A new hologram microscope has been
developed which can be used to detect asthma, which is very common in children,
before and faster.
Young children are more susceptible
to disease than we are, and it is not always easy to diagnose a disease that
occurs in them. Tests such as the standard lung function test used to detect
asthma cannot be applied to children under certain age. A new blood analyzer
can deliver results in less than 2 hours.
This device, a kind of holographic
microscope, was developed by the Fraunhofer Marine Biotechnology and Cell
Technologies Research Institute of Germany. Pattern imaging and visualization
company Raytrix also supported the research. The research was sponsored by the
partly state-funded KillAsthma project.
Users start the test by dropping a
drop of the patient's blood into the microfluidic cartridge. White blood cells
in this example are added to a substance that triggers shortness of breath.
After loading, the cartridge is attached to the microscope and the image of
3000 cells is magnified and displayed in three dimensions thanks to the
integrated LED and CMOS sensors.
The device was trained using blood
samples from persons diagnosed by conventional methods. Thus, the diagnosis can
be made with the help of a computer. Although both healthy and sick cells react
to the substance that triggers the disease, the response rate drops
considerably when it comes to the cells of asthmatics.
After about 90 minutes of monitoring
and analysis, the software can accurately diagnose whether the person has
asthma. The potential uses of the newly developed technology are not limited to
this.
Dr. Fraunhofer. Daniel Rapoport, methods can be used
in the diagnosis of other diseases, he said. He said that immunity and chronic
dyspnoea such as Crohn's disease and ulcerated tissues and rheumatism can also
be discovered. Detection of these diseases by traditional methods requires a
long and difficult test process.
Reference: https://www.webtekno.com/