Measurement and performance evaluation of triple band differential integrated extraoral rectifying antenna for data transfer and RF energy harvesting for tongue drive system.

Wearable assistive devices are vitally important for tetraplegic individuals to provide valuable insights into their intended directives tailored to tongue motions in wireless healthcare industries. The flexible differentially driven extraoral antenna and rectenna measurement system are developed to enable differential sensing and monitoring of the set of unique tongue gestures for extraoral tongue drive system (eTDS) applications in three frequency bands of Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) (915.0 MHz, 2400 MHz, and 5800 MHz).

Circularly polarized differential intra-oral antenna design validation and characterization for tongue drive system.

Assistive devices are becoming increasingly popular for physically disabled persons suffering tetraplegia and spinal cord injuries. Intraoral tongue drive system (iTDS) is one of the most feasible and non-invasive assistive technology (AT), which utilises the transferring and inferring of user intentions through different tongue gestures. Wireless transferring is of prime importance and requires a suitable design of the intra-oral antenna.

Distortion energy-electronic energy compensation determines the nature of solute interactions with irradiation induced vacancies in ferritic steel.

Fundamental knowledge of vacancy-solute atom (in particular, Cu and Ni) interactions at the electronic level is of utmost importance to understand experimentally observed Cu-precipitation in reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel. In the present investigation, using first-principles electronic structure calculations within the framework of density functional theory (DFT), we unravel the nature of such interactions between a vacancy (V) or di-vacancy and solute atoms (mainly Cu and Ni) in the bcc-Fe lattice. One of the very novel features of the present investigation is that we demonstrate the importance of distortion energy-electronic energy compensation in stabilizing the formation of vacancy-Cu and vacancy-Ni clusters in ferritic steel.

An inexpensive microfluidic device for three-dimensional hydrodynamic focusing in imaging flow cytometry.

We present design, characterization, and testing of an inexpensive, sheath-flow based microfluidic device for three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic focusing of cells in imaging flow cytometry. In contrast to other 3D sheathing devices, our device hydrodynamically focuses the cells in a single-file near the bottom wall of the microchannel that allows imaging cells with high magnification and low working distance objectives, without the need for small device dimensions. The relatively large dimensions of the microchannels enable easy fabrication using less-precise fabrication techniques, and the simplicity of the device design avoids the need for tedious alignment of various layers.

Magnetic ordering of the martensite phase in Ni-Co-Mn-Sn-based ferromagnetic shape memory alloys.

The magnetic state of low temperature martensite phase in Co-substituted Ni-Mn-Sn-based ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMAs) has been investigated, in view of numerous conflicting reports of occurrences of spin glass (SG), superparamagnetism (SPM) or long range anti-ferromagnetic (AF) ordering. Combination of DC magnetization, AC susceptibility and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) studies provide clear evidence for AF order in the martensitic phase of NiCoMnSn alloy and rule out SPM and SG orders. Identical studies on another alloy of close composition, NiCoMnSn, point to the presence of SG order in the martensitic phase and the absence of SPM behavior, contrary to earlier reports.

Revisiting Temporal Evolution of Cu-Rich Precipitates in Fe-Cu Alloy: Correlative Small Angle Neutron Scattering and Atom-Probe Tomography Studies.

Binary Fe-Cu alloys are effective prototypes for investigating radiation-induced formation and growth of nanometric Cu-rich precipitates (CRPs) in nuclear reactor pressure vessels. In this report, the temporal evolution of CRPs during thermal aging of Fe-Cu binary alloys has been investigated by using complementary techniques such as atom probe tomography (APT) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). We report a detailed quantitative evolution of a rarely observed morphological transformation of Cu precipitates from spherical to ellipsoid with a significant change (approximately two times) in aspect ratio, an effect known to be associated with the 9R-3R structural transition of the precipitates.

Unsupervised organization of cervical cells using bright-field and single-shot digital holographic microscopy.

We report results on unsupervised organization of cervical cells using microscopy of Pap-smear samples in brightfield (3-channel color) as well as high-resolution quantitative phase imaging modalities. A number of morphological parameters are measured for each of the 1450 cell nuclei (from 10 woman subjects) imaged in this study. The principal component analysis (PCA) methodology applied to this data shows that the cell image clustering performance improves significantly when brightfield as well as phase information is utilized for PCA as compared to when brightfield-only information is used.

Mice deficient in intestinal epithelium cytochrome P450 reductase are prone to acute toxin-induced mucosal damage.

Cytochrome P450 (P450) enzymes are a superfamily of heme-containing enzymes involved in the metabolism of various endogenous compounds, including retinoids, glucocorticoids, and eicosanoids, that are postulated to participate in the maintenance and/or development of inflammatory and immune reactions in the intestinal mucosa. To investigate the role of P450 enzymes in intestinal inflammation and immunity, we took advantage of IE-Cpr-null mice, which are deficient in intestinal epithelium of NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR), the obligate redox partner of all microsomal P450 enzymes. We report that IE-Cpr-null mice, following an acute toxin challenge, had higher levels of pro-inflammatory chemokines and increased tissue damage compared to wild-type mice.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of murine Peyer's patches from immunostained cryosections.

Peyer's patches, macroscopic aggregates of lymphoid follicles present throughout the small intestines of humans and other mammals, are considered the gateway through which luminal dietary antigens and microbes are sampled by the mucosal immune system. The cellular make-up of Peyer's patch lymphoid follicles is not only complex, but highly dynamic, as there are at least four major cell types that are known to migrate in response to antigenic stimulation. In an effort to capture the complexity and dynamic nature of this specialized tissue, here we report the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of immunofluorescent-labeled mouse Peyer's patch cryosections.

Isolating and immunostaining lymphocytes and dendritic cells from murine Peyer's patches.

Peyer's patches (PPs) are integral components of the gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT) and play a central role in intestinal immunosurveillance and homeostasis. Particulate antigens and microbes in the intestinal lumen are continuously sampled by PP M cells in the follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) and transported to an underlying network of dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages, and lymphocytes. In this article, we describe protocols in which murine PPs are (i) dissociated into single cell suspensions and subjected to flow cytometry and (ii) prepared for cryosectioning and immunostaining.

Identification of small molecules that suppress ricin-induced stress-activated signaling pathways.

Ricin is a member of the ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) family of plant and bacterial toxins. In this study we used a high-throughput, cell-based assay to screen more than 118,000 compounds from diverse chemical libraries for molecules that reduced ricin-induced cell death. We describe three compounds, PW66, PW69, and PW72 that at micromolar concentrations significantly delayed ricin-induced cell death.

ClpXP degrades SsrA-tagged proteins in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Bacterial proteins that are abnormally truncated due to incomplete mRNA or the presence of rare codons are extended by an SsrA tag during ribosome rescue in a trans-translation process important for maintaining protein quality. In Escherichia coli, the SsrA-tagged proteins become the target of the Tsp, Lon, FtsH, ClpXP, and ClpAP proteases. Here we show that degradation of model SsrA-tagged proteins in Streptococcus pneumoniae depends primarily or exclusively on ClpXP in vivo.