Analytical methods based on ion mobility and mass spectrometry for metabolomics

Travelling wave ion mobility spectrometry (TWIMS) in combination with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS) has been applied successfully for the untargeted, global metabolic profiling of biofluids such as mouse plasma and saliva. Methods based on UHPLC-MS alone and in combination with ion mobility spectrometry (UHPLC-IM-MS) have been developed and validated for the untargeted metabolite profiling of saliva, obtained non-invasively by passive drool. Three separate metabolic profiling studies have been carried out in conjunction with bioinformatics strategies to identify potential metabolomic biomarker ions that are associated with efficacy of rice bran in colorectal cancer, physiological stress and that have the potential for the diagnosis of asthma. The advantages offered by the utility of ion mobility in UHPLC-MS based metabolic profiling studies, including the increased analytical space, mass spectral clean-up of contaminants such as PEG post-UHPLC-IM-MS analysis, enhancement of the selectivity of targeted metabolites as well as the potential for the identification of metabolites by comparison of ion mobility drift times have been highlighted. Ten potential metabolic biomarker ions of asthma have been identified from the moderate asthmatics from untargeted metabolite profiling of saliva by UHPLC-MS. A predictive model based on partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) has been constructed using these ten discriminant ions, which demonstrates good predictive capability for moderate asthmatics and controls. Potential metabolic biomarker ions of physiological stress have been identified through untargeted metabolite profiling analysis of saliva samples collected before and after exercise by UHPLC-IM-MS. Valerolactam has been identified as a potential biomarker of physiological stress from saliva by comparison of retention time, ion mobility drift time and MS/MS spectra with a standard of δ-valerolactam

Application of Relativistic Coupled-cluster Theory to Electron Impact Excitations of Mg+^+ in the Plasma Environment

A relativistic coupled-cluster (RCC) theory is implemented to study electron impact excitations of atomic species. As a test case, the electron impact excitations of the $3s ~ ^2S_{1/2} - 3p ~ ^2P_{1/2;3/2}$ resonance transitions are investigated in the singly charged magnesium (Mg$^+$) ion using this theory. Accuracies of wave functions of Mg$^+$ are justified by evaluating its attachment energies of the relevant states and compared with the experimental values. The continuum wave function of the projectile electron are obtained by solving Dirac equations assuming distortion potential as static potential of the ground state of Mg$^+$. Comparison of the calculated electron impact excitation differential and total cross-sections with the available measurements are found to be in very good agreements at various incident electron energies. Further, calculations are carried out in the plasma environment in the Debye H\"uckel model framework, which could be useful in the astrophysics. Influence of plasma strength on the cross-sections as well as linear polarization of the photon emission in the $3p ~ ^2P_{3/2} - 3s ~ ^2S_{1/2}$ transition is investigated for different incident electron energies.Comment: 9 pages, 1 table and 3 figure

Profile of multi drug resistant (MDR) and rifampicin resistant TB patients treated under category IV of RNTCP

Background: The emergence of resistance to drugs used to treat tuberculosis (TB) and particularly multidrug resistance TB (MDR-TB) has become a significant health problem and obstacle to effective TB control in India. Present study was conducted to study clinical and sociodemograohic profile of MDR and rifampicin resistant TB patients registered for treatment under RNTCP in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra state.Methods: All drug resistant (MDR and rifampicin resistant) TB patients residents of Yavatmal district, treated at DOTS plus site with Standardized Treatment Regimen (STR) from 1st quarter 2009 to 3rd quarter 2013 were included. Data was obtained from electronic treatment register maintained at DOTS Plus site.Results: There were total 60 confirmed MDR and rifampicin resistant TB patients from Yavatmal district. Male patients (65.00%) were comparatively more than females (35.00%). Almost half (46.67%) of the patients belonged to the productive age group i.e. 30-45 years followed by another one third (35.00%) in the age group of 15-30 years. 93.33% patients were previously treated under RNTCP (under CAT II), out of them 48.51% were failure, 37.50% relapse and 14.29% defaulter.Conclusions: Among MDR and rifampicin resistant TB patients, maximum patients were males, belonged to the social and productive age group, HIV negative and previously treated due to treatment failure

Baymax- Your Mental Health Care Companion - An Artificial Intelligence based Chat bot for Mental Health Care

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and techniques have useful purposes in every domain of mental health care including clinical decision-making, treatments, assessment, self-care, mental health care management and more. Recent technological innovations are highlighted to demonstrate capabilities and opportunities. This application involves an AI based Expert System which can significantly contribute to improving mental health of an individual to lead a better life without any stress or melancholy. The expert system provides expert advice and therapy to overcome negative thoughts. This app can also help to reduce the number of suicides caused due to extreme depression. It is about virtual human conversation with the system to support user’s interaction within a mental health care context. It provides private online healthcare guidance and support where the app can serve the role of a clinician or a psychotherapist.It uses Smartphone technology particularly relevant for applications in Mental health. Recent advances in artificial intelligence are providing an unprecedented ability of online mental health care research and clinical organizations to collect and analyse data that is broader in scope. This application provides a system capable of calculating the depression level using Fuzzy Logic Controller. It sends an alert message to user’s acquaintance thereby preventing the user from causing harm to himself. It tries to imbibe happy thoughts and optimism into the user. Thus, this system can have a meaningful impact on people’s lives by improving their mental health

Attribute Based Secured and Efficient Cloud Storage Middleware for Mobile Cloud Computing using PDP

Today handheld devices are playing more vital roles in the people�s daily lives with the fast development of wireless technology. All these devices use Internet for fetching & accessing services. Many current applications are being deployed on Cloud to save hardware & software cost. Mobile cloud has become remarkable cloud service model; in which, mobile devices are used as the information collecting and processing nodes for the cloud infrastructure. Cloud has become the pervasive digital platform for many network applications in their quest to provide a single unified digital platform. In this paper, we present insignificant Cloud-based storage framework. This framework will provide an easy-to-use file navigation service for attribute-based fill querying. Simultaneously, it incorporates an effective structure for users to verify their data integrity, which can relieve much load from mobile devices. Experimental simulations show that the proposed framework is effective to provide flexible data sharing in mobile computing environments

Instruments of RT-2 Experiment onboard CORONAS-PHOTON and their test and evaluation V: Onboard software, Data Structure, Telemetry and Telecommand

The onboard software and data communication in the RT-2 Experiment onboard the Coronas-Photon satellite is organized in a hierarchical way to effectively handle and communicate asynchronous data generated by the X-ray detectors. A flexible data handling system is organized in the X-ray detector packages themselves and the processing electronic device, namely RT-2/E, has the necessary intelligence to communicate with the 3 scientific payloads by issuing commands and receiving data. It has direct interfacing with the Satellite systems and issues commands to the detectors and processes the detector data before sending to the satellite systems. The onboard software is configured with several novel features like a) device independent communication scheme, b) loss-less data compression and c) Digital Signal Processor. Functionality of the onboard software along with the data structure, command structure, complex processing scheme etc. are discussed in this paper.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy (in press

Instruments of RT-2 Experiment onboard CORONAS-PHOTON and their test and evaluation II: RT-2/CZT payload

Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors are high sensitivity and high resolution devices for hard X-ray imaging and spectroscopic studies. The new series of CZT detector modules (OMS40G256) manufactured by Orbotech Medical Solutions (OMS), Israel, are used in the RT-2/CZT payload onboard the CORONAS-PHOTON satellite. The CZT detectors, sensitive in the energy range of 20 keV to 150 keV, are used to image solar flares in hard X-rays. Since these modules are essentially manufactured for commercial applications, we have carried out a series of comprehensive tests on these modules so that they can be confidently used in space-borne systems. These tests lead us to select the best three pieces of the 'Gold' modules for the RT-2/CZT payload. This paper presents the characterization of CZT modules and the criteria followed for selecting the ones for the RT-2/CZT payload. The RT-2/CZT payload carries, along with three CZT modules, a high spatial resolution CMOS detector for high resolution imaging of transient X-ray events. Therefore, we discuss the characterization of the CMOS detector as well.Comment: 26 pages, 19 figures, Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy (in press