UV RESONANCE RAMAN EXCITATION PROFILES AND DEPOLARIZATION RATIOS AS PROBES OF ELECTRONIC TRANSITIONS IN PEPTIDES

UV resonance Raman (UVRR) spectroscopy is well established as a technique for probing secondary structure of peptides and proteins. Excitation between 180 to 215 nm, within the π→π* electronic transitions of the peptide backbone, results in resonance enhancement of those amide vibrations that distort the peptide bond ground state geometry towards that of the excited state. Peptide bond amide π→π* electronic transitions show no emission and appear to be homogeneously broadened. Their broad absorption spectra provide little information about underlying excited states. UVRR spectroscopy is unique in its ability to provide insight into electronic excited state geometry and localization of electronic transitions. We use UVRR excitation profiles and Raman depolarization ratio measurements to examine underlying peptide bond electronic transitions.We measured UVRR excitation profiles and Raman depolarization ratios of peptides in different conformations to elucidate the nature of these electronic transitions. We have examined short Ala peptides which adopt β-type conformations, such as: polyproline II, β-turn, and 2.51 helix, and found additional electronic transitions that underlie the NV1 π→π* transition. For a longer, 21-residue predominantly alanine peptide (AP), AAAAAAAARAAAARAAAARAA, we identified the excitation maxima for the &#945-helix and poly-proline II conformations, as well as exciton splitting in both conformations. We have also examined both the excitation profiles for the arginine (arg) residues in AP, as well as the excitation profiles for individual arg amino acid residues, to determine how peptide conformation affects the individual residue chromophores and to determine the electronic interactions between the arg and the peptide bond NV1 π→π* transition.We show that UVRR excitation profiles and Raman depolarization ratios can be used together to uncover electronic transitions that underlie broad peptide absorption bands. We utilized the UVRR excitation profiles and Raman depolarization ratios to discover exciton splitting of the π→π* electronic transition in AP, charge transfer transitions in short Ala peptides, and interactions between the electronic transitions of the AP peptide backbone and the individual arg side chains in AP. We find evidence of underlying transitions and unusual excitonic interactions that have not been predicted by theory

A rare presentation of chronic Budd Chiari syndrome in a 13 years old female

These days pathologies related to liver are increasing due to one or other factors. Here, we review a case of a girl with Budd Chiari syndrome (BCS), which is due to obstruction of hepatic veins, in turn causing portal hypertension. The pathology of the syndrome includes hepatic venous outflow tract obstruction due to thrombosis along the vein. This in turn leads to portal hypertension and increased pressure in the inferior vena cava (IVC). Clinically, it affects the heart, liver, esophagus, rectum, superficial skin. Early diagnosis can be done by Doppler and liver biopsy to prevent chronic complications of hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis. The patient was a 13-year-old girl who had abdominal distension, pedal edema, discoloured and decreased urine and fever. On examining the patient, we found out stunted linear and intellectual growth as per her age, low IQ and communication deficits. On ultrasonography, a nodular liver surface with rounded edges and hypoechoic nodules within the parenchyma were seen. Biochemical investigations showed increase in liver enzymes. Also, there was free fluid in abdomen, few anechoic channels in periumbilical and perisplenic regions showing color flow on Doppler. Ascitic tap showed a high total cell count with a lymphocytic predominance. Based on history by the patient, radiological findings, Ascitic tap and biochemical investigations we have come to the conclusion that this is a case of BCS. After being admitted, we gave antibiotics, diuretic, folic acid, albumin, lactulose. Patient was discharged on propanolol as prophylaxis for portal hypertension

TinyML based Deep Learning Model for Activity Detection

Our physical and emotional well-being are directly impacted by our body positions. In addition to promoting a confident, upright image, maintaining good body posture during various activities also ensures that our musculoskeletal system is properly aligned. On the other side, bad posture can result in a number of musculoskeletal conditions, discomfort, and reduced productivity. Accurate systems that can detect posture in real time, activity detection, are required due to the rising use of wearable technology and the growing interest in health and fitness tracking. The goal of this project is to create a TinyML model for wearable activity detection that will allow users to assess their posture and make necessary corrections in order to improve their health and general well-being. The project intends to contribute to the creation of useful posture detection technologies that can be quickly implemented on wearable devices for widespread usage by leveraging machine learning algorithms and wearable sensor data. For reliable posture categorization, the model architecture combines deep neural networks (DNN) and LSTM layers. With the development and implementation of the TinyML model, a significant decrease in the model's power consumption, memory, and latency was achieved without any compromise in the accuracy. This work can be used in the fields of health, wellness, rehabilitation, corporate life, sports and fitness to keep track of calories burned, activity duration, distance traveled, posture analysis, and real-time tracking

Experimental setup for investigating the efficient load balancing algorithms on virtual cloud

Cloud computing has emerged as the primary choice for developers in developing applications that require high-performance computing. Virtualization technology has helped in the distribution of resources to multiple users. Increased use of cloud infrastructure has led to the challenge of developing a load balancing mechanism to provide optimized use of resources and better performance. Round robin and least connections load balancing algorithms have been developed to allocate user requests across a cluster of servers in the cloud in a time-bound manner. In this paper, we have applied the round robin and least connections approach of load balancing to HAProxy, virtual machine clusters and web servers. The experimental results are visualized and summarized using Apache Jmeter and a further comparative study of round robin and least connections is also depicted. Experimental setup and results show that the round robin algorithm performs better as compared to the least connections algorithm in all measuring parameters of load balancer in this paper

Variation in growth, flowering and seed yield of satin flower (Godetia grandiflora) planted on different dates

The effect of climatic conditions and planting dates on growth, flowering and seed production of satin flower (Godetia grandiflora Lindl.) under mid hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh during 2010-11 and 2011-12 were investigated. Plantings were done at an interval of 15 days starting from 17 September in both the years with planting dates as; 17 September, 2 October, 17 October, 1 November, 16 November and 1 December under randomized block design. The maximum plant height (68.35 cm), plant spread (50.66 cm), stem length (58.38 cm), duration of flowering (33.91 days), number of flowers/stem (central and side; 110.08 and 15.74), number of capsules/plant (327.50), number of seeds/capsule (90.69) and seed yield/plant (9.18 g) were recorded when planting was done on 17 September. However, earliest visible flower bud formation (121.36 days), days to flowering (151.53) and capsule formation (205.42 days) were observed in 1 December planting

Towards Reviewing an Immediate Impact of COVID-19 on the Integrative World Economy

On 31 December 2019, WHO received inputs of pneumonia cases in Wuhan city of China, but the cause of infection could not be known initially. However, after some time, the medical researchers of China disclosed a novel coronavirus as the cause on 7 January 2020, named “2019-nCoV.” The coronavirus (CoV) belongs to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) species that leads to infection, causing illness, which ranges from the common cold to serious sickness. Finally, on 11 March 2020, the WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the outbreak as a pandemic. As the fear and ambiguity rose among companies and firms, the profit rate seemed to be lower due to the COVID-19 global impact. Nearly US6 trillion in wealth from 24th to 28 February 2020 of the stock market has been wiped out. There was a great decrease in value over the S&P index, which abolished over 5 trillion in the same week. However, the largest 10 companies of S&P faced a loss of $1.4 trillion. The investors make an analytical prediction that firms' profits may drop in response to the impact of coronavirus. The prime focus is on the importance of digital business practices and how different sectors have been affected in terms of economic loss during this pandemic outbreak in this paper

Is <i>de novo</i> membranous nephropathy suggestive of alloimmunity in renal transplantation? A case report.

BackgroundPost-transplant nephrotic syndrome (PTNS) in a renal allograft carries a 48% to 77% risk of graft failure at 5 years if proteinuria persists. PTNS can be due to either recurrence of native renal disease or de novo glomerular disease. Its prognosis depends upon the underlying pathophysiology. We describe a case of post-transplant membranous nephropathy (MN) that developed 3 mo after kidney transplant. The patient was properly evaluated for pathophysiology, which helped in the management of the case.Case summaryThis 22-year-old patient had chronic pyelonephritis. He received a living donor kidney, and human leukocyte antigen-DR (HLA-DR) mismatching was zero. PTNS was discovered at the follow-up visit 3 mo after the transplant. Graft histopathology was suggestive of MN. In the past antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) might have been misinterpreted as de novo MN due to the lack of technologies available to make an accurate diagnosis. Some researchers have observed that HLA-DR is present on podocytes causing an anti-DR antibody deposition and development of de novo MN. They also reported poor prognosis in their series. Here, we excluded the secondary causes of MN. Immunohistochemistry was suggestive of IgG1 deposits that favoured the diagnosis of de novo MN. The patient responded well to an increase in the dose of tacrolimus and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor.ConclusionExposure of hidden antigens on the podocytes in allografts may have led to subepithelial antibody deposition causing de novo MN

Functional divergence of Heat Shock Factors (Hsfs) during heat stress and recovery at the tissue and developmental scales in C4 grain amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus)

Two major future challenges are an increase in global earth temperature and a growing world population, which threaten agricultural productivity and nutritional food security. Underutilized crops have the potential to become future climate crops due to their high climate-resilience and nutritional quality. In this context, C4 pseudocereals such as grain amaranths are very important as C4 crops are more heat tolerant than C3 crops. However, the thermal sensitivity of grain amaranths remains unexplored. Here, Amaranthus hypochondriacus was exposed to heat stress at the vegetative and reproductive stages to capture heat stress and recovery responses. Heat Shock Factors (Hsfs) form the central module to impart heat tolerance, thus we sought to identify and characterize Hsf genes. Chlorophyll content and chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) reduced significantly during heat stress, while malondialdehyde (MDA) content increased, suggesting that heat exposure caused stress in the plants. The genome-wide analysis led to the identification of thirteen AhHsfs, which were classified into A, B and C classes. Gene expression profiling at the tissue and developmental scales resolution under heat stress revealed the transient upregulation of most of the Hsfs in the leaf and inflorescence tissues, which reverted back to control levels at the recovery time point. However, a few Hsfs somewhat sustained their upregulation during recovery phase. The study reported the identification, physical location, gene/motif structure, promoter analysis and phylogenetic relationships of Hsfs in Amaranthus hypochondriacus. Also, the genes identified may be crucial for future gene functional studies and develop thermotolerant cultivars