Detection of Sugar-Lectin Interactions by Multivalent Dendritic Sugar Functionalized Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

We show that single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) decorated with sugar functionalized poly (propyl ether imine) (PETIM) dendrimer is a very sensitive platform to quantitatively detect carbohydrate recognizing proteins, namely, lectins. The changes in electrical conductivity of SWNT in field effect transistor device due to carbohydrate - protein interactions form the basis of present study. The mannose sugar attached PETIM dendrimers undergo charge - transfer interactions with the SWNT. The changes in the conductance of the dendritic sugar functionalized SWNT after addition of lectins in varying concentrations were found to follow the Langmuir type isotherm, giving the concanavalin A (Con A) - mannose affinity constant to be 8.5 x 106 M-1. The increase in the device conductance observed after adding 10 nM of Con A is same as after adding 20 \muM of a non - specific lectin peanut agglutinin, showing the high specificity of the Con A - mannose interactions. The specificity of sugar-lectin interactions was characterized further by observing significant shifts in Raman modes of the SWNT.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

An Intrusion Detection System Algorithm for Defending MANET against the DDoS Attacks.

Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is rapidly deployable, self configuring network able to communicate with each other without the aid of any centralized system. There is no need for existing infrastructure base network. In MANET Wireless medium is radio frequencies and nodes are mobile, topology can be very dynamically. Nodes must be able to relay traffic since communicating nodes might be out of range. A MANET can be a standalone network or it can be connected to external networks like internet. Multihop operation of MANET requires a routing mechanism designed for mobile nodes are internet access mechanisms, self configuring networks requires an address allocation mechanism, mechanism to detect and act on, merging of existing networks and security mechanisms. As we know that there is no any centralized system so routing is done by node itself. Due to its mobility and self routing capability nature, there are many weaknesses in its security

Sikh and Muslim perspectives on kidney transplantation: phase 1 of the DiGiT project – a qualitative descriptive study

Objectives Kidney transplantation offers patients better quality of life and survival compared with dialysis. The risk of end stage renal disease is higher among ethnic minorities and they experience longer wait times on transplant lists. This inequality stems from a high need for kidney transplantation combined with a low rate of deceased donation among ethnic minority groups. This study aimed to explore the perspectives around living donor kidney transplantation of members of the Sikh and Muslim communities with an aim to develop a digital intervention to overcome any barriers. Design A qualitative descriptive study using in person focus groups. Setting University Teaching Hospital and Transplant Centre. Participants Convenience sampling of participants from the transplant population. Three focus groups were held with 20 participants, all were of South Asian ethnicity belonging to the Sikh and Muslim communities. Methods Interviews were digitally audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim; transcripts were analysed thematically. Results Four themes were identified: (a) religious issues; (b) lack of knowledge within the community; (c) time; (d) cultural identification with transplantation. Conclusions Not only is the information given and when it is delivered important, but also the person giving the information is crucial to enhance consideration of live donor kidney transplantation. Information should be in a first language where possible and overtly align to religious considerations. A more integrated approach to transplantation counselling should be adopted which includes healthcare professionals and credible members of the target cultural group

Migration of superior vena cava stent

There has been a recent increase in the use of endovascular prostheses resulting in complex surgical and interventional complications not previously recognised. We report a case of Superior vena cava stenosis treated with a wallstent which migrated to the right atrium, necessitating a combined radiological and surgical approach to retrieve it

Pharmacologic targeting of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury using a normothermic machine perfusion platform.

Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) is an emerging modality for kidney preservation prior to transplantation. NMP may allow directed pharmacomodulation of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) without the need for systemic donor/recipient therapies. Three proven anti-IRI agents not in widespread clinical use, CD47-blocking antibody (αCD47Ab), soluble complement receptor 1 (sCR1), and recombinant thrombomodulin (rTM), were compared in a murine model of kidney IRI. The most effective agent was then utilized in a custom NMP circuit for the treatment of isolated porcine kidneys, ascertaining the impact of the drug on perfusion and IRI-related parameters. αCD47Ab conferred the greatest protection against IRI in mice after 24 hours. αCD47Ab was therefore chosen as the candidate agent for addition to the NMP circuit. CD47 receptor binding was demonstrated by immunofluorescence. Renal perfusion/flow improved with CD47 blockade, with a corresponding reduction in oxidative stress and histologic damage compared to untreated NMP kidneys. Tubular and glomerular functional parameters were not significantly impacted by αCD47Ab treatment during NMP. In a murine renal IRI model, αCD47Ab was confirmed as a superior anti-IRI agent compared to therapies targeting other pathways. NMP enabled effective, direct delivery of this drug to porcine kidneys, although further efficacy needs to be proven in the transplantation setting

Incisional hernia following colorectal cancer surgery according to suture technique: Hughes Abdominal Repair Randomized Trial (HART).

BACKGROUND: Incisional hernias cause morbidity and may require further surgery. HART (Hughes Abdominal Repair Trial) assessed the effect of an alternative suture method on the incidence of incisional hernia following colorectal cancer surgery. METHODS: A pragmatic multicentre single-blind RCT allocated patients undergoing midline incision for colorectal cancer to either Hughes closure (double far-near-near-far sutures of 1 nylon suture at 2-cm intervals along the fascia combined with conventional mass closure) or the surgeon's standard closure. The primary outcome was the incidence of incisional hernia at 1 year assessed by clinical examination. An intention-to-treat analysis was performed. RESULTS: Between August 2014 and February 2018, 802 patients were randomized to either Hughes closure (401) or the standard mass closure group (401). At 1 year after surgery, 672 patients (83.7 per cent) were included in the primary outcome analysis; 50 of 339 patients (14.8 per cent) in the Hughes group and 57 of 333 (17.1 per cent) in the standard closure group had incisional hernia (OR 0.84, 95 per cent c.i. 0.55 to 1.27; P = 0.402). At 2 years, 78 patients (28.7 per cent) in the Hughes repair group and 84 (31.8 per cent) in the standard closure group had incisional hernia (OR 0.86, 0.59 to 1.25; P = 0.429). Adverse events were similar in the two groups, apart from the rate of surgical-site infection, which was higher in the Hughes group (13.2 versus 7.7 per cent; OR 1.82, 1.14 to 2.91; P = 0.011). CONCLUSION: The incidence of incisional hernia after colorectal cancer surgery is high. There was no statistical difference in incidence between Hughes closure and mass closure at 1 or 2 years. REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN25616490 (http://www.controlled-trials.com)

Text Independent Speaker Recognition System using GMM

Abstract- The idea of the AUDIO SIGNAL PROCESSING (Speaker Recognition [4] Project) is to implement a recognizer using Matlab which can identify a person by processing his/her voice. The Matlab functions and scripts were all well documented and parameterized in order to be able to use them in the future. The basic goal of our project is to recognize and classify the speeches of different persons. This classification is mainly based on extracting several key features like Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC [2]) from the speech signals of those persons by using the process of feature extraction using MATLAB. The above features may consists of pitch, amplitude, frequency etc. It can be achieved by using tools like MATLAB. Using a statistical model like Gaussian mixture model (GMM [6]) and features extracted from those speech signals we build a unique identity for each person who enrolled for speaker recognition [4]. Estimation and Maximization algorithm is used, An elegant and powerful method for finding the maximum likelihood solution for a model with latent variables, to test the later speeches against the database of all speakers who enrolled in the database. Index Terms- Speaker Recognition, feature extraction

Studies on structural, optical and photoelectron transportation in solution grown nanosize CdS thin films for photosensor application

130-136CdS Thin films of different thicknesses have been deposited onto glass substrates at 60°C.The source materials for Cd and S have been used as CdCl2 and NH2-CS-NH2 in ammonia solution respectively. The reaction mechanism involved the preparation of film onto precleaned glass substrate through Cd2+ and S2 ions in aqueous solution. Deposited thin films were annealed in air from 50 to 450oC. The XRD results are presented only for the films annealed from 300 to 450oC, as below 300oC there is no appreciable change in crystal structure. From the XRD patterns, films are seen to be polycrystalline in nature with the formation hexagonal phase. The crystallinity of the films was improved by annealing in air at 400°C. The optical transmittance, reflectance and absorption of annealed CdS thin films with different value of thicknesses are then studied in the energy range 1.1-4.0 eV. The CdS films showed allowed direct optical band gap Eg = 2.38 eV. Films of different thicknesses have same maximum transmittance intensity at same wavelength, 590 nm but refractive index varies in the range 2.15-2.85. The photoconductivity of different thicknesses CdS films has been measured with varying light intensity level as L0.2-L1 and it has been observed that the photoconductivity is changed. The decay time constants and demarcation time (60-80 s) have been calculated by photoconductivity measurement and have same values for all different thicknesses of CdS films. The above results are useful for low cost photosensor device applications