Detection and diagnostics

Nakahara, Y., Detection and Diagnostic Interpretation of Amphetamines in Hair, Forensic Sci. Int., 70, 135, 1995. 

Bravata, D. M., Sundaram, V., McDonald, K. M., Smith, W. M., Szeto, H., Schleinitz, M. D., et al. (2004). Evaluating detection and diagnostic support systems for bioterrorism response [Electronic version]. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 10, 100-108. 

The fi O-Pj system has also recently been applied to phosphates associated with ferric iron oxyhydroxide precipitates in submarine ocean ridge sediments (Blake et al., 2000, 2001). The gi O-Pj signature of phosphate associated with these authigenic Fe-oxyhydroxide precipitates indicates microbial phosphate turnover at elevated temperatures. The latter observation suggests that phosphate oxygen isotopes may be useful biomarkers for fossil hydrothermal vent systems. On the basis of this work, Blake et al. (2001) also hypothesize that authigenic phases extant on other planets may retain imprints of primitive biospheres, in the form of detectable and diagnostic fi O-Pj composition, imparted by biochemical, enzymatic processes. 

Goldsmith JD, Pawel B, Goldblum JR, et al. Detection and diagnostic utilization of placental alkaline phosphatase in muscular tissue and tumors with myogenic differentiation. Am ] Surg Pathol. 2002 26 1627-1633. 

Biodefense in the 2ist Century is a White House directive that integrates the sustained efforts of the national and homeland security, medical, public health, intelligence, diplomatic, and law enforcement communities. The four pillars of the biodefense program as described are threat awareness, prevention and protection, surveillance and detection, and response and recovery. The latter two pillars speak to the need for improved capabilities in the areas of surveillance, specifically detection and diagnostics, as well as medical countermeasures development and decontamination. 

In the fight against CB threats, the battleground can be delineated in four areas. The first is physical protection for people and equipment. The second is detection and diagnostics of the threat location and nature. The goal of both of these is to evade the threat. If the threat cannot be avoided, the third battle is decontamination of equipment and infrastructure, and fourth is medical countermeasures for affected personnel. The potential for nanotechnology to aid these four thrusts is described in detail here. 

Nanoenabled technologies offer some inherent advantages for CB agent detection and diagnostics at all levels. Foremost, the innovative properties of... 

Two potential avenues of research are identified for presymptomatic disease detection and diagnostics. One approach is to increase detection sensitivity and speed for isolating causative agents during the early phases of replication in the host. Another approach is to characterize a host s molecular response to infection through the identification and characterization of early stage molecular signatures. It may be possible to use the host s molecular response to differentiate, for example, a bacterial infection from a viral infection or one viral infection from another. 

The following concepts summarize the focus for research and technology development for detection and diagnostics of CB agents across all of the potential world futures. 

Table 3.3 Essential components for advancement to desired 2030 state for detection and diagnostics... 

Formidable technical challenges exist in achieving the countermeasures envisioned for chemical and biological (CB) defense by 2030 projected in Chap. 3 and to enable countermeasures against the type of threats described in Chap. 4. Real scientific breakthroughs will be needed at a fundamental level in order to realize these revolutionary countermeasures in physical protection, detection and diagnostics, decontamination, and medical applications. Much of the research required for this broad strategy must be aimed at new scientific discovery versus research aimed at development of a specific application. 

BW Detection and Diagnostics - Prof. A.T. Charhe Johnson, Pennsylvania State University... 

Chapters 1 and 2 provide an overview of the current situation and provide detailed background on the four worlds construct - the scenarios - used to frame the study. Chapter 3 describes the potential applications for nanotechnology in specific areas of CB defense - physical protection, detection and diagnostics, decontamination, and medical countermeasures. Chapter 4 examines the potential for intentional misuse of nanotechnology in the chem-bio regime. Chapter 5 outlines near-term research directions, and Chapter 6 provides a sununary and concluding remarks. 

As far as applications of on-chip chromatography go, we will most likely see developments geared toward two areas miniature portable analysis systems and highly multiplexed systems. The benefits of miniaturization will enable the creation of detection and diagnostic instruments that are small and easy to use for point of care and military applications. Micro-chromatography devices will also enable development of systems of unprecedented complexity that will allow analysis of highly complex samples with compounds of interest in trace amounts. With such systems, presymptomatic diagnosis of various diseases may become a reality. 

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