Electrochemical Biosensing and Deep Learning-Based Approaches in the Diagnosis of COVID-19: A Review

COVID-19 caused by the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus taking a huge toll on global health and caused life-threatening medical complications and elevated mortality rates, especially among older adults and people with existing morbidity. Current evidence suggests that the virus spreads primarily through respiratory droplets emitted by infected persons when breathing, coughing, sneezing, or speaking. These droplets can reach another person through their mouth, nose, or eyes, resulting in infection. The gold standard\u27\u27 for clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 is the laboratory-based nucleic acid amplification test, which includes the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on nasopharyngeal swab samples. The main concerns with this type of test are the relatively high cost, long processing time, and considerable false-positive or false-negative results. Alternative approaches have been suggested to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus so that those infected and the people they have been in contact with can be quickly isolated to break the transmission chains and hopefully, control the pandemic. These alternative approaches include electrochemical biosensing and deep learning. In this review, we discuss the current state-of-the-art technology used in both fields for public health surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and present a comparison of both methods in terms of cost, sampling, timing, accuracy, instrument complexity, global accessibility, feasibility, and adaptability to mutations. Finally, we discuss the issues and potential future research approaches for detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus utilizing electrochemical biosensing and deep learning

Anthropogenic Impact on Tropical Perennial River in South India: Snapshot of Carbon Dynamics and Bacterial Community Composition

Riverine systems play an important role in the global carbon cycle, and they are considered hotspots for bacterial activities such as organic matter decomposition. However, our knowledge about these processes in tropical or subtropical regions is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate anthropogenically induced changes of water quality, the distribution of selected pharmaceuticals, and the effects of pollution on greenhouse gas concentrations and bacterial community composition along the 800 km long Cauvery river, the main river serving as a potable and irrigation water supply in Southern India. We found that in situ measured pCO₂ and pCH₄ concentrations were supersaturated relative to the atmosphere and ranged from 7.9 to 168.7 µmol L⁻¹ , and from 0.01 to 2.76 µmol L⁻¹ , respectively. Pharmaceuticals like triclosan, carbamazepine, ibuprofen, naproxen, propylparaben, and diclofenac exceeded warning limits along the Cauvery. Proteobacteria was the major phylum in all samples, ranging between 26.1% and 82.2% relative abundance, and it coincided with the accumulation of nutrients in the flowing water. Results emphasized the impact of industrialization and increased population density on changes in water quality, riverine carbon fluxes, and bacterial community structure

Effect of pyrolysis, impregnation, and calcination conditions on the physicochemical properties of TiO2/Biochar composites intended for photocatalytic applications

Biochars are outstanding materials obtained from the pyrolysis of biomass, possessing unique physicochemical properties that are attractive for many environmental applications, including photocatalysis. In this work, we have synthesized for the first time TiO2/Biochar composites using Aeroxide P25 TiO2 and biochars produced from the thermal treatment at low (or null) oxygen content of Colombian coconut shells. To explore and ultimately tune the final physicochemical properties of the TiO2/Biochars materials, a facile wet impregnation method was assessed, in which the following factors were evaluated: 1) Temperature and 2) %O2 in the pyrolysis of the biomass, 3) TiO2/Biochar ratio used in the impregnation and 4) Calcination temperature of the TiO2/Biochar composites. A comprehensive characterization of the novel composites was done, using techniques such as: XRD, XPS, BET, ATR-FTIR, diffuse reflectance, PL, SEM, and electrochemical analysis. The material synthesized with TPyrol = 350 ◦C, %O2 = 2.5, T/B = 0.8 and TCal of 800 ◦C presented notable properties such as low Eg, reduced recombination of e--h+ pairs, a high surface area, and a relatively high photogeneration of charges, and interestingly, it experienced phase transition from Anatase-Rutile to Anatase-Brookite. On the other hand, low TPyrol and high %O2 values conduct to hydrophilic functional groups on the TiO2/Biochar composites, whereas the use of higher TPyrol and TCal lead to a more hydrophobic character but promote the reduction of the recombination of photogenerated e--h+ pairs. As a result, this information is relevant for planning future applications of photocatalysis for degrading pollutants of different chemical nature.Minciencias-Fulbright-Universidad del Vall

Experimental data on the production and characterization of biochars derived from coconut-shell wastes obtained from the Colombian Pacific Coast at low temperature pyrolysis

Biochars are emerging eco-friendly products showing outstanding properties in areas such as carbon sequestration, soil amendment, bioremediation, biocomposites, and bioenergy. These interesting materials can be synthesized from a wide variety of waste-derived sources, including lignocellulosic biomass wastes, manure and sewage sludge. In this work, abundant data on biochars produced from coconut-shell wastes obtained from the Colombian Pacific Coast are presented. Biochar synthesis was performed varying the temperature (in the range: 280 �Ce420 �C) and O2 feeding (in the range: 0e5% v/v) in the pyrolysis reaction. Production yields and some biochar properties such as particle size, Zeta Potential, elemental content (C, N, Al, B, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Ti, Zn), BET surface area, FT-IR spectrum, XRD spectrum, and SEM morphology are presented. This data set is a comprehensive resource to gain a further understanding of biochars, and is a valuable tool for addressing the strategic exploitation of the multiple benefits they hav

Apple pomace powder as natural food ingredient in bakery jams

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether apple pomace powder produced by a simple drying method is suitable for replacing pectin in bakery jam products. Rheological properties of bakery jams were tested by oscillatory tests using amplitude sweep method. Apple pomace addition decreased gel strength and stability of bakery jams, while 12-month storage increased the gel strength of samples. Based on our results, dried apple pomace powder seems to be suitable to replace pectin up to 40% without changing rheological properties of bakery jams

MXene-Based Nucleic Acid Biosensors for Agricultural and Food Systems

MXene is a two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial that exhibits several superior properties suitable for fabricating biosensors. Likewise, the nucleic acid (NA) in oligomerization forms possesses highly specific biorecognition ability and other features amenable to biosensing. Hence the combined use of MXene and NA is becoming increasingly common in biosensor design and development. In this review, MXene- and NA-based biosensors are discussed in terms of their sensing mechanisms and fabrication details. MXenes are introduced from their definition and synthesis process to their characterization followed by their use in NA-mediated biosensor fabrication. The emphasis is placed on the detection of various targets relevant to agricultural and food systems, including microbial pathogens, chemical toxicants, heavy metals, organic pollutants, etc. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives are presented with an eye toward the development of advanced biosensors with improved detection performance

Hardware Assisted Profile Information Collection and Reuse

Runtime profile gives considerable information that can be reused, to optimize the executable for faster execution. This paper explores the use of profile information in the next run, without recompilation, using supporting hardware. The runtime information is collected by a profiling mechanism during the first run. This information is stored along with the executable. The next time the executable is loaded, the profile information is loaded into a table and used. The use of this technique to improve branch prediction accuracy and data cache hits is explored. The simulation results show an improvement of 7 % for branch prediction enhancement and an improvement of 70 % for data cache miss reduction, using this technique. Many studies have been carried out on profiling the run time behavior of programs, and reusing the information[1]. One such mechanism is profiling in the context of a virtual machine (VM)[2][3] where the VM is used for interaction between the hardware and the software. This mechanism requires that the code be recompiled, which in turn requires that the code be given t