'Serum ferritin' presents a paradox, as the iron storage protein ferritin is not synthesised in serum yet is to be found there. Serum ferritin is also a well known inflammatory marker, but it is unclear whether serum ferritin reflects or causes inflammation, or whether it is involved in an inflammatory cycle. We argue here that serum ferritin arises from damaged cells, and is thus a marker of cellular damage. The protein in serum ferritin is considered benign, but it has lost (i.e. dumped) most of its normal complement of iron which when unliganded is highly toxic. The facts that serum ferritin levels can correlate with both disease and with body iron stores are thus expected on simple chemical kinetic grounds. Serum ferritin levels also correlate with other phenotypic readouts such as erythrocyte morphology. Overall, this systems approach serves to explain a number of apparent paradoxes of serum ferritin, including (i) why it correlates with biomarkers of cell damage, (ii) why it correlates with biomarkers of hydroxyl radical formation (and oxidative stress) and (iii) therefore why it correlates with the presence and/or severity of numerous diseases. This leads to suggestions for how one might exploit the corollaries of the recognition that serum ferritin levels mainly represent a consequence of cell stress and damage.

/pdf/serum-ferritin-is-an-important-inflammatory-disease-marker-4i5t4zzia8.pdf

Serum ferritin is an important inflammatory disease marker, as it is mainly a leakage product from damaged cells

Systems and methods employing a small guage steerable catheter (30) including a locatable guide (32) with a sheath (40), particularly as an enhancement to a bronchoscope (14). A typical procedure is as follows. The location of a target in a reference coordinate system is detected or imported. The catheter (30) is navigated to the target which tracking the distal tip (34) of the guide (32) in the reference coordinate system. Insertion of the catheter is typically via a working channel of a convention bronchoscope. Once the tip of the catheter is positioned at the target, the guide (32) is withdrawn, leaving the sheath (40) secured in place. The sheath (40) is then used as a guide channel to direct a medical tool to target.

Endoscope Structures And Techniques For Navigating To A Target In Branched Structure

The present invention provides methods and apparatus for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with improved reliability. According to one aspect of the invention, interference experienced by onboard sensors from onboard electrical components is reduced. According to another aspect of the invention, user-configuration or assembly of electrical components is minimized to reduce user errors.

Unmanned aerial vehicle and operations thereof

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the most common liver disease in the Western world. For many reasons, it is underestimated and underdiagnosed. An early diagnosis is absolutely essential since it (1) helps to identify patients at genetic risk for ALD; (2) can trigger efficient abstinence namely in non-addicted patients; and (3) initiate screening programs to prevent life-threatening complications such as bleeding from varices, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis or hepatocellular cancer. The two major end points of ALD are alcoholic liver cirrhosis and the rare and clinically-defined alcoholic hepatitis (AH). The prediction and early diagnosis of both entities is still insufficiently solved and usually relies on a combination of laboratory, clinical and imaging findings. It is not widely conceived that conventional screening tools for ALD such as ultrasound imaging or routine laboratory testing can easily overlook ca. 40% of manifest alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Non-invasive methods such as transient elastography (Fibroscan), acoustic radiation force impulse imaging or shear wave elastography have significantly improved the early diagnosis of alcoholic cirrhosis. Present algorithms allow either the exclusion or the exact definition of advanced fibrosis stages in ca. 95% of patients. The correct interpretation of liver stiffness requires a timely abdominal ultrasound and actual transaminase levels. Other non-invasive methods such as controlled attenuation parameter, serum levels of M30 or M65, susceptometry or breath tests are under current evaluation to assess the degree of steatosis, apoptosis and iron overload in these patients. Liver biopsy still remains an important option to rule out comorbidities and to confirm the prognosis namely for patients with AH.

Non-invasive diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease.

A system that integrates Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) wireless local area network (WLAN) services is provided. The system couples among components of a communications service provider and a provider of WiFi services to provide integrated cellular communications and wireless fidelity network services to users of mobile devices. The system monitors communications between the service provider and the mobile devices and automatically gathers identification information of the mobile devices. Upon authentication of the mobile devices via an exchange of information among the service provider infrastructures and the mobile devices, the system controls access of the mobile communication devices to WiFi services via the service provider infrastructure using the identification information.

Integrating GSM and WiFi service in mobile communication devices

A method and apparatus to screen individuals specifically for paramagnetic or ferromagnetic objects they may be carrying or wearing, before they enter a controlled area The device comprises a screening portal, including at least one magnetic gradiometer and its electronics The device places all of the sensor arrays in close proximity to a subject's body, for screening purposes The portal has at least one excitation coil oriented to cause the excitation field to have zero mutual inductance with the gradiometers

Screening method and apparatus

A probe instrument using room-temperature sensor(s) that can measure magnetic susceptibilities variations. The instrument has sufficient resolution to monitor paramagnetic materials in a human body, and preferably iron in a human liver by noninvasively examining patients with iron-overload diseases. The instrument includes room temperature magnetic sensors, and detects the sample, that is the tissue response to an alternating current field applied by an applied field coil. The sensors that can be used include magnetoresistive, fluxgate and magnetoinductive sensors. The applied field coil dimensions are chosen so that the applied field is optimized for maximum response from the liver while minimizing the effects due to the overlying abdominal tissue and at the same time not unduly increasing the sensitivity of the instrument to the lung. To minimize noise introduced in the sensor due to fluctuations in the applied field, the applied field is canceled at the position of the sensor, i.e. the real and imaginary parts of the applied field are canceled. To overcome variations in the sensor output due to fluctuations in the applied field, change in the ambient temperature and mechanical relaxation of the instrument, the sensor-sample distance is modulated. The detector assembly is oscillated while the examined patient remains stationary. The detector's applied field coil is fabricated on a printed circuit board and is attached firmly to a solid nonmetallic support structure forming part of a detector. This improves mechanical and thermal stability, and makes for a precise and inexpensive fabrication of the applied field coil. The detector assembly forms part of a probe instrument for performing noninvasively the paramagnetic concentration of a patient.

Noninvasive room temperature instrument to measure magnetic susceptibility variations in body tissue

A probe instrument using room-temperature sensor(s) that can measure magnetic susceptibilities variations. The instrument includes room temperature magnetic sensors, and detects the sample, that is the tissue response to an applied field coil. The sensors that can be used include magnetoresistive, fluxgate and magnetoinductive sensors. The applied field coil dimensions are chosen so that the applied field is optimized for maximum response from the item of interest while minimizing the effects due to the overlying tissue and at the same time not unduly increasing the sensitivity of the instrument to adjacent organs. To minimize noise introduced in the sensor due to fluctuations in the applied field, the applied field is canceled at the position of the sensor. To overcome variations in the sensor output due to fluctuations in the applied field, change in the ambient temperature and mechanical relaxation of the instrument, the detector assembly is oscillated while the examined patient remains stationary.

Ferromagnetic foreign body detection using magnetics

Methods and apparatus for minimizing the effects of temperature drift in a magnetic susceptibility measurement instrument, such as an instrument used in pre-MRI screening for the presence of ferromagnetic foreign bodies. The magnetic field source and magnetic sensors can be combined into a single, rigid unit. The stability and sensitivity required in high quality magnetic susceptibility measurements can be achieved through symmetrical design of the source-sensor unit, minimization of thermal stresses, minimization of temperature variations, use of materials with low thermal expansion coefficients, or through appropriate combinations thereof. Use of patient eye movement where an eye is being screened, use of a water bag between the patient and the instrument, or use of telemedicine to facilitate performance of the necessary computations can also be incorporated.

Susceptometers for foreign body detection

Magnetic susceptibility measurements on the liver can quantify iron overload accurately and noninvasively. However, established susceptometer designs, using superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) that work in liquid helium, have been too expensive for widespread use. This paper presents a less expensive liver susceptometer that works at room temperature. This system uses oscillating magnetic fields, which are produced and detected by copper coils. The coil design cancels the signal from the applied field, eliminating noise from fluctuations of the source-coil current and sensor gain. The coil unit moves toward and away from the patient at 1 Hz, cancelling drifts due to thermal expansion of the coils. Measurements on a water phantom indicated instrumental errors less than 30 microg of iron per gram of wet liver tissue, which is small compared with other errors due to the response of the patient's body. Liver-iron measurements on eight thalassemia patients yielded a correlation coefficient r = 0.98 between the room-temperature susceptometer and an existing SQUID. These results indicate that the fundamental accuracy limits of the room-temperature susceptometer are similar to those of the SQUID.

/pdf/noninvasive-liver-iron-measurements-with-a-room-temperature-46t80j07o3.pdf

Noninvasive liver-iron measurements with a room-temperature susceptometer

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