Theranostic Interpolation of Genomic Instability in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a diverse disease caused by mutations in multiple genes accompanying epigenetic aberrations of hazardous genes and protein pathways, which distress tumor-suppressor genes and the expression of oncogenes. Alteration in any of the several physiological mechanisms such as cell cycle checkpoints, DNA repair machinery, mitotic checkpoints, and telomere maintenance results in genomic instability. Theranostic has the potential to foretell and estimate therapy response, contributing a valuable opportunity to modify the ongoing treatments and has developed new treatment strategies in a personalized manner. “Omics” technologies play a key role while studying genomic instability in breast cancer, and broadly include various aspects of proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, and tumor grading. Certain computational techniques have been designed to facilitate the early diagnosis of cancer and predict disease-specific therapies, which can produce many effective results. Several diverse tools are used to investigate genomic instability and underlying mechanisms. The current review aimed to explore the genomic landscape, tumor heterogeneity, and possible mechanisms of genomic instability involved in initiating breast cancer. We also discuss the implications of computational biology regarding mutational and pathway analyses, identification of prognostic markers, and the development of strategies for precision medicine. We also review different technologies required for the investigation of genomic instability in breast cancer cells, including recent therapeutic and preventive advances in breast cancer.     

Multi‐agent‐based sharing power economy for a smart community

In this paper, a multi‐agent‐based locally administrated power distribution hub (PDH) for social welfare is proposed that optimizes energy consumption, allocation, and management of battery energy storage systems (ESSs) for a smart community. Initially, formulation regarding optimum selection of a power storage system for a home (in terms of storage capacity) is presented. Afterwards, the concept of sharing economy is inducted in the community by demonstrating PDH. PDH is composed of multiple small‐scale battery ESSs (each owned by community users), which are connected together to form a unified‐ESS. Proposed PDH offers a localized switching mechanism that takes decision of whether to buy electricity from utility or use unified‐ESS. This decision is based on the price of electricity at ‘time of use’ and ‘state of charge’ of unified‐ESS. In response to power use or share, electricity bills are created for individual smart homes by incrementing or decrementing respective submeters. There is no buying or selling of power from PDH; there is power sharing with the concept of ‘no profit, no loss’. The objective of the proposed PDH is to limit the purchase of electricity on ‘high priced’ hours from the utility. This not only benefits the utility at crucial hours but also provides effective use of power at the demand side. The proposed multi‐agent system depicts the concept of sharing power economy within a community. Finally, the proposed model is analyzed analytically, considering on‐peak, off‐peak, and mid‐level (mid‐peak) prices of a real‐time price signal during 24 h of a day. Results clearly show vital financial benefits of ‘sharing power economy’ for end users and efficient use of power within the smart community. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Micro-capacitors based on electrochemically grown vertical arrays of gold nanowires as electrodes

This paper describes the development of micro-capacitors with electrodes based on electrochemically grown vertical gold nanowire arrays. A high aspect-ratio anodized aluminum oxide template integrated on silicon dioxide/silicon substrates was exploited for fabricating a vertical array of nanowires with a high surface to volume ratio. Bismuth ferric oxide thin films were deposited to create high dielectric material between the electrodes using room temperature electrodeposition. This nanofabrication process may be compatible with a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process, therefore, this capacitor can be used for protecting and regulating the surge voltage biased to the CMOS circuits. This capacitor achieved a high density capacitance of 3.1 μF/m² at 1 MHz, which was measured using a parallel plate set-up.     

Speech emotion recognition using optimized genetic algorithm-extreme learning machine

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Automatic Emotion Speech Recognition (ESR) is considered as an active research field in the Human-Computer Interface (HCI). Typically, the ESR system is...     

Zinc oxide nanoparticles augment CD4, CD8, and GLUT‐4 expression and restrict inflammation response in streptozotocin‐induced diabetic rats

This study evaluated the biochemical, molecular, and histopathological mechanisms involved in the hypoglycaemic effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) in experimental diabetic rats. ZnONPs were prepared by the sol–gel method and characterised by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). To explore the possible hypoglycaemic and antioxidant effect of ZnONPs, rats were grouped as follows: control group, ZnONPs treated group, diabetic group, and diabetic + ZnONPs group. Upon treatment with ZnONPs, a significant alteration in the activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and the levels of insulin, haemoglobin A1c, and the expression of cluster of differentiation 4+ (CD4+), CD8+ T cells, glucose transporter type‐4 (GLUT‐4), tumour necrosis factor, and interleukin‐6 when compared to diabetic and their control rats. ZnONPs administration to the diabetic group showed eminent blood glucose control and restoration of the biochemical profile. This raises their active role in controlling pancreas functions to improve glycaemic status as well as the inflammatory responses. Histopathological investigations showed the non‐toxic and therapeutic effect of ZnONPs on the pancreas. TEM of pancreatic tissues displayed restoration of islets of Langerhans and increased insulin‐secreting granules. This shows the therapeutic application of ZnONPs as a safe anti‐diabetic agent and to have a potential for the control of diabetes.Inspec keywords: nanoparticles, transmission electron microscopy, cellular biophysics, sugar, nanomedicine, nanofabrication, zinc compounds, molecular biophysics, biochemistry, tumours, enzymes, biomedical materials, biological organs, blood, diseases, patient treatment, II‐VI semiconductors, wide band gap semiconductors, scanning electron microscopy, sol‐gel processing, semiconductor growthOther keywords: molecular mechanisms, histopathological mechanisms, zinc oxide nanoparticles, experimental diabetic rats, hypoglycaemic effect, antioxidant effect, control group, diabetic group, CD4+, CD8+ T cells, glucose transporter type‐4, control rats, GLUT‐4 expression, streptozotocin‐induced diabetic rats, biochemical mechanisms, safe antidiabetic agent, inflammation response, sol‐gel method, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, SEM, TEM, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, insulin levels, haemoglobin A1c, differentiation 4+ T cells, tumour necrosis factor, interleukin‐6, blood glucose control, pancreas functions, glycaemic status, therapeutic effect, pancreatic tissues, Langerhans islets, insulin‐secreting granules, ZnO     

Dielectric and mechanical optimization properties of porous poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) copolymer films for pseudo‐piezoelectric effect

In this article, the authors present a porous copolymer film with pseudo‐piezoelectric effects as a new candidate material for sensing applications. Porous films of poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) (EVA) with a thicknesses ranging from 160 to 310 μm are fabricated by a coextrusion chemical foaming process and charged using a high‐voltage contact charging process. Output performances (piezoelectric constant and relative permittivity) with related thermal/mechanical stability are specifically studied as a function of the film porosity and of the electrical charging process. The piezoelectric constant d₃₃ increases with the cell porosity and an interesting piezoelectric constant close to 5.1 pC/N is achieved with a porous EVA film containing 65% of porosity. Actual results are then discussed using a theoretical solid–gas multilayer model to describe and predict the pseudo‐piezoelectric effect of porous polymer materials. The originality of this work lies in the fact that all the steps leading to optimize pseudo piezoelectric films are included, and also in the use of EVA which is not a standard piezoelectric material. Therefore, this work is a contribution in the development of low‐cost piezoelectric materials with potential applications as sensor in different fields such as medical, security, environment, sport, and transport. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:1455–1461 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Interfacial activity and micellar morphology of an imidazolium ring containing zwitterionic surfactants

Zwitterionic surfactants based on 3-(1-alkyl-3-imidazolio) propane-sulfonate ([ImS3-R] where R is octyl or dodecyl) is an emerging and important class of amphiphile due to their relevance as nano reactors for the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles and accelerated acid hydrolysis. The physicochemical properties of such synthesized imidazolium ring-containing zwitterionic surfactants have been characterized by surface tension and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) techniques. Surface tension measurements were used to calculate several thermodynamic parameters over a range of concentrations and temperatures (298–313 K). The results obtained showed a weak signature representing the critical micelle concentration (CMC) for ImS3-8, however, by increasing the alkyl length of the hydrophobic group to dodecyl, that is, ImS3-8 to ImS3-12, the signature of the CMC was much more evident. As expected, the CMC for ImS3-12 shifted to a lower concentration. An increase in temperature increased the surface activity and decreased the CMC of both zwitterionic surfactants, although the changes were small. Compared to classical surfactants, that is, sodium dodecyl sulfate and dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide, the CMC of ImS3-12 is much lower. Modeling of SANS data demonstrated that the morphology of the micelles formed by these amphiphiles may be described by the “classical” model, a central hydrophobic core, with a shell of hydrated headgroups. Due to their widespread applications in colloidal and interfacial science, the present study adds new insight to the fundamental understanding of these interesting imidazolium-based surface-active ionic liquids (ImS3-R).