Are Nanobiosensors an Improved Solution for Diagnosis of Leishmania?

Leishmaniasis is one of the deadliest neglected tropical diseases affecting 12–15 million people worldwide, especially in middle- and low-income countries. Rapid and accurate diagnosis of the disease is important for its adequate management and treatment. Several techniques are available for the diagnosis of leishmaniasis. Among these, parasitological and immunological tests are most widely used. However, in most cases, the utilized diagnostic techniques are not good enough, showing cross-reactivity and reduced accuracy. In recent years, many new methods have been reported with potential for improved diagnosis. This review focuses on the diagnosis of Leishmania exploring the biosensors and nanotechnology-based options for their detection. New developments including the use of nanomaterials as fluorophores, fluorescence quenchers as reducing agents and as dendrimers for signal improvement and amplification, together with the use of aptamers to replace antibodies are described. Future research opportunities to overcome the current limitations on the available diagnostic approaches are also discussed.

Application of middle-down approach in quantitation and catabolite identification of protein by LC–high-resolution mass spectrometry

Aim: To further enhance the detection sensitivity and increase resolving power of top-down intact protein bioanalysis, middle-down approach was explored. Materials & methods: An monoclonal antibody (mAb) was used as a model protein to evaluate quantitative bioanalytical assay performance and a disulfide linked dimer protein was investigated for its pharmacokinetics properties and catabolism in vivo by middle-down approach. Results & Conclusion: For quantitation of the mAb, different subunits generated by middle-down approach provided different level of signal improvement in biological samples with Lc and half Fc giving five-times better sensitivity than intact mAb. For the dimer protein, middle-down analysis by reduction enabled effective differentiation of the unchanged protein and its oxidized form, and clearly elucidated their respective proteolytic catabolites.

Cooperation of CUDA and Intel multi-core architecture in the independent component analysis algorithm for EEG data

ObjectivesThe electroencephalographic signal is largely exposed to external disturbances. Therefore, an important element of its processing is its thorough cleaning.MethodsOne of the common methods of signal improvement is the independent component analysis (ICA). However, it is a computationally expensive algorithm, hence methods are needed to decrease its execution time. One of the ICA algorithms (fastICA) and parallel computing on the CPU and GPU was used to reduce the algorithm execution time.ResultsThis paper presents the results of study on the implementation of fastICA, which uses some multi-core architecture and the GPU computation capabilities.ConclusionsThe use of such a hybrid approach shortens the execution time of the algorithm.

NON-INTRUSIVE, VISUAL-LESS WEARABLE HAPTIC STIMULI NAVIGATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR ELDERLY WITH DEMENTIA

Age is typically affiliated with the decline of cognitive function and the probability to be diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease, namely dementia. Of all dementia-related deficits, the paper highlights on the decline of wayfinding ability, since it is interrelated with mobility, autonomy, caregiving burden and eventually institutionalization. The sense of directions in elderly is also affected by the sensory changes, while the most obvious sensory declines are both vision and hearing. Hence navigation systems that support mainly on visual and auditory may not be the best option for them. A concept of wearable navigational assistance that is non-intrusive and uses haptic stimuli instead of visual and/or audio signals is presented in this paper. A Usability Test (UT) was performed towards the elderly with dementia at a selected nursing home to investigate how they perceive haptic-feedback as a modality of navigation. The assessments involved three phases: (1) orientation or training, (2) navigation test and (3) further navigation test. Results indicate the potential efficacy of haptic modality as a navigation signal. Improvement on subjects’ navigational performance was shown especially during the further navigation test, signifying the familiarization of the intervention. Employing the haptic modality could be a beneficial substitute for navigational purpose when vision and audio are less appropriate. Nevertheless, as much as the encouraging outcomes from the results and analysis of the assessments are valuable, the constructive reviews attained are indeed important for the future development of the device system.

Introduction to this special section: Offshore technology

In this TLE special section on offshore technology, four papers outline advances in marine seismic acquisition and processing. The first paper, by Manin et al., describes the concept, tank trials, and sea trials of the “FreeCable” system, which relies on a fleet of small autonomous vessels to provide stability and flexibility in the positioning of seismic cables. The trials and pilot surveys show promising results with respect to signal improvement, acquisition efficiency, and cost effectiveness.