Near-infrared Vision Research Articles

Enzymatic vitamin A2 production enables red-shifted optogenetics

Optogenetics is a technology using light-sensitive proteins to control signaling pathways and physiological processes in cells and organs and has been applied in neuroscience, cardiovascular sciences, and many other research fields. Most commonly used optogenetic actuators are sensitive to blue and green light, but red-light activation would allow better tissue penetration and less phototoxicity. Cyp27c1 is a recently deorphanized cytochrome P450 enzyme that converts vitamin A1 to vitamin A2, thereby red-shifting the spectral sensitivity of visual pigments and enabling near-infrared vision in some aquatic species.Here, we investigated the ability of Cyp27c1-generated vitamin A2 to induce a shift in spectral sensitivity of the light-gated ion channel Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) and its red-shifted homolog ReaChR. We used patch clamp to measure photocurrents at specific wavelengths in HEK 293 cells expressing ChR2 or ReaChR. Vitamin A2 incubation red-shifted the wavelength for half-maximal currents (λ50%) by 6.8 nm for ChR2 and 12.4 nm for ReaChR. Overexpression of Cyp27c1 in HEK 293 cells showed mitochondrial localization, and HPLC analysis showed conversion of vitamin A1 to vitamin A2. Notably, the λ50% of ChR2 photocurrents was red-shifted by 10.5 nm, and normalized photocurrents at 550 nm were about twofold larger with Cyp27c1 expression. Similarly, Cyp27c1 shifted the λ50% of ReaChR photocurrents by 14.3 nm and increased normalized photocurrents at 650 nm almost threefold.Since vitamin A2 incubation is not a realistic option for in vivo applications and expression of Cyp27c1 leads to a greater red-shift in spectral sensitivity, we propose co-expression of this enzyme as a novel strategy for red-shifted optogenetics.

Robot-Assisted Parathyroidectomy Using Indocyanine Green (ICG) Fluorescence in Primary Hyperparathyroidism.

Background and Objectives: Surgical treatment for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) has evolved from bilateral exploration through a long transcervical incision to focused parathyroidectomy with a minimal incision above the pathologic gland. Recently, endoscopic or robot-assisted parathyroid surgery without direct neck incision has been introduced. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence as a new method for the visual identification of abnormal hyperfunctioning parathyroid glands in robot-assisted parathyroidectomy using FireflyTM technology. We also aimed to conduct a comparative analysis between robot-assisted parathyroidectomy and conventional focused parathyroidectomy in order to identify clinical differences between the two surgical approaches. Materials and Methods: A total of 37 patients with PHPT underwent parathyroidectomy at a single university hospital between September 2018 and December 2022. Thirty-one patients underwent open focused parathyroidectomy (open group), and six patients underwent robot-assisted parathyroidectomy (robot group). Pre-operative localization via parathyroid SPECT-CT and an intraoperative parathyroid hormone (IOPTH) assay were used to successfully remove the pathologic parathyroid in both groups. ICG was administered only in the robot group. Results: Pathologic parathyroid showed a persistent fluorescence pattern under near-infrared vision. After the removal of the fluorescent parathyroid gland, IOPTH was normalized in all six patients in the robot group. However, the open group showed shorter hospital stays (1.8 ± 1.2 vs. 3.0 ± 0.0 days, p < 0.001) and shorter operation times (91.1 ± 69.1 vs. 152.5 ± 23.6 min, p = 0.001) than the robot group. After 6 months of surgery, PTH, calcium, and ionized calcium levels were all normalized without significant differences between the groups. Conclusions: Robot-assisted parathyroidectomy using ICG is helpful for the visual identification of the pathologic parathyroid gland. The advantage of robot parathyroidectomy is a better cosmetic outcome. However, it still does not show better clinical outcomes than conventional open focused parathyroidectomy.

Near-infrared and hysteroscopy-guided robotic excision of uterine isthmocele with laser fiber: a novel high-precision technique

To describe a novel high-precision technique for robotic excision of uterine isthmocele, employing a carbon dioxide laser fiber, under hysteroscopic guidance, and near-infrared guidance. Video article. A 36-year-old multipara with three prior cesarean sections presented to our infertility clinic with secondary infertility. The patient had been trying to conceive for 6 months without success. The patient underwent a hystero-salpingo contrast sonography which identified a large cesarean scar defect with a 1.4 mm residual myometrial thickness (RMT). The patient was counseled on surgical management with robotic approach due to RMT < 3 mm precluding her from hysteroscopic resection and the potential risk for a cesarean scar ectopic or abnormal placentation if she were to become pregnant in the future. She elected to undergo excision and repair and informed consent was obtained from the patient. The robot was docked for traditional gynecologic robotic surgery. The uterus was injected with 5 units of vasopressin. We used a carbon dioxide laser fiber (Lumenis® FIberLase) at a power of 5 watts as the sole energy source for dissection. The bladder was dissected off the uterus to identify the general area of the isthmocele. At that point, diagnostic hysteroscopy was performed using a 30-degree 5 mm hysteroscope (Karl Storz®) to identify and enter the isthmocele. Near-infrared vision (da Vinci Firefly®, Intuitive USA) was activated to precisely outline the extent of the isthmocele, which was not visible with simple transillumination from the hysteroscope. We proceeded with laser excision in infrared/grey scale using the laser at a power of 20 watts removing the entire area that was highlighted by the Firefly®. After full excision of the isthmocele, the hysteroscope was removed and was eventually replaced by a uterine manipulator (ConMed VCare DX®). The hysterotomy was closed with a two layer closure: 4 mattress sutures of 2-0 Vicryl (Ethicon®) followed by a running 2-0 PDS Stratafix (Ethicon®). The peritoneal layer was closed over these two layers with 2-0 PDS Stratafix (Ethicon®) in a running fashion. The uterine manipulator was removed and a 14 French Malecot catheter (Bard®) was placed in the uterine cavity to allow the healing to proceed with minimal risk of cervical stenosis. The bladder was backfilled to ensure integrity of the bladder wall. Interceed adhesion barrier (Gynecare®) was then placed over the area of the repair and the procedure was concluded. The patient included in this video gave consent for publication of the video and posting of the video online including social media, the journal website, scientific literature websites (such as PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, etc.) and other applicable sites. Completion of excision and repair of cesarean scar defect without surgical complications. Robotic excision and repair of a sizable uterine isthmocele with carbon dioxide laser fiber and da Vinci Firefly® was completed successfully without any surgical complications. Diagnostic hysteroscopy was used to positively identify the isthmocele and provide transillumination. However, the thickness of the cervical myometrium only allows the hysteroscopic light to shine through the thinnest portion of myometrium at the apex of the isthmocele, while the near-infrared vision allowed by the da Vinci Firefly® technology was used to precisely identify the borders of the defect. The carbon dioxide laser was used to completely remove the defect while avoiding damage to delicate reproductive tissue and over-excision. No complications were identified during the postoperative visit. MRI three months after the surgery revealed a RMT of 10 mm at the location of excision compared to the initial RMT of 1.4 mm. Currently, there is no gold-standard technique for surgical management of isthmocele. This is the first description of the combined use of hysteroscopy, near-infrared vision and laser fiber for the robotic excision of isthmocele. This specific setup proves to be a useful technical improvement. The use of near-infrared vision combined with precise hysteroscopic targeting allows much clearer definition of the isthmocele borders, and the flexible laser fiber allows millimetric excision in the absence of appreciable lateral thermal spread. Further investigation is warranted to identify a gold standard surgical technique for patients with CSD.

A venipuncture robot with decoupled position and attitude guided by near-infrared vision and force feedback.

This study aims to develop a venipuncture robot to replace manual venipuncture to ease the heavy workload, lower the risk of 2019-nCoV infection, and boost venipuncture success rates. The robot is designed with decoupled position and attitude. It consists of a 3-degree-of-freedom positioning manipulator to locate the needle and a 3-degree-of-freedom end-effector that is always vertical to adjust the yaw and pitch angles of the needle. The near-infrared vision and laser sensors obtain the three-dimensional information of puncture positions, while the change in force detects the state feedback of punctures. The experimental results demonstrate that the venipuncture robot has a compact design, flexible motion, high positioning accuracy and repeatability (0.11 and 0.04mm), and a high success rate when puncturing the phantom. This paper presents a decoupled position and attitude venipuncture robot guided by near-infrared vision and force feedback to replace manual venipuncture. The robot is compact, dexterous, and accurate, which helps to improve the success rate of venipuncture, and it is expected to achieve fully automatic venipuncture in the future.

Lanthanide-Doped Upconversion Nanoparticles: Exploring A Treasure Trove of NIR-Mediated Emerging Applications

Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) possess the remarkable ability to convert multiple near-infrared (NIR) photons into higher energy ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) photons, making them a prime candidate for several advanced applications within the realm of nanotechnology. Compared to traditional organic fluorophores and quantum dots (QDs), UCNPs possess narrower emission bands (fwhm of 10-50 nm), large anti-Stokes shifts, low toxicity, high chemical stability, and resistance to photobleaching and blinking. In addition, unlike UV-vis excitation, NIR excitation is nondestructive at lower power intensities and has high tissue penetration depths (up to 2 mm) with low autofluorescence and scattering. Together, these properties make UCNPs exceedingly favored for advanced bioanalytical and theranostic applications, where these systems have been well-explored. UCNPs are also well-suited for bioimaging, optically modulating chemistries, forensic science, and other state-of-the-art research applications. In this review, an up-to-date account of emerging applications in UCNP research, beyond bioanalytical and theranostics, are presented including optogenetics, super-resolution imaging, encoded barcodes, fingerprinting, NIR vision, UCNP-assisted photochemical manipulations, optical tweezers, 3D printing, lasing, NIR-II imaging, UCNP-molecule nanohybrids, and UCNP-based persistent luminescent nanocrystals.

Puncture site decision method for venipuncture robot based on near-infrared vision and multiobjective optimization.

Venipuncture robots have superior perception and stability to humans and are expected to replace manual venipuncture. However, their use is greatly restricted because they cannot make decisions regarding the puncture sites. Thus, this study presents a multi-information fusion method for determining puncture sites for venipuncture robots to improve their autonomy in the case of limited resources. Here, numerous images have been gathered and processed to establish an image dataset of human forearms for training the U-Net with the soft attention mechanism (SAU-Net) for vein segmentation. Then, the veins are segmented from the images, feature information is extracted based on near-infrared vision, and a multiobjective optimization model for puncture site decision is provided by considering the depth, diameter, curvature, and length of the vein to determine the optimal puncture site. Experiments demonstrate that the method achieves a segmentation accuracy of 91.2% and a vein extraction rate of 86.7% while achieving the Pareto solution set (average time: 1.458 s) and optimal results for each vessel. Finally, a near-infrared camera is applied to the venipuncture robot to segment veins and determine puncture sites in real time, with the results transmitted back to the robot for an attitude adjustment. Consequently, this method can enhance the autonomy of venipuncture robots if implemented dramatically.

Engineering near-infrared vision.

An optogenetic technology inspired by snakes could aid those with incomplete blindness

Near-infrared vision system for monitoring arc welding processes

Throughout the years, vision, human beings' favourite sense, along with our great capacity to obtain, process and interpret a great amount of visual data, has been a great inspiration for development of techniques and technological devices that reproduce it into a computational system. In welding processes, vision can supply information on inspection and quality of the welded joint, monitoring of parameters, trajectory correction and even study of the phenomena involved in the process. However, the light radiation emitted from the weld arc is a barrier to studies based on the viewing process. One form currently used to visualize the process, without the interference of the arc's light, consists of illuminating the process with the near-infrared (NIR) light and using interference (band pass) filters, around this same wavelength, during acquisition of the images. One solution for the NIR light that is being increasingly used involves the use of high-power laser diodes, of low-cost and less complex installation than conventional lasers. The proposal of this study is the design, construction and assessment of a low-cost, highly flexible vision system for welding processes. It is based on characterization of the spectrum of the weld arc, definition of a drive topology for the high-power laser diode in NIR within its limitations of use, and maximizing the light power emitted, creation of control circuits, selection of optical equipment and components and, finally, design and apply a prototype for visualization of welding processes. As a whole, the limitations of the viewing system were encountered through their application with tungsten inert gas and metal inert gas/metal active gas welding. In these trials, although it had not been capable of overcoming the arc radiation, the system developed provided homogenous lighting synchronized with the camera, whereby the main limitation was long exposure time of the camera. In conclusion, the use of employing the system to assist with joint tracking is suggested.

Sensitivity Differences in Fish Offer Near-Infrared Vision as an Adaptable Evolutionary Trait

Near-infrared (NIR) light constitutes an integrated part of solar radiation. The principal ability to sense NIR under laboratory conditions has previously been demonstrated in fish. The availability of NIR in aquatic habitats, and thus its potential use as a cue for distinct behaviors such as orientation and detection of prey, however, depends on physical and environmental parameters. In clear water, blue and green light represents the dominating part of the illumination. In turbid waters, in contrast, the relative content of red and NIR radiation is enhanced, due to increased scattering and absorption of short and middle range wavelengths by suspended particles and dissolved colored materials. We have studied NIR detection thresholds using a phototactic swimming assay in five fish species, which are exposed to different NIR conditions in their natural habitats. Nile and Mozambique tilapia, which inhabit waters with increased turbidity, displayed the highest spectral sensitivity, with thresholds at wavelengths above 930 nm. Zebrafish, guppy and green swordtail, which prefer clearer waters, revealed significantly lower thresholds of spectral sensitivity with 825–845 nm for green swordtail and 845–910 nm for zebrafish and guppy. The present study revealed a clear correlation between NIR sensation thresholds and availability of NIR in the natural habitats, suggesting that NIR vision, as an integral part of the whole spectrum of visual abilities, can serve as an evolutionarily adaptable trait in fish.

Surface Defects Detection of Red Jujube Based on Near-Infrared Vision System

Quality evaluation of agricultural and food products is important for processing, inventory control, and marketing. Fruit surface defects are important quality factors for the jujube industry, especially for high quality jujubes such as Xinjiang red jujube. This paper presents the development and test results of a machine vision system for automatic jujube surface defects detection. Unlike other near-infrared spectrometric approaches, the developed machine vision system uses reflective near-infrared image to evaluate jujube quality by analyzing two-dimensional images. Near-infrared image, vision algorithms and a variety of operational details of the system, including cameras, optics, illumination, and fruit carrier are presented. The complete machine vision system has been built, and the experimental results show that the designed machine vision system is feasible to detect the defects of jujubes.

Mobile Robot Localization in Outdoor Environments Based on Near-infrared Vision

A self-localization system based on near-infrared vision and bar-coded landmarks for robot navigating in out-door environment with variable light conditions and electromagnetic interference is presented.The near-infrared illuminator and omni-directional vision are used for recognizing bar-coded landmarks.Data from vision system and odometry are fused with an extended Kalman filter(EKF) to realize robot self-localization.The experiment result demonstrates that the proposed method eliminates the effect of light variations on robot localization in outdoor long-range navigation.

Intraoperative near-infrared image-guided surgery for peritoneal carcinomatosis in a preclinical experimental model

This study compared the quality of surgery performed under conventional light with near-infrared (NIR) image-guided surgery using a tumour-targeting probe and a portable clinical grade imaging device in a mouse model of peritoneal carcinomatosis. Peritoneal carcinomatosis was induced by injection of luciferase-positive tumour cells, leading to the formation of small nodules in the peritoneal cavity. One day after intravenous injection of RAFT-c(RGDfK)4-Alexa Fluor 700, a fluorescent tumour-targeting probe, the surgeon operated using the Fluobeam, a portable device that illuminated the mouse with NIR light and allowed NIR vision. The quality of the surgery was evaluated using bioluminescence, a highly sensitive method that detected the remaining tumour cells, and operating time was measured. Under normal light, the surgeon detected and removed a mean(s.d.) of only 50.6(2.3) per cent of the nodules that were visible under NIR light. The duration of surgery was reduced from 19.5(3.3) min under normal light to 14.0(2.6) min when NIR light was used (P = 0.025). The sensitivity of the NIR system allowed the detection of nodules containing as few as 227 tumour cells. NIR image-guided surgery improved the quality of surgery for peritoneal carcinomatosis by doubling the number of nodules detected and significantly reducing the duration of surgery.

歯当たり検査の自動化に適した近赤外線画像を用いた歯当たり領域の評価手法(機械要素,潤滑,設計,生産加工,生産システムなど)

Tooth contact evaluation has been conventionally performed visually by the machine operator in the gear manufacturing fields when finishing a gear or at assembly. With automation, the boundary of the contact area is unclear due to scattered light when visible light is used to obtain an image to evaluate tooth contact. We have therefore focused on the use of a near-infrared to prevent scattered light. First, a suitable wavelength is investigated to obtain a fine tooth contact image in near-infrared vision. Second, it is confirmed that the tooth contact image obtained by image binarization is hardly affected by the image threshold. Third, we propose a new method to extract the boundary part of the tooth contact by differential calculation of the fine near-infrared image. These methods make it possible to automatically divide a near-infrared image into the contact area, the boundary and the non-contact area. Finally, the obtained result is compared with the tooth contact calculated from the measured tooth surface. As a result, we demonstrated that the near-infrared image method is effective for automatic tooth contact evaluation.