Background Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a CD4+ T cell-driven autoimmune disease characterized by the ... more Background Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a CD4+ T cell-driven autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic β-cells by CD8+ T cells. Achieving glycemic targets in T1D remains challenging in clinical practice; new treatments aim to halt autoimmunity and prolong β-cell survival. IMCY-0098 is a peptide derived from human proinsulin that contains a thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase motif at the N-terminus and was developed to halt disease progression by promoting the specific elimination of pathogenic T cells. Methods This first-in-human, 24-week, double-blind phase 1b study evaluated the safety of three dosages of IMCY-0098 in adults diagnosed with T1D < 6 months before study start. Forty-one participants were randomized to receive four bi-weekly injections of placebo or increasing doses of IMCY-0098 (dose groups A/B/C received 50/150/450 μg for priming followed by three further administrations of 25/75/225 μg, respectively). Multiple T1D-related clinic...
Antigen-specific immunotherapy is an immunomodulatory strategy for autoimmune diseases, such as t... more Antigen-specific immunotherapy is an immunomodulatory strategy for autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, in which patients are treated with autoantigens to promote immune tolerance, stop autoimmune β-cell destruction and prevent permanent dependence on exogenous insulin. In this study, human proinsulin peptide C19-A3 (known for its positive safety profile) was conjugated to ultrasmall gold nanoparticles (GNPs), an attractive drug delivery platform due to the potential anti-inflammatory properties of gold. We hypothesised that microneedle intradermal delivery of C19-A3 GNP may improve peptide pharmacokinetics and induce tolerogenic immunomodulation and proceeded to evaluate its safety and feasibility in a first-in-human trial. Allowing for the limitation of the small number of participants, intradermal administration of C19-A3 GNP appears safe and well tolerated in participants with type 1 diabetes. The associated prolonged skin retention of C19-A3 GNP after intradermal admin...
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been described as one of the extremely effective and promising s... more Artificial intelligence (AI) has been described as one of the extremely effective and promising scientific tools available to mankind. AI and its associated innovations are becoming more popular in industry and culture, and they are starting to show up in healthcare. Numerous facets of healthcare, as well as regulatory procedures within providers, payers, and pharmaceutical companies, may be transformed by these innovations. As a result, the purpose of this review is to identify the potential machine learning applications in the field of infectious diseases and the general healthcare system. The literature on this topic was extracted from various databases, such as Google, Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The articles having important information were selected for this review. The most challenging task for AI in such healthcare sectors is to sustain its adoption in daily clinical practice, regardless of whether the programs are scalable enough to be useful. Based ...
Agriculture is critical for meeting the needs of the world’s population, in terms of food product... more Agriculture is critical for meeting the needs of the world’s population, in terms of food production. As a result, it has become a significant contributor to economic growth. According to various studies, agricultural production is one of the most widely recognized sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. This study explores the causal link between aggregate energy consumption resources, trade liberalization, CO2 emissions, and modern agriculture in selected ASEAN nations from 2000 to 2020, through the use of panel FMOLS data from the United Nations Development Program (fully modified ordinary least square). According to scientific research, the value addition of agricultural commodities helps to reduce CO2 emissions in polluted countries such as the United States. In addition, it was revealed that the quantity of CO2 released per unit of energy spent was positively associated with the amount of energy consumed. The reduction of CO2 emissions is possible in nations where ...
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 2019
With the advancement in communication technologies, Internet of vehicles presents a new set of op... more With the advancement in communication technologies, Internet of vehicles presents a new set of opportunities to efficiently manage transportation problems using vehicle-to-vehicle communication. However, high mobility in vehicular networks causes frequent changes in network topology, which leads to network instability. This frequently results in emergency messages failing to reach the target vehicles. To overcome this problem, we propose a data dissemination scheme for such messages in vehicular networks, based on clustering and position-based broadcast techniques. The vehicles are dynamically clustered to handle the broadcast storm problem, and a position-based technique is proposed to reduce communication delays, resulting in timely dissemination of emergency messages. The simulation results show that the transmission delay, information coverage, and packet delivery ratios improved up to 14%, 9.7%, and 5.5%, respectively. These results indicate that the proposed scheme is promisin...
Images are considered to be natural carriers of information, and a large number of images are cre... more Images are considered to be natural carriers of information, and a large number of images are created, exchanged and are made available online. Apart from creating new images, the availability of number of duplicate copies of images is a critical problem. Hashing based image copy detection techniques are a promising alternative to address this problem. In this approach, a hash is constructed by using a set of unique features extracted from the image for identification. This article provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art image hashing techniques. The reviewed techniques are categorized by the mechanism used and compared across a set of functional & performance parameters. The article finally highlights the current issues faced by such systems and possible future directions to motivate further research work.
The inception of the smart cities concept provides a compelling platform to support innovative ap... more The inception of the smart cities concept provides a compelling platform to support innovative applications. It provides distinctive view of cities, where mobile devices, pedestrians, and electronic gadgets can communicate with each other to build an effective urban environment to further improve the living standards. Similarly, the role of the Internet of Things (IoT) and vehicular computing has emerged due to smart cities. This is further complemented by edge and fog computing architectures. The emerging concept of vehicular fog computing has enabled the platform to support delay-sensitive applications and to reduce the workload on the backend networks. Vehicular fog computing is a paradigm that touches the boundaries of thinking vehicles as an infrastructures-as-a-service. The use of vehicles to provide computation on-the-move poses various challenges. The vehicles with onboard computing equipment can facilitate delay-sensitive applications. These vehicles can act as an edge device to reduce the load from a backbone network. However, due to continuous mobility, it is difficult to use traditional frameworks to distribute the computation task among vehicles. In this paper, we propose a framework termed vFog. The vFog is designed to provide computing facilities from nearby fog vehicles. The framework utilizes the onboard computing facility of vehicles without the support of roadside units (RSUs). Moreover, the proposed framework handles churn behavior and supports multi-hop communication to improve the task delivery ratio. The proposed framework allows researchers to benchmark their own task distribution algorithms over the dynamic vehicular networks. INDEX TERMS Vehicular fog computing, tasks scheduling policy, edge devices, multi-vehicle relay.
Immunotherapy using short immunogenic peptides of disease-related autoantigens restores immune to... more Immunotherapy using short immunogenic peptides of disease-related autoantigens restores immune tolerance in preclinical disease models. We studied safety and mechanistic effects of injecting human leukocyte antigen-DR4(DRB1*0401)-restricted immunodominant proinsulin peptide intradermally every 2 or 4 weeks for 6 months in newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes patients. Treatment was well tolerated with no systemic or local hypersensitivity. Placebo subjects showed a significant decline in stimulated C-peptide (measuring insulin reserve) at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months versus baseline, whereas no significant change was seen in the 4-weekly peptide group at these time points or the 2-weekly group at 3, 6, and 9 months. The placebo group's daily insulin use increased by 50% over 12 months but remained unchanged in the intervention groups. C-peptide retention in treated subjects was associated with proinsulin-stimulated interleukin-10 production, increased FoxP3 expression by regulatory T cells...
2016 IEEE Uttar Pradesh Section International Conference on Electrical, Computer and Electronics Engineering (UPCON), 2016
Images are considered to be natural carriers of information, and a large number of images are cre... more Images are considered to be natural carriers of information, and a large number of images are created, exchanged and are made available online. Apart from creating new images, the availability of number of duplicate copies of images is a critical problem. Hashing based image copy detection techniques are a promising alternative to address this problem. In this approach, a hash is constructed by using a set of unique features extracted from the image for identification. This article provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art image hashing techniques. The reviewed techniques are categorized by the mechanism used and compared across a set of functional & performance parameters. The article finally highlights the current issues faced by such systems and possible future directions to motivate further research work.
Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), Jan 3, 2017
Materials which selectively transport molecules along defined paths offer new opportunities for c... more Materials which selectively transport molecules along defined paths offer new opportunities for concentrating, processing and sensing chemical and biological agents. Here, we present the use of traveling ionic waves to drive molecular transport and concentration of hydrophilic molecules entrained within a hydrogel. The traveling ionic wave is triggered by the spatially localized introduction of ions, which through a dissipative ion exchange process, converts quaternary ammonium groups in the hydrogel from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. Through a reaction-diffusion process, the hydrophobic region expands with a sharp transition at the leading edge; it is this sharp gradient in hydrophilicity that drives the transport of hydrophilic molecules dispersed within the film. The traveling wave moved up to 450 μm within 30 min, while the gradient length remained 20 μm over this time. As an example of the potential of molecular concentration using this approach, a 70-fold concentration of a hydr...
American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology, Jul 6, 2016
Cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation may be an important source of proliferating cardiomyocytes facili... more Cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation may be an important source of proliferating cardiomyocytes facilitating cardiac repair. Cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation and proliferation induced by oncostatin-M (OSM) is characterized by sarcomere degeneration. However, the mechanism underlying sarcomere degeneration remains unclear. We hypothesized that this process may involve matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), a key protease localized at the sarcomere in cardiomyocytes. To test the hypothesis that MMP-2 is involved in the sarcomere degeneration that characterizes cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation. Confocal immunofluorescence and biochemical methods were used to explore the role of MMP-2 in OSM-induced dedifferentiation of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM). OSM caused a concentration- and time-dependent loss of sarcomeric α-actinin and troponin-I in NRVM. Upon OSM-treatment, the mature sarcomere transformed to a phenotype resembling a less developed sarcomere, i.e., loss of sarcomeric protein...
SummaryWe have investigated the efficacy of conditioning skin Langerhans cells (LCs) with agents ... more SummaryWe have investigated the efficacy of conditioning skin Langerhans cells (LCs) with agents to promote tolerance and reduce inflammation, with the goal of improving the outcomes of antigen‐specific immunotherapy. Topical treatments were assessed ex vivo, using excised human breast skin maintained in organ bath cultures, and in vivo in healthy volunteers by analysing skin biopsies and epidermal blister roof samples. Following topical treatment with a corticosteroid, tumour necrosis factor‐α levels were reduced in skin biopsy studies and blister fluid samples. Blister fluid concentrations of monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1, macrophage inflammatory proteins ‐1α and 1β and interferon‐γ inducible protein‐10 were also reduced, while preserving levels of interleukin‐1α (IL‐1α), IL‐6, IL‐8 and IL‐10. Steroid pre‐treatment of the skin reduced the ability of LCs to induce proliferation, while supernatants showed an increase in the IL‐10/interferon‐γ ratio. Phenotypic changes following...
Although mammals are thought to lose their capacity to regenerate heart muscle shortly after birt... more Although mammals are thought to lose their capacity to regenerate heart muscle shortly after birth, embryonic and neonatal cardiomyocytes in mammals are hyperplastic. During proliferation these cells need to selectively disassemble their myofibrils for successful cytokinesis. The mechanism of sarcomere disassembly is, however, not understood. To study this, we performed a series of immunofluorescence studies of multiple sarcomeric proteins in proliferating neonatal rat ventricular myocytes and correlated these observations with biochemical changes at different cell cycle stages. During myocyte mitosis, α-actinin and titin were disassembled as early as prometaphase. α-actinin (representing the sarcomeric Z-disk) disassembly precedes that of titin (M-line), suggesting that titin disassembly occurs secondary to the collapse of the Z-disk. Sarcomere disassembly was concurrent with the dissolution of the nuclear envelope. Inhibitors of several intracellular proteases could not block the ...
To investigate the enzyme variations responsible for the synthesis of phenolics, 40 day-old adven... more To investigate the enzyme variations responsible for the synthesis of phenolics, 40 day-old adventitious roots of Panax ginseng were treated with 200 µM methyl jasmonate (MJ) or salicylic acid (SA) in a 5 L bioreactor suspension culture (working volume 4 L). Both treatments caused an increase in the carbonyl and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) contents, although the levels were lower in SA treated roots. Total phenolic, flavonoid, ascorbic acid, non-protein thiol (NPSH) and cysteine contents and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical reducing activity were increased by MJ and SA. Fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) decreased significantly after 9 days of exposure to SA and MJ. The highest total phenolics (62%), DPPH activity (40%), flavonoids (88%), ascorbic acid (55%), NPSH (33%), and cysteine (62%) contents compared to control were obtained after 9 days in SA treated roots. The activities of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, substrate specific peroxidases (caffeic acid peroxidase, quercetin peroxidase and ferulic acid peroxidase) were higher in MJ treated roots than the SA treated ones. Increased shikimate dehydrogenase, chlorogenic acid peroxidase and β-glucosidase activities and proline content were observed in SA treated roots than in MJ ones. Cinnamyl alcohol Molecules 2007, 12 608 dehydrogenase activity remained unaffected by both MJ and SA. These results strongly indicate that MJ and SA induce the accumulation of phenolic compounds in ginseng root by altering the phenolic synthesis enzymes.
In this paper, we investigate an optical-trap-based method for the detection of structural change... more In this paper, we investigate an optical-trap-based method for the detection of structural changes of the red blood cell (RBC) membrane affected by Ca 2þ ions. Individual cells are immobilized by the use of optical tweezers and are monitored live, while the concentration of Ca 2þ ions in the buffer is changed simultaneously. Ca 2þ ions are known to affect the cells' membrane morphology. These changes are attributed to the formation of calcium-induced hydrophobic aggregates of phospholipid molecules in the RBC membrane, resulting in a net change in membrane rigidity. Membrane deformation results in the change of effective radius and the drag coefficient of the cell, both of which affect the Brownian motion of the cell in solution. This motion is indirectly measurable by monitoring the forward scattering light and its dependence on the size and drag coefficient of the cell. We show the relationship between the Ca 2þ ion concentration and the optical trap specifications. The results are in agreement with previous biological studies and the phase contrast observations of living RBCs under investigation.
International journal of health geographics, Sep 28, 2004
BACKGROUND: Household-level geographic information systems (GIS) database are usually constructed... more BACKGROUND: Household-level geographic information systems (GIS) database are usually constructed using the geographic positioning system (GPS). In some research settings, GPS receivers may fail to capture accurate readings due to structural barriers such as tall buildings. We faced this problem when constructing a household GIS database for research sites in Karachi, Pakistan because the sites are comprised of congested groups of multi-storied building and narrow lanes. In order to overcome this problem, we used high resolution satellite imagery (IKONOS) to extract relevant geographic information. RESULTS: The use of IKONOS satellite imagery allowed us to construct an accurate household GIS database, which included the size and orientation of the houses. The GIS database was then merged with health data, and spatial analysis of health was possible. CONCLUSIONS: The methodological issues introduced in this paper provide solutions to the technical barriers in constructing household G...
BACKGROUND: Spatial filtering using a geographic information system (GIS) is often used to smooth... more BACKGROUND: Spatial filtering using a geographic information system (GIS) is often used to smooth health and ecological data. Smoothing disease data can help us understand local (neighborhood) geographic variation and ecological risk of diseases. Analyses that use small neighborhood sizes yield individualistic patterns and large sizes reveal the global structure of data where local variation is obscured. Therefore, choosing an optimal neighborhood size is important for understanding ecological associations with diseases. This paper uses Hartley's test of homogeneity of variance (Fmax) as a methodological solution for selecting optimal neighborhood sizes. The data from a study area in Vietnam are used to test the suitability of this method. RESULTS: The Hartley's Fmax test was applied to spatial variables for two enteric diseases and two socioeconomic determinants. Various neighbourhood sizes were tested by using a two step process to implement the Fmaxtest. First the variance…
Background: During the development of a vaccine, identification of the correlates of protection i... more Background: During the development of a vaccine, identification of the correlates of protection is of paramount importance for establishing an objective criterion for the protective performance of the vaccine. However, the ascertainment of correlates of immunity conferred by any vaccine is a difficult task. Methods: While conducting a phase three double-blind, cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled trial of a bivalent killed whole-cell oral cholera vaccine in Kolkata, we evaluated the immunogenicity of the vaccine in a subset of participants. Randomly chosen participants (recipients of vaccine or placebo) were invited to provide blood samples at baseline, 14 days after the second dose and one year after the first dose. At these time points, serum geometric mean titers (GMT) of vibriocidal antibodies and seroconversion rates for vaccine and placebo arms were calculated and compared across the age strata (1 to 5 years, 5 to 15 years and more than 15 years) as well as for all age groups. Results: Out of 137 subjects included in analysis, 69 were vaccinees and 68 received placebo. There were 5N7 and 5N8 geometric mean fold (GMF) rises in titers to Vibrio cholerae Inaba and Ogawa, respectively at 14 days after the second dose, with 57% and 61% of vaccinees showing a four-fold or greater titer rise, respectively. After one year, the titers to Inaba and Ogawa remained 1N7 and 2N8 fold higher, respectively, compared to baseline. Serum vibriocidal antibody response to V. cholerae O139 was much lower than that to Inaba or Ogawa. No significant differences in the GMF-rises were observed among the age groups. Conclusions: The reformulated oral cholera vaccine induced a statistically significant anti-O1 Inaba and O1 Ogawa vibriocidal antibody response 14 days after vaccination, which although declined after one year remained significantly higher than baseline. Despite this decline, the vaccine remained protective five years after vaccination.
Purpose: Dry eye syndrome is a multifactorial chronic disabling disease mainly caused by the func... more Purpose: Dry eye syndrome is a multifactorial chronic disabling disease mainly caused by the functional disruptions in the lacrimal gland. The treatment involves palliation like ocular surface lubrication and rehydration. Cell therapy involving replacement of the gland is a promising alternative for providing long-term relief to patients. This study aimed to establish functionally competent lacrimal gland cultures in-vitro and explore the presence of stem cells in the native gland and the established in-vitro cultures. Methods: Fresh human lacrimal gland from patients undergoing exenteration was harvested for cultures after IRB approval. The freshly isolated cells were evaluated by flow cytometry for expression of stem cell markers ABCG2, high ALDH1 levels and c-kit. Cultures were established on Matrigel, collagen and HAM and the cultured cells evaluated for the presence of stem cell markers and differentiating markers of epithelial (E-cadherin, EpCAM), mesenchymal (Vimentin, CD90) and myofibroblastic (a-SMA, S-100) origin by flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry. The conditioned media was tested for secretory proteins (scIgA, lactoferrin, lysozyme) post carbachol (100 mM) stimulation by ELISA. Results: Native human lacrimal gland expressed ABCG2 (mean6SEM: 3.160.61%), high ALDH1 (3.861.26%) and c-kit (6.762.0%). Lacrimal gland cultures formed a monolayer, in order of preference on Matrigel, collagen and HAM within 15-20 days, containing a heterogeneous population of stem-like and differentiated cells. The epithelial cells formed 'spherules' with duct like connections, suggestive of ductal origin. The levels of scIgA (47.43 to 61.56 ng/ml), lysozyme (24.36 to 144.74 ng/ml) and lactoferrin (32.45 to 40.31 ng/ml) in the conditioned media were significantly higher than the negative controls (p,0.05 for all comparisons). Conclusion: The study reports the novel finding of establishing functionally competent human lacrimal gland cultures invitro. It also provides preliminary data on the presence of stem cells and duct-like cells in the fresh and in-vitro cultured human lacrimal gland. These significant findings could pave way for cell therapy in future.
Background Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a CD4+ T cell-driven autoimmune disease characterized by the ... more Background Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a CD4+ T cell-driven autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic β-cells by CD8+ T cells. Achieving glycemic targets in T1D remains challenging in clinical practice; new treatments aim to halt autoimmunity and prolong β-cell survival. IMCY-0098 is a peptide derived from human proinsulin that contains a thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase motif at the N-terminus and was developed to halt disease progression by promoting the specific elimination of pathogenic T cells. Methods This first-in-human, 24-week, double-blind phase 1b study evaluated the safety of three dosages of IMCY-0098 in adults diagnosed with T1D < 6 months before study start. Forty-one participants were randomized to receive four bi-weekly injections of placebo or increasing doses of IMCY-0098 (dose groups A/B/C received 50/150/450 μg for priming followed by three further administrations of 25/75/225 μg, respectively). Multiple T1D-related clinic...
Antigen-specific immunotherapy is an immunomodulatory strategy for autoimmune diseases, such as t... more Antigen-specific immunotherapy is an immunomodulatory strategy for autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, in which patients are treated with autoantigens to promote immune tolerance, stop autoimmune β-cell destruction and prevent permanent dependence on exogenous insulin. In this study, human proinsulin peptide C19-A3 (known for its positive safety profile) was conjugated to ultrasmall gold nanoparticles (GNPs), an attractive drug delivery platform due to the potential anti-inflammatory properties of gold. We hypothesised that microneedle intradermal delivery of C19-A3 GNP may improve peptide pharmacokinetics and induce tolerogenic immunomodulation and proceeded to evaluate its safety and feasibility in a first-in-human trial. Allowing for the limitation of the small number of participants, intradermal administration of C19-A3 GNP appears safe and well tolerated in participants with type 1 diabetes. The associated prolonged skin retention of C19-A3 GNP after intradermal admin...
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been described as one of the extremely effective and promising s... more Artificial intelligence (AI) has been described as one of the extremely effective and promising scientific tools available to mankind. AI and its associated innovations are becoming more popular in industry and culture, and they are starting to show up in healthcare. Numerous facets of healthcare, as well as regulatory procedures within providers, payers, and pharmaceutical companies, may be transformed by these innovations. As a result, the purpose of this review is to identify the potential machine learning applications in the field of infectious diseases and the general healthcare system. The literature on this topic was extracted from various databases, such as Google, Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The articles having important information were selected for this review. The most challenging task for AI in such healthcare sectors is to sustain its adoption in daily clinical practice, regardless of whether the programs are scalable enough to be useful. Based ...
Agriculture is critical for meeting the needs of the world’s population, in terms of food product... more Agriculture is critical for meeting the needs of the world’s population, in terms of food production. As a result, it has become a significant contributor to economic growth. According to various studies, agricultural production is one of the most widely recognized sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. This study explores the causal link between aggregate energy consumption resources, trade liberalization, CO2 emissions, and modern agriculture in selected ASEAN nations from 2000 to 2020, through the use of panel FMOLS data from the United Nations Development Program (fully modified ordinary least square). According to scientific research, the value addition of agricultural commodities helps to reduce CO2 emissions in polluted countries such as the United States. In addition, it was revealed that the quantity of CO2 released per unit of energy spent was positively associated with the amount of energy consumed. The reduction of CO2 emissions is possible in nations where ...
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 2019
With the advancement in communication technologies, Internet of vehicles presents a new set of op... more With the advancement in communication technologies, Internet of vehicles presents a new set of opportunities to efficiently manage transportation problems using vehicle-to-vehicle communication. However, high mobility in vehicular networks causes frequent changes in network topology, which leads to network instability. This frequently results in emergency messages failing to reach the target vehicles. To overcome this problem, we propose a data dissemination scheme for such messages in vehicular networks, based on clustering and position-based broadcast techniques. The vehicles are dynamically clustered to handle the broadcast storm problem, and a position-based technique is proposed to reduce communication delays, resulting in timely dissemination of emergency messages. The simulation results show that the transmission delay, information coverage, and packet delivery ratios improved up to 14%, 9.7%, and 5.5%, respectively. These results indicate that the proposed scheme is promisin...
Images are considered to be natural carriers of information, and a large number of images are cre... more Images are considered to be natural carriers of information, and a large number of images are created, exchanged and are made available online. Apart from creating new images, the availability of number of duplicate copies of images is a critical problem. Hashing based image copy detection techniques are a promising alternative to address this problem. In this approach, a hash is constructed by using a set of unique features extracted from the image for identification. This article provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art image hashing techniques. The reviewed techniques are categorized by the mechanism used and compared across a set of functional & performance parameters. The article finally highlights the current issues faced by such systems and possible future directions to motivate further research work.
The inception of the smart cities concept provides a compelling platform to support innovative ap... more The inception of the smart cities concept provides a compelling platform to support innovative applications. It provides distinctive view of cities, where mobile devices, pedestrians, and electronic gadgets can communicate with each other to build an effective urban environment to further improve the living standards. Similarly, the role of the Internet of Things (IoT) and vehicular computing has emerged due to smart cities. This is further complemented by edge and fog computing architectures. The emerging concept of vehicular fog computing has enabled the platform to support delay-sensitive applications and to reduce the workload on the backend networks. Vehicular fog computing is a paradigm that touches the boundaries of thinking vehicles as an infrastructures-as-a-service. The use of vehicles to provide computation on-the-move poses various challenges. The vehicles with onboard computing equipment can facilitate delay-sensitive applications. These vehicles can act as an edge device to reduce the load from a backbone network. However, due to continuous mobility, it is difficult to use traditional frameworks to distribute the computation task among vehicles. In this paper, we propose a framework termed vFog. The vFog is designed to provide computing facilities from nearby fog vehicles. The framework utilizes the onboard computing facility of vehicles without the support of roadside units (RSUs). Moreover, the proposed framework handles churn behavior and supports multi-hop communication to improve the task delivery ratio. The proposed framework allows researchers to benchmark their own task distribution algorithms over the dynamic vehicular networks. INDEX TERMS Vehicular fog computing, tasks scheduling policy, edge devices, multi-vehicle relay.
Immunotherapy using short immunogenic peptides of disease-related autoantigens restores immune to... more Immunotherapy using short immunogenic peptides of disease-related autoantigens restores immune tolerance in preclinical disease models. We studied safety and mechanistic effects of injecting human leukocyte antigen-DR4(DRB1*0401)-restricted immunodominant proinsulin peptide intradermally every 2 or 4 weeks for 6 months in newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes patients. Treatment was well tolerated with no systemic or local hypersensitivity. Placebo subjects showed a significant decline in stimulated C-peptide (measuring insulin reserve) at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months versus baseline, whereas no significant change was seen in the 4-weekly peptide group at these time points or the 2-weekly group at 3, 6, and 9 months. The placebo group's daily insulin use increased by 50% over 12 months but remained unchanged in the intervention groups. C-peptide retention in treated subjects was associated with proinsulin-stimulated interleukin-10 production, increased FoxP3 expression by regulatory T cells...
2016 IEEE Uttar Pradesh Section International Conference on Electrical, Computer and Electronics Engineering (UPCON), 2016
Images are considered to be natural carriers of information, and a large number of images are cre... more Images are considered to be natural carriers of information, and a large number of images are created, exchanged and are made available online. Apart from creating new images, the availability of number of duplicate copies of images is a critical problem. Hashing based image copy detection techniques are a promising alternative to address this problem. In this approach, a hash is constructed by using a set of unique features extracted from the image for identification. This article provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art image hashing techniques. The reviewed techniques are categorized by the mechanism used and compared across a set of functional & performance parameters. The article finally highlights the current issues faced by such systems and possible future directions to motivate further research work.
Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), Jan 3, 2017
Materials which selectively transport molecules along defined paths offer new opportunities for c... more Materials which selectively transport molecules along defined paths offer new opportunities for concentrating, processing and sensing chemical and biological agents. Here, we present the use of traveling ionic waves to drive molecular transport and concentration of hydrophilic molecules entrained within a hydrogel. The traveling ionic wave is triggered by the spatially localized introduction of ions, which through a dissipative ion exchange process, converts quaternary ammonium groups in the hydrogel from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. Through a reaction-diffusion process, the hydrophobic region expands with a sharp transition at the leading edge; it is this sharp gradient in hydrophilicity that drives the transport of hydrophilic molecules dispersed within the film. The traveling wave moved up to 450 μm within 30 min, while the gradient length remained 20 μm over this time. As an example of the potential of molecular concentration using this approach, a 70-fold concentration of a hydr...
American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology, Jul 6, 2016
Cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation may be an important source of proliferating cardiomyocytes facili... more Cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation may be an important source of proliferating cardiomyocytes facilitating cardiac repair. Cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation and proliferation induced by oncostatin-M (OSM) is characterized by sarcomere degeneration. However, the mechanism underlying sarcomere degeneration remains unclear. We hypothesized that this process may involve matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), a key protease localized at the sarcomere in cardiomyocytes. To test the hypothesis that MMP-2 is involved in the sarcomere degeneration that characterizes cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation. Confocal immunofluorescence and biochemical methods were used to explore the role of MMP-2 in OSM-induced dedifferentiation of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM). OSM caused a concentration- and time-dependent loss of sarcomeric α-actinin and troponin-I in NRVM. Upon OSM-treatment, the mature sarcomere transformed to a phenotype resembling a less developed sarcomere, i.e., loss of sarcomeric protein...
SummaryWe have investigated the efficacy of conditioning skin Langerhans cells (LCs) with agents ... more SummaryWe have investigated the efficacy of conditioning skin Langerhans cells (LCs) with agents to promote tolerance and reduce inflammation, with the goal of improving the outcomes of antigen‐specific immunotherapy. Topical treatments were assessed ex vivo, using excised human breast skin maintained in organ bath cultures, and in vivo in healthy volunteers by analysing skin biopsies and epidermal blister roof samples. Following topical treatment with a corticosteroid, tumour necrosis factor‐α levels were reduced in skin biopsy studies and blister fluid samples. Blister fluid concentrations of monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1, macrophage inflammatory proteins ‐1α and 1β and interferon‐γ inducible protein‐10 were also reduced, while preserving levels of interleukin‐1α (IL‐1α), IL‐6, IL‐8 and IL‐10. Steroid pre‐treatment of the skin reduced the ability of LCs to induce proliferation, while supernatants showed an increase in the IL‐10/interferon‐γ ratio. Phenotypic changes following...
Although mammals are thought to lose their capacity to regenerate heart muscle shortly after birt... more Although mammals are thought to lose their capacity to regenerate heart muscle shortly after birth, embryonic and neonatal cardiomyocytes in mammals are hyperplastic. During proliferation these cells need to selectively disassemble their myofibrils for successful cytokinesis. The mechanism of sarcomere disassembly is, however, not understood. To study this, we performed a series of immunofluorescence studies of multiple sarcomeric proteins in proliferating neonatal rat ventricular myocytes and correlated these observations with biochemical changes at different cell cycle stages. During myocyte mitosis, α-actinin and titin were disassembled as early as prometaphase. α-actinin (representing the sarcomeric Z-disk) disassembly precedes that of titin (M-line), suggesting that titin disassembly occurs secondary to the collapse of the Z-disk. Sarcomere disassembly was concurrent with the dissolution of the nuclear envelope. Inhibitors of several intracellular proteases could not block the ...
To investigate the enzyme variations responsible for the synthesis of phenolics, 40 day-old adven... more To investigate the enzyme variations responsible for the synthesis of phenolics, 40 day-old adventitious roots of Panax ginseng were treated with 200 µM methyl jasmonate (MJ) or salicylic acid (SA) in a 5 L bioreactor suspension culture (working volume 4 L). Both treatments caused an increase in the carbonyl and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) contents, although the levels were lower in SA treated roots. Total phenolic, flavonoid, ascorbic acid, non-protein thiol (NPSH) and cysteine contents and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical reducing activity were increased by MJ and SA. Fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) decreased significantly after 9 days of exposure to SA and MJ. The highest total phenolics (62%), DPPH activity (40%), flavonoids (88%), ascorbic acid (55%), NPSH (33%), and cysteine (62%) contents compared to control were obtained after 9 days in SA treated roots. The activities of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, substrate specific peroxidases (caffeic acid peroxidase, quercetin peroxidase and ferulic acid peroxidase) were higher in MJ treated roots than the SA treated ones. Increased shikimate dehydrogenase, chlorogenic acid peroxidase and β-glucosidase activities and proline content were observed in SA treated roots than in MJ ones. Cinnamyl alcohol Molecules 2007, 12 608 dehydrogenase activity remained unaffected by both MJ and SA. These results strongly indicate that MJ and SA induce the accumulation of phenolic compounds in ginseng root by altering the phenolic synthesis enzymes.
In this paper, we investigate an optical-trap-based method for the detection of structural change... more In this paper, we investigate an optical-trap-based method for the detection of structural changes of the red blood cell (RBC) membrane affected by Ca 2þ ions. Individual cells are immobilized by the use of optical tweezers and are monitored live, while the concentration of Ca 2þ ions in the buffer is changed simultaneously. Ca 2þ ions are known to affect the cells' membrane morphology. These changes are attributed to the formation of calcium-induced hydrophobic aggregates of phospholipid molecules in the RBC membrane, resulting in a net change in membrane rigidity. Membrane deformation results in the change of effective radius and the drag coefficient of the cell, both of which affect the Brownian motion of the cell in solution. This motion is indirectly measurable by monitoring the forward scattering light and its dependence on the size and drag coefficient of the cell. We show the relationship between the Ca 2þ ion concentration and the optical trap specifications. The results are in agreement with previous biological studies and the phase contrast observations of living RBCs under investigation.
International journal of health geographics, Sep 28, 2004
BACKGROUND: Household-level geographic information systems (GIS) database are usually constructed... more BACKGROUND: Household-level geographic information systems (GIS) database are usually constructed using the geographic positioning system (GPS). In some research settings, GPS receivers may fail to capture accurate readings due to structural barriers such as tall buildings. We faced this problem when constructing a household GIS database for research sites in Karachi, Pakistan because the sites are comprised of congested groups of multi-storied building and narrow lanes. In order to overcome this problem, we used high resolution satellite imagery (IKONOS) to extract relevant geographic information. RESULTS: The use of IKONOS satellite imagery allowed us to construct an accurate household GIS database, which included the size and orientation of the houses. The GIS database was then merged with health data, and spatial analysis of health was possible. CONCLUSIONS: The methodological issues introduced in this paper provide solutions to the technical barriers in constructing household G...
BACKGROUND: Spatial filtering using a geographic information system (GIS) is often used to smooth... more BACKGROUND: Spatial filtering using a geographic information system (GIS) is often used to smooth health and ecological data. Smoothing disease data can help us understand local (neighborhood) geographic variation and ecological risk of diseases. Analyses that use small neighborhood sizes yield individualistic patterns and large sizes reveal the global structure of data where local variation is obscured. Therefore, choosing an optimal neighborhood size is important for understanding ecological associations with diseases. This paper uses Hartley's test of homogeneity of variance (Fmax) as a methodological solution for selecting optimal neighborhood sizes. The data from a study area in Vietnam are used to test the suitability of this method. RESULTS: The Hartley's Fmax test was applied to spatial variables for two enteric diseases and two socioeconomic determinants. Various neighbourhood sizes were tested by using a two step process to implement the Fmaxtest. First the variance…
Background: During the development of a vaccine, identification of the correlates of protection i... more Background: During the development of a vaccine, identification of the correlates of protection is of paramount importance for establishing an objective criterion for the protective performance of the vaccine. However, the ascertainment of correlates of immunity conferred by any vaccine is a difficult task. Methods: While conducting a phase three double-blind, cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled trial of a bivalent killed whole-cell oral cholera vaccine in Kolkata, we evaluated the immunogenicity of the vaccine in a subset of participants. Randomly chosen participants (recipients of vaccine or placebo) were invited to provide blood samples at baseline, 14 days after the second dose and one year after the first dose. At these time points, serum geometric mean titers (GMT) of vibriocidal antibodies and seroconversion rates for vaccine and placebo arms were calculated and compared across the age strata (1 to 5 years, 5 to 15 years and more than 15 years) as well as for all age groups. Results: Out of 137 subjects included in analysis, 69 were vaccinees and 68 received placebo. There were 5N7 and 5N8 geometric mean fold (GMF) rises in titers to Vibrio cholerae Inaba and Ogawa, respectively at 14 days after the second dose, with 57% and 61% of vaccinees showing a four-fold or greater titer rise, respectively. After one year, the titers to Inaba and Ogawa remained 1N7 and 2N8 fold higher, respectively, compared to baseline. Serum vibriocidal antibody response to V. cholerae O139 was much lower than that to Inaba or Ogawa. No significant differences in the GMF-rises were observed among the age groups. Conclusions: The reformulated oral cholera vaccine induced a statistically significant anti-O1 Inaba and O1 Ogawa vibriocidal antibody response 14 days after vaccination, which although declined after one year remained significantly higher than baseline. Despite this decline, the vaccine remained protective five years after vaccination.
Purpose: Dry eye syndrome is a multifactorial chronic disabling disease mainly caused by the func... more Purpose: Dry eye syndrome is a multifactorial chronic disabling disease mainly caused by the functional disruptions in the lacrimal gland. The treatment involves palliation like ocular surface lubrication and rehydration. Cell therapy involving replacement of the gland is a promising alternative for providing long-term relief to patients. This study aimed to establish functionally competent lacrimal gland cultures in-vitro and explore the presence of stem cells in the native gland and the established in-vitro cultures. Methods: Fresh human lacrimal gland from patients undergoing exenteration was harvested for cultures after IRB approval. The freshly isolated cells were evaluated by flow cytometry for expression of stem cell markers ABCG2, high ALDH1 levels and c-kit. Cultures were established on Matrigel, collagen and HAM and the cultured cells evaluated for the presence of stem cell markers and differentiating markers of epithelial (E-cadherin, EpCAM), mesenchymal (Vimentin, CD90) and myofibroblastic (a-SMA, S-100) origin by flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry. The conditioned media was tested for secretory proteins (scIgA, lactoferrin, lysozyme) post carbachol (100 mM) stimulation by ELISA. Results: Native human lacrimal gland expressed ABCG2 (mean6SEM: 3.160.61%), high ALDH1 (3.861.26%) and c-kit (6.762.0%). Lacrimal gland cultures formed a monolayer, in order of preference on Matrigel, collagen and HAM within 15-20 days, containing a heterogeneous population of stem-like and differentiated cells. The epithelial cells formed 'spherules' with duct like connections, suggestive of ductal origin. The levels of scIgA (47.43 to 61.56 ng/ml), lysozyme (24.36 to 144.74 ng/ml) and lactoferrin (32.45 to 40.31 ng/ml) in the conditioned media were significantly higher than the negative controls (p,0.05 for all comparisons). Conclusion: The study reports the novel finding of establishing functionally competent human lacrimal gland cultures invitro. It also provides preliminary data on the presence of stem cells and duct-like cells in the fresh and in-vitro cultured human lacrimal gland. These significant findings could pave way for cell therapy in future.
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Papers by Mohammad Ali