Printed humidity sensor for packaging

Printed electronics is the process of developing electrical devices on different substrates by printing inks by various methods. Flexograhpic printing a Humidity sensor was investigated. Flexographic printing can be cost effective for volume production on label presses. In this research, conductive silver nano-particle ink with a Silver content of 50 (+/-2) Wt.% was used to develop an Interdigitated Electrode (IDE). The printed base Silver interdigitated electrodes had an average resistance of 11.96Ω with a standard deviation of 1.21 indicating that the Silver printed sensors were consistent in the print quality.Nafion (a sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene-based copolymer) resin solution with a 20 wt.% in lower aliphatic alcohols and water, was printed on top of the silver Interdigitated electrode as the active layer for the detection of the change in humidity. Substrate used for the experiment was white Polyethylene terephthalate (PET White) of 0.175mm thickness. The sensors were tested in a Humidity chamber over a range of 40-80% relative humidity at of 25◦C to ascertain the effective working of the design by measuring their resistivity and repeatability. When the resistance of the sensors was checked with Direct Current (DC), there was a change in the resistance. The formation of dendrites due to electro-chemical reactivity on the surface of the sensor was observed, which caused the sensors to short circuit and fail. When the sensors were tested with Alternating Current (AC), it limited the growth of dendrites and the sensors were self-consistent with a repeatability of resistance pattern, but there was variation in the range of resistance between the sensors, where few showed sensing activity that started at around 500 KΩ and others around 2000 KΩ at 40%RH (Relative Humidity). This proved that the materials used worked and showed potential in developing a humidity sensor via Flexographic printing, further worked is required to eliminate the Dendrites formation and to stabilize the range of resistance

MODEM: a comprehensive approach to modelling outcome and costs impacts of interventions for dementia. Protocol paper

Background: The MODEM project (A comprehensive approach to MODelling outcome and costs impacts of interventions for DEMentia) explores how changes in arrangements for the future treatment and care of people living with dementia, and support for family and other unpaid carers, could result in better outcomes and more efficient use of resources. Methods: MODEM starts with a systematic mapping of the literature on effective and (potentially) cost-effective interventions in dementia care. Those findings, as well as data from a cohort, will then be used to model the quality of life and cost impacts of making these evidence-based interventions more widely available in England over the period from now to 2040. Modelling will use a suite of models, combining microsimulation and macrosimulation methods, modelling the costs and outcomes of care, both for an individual over the life-course from the point of dementia diagnosis, and for individuals and England as a whole in a particular year. Project outputs will include an online Dementia Evidence Toolkit, making evidence summaries and a literature database available free to anyone, papers in academic journals and other written outputs, and a MODEM Legacy Model, which will enable local commissioners of services to apply the model to their own populations. Discussion: Modelling the effects of evidence-based cost-effective interventions and making this information widely available has the potential to improve the health and quality of life both of people with dementia and their carers, while ensuring that resources are used efficiently

A transparent overlay for computer-based presentations

The project aims at building an application that would simulate a transparency that can either be overlaid on top of the graphical display of another application or used as a stand-alone by accepting input from a keyboard or a mouse to enhance a presentation. The project provides an environment to accentuate the presentation by allowing the presenter to add on to the slide content dynamically using this transparency. This application could be used not only in seminars and academic presentations, but also in the emerging concept of computer-based teaching and remote teaching via Virtual Network Computing (VNC) wherein audience logon to the presenter's computer from a wide variety of machine architectures. This application is a step towards complete automation of a slide presentation. It has been developed using the Win32 API (Application Programming Interface) in the Microsoft Windows environment. This stand-alone application supplements any slide display - on the web or any other application. The transparency is essentially a transparent window that provides options to write and draw with the same screen on the background

Sam68 is absolutely required for Rev function and HIV-1 production

Sam68 functionally complements for, as well as synergizes with, HIV-1 Rev in Rev response element (RRE)-mediated gene expression and virus production. Furthermore, C-terminal deletion/point mutants of Sam68 (Sam68ΔC/Sam68-P21) exert a transdominant negative phenotype for Rev function and HIV-1 production. However, the relevance of Sam68 in Rev/RRE function is not well defined. To gain more insight into the mechanism of Sam68 in Rev function, we used an RNAi (RNA interference) strategy to create stable Sam68 knockdown HeLa (SSKH) cells. In SSKH cells, Rev failed to activate both RRE-mediated reporter gene [chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) and/or gag] expressions. Importantly, reduction of Sam68 expression led to a dramatic inhibition of HIV-1 production. Inhibition of the reporter gene expression and HIV production correlated with the failure to export RRE-containing CAT mRNA and unspliced viral mRNAs to the cytoplasm, confirming that SSKH cells are defective for Rev-mediated RNA export. Taken together, these results suggest that Sam68 is involved in Rev-mediated RNA export and is absolutely required for HIV production

Multi-task Learning-based Joint CSI Prediction and Predictive Transmitter Selection for Security

In mobile communication scenarios, the acquired channel state information (CSI) rapidly becomes outdated due to fast-changing channels. Opportunistic transmitter selection based on current CSI for secrecy improvement may be outdated during actual transmission, negating the diversity benefit of transmitter selection. Motivated by this problem, we propose a joint CSI prediction and predictive selection of the optimal transmitter strategy based on historical CSI by exploiting the temporal correlation among CSIs. The proposed solution utilizes the multi-task learning (MTL) framework by employing a single Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network architecture that simultaneously learns two tasks of predicting the CSI and selecting the optimal transmitter in parallel instead of learning these tasks sequentially. The proposed LSTM architecture outperforms convolutional neural network (CNN) based architecture due to its superior ability to capture temporal features in the data. Compared to the sequential task learning models, the MTL architecture provides superior predicted secrecy performance for a large variation in the number of transmitters and the speed of mobile nodes. It also offers significant computational and memory efficiency, leading to a substantial saving in computational time by around 40 percent

Heritability of anthropometric phenotypes in caste populations of Visakhapatnam, India

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol74/iss3/1/.In this study, we used anthropometric data from six Andhra caste populations to examine heritability patterns of 23 anthropometric phenotypes (linear, craniofacial, and soft tissue measures) with special reference to caste differences. We obtained anthropometric data from 342 nuclear families from Brahmin, Reddy, Telaga, Nagara, Ag. Kshatriya, and Mala castes of Visakhapatnam, India. These caste groups represent the existing hierarchical stratification of Indian populations. We used a variance components approach to determine the heritability (h2) of these 23 anthropometric phenotypes (height, weight, BMI, etc.). The sample consisted of 1918 individuals ranging in age from 6 to 72 years (mean = 21.5, S.D. = 13.8). The heritabilities (h2 ± S.E.) for all anthropometric traits for the entire sample were significant (p < 0.0001) and varied from 0.25 ± 0.05 (BMI) to 0.61 ± 0.05 (bizygomatic breadth) after accounting for sex, age, and caste effects. Since data on socioeconomic and nutritional covariates were available for a subset of families, we repeated the genetic analyses using this subset, which has yielded higher heritabilities ranging from 0.21 ± 0.16 (head breadth) to 0.72 ± 0.18 (nasal breadth). In general, craniofacial measurements exhibited higher h2 compared to linear measures. Breadth measurements and circumferences yielded more or less similar heritabilities. Age and sex effects were significant (p < 0.0001) for most of the traits, while the effects of caste, socioeconomic status, and nutritional status were inconsistent across the traits. In conclusion, anthropometric phenotypes examined in this study are under appreciable additive genetic influences

Serum Cystatin C as an Early Marker of Neutrophil Gelatinase‐associated Lipocalin‐positive Acute Kidney Injury Resulting from Cardiopulmonary Bypass in Infants with Congenital Heart Disease

ObjectiveAcute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication resulting from cardiopulmonary bypass in infants. Urinary neutrophil gelatinase‐associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a sensitive and specific marker of such injury. In this study, we compared the performance of serum cystatin C (Cys C) and serum creatinine (Cr) as early markers of renal dysfunction in infants undergoing cardiac surgery under bypass.Study Design, Setting, and PatientsThe study was designed as a prospective observational study. The study was conducted in the cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary, academic children's hospital in the United States. Infants (age <1 year) undergoing cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass were included in the study.Outcome MeasureAcute kidney injury was defined based on postoperative urinary NGAL.ResultsA total of 17 infants were included in the study, and five of them developed AKI. Serum Cys C and Cr levels were measured postoperatively on days 1, 2, and 3, and compared with baseline levels. On postoperative day 2, infants with AKI showed significant change from baseline in serum Cys C levels compared with non‐AKI infants (28% vs. −9%, P = .03). The two groups did not show significant differences with respect to rise in serum Cr on any of the 3 postoperative days. Serum Cr on days 1 and 2 showed nonspecific increases in both AKI and non‐AKI groups. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for day 2 Cys C was 0.87 (95% CI 0.67–1.00) in recognizing NGAL‐positive AKI.ConclusionsPostoperative serum Cys C appears to be a more specific and sensitive biomarker for NGAL‐positive AKI resulting from cardiopulmonary bypass surgery in infants undergoing cardiac surgery.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113151/1/chd12253.pd

Clonidine for the Treatment of Agitation After Dexmedetomidine Discontinuation in Pediatric Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE: Dexmedetomidine has become a widely used drug in PICUs for sedation. We aim to determine the effects of clonidine on pediatric patients after dexmedetomidine use. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study that evaluated all pediatric patients admitted to a tertiary PICU who received dexmedetomidine infusion for \u3e48 hours. Outcomes in patients exposed to clonidine (CLON) were compared with those of patients who were not exposed (NoCLON). RESULTS: A total of 216 patients were included in this study (43 CLON and 173 NoCLON). The primary outcome, agitation, was less in the CLON cohort (9.3%) than in the NoCLON cohort (9.3% versus 29.5%, respectively; p \u3c 0.01). Hospital LOS was longer in the CLON group (59 versus 20 days, p \u3c 0.01), as was PICU LOS (37.4 versus 11.1 days, p \u3c 0.01). There was no significant difference in the occurrence of increased heart rate or blood pressure between the 2 cohorts. Patients exposed to concurrent midazolam and opioid infusions had higher incidence of agitation when they did not receive clonidine (CLON 8% versus NoCLON 37%, OR 0.15; 95% CI, 0.05-0.51; p \u3c 0.01). In contrast, there was no difference in the incidence of agitation for the CLON group versus the NoCLON group when dexmedetomidine was administered alone (25% versus 19%, OR 1.4; p = 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms the importance and effectiveness of clonidine to treat agitation after dexmedetomidine discontinuation. A validated withdrawal scoring tool can help better define dexmedetomidine withdrawal in pediatric patients

Role of Sam68 in post-transcriptional gene regulation

The STAR family of proteins links signaling pathways to various aspects of post-transcriptional regulation and processing of RNAs. Sam68 belongs to this class of heteronuclear ribonucleoprotein particle K (hnRNP K) homology (KH) single domain-containing family of RNA-binding proteins that also contains some domains predicted to bind critical components in signal transduction pathways. In response to phosphorylation and other post-transcriptional modifications, Sam68 has been shown to have the ability to link signal transduction pathways to downstream effects regulating RNA metabolism, including transcription, alternative splicing or RNA transport. In addition to its function as a docking protein in some signaling pathways, this prototypic STAR protein has been identified to have a nuclear localization and to take part in the formation of both nuclear and cytosolic multi-molecular complexes such as Sam68 nuclear bodies and stress granules. Coupling with other proteins and RNA targets, Sam68 may play a role in the regulation of differential expression and mRNA processing and translation according to internal and external signals, thus mediating important physiological functions, such as cell death, proliferation or cell differentiation