Zeitschrift für Bioingenieurwesen und biomedizinische Wissenschaft

High-throughput genome sequencing technologies are revolutionizing bacterial genomics, resulting in the accumulation of 'unknown' or 'hypothetical' or ‘conserved hypothetical’ genes. However, approximately 40-50% of genes within a genome are often labeled as ‘hypothetical’ or ‘conserved hypothetical’ or 'unknown' whose function has not yet been established, inviting the functional annotation of these 'unknown genes'. Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv has 3,924 protein coding genes, of which 606 proteins are classified as ‘unknown proteins’. We here predict reliable functional annotation by integrating several bioinformatics annotation tools, sequential BLAST homology searches, InterProScan searches, Gene Ontology (GO) mapping, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, and established the putative function of 522 proteins with at least some functional annotations. The identified pathways from ‘unknown proteins’ are mapped to well-known pathways, and would provide many putative targets for the rational design of more effective anti-mycobacterial agents. In this work, we have computationally defined T cell epitopes of proteins of M. tuberculosis H37Rv to help in the design of a vaccine with haplotype specificity for a target population. The peptides of M. tuberculosis H37Rv which are predicted to bind different HLAs class-I (Human Leukocyte Antigens), do not show similarity with peptides of human proteome. Some of the nonameric peptides are promiscuous in their association with multiple alleles, and are considered for vaccine design because of their relevance in the wider coverage of human population. Altogether, functional annotations performed by integrative bioinformatics approaches should considerably enhance the interpretation of the unknown proteins of this medically important organism.

This paper presents the characterization of angled microelectrode array as dielectrophoretic microfluidic device for the continuous flow-through separation of particles. The operation of the device is demonstrated using samples of colloidal latex beads of 1 μm and 2 μm in diameter sizes, achieving 100% particle deflection with operating voltage as low as 10V and frequency as minimum as 1 MHz. This characterization is essential for dielectrophoretic separation to get the specific suggestion for each type of particle behavior via its own deflection throughout the arrays of the angled microelectrode. The paper also exhibits and discusses the detail of the theoretical background of the separation method; the structure of the device and also the result obtained that is achievable by choice of voltage and frequency.

The wireless recorder for heart and lung sounds is intuitively convenient to the medical doctors and the patients for its portability which makes the auscultation be possible in a certain range. Such a recorder facilitates increased patient movement (postures and exercises) during diagnosis. Therefore, a wireless communication system for lung sound recording has been developed in this study. Two unidirectional microphones (SM35 and Beta 98H/C, Shure), a wireless body pack transmitter (PGXD1, Shure), and a wireless receiver (PGXD4, Shure) were used in our recording system. The detected sound was transmitted to a mixing console (MG06, Yamaha) for amplification. The system characteristics are as follows: (1) offers excellent low-frequency response, (2) has unidirectional microphone sensing, (3) blocks noise from the environment, (4) records sounds of moving and exercising people, and (5) records other physiological sounds. All of SNREN>35 in tests under the environmental noises in the range of 25 to 40 dB encouraged us to neglect the influences of the environmental noise. The findings strongly recommend that the proposed recording system be adopted by groups researching lung sounds because it reduces the number of complex devices and algorithms necessary for noise reduction, offers a high SNR, and facilitates device use in various environments. Furthermore, the developed system can be used to record lung sounds because of its excellent low-frequency response, especially, using the instrumentation microphone.

Studies have shown the application of non-invasive cardiovascular parameters like heart rate variability (HRV), pulse transit time (PTT) and QRS duration. However no information is available about effects of orthostatic stress on these parameters. Our objective was to study the changes in HRV, PTT and QRS duration caused by orthostatic stress. Electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) data was collected from 22 subjects in supine and upright positions. Comparison of parameters in supine and upright positions revealed that every parameter was effected by orthostatic stress. High frequency power of HRV showed the largest response (75%), while QRS duration had the smallest response of (7%). We found that gender played a significant role in PTT, R-R interval and QRS duration values, with male subjects showing higher values of all three parameters. Subject height also played a distinguishing role, with taller subjects showing higher values of R-R interval and PTT. The results allow us to better understand the interaction between various parameters and how they reflect the hemodynamic changes caused by orthostatic stress.

An optimal linear quadratic tracking controller (LQTC) which emulates smooth pursuit eye movements has been shown to accurately track various motion profiles in the presence of neural transmission delays. However, the initial orientation of the eye relative to the location of where a target first becomes salient affects the time course in which the desired trajectory is fully acquired. It is shown that a control strategy that incorporates a latent saccade to rapidly reposition the gaze to a predicted point on the trajectory path, then transitions the engagement smoothly using the LQTC, produces eye movements consistent with experimental observations.

People all over the world live and die from, respiratory disorders. It doesn’t matter who suffer may be young or old. This respiratory problem they have from birth or develop in certain environmental condition over the years. Wheezes are more musical respiratory sounds as compared to normal respiratory sound, which usually due to pathological condition of the respiratory system especially irregularities in pulmonary obstruction, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Identification of the Wheeze sound is the first step in controlling the asthma. Using that easy to understand the disease progress, and how close research to developing new test and treatments and what still needs to be done. Although many studies have addressed the problem of wheeze detection, a limited number of scientific works has focused on real time detection of wheeze sound. As day to day increasing number of asthmatic patient there is a need of automatic monitoring of the wheeze sound to assist the physicians in diagnosing and monitoring the patient. The purpose of this study was to develop automatic wheeze detection systems with spectral power estimation in real time to assist the physicians in diagnosing and monitoring the patient.

The main bone substitute is hydroxyapatite either mineral or synthetic. Synthetic hydroxyapatite is produced by various methods such as, sol-gel, mechanochemical, hydrothermal, sonochemical, ceramic (wet and dry roads, routes through cements of calcium phosphates and route using emulsions-microemulsions), and hydrolysis. Hydroxyapatite obtained by wet via has features from micro to nano. It has been reported that adding titania mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite improve. In this study only the experimental evidence is presented. The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of anatase in synthetic hydroxyapatite obtained by co-precipitators. Powders were subjected to uniaxial and isostatic cold pressing to form pills. Later pills were sintered. The characterization of the material includes several techniques. It was compared with each of the different percentages of anatase 0.1, 1.5, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10. The results show the existence of an optimum percentage by which the mechanical properties surpass others, maximum of hardness before immersed it in simulated body fluid with 7%. The explanation of this optimum is the presence of calcium titanate because of titania diffuses efficiently in the network hydroxyapatite.

Alzheimer is a kind of brain disorder in which death of brain cells leads to dysfunction of memory, thought, judgment, language, and other nervous activities which can subsequently change individual behavior and personality. Collection of proper data and access to sufficient information regarding causes of Alzheimer can help to develop preventive programs and manage treatment. The most important part of information management system is data collection which is considered as the basic tool for a detailed description of the health care process, evaluation, diagnosis, interventions, outcomes, and documentation. Managers need reliable and accurate data for resource allocation and management. The first step toward data standardization in order to facilitate, share, and compare it among different centers is the establishment of a minimum data set (MDS). MDS is a minimum set of agreed data elements collected at national or regional level and reported to related organizations. In this regard, the present study aims to investigate the role of the Alzheimer national registry system in the prevention treatment and management. The study was a narrative survey, which was done through searching in Google search engine as well as sites associated with Alzheimer with the help of some key words such as “minimum data set”, “advantages”, “treatment”, “prevention” “Alzheimer”, and “registry” in journal articles (abstracts and texts), books, conference abstracts, and other online documents from 2006 to 2015. Approximately, 70 articles, books, theses, and conference abstracts were obtained of which 50 cases were selected. Designing and development of MDS for Alzheimer seems necessary at the national level in Iran, so that data collection and analysis can help in designing of preventive programs.