Narrow Results

The present study was carried out with the aim to determine if, orthodontic patients accumulate measurable concentration of Ni in blood or not, since the recent evidences shows the allergenic actions of Ni in various forms and orthodontic appliances have been reported to produce Ni allergy. In our experiment, the blood samples were taken before the insertion of appliance and at an interval of 6 months over a total time period of 18 months (four sets) from the Oral Health Department of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India. In all the four sets of blood samples the common trace elements were detected viz. S, K, Ca, Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn and Br. Our result shows the complete absence of Ni in the blood.

In this paper, in vivo spectra from 23 patients’ blood samples with various Creatinine (Cr) concentration levels ranging from 0.96 to 12.5 mg/dL were measured using Fourier transform near-infrared spectrometer (FT-NIRS) and spectrum quantitative analysis method. Since Cr undergoes passive filtration, it serves as a key biomarker of kidneys function via the estimation of glomerular filtration rate. Thus, increased blood Cr concentration reflects impaired renal function. After spectra pre-processing and outlier exclusion, a spectral model was developed based on partial least squares regression (PLSR) method, wherein Cr concentrations correlated with filtered NIR spectra across several peaks, where Cr is known to absorb NIR light. Several statistical metrics were applied to estimate the model efficiency during data analysis. Comparison of spectra-derived concentrations to reference Cr measurements by the current gold-standard Jaffe’s method held in hospital lab revealed a Cr prediction accuracy of 1.64mg/dL with good correlation of $R=0.9$. Bland-Altman plots were used to compare between our calculations and reference lab values and reveal minimal bias between the two. The finding presented the potential of FT-NIRS coupled with PLSR technique for Cr determination.

Manipulation of flesh, lies at the core of all surgical procedures, both as the objective of the procedure, but also as a means of gathering necessary knowledge to support the procedure. This is also true of the relatively simple procedure of drawing a blood-sample. In this paper, we present our progress to locate, develop and validate tactile sensing methods, that could enable fully automated blood-sampling, in order to support the rapidly growing demand in modern health-care systems.