Mutual information-based rigid and nonrigid registration of ultrasound volumes

We investigated the registration of ultrasound volumes based on the mutual information measure, a technique originally applied to multimodality registration of brain images. A prerequisite for successful registration is a smooth, quasi-convex mutual information surface with an unambiguous maximum. We discuss the necessary preprocessing to create such a surface for ultrasound volumes. Abdominal and thoracic organs imaged with ultrasound typically move relative to the exterior of the body and are deformable. Consequently, four specific instances of image registration involving progressively generalized transformations were studied: rigid-body, rigid-body + uniform scaling, rigid-body + nonuniform scaling, and affine. Registration was applied to clinically acquired volumetric images. The accuracy was comparable with the voxel dimension for all transformation modes, although it degraded as the transformation grew more complex. Likewise, the capture range became narrower with the complexity of transformation. As the use of real-time three-dimensional ultrasound becomes more prevalent, the method we present should work well for a variety of applications examining serial anatomic and physiologic changes. Developers of these clinical applications would match the deformation model of their problem to one of the four transformation models presented here.     

Electrochemical studies on surfactant-modified cellulose acetate membrane

The possibility of electrochemical modification of cellulose acetate membrane upon immobilization of the anionic surfactant (SDS) has been explored on the basis of membrane potential studies. Surface tension measurements with and without cellulose acetate membrane were carried out to ascertain the extent of immobilization of the surfactant. Cellulose acetate membrane practically does not exhibit any ion selectivity. However, modified membrane exhibits cation selectivity which varies with concentration of the surfactant till its critical micelle concentration is reached. An attempt has also been made to demonstrate correspondence between the immobilized surfactant and the permselectivity of the membrane.     

Synthesis and spectroscopic studies of homo- and heteroleptic N-arylsalicylaldiminates of titanium(IV), zirconium(IV) and chromium(III)

Homo- and heteroleptic N-arylsalicylaldiminate derivatives of Ti^IV and Zr^IV of the type, MX_4–x (OC₆H₄CH=NAr) _x (X = OPrⁱ, x = 2,3; X = Cl, x = 1,2,3,4; Ar = C₆H₃Me₂-2,6, C₆H₃Et₂-2,6) have been prepared by reactions in the desired molar ratios of: (i) Ti(OPrⁱ)₄/Zr(OPrⁱ)₄·PrⁱOH with N-arylsalicylaldimines in benzene, and (ii) MCl₄ (M = Ti, Zr) with Me₃SiOC₆H₄CH=NAr or HOC₆H₄CH=NAr in the presence of Et₃N as a base or the potassium salt of N-arylsalicylaldimines in benzene. The three homoleptic derivatives of Cr^III, Cr(OC₆H₄CH=NAr)₃ (Ar = C₆H₂Me₃-2,4,6, C₆H₃Et₂-2,6, C₆H₃Prⁱ ₂-2,6) have also been prepared by salt-elimination. All of these new derivatives have been characterized by elemental analyses, spectroscopic [i.r., ¹H and ¹³C-n.m.r. (Ti and Zr complexes), and electronic (for Cr complexes)] studies, as well as molecular weight measurements.     

A Study on Deletion in Polymer Region of Amelogenin (Amel Y) Gene: Significant Importance in Sex Determination and Identification of Sexual Assault Perpetrator

Accurate gender determination is crucial in many scientific disciplines, especially in prenatal diagnosis of X-linked diseases and forensic investigations. Today, molecular techniques, especially typing for a length variation in the X–Y homologous amelogenin gene (AMEL X and AMEL Y), are used for gender assignation. This amelogenin is an integral part of most PCR multiplex kits for gender determination marker, but in 1998 there was a report of two normal males being typed as female with this marker. Subsequently, a small number of males with amelogenin deleted genes have been reported in various populations but little data are available characterizing these deletions. This review aims to explore possible relationships among the AMEL Y deleted samples and Y-chromosome microsatellite haplotypes. Also, attempts are made to determine the frequency of males with AMEL Y deleted gene in various countries across the globe. Although some studies have shown that males with AMEL Y deleted gene are extremely rare in most populations, typing an additional gender-determining locus should be considered in forensic investigations where the reference sample is of unknown gender.     

Defining the Role of Isoeugenol from Ocimum tenuiflorum against Diabetes Mellitus-Linked Alzheimer’s Disease through Network Pharmacology and Computational Methods

The present study involves the integrated network pharmacology and phytoinformatics-based investigation of phytocompounds from Ocimum tenuiflorum against diabetes mellitus-linked Alzheimer’s disease. It aims to investigate the mechanism of the Ocimum tenuiflorum phytocompounds in the amelioration of diabetes mellitus-linked Alzheimer’s disease through network pharmacology, druglikeness and pharmacokinetics, molecular docking simulations, GO analysis, molecular dynamics simulations, and binding free energy analyses. A total of 14 predicted genes of the 26 orally bioactive compounds were identified. Among these 14 genes, GAPDH and AKT1 were the most significant. The network analysis revealed the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway to be a prominent pathway linked to GAPDH with 50.53% probability. Upon the molecular docking simulation with GAPDH, isoeugenol was found to possess the most significant binding affinity (−6.0 kcal/mol). The molecular dynamics simulation and binding free energy calculation results also predicted that isoeugenol forms a stable protein–ligand complex with GAPDH, where the phytocompound is predicted to chiefly use van der Waal’s binding energy (−159.277 kj/mol). On the basis of these results, it can be concluded that isoeugenol from Ocimum tenuiflorum could be taken for further in vitro and in vivo analysis, targeting GAPDH inhibition for the amelioration of diabetes mellitus-linked Alzheimer’s disease.     

Anticancer Activity of Cordia dichotoma against a Panel of Human Cancer Cell Lines and Their Phytochemical Profiling via HPLC and GCMS

The current study was conducted to examine the in vitro anticancer potential of Cordia dichotoma (bark, leaves, pulp and seed). The plant material was collected from UT of J&K and methodical bioassays were carried out on ten human cancer cell lines (Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7), M.D. Anderson-Metastatic Breast (MDA-MB-231), Neuroblastoma-2a (N2A), SH-SY5Y, U-251, HCT-116, SW-620, A-549, MIA PaCa-2, Panc-1) from five different origins (breast, CNS, colon, lung, pancreas) respectively. Methanolic extracts were produced and fractions were then obtained from the extracts and evaluated for cytotoxicity. Mechanistic assays, HPLC, and GCMS profiling were performed on the highest active fraction. The Sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay determined the in vitro cytotoxicity. The findings revealed that the bark portion had in vitro cytotoxicity against the A-549 human lung cancer cell line. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that the plant’s bark has anticancer properties and induced chromatin condensation, confirmed cell death via ROS generation, and significantly decreased colony formation in A-549 cell line from lung origin in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, HPLC and GCMS investigations indicated the presence of a number of bioactive molecules such as gallic acid (144,969.86) uV*sec, caffeic acid (104.26) uV*sec, ferulic acid (472.87) uV*sec, vanillic acid (13,775.39) uV*sec, palmitic acid (18.34%), cis vaccenic acid (28.81%), etc. and one of the compounds was reported for the first time from the bark. As a result of its promising efficacy, it may become an essential cancer chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic medication for patients with lung carcinoma.     

A capacitor cross-coupled common-gate low-noise amplifier

The conventional common-gate low-noise amplifier (CGLNA) exhibits a relatively high noise figure (NF) at low operating frequencies relative to the MOSFET f/sub T/, which has limited its adoption notwithstanding its superior linearity, input matching, and stability compared to the inductively degenerated common-source LNA (CSLNA). A capacitor cross-coupled g/sub m/-boosting scheme is described that improves the NF and retains the advantages of the CGLNA topology. The technique also enables a significant reduction in current consumption. A fully integrated capacitor cross-coupled CGLNA implemented in 180-nm CMOS validates the g/sub m/-boosting technique. It achieves a measured NF of 3.0 dB at 6.0 GHz and consumes only 3.6 mA from 1.8 V; the measured input-referred third-order intercept ( IIP3) value is 11.4 dBm. The capacitor cross-coupled g/sub m/-boosted CGLNA is attractive for low-power fully integrated applications in fine-line CMOS technologies.     

Content-based image retrieval in presence of foreground disturbances

The image retrieval problem in the presence of possible foreground disturbances is considered. The foreground may be irrelevant for the retrieval purposes but it occludes the background and hence reduces the retrieval accuracy. The accrued inaccuracy is quantified in terms of cardinality of the occluding region. The use of the sprite generated from a video clip is proposed as a query, so that the effect of moving foreground can be eliminated. The segmented foreground region is filled in by constructing the background sprite to increase the retrieval accuracy. The performance of a retrieval scheme under foreground disturbance is presented here     

Ionic liquid-mediated bis[(3-methyldimethoxysilyl)propyl] polypropylene oxide-based polar sol–gel coatings for capillary microextraction

Two ionic liquids (IL), namely, 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium chloride (MOIC) and trihexyltetradecylphosphonium tetrafluoroborate (TTPT) were used to prepare polar and nonpolar sol–gel coatings for capillary microextraction (CME). Bis[(3-methyldimethoxysilyl)propyl] polypropylene oxide (BMPO), containing sol–gel active terminal methoxysilyl groups and polar propylene oxide repeating units, was used to prepare polar sol–gel hybrid organic–inorganic coatings. Hydroxy-terminated poly(dimethyl-co-diphenylsiloxane) was used as the sol–gel active organic component for nonpolar sol–gel hybrid coatings. Compared to a sol–gel BMPO coating prepared without IL, the sol–gel BMPO coatings prepared with the use of both of these ILs provided more efficient extraction as is evidenced by more pronounced GC peak areas. The MOIC-mediated sol–gel BMPO coating provided larger GC peak areas compared to the TTPT-mediated sol–gel BMPO coating. Scanning electron microscopy results suggested that MOIC provided a more porous morphology of the sol–gel BMPO extraction media compared to that prepared with TTPT. Thus, individual ILs can affect the porosity of sol–gel materials to different degrees. Overall, the sol–gel BMPO coating prepared with the ILs could extract nonpolar to polar analytes directly from aqueous samples. Detection limits were on the order of nanograms per liter (1.9–330.5 ng/L) depending on the analyte class. Furthermore, the MOIC-mediated sol–gel BMPO coating demonstrated high thermal stability (330 °C), solvent resistance, and fast extraction equilibrium (10–15 min) for polar and moderately polar analytes.     

Evaluation of three-dimensional segmentation algorithms for the identification of luminal and medial-adventitial borders in intravascular ultrasound images

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) provides direct depiction of coronary artery anatomy, including plaque and vessel area, which is important in quantitative studies on the progression or regression of coronary artery disease. Traditionally, these studies have relied on manual evaluation, which is laborious, time consuming, and subject to large interobserver and intraobserver variability. A new technique, called active surface segmentation, alleviates these limitations and makes strides toward routine analyses. However, for three-dimensional (3-D) plaque assessment or 3-D reconstruction to become a clinical reality, methods must be developed which can analyze many images quickly. Presented is a comparison between two active surface techniques for three-dimensional segmentation of luminal and medial-adventitial borders. The force-acceleration technique and the neighborhood-search technique accurately detected both borders in vivo (r2 = 0.95 and 0.99, Williams' index = 0.67 and 0.65, and r2 = 0.95 and 0.99, WI = 0.67 and 0.70, respectively). However, the neighborhood-search technique was significantly faster and required less computation. Volume calculations for both techniques (r2 = 0.99 and r2 = 0.99) also agreed with a known-volume phantom. Active surface segmentation allows 3-D assessment of coronary morphology and further developments with this technology will provide clinical analysis tools.