Development and external validation of Indian population-specific Garbhini-GA2 model for estimating gestational age in second and third trimesters.

Background: A large proportion of pregnant women in lower and middle-income countries (LMIC) seek their first antenatal care after 14 weeks of gestation. While the last menstrual period (LMP) is still the most prevalent method of determining gestational age (GA), ultrasound-based foetal biometry is considered more accurate in the second and third trimesters. In LMIC settings, the Hadlock formula, originally developed using data from a small Caucasian population, is widely used for estimating GA and foetal weight worldwide as the pre-programmed formula in ultrasound machines.

User authentication system based on human exhaled breath physics.

This work, in a pioneering approach, attempts to build a biometric system that works purely based on the fluid mechanics governing exhaled breath. We test the hypothesis that the structure of turbulence in exhaled human breath can be exploited to build biometric algorithms. This work relies on the idea that the extrathoracic airway is unique for every individual, making the exhaled breath a biomarker.

Design of spinning disk atomization equipment for synthesis of drug-loaded microparticles.

The synthesis of drug-loaded microparticles with precise control over size distribution and shape is crucial for achieving desired drug distribution in microparticles and tuning drug release profiles. Common large-scale production techniques produce microparticles with a broad particle size distribution and require challenging operating conditions. Recent methods employing microfluidics have enabled the production of microparticles with a uniform size distribution.

Perspective on Radiolytic Charging for Redox Flow Battery Electrolytes Using the Nuclear Decay Energy of Spent Nuclear Fuel/Radionuclides.

The conversion of nuclear energy into electricity is facilitated by chemical intermediates and molecular products formed during the radiolysis of water. In this work, we hypothesize a novel radiolytic charging approach for redox flow battery electrolytes. Radiolytically produced ionic intermediates and molecular products oxidize or reduce the metal ion solutes in the electrolytes.

Multi-Omic Data Improve Prediction of Personalized Tumor Suppressors and Oncogenes.

The progression of tumorigenesis starts with a few mutational and structural driver events in the cell. Various cohort-based computational tools exist to identify driver genes but require multiple samples to identify less frequently mutated driver genes. Many studies use different methods to identify driver mutations/genes from mutations that have no impact on tumor progression; however, a small fraction of patients show no mutational events in any known driver genes.

A Computational Framework for Studying Gut-Brain Axis in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Introduction: The integrity of the intestinal epithelium is crucial for human health and is harmed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). An aberrant gut microbial composition resulting in gut-derived metabolic toxins was found to damage the intestinal epithelium, jeopardizing tissue integrity. These toxins further reach the brain the gut-brain axis, disrupting the normal function of the brain.

Designing Biological Circuits: From Principles to Applications.

Genetic circuit design is a well-studied problem in synthetic biology. Ever since the first genetic circuits─the repressilator and the toggle switch─were designed and implemented, many advances have been made in this area of research. The current review systematically organizes a number of key works in this domain by employing the versatile framework of generalized morphological analysis.

Metabolic modeling of host-microbe interactions for therapeutics in colorectal cancer.

The onset of colorectal cancer (CRC) is often attributed to gut bacterial dysbiosis, and thus gut microbiota are highly relevant in devising treatment strategies. Certain gut microbes, like Enterococcus spp., exhibit remarkable anti-neoplastic and probiotic properties, which can aid in silver nanoparticle (AgNPs) induced reactive oxygen species (ROS)-based CRC treatment.

Novel ratio-metric features enable the identification of new driver genes across cancer types.

An emergent area of cancer genomics is the identification of driver genes. Driver genes confer a selective growth advantage to the cell. While several driver genes have been discovered, many remain undiscovered, especially those mutated at a low frequency across samples.

Comparison of first trimester dating methods for gestational age estimation and their implication on preterm birth classification in a North Indian cohort.

Background: Different formulae have been developed globally to estimate gestational age (GA) by ultrasonography in the first trimester of pregnancy. In this study, we develop an Indian population-specific dating formula and compare its performance with published formulae. Finally, we evaluate the implications of the choice of dating method on preterm birth (PTB) rate.

On the role of hydrodynamic interactions in the engineered-assembly of droplet ensembles.

Droplets, as they flow inside a microchannel, interact hydrodynamically to result in spatio-temporal patterns. The nature of the interaction decides the type of collective behaviour observed. In this context, we study the application of droplet microfluidics in the area of complex-shape particle synthesis.

Entrainment of superoxide rhythm by menadione in HCT116 colon cancer cells.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are primary effectors of cytotoxicity induced by many anti-cancer drugs. Rhythms in the pseudo-steady-state (PSS) levels of particular intracellular ROS in cancer cells and their relevance to drug effectiveness are unknown thus far. We report that the PSS levels of intracellular superoxide (SOX), an important ROS, exhibit an inherent rhythm in HCT116 colon cancer cells, which is entrained (reset) by the SOX inducer, menadione (MD).

On developing a framework for detection of oscillations in data.

Oscillation is a phenomenon very commonly observed in systems, ranging from simple ones to complex distributed network. Several techniques have been proposed in the literature for detecting oscillations to study their importance in domains ranging from physiology to climate studies. However, there is a lack of a common framework accommodative of important features of data such as non-stationarity, intermittent oscillations, measurement noise, multimodal oscillations, and the like.

A novel approach for benchmarking and assessing the performance of state estimators.

State estimation is a widely adopted soft sensing technique that incorporates predictions from an accurate model of the process and measurements to provide reliable estimates of unmeasured variables. The reliability of such estimators is threatened by measurement related challenges and model inaccuracies. In this article, a method for benchmarking of state estimation techniques is proposed.

Coalescence of drops in a 2D microchannel: critical transitions to autocatalytic behaviour.

A single coalescence event in a 2D concentrated emulsion in a microchannel can trigger an avalanche of similar events that can destabilize the entire assembly of drops. The sensitive dependence of the process on numerous parameters makes the propagation dynamics appear probabilistic. In this article, a stochastic simulation framework is proposed to understand this collective behavior in a system employing a large number of drops.

Origin of periodic and chaotic dynamics due to drops moving in a microfluidic loop device.

Droplets moving in a microfluidic loop device exhibit both periodic and chaotic behaviors based on the inlet droplet spacing. We observe that the periodic behavior is an outcome of carrier phase mass conservation principle, which translates into a droplet spacing quantization rule. This rule implies that the summation of exit spacing is equal to an integral multiple of inlet spacing.

Structural properties of gene regulatory networks: definitions and connections.

The study of gene regulatory networks is a significant problem in systems biology. Of particular interest is the problem of determining the unknown or hidden higher level regulatory signals by using gene expression data from DNA microarray experiments. Several studies in this area have demonstrated the critical aspect of the network structure in tackling the network modelling problem.