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A novel inductance simulation circuit employing only two dual-output voltage-differencing buffered amplifiers (DO-VDBAs) and a single capacitance (grounded) is proposed in this paper. The reported configuration is a purely resistor-less realization that provides electronically controllable realized inductance through biasing quantities of DO-VDBAs and does not rely on any constraints related to matched values of parameters. This structure exhibits excellent behavior under the influence of tracking errors in DO-VDBAs and does not exhibit instability at high frequencies. The simple and compact metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) implementation of the DO-VDBAs (eight MOS per DO-VDBA) and adoption of grounded capacitance make the proposed circuit suitable for on-chip realization from the perspective of chip area consumption. The function of the pure grounded inductance is validated through high pass/bandpass filtering applications. To test the proposed design, simulations were performed in the PSPICE environment. Experimental validation was also conducted using the integrated circuit CA3080 and operational amplifier LF-356.

Solar air heaters have huge applications in renewable energy utilization segments concerning the issues of space heating, drying, and ventilation systems. Performance prediction of such systems largely depends upon the design of the collector itself. The present study has highlighted the influence of various aspect ratios of the collector on the thermal and exergy performance of louvered finned solar or air heaters. In this context, an experimental analysis has been carried out to compare the performance of LFSAH with conventional PSAH. These results show that an increase in aspect ratios enhances thermal efficiencies of heat transfer and the systems. An aspect ratio of 4:1 showed the maximum thermal efficiencies as 81.63 % for LFSAH and 68.13 % for PSAH. On the other hand, at larger mass flow rates, the exergetic efficiency of LFSAH becomes lower owing to the larger friction and exergy losses and sometimes even lower than that of PSAH. The novelties of the present study are in emphasizing the importance of aspect ratio in optimizing solar air heater design and providing relevant insight for better energy use.

Two-ports for mutual transformation between flux-controlled memristors and charge-controlled memristors are proposed. Attention is paid to memristors with the region of negative differential memristance in the charge-flux constitutive relation, when such a transformation should be made carefully. Connections between this transformation, duality rules, and Chua’s table of higher-order elements are described. The proposed transforming cells can be made up of commercially available integrated circuits. Their proper operation is demonstrated via simulations and lab experiments with memristive oscillators.

AIM:To observe the effect of combined surgery in cataract patients with pterygium.METHODS:A prospective single centered study was performed on 22 patients(mean age: 59.05±8.70 years)of concurrent cataract and pterygium(size 2-5 mm in length), who attended the outpatient department during the study period of one year, and the minimum follow up was 3mo-1a for all patients. Mean keratometry(Kmean), mean astigmatism, best corrected visual acuity(LogMAR), preoperatively and 3mo postoperatively had been determined. The corneal curvature, pterygium size and the prediction error(PE)were observed.RESULTS: The amount of PE was 1.00 D. The mean axial length did not change significantly(P=0.77)postoperatively. The mean keratometric reading increased from 42.994±1.536 preoperatively to 43.324±1.479 postoperatively but this was not significant(P=0.105). The corneal astigmatism decreased significantly from 2.09±0.789 D preoperatively to 0.523±0.277 D postoperatively(P

The presentation of virus-derived peptides by HLA class I molecules on the surface of an infected cell and the recognition of these HLA-peptide complexes by, and subsequent activation of, CD8+ cytotoxic T cells provides an important mechanism for immune protection against viruses. Recent advances in proteogenomics have allowed researchers to discover a growing number of unique HLA-restricted viral peptides, resulting in a rapidly expanding repertoire of targets for immunotherapeutics (i.e. bispecific antibodies, engineered T-cell receptors (TCRs), chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-Ts)) to infected tissues. However, genomic variability between viral strains, such as Hepatitis-B virus (HBV), in combination with differences in patient HLA alleles, make it difficult to develop therapeutics against these targets. To address this challenge, we developed a novel proteogenomics approach for generating patient-specific databases that enable the identification of viral peptides based on the viral transcriptomes sequenced from individual patient liver samples. We also utilized DNA sequencing of patient samples to identify HLA genotypes and assist in target selection. Liver samples from 48 HBV infected patients, primarily from Asia, were examined to reconstruct patient-specific HBV genomes, identify regions within the human chromosomes targeted by HBV integrations and obtain a comprehensive view of HBV peptide epitopes using our HLA class-I (HLA-I) immunopeptidomics discovery platform. Two previously reported HLA associated HBV-derived peptides, HLA-A02 binder FLLTRILTI (S194-202) from the large surface antigen and HLA-A11 binder STLPETTVVRR (C141-151) from the capsid protein were validated by our discovery platform, but both were detected at very low frequencies. In addition, we identified and validated, using heavy peptide analogues, novel strain-specific HBV-HLA associated peptides, such as GSLPQEHIVQK (P606-616) and variants. Overall, our novel approach can guide the development of bispecific antibody, TCR-T, or CAR-T based therapeutics for the treatment of HBV-related HCC and inform vaccine development.

Introduction: The Internet has become an essential part of our daily life, especially the lives of adolescents and youth. With the growth of Internet users, there is also a growing concern about whether the use of the Internet is excessive and if so, whether it amounts to addiction or not. The present study aimed to find the Internet addiction and anxiety effects among undergraduate students. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted among undergraduate students of Bhilai Institute of Technology, Durg and Yugantar Institute of Technology and Management, Rajnandgoan, Chhattisgarh selected using purposive sampling. The total enumeration method was obtained to select students. A total of 854 students were selected for the study. Students were assessed with sociodemographic datasheet, The Internet addiction test, and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale. Results: About 4.3% of the undergraduate students reported severe Internet addiction, 7.7% had moderate-to-severe level of anxiety. Internet addiction was found to have significant positive correlation with overall anxiety, psychic anxiety, and somatic anxiety symptoms. In regression analysis, anxiety contributes significantly to the prediction of Internet addiction among undergraduate students. Conclusion: Students are suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression may have a tendency to use the Internet excessively to relieve low mood, insomnia, fearfulness, feelings of guilt, and hopelessness.

The mechanism underlying the cellular entry of Zika virus is not fully understood. Here, the authors use a chemically modified virus and time-resolved proteomics to capture interacting host proteins during virus entry and identify NCAM1 as a ZIKV receptor.

In this paper a new grounded inductor simulator employing single voltage differencing transconductance amplifier (VDTA) and one grounded capacitor has been proposed. The proposed circuit is electronically controllable and exhibits low parasitic effects. The performance of proposed inductor simulator is demonstrated by SPICE simulations with TSMC CMOS .18 µm process parameters.

This paper proposes a new purely active floating resistance simulation circuit employing two voltage differencing trans-conductance amplifiers (VDTAs). The proposed configuration enjoys following advantageous features; (i) purely active realization (ii) electronically tunable resistance (iii) no requirement of any active/passive component matching constraint (iv) good non-ideal behavior and (v) low sensitivity values. The Influence of VDTA terminal parasitics on high frequency behavior of proposed circuit is also investigated. The workability of proposed resistor simulator has been verified by an application example of voltage mode low-pass filter. To validate the theoretical analysis, SPICE simulations with TSMC 0.18µm CMOS process parameters have been performed.

This article presents a new dual-mode (i.e. both current-mode and voltage-mode) quadrature sinusoidal oscillator using two Voltage Differencing Current Conveyors (VDCCs), two resistors and two capacitors. The proposed configuration use only grounded passive elements and enjoys independent resistor/electronic tuning of both Condition of Oscillation (CO) as well as Frequency of Oscillation (FO). The quadrature current and voltage mode outputs of this circuit are available at appropriate impedance terminals. The behavior of presented oscillator is also examined under non ideal/parasitic conditions. The validity of the proposed configuration has been confirmed by SPICE simulations with TSMC 0.18μm process parameters.

The rapid development of image editing software has resulted in widespread unauthorized duplication of original images. This has given rise to the need to develop robust image hashing technique which can easily identify duplicate copies of the original images apart from differentiating it from different images. In this paper, we have proposed an image hashing technique based on discrete wavelet transform and Hough transform, which is robust to large number of image processing attacks including shifting and shearing. The input image is initially pre-processed to remove any kind of minor effects. Discrete wavelet transform is then applied to the pre-processed image to produce different wavelet coefficients from which different edges are detected by using a canny edge detector. Hough transform is finally applied to the edge-detected image to generate an image hash which is used for image identification. Different experiments were conducted to show that the proposed hashing technique has better robustness and discrimination performance as compared to the state-of-the-art techniques. Normalized average mean value difference is also calculated to show the performance of the proposed technique towards various image processing attacks. The proposed copy detection scheme can perform copy detection over large databases and can be considered to be a prototype for developing online real-time copy detection system.

This paper proposes a new active synthetic floating resistor circuit employing three voltage differencing transconductance amplifiers (VDTAs). The proposed configuration enjoys following advantageous features; (a) purely active realization (b) electronically tunable resistance (c) no external component matching constraint(s) (d) good nonideal behavior and (e) low sensitivity values. The workability of proposed resistor simulator has been verified by an application example of voltage mode low-pass filter. To validate the theoretical analysis SPICE simulations with TSMC 0.18µm CMOS process parameters have been performed.

This paper proposes a new single resistance controlled sinusoidal oscillator (SRCO) which employs only one voltage differencing current conveyor (VDCC), two grounded resistors and two grounded capacitors. The presented circuit configuration offers the following advantageous features (i) explicit current-mode output with independent control of condition of oscillation (CO) and frequency of oscillation (FO) (ii) low active and passive sensitivities and (iii) a very good frequency stability. The proposed structure can also be configured as (a) trans-admittance low pass filter and band pass filter and (b) quadrature oscillator. The validity of the proposed SRCO, quadrature oscillator and trans-admittance low pass filter and band pass filter has been verified by PSPICE simulations using TSMC CMOS 0.18μm process model parameters.

Patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma receiving chemotherapy have a poor prognosis partly due to normal tissue toxicity; therefore, development of a tumor-targeted drug delivery platform to minimize collateral toxicity is a goal of cancer nanomedicine. Aptamers can achieve this purpose. While conventional Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX) screens aptamer-only libraries and conjugates them to delivery vehicles after selection, we hypothesized that specific delivery requires screening libraries with aptamer-nanoparticle conjugates. We designed a procedure called, “Conjugate-SELEX”, where liposomal nanoparticles (LNP) conjugated with aptamers is screened to identify aptamers that carried attached LNPs to the human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell cytosol. Aptamer-LNPs were simultaneously selected for a low affinity to human hepatocytes, minimizing hepatoxicity and LNP clearance. Post-SELEX Next Generation sequencing demonstrated convergence to a family of sequences with one base difference. Affinity pulldown and proteomics analysis identified the uptake-mediating surface receptor as the neuroblast differentiation-associated protein AHNAK (Desmoyokin), a ubiquitous intracellular protein expressed in certain epithelial cell types. Uptake studies with the lead aptamer-conjugates showed enhanced uptake and increased cytotoxicity induced by doxorubicin in cells treated with aptamer-conjugated LNPs over LNP controls. Conjugate-SELEX identifies aptamers capable of targeted cytosolic delivery of attached LNPs payload, while minimizing off-target delivery. The technique lends itself to identification of uptake-mediating surface receptors.

Extracellular amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles constitute the major neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is now apparent that parenchymal Aβ plaque deposition precedes behavioral signs of disease by several years. The development of agents that can target these plaques may be useful as diagnostic or therapeutic tools. In this study, we synthesized an Aβ-targeted lipid conjugate, incorporated it in stealth liposomal nanoparticles and tested their ability to bind amyloid plaque deposits in an AD mouse model. The results show that the particles maintain binding profiles to synthetic Aβ aggregates comparable to the free ligand, and selectively bind Aβ plaque deposits in brain tissue sections of an AD mouse model (APP/PSEN1 transgenic mice) with high efficiency. When administered intravenously, these long circulating nanoparticles appear to cross the blood-brain barrier and bind to Aβ plaque deposits, labeling parenchymal amyloid deposits and vascular amyloid characteristic of cerebral amyloid angiopathy.

Boronic acids, known to bind diols, were screened to identify non-inflammatory cross-linkers for the preparation of glucose sensitive and insulin releasing agglomerates of liposomes (Agglomerated Vesicle Technology-AVT). This was done in order to select a suitable replacement for the previously used cross-linker, ConcanavalinA (ConA), a lectin known to have both toxic and inflammatory effects in vivo. Lead-compounds were selected from screens that involved testing for inflammatory potential, cytotoxicity and glucose-binding. These were then conjugated to insulin-encapsulating nanoparticles and agglomerated via sugar-boronate ester linkages to form AVTs. In vitro, the particles demonstrated triggered release of insulin upon exposure to physiologically relevant concentrations of glucose (10 mmoles/L-40 mmoles/L). The agglomerates were also shown to be responsive to multiple spikes in glucose levels over several hours, releasing insulin at a rate defined by the concentration of the glucose trigger.

Ubiquitylation targets proteins for proteasome-mediated degradation and plays important roles in many biological processes including apoptosis. However, non-proteolytic functions of ubiquitylation are also known. In Drosophila, the inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1 (DIAP1) is known to ubiquitylate the initiator caspase DRONC in vitro. Because DRONC protein accumulates in diap1 mutant cells that are kept alive by caspase inhibition ("undead" cells), it is thought that DIAP1-mediated ubiquitylation causes proteasomal degradation of DRONC, protecting cells from apoptosis. However, contrary to this model, we show here that DIAP1-mediated ubiquitylation does not trigger proteasomal degradation of full-length DRONC, but serves a non-proteolytic function. Our data suggest that DIAP1-mediated ubiquitylation blocks processing and activation of DRONC. Interestingly, while full-length DRONC is not subject to DIAP1-induced degradation, once it is processed and activated it has reduced protein stability. Finally, we show that DRONC protein accumulates in "undead" cells due to increased transcription of dronc in these cells. These data refine current models of caspase regulation by IAPs.