Biodiversity and Concentration of Airborne Fungi of Suburban Weekly Market Associated Environment

It is supposed that the vegetable markets of tropical countries are the significant source of airborne fungal spores, which are generated during transportation, handling and putrefaction. The aim of this work was to monitor the prevalence of the airborne cultivable fungi in the air of weekly market associated environments to evaluate whether the vegetable trading zone of market is a source of airborne cultivable fungal spores of weekly market environment or not. Airborne cultivable fungal spore levels were monitored by using Andersen two-stage viable (microbial) particle sampler. The Spearman correlation coefficients and stepwise linear regression analysis test was used to analyze the influence of meteorological factors on spore concentration and paired Student's t-test was used to compare the bioload of total viable cultivable fungi of vegetable trading area and general item trading area of weekly market extramural environment, the percentage frequency and the percentage contribution of the individual genus was also reported. In both areas, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Alternaria, and Penicillium, were the most abundant fungal types observed. The spp. of Candida was reported only at the vegetable trading area. The bioload of fungal spore presented maximum values during the Monsoon and lowest in the season of summer. There is no significant difference in quantity between the mean values of the bioload of total viable cultivable fungi of vegetable trading area and general item trading area of weekly market extramural environment were observed. For present environment, activities of animals and humans were supposed to be the key factor governing aerosolization of microorganism

Improving I/O Performance using Cache as a Service on Cloud

Caching is gaining popularity in Cloud world. It is one of the key technologies which plays a major role in bridging the performance gap between memory hierarchies through spatial or temporal localities. In cloud systems, heavy I/O activities are associated with different applications. Due to heavy I/O activities, performance is degrading. If caching is implemented, these applications would be benefited the most. The use of a Cache as a Service (CaaS) model as a cost efficient cache solution to the disk I/O problem. We have built the remote-memory based cache that is pluggable and file system independent to support various configurations. The cloud Server process introduce, pricing model together with the elastic cache system. This will increase the disk I/O performance of the IaaS, and it will reduce the usage of the physical machines. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.150516

Atmospheric Plasma Treatment Enhances the Biosensing Properties of Graphene Oxide-Silver Nanoparticle Composite

This work presents an approach to tailor the properties of the graphene oxide- silver nanoparticle (GO-AgNPs) composite using room temperature atmospheric plasma treatment. In particular, the aerosolized deposition of graphene oxide-silver nanoparticle composite (GO-AgNPs), the rapid reduction of GO at room temperature, and AgNPs surface excitation are investigated in this work. The plasma treatment of aerosolized GO leads to the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) formation which is observed from the increase in D to G band ratio from 0.65 for GO to 1.2 for rGO in the Raman spectra. Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, and Selected Area Electron Diffraction patterns show that the plasma treatment leads to the morphological changes and the Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy results show the improvement in the conductivity of the rGO-AgNP composite. To demonstrate the efficacy of the technique, plasma treated GO and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) composite is used for the electrode surface modification of the commercial screen-printed electrodes for the cortisol detection. The cyclic voltammetry scans to detect cortisol shows that the sensitivity of the surface modified electrodes is increased after plasma treatment. This room temperature atmospheric plasma annealing technique is of specific interest for rapid processing of nanoparticles on flexible surfaces without subjecting them to elevated temperatures

Real-time Intelligent Alert System on Driver’s Hypo-Vigilance Detection Using Template Matching Technique

According to experts, anyone who do not take break after long period of driving task can cause weariness. This system is one of the major approaches for preventing accidents by fatigue detection and distraction detection. Since there are many systems are available for warning the drivers. As fatigue is the main reason for accidents as well as distraction of drivers especially in the highways and rural areas. Because fatigue reduces driver’s perceptions and decision making capability to control the vehicle. This results irritation and the person is no longer paying attention in driving. In this paper, method for face detection and eye tracking from human face image is used. We have discussed method for determining eye template of open eyes and closed eyes. It is based on real-time acquisition of a driver’s face images and template matching method is applied to extract hypo-vigilance symptoms. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15025

Different Interleukin-1β Converting Enzyme (ICE) Family Protease Requirements for the Apoptotic Death of T Lymphocytes Triggered by Diverse Stimuli

Two cell permeable peptide fluoromethyl ketone inhibitors of Interleukin-1β converting enzyme (ICE) family proteases were tested as inhibitors of apoptotic cell death of T lymphocytes at various stages of differentiation. The CPP-32–like protease activity in apoptotic cell lysates was blocked by both the ICE inhibitor Cbz-Val-Ala-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethyl ketone (ZVADFMK) as well as its truncated analog Boc-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethyl ketone (BD-FMK), which failed to block ICE. In vitro apoptotic death in murine thymocytes triggered by the independent agents dexamethasone, etoposide, radiation, anti-Fas, and anti-CD3 was blocked equally well by BD-FMK and ZVAD-FMK, but not by the control reagent Cbz-Phe-Ala-fluoromethyl ketone. In activated T cell blasts, while anti-CD3/ Fas-induced death was almost completely inhibited by both ZVAD-FMK and BD-FMK, death induced by dexamethasone, etoposide, or irradiation was more sensitive to inhibition by BD-FMK. In the murine T cell line CTLL-2, apoptotic death induced by IL-2 withdrawal, etoposide, or dexamethasone was inhibited by BD-FMK, while ZVAD-FMK was without effect. These data indicate that ICEfamily proteases comprise a common functional step in distinct T cell apoptotic death pathways, but suggest that different family members are likely to be critical in various differentiated T cell types, even when triggered by the same stimulus

Protease inhibitors selectively block T cell receptor-triggered programmed cell death in a murine T cell hybridoma and activated peripheral T cells.

The hypothesis that cytoplasmic proteases play a functional role in programmed cell death was tested by examining the effect of protease inhibitors on the T cell receptor-mediated death of the 2B4 murine T cell hybridoma and activated T cells. The cysteine protease inhibitors trans-epoxysuccininyl-L-leucylamido-(4-guanidino) butane (E-64) and leupeptin, the calpain selective inhibitor acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-normethional, and the serine protease inhibitors diisopropyl fluorophosphate and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, all showed dose-dependent blocking of the 2B4 death response triggered by the T cell receptor complex and by anti-Thy-1. These protease inhibitors enhanced rather than inhibited IL-2 secretion triggered by T cell receptor cross-linking, showing that they did not act by preventing signal transduction. Growth inhibition induced by cross-linking the 2B4 T cell receptor, measured by inhibition of thymidine incorporation, was not generally blocked by these protease inhibitors. All five of these protease inhibitors enhanced rather than blocked 2B4 cell death triggered by dexamethasone, an agent previously shown to have a death pathway antagonistic with that of the TCR. 2B4 cytolysis by the cytotoxic agents staphylococcal α-toxin and dodecyl imidazole, and that caused by hypotonic conditions, was not significantly affected by the five protease inhibitors tested. The selected protease inhibitors blocked both the apoptotic nuclear morphology changes and DNA fragmentation induced by T cell receptor cross-linking, and enhanced both these properties induced by dexamethasone in 2B4 cells. The T cell receptor-induced death of activated murine lymph node T cells and human peripheral blood CD4+ T cells was blocked by both cysteine and serine protease inhibitors, showing that the protease-dependent death pathway also operates in these systems

Study of comparison of maternal and fetal outcomes in spontaneous labour and induced labour

Background: There has been consistent proportionate increase in the cases of induction of labor, but both maternal and neonatal effects of it remain poorly analysed previously. The present study was undertaken with the objective of comparison of maternal and fetal outcomes between groups of patients undergoing induction of labor and those having spontaneous labor.Methods: In this comparative prevalence study, the participants selected by predefined criteria were divided into 2 groups on the basis of progression of labor. They were spontaneous labor (group A) and induction of labor (group B). All the participants were assessed for various relevant maternal and neonatal outcomes and valid comparisons drawn.Results: A total of 1300 participants were studied. Proportion of patients requiring caesarean section was significantly higher in induction group (39.17%) against the spontaneous labor group (15.37%), with fetal distress being the commonest indication in both groups. The commonest complication noted was postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) (2.96% in group A and 1.98% in group B, p<0.05). Mean birth weight of babies was 2.76±0.42 kgs in spontaneous labor group and 2.68±0.48 kgs in induction of labor group (p>0.05). Incidences of NICU admissions and neonatal deaths were significantly higher in induction of labor group.Conclusions: Induction of labor should be employed judiciously by assessing the maternal and fetal condition and confirming relevant indication and should only be done if continuation of pregnancy is relatively more hazardous to either mother or baby

Genome-wide association study in two cohorts from a multi-generational mouse advanced intercross line highlights the difficulty of replication due to study-specific heterogeneity

There has been extensive discussion of the Replication Crisis in many fields, including genome-wide association studies