Near infrared (NIR) assignment of Isopsoralen was performed using deuterated chloroform solvent and two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) technology. Yunkang Oral Liquid was applied to study Isopsoralen, the characteristic bands by spectral assignment as well as the bands by interval partial least squares (iPLS) and synergy interval partial least squares (siPLS) were used to establish partial least squares (PLS) model. The coefficient of determination in calibration (R2cal) were 0.9987, 0.9970 and 0.9982. The coefficient of determination in cross validation (R2val) were 0.9985, 0.9921 and 0.9982. The coefficient of determination in prediction(R2pre) were 0.9987, 0.9955 and 0.9988. The root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC) were 0.27, 0.40 and 0.31 ppm. The root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) were 0.30, 0.67 and 0.32 ppm. The root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) were 0.23, 0.43 and 0.22 ppm. The residual predictive deviation (RPD) were 31.00, 16.58 and 32.41. It turned out that the characteristic bands by spectral assignment had the same results with the chemometrics methods in PLS model. It provided guidance for NIR spectral assignment of chemical compositions in Chinese Materia Medica (CMM).

Laser skin perforation is an effective and promising technique for use in blood collection. In this study, the relation between the perforation profile of skin and laser irradiation at various energies is discussed. Increasing laser energy does not uniformly expand the size and depth of a hole because the shallow depth of field (DOF) of the focused light primarily concentrates energy on the skin surface. In practice, the hole gradually transforms from a semielliptical shape to an upsidedown avocado shape as the laser energy increases. This phenomenon can increase the amount of bleeding and reduce pain. The findings support the feasibility of developing an accurate laser skin perforation method.

Nondestructive evaluation of melon quality is in great need of comprehensive study. Soluble solids content (SSC) and firmness are the two indicators of melon internal quality that mostly affect consumer acceptance. To provide guidance for fruit classification, internal quality standards was preliminarily established through sensory test, as: Melon with SSC over 12° Brix, firmness 4–5.5 kgf · cm-2 were considered as satisfactory class sample; and SSC over 10° Brix, firmness 3.5–6.5 kgf · cm-2 as average class sample. The near infrared (NIR) nondestructive detection program was set as spectra collected from the stylar-end, Brix expressed by the average SSC of inner and outer mesocarp, each cultivar of melon was detected with its own optimum integration time, and the second derivative algorithm was used to equalize them. Using wavelength selected by genetic algorithms (GA), a robust SSC model of mix-cultivar melon was established, the root mean standard error of cross-validation (RMSECV) was 0.99 and the ratio performance deviation (RPD) nearly reached 3.0, which almost could meet the accuracy requirement of 1.5° Brix. Firmness model of mix-cultivar melon was acceptable but inferior.

Red blood cell (RBC) counting is a standard medical test that can help diagnose various conditions and diseases. Manual counting of blood cells is highly tedious and time consuming. However, new methods for counting blood cells are customary employing both electronic and computer-assisted techniques. Image segmentation is a classical task in most image processing applications which can be used to count blood cells in a microscopic image. In this research work, an approach for erythrocytes counting is proposed. We employed a classification before counting and a new segmentation idea was implemented on the complex overlapping clusters in a microscopic smear image. Experimental results show that the proposed method is of higher counting accuracy and it performs much better than most counting algorithms existed in the situation of three or more RBCs overlapping complexly into a group. The average total erythrocytes counting accuracy of the proposed method reaches 92.9%.

As an important process analysis tool, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been widely used in process monitoring. In the present work, the feasibility of NIRS for monitoring the moisture content of human coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) in freeze-drying process was investigated. A partial least squares regression (PLS-R) model for moisture content determination was built with 88 samples. Different pre-processing methods were explored, and the best method found was standard normal variate (SNV) transformation combined with 1st derivation with Savitzky– Golay (SG) 15 point smoothing. Then, four different variable selection methods, including uninformative variable elimination (UVE), interval partial least squares regression (iPLS), competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) and manual method, were compared for eliminating irrelevant variables, and iPLS was chosen as the best variable selection method. The correlation coe±cient (R), correlation coe±cient of calibration set (Rcal), correlation coe±cient of validation set (Rval), root mean square errors of cross-validation (RMSECV) and root mean square errors of prediction (RMSEP) of PLS model were 0.9284, 0.9463, 0.8890, 0.4986% and 0.4514%, respectively. The results showed that the model for moisture content determination has a wide range, good linearity, accuracy and precision. The developed approach was demonstrated to be a potential for monitoring the moisture content of FVIII in freeze-drying process.

A rapid predictive method based on near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) of paddy rice was developed to measure the pasting properties of rice. The paddy rice samples were scanned by a near-infrared reflectance spectrometer in the wavelength region of 1400–2400 nm and preprocessed by mathematical pretreatments prior to pasting properties analysis using a rapid visco-analyzer (RVA). The results indicated that the developed models of setback (SB), peak viscosity (PV), breakdown (BD) and consistency (CS) provided good prediction results with relatively high correlation coefficients (0.81–0.96). In addition, the validity of the calibration models was statistically tested. Standard error of prediction (SEPT and bias were small enough without any significance at 95% confidence interval. Nonetheless, this study proved that the use of NIRS for predicting pasting properties was feasible in paddy rice and could be applied in commercial trade and research.

The time- and spectral-resolved set-up for measurements of weak infrared luminescence of photosensitizers (PSs) and singlet oxygen using optical lightguides was used on skin of laboratory animals in vivo. Wistar rats with abdominal incisions treated by methylis aminolevulinitis (MAL) were used as a model. A control group of animals with abdominal incisions was also tested. Spectrally resolved fluorescence of the PS was acquired during the treatment from the same spot. The intensity and spectral profile of the fluorescence signal from the skin can be used to guide the detection setup to the investigated spots in the lesion. The rate of bleaching of Protoporphyrin IX band and appearance of a band of its photoproducts during the treatment can be characterized by the exposition ED, under which the latter becomes dominant feature in fluorescence spectrum. ED value differs statistically significantly between the normal skin and the lesion treated by MAL. No direct proportionality was found between the fluorescence signal and singlet oxygen production. Nevertheless, the strong fluorescence signal is necessary but not a sufficient condition for higher singlet oxygen production in vivo. ED value correlates rather well with production of singlet oxygen, but differently in lesion and normal skin. Lifetimes of singlet oxygen differ between spots outside and in the lesion. PS triplet state lifetimes exhibit weak difference between spots treated and untreated by MAL.

The Monte Carlo method is a versatile simulation algorithm to model the propagation of photons inside the biological tissues. It has been applied to the reconstruction of the fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT). However, such method suffers from low computational efficiency, and the time consumption is not desirable. One way to solve this problem is to introduce a priori knowledge which will facilitate iterative convergence. We presented an in vivo simulation environment for fluorescence molecular tomography (ISEFMT) using the Monte Carlo method to simulate the photon distribution of fluorescent objects and their sectional view in any direction quantitatively. A series of simulation experiments were carried out on different phantoms each with two fluorescent volumes to investigate the relationship among fluorescence intensity distribution and the excitation photon number, the locations and sizes of the fluorescence volumes, and the anisotropy coefficient. A significant principle was discovered, that along the direction of the excitation light, the fluorescent volume near the excitation point will provide shelter effect so that the energy of the fluorescent volume farther away from the excitation point is relatively lower. Through quantitative analysis, it was discovered that both the photon energy distribution on every cross section and the fluorescence intensity distributed in the two volumes exhibit exponential relationships. The two maximum positions in this distribution correspond to the centers of fluorescent volumes. Finally, we also explored the effect of the phantom coefficients on the exponential rule, and found out that the exponential rule still exists, only the coefficient of the exponential rule changed. Such results can be utilized in locating the positions of multiple fluorescent volumes in complicated FMT reconstruction involving multiple fluorescent volumes. Thus, a priori knowledge can be generalized, which would accelerate the reconstruction of FMT and even other images.

In endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), the narrow gastrointestinal space can cause difficulty in surgical interventions. Tissue ablation apparatuses with high-power CO2 lasers or Nd:YAG lasers have been developed to facilitate endoscopic surgical procedures. We studied the interaction of 808-nm laser light with a porcine stomach tissue, with the aim of developing a therapeutic medical device that can remove lesions at the gastrointestinal wall by irradiating a near-infrared laser light incorporated in an endoscopic system. The perforation depths at the porcine fillet and the stomach tissues linearly increased in the range of 2–8mm in proportion to the laser energy density of 63.7–382 kJ/cm2. Despite the distinct structural and compositional difference, the variation of the perforation depth between the stomach and the fillet was not found at 808-nm wavelength in our measurement. We further studied the laser–tissue interaction by changing the concentration of the methyl blue solution used conventionally as a submucosal fluidic cushion (SFC) in ESD procedures. The temperature of the mucosal layer increased more rapidly at higher concentration of the methyl blue solution, because of enhanced light absorption at the SFC layer. The insertion of the SFC would protect the muscle layer from thermal damage. We confirmed that more effective laser treatment should be enabled by tuning the opto-thermal properties of the SFC. This study can contribute to the optimization of the driving parameters for laser incision techniques as an alternative to conventional surgical interventions.

Purpose: The examination of the effects of second generation lotrafilcon B silicone hydrogel (SiH) lenses on the cornea when worn for three years of daily wear. Material and Methods: 55 healthy patients were divided into two groups: current hydrogel contact lens wearers refitted with lotrafilcon B lenses (Group 1; 28 patients) and neophyte contact lens wearers (Group 2; 27 patients). Each patient's subjective eye comfort was measured with a self-administered questionnaire. The corneas were analyzed using contact specular microscope to measure corneal thickness and the endothelium before the SiH lenses were fitted after four weeks, one month, six months, one year, two years, and three years of lens wear. Results: Subjective complaints of patients in Group 1 were reduced; however patients in Group 2 experienced discomfort during the first two to four weeks of use. In Group 1, objective examinations identified a decrease in endothelial cell density. In Group 2, the endothelial cell density increased slightly in the first two years but decreased after three years. The results indicate that lotrafilcon B slows down the deleterious effects of contact lenses. The coefficient of variation significantly decreased after six months in Group 1 (0.47 vs 0.44; p = 0.049), whereas, in Group 2, the hexagonal cells improved significantly after one month (27.78 vs 28.25; p = 0.025). Conclusion: Based on the subjects involved and the period of time under examination, it can be concluded that high-Dk SiH lenses support the physiological metabolism and functions of the cornea by improving oxygen provision.

Neonatal stroke is similar to the stroke that occurs in adults and produces a significant morbidity and long-term neurologic and cognitive deficits. There are important differences in the factors, clinical events and outcomes associated with the stroke in infants and adults. However, mechanisms underlying age differences in the stroke development remain largely unknown. Therefore, treatment guidelines for neonatal stroke must extrapolate from the adult data that is often not suitable for children. The new information about differences between neonatal and adult stroke is essential for identification of significant areas for future treatment and effective prevention of neonatal stroke. Here, we studied the development of stress-induced hemorrhagic stroke and possible mechanisms underlying these processes in newborn and adult rats. Using histological methods and magnetic resonance imaging, we found age differences in the type of intracranial hemorrhages. Newborn rats demonstrated small superficial bleedings in the cortex while adult rats had more severe deep bleedings in the cerebellum. Using Doppler optical coherent tomography, we found higher stress-reactivity of the sagittal sinus to deleterious effects of stress in newborn vs. adult rats suggesting that the cerebral veins are more vulnerable to negative stress factors in neonatal vs. adult brain in rats. However, adult but not newborn rats demonstrated the stroke-induced breakdown of blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability. The one of possible mechanisms underlying the higher resistance to stress-related stroke injures of cerebral vessels in newborn rats compared with adult animals is the greater expression of two main tight junction proteins of BBB (occludin and claudin-5) in neonatal vs. mature brain in rats.