Role of bi-specific monoclonal antibodies in immunodiagnostic assay

This review paper highlights the use of bi-specific monoclonal antibodies (bsMAb) in the diagnostic assays for the early detection of pathogens of human infectious diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), chikungunya (CHIKV), tuberculosis (TB) and dengue. Bi-specific monoclonal antibodies (bsMAb) are unique and artificially engineered macromolecules with two distinct binding sites, and are capable of binding two different antigens non-covalently. However, the traditional methods of diagnosis such as virus or bacterial isolation, and PCR amplification are quite expensive and time consuming. Bispecific monoclonal antibodies (bsMAb) are versatile, and can increase the specificity and sensitivity of detection in the suspected individuals. Therefore, immunodiagnostic assays using bsMAb are less expensive, and a large number of clinical samples could be analyzed at a faster rate for the detection of pathogens within a stipulated time. This could allow in developing a cost effective diagnostic kit, which is very useful particularly in the developing countries for the early assessment of the disease outbreak

Dengue Diagnostics: Current Scenario

There is an urgent requirement for specific, sensitive and inexpensive dengue diagnostic tools that can be used for clinical management, surveillance and outbreak investigations would permit early intervention to treat patients and prevent or control epidemics. Additionally, new techniques for the early detection of severe disease such as the use of biomarkers have the potential to decrease morbidity and mortality. Recent developments in rapid detection technologies offer the promise of improved diagnostics for case management and the early detection of dengue outbreaks. This short review summarizes the various diagnostics tests currently pursued

A Mini-review of Dengue Vaccine Development

About 100 million dengue cases are reported annually and an estimated 2.5 billion people are susceptible to the infection mostly in the tropical regions. Dengue virus is a member of the Flavivirus genus and consists of four serotypes (DV-1, DV-2, DV-3, and DV- 4), each of which is capable of causing dengue fever and the more severe dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome. There is an urgent need to develop a safe and effective vaccine that induces protective immune response to all the four serotypes overcoming antibody dependent enhancement. At present there is no licensed vaccine or specific therapeutic measures for prevention or management of the fatal infection. This mini review outlines the different vaccine candidates that are at various stages of development

Targeting strategies and nanocarriers in vaccines and therapeutics

In the past few decades, remarkable advances have been made in the field of immunology and molecular biology. Even though the efficacy level, protein binding capacity and other pharmacological parameters are extraordinary, formulations have become more challenging in terms of making drugs or antigens reach specific sites of action, the release rate of a drug at the site of action, proper presentation of an antigen by antigen-presenting cells or dendritic cells and other pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters of finished drug products and vaccines. The purpose of this review is to present a brief overview of the challenges to drug targeting, especially vaccines, as well as of different approaches designed to overcome these barriers

Explosively driven facture and fragmentation of metal cylinders and rings

Cylinders and rings fabricated from AerMet{reg_sign} 100 alloy and AISI 1018 steel have been explosively driven to fragmentation in order to determine the fracture strains for these materials under plane strain and uniaxial stress conditions. The phenomena associated with the dynamic expansion and subsequent break up of the cylinders are monitored with high-speed diagnostics. In addition, complementary experiments are performed in which fragments from the explosively driven cylinder are recovered and analyzed to determine the statistical distribution associated with the fragmentation process as well as to determine failure mechanisms. The data are used to determine relevant coefficients for the Johnson-Cook (Hancock-McKenzie) fracture model. Metallurgical analysis of the fragments provides information on damage and failure mechanisms

Adiabatic shear band formation in explosively driven AerMet-100 alloy cylinders

Two differently heat-treated AerMet-100 alloy cylinders were explosively driven to fragmentation. Soft-captured fragments were studied to characterize the deformation and damage induced by high explosive loading. The characterization of the fragments reveals that the dominant failure mechanism appears to be dynamic fracture along adiabatic shear bands. These shear bands differ in size and morphology depending on the heat-treated conditions. Nanoindentation measurements of the adiabatic shear bands in either material condition indicate higher hardness in the bands compared to the matrix regions of the fragments

Modulation of mechanical resonance by chemical potential oscillation in graphene

The classical picture of the force on a capacitor assumes a large density of electronic states,such that the electrochemical potential of charges added to the capacitor is given by the external electrostatic potential and the capacitance is determined purely by geometry. Here we consider capacitively driven motion of a nano-mechanical resonator with a low density of states, in which these assumptions can break down. We find three leading-order corrections to the classical picture: the first of is a modulation in the static force due to variation in the internal chemical potential; the second and third are change in static force and dynamic spring constant due to the rate of change of chemical potential, expressed as the quantum (density of states) capacitance. As a demonstration, we study a capacitively driven graphene mechanical resonators, where the chemical potential is modulated independently of the gate voltage using an applied magnetic field to manipulate the energy of electrons residing in discrete Landau levels. In these devices, we observe large periodic frequency shifts consistent with the three corrections to the classical picture. In devices with extremely low strain and disorder, the first correction term dominates and the resonant frequency closely follows the chemical potential. The theoretical model fits the data with only one adjustable parameter representing disorder-broadening of the Landau levels. The underlying electromechanical coupling mechanism is not limited the particular choice of material, geometry, or mechanism for variation in chemical potential, and can thus be extended to other low-dimensional systems.Engineering and Applied Science