Fluorescence spectroscopy for clinical transplantation liver grafts monitoring: possibilities offered by 408 nm excitation

Purpose: Fluorescence spectroscopy techniques have been investigated aiming to reduce the invasiveness of methods for investigation of tissue. In transplantation procedures, it may offer the possibility of a complementary technique for the monitoring of liver grafts' conditions prior to and during the transplantation procedure stages involving cold perfusion. The objective of this study was to evaluate fluorescence spectroscopy under violet light excitation (408 nm) for the monitoring of clinical hypothermic liver transplantation procedures. Methods: Organ grafts were monitored from before the removal of the donor's body to 1 h after the implant into the receptor's body. Fluorescence spectroscopy was assessed over five stages within these transplant stages. Results: The study provided evidence of a correlation between fluorescence information collected during liver grafts transplantation and the survival of patients. Conclusions: Fluorescence spectroscopy can become a tool to monitor transplantation grafts, providing objective information for the final decision of surgeons to use organs.

Study of advanced rheumatoid arthritis

INTRODUCTION: Rheumatic diseases are considered public health problems affecting millions of people worldwide resulting in high and rising health-care costs. In this work, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy associated to Partial Least Square regression (PLS) analysis was used to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from human serum. METHODS: The sera of 94 individuals were collected, which included 47 from rheumatic patients and 47 from healthy individuals. The results from PLS analysis were compared to standard clinical trials such as anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies, C- Reactive protein, and Rheumatoid factor. RESULTS: For clinical diagnosis, the anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies of second generation proved to be the most specific to diagnosis rheumatoid arthritis even after long periods of drug therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The qualitative PLS analysis has shown higher values of IgM of RA group, but the difference was very small. The RA patients were under medication, which interfered with the IgM concentration.