Charged water droplets from an electrospray device can generate a transient hole in cell membranes for DNA transport into a living cell. The number of cells containing DNA encoded with green fluorescent protein (GFP) increases with an increase in applied voltage. The technique can be applied to gene transfection to eukaryotic cells, tissues, and prokaryotic cells.

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We developed a portable screening system designed for onboard entry screening at international airports. The system can identify passengers who are potentially infected with epidemic diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or pandemic influenza. With its size being small enough to be placed on airplane tray tables, the system enables entry screening while passengers are onboard. In addition, this automatic system may greatly reduce time and effort required for screening. This system is operated by a real time screening program via a linear discriminant analysis using derived variables, i.e., palmar pulse obtained by a reflective photo sensor, respiration rate determined by a 10-GHz microwave radar, and facial temperature measured by thermography. As reported in our previous study, the system has a higher accuracy in detecting influenza by using facial temperature, heart rate and respiration rate, compared to conventional fever screening. In order to assess the efficacy of this screening system, we tested on three influenza patients (38.4 ºC ≤ body temperature ≤ 39.2 ºC, 22-34 years) and 52 healthy volunteers (35.9 ºC ≤ body temperature ≤ 37.0 ºC, 20- years).The results showed that sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) are both 100%. In order to reduce negative false passenger, sensitivity and NPV are the most important parameters for entry screening at the boarders. The specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) were 88% and 33% respectively. This portable system can be applied to future onboard entry screening to safeguard public health at the boarders.

The outbreak of infectious diseases such as influenza, dengue fever, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) are threatening the global health. Especially, developing countries in the South-East Asia region have been at serious risk. Rapid and highly reliable screening of infection is urgently needed during the epidemic season at mass gathering places, such as airport quarantine facilities, public health centers, and hospital outpatients units, etc. To meet this need, our research group is currently developing a multiple vital-signs based infection screening system that can perform human medical inspections within 15 seconds. This system remotely monitors facial temperature, heart and respiration rates using a thermopile array and a 24-GHz microwave radar, respectively. In this work, we redesigned our previous system to make a higher performance with a user-friendly interface. Moreover, the system newly included a multivariable logistic regression model (MLRM) to determine the possibility of infection. We tested the system on 34 seasonal influenza patients and 35 normal control subjects at the Japan Self-Defense Forces Central Hospital. The sensitivity and specificity of the screening system using the MLRM were 85.3% and 88.6%, respectively.

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