Development of a Tetrazolium-Derived Paper-Based Diagnostic Device as an Early, Alternative Bacteria Screening Tool

(1) Background: The complexity, amount of time, and the large amount of resource required to perform gold-standard bacteria culture procedures makes it difficult to perform timely pathogenic analyses, especially in areas where such resources are not readily available. A paper-based biochemical analytical tool can potentially tackle problems economically in terms of time and convenience, potentially finding utility in applications where simple and timely detection of bacteria is necessary; (2) Methods: The utility of paper-based MTT-PMS strips was tested using a simple colorimetric analytical methodology; (3) Results: Sufficient evidence was obtained to suggest that the strips can potentially be used as a rapid and convenient early, alternative bacteria screening tool for a variety of applications; (4) Conclusions: The potential of strips for the rapid detection of bacteria compared to standard bacteria culture is a key advantage in certain clinical, agricultural, and environmental applications.

RESEARCH AND DIAGNOSTICS FOR THE LABORATORY OF PRESSURE RESISTANT SENSORS

The use of the sensors shortens the service life, wears out and reduces their accuracy due to operation. For sensors with a susceptibility to inaccuracy, it is possible to create a sensor-device-software diagnostic set. Such a scheme of configuration should be able to provide autonomic diagnostic, calibration, evaluation and also recalibration of the sensor. The diagnostic equipment could also have a shock test function in order to intentionally and faster reduce the service life and thus test the correctly set parameters of the diagnostic algorithm in laboratory conditions. The diagnostic device is a specialized technical system that provides conditions for the future potential of the testing development, knowledge and experience. According to the design, it can be modularly enriched with new parts, fixtures and systems to provide a more diverse range of options. There would be space for exploring the possibilities of new types of sensors, their comparison, as well as full-fledged automation of the complex diagnostic process.

A Vibratory, Sub-Resonant Diagnostic Device to Measure Dental Implant Stability via Angular Stiffness

Stability of a dental implant reflects quality of osseointegration between the implant and its surrounding bone. While many methods have been proposed to characterize implant stability, angular stiffness at the neck of the implant has been proven to be a rigorous and accurate measure. Nevertheless, fast and reliable measurements of the angular stiffness in a clinical environment is not yet available. This paper is to demonstrate a novel stability diagnostic device that can measure the angular stiffness accurately in clinical environments. The device consists of a sensing unit, a controller unit, and a user interface. In the sensing unit, a coupler attaches a buzzer motor and a tiny accelerometer to an abutment of an implant, whose angular stiffness is to be measured. The buzzer vibrates at a frequency below the resonance frequency of the implant-bone-abutment system. Meanwhile, the accelerometer measures the abutment's vibration. The controller unit controls the buzzer, reads the accelerometer data, and transmits the data to the user interface. The user interface post-processes the data and extract the angular stiffness through use of a finite element model and a nonlinear regression algorithm. The extracted angular stiffness is benchmarked against that obtained via a force hammer and a laser Doppler vibrometer. The benchmarking shows excellent agreement, with smallest and largest differences being 4% and 20%, respectively.

Recent Progress in Nanotechnology for COVID-19 Prevention, Diagnostics and Treatment

The COVID-19 pandemic is currently an unprecedented public health threat. The rapid spread of infections has led to calls for alternative approaches to combat the virus. Nanotechnology is taking root against SARS-CoV-2 through prevention, diagnostics and treatment of infections. In light of the escalating demand for managing the pandemic, a comprehensive review that highlights the role of nanomaterials in the response to the pandemic is highly desirable. This review article comprehensively discusses the use of nanotechnology for COVID-19 based on three main categories: prevention, diagnostics and treatment. We first highlight the use of various nanomaterials including metal nanoparticles, carbon-based nanoparticles and magnetic nanoparticles for COVID-19. We critically review the benefits of nanomaterials along with their applications in personal protective equipment, vaccine development, diagnostic device fabrication and therapeutic approaches. The remaining key challenges and future directions of nanomaterials for COVID-19 are briefly discussed. This review is very informative and helpful in providing guidance for developing nanomaterial-based products to fight against COVID-19.

Physiological Profiles of Hair and Scalp Conditions in Korea Population: Servey, Hairological Expert-Diagnosis and New Diagnostic Device

Many devices have been widely used to diagnose various skin and scalp disorders. However, existing devices may show few results of measurement contents or inaccuracy of results or inconvenience of use. In this study, two hundreds and forty Korea participants from whole South Korea were enrolled, conducted servey by self-questionnaire, diagnosed scalp type by hairological expert and diagnosed systemically hair and scalp conditions by APM PRO200 device. As the results, women is 70.7% and <20 ages were 99 (41.3%). The most subjects treated with shampoo 1 time per day (65.4%) and didn’t have the dyeing (80.0%). The most frequent was A scalp type (41.7%) in hairological expert-diagnosis. The subjects of 46.3% had mild damage of hair cuticle, good exposure of sclap’s vessel (87.1%), good hair density (78.3%), hair loss status of W type (68.3%), sensitive hair pore status (26.3%), good hiar thickness (91.7%), bad corneous of scalp (47.5%) and scalp status (22.9%) status in diagnosis by APM PRO200 device. In anaysis of relationship between self-questionnaire and physiological profiles of hair and scalp conditions diagnosed by APM PRO200 device, exposure of scalp’s vessel, hair loss status and hair pore status showed significant difference by sex and cuticle status, hair density, hair pore status, corneous of scalp and scalp status showed significant difference by age. Therefore, the diagnosis of hair and scalp conditions can be really facilitated by the APM PRO200 device.

Occlusion and Disocclusion Time Analysis in Young Patients Affected by Bruxism

Introduction: Bruxism&nbsp;is an involuntary&nbsp;parafunctional&nbsp;habit performed unconsciously during sleep by the jaw muscles in which the tooth rows are pressed against each other and move horizontally. The symptoms in the oral cavity are slightly elusive which makes it difficult to diagnose.Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the occlusion and disocclusion times in young adults affected by bruxism compared with healthy subjects.Materials and methods: Thirty-four patients (15 men and 19 women) aged between 20-25 years were included in the study. They were allocated into two groups: group 1 &ndash; controls (n=13), and group 2 &ndash; patients who reported clenching or grinding their teeth (n=21). The study was conducted using a T-Scan Novus occlusion diagnostic device. The results obtained for the occlusion and disocclusion times were analyzed using the latest version of the T-Scan system software (ver. 9.1). The values for occlusion and disocclusion times of all subjects were recorded in the T-Scan.Results: The occlusion times in the control group were found to be longer than those in the bruxism group. The disocclusion times of the subjects in group 1 were found to be shorter than those in group 2.Conclusions: The T-Scan system makes it possible to quantify the occlusion and disocclusion times, which helps to diagnose an initial form of bruxism in individuals at a young age.

Scar tissue development using an acoustic medical diagnostic device in patients with purulent inflammatory wounds of the face and neck

The paper presents evidence of the effectiveness and safety of using the acoustic method for predicting scar formation in patients with purulent inflammatory diseases of the face and neck. An acoustic medical diagnostic device was used to develop a prognostic criterion for assessing scar formation in these patients, and factors influencing the scarring process have been determined. Results of this study demonstrated that it is possible to determine the type of scarring at the early stage of wound healing in patients with purulent inflammatory diseases in the face and neck area using an acoustic medical diagnostic device that allows the assessment of the scarring type, prescribing adequate treatment, and taking preventive measures against pathological scarring of tissues.