Showing papers by "Gaurav Sharma published in 2012"

Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1: Its Potential Role In Cerebral Ischemia

Abstract: A divergence in the supply and consumption of oxygen in brain tissue initiates complex cycle of biochemical and molecular events resulting in neuronal death. To overcome such adverse situation, the tissue has to adopt some cellular mechanisms such as induction of various transcription factors, such as hypoxia inducible factor (HIF). It is a transcriptional regulator of oxygen homeostasis and key factor to generate the adaptive responses through upregulation of various target genes involved in the erythropoiesis, angiogenesis as well as glucose metabolism and transport. On the other hand, some studies do suggest that HIF also plays a detrimental role in ischemic reperfusion injury by inducing the pro apoptotic molecules, cytokines such as Nix, BNip3, and IL-20 which cause mitochondrial dysfunction leading to cell death. Hence, modulation of HIF-1 activity seems to provide an innovative therapeutic target to reduce the cellular damage, which arises from ischemic injury. Apart from traditional oxygen dependent HIF regulation, the focus has now shifted toward oxygen independent regulation in cell specific manner through reactive oxygen species involving hypoxia-associated factor, and heat shock protein 90, etc. Therefore, future development of such small molecule regulators for HIF-1 stability and signaling may prove useful to therapeutically target for enhancing recovery and repair in I/R injury.

System and method for proximity detection

Abstract: The present invention is for a system and method for determining the proximity of a mobile device to a location without the use of a satellite based or other location awareness system, nor a stationary beacon of any kind. Instead, the mobile device monitors radio frequency broadcast identification codes from nearby mobile devices, and determines if the set of detected identification codes is sufficiently similar to a weighted set of identification codes attributed to specified location. If the calculation of similarity meets the confidence conditions of the system, notification is made that the customer or visitor has arrived. The invention utilizes a combination of confidence interval computation, machine learning, and fault tolerance mechanisms to optimize the success of correctly detecting that the device is near the relevant location.

Color Barcodes for Mobile Applications: A Per Channel Framework

Abstract: A new framework for extending monochrome barcodes to color which offers higher data rates is described. In one embodiment of the present invention, the framework encodes independent data in each of the cyan, magenta, and yellow print colorant channels commonly used in color printing and decodes the data from each of the complementary red, green, and blue channels in capture color channels. The framework effectively increases the capacity of monochrome barcodes by a factor of three. In another embodiment of the present invention, a physical model based approach mitigates the effect of cross-channel interference among the print-colorant channels and capture color channels. In another embodiment of the invention, a pilot block methodology is used to estimate the model parameters and enable cross-channel interference cancellation. In another embodiment of the invention, an expectation maximization (EM)-type methodology estimates the model parameters and enables cross-channel interference cancellation.

An Overview of AODV Routing Protocol

Abstract: The Ad-hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol is designed for use in ad-hoc mobile networks. AODV is a reactive protocol: the routes are created only when they are needed. It uses traditional routing tables, one entry per destination, and sequence numbers to determine whether routing information is up- to-date and to prevent routing loops. An important feature of AODV is the maintenance of time-based states in each node: a routing-entry not recently used is expired. In case of a route is broken the neighbors can be notified. Route discovery is based on query and reply cycles, and route information is stored in all intermediate nodes along the route in the form of route table entries. The following control packets are used: routing request message (RREQ) is broadcasted by a node requiring a route to another node, routing reply message (RREP) is unicasted back to the source of RREQ, and route error message (RERR) is sent to notify other nodes of the loss of the link. HELLO messages are used for detecting and monitoring links to neighbors.

System and Method for Tracking Vehicle Mileage with Mobile Devices

Abstract: Disclosed is a system for tracking vehicle locations and accumulating mileage for said vehicles by detecting intervals when said vehicles are in proximity to mobile devices and utilizing the location aware sensors of said mobile devices to determine vehicle locations. Proximity between mobile devices and vehicles is determined by short range data communication identification. Multiple vehicles and drivers may thus be tracked for trip, interval, or overall mileage traveled.

SOLARCAP: Super capacitor buffering of solar energy for self-sustainable field systems

Abstract: Intelligent systems like automatic highway traffic management, area surveillance, and geological activity monitoring require substantial data collection and processing in the field. Energy self-sustainability is a critical foundation for successful field systems that are away from the power grid infrastructure. Instead of the conventional battery-based energy storage, this paper argues that the super capacitor buffering of solar energy (SOLARCAP) has the advantages of precise energy lifetime awareness, low maintenance, and operational robustness. By designing and developing a prototype implementation of the circuitry required for management and harvesting of energy, we demonstrate a SOLARCAP system that ensures safe device operation within the permitted voltage range.

Anatomic pathology laboratory information systems: a review.

Abstract: The modern anatomic pathology laboratory depends on a reliable information infrastructure to register specimens, record gross and microscopic findings, regulate laboratory workflow, formulate and sign out report(s), disseminate them to the intended recipients across the whole health system, and support quality assurance measures. This infrastructure is provided by the Anatomical Pathology Laboratory Information Systems (APLIS), which have evolved over decades and now are beginning to support evolving technologies like asset tracking and digital imaging. As digital pathology transitions from "the way of the future" to "the way of the present," the APLIS continues to be one of the key effective enablers of the scope and practice of pathology. In this review, we discuss the evolution, necessary components, architecture and functionality of the APLIS that are crucial to today's practicing pathologist and address the demands of emerging trends on the future APLIS.

Management of scalp arterio-venous malformation: case series and review of literature

Abstract: Objective. Evaluation of management strategies for scalp arterio-venous malformation (AVM). Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of data of 31 patients with scalp AVM was carried out at all India Institute of medical sciences New Delhi between 1997 and 2010. All the patients except one underwent digital substraction angiography. Depending upon the size of AVM, we classified them in to three groups. Group 1 (small) size up to 4.9 cm, group 2 (medium) size 5–9.9 cm and group 3 (large) size more than 10 cm. Patients in group 1 and 2 underwent direct excision. Patients in group 3 underwent pre-operative embolization followed by surgical excision. Five patients refused any treatment. Patients were analysed to look into results, complications and recurrence in follow up. Results. There were 11 patients in group 1, 12 in group 2 and 8 in group 3. There were 18 males and 13 females with mean age of 25 years ranging from 13 to 55 years. The mean duration of symptom was 7.2 years. Angiography was...

Foot-and-mouth disease: Global status and Indian perspective

Abstract: Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and transboundary viral disease of domesticated and wild cloven-hoofed animals. Wide prevalence of the disease in Asia and Africa associated with huge economic loss to the livestock farming and industry has increased the concern worldwide. The disease is a major threat to cattle, buffalo (both milk and meat) and pig production in endemic countries and therefore considered to cause food insecurity, both locally and globally. Currently, 6 serotypes of FMD virus (O, A, Asia-1, SAT-1,-2, and -3) are circulating globally, and serotype C has not been recorded since 1995. In India, the disease is caused by serotypes O, A and Asia-1, of which serotype O is responsible for most of the outbreaks. Emergence and re-emergence of FMD virus genotypes/lineages has been detected in serotypes. Serotype A viruses have been continuously emerging in the nature necessitating frequent replacement of the vaccine strains. The knowledge generated in epidemiology, diagnosis and surveillance of the disease in the country has been instrumental in formulation and implementation of FMD Control Programme through regular 6 monthly vaccination with the aim to create disease free zones in India. The control programme, in operation since X Plan, has resulted in progressive and substantial reduction in occurrence of the disease and DIVA reactors/converters in vaccinated areas. The present review summarizes the disease, the causative agent, and epidemiology of FMD in India and the world.

User costs and informal payments for care in the largest maternity hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal

Abstract: Background: Maternity care costs in Nepal include formal and informal payment. Formal include for example the cost for blood or drugs; Informal payments can be voluntary such as gratitude payments, or bribes which patients are ‘expected’ to pay to get decent care or any care at all. One problem is that these payments are missing from formal accounts and they are not taken into account in health-policy decision-making. The aim of the present study was to estimate out-of-pocket expenses (formal/informal) for delivery care in the largest government maternity hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal and establish factors that affect informal costs. Methods: We used mixed-methods approach. We used questionnaire-based interviews with 234 women who had delivered in this hospital followed by semi-structured in-depth interviews with sub-sample of ten couples. SPSS software was used for analysis and cross tabulations and chi square tests, binary logistic regression were performed. Results: Women occurred various costs during a hospital confinement. The qualitative data suggested that some, but not all had started to save prior to the delivery. There is a significant association between making informal payments and whether or not the birth was planned to be in hospital or whether it was an emergency, p=0.025, ANC visits, p=0.008, woman’s occupation,p=0.025 and husband’s employment, p=0.022. Logistic regression suggested four factors associated with making informal payments, indicating a possible socio-economic link with ability to make informal payments. Conclusions: Although informal payments around birth itself were not substantial, such payments are very common. Better understanding of informal payments is important as the illegal status of unofficial health care payments means that it is difficult to establish the prevalence of this phenomenon. Moreover it forms a part of the of the private health expenditure rarely included in the national health statistics, they create perverse incentives, potentially reduce motivation for reform and will provide information about economic barriers to care.

The dark side of CIELAB

Abstract: Standardized in 1976 as a uniform color space, CIELAB is extensively utilized in color science and engineering applications. CIELAB provides both a color difference formula and correlates for common perceptual descriptors of color. Deficiencies in both areas are well-known, and based on these known limitations, numerous fixes have been developed yielding alternative color difference formulae that are derived as modifications of the color difference in CIELAB. In addition, several new color appearance spaces have also been proposed as modifications of the basic CIELAB framework. In this paper, we point out other, lesser-known and poorly-appreciated, limitations of CIELAB that occur particularly in the dark regions of color space. We demonstrate via examples, how these limitations not only cause performance compromises but lead to fundamental breakdowns in system optimization and design problems, making CIELAB unusable in these problems. We consider the reasons why these fundamental limitations were overlooked in the original development of CIELAB and analyze the mathematical representations contributing to the undesired behavior. We argue that fundamental new research is required to overcome this dark side of CIELAB; the development of uniform color spaces and new color appearance spaces must be revisited afresh using new experimental data and keeping in mind newer devices and applications.

Major histocompatibility complex class I chain related gene-A microsatellite polymorphism shows secondary association with type 1 diabetes and celiac disease in North Indians.

Abstract: Microsatellite polymorphism in exon 5 of major histocompatibility complex class I chain related gene-A (MIC-A) has been implicated in the etiology of autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes (T1D) and celiac disease (CD). In this study on North Indian population, the MIC-A5.1 allele, carrying a premature termination codon in transmembrane region, was observed with increased frequency in T1D (29.6%, odds ratio OR = 2.1, P = 0.00017) and CD patients (40.3%, OR = 3.37, P = 1.67E-05) than in controls (16.7%). When the MIC-A5.1 association was adjusted for linkage with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR3, the statistical significance of the association was abolished. This implies that the observed association of MIC-A5.1 is due to its linkage disequilibrium (D' = 0.94) with HLA-B8-DR3-DQ2 haplotype and is secondary to the overall association with DR3 positive MHC haplotypes.

Image Recognition System using Geometric Matching and Contour Detection

Abstract: Image recognition plays an important role in a wide range of applications from biomedical imaging and security systems to scene surveillance and many other fields. This document presents the representation of the recognition of two images through the process of geometric comparison. The geometric comparison is performed by comparing the image with a template through the processes of edge detection, scaling, contour matching and RGB to grayscale conversion. The software utilized is NI vision which is one of applications of the National Instrument’s LabVIEW, used for the image and video processing functions.

In silico analysis of ubiquitin/ubiquitin-like modifiers and their conjugating enzymes in Entamoeba species

Abstract: Covalent modification of proteins by ubiquitin (Ub) and ubiquitin-like modifiers (Ubls) regulates many cellular functions in eukaryotes. These modifications are likely to be associated with pathogenesis, growth, and development of many protozoan parasites but molecular details about this pathway are unavailable for most protozoa. This study presents an analysis of the Ub pathway in three members of the Entamoeba species. Using bioinformatics tools we have identified all Ub and Ubl genes along with their corresponding activating, conjugating, and ligating enzymes (E1, E2s, and E3s) in three Entamoeba species, Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba dispar, and Entamoeba invadens. Phylogenetic trees were established for the identified E2s and RING finger E3s using maximum-likelihood method to infer the relationship among these proteins. In silico co-domain analysis of RING finger E3s implicates these proteins in a variety of functions. Several known and putative regulatory motifs were identified in the upstream regions of RING finger domain containing E3 genes. All E2 and E3 genes were analyzed in genomic context in E. histolytica and E. dispar. Most E2s and E3s were in syntenic positions in the two genomes. Association of these genes with transposable elements (TEs) was compared between E. histolytica and E. dispar. A closer association was found between RING finger E3s with TEs in E. histolytica. In summary, our analyses suggests that the complexity of the Ub pathway in Entamoeba species is close to that observed in higher eukaryotes. This study provides important data for further understanding the role of Ub pathway in the biology of these organisms.

A survey and taxonomy of symmetric key management schemes for wireless sensor networks

Abstract: WSN is the collection of thousands of tiny sensor nodes which have the capability of sensing, computing and transmitting the information in the network. Due to the low circuit design, it has some resource constraints but still efficient to carry the information through wireless communication. The exchange of information in a secure manner is critical in WSN. There are many techniques developed in recent years for the security purposes, one of the core areas is the key management. Key management is a challenging issue in sensor networks. In this paper classification of key management techniques for wireless sensor networks based on the encryption techniques has been presented. Also the open issues in this area are focused.

Optimal gamut volume design for three primary and multiprimary display systems

Abstract: Primary selection plays a fundamental role in display design. Primaries affect not only the gamut of colors the systems is able to reproduce, but also, they have an impact on the power consumption and other cost related variables. Using more than the traditional three primaries has been shown to be a versatile way of extending the color gamut, widening the angle view of LCD screens and improving power consumption of displays systems. Adequate selection of primaries requires a trade-off between the multiple benefits the system offers, the costs and the complexity it implies, among other design parameters. The purpose of this work is to present a methodology for optimal design for three primary and multiprimary display systems. We consider the gamut in perceptual spaces, which offer the advantage of an evaluation that correlates with human perception, and determine a design that maximize the gamut volume, constrained to a certain power budget, and analyze the benefits of increasing number of primaries, and their effect on other variables of performance like gamut coverage.

An Identity-Based Ring Signcryption Scheme.

Abstract: Signcryption enables a user to perform digital signature for providing authenticity and public key encryption for providing message confidentiality simultaneously in a single logical step with a cost lesser than sign-then- encrypt approach. As the concept of ring signcryption emerged, various practical applications like electronic transaction protocol and key management protocols, felt the requirement of signer’s privacy, which was lacking in normal signcryption schemes. Without revealing the users’ identity of the ring signcryption can provide confidentiality and authenticity both. In this paper, we present a new ID-based ring signcryption scheme, motivated to the scheme provided by Zhu et al. [1]. Selvi et al. [2] and Wang et al. [3] found some security flaws in the Zhu’s scheme [1], which is being considered and repaired in this paper. The proposed scheme is proven to be secure against adaptive chosen ciphertext ring attacks (IND-IDRSC-CCA2) and secure against an existential forgery for adaptive chosen message attacks (EF-IDRSC-ACMA).

Utility of saliva and hair follicles in donor selection for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and chimerism monitoring

Abstract: Selection of an HLA identical donor is a critical pre-requisite for successful hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Most transplant centers utilize blood as the most common source of DNA for HLA testing. However, obtaining blood through phlebotomy is often challenging in patients with conditions like severe leucopenia or hemophilia, pediatric and elderly patients. We have used a simple in-house protocol and shown that HLA genotypes obtained on DNA extracted from saliva or hair are concordant with blood and hence can be used for selection of donors for HSCT or organ transplantation. Similarly, for post-HSCT chimerism monitoring, non-availability of pre-transplant DNA samples poses a major limitation of reference STR fingerprints. This study shows that DNA obtained post-HSCT from hair follicles can be used to generate pre-transplant patient specific fingerprints while the STR profiles obtained in saliva samples cannot as these display a mixed state of chimerism.

siRNA: a new approach to target neuropathic pain.

Abstract: Neuropathic pain remains one of the most challenging of all the neurologic diseases and represents a large unmet need of the medical world. It often requires patience on the part of the patient and the physician who must try a variety of different medications on a trial and error basis until a satisfactory regimen is established. The development of efficacious therapies with minimum side effect profiles has been the subject of intense research and development in the pharmaceutical industry. Emergence of biologic approaches, such as antibodies, short interfering RNA (siRNA), and gene therapy, offer powerful therapeutic possibilities to treat neuropathic pain and other associated neurologic dysfunction. This review describes the progress that has been made to relieve neuropathic pain using siRNA as a tool for treatment. Further, the review discusses the limitations of using naked siRNA as a therapeutic and a scope for the use of suitable packaging or delivery systems.

Improved color barcodes via Expectation Maximization style interference cancellation

Abstract: Encoding data independently in cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY) print colorant channels with detection in complementary Red, green, and blue (RGB) image capture channels offers an attractive framework for extending monochrome barcodes to color with increased data rates. The undesired absorption of colorants in regions of spectral sensitivity of the noncomplementary capture channels, however, gives rise to cross-channel color interference that significantly deteriorates the performance of the color barcode system. In this paper, we propose an Expectation Maximization (EM) style algorithm to estimate and cancel this color interference and improve the overall performance of the barcode system. Our method utilizes a physical model for print-capture process where the model parameters vary depending on printer, capture device, and illumination. We estimate the model parameters using an iterative EM-style approach and obtain an estimate of CMY colorant channels from the scanned RGB barcode by using the estimated model parameters. Our experimental results show that the proposed method mitigates the effect of color interference and significantly reduces the bit error rates for the recovered data.

Weed management practices on growth and yield of winter season brinjal under Chhattisgarh plain conditions

Abstract: The present investigation was conducted to evaluate the effect of weed management practices on weeds as well as crop growth and yield parameters of brinjal along with the economics of weed management during winter season of 2009–10 at the Department of Horticulture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur. It was observed that the weed Parthenium hysterophorus dominated the experimental field. All the weed management treatments significantly reduced the dry matter of weeds and increased fruit yield of the crop significantly over unweeded check. Among the treatments, pendimethalin (Extra) (0.64 kg/ha) pre-transplanting + one hand weeding at 40 DAT + pendimethalin (Extra) (0.64 kg/ha) at 45 DAT as postemergence resulted in better performance followed by pendimethalin (1.0 kg/ha) pre-transplanting + one hand weeding at 45 DAT with respect to growth and yield parameters due to effective weed management in brinjal. Maximum benefit: cost ratio was also obtained with pendimethalin (extra) (0.64 kg/ha) pretransplanting + one hand weeding at 40 DAT + pendimethalin (Extra) (0.64 kg/ha) at 45 DAT.

Studies on the Dynamics of Powdery Mildews on Cucurbits in Haryana, India

Abstract: This study considered the occurrence of powdery mildew on cucurbits in Haryana and determined the identity of causal species of the disease in the state. Eleven cucurbits were found infected in one or the other locality in the study area of the state which comprised six districts located distantly. Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) was most severely affected crop. While Citrullus lanatus was least affected as comparision to other cucurbits. A wild cucurbit, Coccinia cordifolia, was also severely affected. Teleomorphs of the pathogen were found on L. siceraria and Cucumis melo. Utilizing anamorph and teleomorph characters, the species responsible for the disease in the state were identified as Podosphaera xanthii and Golovinomyces cichoracearum. Pathogenecity spectrum of disease in states is similarto several other states in India.

Study of Performance Variation of AODV Routing Protocol for Various Parameter Patterns using Qualnet Simulator

Abstract: Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) is a routing protocol used for Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET). MANET is formed by mobile nodes connected by multi-hop wireless links without centralized access points or backbone network. Popularity of MANET has been increased because of the availability of license-free wireless communication devices. MANETs can be used for disaster-management, business meetings, military operations, rescue operations, or in a situation where temporary communication network among some nodes is demanded. Routing protocols used in fixed infrastructure networks cannot be efficiently used for mobile ad-hoc networks, so that MANET requires different protocols. This paper presents the analysis of performance of one of the routing protocols used in mobile ad-hoc networks (AODV) under various parameter-patterns with two path loss models, i.e. Two-ray and Free-space model.