Tool For Numerous Applications Research Articles

Efficient Performance Analysis of Image Enhancement Filtering Methods Using MATLAB

Image enhancement is both an art and a science, playing a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of high-resolution images like those captured by digital cameras. Its primary goal is to unveil hidden details within an image and augment the contrast in images with low contrast. This method offers a plethora of options for elevating the visual appeal of images, making it an indispensable tool in numerous applications that face challenges such as noise reduction, degradation, and blurring. In this paper, we implemented frequency domain low pass filters like ideal low pass filter, Butterworth low pass filter and Gaussian low pass filters with execution time using MATLAB. The Butterworth low pass filter given better results than other two with less execution time.

Alternative use of phage display: phage M13 can remain viable in the intestines of poultry without causing damage

Phage display (PD) is a tool for developing new molecules to control pathogens. Peptides selected by PD are commonly synthesised and tested, but the use of phage M13 displaying the selected peptides as a direct biding in the intestinal tract has not yet been tested. This study evaluated whether phage M13 can remain viable in the chicken gastrointestinal tract and whether it causes injury or humoral immune response. We inoculated phage M13 or E. coli ER2738 (ECR) infected with M13 into birds at different ages. We found the virus in faeces at 5 or 13 days after inoculation, just when it infected the ECR. The presence of phage M13 or ECR did not result in gut injuries and had no impacts on weight gain and bird health. Furthermore, the levels of IgY were similar in all treatments, which indicates that the virus can be used in chicken until 42 days without being recognised by the immune system. This work provides a scientific basis for the use of PD as a tool in numerous applications to control different pathogens.

Cytotoxicity and the bioconversion strategy of Aristolochia spp.

ABSTRACT Aristolochia plants are notable from an ethnopharmacological viewpoint, but the relevance of these species for medicinal purposes has been debated because of their inherent toxicity. The convergence of these contrasting realities can be readily achieved using bioconversion methods, which have been shown to be useful tools for numerous applications, including the detoxification of biomass. In this context, methanolic extracts of leaves from Aristolochia triangularis and Aristolochia gibertii, as well as the feces of Battus polydamas larvae fed with leaves from these plants, were prepared, and their cytotoxic activities were evaluated on a human fibroblast cell line (GM07492). The leaf extracts were found to be cytotoxic, leading to reductions of 42.1 and 33.8% on cell viability, respectively, while the fecal extracts were considered inactive. In addition to evidencing the cytotoxicity of A. triangularis and A. gibertii, these findings demonstrated a potential bioconversion strategy for obtaining aristolochiaceous extracts with reduced toxicity using the larvae of a specialist phytophagous insect, thus renewing expectations in relation to the pharmacological importance of Aristolochia spp. The results were also ecologically relevant, as B. polydamas larvae were found to be able to detoxify compounds from host plants.

Highly accelerated phase-contrast MRI-based multi-directional flow imaging for peak velocity estimation in aortic stenosis patients.

Background Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common valvular disease, and its prevalence is on the rise. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is the current gold standard for diagnosis and grading of AS. However, TTE suffers from inadequate acoustic windows, and misalignment errors. While CMR has emerged as a robust tool for numerous applications, flow analysis by unidirectional phase-contrast MRI (PC-MRI) is known to underestimate velocity if the imaging plane is not set perpendicular to flow direction. Selecting the proper orientation can be challenging as the jet direction may vary with respect to the valve orifice. Thus, multi-directional flow imaging is likely to improve the accuracy of peak velocity (Vpeak) measurements. However, multi-directional acquisition can be prohibitively long, limiting its clinical utility. The purpose of this study is to apply a recently proposed data processing method called ReVEAL [1] to significantly accelerate multi-directional PC-MRI. ReVEAL exploits spatiotemporal sparsity and leverages the relationship between encoded and compensated images to enable highly accelerated PC-MRI.

Engineering of novel tamavidin 2 muteins with lowered isoelectric points and lowered non-specific binding properties

The avidin-biotin interaction is widely employed as a universal tool in numerous biotechnological applications. In avidin-biotin technology, non-specific binding to biological macromolecules is a hindrance. The major origin of this non-specific binding is the electrical charge of the surface of biotin-binding proteins. Tamavidin 2, a fungal avidin-like protein that binds biotin with an extremely high affinity, can be produced as a soluble recombinant protein in Escherichia coli. The isoelectric point of tamavidin 2 is 7.4-7.5, lower than avidin (10.0), and slightly higher than that of streptavidin (6.0-7.5). Here, we genetically engineered charge mutants of tamavidin 2 to reduce non-specific binding. By substituting an acidic residue (glutamic acid) for basic residues (arginine and lysine), we constructed three mutant proteins (muteins) and confirmed their high-level production in soluble form in E. coli, as well as that of tamavidin 2.We then tested these proteins for non-specific binding to salmon sperm DNA, glycoproteins (integrin and fibronectin), and IgG from human sera. The muteins showed lower non-specific binding than tamavidin 2 to these macromolecules. In particular, one mutein, tamavidin-R104EK141E, which had the lowest isoelectric point (5.8-6.2) among avidin, streptavidin and tamavidin 2, displayed the lowest non-specific binding. The affinity of this mutein to biotin was high, comparable with that of tamavidin 2. These findings indicate that tamavidin-R104EK141E has the potential to serve as a robust tool in the numerous applications of biotin-binding proteins.

Progress in updating the European Radiobiology Archives

Purpose: The European Radiobiology Archives (ERA), together with corresponding Japanese and American databases, hold data from nearly all experimental animal radiation biology studies carried out between 1960 and 1998, involving more than 300,000 animals. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection, together with the University of Cambridge have undertaken to transfer the existing ERA archive to a web-based database to maximize its usefulness to the scientific community and bring data coding and structure of this legacy database into congruence with currently accepted semantic standards for anatomy and pathology.Methods: The accuracy of the primary data input was assessed and improved. The original rodent pathology nomenclature was recoded to replace the local ‘DIS-ROD’ (Disease Rodent) formalism with Mouse Pathology (MPATH) and Mouse Anatomy (MA) ontology terms. A pathology panel sampled histopathological slide material and compared the original diagnoses with currently accepted diagnostic criteria.Results: The overall non-systematic error rate varied among the studies between 0.26% and 4.41%, the mean error being 1.71%. The errors found have been corrected and the studies thus controlled have been annotated. The majority of the original pathology terms have been successfully translated into a combination of MPATH and MA ontology terms.Conclusions: ERA has the potential of becoming a world-wide radiobiological research tool for numerous applications, such as the re-analysis of existing data with new approaches in the light of new hypotheses and techniques, and using the database as an information resource for planning future animal studies. When the database is opened for new data it may be possible to offer long-term storage of data from recent and future animal studies.

Integrated Model for Optimizing Orientation of Two-Runway Configurations

This paper presents an integrated computer model (WNDROS2) for optimizing runway orientation at airports having two-runway configurations. In this model, mathematical formulation is applied to transfer circles and radial lines of the wind rose method into points with numeric coordinates. Details of the model development and integration are presented in this paper. The model features “evaluating” wind coverage for predefined orientations or “optimizing” runway alignments and coverage. In “optimization,” the model employs an “exhaustive search” to test evaluated coverage at small increments of orientation(s) and to determine the maximum coverage. Ten optimization options are considered in the model to account for parameters related to airport planning such as priority of runways. The model was validated using AutoCAD and FAA Software, and demonstrated in this paper through a numerical example. Results indicated that the model is a valuable tool for numerous applications in airport planning and relevant impa...

Flow cytometric screening of cell-based libraries

Flow cytometry is a powerful, high-throughput library screening tool in numerous applications including the isolation of bioactive molecules from synthetic combinatorial libraries, the identification of virulence genes in microorganisms, and the study and engineering of protein functions. Using flow cytometry, large libraries of protein mutants expressed in microorganisms can be screened quantitatively for desired functions, including ligand binding, catalysis, expression level, and stability. Rare target cells, occurring at frequencies below 10 −6, can be detected and isolated from heterogeneous library populations using one or more cycles of cell sorting and amplification by growth. Flow cytometry is particularly powerful because it provides the unique opportunity to observe and quantitatively optimize the screening process. However, the ability to isolate cells occurring at such low frequencies within a population requires consideration and optimization of screening parameters. With this aim, an analysis of the various parameters involved in screening cell-based libraries for rare target cells possessing a desired trait is presented.