Narrow Results

A computer-aided diagnosis system was developed for assisting brain astrocytomas malignancy grading. Microscopy images from 140 astrocytic biopsies were digitized and cell nuclei were automatically segmented using a Probabilistic Neural Network pixel-based clustering algorithm. A decision tree classification scheme was constructed to discriminate low, intermediate and high-grade tumours by analyzing nuclear features extracted from segmented nuclei with a Support Vector Machine classifier. Nuclei were segmented with an average accuracy of 86.5%. Low, intermediate, and high-grade tumours were identified with 95%, 88.3%, and 91% accuracies respectively. The proposed algorithm could be used as a second opinion tool for the histopathologists.

Boron nitride nanocrystals have been prepared in a hydrothermal route. The crystalline phases have been identified as cubic boron nitride (cBN) and orthorhombic (oBN) by XRD and FTIR. Further evidences for the formation of cBN have been obtained from microanalysis and composition identification by HRTEM, SAED and EDS.

Stem Cell Study Could Pave the Way to Treatment for Age-related Muscle Wasting

GIS Discovers Switch to Accelerate Stem Cell Production

A*STAR & Olympus Singapore establish Microscopy Suite

ADDF Supports Axxam to Develop Therapeutics for Alzheimer's.

Epitomics Signs Agreement with Bayer for Antibody Technology.

Sirnaomics Partners Guangdong Zhongsheng to Dvelop siRNA Therapeutics.

Jubilant, Endo Achieve Late Stage Discovery Milestone.

Merck and Hanwha Chemical Corporation Establish Global Strategic Collaboration for Biosimilar.

SIOGEN Awarded 'Most Innovative Biotech in Asia'.

GENEWIZ, Inc. and Biomatters Announce Strategic Partnership to Align DNA-Based Services and Analysis Software.

Invida Launches Atopiclair^TM, a Treatment for Atopic Dermatitis Symptoms.

Accenture Implements Nationwide Electronic Health Record System in Singapore.

A*STAR & Olympus Singapore Establish Microscopy Suite to Study Human Diseases at the Nano-level.

MALAYSIA — Veolia expands presence in East Malaysia.

SINGAPORE — Syneron Dental Lasers signs distribution agreement with Healthcare Solutions & Services Pte Ltd.

SINGAPORE — Fujitsu advances healthcare innovation in collaboration with National University of Singapore.

SINGAPORE — Clearbridge BioMedics makes a big impact at the 2012 Asian Innovation Awards.

SINGAPORE — TauRx Pharmaceuticals receives $111.8m commitment from Genting to prepare for Market Leadership in Alzheimer's.

THAILAND — Key Phase II HIV/HCV trial has commenced in Bangkok.

AUSTRALIA — Hatchtech mechanism of action data and safety study published.

AUSTRALIA — Power to you: carbon nanotube muscles are going strong.

EUROPE — GE Healthcare Life Sciences opens new £3 million laboratories for cell science.

EUROPE — AstraZeneca announces Phase III results from naloxegol pivotal trials.

EUROPE — ACADIA's pimavanserin sees Phase III success.

EUROPE — Big Pharma is doing more for access to medicine in developing countries.

EUROPE — CAVATAK™ bladder cancer – positive preliminary data.

EUROPE — Avita Medical initiates European trial in the management of chronic lower limb ulcers.

NORTH AMERICA — FEI unveils broad correlative microscopy solution set for cell biologists.

NORTH AMERICA — A single dose of Medicago's H5N1 VLP vaccine protects against additional pandemic flu strains in a preclinical study.

NORTH AMERICA — Biologics and stem cell research boost the cell culture market.

Carbonaceous nanotubes with a calculated specific heat of 710J K${}^{-1}$ Kg${}^{-1}$, and an outer diameter of 58nm, made by a micro-thermal reaction, using polypyrrole nanotubes precursor is presented here. Three degradation stages from the thermal curves are identified. We observe a decomposition temperature at 371${}^{\circ }$C that relates to the presence of amorphous carbon on samples for the first time in this material. Also, it is identified that gradual decomposition of the fragments provides a different kind of residue percentage in the range 48–32% that is related to stirring speed used in each synthesis. It is worthy to note that electron transmission microscope images of carbonaceous nanotubes present defects as well, wherein we identify chloride and nitrogen as doped agents. Finally, results of nanotubes using Infrared, Raman spectrometry analysis, scanning electron microscopy and electron diffraction are presented here.

Cryoelectron microscopy (cryoEM) is an experimental technique to determine the three-dimensional (3D) structure of large protein complexes. Currently, this technique is able to generate protein density maps at 6–9 Å resolution, at which the skeleton of the structure (which is composed of α-helices and β-sheets) can be visualized. As a step towards predicting the entire backbone of the protein from the protein density map, we developed a method to predict the topology and sequence alignment for the skeleton helices. Our method combines the geometrical information of the skeleton helices with the Rosetta ab initio structure prediction method to derive a consensus topology and sequence alignment for the skeleton helices. We tested the method with 60 proteins. For 45 proteins, the majority of the skeleton helices were assigned a correct topology from one of our top ten predictions. The offsets of the alignment for most of the assigned helices were within ±2 amino acids in the sequence. We also analyzed the use of the skeleton helices as a clustering tool for the decoy structures generated by Rosetta. Our comparison suggests that the topology clustering is a better method than a general overlap clustering method to enrich the ranking of decoys, particularly when the decoy pool is small.

Sputum smear microscopic examination is an effective, fast, and low-cost technique that is highly specific in areas with a high prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis. Since manual screening needs trained pathologist in high prevalence zones, the possibility of deploying adequate technicians during the epidemic sessions would be impractical. This condition can cause overburdening and fatigue of working technicians which may tend to reduce the potential efficiency of Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis. Hence, automation of sputum inspection is the most appropriate aspect in TB outbreak zones to maximize the detection ability. Sputum collection, smear preparing, staining, interpreting smears, and reporting of TB severity are all part of the diagnosis of tuberculosis. This study has analyzed the risk of automating TB severity grading. According to the findings of the analysis, numerous TB-positive cases do not fit into the standard TB severity grade while applying direct rule-driven strategy. The manual investigation, on the other hand, arbitrarily labels the TB grade on those cases. To counter the risk of automation, a fuzzy-based Tuberculosis Severity Level Categorizing Algorithm (TSLCA) is introduced to eliminate uncertainty in classifying the level of TB infection. TSLCA introduces the weight factors, which are dependent on the existence of maximum number of Acid-Fast Bacilli (AFB) per microscopic Field of View (FOV). The fuzzification and defuzzification operations are carried out using the triangular membership function. In addition, the $\alpha$-cut approach is used to eliminate the ambiguity in TB severity grading. Several uncertain TB microscopy screening reports are tested using the proposed TSLCA. Based on the experimental results, it is observed that the TB grading by TSLCA is consistent, error-free, significant and fits exactly into the standard criterion. As a result of the proposed TSLCA, the uncertainty of grading is eliminated and the reliability of tuberculosis diagnosis is ensured when adapting automatic diagnosis.

Polymer nanocomposites, which contain nanoparticles dispersed in a polymer matrix, provide improved properties at low filler loadings. These materials are already produced commercially, with twin-screw extrusion being the preferred process for compounding the nanoparticles and polymer melts. Several recent studies have demonstrated that nanoparticles can enter the body through inhalation, but the risk assessments for nanoparticle exposures are incomplete. Recently, concerns had been expressed that airborne nanoparticles released during compounding might present significant exposure to extruder operators. To assess the impact of the nanoparticles during twin-screw compounding of nanocomposites, researchers with experience in occupational and environmental health and polymer manufacturing monitored the compounding process for a model nanoalumina-containing nanocomposite using a TSI Fast Mobility Particle Spectrometer (FMPS). FMPS measurements were taken at background locations, source locations, and operators' breathing zones. In parallel to the FMPS real time measurement, airborne nanoparticles were collected using polycarbonate filters fitted with filmed grids driven by a personal air sampling pump. Filter samples were analyzed for particle morphology and elemental composition, and the results were found to be in good agreement with particle measurements by FMPS.

Engineering controls and administrative controls were applied to reduce particle release from the compounding process and other operations in the laboratory. The administrative controls dramatically eliminated nanoparticles in the laboratory air, reducing total concentration by as much as 53 000 particles/cm³. Engineering controls were investigated and significant reductions of particle release were attained. The primary solution to reduce exposure level of nanoalumina is to isolate the releasing source. Overall, the engineering controls and administrative controls were effective in reducing airborne nanoparticle release during compounding.

We have developed a two-photon fluorescence microscope capable of imaging up to 4mm in turbid media with micron resolution. The key feature of this instrument is the innovative detector, capable of collecting emission photons from a wider surface area of the sample than detectors in traditional two-photon microscopes. This detection scheme is extremely efficient in the collection of emitted photons scattered by turbid media which allows eight fold increase in the imaging depth when compared with conventional two-photon microscopes. Furthermore, this system also has in-depth fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) imaging capability which increases image contrast. The detection scheme captures emission light in a transmission configuration, making it extremely efficient for the detection of second harmonic generation (SHG) signals, which is generally forward propagating. Here we present imaging experiments of tissue phantoms and in vivo and ex vivo biological tissue performed with this microscope.

The image reconstruction process in super-resolution structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is investigated. The structured pattern is generated by the interference of two Gaussian beams to encode undetectable spectra into detectable region of microscope. After parameters estimation of the structured pattern, the encoded spectra are computationally decoded and recombined in Fourier domain to equivalently increase the cut-off frequency of microscope, resulting in the extension of detectable spectra and a reconstructed image with about two-fold enhanced resolution. Three different methods to estimate the initial phase of structured pattern are compared, verifying the auto-correlation algorithm affords the fast, most precise and robust measurement. The artifacts sources and detailed reconstruction flowchart for both linear and nonlinear SIM are also presented.

We present an overview of a wave front sensor-less adaptive optics scheme based upon the optimisation of the low spatial frequency content of images. Aberrations are expanded as a series of Lukosz functions as this permits the independent optimisation of each aberration mode. The scheme is demonstrated in an incoherent transmission microscope.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• NEXAFS Spectroscopy
  • Instrument Aspects of NEXAFS and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy
  • NEXAFS Spectroscopy of Polymers: Chemical Sensitivity
    • Chemical Sensitivity: Examples
  • NEXAFS Spectroscopy of Polymers: Orientational Sensitivity
  • NEXAFS Spectroscopy of Polymers: Quantitative Analysis
    • Blends of Polycarbonate and Poly(butylene terephthalate)
    • Quantitative Analysis of the Chemical Composition of Polyurethanes

• NEXAFS Microscopy: Instrumentation and Analysis Tools
  • Quantitative Image Analysis

• NEXAFS Microscopy: Applications
  • Surfaces and Thin Films
    • Polyimide Films and Surface
    • Overcoats and Lubricating Layers on Hard Disks
    • Confined, Free Standing Homopolymer Thin Films
    • Thin Film Blends
    • Thin Film Polymer Bilayers
    • Block Copolymer Thin Films
  • Bulk Morphology and Composition of Multicomponent, Multiphasic Polymers
    • NEXAFS Microscopy of Poly(ethylene terephthalate)/Vectra™ Blends
    • Engineered Polyurethane Polymers
    • Multilayers
    • Elastomer Composites
  • Fibers
  • Organic Geochemistry
  • Meteoritics and Interplanetary Dust Particles
  • Soils and Environmental Studies
  • Other Applications

• Summary and Future Outlook

• Acknowledgments

• References

We present a theoretical and experimental study of radially symmetric aberration caused by the differential transmission and phase shift of p- and s-polarized components of an axial beam passing through spherical lenses and plane parallel plates. We give a general description of the aberrations for an axial beam. The extinction is calculated as a function of the numerical aperture for uncoated lenses and for plane parallel plates. In our theoretical analysis, the polarization of output rays is described as a function of the input ray parameters, the shape factor, and refractive index of the lenses used. For rays that are inclined to the optical axis, optimal lens shape factors that minimize the rays' polarization aberrations are found. Techniques for measurement of radially symmetric birefringence in a lens system are described. Finally, we discuss strategies for polarization rectification and introduce new designs including meniscus rectifiers and a liquid crystal rectifier that can actively compensate a wide variety of polarization aberrations. Good correlations between theory and experimental results for microscope optical systems with coated and uncoated optical elements are found. Our results enable us to suppress depolarization and remove anomalous diffraction in a modern microscope equipped with high-numerical-aperture lenses.

We study numerically the constant-height image in transmission mode of photon scanning tunneling microscopy (PSTM). The local field inside the probe tip is calculated, which scans over a dielectric rectangular structure. The substrate is illuminated by a s-polarized incident light with oblique angle. The influence by the dielectric functions of the tip and the lateral size of the structure on the optical signal are analyzed. We find out that the transmitted intensity is correlated with the shape of the sample and the assumption of passive probe may be a reasonable approximation when the optical constant of the tip is close to that of air.