Generation of Lamprey Monoclonal Antibodies (Lampribodies) Using the Phage Display System.

The variable lymphocyte receptors (VLRs) consist of leucine rich repeats (LRRs) and comprise the humoral antibodies produced by lampreys and hagfishes. The diversity of the molecules is generated by stepwise genomic rearrangements of LRR cassettes dispersed throughout the VLRB locus. Previously, target-specific monovalent VLRB antibodies were isolated from sea lamprey larvae after immunization with model antigens. Further, the cloned VLR cDNAs from activated lamprey leukocytes were transfected into human cell lines or yeast to select best binders. Here, we expand on the overall utility of the VLRB technology by introducing it into a filamentous phage display system. We first tested the efficacy of isolating phage into which known VLRB molecules were cloned after a series of dilutions. These experiments showed that targeted VLRB clones could easily be recovered even after extensive dilutions (1 to 109). We further utilized the system to isolate target-specific "lampribodies" from phage display libraries from immunized animals and observed an amplification of binders with relative high affinities by competitive binding. The lampribodies can be individually purified and ostensibly utilized for applications for which conventional monoclonal antibodies are employed

Monitoring System-Based Flying IoT in Public Health and Sports Using Ant-Enabled Energy-Aware Routing.

In recent decades, the Internet of flying networks has made significant progress. Several aerial vehicles communicate with one another to form flying ad hoc networks. Unmanned aerial vehicles perform a wide range of tasks that make life easier for humans. However, due to the high frequency of mobile flying vehicles, network problems such as packet loss, latency, and perhaps disrupted channel links arise, affecting data delivery. The use of UAV-enabled IoT in sports has changed the dynamics of tracking and working on player safety. WBAN can be merged with aerial vehicles to collect data regarding health and transfer it to a base station. Furthermore, the unbalanced energy usage of flying things will result in earlier mission failure and a rapid decline in network lifespan. This study describes the use of each UAV's residual energy level to ensure a high level of safety using an ant-based routing technique called AntHocNet. In health care, the use of IoT-assisted aerial vehicles would increase operational performance, surveillance, and automation optimization to provide a smart application of flying IoT. Apart from that, aerial vehicles can be used in remote communication for treatment, medical equipment distribution, and telementoring. While comparing routing algorithms, simulation findings indicate that the proposed ant-based routing protocol is optimal

Evaluation of the sleep modulating effects of methanolic extracts of Strychnos spinosa and Strychnos innocua fruits in mice

This study aimed to evaluate the sleep modulating properties of Strychnos spinosa and Strychnos innocua fruits in Swiss albino mice. The depressant effect of the extracts on the central nervous system was studied using a diazepam-induced sleep model in mice. The mice were divided into four groups of six mice each. The test groups received Strychnos spinosa and Strychnos innocua fruits extracts at the doses of 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg body weight intraperitoneally. In contrast, the control group received distilled water at 10 ml/kg. Diazepam (Ranbaxy®, India) was used as a standard drug and administered 30 minutes after the initial treatment. The lethal doses (LD50) of the two extracts were estimated to be >5000 mg/kg. The results obtained from the onset of sleep of rats administered methanol extracts of Strychnos spinosa, and Strychnos innocua fruits showed that the extracts at 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg, respectively, did not significantly (p >0.05) alter the onset of sleep when compared with the control. The onset of sleep in the groups treated with Strychnos spinosa fruit extracts indicated a dose-dependent decrease pattern. The study also revealed a prolonged duration of sleep in all the experimental groups treated with the two extracts compared to the control group. The treated groups of 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg significantly (p <0.05) prolonged the duration of diazepam-induced sleep in a dose-dependent manner when compared to the control group. The group treated with 1000 mg/kg of Strychnos innocua fruit extract was significant (p <0.05) compared to the control group. In conclusion, the high LD50 observed in this study suggests that the two extracts are relatively safe and contain promising bioactive ingredients that cause sleep modulation in mice

Base catalyzed transesterification of sunflower oil biodiesel

In this study, sunflower oil was investigated for biodiesel production. Sunflower is one of the leading oil seed crop, cultivated for the production of oil in the world. It has also been considered as an important crop for biodiesel production. Seeds for biodiesel production were procured from local farmers of Attock and Rawalpidni divisions. Electric oil expeller was used for the extraction of crude oil. Base catalyzed transesterifiction process is applied for optimum yield (80%) of biodiesel. Fuel properties of sunflower oil biodiesel were compared with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Engine efficiency of biodiesel with reference to power, efficiency and consumption of biodiesel blends (B100, B20 and B5) were determined. It was concluded that sunflower oil is one of the option for biodiesel production at a large scale depending on its mass cultivation.Keywords: Sunflower oil, transesterification, biodiesel, energ

Predicting humans future motion trajectories in video streams using generative adversarial network

Understanding the behavior of human motion in social environments is important for various domains of a smart city, e.g, smart transportation, automatic navigation of service robots, efficient navigation of autonomous cars and surveillance systems. Examining past trajectories or environmental factors alone are not enough to address this problem. We propose a novel methodology to predict future motion trajectories of humans based on past attitude of individuals, crowd attitude and environmental context. Many researchers have proposed different techniques based on different features extraction and features fusion to predict the future motion trajectory. They used traditional machine learning algorithms like SVM,social forces, probabilistic models and LSTM to analyze the heuristic motion trajectories but they didn’t consider the other environmental factors e.g relative positions of other humans present in environment and positions of objects present in environment which can affect the motion trajectories of humans. We intend to achieve this goal by employing Long Short Term Memory(LSTM) units to analyze motion histories, convolution neural networks to environmental facts e.g. human-human, human-object interaction and relative positioning of 80 different objects including pedestrians and generative adversarial networks(GANs) to predict possible future motion paths. Our proposed method achieved 70% lower Average Displacement Error(ADE) and 41% lower Final Displacement Error(FDE) in comparison to other state of the art techniques

Role of vanadium ions substitution on spinel MnCo2O4 towards enhanced electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen generation

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Improving efficient electrocatalysts (ECs) for hydrogen generation through water splitting is of significant interest in tackling the upcoming energy crisis. Sustainable hydrogen generation is the primary prerequisite to realizing the future hydrogen economy. This work examines the electrocatalytic activity of hydrothermally prepared vanadium doped MnCo spinel oxide microspheres (MC), MnVxCo2−xO4 (Vx-MnCo MC, where x ≤ 0.4) in the HER (hydrogen evolution reaction) process. Magnetization measurements demonstrated a paramagnetic (at high temperatures) to a ferrimagnetic (at low temperatures) transition below the Curie temperature (Tc) in all the samples. The magnetization is found to intensify with the rising vanadium content of MCs. The optimized catalyst Vx-MnCo MCs (x = 0.3) outperformed other prepared ECs with a Tafel slope of 84 mV/dec, a low onset potential of 78.9 mV, and a low overpotential of 85.9 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm2, respectively. The significantly improved HER performance of hydrothermally synthesized Vx-MnCo MCs (x = 0.3) is principally attributable to many exposed active sites, accelerated electron transport at the EC/electrolyte interface, and remarkable electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ECSA) value was found ~ 11.4 cm2. Moreover, the Vx-MnCo MCs (x = 0.3) electrode exhibited outstanding electrocatalytic stability after exposure to 1000 cyclic voltametric cycles and 36 h of chronoamperometric testing. Our results suggest a feasible route for developing earth-abundant transition metal oxide-based EC as a superior electrode for future water electrolysis applications.British CouncilKACARE Fellowshi

Simmulation of a virtual transducer using potentiometer

This work attempts to design and implement in hardware a transducer with a nonlinear response using potentiometer. Potentiometer is regarded as a linear transducer, while a the response of a nonlinear transducer can be treated as a concatenation of linear segments made out of the response curve of an actual nonlinear transducer at the points of inflections being exhibited by the nonlinear curve. Each straight line segment is characterized by its slope and a constant, called the y-intercept, which is ultimately realized by a corresponding electronic circuit. The complete circuit diagram is made of three stages: (i) the input stage for range selection, (ii) a digital logic to make appropriate selection, (iii) a conditioning circuit for realizing a given straight-line segment identified by its relevant slope and reference voltage. The simulation of the circuit is carried using MULTISIM, and the designed circuit is afterward tested to verify that variations of the input voltage give us an output voltage very close to the response pattern envisaged in the analytical stage of the design. The utility of this work lies in its applications in emulating purpose built transducers that could be used to nicely emulate a transducer in a real world system that is to be controlled by a programmable digital system

Seed Germination Strategies of Mediterranean Halophytes Under Saline Condition

The study of the ecological strategies adopted by seed plants to ensure their success in different environments is closely related to germination ecology. This implies a careful knowledge of ecophysiology of seeds and, therefore, also of interaction between plants and the complexity of external factors. In particular, the environmental conditions of the area where a plant grows and produces seeds represent the main factors that influence successful seedling establishment. The physical-chemical features of habitats, and therefore their heterogeneity, affect the behavior of seeds in different ways. In addition to the timing of seed production, they can induce or terminate dormancy and/or germination and influence the germination pattern of different seeds in the same plant and so the composition and dispersal of soil seed banks. Salinity is a major abiotic stress affecting growth and plant productivity worldwide, constituting one of the main topics of study in the field of plant physiology. Halophytes are the plants that have the availability to survive and develop in different types of saline habitats. In this chapter, we consider some examples to illustrate the main adaptive strategies used by the seeds of halophytes on ecophysiological perspectives to survive in habitats affected by high levels of salinity. The focus is on the species that live in the brackish or salt coastal areas of the Mediterranean Basin. On these environments, the salt stress may act synergistically with intense anthropic pressure, generating profound alterations in the ecosystem and threatening the survival of the plant species very sensitive to the effects of climate change also. The results show the main diverse strategies, such as dormancy cycling, seed heteromorphism, and recovery capacity, from saline shock, favoring the chances of seed survival. The interaction between temperature and salinity during germination was also discussed assessing its crucial role as an ecological strategy

Prevalence and demographics of anxiety disorders: a snapshot from a community health centre in Pakistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The developing world is faced with a high burden of anxiety disorders. The exact prevalence of anxiety disorders in Pakistan is not known. There is a need to develop an evidence base to aid policy development on tackling anxiety and depressive disorders in the country. This is the first pilot study to address the prevalence of anxiety disorders and their association with sociodemographic factors in Pakistan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted among people visiting Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), a tertiary care facility in Karachi, Pakistan. The point prevalence of anxiety amongst the sample population, which comprised of patients and their attendants, excluding all health care personnel, was assessed using the validated Urdu version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The questionnaire was administered to 423 people. Descriptive statistics were performed for mean scores and proportions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean anxiety score of the population was 5.7 ± 3.86. About 28.3% had borderline or pathological anxiety. The factors found to be independently predicted with anxiety were, female sex (odds ratio (OR) = 2.14, 95% CI 1.36–3.36, p = 0.01); physical illness (OR = 1.67, 95% CI 1.06–2.64, p = 0.026); and psychiatric illness (OR = 1.176, 95% CI 1.0–3.1, p = 0.048). In the final multivariate model, female sex (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2, 95% CI 1.28–3.22) and physical illness (AOR = 1.56, 95% CI 0.97–2.48) were found to be significant.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Further studies via nationally representative surveys need to be undertaken to fully grasp the scope of this emerging public health issue in Pakistan.</p