Indian Institute of Technology Palakkad&nbsp;(IIT Palakkad or IIT PKD) is a public autonomous&nbsp;engineering&nbsp;and&nbsp;research&nbsp;institute located in&nbsp;Palakkad,&nbsp;Kerala. It was&nbsp;one of the five new&nbsp;IITs&nbsp;proposed in the&nbsp;2014 Union budget of India. The campus was inaugurated on 3 August 2015. The institute has 94 faculty, 978 students, and 63 non-teaching staffs.

IT Palakkad currently offers four-year Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) and two years MS programmes in 8 different engineering disciplines including&nbsp;Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical, Civil among others.

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IIT Palakkad

Several π-electron rich fluorescent aromatic compounds containing trimethylsilylethynyl functionality have been synthesized by employing Sonogashira coupling reaction and they were characterized fully by NMR ( 1H, 13C)/IR spectroscopy. Incorporation of bulky trimethylsilylethynyl groups on the peripheral of the fluorophores prevents self-quenching of the initial intensity through π-π interaction and thereby maintains the spectroscopic stability in solution. These compounds showed fluorescence behavior in chloroform solution and were used as selective fluorescence sensors for the detection of electron deficient nitroaromatics. All these fluorophores showed the largest quenching response with high selectivity for nitroaromatics among the various electron deficient aromatic compounds tested. Quantitative analysis of the fluorescence titration profile of 9,10-bis(trimethylsilylethynyl)anthracene with picric acid provided evidence that this particular fluorophore detects picric acid even at ppb level. A sharp visual detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene was observed upon subjecting 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(trimethylsilylethynyl)pyrene fluorophore to increasing quantities of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in chloroform. Furthermore, thin film of the fluorophores was made by spin coating of a solution of 1.0 × 10 -3 M in chloroform or dichloromethane on a quartz plate and was used for the detection of vapors of nitroaromatics at room temperature. The vapor-phase sensing experiments suggested that the sensing process is reproducible and quite selective for nitroaromatic compounds. Selective fluorescence quenching response including a sharp visual color change for nitroaromatics makes these fluorophores as promising fluorescence sensory materials for nitroaromatic compounds (NAC) with a detection limit of even ppb level as judged with picric acid. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Department of Chemistry

World University root node

Journal of Materials Chemistry

Fluorescence and visual sensing of nitroaromatic explosives using electron rich discrete fluorophores

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) has been used to study the formation of large nanotube aggregates involving γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) and coumarin 153 (C153). It is observed that the length of a γ-CD:C153 nanotube aggregate is ∼770 nm. This is ∼480 times larger than the length of a 1:1 γ-CD:C480 complex (∼1.6 nm) and ∼950 times that of a γ-CD. This implies that 950 γ-CD units are noncovalently attached in the γ-CD:C153 aggregate. Binding constants (Kb) of both the dyes to γ-CD were obtained from the fluctuation in fluorescence intensity. The rate of association and dissociation are obtained from the inverse of τoff and τon, respectively. The binding constant for the 1:1 γ-CD:C480 complex is ∼1000 M-1. The burst integrated fluorescence lifetime (BIFL) histogram reveals presence of three distinct lifetime 1.8 ns (18%), 2.8 ns (69%), 3.2 ns (13%). These three lifetimes correspond to C153 present in bulk water and at the end and middle of the γ-CD:C153 nanotube aggregate, respectively. The lifetime of C480 in the 1:1 γ-CD:C480 complex is found to be 3.7 ns. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

Journal of Physical Chemistry B

Study of γ-cyclodextrin host-guest complex and nanotube aggregate by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

The effect of a room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) on the conformational dynamics of a protein, human serum albumin (HSA), is studied by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). For this, the protein was covalently labeled by a fluorophore, 7-dimethylamino-3-(4-maleimidophenyl)-4-methylcoumarin (CPM). On addition of a RTIL ([pmim][Br]) to the native protein, the diffusion coefficient (Dt) decreases and the hydrodynamic radius (Rh) increases. This suggests that the RTIL ([pmim][Br]) acts as a denaturant when the protein is in the native state. However, addition of [pmim][Br] to a protein denatured by GdnHCl causes an increases in Dt and decrease in R h. This suggests that in the presence of GdnHCl addition of RTIL helps the protein to refold. In the native state, the conformational dynamics of protein is described by three distinct time constants: ∼3.6 ± 0.7, ∼29 ± 4.5, and 133 ± 23 μs. The faster components (∼3.6 ± 0.7 and ∼29 ± 4.5 μs) are ascribed to chain dynamics of the protein, while the slowest component (133 μs) is responsible for interchain interaction or concerted motion. On addition of [pmim][Br], the conformational dynamics of HSA becomes slower (∼5.1 ± 1, ∼43.5 ± 2.8, and ∼311 ± 2.3 μs in the presence of 1.5 M [pmim][Br]). The time constants for the protein denatured by 6 M GdnHCl are 3.2 ± 0.4, 34 ± 6, and 207 ± 38 μs. When 1.5 M [pmim][Br] is added to the denatured protein (in 6 M GdnHCl), the time constants become ∼5 ± 1, ∼41 ± 10, and ∼230 ± 45 μs. The lifetime histogram shows that, on addition of GdnHCl to HSA, the contribution of the shorter lifetime component decreases and vanishes at 6 M GdnHCl. The shorter lifetime component immediately reappears after addition of RTIL to unfolded HSA. This suggests recoiling of the unfolded protein by RTIL. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

An FCS study of unfolding and refolding of CPM-labeled human serum albumin: Role of ionic liquid

Biological Sciences and Engineering

Trends in Molecular Medicine

New horizons in natural TNF-α antagonist research

Viscum album (VA) preparations are extensively used as complementary therapy in cancer and are shown to exert anti-tumor activities which involve the cytotoxic properties, induction of apoptosis, inhibition of angiogenesis and several other immunomodulatory mechanisms. In addition to their application in cancer therapy, VA preparations have also been successfully utilized in the treatment of several inflammatory pathologies. Owing to the intricate association of inflammation and cancer and in view of the fact that several anti-tumor phytotherapeutics also exert a potent anti-inflammatory effect, we hypothesized that VA exerts an anti-inflammatory effect that is responsible for its therapeutic benefit. Since, inflammatory cytokine-induced cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effect of VA on regulation of cyclo-oxygenase expression and PGE2 biosynthesis by using human lung adenocarcinoma cells (A549 cells) as a model. A549 cells were stimulated with IL-1β and treated with VA preparation (VA Qu Spez) for 18 hours. PGE2 was analysed in the culture supernatants by enzyme immunoassay. Expression of COX-2 and COX-1 proteins was analyzed by immunoblotting and the expression of COX-2 mRNA was assessed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. We found that VA Qu Spez inhibit the secretion of IL-1β-induced PGE2 in a dose-dependent manner. Further, we also show that this inhibitory action was associated with a reduced expression of COX-2 without modulating the COX-1 expression. Together these results demonstrate a novel anti-inflammatory mechanism of action of VA preparations wherein VA exerts an anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting cytokine-induced PGE2 via selective inhibition of COX-2. © 2011 Hegde et al.

Fulltext

PLoS ONE

Viscum album exerts anti-inflammatory effect by selectively inhibiting cytokine-induced expression of cyclooxygenase-2

Background:Replacement therapy with exogenous factor VIII to treat hemorrhages induces inhibitory anti-FVIII antibodies in up to 30% of patients with hemophilia A. Current approaches to eradicate FVIII inhibitors using high-dose FVIII injection protocols (immune tolerance induction) or anti-CD20 depleting antibodies (Rituximab) demonstrate limited efficacy; they are extremely expensive and/or require stringent compliance from the patients. Objectives:To investigate whether the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, which depletes plasmocytes, modulates the anti-FVIII immune response in FVIII-deficient mice. Methods and results:Preventive 4-week treatment of naïve mice with bortezomib at the time of FVIII administration delayed the development of inhibitory anti-FVIII IgG, and depleted plasma cells as well as different lymphoid cell subsets. Conversely, curative treatment of inhibitor-positive mice for 10 weeks, along with FVIII administration, failed to eradicate FVIII inhibitors to extents that would be clinically relevant if achieved in patients. Accordingly, bortezomib did not eradicate anti-FVIII IgG-secreting plasmocytes that had homed to survival niches in the bone marrow, despite significant elimination of total plasma cells. Conclusions:The data suggest that strategies for the efficient reduction of anti-FVIII IgG titers in patients with hemophilia A should rely on competition for survival niches for plasmocytes in the bone marrow rather than the mere use of proteasome inhibitors. © 2011 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis

Bortezomib delays the onset of factor VIII inhibitors in experimental hemophilia A, but fails to eliminate established anti-factor VIII IgG-producing cells

In this paper, we present an effective pre-processing algorithm for band selection approach which is an essential task in hyperspectral image analysis. The pre-processing algorithm is developed based on the average inter-band block-wise correlation coefficient measure and a simple thresholding strategy. Here, the threshold parameter is found based on the standard deviation of the average inter-band block-wise correlation coefficients. The performance of the proposed algorithm is validated using the standard hyperspectral database created by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) sensor. By comparing the detected bands with ground-truth annotations, we observed that the proposed algorithm identifies the noisy and water absorption bands in the high-dimensional hyperspectral images. The proposed algorithm achieves the classification accuracy of 94.73%. © 2011 IEEE.

Department of Electrical Engineering

2011 International symposium on ocean electronics

An effective pre-processing algorithm for detecting noisy spectral bands in hyperspectral imagery

Network

Increasing Vertical Resolution of Three - Dimensional Atmospheric Water Vapor Retrievals Using a Network of Scanning Compact Microwave Radiometers

Two 24-pulse rectifier topologies based on phase shifting by conventional magnetics is proposed. Four 3-phase systems are obtained from a single 3-phase source using novel interconnection of conventional single- and 3-phase transformers. Phase shifts of 15° and 30° are made using phasor addition of relevant line voltages with a combination of single-phase and three-phase transformers respectively. The four three-phase systems are mutually displaced from each other by 15°. Each three-phase system feeds a 6-pulse diode rectifier and the four diode rectifiers are series cascaded to provide a 24-pulse dc output voltage. PSCAD based simulation and experimental results that confirm the design efficacy are presented. © 2011 IEEE.

2011 1st International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems, ICEES 2011

Novel topologies of 24-pulse rectifier with conventional transformers for phaseshifting

Adaptive modulation allows the system to adjust the signal modulation scheme depending on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the input signal. In this paper we propose a reconfigurable architecture for adaptive modulation. The proposed architecture uses the highest modulation scheme, when input is of high quality, giving the system more capacity. During a signal fade, the system can shift to a lower modulation scheme to maintain the connection quality and stability. The proposed architecture can be reconfigured for various quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and phase shift keying (PSK) modulations and it is an area and power efficient scheme compared to conventional adaptive modulation scheme which uses a velcro approach of realizing all the modulations in parallel. © 2011 IEEE.