Expert group recommendation on inhaled mucoactive drugs in pediatric respiratory diseases: an Indian perspective

BackgroundCurrently, there are no guidelines or consensus statements about the usage of inhaled mucoactive drugs in pediatric respiratory disease conditions from an Indian perspective.ObjectiveTo develop a practical consensus document to help pediatricians in clinical decision-making when choosing an appropriate mucoactive drug for the management of specific respiratory disease conditions.MethodsA committee of nine experts with significant experience in pediatric respiratory disease conditions and a microbiological expert constituted the panel. An electronic search of the PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Embase databases was undertaken to identify relevant articles. Various combinations of keywords such as inhaled, nebulized, mucoactive, mucolytic, mucokinetic, expectorants, mucoregulators, mucociliary clearance, respiratory disorders, pediatric, cystic fibrosis (CF), non-CF bronchiectasis, acute wheezing, asthma, primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), critically ill, mechanical ventilation, tracheomalacia, tracheobronchomalacia, esophageal atresia (EA), tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF), acute bronchiolitis, sputum induction, guideline, and management were used. Twelve questions were drafted for discussion. A roundtable meeting of experts was conducted to arrive at a consensus. The level of evidence and class of recommendation were weighed and graded.ConclusionsInhaled mucoactive drugs (hypertonic saline, dry powder mannitol, and dornase alfa) can enhance mucociliary clearance in children with CF. Experts opined that hypertonic saline could be beneficial in non-CF bronchiectasis, acute bronchiolitis, and PCD. The current state of evidence is inadequate to support the use of inhaled mucoactive drugs in asthma, acute wheezing, tracheomalacia, tracheobronchomalacia, and EA with TEF

QRS detection using K-Nearest Neighbor algorithm (KNN) and evaluation on standard ECG databases

The performance of computer aided ECG analysis depends on the precise and accurate delineation of QRS-complexes. This paper presents an application of K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) algorithm as a classifier for detection of QRS-complex in ECG. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on two manually annotated standard databases such as CSE and MIT-BIH Arrhythmia database. In this work, a digital band-pass filter is used to reduce false detection caused by interference present in ECG signal and further gradient of the signal is used as a feature for QRS-detection. In addition the accuracy of KNN based classifier is largely dependent on the value of K and type of distance metric. The value of K = 3 and Euclidean distance metric has been proposed for the KNN classifier, using fivefold cross-validation. The detection rates of 99.89% and 99.81% are achieved for CSE and MIT-BIH databases respectively. The QRS detector obtained a sensitivity Se = 99.86% and specificity Sp = 99.86% for CSE database, and Se = 99.81% and Sp = 99.86% for MIT-BIH Arrhythmia database. A comparison is also made between proposed algorithm and other published work using CSE and MIT-BIH Arrhythmia databases. These results clearly establishes KNN algorithm for reliable and accurate QRS-detection

Design and analysis of IGZO based junctionless thin film transistor using SOI technology

In this paper, IGZO based Junctionless Thin Film Transistor (IGZO JLTFT) using SOI technology is proposed with a channel length of 20 nm. The article also demonstrates a comparative analysis of amorphous Silicon-based JLTFT and artificial material IGZO based JLTFT using the Silvaco Atlas tool. Based upon the Junctionless properties, the compound, and high bandgap material, Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) is used to overcome the Short Channel Effects (SCEs) caused due to continuous miniaturization of the channel size. Optimization of the proposed SOI based IGZO JLTFT device has been carried out, by varying the Buried oxide and gate oxide materials and their thicknesses, and HFO2 has been demonstrated to give the best Ion/Ioff ratio. Further, gate metal work-function engineering is employed to enhance the performance of the proposed device in terms of increasing on-state current, and reducing off-state current. Through rigorous simulations with variations in different device parameters, it is demonstrated that the 20 nm IGZO JLTFT with HfO2 as Buried and Gate oxides, and work functions of 4.8 eV each for both metal gates, provides the best performance such as: Ioff of 9.97*10−12 A, threshold voltage of 0.38 V, overall gate capacitances of 1.13*10−15 F, and Subthreshold Slope (SS) of 93 mV/dec

Biodiesel production from lipid of carbon dioxide sequestrating bacterium and lipase of psychrotolerant Pseudomonas sp. ISTPL3 immobilized on biochar

International audienc

Proceedings of International Conference on Women Researchers in Electronics and Computing

This proceeding contains articles on the various research ideas of the academic community and practitioners presented at the international conference, “Women Researchers in Electronics and Computing” (WREC’2021). WREC'21 was organized in online mode by Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar (Punjab), INDIA during 22 – 24 April 2021. This conference was conceptualized with an objective to encourage and motivate women engineers and scientists to excel in science and technology and to be the role models for young girls to follow in their footsteps. With a view to inspire women engineers, pioneer and successful women achievers in the domains of VLSI design, wireless sensor networks, communication, image/ signal processing, machine learning, and emerging technologies were identified from across the globe and invited to present their work and address the participants in this women oriented conference. Conference Title: International Conference on Women Researchers in Electronics and ComputingConference Acronym: WREC'21Conference Date: 22–24 April 2021Conference Location: Online (Virtual Mode)Conference Organizers: Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, INDI