Delicate Instruments Research Articles

Functional Carbon Springs Enabled Dynamic Tunable Microwave Absorption and Thermal Insulation.

Electromagnetic (EM) wave pollution and thermal damage pose serious hazards to delicate instruments. Functional aerogels offer a promising solution by mitigating EM interference and isolating heat. However, most of these materials struggle to balance thermal protection with microwave absorption (MA) efficiency due to a previously unidentified conflict between the optimizing strategies of the two properties. Herein, this study reports a solution involving the design of a carbon-based aerogel called functional carbon spring (FCS). Its unique long-range lamellar multi-arch microstructure enables tunable MA performance and excellent thermal insulation capability. Adjusting compression strain from 0% to 50%, the adjustable effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) spans up to 13.4GHz, covering 84% of the measured frequency spectrum. Notably, at 75% strain, the EAB drops to 0GHz, demonstrating a novel "on-off" switchability for MA performance. Its ultralow vertical thermal conductivity (12.7mW m-1 K-1) and unique anisotropic heat transfer mechanism endow FCS with superior thermal protection effectiveness. Numerical simulations demonstrate that FCS outperforms common honeycomb structures and isotropic porous aerogels in thermal management. Furthermore, an "electromagnetic-thermal" dual-protection material database is established, which intuitively demonstrates the superiority of the solution. This work contributes to the advancement of multifunctional MA materials with significant potential for practical applications.

High Q-factor Polymer Microring Resonators Realized by Versatile Damascene Soft Nanoimprinting Lithography.

High-quality-factor microring resonators are highly desirable in many applications. Fabricating a microring resonator typically requires delicate instruments to ensure a smooth side wall of waveguides and 100-nm critical feature size in the coupling region. In this work, we demonstrate a new method "damascene soft nanoimprinting lithography" that can create high-fidelity waveguide by simply backfill an imprinted cladding template with a high refractive index polymer core. This method can easily realize high Q-factor polymer microring resonators (e.g., ~5 x 105 around 770 nm wavelength) without the use of any expensive instruments and can be conducted in a normal lab environment. The high Q-factors can be attributed to the residual layer-free feature and controllable meniscus cross-section profile of the filled polymer core. Furthermore, the new method is compatible with different polymers, yields low fabrication defects, enables new functionalities, and allows flexible substrate. These benefits can broaden the applicability of the fabricated microring resonator.

Dry Heat Sterilization of a Pelleted, Natural Ingredient Rodent Diet.

Sterilization of rodent feed is recommended to eliminate potential murine pathogens and minimize microbial variability between batches. Most research institutions sterilize feed using steam/pressure (autoclave) or irradiation. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages that contribute to their suitability, including cost, maintenance, availability, and alterations to the exposed product. Dry heat sterilization, which has been in use for over 75 y, uses higher temperatures and longer sterilization times than steam autoclave and is most often used for delicate instruments or products that would be damaged by water such as powders or oil-based liquids. Dry heat sterilization in vivaria has been limited to date but is gaining popularity due to lower initial purchase and ongoing operational costs as compared with steam autoclaves. Little published information exists on the effects of dry heat sterilization on animal feed. We evaluated the sterility and chemical alterations of a natural ingredient, pelleted, rodent diet (NIH-31) after exposure to dry heat. Feed sterility was achieved using a dry heat exposure temperature of 160 °C (320 °F) for 4 h. This exposure resulted in a significant loss of heat-labile vitamins and significantly more acrylamide production as compared with the nonsterile, irradiated, and autoclaved feed.

Feasibility Study for the Development of a Low-Cost, Compact, and Fast Sensor for the Detection and Classification of Microplastics in the Marine Environment.

The detection and classification of microplastics in the marine environment is a complex task that implies the use of delicate and expensive instrumentation. In this paper, we present a preliminary feasibility study for the development of a low-cost, compact microplastics sensor that could be mounted, in principle, on a float of drifters, for the monitoring of large marine surfaces. The preliminary results of the study indicate that a simple sensor equipped with three infrared-sensitive photodiodes can reach classification accuracies around 90% for the most-diffused floating microplastics in the marine environment (polyethylene and polypropylene).

Less Invasive Window Repositioning Technique for Sinus Floor Elevation: A Clinical and Radiographic Study

To determine whether a less invasive window repositioning technique could provide a feasible, safe, and reliable lateral sinus augmentation. The less-invasive window repositioning technique using a piezoelectric saw was performed on adult patient candidates for lateral sinus floor elevation. The augmented bone height (primary outcome variable), bone length, and posthealing outcome variables were evaluated to determine the augmentation adequacy, safety, and reliability of this technique overall and in one- and two-implant groups with different window dimensions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and Pearson correlation analysis. P < .05 was considered significant. A total of 50 consecutive sinus floor elevations with simultaneous placement of 66 implants (one-implant: 34, two-implant: 16) were performed on 44 subjects (72% men) with a mean age of 46.7 ± 10.3 years and followed for a mean of 13.28 ± 3.5 months. The overall, one-implant, and two-implant group mean window sizes were 31.38 ± 6.78 mm2, 28.38 ± 4.2 mm2, and 37.75 ± 6.88 mm2, respectively. The mean overall augmented bone height and length were 12.3 ± 1.04 mm and 19.67 ± 2.01 mm, respectively. The mean window size was significantly smaller in the one-implant group versus the two-implant group (P < .001). However, there was no correlation between window size and augmented bone height (r = -0.9, P = .54) and length (r = 0.05, P = .68). The posthealing outcome variables showed perfect window integration without soft tissue ingrowth. Six sinus perforations (12%) during membrane elevation that were not related to window osteotomy were observed and were appropriately managed. The less-invasive window repositioning technique is feasible, safe, and reliable for appropriate sinus augmentation in height and length. The reduction of window dimension does not influence the feasibility, augmentation adequacy, and surgical safety and does not increase surgical risks or membrane perforation. The repositioned window showed proper integration. Also, sinus floor elevation through this technique is an experience-based surgery that requires delicate instruments.

The instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment

During the mid-nineteenth century, British naval expeditions navigated the world as part of the most extensive scientific undertaking of the age. Between 1839 and the early 1850s, the British government orchestrated a global surveying of the Earth's magnetic phenomena: this was a philosophical enterprise of unprecedented state support and geographical extent. But to conduct this investigation relied on the use of immensely delicate instruments, known as ‘dipping needles’. The most celebrated of these were those of Robert Were Fox, designed and built in Cornwall. Yet these devices were difficult to physically maintain and ensuring accuracy throughout a magnetic experiment was challenging. In 2020, Crosbie Smith and I took an original Fox dipping needle on a voyage from Falmouth to Cape Town, retracing the routes of survey expeditions, including James Clark Ross's 1839–43 Antarctic venture. The article offers an account of our experiences, combined with historical reports of the instrument's past performances. It explores the instrumental challenges involved in nineteenth-century global experimental investigation. The great problem for the British magnetic survey was of coordinating standardized experimental measurements over vast expanses of space and time. As this article argues, this was very much a question of instrumental management, both of dipping needles and of human performers.

A new radiolocation method for precise depth estimation and its application to the analysis of changes in groundwater levels in Colonia Clunia Sulpicia

AbstractUnderground mapping is of paramount importance at archaeological sites with natural or man‐made caves. Techniques of different complexity are available for underground surveying, from compass and tape to light detection and ranging (LiDAR). However, there are scenarios where it is impossible to use heavy and/or delicate instrumentation, or with some of the more advanced techniques, long‐distance and time‐consuming fieldwork would be required. This is the case of the study of the height of water at key points inside the aquifer located in the subsoil of the Roman city of Colonia Clunia Sulpicia to assess its relation with the evolution of the city. Although subsurface radiolocation, a technique originally intended for cave mapping, seems promising for this application, its accuracy in depth estimation is not sufficient for this purpose. Therefore, the main objectives of this work are to improve the accuracy of depth estimation using radiolocation, to obtain sound data to study changes in water supply in the early centuries of the city and to hypothesize possible causes and probable consequences. Then, this work analyses the sources of error affecting the radiolocation process and develops a new method experimentally validated to improve the depth estimation accuracy. As a result, the depth of key points at Clunia has been accurately measured by radiolocation, where LiDAR or direct measurements from the water level are not possible. Finally, based on the resultant data, a chronology of the city in relation to the aquifer, and vice versa, is outlined. The new radiolocation and calculation procedure proposed in this paper is an improved subsurface location technique that can lead to a significant innovation in archaeological prospection.

Polar weighing—an Oertling balance in Antarctica

Scales and spring balances have been part of the equipment of polar expeditions since the explorations of the nineteenth century, but precision beam balances have also been included, specifically, those made by the London instrument firm of L. Oertling. In this paper, the reasons for taking such delicate instruments into such adverse conditions are discussed, as well as some of the logistical and practical problems involved in their transport, storage, and probable use.

Tenosynovial giant cell tumor of the tendon sheat

The review article outlines modern aspects of the nomenclature, etiopathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of tenosynovial giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath. This is the second most common benign neoplasm of the hand. Non-radical surgical treatment of this disease leads to a large number of recurrence. To avoid tumor recurrence, surgeon must to have the basics of plastic reconstructive surgery, use delicate instruments and optical magnification. In some cases, adjuvant radiation therapy and administration of tyrosine kinase inhibitors may be required.

Solar orbiter: mission to study the sun [Space innovation

Designing a spacecraft that can image the Sun as closely as possible without melting the delicate instruments has been a challenge. But scientists' luck could be about to change.LAUNCHED IN February 2020 from Cape Canaveral, a 1.7-tonne spacecraft called the Solar Orbiter aims to get up-close images of the Sun from 42 million kilometres away, while measuring its energetic behaviour in real-time. The suite of 10 on-board instruments will enable it to uniquely marry the study of events in the Sun's gaseous corona, measure its magnetic fields, and sample the solar wind as it flows past the spacecraft as a stream of energetic particles.

Have I Been Here? Sense of Location in People With Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: When navigating in a particular space, a sense of being at a current location is of great help for the navigators in reaching their destination or getting back to the start. To accomplish this work, interwoven neural structures and neurons are called into play. This system is called the heading direction cell-place cell-grid cell circuit. Evidence from various neuroscience studies has revealed that the regions responsible for this circuit are damaged in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This may explain why wayfinding difficulty is one of the most frequent symptoms in persons with AD. The aim of this study was to examine the sense of location (SoL) in persons with mild AD, persons with prodromal AD (prAD), and those who were cognitively unimpaired (CU).Methods: We invited people with mild AD, prAD, and CU to participate in this study. The venue of the core experiment to assess SoL was a 660-m path located on the university campus. The participants were instructed to take a walk on the path and press a device to indicate their arrival at each of the five carefully chosen targets. The linear deviations from the target site were compared among the groups.Results: A total of 20 AD, 28 prAD, and 29 CU persons completed the study. Their Mini-Mental State Examination scores were on average 20 (SD 3), 24 (SD 3), and 28 (SD 2). The groups were well differentiated regarding several measurements for cognitive ability and spatial navigation. As for the SoL, the hit rates of exact location with linear deviation of 16 m or less were 0.05, 0.54, and 0.86 for AD, prAD, and CU persons, respectively. The hit rates were well correlated with the presence of getting lost. Also, SoL differentiated well among CU, PrAD, and AD in terms of average linear deviation.Conclusions: Our employing linear deviation by utilizing a grid-cell function device as an assessment for SoL showed distinct features among the three groups. This model can be used to develop more delicate devices or instruments to detect, monitor, and aid spatial navigation in persons with prAD and AD.

Experimental characterization of aero-acoustic performance of micro-perforated materials in a wind tunnel

Mitigating the propagation of low frequency noise in ducted flows represents a challenging task since wall treatments have often limited dimensions. Micro-perforated panels have been successfully used backed by a cavity constituting a bulk-reacting resonator or in combination with honeycomb for a locally reacting system. In this work, a cost-efficient methodology for the study and characterization of the aero-acoustic properties of flush-mounted micro-perforated resonators has been developed. Although Laser Doppler Velocimetry is a non-intrusive technique, it requires delicate instrumentation to obtain an estimation of the acoustic velocity and pressure fluctuations at several points over a wall liner. Here, the attenuation has been estimated from sound pressure level measurements performed with two nosecone microphones positioned along a vertical line centered on the resonator axis. Experiments have been performed in a wind tunnel in presence of a low-speed turbulent boundary layer of air fully developed over different samples made up of micro-perforated sheets or porous materials with surface roughness. The micro-perforates have been flush-mounted over a cylindrical cavity of depth 30 mm situated on the floor of the test section. The ability of bulk-reacting resonators for reducing the acoustic or flow-induced noise has been assessed in comparison with locally reacting treatments.

Portable ozone sterilization device with mechanical and ultrasonic cleaning units for dentistry.

A portable device for cleaning and ozone sterilization of small-sized delicate dental instruments that cannot withstand the high heat and humidity of standard autoclaving has been developed. The device contains a remote unit for magnetic mechanical washing, an ultrasonic bath for pre-cleaning treatment, and a container for ozone sterilization with a reactor based on dielectric barrier discharge. The maximum ozone concentration in water reached 8.5 mg/l for 10 min of operation at a water temperature of 19 °C. The results of inactivation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus are presented. Distilled water with such seeded micro-organisms was bubbled with an ozone-air mixture at an ozone concentration of 5.8 mg/l at 17 °C for 5 min, 10 min, 20 min, and 30 min. The maximum bactericidal effect was manifested for Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells with their total elimination within 10 min. Inactivation of Escherichia coli bacteria was monitored after 20 min of treatment, and Staphylococcus aureus-after 30 min of treatment.

The Effect of Bond Phase Additive and Sintering Temperature on the Properties of Mullite Bonded Porous SiC Ceramics

Currently, porous SiC ceramics have been a focus of interesting research in the field of porous materials due to their excellent structural properties, high strength, high hardness, and superb mechanical and chemical stabilities even at high temperatures and hostile atmospheres. Porous SiC ceramics have been considered as suitable candidate materials for catalyst supports [1-2], hot gas or molten metal filters [3], high temperature membrane reactors [4], thermal insulating materials [5], gas sensors [6] etc. Porous SiC ceramics are fabricated by various methods including partial sintering [7], carbothermal reduction [8-9], replication or pyrolysis of polymeric sponge [10-12], reaction bonding [13] etc. In all these methods SiC needs to be sintered which requires a very high temperature due to the strong covalent nature of the Si-C bond, selective sintering additives, expensive atmosphere, costly and delicate instrumentation. Processing of porous SiC ceramics at low temperature using a simple technique thus becomes necessary. Bonding of SiC can be done at low temperatures by use of different oxide and non-oxide secondary phases. They include silica, mullite, cordierite, silicon nitride, etc. Various sintering additives are used for the formation of variety of secondary oxide bond phases for formations for porous SiC [14-19] Choice of mullite as a bond for SiC has many advantages. Mullite possesses a high melting point (Tm= 1850°C) and a low oxygen diffusion coefficient (5.6 x 10-14 m2/sec at 50°C). It has a matching thermal expansion coefficient with SiC (CTEmullite= 5.3 ×10-6/K; CTESiC = 4.7 ×10-6/K at RT-1000 °C) and a high strength that can be retained up to a very high temperature. Different sources of aluminum, such as Al2O3, Al, AlN, and Al (OH)3 powders were used for the formation of mullite bonded porous SiC ceramics (MBSC) [20-21]. However, the mullitization temperature of 1550o C is still necessary. In this work, mullite bonded porous SiC ceramics were fabricated by an in situ reaction-bonding process; the mixture of clay and CaCO3 were chosen as sintering additives to lower the mullitization reaction between Al2O3 and oxidation-derived SiO2. The effect amount of alumina, sintering temperature and other sintering aids on material property such as porosity/pore size distribution mechanical and micro structural properties of porous oxide bonded SiC ceramics were studied.

Bending Deformation of Multiple Aligned Plates Toward Coalescence Induced by Capillarity

Deformation induced by capillarity needs to be characterized appropriately to avoid unexpected collapse or to control self-assembly of fine structures. Nevertheless, even simple phenomena such as the pinching together of two plates require delicate instruments for observation. Our group proposed a simple experimental setup in which parallel plates separated by small gaps and fixed at their bottom ends were lowered into a liquid. Bending deformation of the plates caused by capillary rises between their inner surfaces was observed at the liquid surface. The experiments revealed that plates do not coalesce simultaneously, but in a sequence starting from pairs with the current smallest gap and with little influence of capillary rises in neighboring plates. After each pair of plates had coalesced, they behave as a single plate causing subsequent coalescences to occur in a similar manner. An analytical model based on this prescription is established to predict the deflection of plate pairs up until coalescence finishes. The effectiveness of the model was confirmed by accurately predicting the sequence of coalescence in multiple plates. Furthermore, it is presented that conditions required to avoid either coalescence in a pair of plates or complete coalescence of all plates can be determined by a non-dimensional parameter. [2018–0272]

A Virtual-Reality Training Simulator for Cochlear Implant Surgery

Background and Objectives. Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions and can significantly impact an individual’s quality of life. Cochlear implantation (CI) is a widely applicable treatment for severe to profound hearing loss, however CI surgery can be difficult for surgical trainees to master. Training environments that are safe, controlled, and affordable are needed. To this end, we present a virtual-reality (VR) cochlear implant surgical simulator developed with a popular, commercial game engine. Method. Unity3D was used to develop the simulator and model the delicate instruments involved. High-resolution models of human cochleae were created from images obtained from synchrotron-radiation phase-contrast imaging (SR-PCI). The physical-realism of the simulator was assessed via a comparison with fluoroscopic images of an actual cochlear implant insertion. Different resolutions of cochlear models were used to benchmark the real-time capabilities of the simulator with the number of frames per second (FPS) serving as the performance metric. Results. Quantitative analysis comparing the simulated procedure to fluoroscopic imaging revealed no significant differences. Qualitatively, the behaviour of the inserted and simulated implants were similar throughout the entirety of the procedure. The simulator was able to maintain 25 FPS even when experiencing an artificially high computational load. Conclusion. VR simulators provide a new and exciting avenue to enhance current medical education. Continued use of widely available and supported game engines in the development of medical simulators will hopefully result in lowered costs. Preliminary feedback from expert surgeons of the simulator presented here has been positive and future work will focus on evaluating face, content and construct validity.

Refining early stage interventional composite catheter design

The development paths of interventional medical devices are long and involve a significant numbers of iterative design steps. Composite interventional catheters deliver implants, facilitate the deployment of delicate therapeutic instruments, measure pressures and temperatures and can remove clots and foreign bodies. This paper summarizes the history of composite interventional catheters and the key evolutions in terms of materials and reinforcement structures. The current design practices, performance standards and general guidance available to assist composite interventional catheter design are reviewed. The environmental factors that affect the companies in which many of the leading edge interventional composite catheter designs are developed are also examined. A Predictive Modelling Framework is proposed to guide the design of composite interventional catheters to meet the key user needs. Two distinct but compatible methodologies are selected: The first method involves use of a DOE (Design of Experiments) approach to understand the influence of key variables on final catheter properties; The second involves the creation of customizable Finite Element models of the various potential catheter structures. The results of the predictive model constructed based on the DOE approach for braided composite catheters are presented and compared with experimental data. The DOE shows good alignment with experimental data in most cases. The sources of noise and error in the initial model are examined and potential improvements and learnings are discussed, with special focus on the results with poorer alignment.

Multi-Resolution EEG AND EEG Sub-Band Features Optimization for Epileptic Classification Using Hybrid Evolutionary Computing Technique

Epilepsy is one of the neurological issues causing interminable irregular electrical release in the mind. The electroencephalogram (EEG) has developed as a critical instrument in the cerebrum movement checking for epilepsy conclusion. Hereditary Algorithms (GA) and Neural Networks (NN) have a place with developmental processing that attempt to estimating the neurological issue, for example, epilepsy. In this paper EEG signals broke down for multi resolution sub-band by wavelet disintegration. Wavelet procedure is executed for investigation of EEG and delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma sub-groups of EEG. Different features like AR coefficients, control range thickness, entropy and factual features extraction alongside morphological features. The system received to break down three distinctive dataset of EEG signals: 1) Healthy Person; 2) Epileptic Patients amid a without seizure period (interictal or pre-seizure);3) Epileptic Patients amid seizure event (ictal). After feature extraction objective is to enhance the precision of classification. Received GA for feature enhancement alongside multi-layer backpropogation ANN classifier by assessed preparing execution and characterization correctness’s and results reasoned that proposed diagnostic delicate instruments has successfully grouping EEG signals.

Multiplane Illumination Enabled by Fourier-Transform Metasurfaces for High-Speed Light-Sheet Microscopy

Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy has made a substantial imprint in the development of cell biology, anatomical sciences and neurosciences with its superior performance of high-speed three-dimensional imaging acquisition at high resolution. However, its implementation requires delicate instrumentation, and further extension of its present capability seems limited by current optics systems and techniques. Metasurfaces are presently receiving increased attention for its versatile capacity in constructing multifunctional photonic components with low dimension and high efficiency. Here, we propose and design a dielectric metasurface to realize convenient multiple light-sheet illumination. In mathematics, ideal periodic multiple light sheets are the Fourier transform of a series of coherent light waves with discrete angular spatial frequencies, which can be easily generated by the sophisticatedly designed compact yet efficient metasurface. Full-wave simulations demonstrate that the diffraction pattern, produ...

Advance in development of methods for sensitive detection of tumor-related biomarkers

Tumors are formed by the unlimited proliferation of normal cells in living body and pose a serious threat to human health with high morbidity and mortality. Tumor-related biomarkers are a class of substances resulting from the tumor cell formation, release, or the body’s response to tumor cells, which are generated and increase during tumor development and proliferation. Tumor-related biomarkers may be divided into two categories: one is inside cancer cells (e.g., microRNA (miRNA), telomerase and transcription factor) and the other is on the cancer cell membranes (e.g., epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA)). Tumor-related biomarkers may reflect tumorigenesis, progression, and the responses to drug treatment. Consequently, the sensitive detection of tumor-related biomarkers is essential to early clinical diagnosis and therapy. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry technique have frequently been used to detect tumor-related biomarkers, but they are usually laborious and time-consuming. In recent years, sensitive detection of tumor-related biomarkers has become a hot area, with great progress having been made. A variety of methods including colorimetric, mass spectrometry, fluorescent, chemiluminescent, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), electrochemical and single-molecule detection approaches have been developed for sensitive detection of tumor-related biomarker. Colorimetric assay has significant advantages of visualization, simple operation, high sensitivity, and no need for delicate instruments. The advantages of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric (ICPMS) include low detection limits, low matrix effects, large dynamic ranges and high spectral resolution for elements and isotopes. Fluorescent method allows for the homogeneous assay of biomarkers in solution with significant advantages of simplicity, low cost, high sensitivity, and safety without the requirement of radioisotopes. Chemiluminescent assay does not require an excitation laser, and the signal interferences from the background can be efficiently avoided. SERS is characterized by its capability to identify target analytes with an information-rich vibrational spectrum, and its narrow well-resolved peaks allow for simultaneous detection of multiple targets. Electrochemical method has the advantage of simplicity, low cost, and high sensitivity. In comparison with conventional ensemble measurements, single-molecule detection possess distinct advantages of ultrahigh sensitivity, good selectivity, rapid analysis time, and low sample-consumption. These methods have been successfully applied for sensitive detection of DNA, miRNA and proteins with high sensitivity and good selectivity. In addition, we give a new insight into future direction of tumor-related biomarker assay including: (1) the construction of novel fluorescent molecular probes which consist of nanoparticles (e.g., quantum dots) and biological recognition molecules (e.g., peptides, antibodies, and nucleic acids) for the detection of tumor-related biomarkers by taking advantage of the unique optical properties of nanoparticles such as tunable light emission, high brightness and multicolor excitation; (2) development of aptamer-based portable biosensors for the detection of tumor-related biomarkers by taking advantage of unique characteristics of aptamers such as convenient synthesis and controllable modification, high binding affinity and specificity, good stability, low toxicity, rapid tissue penetration, and low variability between different batches; (3) improvement of detection sensitivity through the introduction of amplification approaches such as isothermal nucleic acid amplification and hybridization chain reaction; and (4) the use of optical sensing and imaging techniques for simultaneous detection of multiple biomarkers by taking advantage of their unique properties such as high sensitivity, non-use of radioactive isotopes and multiplex detection capability.