A confocal Raman microscope is used to study the protein distribution inside biological cells. It is shown that high quality Raman imaging of the protein distribution can be obtained using confocal nonresonant Raman imaging (λ_exc = 647.1 nm). The results are shown for two different human cell types. Perpheral blood lymphocytes are used as an example of the fully maturated cells with a low level of nuclear transcription. Human eye lens epithelial cells are used as an example of cells with a high level of nuclear activity. The protein distribution in both cell types is completely different. The nuclear distribution of the protein largely varies in the peripheral blood lymphocyte cells, while proteins are more homogenously distributed over the nuclear space in the eye lens epithelial cells. The imaging time is ∼20 min for a field of view of 10 × 10 μm². The size of the sampling volume is 1.4 fL using a full width at half‐maximum criterion along the z axis and a 1/e² criterion in the xy plane. The results presented here indicate that Raman imaging is particularly of interest in the study of cellular processes, like phagocytosis, apoptosis, chromatin compaction, and cellular differentiation, which are accompanied by relatively large‐scale redistributions of the materials. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Biospectroscopy) 72: 1–9, 2003

In this paper, we describe an automatic system for inspection of pigmented skin lesions and melanoma diagnosis, which supports images of skin lesions acquired using a conventional (consumer level) digital camera. More importantly, our system includes a decision support component, which combines the outcome of the image classification with context knowledge such as skin type, age, gender, and affected body part. This allows the estimation of the personal risk of melanoma, so as to add confidence to the classification. We found that our system classified images with an accuracy of 86%, with a sensitivity of 94%, and specificity of 68%. The addition of context knowledge was indeed able to point to images that were erroneously classified as benign, albeit not to all of them.

Despite sensitive skin being highly prevalent, no consensus on the definition and pathomechanism of sensitive skin exists. Here we report the results of a systematic literature review of diagnostic methods for sensitive skin at clinical, histological and biophysical levels. A systematic search revealed 27 out of 1,701 articles which we appraised in detail. Impaired skin barrier function and increased vascular reactivity are most often associated with sensitive skin. We identified key reasons causing an ambiguity around the sensitive skin phenomenon. We propose using standardized selection methods of subjects by a multifactorial questionnaire spanning a range of provocations, including those of chemical, mechanical and environmental origin, followed by clinical, histological and top-notch biophysical measurements. This could lead to a breakthrough in the understanding of the sensitive skin phenomenon, fueling advances of biomedical and dermatological science. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel