The work elucidates the importance of accurate Parkinson's disease classification within medical diagnostics and introduces a novel framework for achieving this goal. Specifically, the study focuses on enhancing disease identification accuracy utilizing boosting methods. A standout contribution of this work lies in the utilization of a light gradient boosting machine (LGBM) coupled with hyperparameter tuning through grid search optimization (GSO) on the Parkinson's disease dataset derived from speech recording signals. In addition, the Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE) has also been employed as a pre-processing technique to balance the dataset, enhancing the robustness and reliability of the analysis. This approach is a novel addition to the study and underscores its potential to enhance disease identification accuracy. The datasets employed in this work include both gender-specific and combined cases, utilizing several distinctive feature subsets including baseline, Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), time-frequency, wavelet transform (WT), vocal fold, and tunable-Q-factor wavelet transform (TQWT). Comparative analyses against state-of-the-art boosting methods, such as AdaBoost and XG-Boost, reveal the superior performance of our proposed approach across diverse datasets and metrics. Notably, on the male cohort dataset, our method achieves exceptional results, demonstrating an accuracy of 0.98, precision of 1.00, sensitivity of 0.97, F1-Score of 0.98, and specificity of 1.00 when utilizing all features with GSO-LGBM. In comparison to AdaBoost and XGBoost, the proposed framework utilizing LGBM demonstrates superior accuracy, achieving an average improvement of 5% in classification accuracy across all feature subsets and datasets. These findings underscore the potential of the proposed methodology to enhance disease identification accuracy and provide valuable insights for further advancements in medical diagnostics.
In the recent times research towards solid state supercapacitors (SSS) have increased drastically due to the promising performance in futuristic technologies particularly in portable and flexible electronics like smart watches, smart fabrics, foldable smartphones and tablets. Also, when compared to supercapacitors using liquid electrolyte, solid electrolyte has several advantages like high energy density, safety, high cycle life, flexible form factor, and less environmental impact. The crucial factor determining the sustainability of a technology is the eco-friendliness since the natural resources are being exploited in a wide scale. Numerous studies have focused on biodegradable materials for supercapacitor electrodes, electrolytes, and other inactive components. Making use of these biodegradable materials to design a SSS enables the technology to sustain for a very long time since biodegradable materials are not only environment friendly but also, they show relatively high performance. This review focuses on recent progress of different biodegradable electrodes, and electrolytes along with their properties, electrochemical performance and biodegradable capabilities for SSS have been analyzed and provides a concise summary enabling readers to understand the importance of biodegradable materials and to narrow down the research in a more rational way.
High-performance supercapacitive electrode materials have received significant attention from researchers worldwide, thus aiming for comparable performance similar to the extensively used rechargeable batteries. For emerging energy storage technologies like flexible supercapacitors, transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) have been in the spotlight due to their promising electrochemical features compared to other electrode materials. Among the synthesis techniques, electrodeposition-mediated preparation of thin films of TMCs offered an affordable binder-free approach for electrode fabrication that effectively improved the supercapacitor performance. Hence, this review mainly focussed on the electrodeposition-based syntheses of single/ multinary chalcogenides and their composites for supercapacitors applications. Further, the effects of different deposition parameters were discussed for boosting the supercapacitor performance. Finally, this review outlined the existing challenges and future perspectives in this research domain, which will assist the upcoming exploration in the energy storage field.
The outbreak of novel SARS-CoV-2 virion has wreaked havoc with a high prevalence of respiratory illness and high transmission due to a vague understanding of the viral antigenicity, augmenting the dire challenge to public health globally. This viral member necessitates the expansion of diagnostic and therapeutic tools to track its transmission and confront it through vaccine development. Therefore, prophylactic strategies are mandatory. Virulent spike proteins can be the most desirable candidate for the computational design of vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2, followed by the meteoric development of immune epitopes. Spike protein was characterized using existing bioinformatics tools with a unique roadmap related to the immunological profile of SARS-CoV-2 to predict immunogenic virulence epitopes based on antigenicity, allergenicity, toxicity, immunogenicity, and population coverage. Applying in silico approaches, a set of twenty-four B lymphocyte-based epitopes and forty-six T lymphocyte-based epitopes were selected. The predicted epitopes were evaluated for their intrinsic properties. The physico-chemical characterization of epitopes qualifies them for further in vitro and in vivo analysis and pre-requisite vaccine development. This study presents a set of screened epitopes that bind to HLA-specific allelic proteins and can be employed for designing a peptide vaccine construct against SARS-CoV-2 that will confer vaccine-induced protective immunity due to its structural stability. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13337-023-00852-9.
Mixed multimetallic-based nanocomposites have been considered a promising functional material giving a new dimension to environmental remediation and energy storage applications. On this concept, a hybrid ternary CoO/Ni(OH)2/Cu(OH)2 (CNC) composite showing sea-urchin-like morphology was synthesized via one-pot hydrothermal approach, and its photocatalytic and electrochemical performances were investigated. The photocatalytic performance was explored using Congo red (CR) as a dye pollutant under visible light illumination. The presence of mixed phases of ternary metal ions could minimize the recombination efficacy of photogenerated charge carriers on the basis of the heterojunction mechanism, resulting in 90% degradation of CR dye (40 mg L-1). The effect of scavengers coupled with electrochemical experiments revealed O2-. radical as the predominating species responsible for the degradation of CR. From the electrochemical analysis of CNC, the well-distinguished redox peaks indicated the redox-type nature with a specific capacity of 405 C g-1. For practical applications, an supercapattery (CNC( +)|KOH|AC( -)) was assembled furnishing an energy density of 42 W h kg-1 at a power density of 5160 W kg-1 at 5 A g-1 along with a high capacity retention and coulombic efficiency of 98.83% over 5000 cycles.
Environmental Pollutants , Environmental Restoration and Remediation , Congo Red , Light , Lighting
Background: Given the evolving nature of COVID-19, for better understanding of its effect on antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), it becomes crucial that we follow the resistance patterns across different surges of COVID-19 cases. Methods: This prospective surveillance study extended over two years from January 2020-March 2022 and was conducted in a healthcare center of North India. Susceptibility patterns of Staphylococcus aureus during January-March 2020 were considered as prepandemic patterns. Processing of clinical specimens, identification of S. aureus, and in-vitro antibiotic susceptibility testing were performed in accordance with standard microbiological testing procedures and Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute guidelines. Results: Lowest prevalence (38.9%) of Methicillinresistant S. aureus was reported during January-March 2021 and July-September 2021. More than 50% S. aureus isolates were susceptible to linezolid, cotrimoxazole, tetracycline, and gentamicin in January-March 2020. In January-March 2021, ≥50% of S. aureus isolates from clinical specimens were additionally susceptible to clindamycin and erythromycin. Antibiotic agents of linezolid, tetracycline, clindamycin, and cotrimoxazole were susceptible in ≥50% of S. aureus isolates in January-March 2022. Conclusions: This study reveals a sharp decline in overall resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotic agents for S. aureus isolates after first peak of COVID-19 cases. However, same trend was not observed in subsequent peaks and probably we are approaching the same resistance levels that were seen prior to COVID-19 pandemic.
Introduction: Interdental aids such as dental floss and water flossers have been found to be effective in removing interdental plaque. This systematic review aimed to compare the available data on the efficacy of dental floss and water flossers in plaque removal among adults. Materials and Methods: Five databases: PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, ScienceDirect, Lilac, and Google Scholar were searched from January 1, 2002, to October 31, 2022, to obtain the relevant articles. Based on the search strategy, the titles of the studies were screened independently by two reviewers. Randomized controlled trials were included in the review, in which the study participants were given either dental floss or water flosser. Reduction in plaque scores was the outcome that was assessed. Seven articles met the eligibility criteria and were further processed for qualitative analysis. Results: The majority of the studies favored water flossers over dental floss in plaque reduction. Water flosser was also found to be effective in removing plaque from inaccessible interproximal areas of the tooth surfaces as compared to dental floss. Conclusion: Based on the scope of this review, results suggest that water flossers can be used as an effective alternative to dental floss in patients with manual dexterity, patients undergoing orthodontic treatment, and patients with dental prostheses.
This work presents a smart healthcare system for the detection of various abnormalities present in the gastrointestinal (GI) region with the help of time-frequency analysis and convolutional neural network. In this regard, the KVASIR V2 dataset comprising of eight classes of GI-tract images such as Normal cecum, Normal pylorus, Normal Z-line, Esophagitis, Polyps, Ulcerative Colitis, Dyed and lifted polyp, and Dyed resection margins are used for training and validation. The initial phase of the work involves an image pre-processing step, followed by the extraction of approximate discrete wavelet transform coefficients. Each class of decomposed images is later given as input to a couple of considered convolutional neural network (CNN) models for training and testing in two different classification levels to recognize its predicted value. Afterward, the classification performance is measured through the following measuring indices: accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, and F1 score. The experimental result shows 97.25% and 93.75% of accuracy in the first level and second level of classification, respectively. Lastly, a comparative performance analysis is carried out with several other previously published works on a similar dataset where the proposed approach performs better than its contemporary methods.
Gastrointestinal Diseases , Wavelet Analysis , Delivery of Health Care , Humans , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted , Neural Networks, Computer
A simple two-step approach has been employed to synthesize a cobalt-nickel-copper ternary metal oxide, involving electrochemical precipitation/deposition followed by calcination. The ternary metal hydroxide gets precipitated/deposited from a nitrate bath at the cathode in the catholyte chamber of a two-compartment diaphragm cell at room temperature having a pH ≈ 3. The microstructure of the ternary hydroxides was modified in situ by two different surfactants such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide in the bath aiming for enhanced storage performance in the electrochemical devices. The effect of the surfactant produces a transition from microspheres to nanosheets, and the effect of micelle concentration produces nanospheres at a higher ion concentration. The ternary hydroxides were calcined at 300 °C to obtain the desired ternary mixed oxide materials as the electrode for hybrid supercapacitors. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of the ternary metal oxide product. The scanning electron microscopy images associated with energy-dispersive analysis suggest the formation of a nanostructured porous composite. Ternary metal oxide in the absence and presence of a surfactant served as the cathode and activated carbon served as the anode for supercapacitor application. DTAB-added metal oxide showed 95.1% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles, achieving 188 F/g at a current density of 0.1 A/g, and thereafter stable until 5000 cycles, inferring that more transition metals in the oxide along with suitable surfactants at an appropriate micellar concentration may be better for redox reactions and achieving higher electrical conductivity and smaller charge transfer resistance. The role of various metal cations and surfactants as additives in the electrolytic bath has been discussed.
INTRODUCTION: Pit and fissures are more prone to caries as compared to smooth surfaces. Sealing the pit and fissures with sealants is considered to be highly effective in the prevention of pit and fissure caries. Hydrophobic sealants are technique sensitive in nature. Ultraseal XT Hydro sealant is moisture tolerant which incorporates the benefits of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic sealants into one unique chemistry. Hence, the study was conducted to compare and evaluate the retention, cariostatic effect, and discoloration of conventional Clinpro™ 3M™ ESPE™ and hydrophilic Ultraseal XT Hydro sealants among 12-15-year-old schoolchildren for 6 months. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a single-blinded, randomized split-mouth clinical trial. Schoolchildren aged 12-15 years were recruited in this clinical trial. Clinpro sealant and Ultraseal XT Hydro were placed in the right and left quadrant molars, respectively, and were assigned as group I and II. The sample size arrived was 60 teeth per group and at 30 patients based on the computer-generated random sequence. Sealant coverage between the two sealants was compared using Mann-Whitney test and Z test for proportions. RESULTS: After 6 months, it was seen that 10 teeth out of 44 (22.72%) with Clinpro had the sealant covering all the fissures compared to Ultraseal XT Hydro which was only 9%. Fifty-nine percent of retention rate was seen with Clinpro compared to Ultraseal XT Hydro sealant (27.27%). Caries incidence was higher in the case of group II. No difference was observed with regard to the discoloration of the sealants. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that for a longer follow-up period conventional Clinpro™ 3M™ ESPE™ was better than Ultra XT Hydro seal in terms of retention and cariostatic effect. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Mohapatra S, Prabakar J, Indiran MA, et al. Comparison and Evaluation of the Retention, Cariostatic Effect, and Discoloration of Conventional Clinpro 3M ESPE and Hydrophilic Ultraseal XT Hydro among 12-15-year-old Schoolchildren for a Period of 6 Months: A Single-blind Randomized Clinical Trial. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2020;13(6):688-693.
The emergence of highly virulent CoVs (SARS-CoV-2), the etiologic agent of novel ongoing "COVID-19" pandemics has been marked as an alarming case of pneumonia posing a large global healthcare crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Currently, the COVID-19 outbreak has fueled an international demand in the biomedical field for the mitigation of the fast-spreading illness, all through the urgent deployment of safe, effective, and rational therapeutic strategies along with epidemiological control. Confronted with such contagious respiratory distress, the global population has taken significant steps towards a more robust strategy of containment and quarantine to halt the total number of positive cases but such a strategy can only delay the spread. A substantial number of potential vaccine candidates are undergoing multiple clinical trials to combat COVID-19 disease, includes live-attenuated, inactivated, viral-vectored based, sub-unit vaccines, DNA, mRNA, peptide, adjuvant, plant, and nanoparticle-based vaccines. However, there are no licensed anti-COVID-19 drugs/therapies or vaccines that have proven to work as more effective therapeutic candidates in open-label clinical trial studies. To counteract the infection (SARS-CoV-2), many people are under prolonged treatment of many chemical drugs that inhibit the PLpro activity (Ribavirin), viral proteases (Lopinavir/Ritonavir), RdRp activity (Favipiravir, Remdesivir), viral membrane fusion (Umifenovir, Chloroquine phosphate (CQ), Hydroxychloroquine phosphate (HCQ), IL-6 overexpression (Tocilizumab, Siltuximab, Sarilumab). Mesenchymal Stem Cell therapy and Convalescent Plasma Therapy have emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy against SARS-CoV-2 virion. On the other hand, repurposing previously designed antiviral agents with tolerable safety profile and efficacy could be the only promising approach and fast response to the novel virion. In addition, research institutions and corporations have commenced the redesign of the available therapeutic strategy to manage the global crisis. Herein, we present succinct information on selected anti-COVID-19 therapeutic medications repurposed to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Finally, this review will provide exhaustive detail on recent prophylactic strategies and ongoing clinical trials to curb this deadly pandemic, outlining the major therapeutic areas for researchers to step in.
The scale at which MS- and NMR-based platforms generate metabolomics datasets for both research, core, and clinical facilities to address challenges in the various sciences-ranging from biomedical to agricultural-is underappreciated. Thus, metabolomics efforts spanning microbe, environment, plant, animal, and human systems have led to continual and concomitant growth of in silico resources for analysis and interpretation of these datasets. These software tools, resources, and databases drive the field forward to help keep pace with the amount of data being generated and the sophisticated and diverse analytical platforms that are being used to generate these metabolomics datasets. To address challenges in data preprocessing, metabolite annotation, statistical interrogation, visualization, interpretation, and integration, the metabolomics and informatics research community comes up with hundreds of tools every year. The purpose of the present review is to provide a brief and useful summary of more than 95 metabolomics tools, software, and databases that were either developed or significantly improved during 2017-2018. We hope to see this review help readers, developers, and researchers to obtain informed access to these thorough lists of resources for further improvisation, implementation, and application in due course of time.
Metabolomics , Software , Animals , Electrophoresis , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy , Mass Spectrometry
A framework for the global analysis of multi-speed analytical ultracentrifugation sedimentation velocity experiments is presented. We discuss extensions to the adaptive space-time finite element fitting methods implemented in UltraScan-III to model sedimentation velocity experiments where a single run is performed at multiple rotor speeds, and describe extensions in the optimization routines used for fitting experimental data collected at arbitrary multi-speed profiles. Our implementation considers factors such as speed dependent rotor stretching, the resulting radial shifting of the finite element solution's boundary conditions, and changes in the associated time-invariant noise. We also address the calculation of acceleration rates and acceleration zones from existing radial acceleration and time records, as well as utilization of the time state object available at high temporal resolution from the new Beckman Optima AUC instrument. Analysis methods in UltraScan-III support unconstrained models that extract reliable information for both the sedimentation and the diffusion coefficients. These methods do not rely on any assumptions and allow for arbitrary variations in both sedimentation and diffusion transport. We have adapted these routines for the multi-speed case, and developed optimized and general grid based fitting methods to handle changes in the information content of the simulation matrix for different speed steps. New graphical simulation tools are presented that assist the investigator to estimate suitable grid metrics and evaluate information content based on edit profiles for individual experiments.
Ultracentrifugation/methods , Kinetics , Models, Theoretical
