Heritage Institute of Technology

About: Heritage Institute of Technology is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Steganography & Support vector machine. The organization has 581 authors who have published 1045 publications receiving 8345 citations.

Peptidyl-arginine deiminase: an additional marker of rheumatoid arthritis.

Abstract: BACKGROUND Antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) were thought to be more specific than rheumatoid factor (RF) for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The determination of anti-CCP in addition to RF could be helpful in the serological diagnosis and monitoring of patients with RA. Citrullination of proteins involves the enzymatic conversion of protein containing arginine residues to citrulline residues by the enzyme peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD). The present investigation was undertaken to estimate serum PAD enzyme activity in RA patients with a view to find its importance as a new diagnosis marker in a rheumatology clinic. METHODS The activity of the PAD enzyme was measured by spectrophotometric method at 530 nm in sera of control subjects and in patients of RA (Group I: RF negative and CCP positive: Group II: both RF and CCP positive) in terms of citrulline formation using benzoyl-arginine ethyl ester (BAEE) as substrate. Anti-CCP and RF were also estimated in two groups by enzyme immunoassay and immunoturbidimetry for comparison. Clinical variables (duration of morning stiffness, swollen and tender joint counts, patient's assessment of pain) and C-reactive protein were also evaluated. RESULTS A marked increase in PAD enzyme activity (p < 0.001) was noted in RA patients in comparison to controls and the level diminished appreciably along with two known serological markers (anti-CCP and RF) after six months of disease modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) treatment. The Group II RA patients showed much higher enzyme activity than Group I RA patients. However, clinical variables did not differ significantly between the two Groups of RA patients. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that determination of PAD enzyme activity may be used as an additional marker for monitoring disease progression and regression along with anti-CCP and RF in patients with RA. Moreover, this method is rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive and can be adopted in a laboratory having modest facilities.

Pattern synthesis of centre fed linear array using Taylor one parameter distribution and restricted search Particle Swarm Optimization

Abstract: In this article, a new method of pattern synthesis of centre fed, equal distance linear array having single and multiple synthesis objectives has been proposed and statistically investigated. Single objective of reduced side lobe level (SLL) and first null beamwidth (FNBW) has been considered separately. Consequently, multiple objectives of beamwidth and side lobe level have been investigated. Synthesis of linear array for suitable objectives has been investigated on Taylor one parameter distribution with equal progressive phase. Excitation amplitude of each array element is taken as optimization parameter where distribution has been optimized using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for achieving low SLL. Later the same has been incorporated for obtaining suitable FNBW. In our optimization algorithm conventional PSO has been modified with a restricted search PSO (RSPSO) where search space has been predefined within excitation amplitude range. PSO within the defined range searches for optimum excitation amplitude to achieve the desired objectives. In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed RSPSO, simulation results of three significant instances of linear array have been presented for both even and odd number of element. The design results obtained using RSPSO have improved result than those obtained using other state of the art evolutionary algorithms like differential evolution (DE), invasive weeds optimization (IWO) and Conventional particle Swarm optimization (CPSO) in a statistically significant way.

Development and Characterization of Carbonic Anhydrase-Based CO 2 Biosensor for Primary Diagnosis of Respiratory Health

Abstract: It is a global need to realize noninvasive, simple, rapid, selective, inexpensive, and portable assessment methods for diagnosis of diseases. Enzyme-based bio-sensing system, compared with traditional analytical methods, has all such potential attributes. This paper proposes carbonic anhydrase enzyme (CA) (E.C. 4.2.1.1)-based cost-effective, highly selective, and reproducible CO2 biosensing system that can measure CO2 concentration (ppm level) in expired breath accurately to give valuable information for assessing the respiratory disorders of the subjects. CA is extracted from spinach leaves and immobilized on an electrode assembly. The assembly generates a sensible electrical signal (mV) when brought in contact with the aqueous CO2. The sensor characterizes a linear response from 160–2677 ppm of CO2 concentration dissolved in water, good sensitivity (~0.132mV/ppm) with excellent fast response time within 12s. The features include repeatability, shelf life (~5 months), re-usability (~20 times), and selective responsiveness to the CO2 molecules in the exhaled breath. The feasibility for the use of the biosensor in a suitable setup for home-based monitoring of CO2 in exhaled breath has been proposed and justified. The device showed a good correlation between the results obtained from the sensor and established clinical test.

Automatic power factor improvement using microcontroller

Abstract: The chief objective is to improve the power quality by continuously monitoring the load power factor. When the load power factor falls below a certain value it results in the increase of line current, resulting in more line loss and greater voltage drop. Thus, the aim is to inject capacitances of required values when the power factor falls below the specified level. Primarily, a signal of pulse width proportional to the phase difference is generated. From the ON time period of each pulse the power factor can be determined. The exact value of the capacitance to be injected is then found out using some mathematics. Finally, the value of capacitance, so obtained, is to be approximated with the standard values of capacitance. Micro-controller will switch all the capacitors, which taken together is very close to the exact value of the capacitance.