User-Controlled Information Transfer Between Digital Devices With A Gestural Input Component

There is an interplay between the messages users share electronically with others and the transformations that take place in the relationships between them. Every message that is shared has the potential to strengthen or break these relationships. Digital applications should reflect these changes in relationships effectively whenever they occur and preferably with the user who wants to see a change being in direct control. Today, in widely used tools like email, users could very easily lose control over who sends messages to their inbox and the situation quickly turns into a game of whack-a-mole that then lasts forever. Our goal is to explore this problem space without relying on existing digital infrastructure to find a solution that allows users to be in direct control of their relationships and improve their user experience. In essence, we improve the delete button in a contacts application from one that just deletes a string of stored data into another that can terminate relationships effectively.In this thesis we first propose the "i80" system which demonstrates how this control is possible using distinct tokens to represent relationships between users. The server backend of i80 takes care of managing a user's relationships with others and also ensures messages are delivered in real-time between valid relationships. i80 also has two front-end applications to ensure users can receive messages on personal computers and smartphones. We leverage QR codes to simplify the transfer of tokens and quickly create relationships between two or more users.Also, gestures like swipe-down-to-refresh on smartphones have improved our user experience dramatically and we have applied a similar pattern to improve the experience of sharing files with others. Thus, we also propose the Pinch application to demonstrate how users can use a single pinch gesture to share files with others instead of selecting multiple buttons from a menu on a smartphone.We have built prototypes of i80 which contains a server backend to manage relationships and transfer files across multiple users and devices, front end web and mobile applications to demonstrate common actions like creating relationships and sharing files, and a Pinch-enabled file manager to share files with others. We have evaluated both i80 and Pinch to demonstrate that the user experience of sending files is improved while simultaneously giving users better control over both their relationships and data

Prospective study of platelet count as a prognostic marker in predicting feto-maternal outcome in gestational hypertension

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are one of the leading causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) affects approximately 5-7% of all pregnancies. The reported incidence of HDP in India ranges from 5% to 15%. These disorders form a deadly triad-in conjunction with hemorrhage and infection, in significantly contributing to maternal morbidity and mortality. Objectives were to determine the correlation between the severity of HDP and low platelet count; to analyze maternal and fetal outcomes in relation to thrombocytopenia; to aid in early diagnosis and management and to prevent complications and thereby improving maternal and fetal outcomes. Methods: A hospital-based prospective study was conducted in women with a provisional diagnosis of gestational hypertension over a period of 18 months. The study group comprised of pregnant women who were more than 20 weeks and were subjected to detailed history: pre-obstetric history, family history, general physical examination, abdominal examination, routine laboratory investigations, and ultrasonography and Doppler. Results: In the study, platelet count at ≤275000 cut-offs had the highest sensitivity of 52.11%, specificity of 82.76%, PPV of 88.1%, and NPV of 41.4% in predicting feto maternal complications. Platelet count at ≤275000 cut-offs had the highest sensitivity of 62.86%, specificity of 69.23%, PPV of 52.4%, and NPV of 77.6% in predicting preeclampsia. Conclusions: From the study, it was concluded that in gestational hypertension the estimation of platelet count is thus a reliable method for early detection and management of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Platelet count was significantly decreased in subjects with maternal complications, fetal complications, and with respect to the severity of preeclampsia. Platelet count however had moderate validity in predicting fetomaternal complications

Diffusion map for clustering fMRI spatial maps extracted by independent component analysis

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) produces data about activity inside the brain, from which spatial maps can be extracted by independent component analysis (ICA). In datasets, there are n spatial maps that contain p voxels. The number of voxels is very high compared to the number of analyzed spatial maps. Clustering of the spatial maps is usually based on correlation matrices. This usually works well, although such a similarity matrix inherently can explain only a certain amount of the total variance contained in the high-dimensional data where n is relatively small but p is large. For high-dimensional space, it is reasonable to perform dimensionality reduction before clustering. In this research, we used the recently developed diffusion map for dimensionality reduction in conjunction with spectral clustering. This research revealed that the diffusion map based clustering worked as well as the more traditional methods, and produced more compact clusters when needed.Comment: 6 pages. 8 figures. Copyright (c) 2013 IEEE. Published at 2013 IEEE International Workshop on Machine Learning for Signal Processin

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells contribute to vascular endothelial dysfunction in type 2 diabetes

ObjectiveType 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease due to macro- and microvascular dysfunction. This study aimed to investigate the potential involvement of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) in T2D-related vascular dysfunction.Approach and resultspDCs were isolated from db/db and control mice. It was found that pDCs from db/db mice impaired endothelial cell eNOS phosphorylation in response to ATP and decreased vascular endothelium-dependent relaxation compared to pDCs from control mice. Moreover, isolated CD4+ cells from control mice, when stimulated overnight with high glucose and lipids, and isolated pDCs from db/db mice, display elevated levels of ER stress, inflammation, and apoptosis markers. Flow cytometry revealed that pDC frequency was higher in db/db mice than in controls. In vivo, the reduction of pDCs using anti-PDCA-1 antibodies in male and female db/db mice for 4 weeks significantly improved vascular endothelial function and eNOS phosphorylation.ConclusionpDCs may contribute to vascular dysfunction in T2D by impairing endothelial cell function. Targeting pDCs with anti-PDCA-1 antibodies may represent a promising therapeutic strategy for improving vascular endothelial function in T2D patients. This study provides new insights into the pathogenesis of T2D-related vascular dysfunction and highlights the potential of immunomodulatory therapies for treating this complication. Further studies are warranted to explore the clinical potential of this approach

The J-elongated conformation of β2-glycoprotein I predominates in solution: implications for our understanding of antiphospholipid syndrome

β2-Glycoprotein I (β2GPI) is an abundant plasma protein displaying phospholipid-binding properties. Because it binds phospholipids, it is a target of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) in antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), a life-threatening autoimmune thrombotic disease. Indeed, aPLs prefer membrane-bound β2GPI to that in solution. β2GPI exists in two almost equally populated redox states: oxidized, in which all the disulfide bonds are formed, and reduced, in which one or more disulfide bonds are broken. Furthermore, β2GPI can adopt multiple conformations (i.e. J-elongated, S-twisted, and O-circular). While strong evidence indicates that the J-form is the structure bound to aPLs, which conformation exists and predominates in solution remains controversial, and so is the conformational pathway leading to the bound state. Here, we report that human recombinant β2GPI purified under native conditions is oxidized. Moreover, under physiological pH and salt concentrations, this oxidized form adopts a J-elongated, flexible conformation, not circular or twisted, in which the N-terminal domain I (DI) and the C-terminal domain V (DV) are exposed to the solvent. Consistent with this model, binding kinetics and mutagenesis experiments revealed that in solution the J-form interacts with negatively charged liposomes and with MBB2, a monoclonal anti-DI antibody that recapitulates most of the features of pathogenic aPLs. We conclude that the preferential binding of aPLs to phospholipid-bound β2GPI arises from the ability of its preexisting J-form to accumulate on the membranes, thereby offering an ideal environment for aPL binding. We propose that targeting the J-form of β2GPI provides a strategy to block pathogenic aPLs in APS

Deficiency of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Dyslipidemia in Indian Subjects

Background. Vitamin D deficiency is widespread throughout the world. Several reports have incriminated vitamin D deficiency as the cause of rickets, osteomalacia, and other chronic diseases. Recent studies have suggested a possible link between deficiency of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and dyslipidemia. Aim. To investigate the association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency and dyslipidemia in Indian subjects. Methodology. We recruited 150 asymptomatic consecutive subjects from patients' attendees at the Departments of Neurology and Medicine in Yashoda Hospital, Hyderabad, India. Study period was from October 2011 to March 2012. All subjects underwent 25-hydroxyvitamin D assay by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay, fasting blood sugar and lipid profile, calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, and C-reactive protein (CRP). Results. Out of 150 subjects, men were 82 (54.6%), and mean age was 49.4 (±15.6) years. Among risk factors, hypertension was noted in 63/150 (42%), 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency in 59/150 (39.3%), diabetes in 45/150 (30%), dyslipidemia in 60 (40%), smoking in 35/150 (23.3%), and alcoholism in 27/150 (18%). Deficiency of 25-hydroxyvitamin D was significantly associated with dyslipidemia ( = 0.0001), mean serum glucose ( = 0.0002) mean CRP ( = 0.04), and mean alkaline phosphatase ( = 0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency was independently associated with dyslipidemia (odds ratio: 1.9; 95% CI : 1.1-3.5). Conclusions. We found that deficiency of 25-hydroxyvitamin D was independently associated with dyslipidemia in Indian subjects

Analysis of COVID-19 pandemic - Origin, global impact and Indian therapeutic solutions for infectious diseases

103-117The first case of COVID-19 was reported in China in December 2019(ref. 1) and almost 213 countries have reported around 5,350,000 COVID-19 cases all over the world, with the mortality rate up to 3.4% as of May 23,2020. On March 11, 2020, the WHO (World Health Organization) declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Moving towards from epidemic to global pandemic situation just in two months, COVID-19 has caused tremendous adverse effects on people's well being and the economy all over the world. Scientists and researchers around the globe have a vested interest in researching and mitigating to handle the dire situation. This paper covers the COVID-19's origin, characteristics of the virus and reasons behind the outbreak, and precautionary measures that have to be followed to handle the critical situation. Several therapeutic solutions in the Indian healing tradition have been discussed to improve the immune system in order to equip ourselves to deal with the outbreak of COVID-19

Pathophysiological role of microRNA-29 in pancreatic cancer stroma

poster abstractBackground: Dense fibrotic stroma associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has been a major obstacle for drug delivery to the tumor bed and may impede attempts to slow down PDAC progression and metastasis. However, current antistromal drugs have not improved tumor response to chemotherapy or patient survival. Thus, a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms associated with tumorstromal interactions is desperately needed to develop novel anti-stromal therapeutic approaches. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of highly conserved, small non-coding RNAs that function as key regulators of eukaryotic gene expression and cellular homeostasis. miR-29 is known to play a paramount role in the fibrotic process of several organs by providing crucial functions downstream of pro-fibrotic signaling pathways such as TGF-β1 and regulates the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, a major component in the PDAC stroma. Upregulation of TGF-β1 is associated with PDAC pathogenesis and is known to activate stromal cells. Furthermore, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) that stimulates tumor angiogenesis is a predicted target of miR-29. We hypothesize that miR-29 may be misregulated in TGF-β1 activated PDAC stromal cells and lead to excessive accumulation of ECM proteins and VEGF. Kwon et al. 2015 Annual AACR Meeting Restored expression of miR-29 could be therapeutically beneficial to modulate tumorstromal interactions. Methods: Northern blot or qPCR techniques were used to assess miR-29 levels in vitro stromal cells, murine PDAC model, and PDAC patient biopsies, and stromal deposition/fibrosis was determined by Sirius red staining. In murine and human PDAC samples, stromal specific miR-29 expression was determined via in situ hybridization by co-staining pancreatic tissues with glial fibrillary acidic protein a marker for stromal cells and miR-29. miR-29 functional studies were conducted by transfection of stroma cells with synthetic miR-29 mimics and locked nucleic acid, a miR-29 inhibitor, and ECM protein/VEGF expression was analyzed by western blot analysis. The effect of miR-29 overexpression in stromal cells on cancer colony growth was evaluated by direct coculture of stromal cells ectopically expressing miR-29 with pancreatic cancer cells, and subsequently, cancer colony number and stromal accumulation was determined by crystal violet and sirius red stains respectively. Results: In both in vitro and in vivo models as well as PDAC patient biopsies, we observed loss of miR-29 is a common phenomenon of activated stromal cells, and is associated with a significant increase in ECM and VEGF accumulation. Restored expression of miR-29 in stromal cells reduced the deposition of matrix proteins, VEGF expression, and cancer colony formation in direct co-culture. Conclusion: These results provide insight into the mechanistic role of miR-29 in PDAC stroma and its potential use as an anti-stromal/angiogenic therapeutic agent