Proton Logic Gate Based on a Gramicidin-ATP Synthase Integrated Biotransducer.

Ion channels are membrane proteins that allow ionic signals to pass through channel pores for biofunctional modulations. However, biodevices that integrate bidirectional biological signal transmission between a device and biological converter through supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) while simultaneously controlling the process are lacking. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to develop a hybrid biotransducer composed of ATP synthase and proton channel gramicidin A (gA), controlled by a sulfonated polyaniline (SPA) conducting polymer layer deposited on a microelectrode, and to simulate a model circuit for this system. We controlled proton transport across the gA channel using both electrical and chemical input signals by applying voltage to the SPA or introducing calcium ions (inhibitor) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid molecules (inhibitor remover). The insertion of gA and ATP synthase into SLBs on microelectrodes resulted in an integrated biotransducer, in which the proton current was controlled by the flux of adenosine diphosphate molecules and calcium ions. Lastly, we created an XOR logic gate as an enzymatic logic system where the output proton current was controlled by Input A (ATP synthase) and Input B (calcium ions), making use of the unidirectional and bidirectional transmission of protons in ATP synthase and gA, respectively. We combined gA, ATP synthase, and SPA as a hybrid bioiontronics system to control bidirectional or unidirectional ion transport across SLBs in biotransducers. Thus, our findings are potentially relevant for a range of advanced biological and medical applications.

Comparison of the indices of oxyhemoglobin saturation by pulse oximetry in obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: To comprehensively evaluate the ability and reliability of the representative previously proposed oxyhemoglobin indexes derived automatically for predicting the severity of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). METHODS: Patients with a diagnosis of OSAHS by standard polysomnography were recruited from China Medical University Hospital Centre. There were 257 patients in the learning set and 279 patients in the validation set. The presence of OSAHS was defined as apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) > 5/h. Three kinds of oxyhemoglobin indexes, including the oxyhemoglobin desaturation index (ODI), time-domain index, and frequency-domain index, were used. Degrees of severity were AHI > 15/h and AHI > 30/h, representing moderate and severe OSAHS. A total of 28 oxyhemoglobin indexes were tested in our study. RESULTS: Among the three kinds of indexes, ODI had a better diagnostic performance than the time-domain and frequency-domain indexes, with the results coincident in the validation set and learning set. For predicting the severity of OSAHS with AHI > 15/h or > 30/h, the ODI clinically had the higher correlation with AHI than time-domain and frequency-domain indexes, with sensitivity/specificity achieving 84.0%/84.3% in AHI > 15/h and 87.8%/96.6% in AHI > 30/h, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the smaller SEE of the AHI, the ODI had a significantly smaller SEE than the time-domain and frequency-domain indexes. The ODI index provided a high level of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity at different degrees of OSAHS severity.

A comparative study for 2D and 3D computer-aided diagnosis methods for solitary pulmonary nodules.

Many computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) methods, including 2D and 3D approaches, have been proposed for solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs). However, the detection and diagnosis of SPNs remain challenging in many clinical circumstances. One goal of this work is to investigate the relative diagnostic accuracy of 2D and 3D methods. An additional goal is to develop a two-stage approach that combines the simplicity of 2D and the accuracy of 3D methods. The experimental results show statistically significant differences between the diagnostic accuracy of 2D and 3D methods. The results also show that with a very minor drop in diagnostic performance the two-stage approach can significantly reduce the number of nodules needed to be processed by the 3D method, streamlining the computational demand.