2^nd International Conference on Medical Physics and Biophysics November 07-08, 2016 Barcelona, Spain

Tamar Giorgadze is a Scientist at the department of biological systems of physics, Andronikashvili Institute of Physics. She graduated from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University – MD (Georgia). She is a PhD at the age of 30 years and author of 7 scientific publications. She recently defended her PhD thesis „Nanotechnological Processes in DNA Complexes with Silver Nanoparticles and Silver Ions Studied by Spectroscopic and Thermodynamic Methods”.

Miroslav Pohanka graduated from chemistry in Masaryk University Brno (Czech Republic) in 2003. In the Masaryk University, he achieved doctor of natural science (RNDr) from biochemistry in 2006 and PhD from biochemistry in 2008. After that, he achieved associated professor (docent) from toxicology at University of Defense, Czech Republic (2012) and doctor of sciences from analytical chemistry at Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic (2014) and professor from analytical chemistry at University of Pardubice (2016). He is an author of approx. 200 papers in journals with IF and his works were more than 1900 times cited according web of science.

We can distinguish two known cholinesterases: acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). While acetylcholinesterase has crucial importance in cholinergic nerves, BChE is an enzyme presented in quite high level in the both blood plasma where it participates in detoxification reactions and in the organs as well. The BChE presented in plasma comes from liver parenchyma from which is secerned into circulation of blood. Lack of BChE plasmatic activity can be used for biochemical diagnosis as a marker of poisoning with some neurotoxins but it can also appoint at liver damage. In the present work, the attention is given to construction of an electrochemical method which can be used for a reliable and fast assay of BChE activity in biological samples including plasma. Standard optical, Ellman´s method was successfully used for validation of the new method. Screen printed electrodes were used as a platform and butyrylthiocholine as a substrate for BChE. The methods were firstly performed on purified human BChE and the lowest limit of detection, maximal velocity and Michaelis constant were calculated for the both methods. Limit of detection for the electrochemical protocol was less than 1.10×10-9 kat being better than limit of detection for the standard optical protocol. The limit of detection significantly better than the lowest expected activity in the human plasma. After optimization, the methods were verified on human plasma samples. No interference caused by acetylcholinesterase was revealed and the electrochemical method well correlated (r=0.998) with the standard Ellman´s method. We can conclude our experiments by a statement that the electrochemical method is suitable for a routine examination of human plasma. Acknowledgments: A long-term organization development plan 1011 (Faculty of Military Health Sciences, University of Defence, Czech Republic) is gratefully acknowledged

Assoc. Director, Medical Physics Program Biophysics and Radiation Biology B.S., Sonoma State University, Biophysics, 1980 Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, Biophysics, 1986 Postdoctoral Positions: University of Michigan, Biophysics Division University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Radiation Oncology University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Dermatology

The construction of a miniature surface plasmon sensor utilizing stationary beads supporting a sub‐micron spherical metal shell was achieved. A small aperture at the base admits visible light that excites a surface‐plasmon‐resonance within the metallic shell. The micron surface‐plasmon‐resonance sensor (MSPRS) is sensitive to the surface binding of biomolecules through alterations of the angle of reflection and the spheres can be used to visualize conformational changes in the bound biomolecules, for example as the oxidation state changes. D‐glucose and L‐glucose were tested to verify the anticipated alterations in radiant light, L‐glucose being an inactive control. Diffusive biomolecules play key roles in the embryonic development, immune system response, wound healing, tissue homeostasis, and diseases such as cancer. This work seeks to monitor molecular diversity and concentration. The MSPRS enables the measurement of the bound molecules with an accuracy not possible with planar sensors.

Maria Elisabete C.D. Real Oliveira, Associated Professor with Habilitation at Physics Department of UMinho, completed her BsC in Physics, UCoimbra, Portugal, 1975, and her PhD at the University of Salford, UK/University of Minho, in 1986. She was Head of the Master Degree in Biophysics and Bionanosystems, (2009-2014), Head of the Research Group Atomic Molecular and Optics Physics (FAMO), Centre of Physics, UM (2013-present) and President of the Group of Colloids and Polymer (Portuguese Chemical Society), since 2013. She is author of more than 54 Full Publications (ISI) in repute journals (h index-16) and author of 2 Patents. She was also Founder of the Spin-off NANODELIVERY–I&D in Bionanotecnology, LDA..

Nanotechnology promises to be a wave turner in various medical and pharmaceutical fields such as drug delivery, diagnostics and in the pharmacokinetic profiling of drugs. In order to obtain an efficient therapeutic effect, lipid nanosystems have demonstrated to be promising drug delivery systems since their lipophilic and hydrophilic components allow carrying a great diversity of compounds while protecting it from an early release or elimination. Furthermore, their great storage capacity and high reproducibility associated with tunable nature favours their transport greatly improving their efficacy. On the other hand, lipid nanosystems are also invaluable mimetic models of biomembranes used in biophysical studies to predict drugs’ therapeutic performance. In the drug delivery field, our research group focus on two distinct medical applications. Curcumin, a natural compound, is known to interact with multiple molecular targets involved in the neurodegeneration cascade. Therefore, in order to improve curcumine’s bioavailability we developed neuroprotective liposomes specialized in brain delivery. Aiming for the prevention and treatment of herpetic infections we also developed nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) containing a co-encapsulated antiviral drug (acyclovir) and cell regeneration activators (omega-3 fatty acids). The NLC formulation is expected to improve the pharmacokinetic properties of acyclovir. In a different application, the lipid nanosystems developed by our research group are also used as membrane model systems, capable of mimicking diverse physiologic environments. These models have been used to predict aspects of the absortion and distribution of drugs allowing the optimization or redesign of the new formulations to achieve increased efficacy and reduced side effects.

Suzanne Battaglia is a reimbursement and health economics analyst for Surgical Technologies business of Medtronic International Trading Sarl. She has done her Masters in International Healthcare Management Economic & Policy at SDA Bocconi School of Management. She is experienced in the fields of medical device reimbursement & health economics. She comes from varied therapeutic experience in areas of ENT, cardiovascular disease, critical care and orthopaedics.

Objectives: To provide a comprehensive overview from biomedical engineers and health administrators to economic value perceived with various service agreements available, including time and materials and exchange programs, for small capital medical equipment. Methods: Focus group discussions (four independently) were performed to derive economic value of service agreements for small capital equipment. A small subset of participants included 11 biomedical engineers (one focus group, non-blinded) from UK and Nordic regions and 10 procurement managers/directors (three focus groups, blinded) from UK, France and Spain. Differing geographical regions were included to derive similarities and differences across stakeholder and perceived economic value. The methodology used is a dialogue based questionnaire with two business cases specific to standard service offerings (time and materials and exchange programs). Results: Current practices for service agreements were identified and rated by level of importance with explanations. On full review, types of services offered were identified and measured by level of impact and willingness to pay. Key decision makers being a multi-disciplinary team of procurement, clinicians, and biomedical engineers when adopting service agreements for small capital equipment seemed to be similarly distributed across UK, France, Spain. Other parameters (current practices and respective level of importance) seemed to be associated with higher rate of conformity on specific information; medical device lifecycle, probability and severity of failure, volume and costs for maintenance and repair, and service team availability. Economic value of training and education between procurement and biomedical engineers is perceived to be a part of the service agreement and needed mainly in the initial stages of product adoption. Conclusions: The economic value driver on hospital productivity and risk of operating room case cancellations proved the most important driver. Consensus across stakeholder and country was that service agreements were important to device uptime and to give a certain peace of mind that the devices will keep running and work well.

This study has allowed to confirm the physicochemical characteristics and fatty acid composition by GC of the oil of Pistacia lentiscus extracted by traditional method and evaluate its effect on some blood lipid parameters. The results showed that the main physicochemical characteristics of Pistacia lentiscus oil are: Moisture (0.84%), a relatively high iodine value (80.44) indicating that this oil has an important degree of unsaturation. The oil is mainly composed of unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) where oleic acid dominates with 47.01% of total fatty acids and PUFAs represented by linoleic acid (19.26%). Concerning the biological survey, oil, at 10% and 20% doses of diet for 15 and 30 days of two periods of treatment, resulted in beneficial effects on the lipid profile of Wistar albinos rats previously fed with animal and vegetable fats .We observed decreases in total cholesterol, triglycerides (TGA), total lipids and LDL-C, and an increase in HDL-C "good cholesterol" probably related to the presence of a large amount of (MUFA) and (PUFA).