformation. Synthesizing antimodernist back-to-nature desires with modernist enthusiasm for (certain kinds of) machinery, these texts adumbrate a humanity- and modernity-centered post-wilderness model of environmentalism that resonates with the dilemmas that we face in our increasingly resource-impoverished, rapidly warming and densely populated world.

scholarly journals Pocket MUSE: an affordable, versatile and high-performance fluorescence microscope using a smartphone

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yehe Liu ◽  
Andrew M. Rollins ◽  
Richard M. Levenson ◽  
Farzad Fereidouni ◽  
Michael W. Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Consumer Electronics ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Point Of Care Diagnostics ◽  
Optical Module ◽  
Optical Configuration ◽  
User Friendly

AbstractSmartphone microscopes can be useful tools for a broad range of imaging applications. This manuscript demonstrates the first practical implementation of Microscopy with Ultraviolet Surface Excitation (MUSE) in a compact smartphone microscope called Pocket MUSE, resulting in a remarkably effective design. Fabricated with parts from consumer electronics that are readily available at low cost, the small optical module attaches directly over the rear lens in a smartphone. It enables high-quality multichannel fluorescence microscopy with submicron resolution over a 10× equivalent field of view. In addition to the novel optical configuration, Pocket MUSE is compatible with a series of simple, portable, and user-friendly sample preparation strategies that can be directly implemented for various microscopy applications for point-of-care diagnostics, at-home health monitoring, plant biology, STEM education, environmental studies, etc.

scholarly journals Methods of Respiratory Virus Detection: Advances towards Point-of-Care for Early Intervention

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 697
Author(s):  
Siming Lu ◽  
Sha Lin ◽  
Hongrui Zhang ◽  
Liguo Liang ◽  
Shien Shen
Keyword(s):  
Viral Load ◽  
Respiratory Virus ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Virus Detection ◽  
Frequent Monitoring ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
New Strategies

Respiratory viral infections threaten human life and inflict an enormous healthcare burden worldwide. Frequent monitoring of viral antibodies and viral load can effectively help to control the spread of the virus and make timely interventions. However, current methods for detecting viral load require dedicated personnel and are time-consuming. Additionally, COVID-19 detection is generally relied on an automated PCR analyzer, which is highly instrument-dependent and expensive. As such, emerging technologies in the development of respiratory viral load assays for point-of-care (POC) testing are urgently needed for viral screening. Recent advances in loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), biosensors, nanotechnology-based paper strips and microfluidics offer new strategies to develop a rapid, low-cost, and user-friendly respiratory viral monitoring platform. In this review, we summarized the traditional methods in respiratory virus detection and present the state-of-art technologies in the monitoring of respiratory virus at POC.

scholarly journals ResUHUrge: A Low Cost and Fully Functional Ventilator Indicated for Application in COVID-19 Patients

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (23) ◽  
pp. 6774
Author(s):  
Francisco José Vivas Fernández ◽  
José Sánchez Segovia ◽  
Ismael Martel Bravo ◽  
Carlos García Ramos ◽  
Daniel Ruiz Castilla ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Pulmonary Ventilation ◽  
Lung Infection ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Multidisciplinary Research ◽  
Global North ◽  
Severity Of The Disease ◽  
Open Source Hardware ◽  
The University

Although the cure for the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) will come in the form of pharmaceutical solutions and/or a vaccine, one of the only ways to face it at present is to guarantee the best quality of health for patients, so that they can overcome the disease on their own. Therefore, and considering that COVID-19 generally causes damage to the respiratory system (in the form of lung infection), it is essential to ensure the best pulmonary ventilation for the patient. However, depending on the severity of the disease and the health condition of the patient, the situation can become critical when the patient has respiratory distress or becomes unable to breathe on his/her own. In that case, the ventilator becomes the lifeline of the patient. This device must keep patients stable until, on their own or with the help of medications, they manage to overcome the lung infection. However, with thousands or hundreds of thousands of infected patients, no country has enough ventilators. If this situation has become critical in the Global North, it has turned disastrous in developing countries, where ventilators are even more scarce. This article shows the race against time of a multidisciplinary research team at the University of Huelva, UHU, southwest of Spain, to develop an inexpensive, multifunctional, and easy-to-manufacture ventilator, which has been named ResUHUrge. The device meets all medical requirements and is developed with open-source hardware and software.

scholarly journals Zinc and Sepsis

Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wiebke Alker ◽  
Hajo Haase
Keyword(s):  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Acute Phase Proteins ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Zinc Homeostasis ◽  
Major Health ◽  
Nutritional Immunity ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Zinc Concentrations ◽  
Severity Of The Disease ◽  
Major Health Issue

Sepsis, defined as a “life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host-response to infection” is a major health issue worldwide and still lacks a fully elucidated pathobiology and uniform diagnostic tests. The trace element zinc is known to be crucial to ensure an appropriate immune response. During sepsis a redistribution of zinc from serum into the liver has been observed and several studies imply a correlation between zinc and sepsis outcome. Therefore the alterations of zinc concentrations in different tissues might serve as one part of the host’s defense mechanism against pathogens during sepsis by diverse mechanisms. It has been suggested that zinc is involved in nutritional immunity, acts as a hepatoprotective agent, or a differentiation signal for innate immune cells, or supports the synthesis of acute phase proteins. Further knowledge about these events could help in the evaluation of how zinc could be optimally applied to improve treatment of septic patients. Moreover, the changes in zinc homeostasis are substantial and correlate with the severity of the disease, suggesting that zinc might also be useful as a diagnostic marker for evaluating the severity and predicting the outcome of sepsis.

Experimental Study on New Wave Measurement Using Passive Underwater Acoustics

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Li ◽  
Dingyong Yu ◽  
Huaxing Liu
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Instrument ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Measuring System ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Significant Wave ◽  
Wave Measurement ◽  
Wave Heights ◽  
Mean Wave Period ◽  
Passive Acoustic ◽  
User Friendly

The passive acoustic-based wave measurement via hydrophones is presented in this paper. It has the potential to measure non-intrusively, implement with low cost and with higher resolution. Details of experiments, real-time data recording and processing are described respectively. Particularly, the portable data acquisition system based on virtual instrument technique is designed to make the in situ measurement convenient and user-friendly. Special emphasis is put on FFT filtering technique to band pass the signal fast and efficiently. The key wave parameters, i.e. the mean wave period and the significant wave height, can be obtained from the comparatively safe and stable underwater by means of submerged hydrophones. Considering the pressure sensor has been widely used in the ocean wave measurement, it is deployed simultaneously to test the feasibility of the new system. The result shows that the present measuring system can give satisfactory measurement of significant wave heights and average wave periods in shallow water despite of the little deviation.

scholarly journals BUDGET UAV SYSTEMS FOR THE PROSPECTION OF SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SCALE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B1 ◽  
pp. 971-977 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Ostrowski ◽  
K. Hanus
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Quality Of Data ◽  
Computing Power ◽  
Medium Scale ◽  
The Cost ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Operational Range

One of the popular uses of UAVs in photogrammetry is providing an archaeological documentation. A wide offer of low-cost (consumer) grade UAVs, as well as the popularity of user-friendly photogrammetric software allowing obtaining satisfying results, contribute to facilitating the process of preparing documentation for small archaeological sites. However, using solutions of this kind is much more problematic for larger areas. The limited possibilities of autonomous flight makes it significantly harder to obtain data for areas too large to be covered during a single mission. Moreover, sometimes the platforms used are not equipped with telemetry systems, which makes navigating and guaranteeing a similar quality of data during separate flights difficult. The simplest solution is using a better UAV, however the cost of devices of such type often exceeds the financial capabilities of archaeological expeditions. <br><br> The aim of this article is to present methodology allowing obtaining data for medium scale areas using only a basic UAV. The proposed methodology assumes using a simple multirotor, not equipped with any flight planning system or telemetry. Navigating of the platform is based solely on live-view images sent from the camera attached to the UAV. The presented survey was carried out using a simple GoPro camera which, from the perspective of photogrammetric use, was not the optimal configuration due to the fish eye geometry of the camera. Another limitation is the actual operational range of UAVs which in the case of cheaper systems, rarely exceeds 1 kilometre and is in fact often much smaller. Therefore the surveyed area must be divided into sub-blocks which correspond to the range of the drone. It is inconvenient since the blocks must overlap, so that they will later be merged during their processing. This increases the length of required flights as well as the computing power necessary to process a greater number of images. <br><br> These issues make prospection highly inconvenient, but not impossible. Our paper presents our experiences through two case studies: surveys conducted in Nepal under the aegis of UNESCO, and works carried out as a part of a Polish archaeological expedition in Cyprus, which both prove that the proposed methodology allows obtaining satisfying results. The article is an important voice in the ongoing debate between commercial and academic archaeologists who discuss the balance between the required standards of conducting archaeological works and economic capabilities of archaeological missions.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review on Papers That Study on SNPs That Affect SARS-CoV-2 Infection & COVID-19 Severity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siyeon Suh ◽  
Sol Lee ◽  
Ho Gym ◽  
Sun Ha Jee ◽  
Sanghyuk Yoon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Virus Infection ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Full Text ◽  
Clinical Studies ◽  
Time History ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Severity Of The Disease

Abstract Background:COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become the most threatening issue to all populations around the world. It is directly and indirectly affecting all of us and thus, is a emergence topic dealt in global health. In order to avoid the infection, various studies have been done and still ongoing. Now having over 141 million cases of COVID19 and causing over 3 million deaths around the world, the tendency of infection and degree severity of the disease shown in different groups of people came up as an issue. Here, we reviewed 21 papers on SNPs related to SARS-CoV-2 infection severity and analyzed the results of them.Methods:The PubMed databases were searched for papers discussing SNPs associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection severity. Clinical studies with human patients and statistically showing relevance of the SNP with virus infection were included. Quality Assessment of all papers were done with Newcastle Ottawa Scale.Results:In the analysis, 21 full-text literatures out of 2956 screened titles and abstracts, including 63496 cases, were included. All were human based clinical studies, some based on certain regions gathered patient data and some based on big databases obtained online. ACE2, TMPRSS2, IFITM3 are the genes mentioned most frequently that are related with SARS-CoV-2 infection. 20 out of 21 studies mentioned one of more of those genes. The relevant genes according to SNPs were also analyzed. rs12252-C, rs143936283, rs2285666, rs41303171, and rs35803318 are the SNPs that were mentioned at least twice in two different studies.Conclusions: We found that ACE2, TMPRSS2, IFITM3 are the major genes that are involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection. The mentioned SNPs were all related to one or more of the above mentioned genes. There were discussions on certain SNPs that increased the infection severity to certain ethinic groups more than the others. However, as there is limited follow up and data due to shortage of time history of the disease, studies may be limited.

scholarly journals Point-of-Care Testing-the Key in the Battle against SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1464
Author(s):  
Florina Silvia Iliescu ◽  
Ana Maria Ionescu ◽  
Larisa Gogianu ◽  
Monica Simion ◽  
Violeta Dediu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Diagnostic Testing ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Rapid Screening ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Point Of Care Testing ◽  
Qrt Pcr ◽  
User Friendly

The deleterious effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic urged the development of diagnostic tools to manage the spread of disease. Currently, the “gold standard” involves the use of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 detection. Even though it is sensitive, specific and applicable for large batches of samples, qRT-PCR is labour-intensive, time-consuming, requires trained personnel and is not available in remote settings. This review summarizes and compares the available strategies for COVID-19: serological testing, Point-of-Care Testing, nanotechnology-based approaches and biosensors. Last but not least, we address the advantages and limitations of these methods as well as perspectives in COVID-19 diagnostics. The effort is constantly focused on understanding the quickly changing landscape of available diagnostic testing of COVID-19 at the clinical levels and introducing reliable and rapid screening point of care testing. The last approach is key to aid the clinical decision-making process for infection control, enhancing an appropriate treatment strategy and prompt isolation of asymptomatic/mild cases. As a viable alternative, Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) is typically low-cost and user-friendly, hence harbouring tremendous potential for rapid COVID-19 diagnosis.

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