Electromagnetic deactivation spectroscopy of human coronavirus 229E.

An investigation of the deactivation of pathogens using electromagnetic waves in the microwave region of the spectrum is achieved using custom-built waveguide structures. The waveguides feature sub-wavelength gratings to allow the integration of an air cooling system without disturbing the internal propagating fields. The waveguides are tapered to accommodate an experimental sample internally with sufficient surrounding airflow. The proposed methodology allows for precise control over power densities due to the well-defined fundamental mode excited in each waveguide, in addition to temperature control of the sample due to microwave exposure over time. Human coronavirus (HCoV-229E) is investigated over the 0-40 GHz range, where a peak 3-log viral reduction is observed in the 15.0-19.5 GHz sub-band. We conclude HCoV-229E has an intrinsic resonance in this range, where nonthermal structure damage is optimal through the structure-resonant energy transfer effect.

Microstrip sensor and methodology for the determination of complex anisotropic permittivity using perturbation techniques.

In this work, a sensor in microstrip technology and a methodology for measuring the real part and the imaginary part of the complex uniaxial permittivity of solid anisotropic samples are presented. The sensor is based on a pair of parallel lines coupled resonators and a cleft arranged in the coupling region which allows to hold the samples under test (SUTs). The proposed methodology relates the change in the even/odd resonance frequency with the real part of the permittivity in the vertical/horizontal direction, and the change in the Q factor of the even/odd mode with the imaginary part of the permittivity in the vertical/horizontal direction. The methodology was successfully verified with the characterization, at 2.43 GHz of anisotropic samples of printed PLA, Diclad 880, and RO4350B using the knowns materials: RT5870, PTFE and RO4003.

3D printed millimeter-wave beam-steering reflector using dielectric fluids.

A three-dimensional printed beam-steering reflector surface with dielectric fluids as the tuning agent is presented. The reflector is made using ECO-ABS with six rows of 19 parallel channels of square cross-sections. The permittivity of the ECO-ABS was measured at 2.55 with a loss tangent of 0.053. A conductor is placed at the back of the dielectric. The squared channels are filled with either distilled water or air. The effective permittivity within the reflector changes according to the material used to fill the channels. As an incident wave propagates through the printed dielectric, the configuration of air-water channels shapes the exiting phase front of the wave by locally controlling its phase delay. The resulting phase profile created by the air-water configuration leads to a steered beam. Numerical full-wave simulations show steerable angles ranging from -42∘ to 23° for a set of air-water configurations at 30 GHz. A prototype was fabricated and tested for the same configurations. Experiments confirm a wide range of angles starting at -40∘ up to 20°.

The combined expression patterns of Ikaros isoforms characterize different hematological tumor subtypes.

A variety of genetic alterations are considered hallmarks of cancer development and progression. The Ikaros gene family, encoding for key transcription factors in hematopoietic development, provides several examples as genetic defects in these genes are associated with the development of different types of leukemia. However, the complex patterns of expression of isoforms in Ikaros family genes has prevented their use as clinical markers. In this study, we propose the use of the expression profiles of the Ikaros isoforms to classify various hematological tumor diseases. We have standardized a quantitative PCR protocol to estimate the expression levels of the Ikaros gene exons. Our analysis reveals that these levels are associated with specific types of leukemia and we have found differences in the levels of expression relative to five interexonic Ikaros regions for all diseases studied. In conclusion, our method has allowed us to precisely discriminate between B-ALL, CLL and MM cases. Differences between the groups of lymphoid and myeloid pathologies were also identified in the same way.