Method of and apparatus for determining a property of a sample
First Claim
1. A method of determining a distinctive property of a sample, comprising steps of:
- applying an electrical pulse to an electrode arrangement across said sample in an electrolyte, said sample being transportable relative to said electrode arrangement, and said electrical pulse having an ON duty cycle of less than 20%;
detecting a response to said electrical pulse;
applying a transform to said detected response; and
determining said distinctive property of said sample from said transform of said detected response.
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for determining a property of a sample, derived from a response obtained from the sample after an electrical pulse has been applied to it. Blood cells are subjected to an electrical pulse, a response is obtained using data retrieval means and a Fourier Transform is applied to the response. As the pulse applied is of very short duration (ideally a Dirac pulse) the Fourier transform yields information across a very broad bandwidth, typically several MHz, and accordingly a wide range of frequency response data is obtained. Certain cellular defects can be deduced from the transformed data. A detector is provided to detect precisely the presence of a cell as it passes through a particular region of an oriface. This is then used to trigger the pulse at a precisely controlled instant. This reduces the effect of random dispersion and can be adapted to ignore noise peaks which inevitably occur. The invention may be operated continuously and provides information across a bandwidth which is wider than was previously possible.
72 Citations
50 Claims
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1. A method of determining a distinctive property of a sample, comprising steps of:
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applying an electrical pulse to an electrode arrangement across said sample in an electrolyte, said sample being transportable relative to said electrode arrangement, and said electrical pulse having an ON duty cycle of less than 20%; detecting a response to said electrical pulse; applying a transform to said detected response; and determining said distinctive property of said sample from said transform of said detected response. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 21, 22, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47)
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9. Apparatus for determining a distinctive property of a sample, comprising:
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means for applying an electrical pulse to said sample, said electrical pulse having an ON duty cycle of less than 20%; means for detecting a response to said electrical pulse; means for applying a transform to said detected response; and means for determining said distinctive property of said sample from said transform of said detected response; said sample being transportable in an electrolyte relative to said means for applying said electrical pulse. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 48)
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44. A method of determining a presence of an abnormality in a sample, comprising steps of:
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applying an electrical pulse to a sample through an electrode pair, said sample being transportable relative to said electrode arrangement, and said electrical pulse having an ON duty cycle of less than 20%; detecting a response to said electrical pulse; applying a transform to said detected response; and determining said presence of said abnormality in said sample based on said transform of said detected response. - View Dependent Claims (49)
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45. Apparatus for determining a presence of an abnormality in a sample, said apparatus comprising:
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an electrical pulse generator for applying an electrical pulse having an ON duty cycle of less than 20% to said sample as it is suspended in an electrolyte and transported through an orifice; a detector for detecting a response to said electrical pulse; a processor to apply a transform to said detected response, and to determine said presence of said abnormality in said sample based on said transform of said detected response. - View Dependent Claims (46, 50)
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Specification