Interactive System for Similarity-Based Inspection and Assessment of the Well-Being of mHealth Users.

Recent digitization technologies empower mHealth users to conveniently record their Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA) through web applications, smartphones, and wearable devices. These recordings can help clinicians understand how the users' condition changes, but appropriate learning and visualization mechanisms are required for this purpose. We propose a web-based visual analytics tool, which processes clinical data as well as EMAs that were recorded through a mHealth application. The goals we pursue are (1) to predict the condition of the user in the near and the far future, while also identifying the clinical data that mostly contribute to EMA predictions, (2) to identify users with outlier EMA, and (3) to show to what extent the EMAs of a user are in line with or diverge from those users similar to him/her. We report our findings based on a pilot study on patient empowerment, involving tinnitus patients who recorded EMAs with the mHealth app TinnitusTips. To validate our method, we also derived synthetic data from the same pilot study. Based on this setting, results for different use cases are reported.

Electrochemical incorporation of hemin in a ZnO-PPy nanocomposite on a Pt electrode as NO(x) sensor.

An electrochemical NO(x) sensor was fabricated based on the incorporation of hemin on a ZnO-PPy nanocomposite modified Pt electrode. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and cyclic voltammetry were used to confirm the successful stepwise assembly procedure for the sensor. The electrocatalytical behavior of the sensor was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The hemin-ZnO-PPy-Pt electrode exhibited characteristic hemin reversible redox peaks at 0.035 V and -0.11 V vs. Ag/AgCl respectively. The hemin-ZnO-PPy-Pt electrode exhibited 3-fold enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards NO(x) compared to the hemin-PPy-Pt electrode. The electrocatalytic response of the sensor was proportional to the NO(x) concentration in the range of 0.8 to 2000 µM (r(2) = 0.9974) with a sensitivity of 0.04 µA µM(-1) cm(-2) and detection limit of 0.8 µM for the hemin-ZnO-PPy-Pt electrode. The low detection limit, wide linear range and enhanced sensitivity of the present sensor make it valuable for potential applications. In addition, this sensor exhibited good reproducibility and stability.

Copper nanoparticles entrapped in SWCNT-PPy nanocomposite on Pt electrode as NOx electrochemical sensor.

A highly sensitive NO(x) sensor was designed and developed by electrochemical incorporation of copper nanoparticles (CuNP) on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)-polypyrrole (PPy) nanocomposite modified Pt electrode. The modified electrodes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Further, the electrochemical behavior of the CuNP-SWCNT-PPy-Pt electrode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. It exhibited the characteristic CuNP reversible redox peaks at -0.15 V and -0.3 V vs. Ag/AgCl respectively. The electrocatalytic activity of the CuNP-SWCNT-PPy-Pt electrode towards NO(x) is four-fold than the CuNP-PPy-Pt electrode. These results clearly revealed that the SWCNT-PPy nanocomposite facilitated the electron transfer from CuNP to Pt electrode and provided an electrochemical approach for the determination of NO(x). A linear dependence (r(2)=0.9946) on the NO(x) concentrations ranging from 0.7 to 2000 µM, with a sensitivity of 0.22 ± 0.002 µA µM(-1)cm(-2) and detection limit of 0.7 µM was observed for the CuNP-SWCNT-PPy-Pt electrode. In addition, the sensor exhibited good reproducibility and retained stability over a period of one month.

Conformational flexibility decreased due to Y67F and F82H mutations in cytochrome c: molecular dynamics simulation studies.

Cytochrome c (cyt c), a mitochondrial protein, has dual functions in controlling both cellular energetic metabolism and apoptosis (programmed cell death). During apoptosis, cyt c (Fe(3+)) released into the cytosol initiates caspase activation leading to apoptosis. Since, X-ray crystallography gives only the static structure, we report here the dynamic behavior of holo and apo wild type (WT), Y67F and F82H mutant cyt c's (Fe(3+)) in their apoptotic states. Four nanosecond MD simulations were run for holo WT, Y67F and F82H cyt c's with and without Fe...S (Met-80) bond and also for apo WT and mutated cyt c's (Y67F and F82H) in water using GROMOS96 force field. Mutations of Y67F and F82H resulted in the decrease of backbone and Calpha RMSDs, and radii of gyration (backbone and protein) in both the holo and apo forms. MD and ED results revealed that the flexibility of mutated holo cyt c's decreased perhaps affecting their ability to take part in mitochondrial electron/proton transfer process. Without Fe...S bond, the backbone and Calpha RMSD increased in holo cyt c's perhaps resulting in enhanced peroxidase activity. ED revealed that four to six eigenvectors involved in over all motions of holo cyt c's without Fe...S bond, and six to eight eigenvectors in apo cyt c's in comparison to three to four eigenvectors for holo cyt c's with Fe...S bond.