A Low-Cost Sensor for Cystic Fibrosis Diagnosis Posted by sheratonv on December 11th Zdeno Chara Jersey Womens , 2016
A new, inexpensive method for detecting salt concentrations in sweat or other bodily fluids has been developed by Penn State biomaterials scientists. The fluorescent sensor, derived from citric acid molecules, is highly sensitive and highly selective for chloride, the key diagnostic marker in cystic fibrosis.
“Salt concentrations can be important for many health-related conditions,” said Jian Yang John Moore Jersey Womens , professor of biomedical engineering. “Our method uses fluorescent molecules based on citrate, a natural molecule that is essential for bone health.”
Compared to other methods used for chloride detection, Yang’s citrate-based fluorescent material is much more sensitive to chloride and is able to detect it over a far wider range of concentrations. Yang’s material is also sensitive to bromide, another salt that can interfere with the results of traditional clinical laboratory tests. Even trace amounts of bromide can throw off test results. With the citrate-based sensor, Yang’s group can distinguish the difference between chloride and bromide, and are working to establish a possible new standard for bromide detection in diagnosis of the disease.
Yang is collaborating with Penn State electrical engineer Brandon Carlo Jersey Womens , Professor Zhiwen Liu, to build a handheld device that can measure salt concentrations in sweat using his citrate-based molecules and a cell phone. This could also be useful in developing countries where people have limited access to expensive analytical equipment.
“We are developing a platform material for sensing that is low cost, can be automated, requires no titration by trained staff or expensive instrumentation as in hospitals, and provides fast, almost instantaneous Chris Wagner Jersey Womens , results,” he said.
In a paper titled “Citrate-based fluorescent materials for low-cost chloride sensing in the diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis,” recently published online in a Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) journal Chemical Science, Yang compared their citrate sensors against the gold standard sweat test performed in a clinical laboratory. Their results were similar.
“Beyond cystic fibrosis, our platform can also be used for many other diseases, such as metabolic alkalosis Anders Bjork Jersey Womens , Addison’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). All of those diseases display abnormal concentrations of chloride in the urine, serum or cerebral spinal fluid,” Yang said.
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Cystic fibrosis is a common genetic disease within the white population in the United States. The disease occurs in 1 in 2,500 to 3 Bobby Orr Jersey Womens ,500 white newborns. Cystic fibrosis is less common in other ethnic groups, affecting about 1 in 17,000 African-Americans and 1 in 31,000 Asian Americans.”
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How to Help Struggling Students go from Sinking to SOARING! Family Articles | December 25, 2005 The growing problem of ADD and learning disabilities is affecting an estimated 6-10% of our school-age children. Parenting or teaching a child with ADD or learning difficulties can be an enormous challenge. In this article, learn unique strategies that will assist you in providing the best possible environment for your child to experience success both at home and at school.
Experts estimate that 6 to 10 percent of the school-aged population in the United States is learning disabled and approximately 3 to 10 percent of the population as a whole is diagnosed with ADD.
This growing problem impacts many areas of society and there is a growing need for effective solutions.
Parenting or teaching a child with ADD or learning difficulties can David Pastrnak Jersey Womens , no doubt, be an enormous challenge.
It requires patience of you that you may not have thought you had; persistence that you may frequently have to call upon; and consistency that you may be learning along the way.
Here are some tips to assist you in providing the best possible environment for your child to experience success both at home and at school.
Young people with ADD (like all of us) are doing the best they know how to do with what they have to work with.
When they have more options available to them, they will make better choices.
You, as the adult, are the teacher, which means that your child will model you.
If you are flexible and open to learning new ways of thinking and behaving Brad Marchand Jersey Womens , your child will be open as well.
There is positive intention behind every behavior, no matter how hurtful or how bizarre the behavior may seem.
In other words, there is a need on some level that is being met by doing what they?re doing.
If we can look for what the purpose is behind the behavior or what need is getting met, then we can find other more constructive solutions to meeting that need.
Always look for the positive intention behind behavior.