Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Computer-Aided Diagnosis of Muscle Mass through Antenna as a Sensor

Wireless body area network (WBAN) incorporates a wireless sensor network and wearable devices in miniature size. In this paper, a dual-band microstrip patch (DBMSP) antenna as a sensor with a modified split ring resonator (SRR) and defective ground structure (DGS) is proposed for muscle mass measurement and prediction. Modified SRR on the ground plane forms a defected ground structure (DGS) for back radiation reduction and suits muscle mass measurement. The proposed dual-band microstrip patch antenna resonates at 5.2 GHz and 8.4 GHz, with impedance bandwidth of about 0.9 GHz and 1.89 GHz, input reflection coefficient is about -21.12 dB and -14.5 dB, respectively. This DBMSP antenna has an efficiency of 99.9%, with a negligible amount of specific absorption rate (SAR). From the proposed DBMSP antenna sensor, muscle mass is predicted from human muscle. The proposed antenna is fixed on the ventral surface of the forearm and biceps. DBMSP antenna sensor detects electromagnetic energy from muscle tissues under radiating near-field conditions. The muscle tissue signal is acquired through the proposed DBMSP antenna. The acquired antenna process with nondecimated wavelet transform (NDWT) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT) algorithms for noise reduction. Further, early prediction of muscle mass prevents humans from lack of protein and oxygen levels in the blood and avoids major issues in human health. The proposed DBMSP antenna-based muscle mass measurement achieves 89% accuracy when compared with laboratory measurement

Physiochemical characteristics analysis of surface water and underground water during the summer season

The present paper has virtual importance on the physicochemical characteristics of both underground water and surface water in various places of Coimbatore in the summer season (March-June 2021). The surface water tests were gathered from near lakes around Coimbatore, Pollachi, and Tirupur the underground water was gathered from near, Pollachi, Coimbatore, and Tirupur. The physicochemical properties such as Dissolved Oxygen, TDS, pH, Turbidity, Alkalinity, Calcium, Total hardness, Chloride, Nitrates, Nitrites, Fluorides, Potassium, and Sodium were tested. The outcome results showed that the analyzed ground and surface water is fit for domestic purposes and not for drinking purposes