Specificity and Selectivity of Raman Spectroscopy for the Detection of Dose-Dependent Heavy Metal Toxicities.

Contamination of farmland with heavy metals (HMs), particularly arsenic, cadmium, and lead, poses significant risks to human health and food security, especially through HM bioaccumulation in rice (). Current methods of detection for HMs, such as ICP-MS, provide accurate measurements but are destructive and labor-intensive, limiting their feasibility for widespread agricultural use. In this study, we investigated the potential of Raman spectroscopy (RS) as a nondestructive, cost-effective alternative for the detection of HM stress and thereby uptake in rice.

External Validation of Raman Spectroscopy for Lyme Disease Diagnostics.

Lyme disease (LD), caused by Borreliella burgdorferi, is the most common tick-borne illness in the United States, yet early-stage diagnosis remains challenging due to the limitations of current serological diagnostics. Raman spectroscopy (RS), paired with partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), showed promise as an alternative diagnostic tool. Using RS, we analyzed 107 coded human blood samples (42 LD-positive and 65 LD-negative) obtained from the Lyme Disease Biobank.

Noninvasive Optical Sensing of Aging and Diet Preferences Using Raman Spectroscopy.

Effective dietary strategies and interventions for monitoring dietary exposures require accurate and noninvasive methods to understand how diet modulates health and risk of obesity; advances in technology are transforming the landscape and enabling more specific tailored approaches to nutritional guidance. This study explores the use of Raman spectroscopy (RS), a noninvasive and nondestructive analytical technique, to identify changes in the mice skin in response to constant dietary exposures. We found that RS is highly accurate to determine body composition as a result of habitual dietary patterns, specifically Vegan, Typical American, and Ketogenic diets, all very common in the US context.

Contemporary applications of vibrational spectroscopy in plant stresses and phenotyping.

Plant pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and fungi, cause massive crop losses around the world. Abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity and nutritional deficiencies are even more detrimental. Timely diagnostics of plant diseases and abiotic stresses can be used to provide site- and doze-specific treatment of plants.

Near-infrared excitation Raman spectroscopy of colored fabric contaminated with body fluids.

Confirmatory identification of dyes in the physical pieces of evidence, such as hair and fabric, is critically important in forensics. This information can be used to demonstrate the link between a person of interest and a crime scene. High performance liquid chromatography is broadly used for dye analysis.

Diagnosing arsenic-mediated biochemical responses in rice cultivars using Raman spectroscopy.

Rice () is the primary crop for nearly half of the world's population. Groundwater in many rice-growing parts of the world often has elevated levels of arsenite and arsenate. At the same time, rice can accumulate up to 20 times more arsenic compared to other staple crops.

Using Raman spectroscopy for early detection of resistance-breaking strains of tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus in tomatoes.

Tomato spotted wilt (TSW) disease caused by tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus (TSWV, ) poses a significant threat to specialty and staple crops worldwide by causing over a billion dollars in crop losses annually. Current strategies for TSWV diagnosis heavily rely on nucleic acid or protein-based techniques which require significant technical expertise, and are invasive, time-consuming, and expensive, thereby catalyzing the search for better alternatives. In this study, we explored the potential of Raman spectroscopy (RS) in early detection of TSW in a non-invasive and non-destructive manner.

Elucidation of sex from mature Palmer amaranth () leaves using a portable Raman spectrometer.

Palmer amaranth () is a pervasive and troublesome weed species that poses significant challenges to agriculture in the United States. Identifying the sex of Palmer amaranth plants is crucial for developing tailored control measures due to the distinct characteristics and reproductive strategies exhibited by male and female plants. Traditional methods for sex determination are expensive and time-consuming, but recent advancements in spectroscopic techniques offer new possibilities.