Recent Approaches to Design and Analysis of Electrical Impedance Systems for Single Cells Using Machine Learning.

Individual cells have many unique properties that can be quantified to develop a holistic understanding of a population. This can include understanding population characteristics, identifying subpopulations, or elucidating outlier characteristics that may be indicators of disease. Electrical impedance measurements are rapid and label-free for the monitoring of single cells and generate large datasets of many cells at single or multiple frequencies.

Broadband Electrical Spectroscopy to Distinguish Single-Cell Ca Changes Due to Ionomycin Treatment in a Skeletal Muscle Cell Line.

Many skeletal muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and sarcopenia share the dysregulation of calcium (Ca) as a key mechanism of disease at a cellular level. Cytosolic concentrations of Ca can signal dysregulation in organelles including the mitochondria, nucleus, and sarcoplasmic reticulum in skeletal muscle. In this work, a treatment is applied to mimic the Ca increase associated with these atrophy-related disease states, and broadband impedance measurements are taken for single cells with and without this treatment using a microfluidic device.

Single-Cell Classification Based on Population Nucleus Size Combining Microwave Impedance Spectroscopy and Machine Learning.

Many recent efforts in the diagnostic field address the accessibility of cancer diagnosis. Typical histological staining methods identify cancer cells visually by a larger nucleus with more condensed chromatin. Machine learning (ML) has been incorporated into image analysis for improving this process.

Local practices and production confer resilience to rural Pacific food systems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resilience of food systems is key to ensuring food security through crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic presents an unprecedented shock that reveals varying levels of resilience of increasingly interconnected food systems across the globe. We contribute to the ongoing debate about whether increased connectivity reduces or enhances resilience in the context of rural Pacific food systems, while examining how communities have adapted to the global shocks associated with the pandemic to ensure food security.

Harnessing the diversity of small-scale actors is key to the future of aquatic food systems.

Small-scale fisheries and aquaculture (SSFA) provide livelihoods for over 100 million people and sustenance for ~1 billion people, particularly in the Global South. Aquatic foods are distributed through diverse supply chains, with the potential to be highly adaptable to stresses and shocks, but face a growing range of threats and adaptive challenges. Contemporary governance assumes homogeneity in SSFA despite the diverse nature of this sector.

Broadband electrical impedance as a novel characterization of oxidative stress in single L6 skeletal muscle cells.

Oxidative stress (OS) is one of the leading causes of cytotoxicity and is linked to many human physio-pathological conditions. In particular, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) induced by OS is debilitating to quality of life, while no clear biological markers have been identified for diagnostic measures. Recently, impedance measurements of peripheral blood cells of ME/CFS patients have been shown as a promising approach to diagnose the disease.

Immunosuppression for progressive membranous nephropathy: a UK randomised controlled trial.

Background: Membranous nephropathy leads to end-stage renal disease in more than 20% of patients. Although immunosuppressive therapy benefits some patients, trial evidence for the subset of patients with declining renal function is not available. We aimed to assess whether immunosuppression preserves renal function in patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy with declining renal function.

Predicting 30-minute postdialysis blood urea concentrations using the stop dialysate flow method.

The stop dialysate flow (SDF) method has been the recommended method of postdialysis urea sampling by the Scottish Renal Association since November 1998. However, this method does not lend itself to calculation of Kt/V using currently favored formulas, which require either a 30-minute postdialysis sample or a 20-second "slow flow" sample. We, therefore, derived a formula that uses a 5-minute postdialysis urea sample using the SDF method to estimate the urea concentration at 30 minutes.