A medical percussion instrument using a wavelet-based method for archivable output and automatic classification.

There is no standard instrument for carrying out medical percussion even though the procedure has been in continuous use since 1761. This study developed one such instrument. It generates medical percussion sounds in a reproducible manner and accurately classifies them into one of three classes.

Comparison of low-abundance biomarker levels in capillary-collected nonstimulated tears and washout tears of aqueous-deficient and normal patients.

Purpose: Low tear volume limits the use of nonstimulated (NS) microcapillary tear collection in aqueous-deficient (AD) patients. Adding a small amount of "washout" fluid to the eye prior to tear collection is a potentially viable alternative method for abundant proteins, but is relatively untested for low-abundance biomarkers. This study determined the feasibility of the washout (WO) method as an NS alternative for low-abundance biomarkers.

Multiple cytokine analysis in human tears: an optimized procedure for cytometric bead-based assay.

Purpose: To compare instruments and reagents used for cytometric bead-based assay (CBA) of cytokines in human tears.

Methods: Two CBA instruments and reagent kits from five vendors were compared in parallel. Vendor protocols were modified to accommodate tear volumes.