Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy accurately discriminates early and advanced grades of fatty liver in mice.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) ranges from steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and cirrhosis. Liver biopsy, considered the gold standard to diagnose NAFLD, shows significantly high rates of interobserver variability. Thus there is a need to develop tools that accurately categorize mild and advanced grades of steatosis in order to identify patients at higher risk of developing chronic liver disease.

Fluorescence Spectroscopy as a Tool for the Assessment of Liver Samples with Several Stages of Fibrosis.

Background: During the last years, fluorescence spectroscopy has been used as a potential tool for the evaluation and characterization of tissues with different disease conditions due to its low cost, high sensitivity, and minimally or noninvasive character.

Objective: In this study, fluorescence spectroscopy was used to study 19 paraffin blocks containing human liver tissue from biopsies.

Methods And Results: All samples were previously analyzed by two senior pathologists in a single-blind trial.

In Vitro Photoirradiation System for Simultaneous Irradiation with Different Light Doses at a Fixed Temperature.

Objective: In this work an irradiance and temperature controlled in-vitro system for conducting investigations in PDT and phototherapy is presented.

Background Data: The development of new light sources has caused a considerable increase in research and application of several photodynamic (PDT) therapeutic methods, as well as other light-based therapeutic techniques. However, further work is needed to fully understand and elucidate the mechanisms as well as to increase the effectiveness of PDT.

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy as a possible tool to complement liver biopsy for grading hepatic fibrosis in paraffin-preserved human liver specimens.

A diffuse reflectance spectroscopy-based method to score fibrosis in paraffin-preserved human liver specimens has been developed and is reported here. Paraffin blocks containing human liver tissue were collected from the General Hospital of Mexico and included in the study with the patients' written consent. The score of liver fibrosis was determined in each sample by two experienced pathologists in a single-blind fashion.

Development of a passive doas system to retrieve atmospheric pollution columns in the 200 to 355 nm region.

In recent years several techniques have been developed to measure and monitor the pollution of the air. Among these techniques, remote sensing using optical methods stands out due to several advantages for air quality control applications. A Passive Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy system that uses the ultraviolet region from 200 to 355 nm of the solar radiation is presented.