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Sample records for repeated adr information

  1. Information about ADRs explored by pharmacovigilance approaches: a qualitative review of studies on antibiotics, SSRIs and NSAIDs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aagaard, Lise; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2009-01-01

    Background Despite surveillance efforts, unexpected and serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs) repeatedly occur after marketing. The aim of this article is to analyse ADRs reported by available ADR signal detection approaches and to explore which information about new and unexpected ADRs these approaches have detected. Methods We selected three therapeutic cases for the review: antibiotics for systemic use, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAID) and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI). These groups are widely used and represent different therapeutic classes of medicines. The ADR studies were identified through literature search in Medline and Embase. The search was conducted in July 2007. For each therapeutic case, we analysed the time of publication, the strengths of the evidence of safety in the different approaches, reported ADRs and whether the studies have produced new information about ADRs compared to the information available at the time of marketing. Results 79 studies were eligible for inclusion in the analysis: 23 antibiotics studies, 35 NSAID studies, 20 SSRI studies. Studies were mainly published from the end of the 1990s and onwards. Although the drugs were launched in different decades, both analytical and observational approaches to ADR studies were similar for all three therapeutic cases: antibiotics, NSAIDs and SSRIs. The studies primarily dealt with analyses of ADRs of the type A and B and to a lesser extent C and D, cf. Rawlins' classification system. The therapeutic cases provided similar results with regard to detecting information about new ADRs despite different time periods and organs attacked. Approaches ranging higher in the evidence hierarchy provided information about risks of already known or expected ADRs, while information about new and previously unknown ADRs was only detected by case reports, the lowest ranking approach in the evidence hierarchy. Conclusion Although the medicines were launched in different

  2. Administrative Data Repository (ADR)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Veterans Affairs — ADR provides an authoritative data store for shared administrative, demographic, enrollment, and eligibility information which is managed as a corporate asset. This...

  3. Knowledge creation about ADRs-turning the perspective from the rear mirror to the projector?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Soendergaard, Birthe; Stenver, Doris I

    2008-01-01

    What is already known about this subject? Serious and unexpected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) have been reported shortly after marketing of a number of drugs. Review of ADR cases by the regulatory authorities has resulted in suspension of drugs or restrictions in product information. What...... this study adds? Information about serious and unexpected ADRs of three drugs with reported serious ADRs was already present in the registration files. Observations of these ADRs were not investigated further before marketing. A more active utilization of the ADR information in premarketing studies could...... probably prevent the appearance of unexpected and serious ADR cases after marketing. AIMS: Spontaneous reports of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are often the only documentation used to justify the recall of drugs from the market. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether it would have been...

  4. iADRs: towards online adverse drug reaction analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Wen-Yang; Li, He-Yi; Du, Jhih-Wei; Feng, Wen-Yu; Lo, Chiao-Feng; Soo, Von-Wun

    2012-12-01

    Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) is one of the most important issues in the assessment of drug safety. In fact, many adverse drug reactions are not discovered during limited pre-marketing clinical trials; instead, they are only observed after long term post-marketing surveillance of drug usage. In light of this, the detection of adverse drug reactions, as early as possible, is an important topic of research for the pharmaceutical industry. Recently, large numbers of adverse events and the development of data mining technology have motivated the development of statistical and data mining methods for the detection of ADRs. These stand-alone methods, with no integration into knowledge discovery systems, are tedious and inconvenient for users and the processes for exploration are time-consuming. This paper proposes an interactive system platform for the detection of ADRs. By integrating an ADR data warehouse and innovative data mining techniques, the proposed system not only supports OLAP style multidimensional analysis of ADRs, but also allows the interactive discovery of associations between drugs and symptoms, called a drug-ADR association rule, which can be further developed using other factors of interest to the user, such as demographic information. The experiments indicate that interesting and valuable drug-ADR association rules can be efficiently mined.

  5. Structures and processes in spontaneous ADR reporting systems: a comparative study of Australia and Denmark.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aagaard, Lise; Stenver, Doris Irene; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2008-10-01

    To explore the organisational structure and processes of the Danish and Australian spontaneous ADR reporting systems with a view to how information is generated about new ADRs. The Danish and Australian spontaneous ADR reporting systems. Qualitative analyses of documentary material, descriptive interviews with key informants, and observations were made. We analysed the organisational structure of the Danish and Australian ADR reporting systems with respect to structures and processes, including information flow and exchange of ADR data. The analysis was made based on Scott's adapted version of Leavitt's diamond model, with the components: goals/tasks, social structure, technology and participants, within a surrounding environment. The main differences between the systems were: (1) PARTICIPANTS: Outsourcing of ADR assessments to the pharmaceutical companies complicates maintenance of scientific skills within the Danish Medicines Agency (DKMA), as it leaves the handling of spontaneous ADR reports purely administrative within the DKMA, and the knowledge creation process remains with the pharmaceutical companies, while in Australia senior scientific staff work with evaluation of the ADR report; (2) Goals/tasks: In Denmark, resources are targeted at evaluating Periodic Safety Update Reports (PSUR) submitted by the companies, while the resources in Australia are focused on single case assessment resulting in faster and more proactive medicine surveillance; (3) Social structure: Discussions between scientific staff about ADRs take place in Australia, while the Danish system primarily focuses on entering and forwarding ADR data to the relevant pharmaceutical companies; (4) Technology: The Danish system exchanges ADR data electronically with pharmaceutical companies and the other EU countries, while Australia does not have a system for electronic exchange of ADR data; and (5) ENVIRONMENT: The Danish ADR system is embedded in the routines of cooperation within European

  6. Discontinuation of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) as a potential marker for adverse drug reactions (ADRs)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pour, Seyed Hamidreza Mahmoud; De Keyser, Catherine E.; Souverein, Patrick C.; Asselbergs, Folkert W.; Hofman, Albert; Stricker, Bruno H.; De Boer, Anthonius; Maitland-Van Der Zee, Anke-Hilse

    2014-01-01

    Background: ACEI-induced ADRs are the main reason to discontinue ACEI treatment. In prescription databases, information on ADRs is not available; therefore it is necessary to identify proxies for ADRs in such databases to study risk factors for ADRs. Objectives: To study prescription patterns for

  7. Using text-mining techniques in electronic patient records to identify ADRs from medicine use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warrer, Pernille; Hansen, Ebba Holme; Juhl-Jensen, Lars; Aagaard, Lise

    2012-05-01

    This literature review included studies that use text-mining techniques in narrative documents stored in electronic patient records (EPRs) to investigate ADRs. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts without restrictions from origin until July 2011. We included empirically based studies on text mining of electronic patient records (EPRs) that focused on detecting ADRs, excluding those that investigated adverse events not related to medicine use. We extracted information on study populations, EPR data sources, frequencies and types of the identified ADRs, medicines associated with ADRs, text-mining algorithms used and their performance. Seven studies, all from the United States, were eligible for inclusion in the review. Studies were published from 2001, the majority between 2009 and 2010. Text-mining techniques varied over time from simple free text searching of outpatient visit notes and inpatient discharge summaries to more advanced techniques involving natural language processing (NLP) of inpatient discharge summaries. Performance appeared to increase with the use of NLP, although many ADRs were still missed. Due to differences in study design and populations, various types of ADRs were identified and thus we could not make comparisons across studies. The review underscores the feasibility and potential of text mining to investigate narrative documents in EPRs for ADRs. However, more empirical studies are needed to evaluate whether text mining of EPRs can be used systematically to collect new information about ADRs. © 2011 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology © 2011 The British Pharmacological Society.

  8. Children and ADRs (Adverse Drug Reactions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Napoleone Ettore

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Many medicines are prescribed to the paediatric population on an unlicensed or 'off-label' basis because they have not been adequately tested and/or formulated and authorized for use in appropriate paediatric age groups. Regulatory authorities also need to remind health professionals about the importance of their contribution towards the process of paediatric pharmacovigilance thanks to their reporting of adverse drug reactions. The lack of reliable data in the paediatric population is associated with specific problems including: limited availability of safety data due to the lack of clinical trials in the paediatric population; under- or over-dosing in some age groups due to the lack of pharmacokinetics data or dose-finding studies; maturation, growth and development of the paediatric population susceptible to drug-induced growth and development disorders as well as to delayed ADRs not findable in adults. Pre-marketing trials are able to provide information about the benefits of drugs but do not manage to establish a safety profile. Spontaneous reporting of suspected ADRs become an important means to promote reasonable warning signs. Therefore some ADRs may be known in their qualitative aspect and quantitative aspect only after successful marketing and use in the population during a "normal" use. When the drug is used in clinical practice in large unselected populations, epidemiological post-marketing studies are useful as they find their major confirmation in recalling all the events that occur during monitoring, with estimates of incidence of ADRs that can not be obtained by spontaneous reports. In these studies a significant role can be played by the Family Pediatricians with the participation to active pharmacovigilance projects.

  9. MT-ADRES: Multithreading on Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architecture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wu, Kehuai; Kanstein, Andreas; Madsen, Jan

    2007-01-01

    The coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture ADRES (Architecture for Dynamically Reconfigurable Embedded Systems) and its compiler offer high instruction-level parallelism (ILP) to applications by means of a sparsely interconnected array of functional units and register files. As high-ILP archi......The coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture ADRES (Architecture for Dynamically Reconfigurable Embedded Systems) and its compiler offer high instruction-level parallelism (ILP) to applications by means of a sparsely interconnected array of functional units and register files. As high......-ILP architectures achieve only low parallelism when executing partially sequential code segments, which is also known as Amdahl’s law, this paper proposes to extend ADRES to MT-ADRES (Multi-Threaded ADRES) to also exploit thread-level parallelism. On MT-ADRES architectures, the array can be partitioned in multiple...

  10. Detecting Adverse Drug Events using Information Technology: Identifying Knowledge, Attitude, Practices & barriers to Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) reporting in a Secondary Hospital.

    OpenAIRE

    Zeeshan, Hina

    2017-01-01

    Objectives:– To meet compliance of medication management system by modifying ADR reporting form.– Enhance customer satisfaction by providing safe & quality care.– Decrease prolonged length of stay ultimately increasing cost occurring from ADRs.– Improve employee knowledge, attitude & practices towards ADR process.Introduction/Background: Healthcare professional’s knowledge and attitudes to ADR and its reporting play vital role to report any cases of ADR. Positive attitudes may favor A...

  11. [Reduction of ADRs of essential traditional Chinese medicines].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nie, Qing; Liu, Yan; Chen, Jing

    2016-01-01

    The essential traditional Chinese medicines (ETCM) are the characteristics of our National Essential Medicine List (NEML) and we should give full play to its unique advantage. The essential medicines of ETCM are specific, but also have dual characters, namely efficacy and ADRs. Although ADRs cannot be avoided, we can make efforts to control some conditions to minimize the possibility of ADRs. It is significant to give suggestions to reduce ADRs of ETCM under the ETCM system by analyzing the possibility of ADRs during ETCM selection, production distribution and use. This research focuses on ETCM, and the conclusion is also applicable to common traditional Chinese medicines. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

  12. 48 CFR 833.214 - Alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... Alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Contracting officers and contractors are encouraged to use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures. CBCA guidance on ADR may be obtained at http://www.cbca.gsa.gov. ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Alternative dispute...

  13. MT-ADRES: multi-threading on coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wu, Kehuai; Kanstein, Andreas; Madsen, Jan

    2008-01-01

    The coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture ADRES (architecture for dynamically reconfigurable embedded systems) and its compiler offer high instruction-level parallelism (ILP) to applications by means of a sparsely interconnected array of functional units and register files. As high-ILP archi......The coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture ADRES (architecture for dynamically reconfigurable embedded systems) and its compiler offer high instruction-level parallelism (ILP) to applications by means of a sparsely interconnected array of functional units and register files. As high......-ILP architectures achieve only low parallelism when executing partially sequential code segments, which is also known as Amdahl's law, this article proposes to extend ADRES to MT-ADRES (multi-threaded ADRES) to also exploit thread-level parallelism. On MT-ADRES architectures, the array can be partitioned...

  14. OntoADR a semantic resource describing adverse drug reactions to support searching, coding, and information retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souvignet, Julien; Declerck, Gunnar; Asfari, Hadyl; Jaulent, Marie-Christine; Bousquet, Cédric

    2016-10-01

    Efficient searching and coding in databases that use terminological resources requires that they support efficient data retrieval. The Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) is a reference terminology for several countries and organizations to code adverse drug reactions (ADRs) for pharmacovigilance. Ontologies that are available in the medical domain provide several advantages such as reasoning to improve data retrieval. The field of pharmacovigilance does not yet benefit from a fully operational ontology to formally represent the MedDRA terms. Our objective was to build a semantic resource based on formal description logic to improve MedDRA term retrieval and aid the generation of on-demand custom groupings by appropriately and efficiently selecting terms: OntoADR. The method consists of the following steps: (1) mapping between MedDRA terms and SNOMED-CT, (2) generation of semantic definitions using semi-automatic methods, (3) storage of the resource and (4) manual curation by pharmacovigilance experts. We built a semantic resource for ADRs enabling a new type of semantics-based term search. OntoADR adds new search capabilities relative to previous approaches, overcoming the usual limitations of computation using lightweight description logic, such as the intractability of unions or negation queries, bringing it closer to user needs. Our automated approach for defining MedDRA terms enabled the association of at least one defining relationship with 67% of preferred terms. The curation work performed on our sample showed an error level of 14% for this automated approach. We tested OntoADR in practice, which allowed us to build custom groupings for several medical topics of interest. The methods we describe in this article could be adapted and extended to other terminologies which do not benefit from a formal semantic representation, thus enabling better data retrieval performance. Our custom groupings of MedDRA terms were used while performing signal

  15. The EU-ADR Web Platform: delivering advanced pharmacovigilance tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, José Luis; Lopes, Pedro; Nunes, Tiago; Campos, David; Boyer, Scott; Ahlberg, Ernst; van Mulligen, Erik M; Kors, Jan A; Singh, Bharat; Furlong, Laura I; Sanz, Ferran; Bauer-Mehren, Anna; Carrascosa, Maria C; Mestres, Jordi; Avillach, Paul; Diallo, Gayo; Díaz Acedo, Carlos; van der Lei, Johan

    2013-05-01

    Pharmacovigilance methods have advanced greatly during the last decades, making post-market drug assessment an essential drug evaluation component. These methods mainly rely on the use of spontaneous reporting systems and health information databases to collect expertise from huge amounts of real-world reports. The EU-ADR Web Platform was built to further facilitate accessing, monitoring and exploring these data, enabling an in-depth analysis of adverse drug reactions risks. The EU-ADR Web Platform exploits the wealth of data collected within a large-scale European initiative, the EU-ADR project. Millions of electronic health records, provided by national health agencies, are mined for specific drug events, which are correlated with literature, protein and pathway data, resulting in a rich drug-event dataset. Next, advanced distributed computing methods are tailored to coordinate the execution of data-mining and statistical analysis tasks. This permits obtaining a ranked drug-event list, removing spurious entries and highlighting relationships with high risk potential. The EU-ADR Web Platform is an open workspace for the integrated analysis of pharmacovigilance datasets. Using this software, researchers can access a variety of tools provided by distinct partners in a single centralized environment. Besides performing standalone drug-event assessments, they can also control the pipeline for an improved batch analysis of custom datasets. Drug-event pairs can be substantiated and statistically analysed within the platform's innovative working environment. A pioneering workspace that helps in explaining the biological path of adverse drug reactions was developed within the EU-ADR project consortium. This tool, targeted at the pharmacovigilance community, is available online at https://bioinformatics.ua.pt/euadr/. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  16. Using text-mining techniques in electronic patient records to identify ADRs from medicine use

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Warrer, Pernille; Hansen, Ebba Holme; Jensen, Lars Juhl

    2012-01-01

    This literature review included studies that use text-mining techniques in narrative documents stored in electronic patient records (EPRs) to investigate ADRs. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts without restrictions from origin until July 2011. We...... included empirically based studies on text mining of electronic patient records (EPRs) that focused on detecting ADRs, excluding those that investigated adverse events not related to medicine use. We extracted information on study populations, EPR data sources, frequencies and types of the identified ADRs......, medicines associated with ADRs, text-mining algorithms used and their performance. Seven studies, all from the United States, were eligible for inclusion in the review. Studies were published from 2001, the majority between 2009 and 2010. Text-mining techniques varied over time from simple free text...

  17. Prospective assessment of NSAIDs induced ADRs in orthopaedic in-patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Padmanabha TS, Bhaskara K, Nandini T

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Background and Objectives: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs are one among the most widely used medications to treat pain and inflammation condition. But inadvertent use of NSAIDs have resulted in gastric upset and even death. Hence to minimize such consequences and to identify the incidence of the Adverse drug reaction (ADRs due to NSAIDs in orthopaedic in-patients to promote rational prescribing. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was done in one hundred orthopaedic in-patients of a tertiary care hospital for 3 months from June-Augest 2012. The ADRs pattern were noted with respect to age, gender and drugs involved . The causality of ADRs were assessed by Naranjo’s Algorithm. Results: Among one hundred in- patients 16% developed ADR due to NSAIDs and 1.92% due to Antimicrobial agents (AMAs. The ADRs were more in males (11% than females (5%. Most prescribed NSAID was Diclofenac (76 %, and least was nimesulide (2%. Others were Paracetamol (16%, Ibuprofen (3% and Etoricoxib (3% . Out of 16 ADRs Tablet (Tab Diclofenac accounted for maximum number {87.5%, (n=14} of ADRs, followed by Tab. Paracetamol {12.5 % (n=2}. Conclusion: ADR incidence rate in orthopaedic in-patient due to NSAIDs was 16%. Educating, establishment and encouragement of Pharmacovigilance system among medical and non-health professionals including medical undergraduates improve ADRs identification and to identify the drugs causing it, therefore prolonged hospitalization, treatment cost, morbidity and mortalities can be minimized. Hence, further ADRs due to particular drugs can be reduced in other patients with rational prescription.

  18. Administrative Data Repository (ADR)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Veterans Affairs — The Administrative Data Repository (ADR) was established to provide support for the administrative data elements relative to multiple categories of a person entity...

  19. 48 CFR 5433.214. - Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). 5433.214. Section 5433.214. Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROTESTS, DISPUTES AND APPEALS 5433.214. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). The...

  20. 48 CFR 33.214 - Alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Alternative dispute... GENERAL CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS PROTESTS, DISPUTES, AND APPEALS Disputes and Appeals 33.214 Alternative dispute resolution (ADR). (a) The objective of using ADR procedures is to increase the opportunity for...

  1. Mechanical Design of a 4-Stage ADR for the PIPER mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, Bryan L.; Kimball, Mark O.; Shirron, Peter J.; Sampson, Michael A.; Letmate, Richard V.; Jackson, Michael L.

    2017-01-01

    The four 1,280 bolometer detector arrays that will fly on the balloon borne PIPER mission will be cooled by a 4-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). Two of the three mechanically independent ADR assemblies provide thermal isolation to their salt pills through Kevlar suspensions while the other provides thermal isolation to its salt pill through the use of bellows and Vespel material. The ADR integrates with the detector arrays and it sits in a large bucket Dewar containing superfluid liquid helium. This paper will describe the complex mechanical design of the PIPER ADR, and summarize the mechanical analysis done to validate the design.The four 1,280 bolometer detector arrays that will fly on the balloon borne PIPER mission will be cooled by a 4-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). Two of the three mechanically independent ADR assemblies provide thermal isolation to their salt pills through Kevlar suspensions while the other provides thermal isolation to its salt pill through the use of bellows and Vespel material. The ADR integrates with the detector arrays and it sits in a large bucket Dewar containing superfluid liquid helium. This paper will describe the complex mechanical design of the PIPER ADR, and summarize the mechanical analysis done to validate the design.

  2. 48 CFR 1433.214 - Alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Alternative dispute... GENERAL CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS PROTESTS, DISPUTES, AND APPEALS Disputes and Appeals 1433.214 Alternative dispute resolution (ADR). DOI strongly encourages the use of ADR in the resolution of disputes in lieu of...

  3. Enforcing consumer rights through ADR at the detriment of consumer law

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Loos, M.B.M.

    2016-01-01

    Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is seen by the European legislator as a key instrument for the enforcement of consumer rights. To further ADR, the EU has adopted the ADR Directive, which was to be implemented by the Member States by 9 July 2015. This article shows that the Directive has

  4. The Various forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR in International Commercial Disputes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelica Rosu

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Alternative dispute resolution, usually referred to by the acronym ADR, is the focus ofgrowing interest in the business world, and particularly the international business world. Contractdrafters are continuously inventing new ADR procedures, most of which are derived from, or inspiredby mediation, although in fact this is only one type of alternative dispute resolution. There is no doubtthat ADR has emerged out of practice. At present, there is a very broad range of alternative means ofdispute resolution used in equally broad array of circumstances. An exhaustive list of different typesof ADR cannot be drawn because ADR lends itself to numerous derivatives consisting ofcombinations of common types. Of all the ADR types, mediation is the most traditional and the mostcentral, around which all the other derivatives gravitate.

  5. Market segmentation: Venezuelan ADRs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urbi Garay

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The control on foreign exchange imposed by Venezuela in 2003 constitute a natural experiment that allows researchers to observe the effects of exchange controls on stock market segmentation. This paper provides empirical evidence that although the Venezuelan capital market as a whole was highly segmented before the controls were imposed, the shares in the firm CANTV were, through their American Depositary Receipts (ADRs, partially integrated with the global market. Following the imposition of the exchange controls this integration was lost. Research also documents the spectacular and apparently contradictory rise experienced by the Caracas Stock Exchange during the serious economic crisis of 2003. It is argued that, as it happened in Argentina in 2002, the rise in share prices occurred because the depreciation of the Bolívar in the parallel currency market increased the local price of the stocks that had associated ADRs, which were negotiated in dollars.

  6. ADR characteristics and corporate governance in the Greater China region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lee-Hsien Pan

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available We examine the relationship between firm valuation and governance mechanisms, firm characteristics, and institutional factors of the American Depository Receipts (ADRs domiciled in the Greater China region. We find that China ADRs have the highest market-to-book value ratio followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan ADRs. It appears that Chinese firms with the poorest external governance environment stand to benefit the most from cross listing under the ADR programs. Listing in the U.S. that requires more stringent regulations and disclosure rules may strengthen the firms’ governance practices and thereby enhance their firm value. Among the internal governance mechanisms, institutional ownership and insider ownership are important for firm value.

  7. 5 CFR 2423.2 - Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services. 2423.2 Section 2423.2 Administrative Personnel FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY, GENERAL COUNSEL... Filing, Investigating, Resolving, and Acting on Charges § 2423.2 Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR...

  8. Arbitrage with ADRs: a sectorial case study for companies in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Chile Arbitraje con ADRs: un estudio de caso sectorial para empresas de Colombia, México, Brasil y Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrés Mauricio Mora

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available This research continues the paper “Generalidades de los ADRs: Un estudio de casosectorial para empresas de Colombia, Mexico, Brasil y Chile” [ADRs generalities: a sectorial case study for companies in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Chile]. It is organizedin two sections. The first one covers the unique price theory and the efficient markets hypothesis. In the second one, arbitrage conditions with ADRs are empirically evaluated. The objective is to prove the existence of price differentials between stocks and ADRs, which would allow investors to obtain a risk free return.El presente artículo es la continuación del artículo “Generalidades de los ADRs: Un estudio de caso sectorial para empresas de Colombia, México, Brasil y Chile” y al igual que este, es un subproducto de la investigación “Arbitraje con ADRs: Un estudio de caso sectorial para empresas de Colombia, México, Brasil y Chile”. El artículo se divide en dos partes, en la primera se trata la teoría sobre la ley del precio único y la hipótesis de los mercados eficientes, y en la segunda parte se abarca el tema de arbitraje con activos financieros desde la práctica, haciendo un ejercicio econométrico de arbitraje con ADRs. El objetivo de esta investigación es comprobar la existencia de diferenciales de precio entre las acciones y sus respectivos ADRs, lo que permitiría a los inversionistas obtener una ganancia libre de riesgo.Abstract This research continues the paper “Generalidades de los ADRs: Un estudio de caso sectorial para empresas de Colombia, Mexico, Brasil y Chile” [ADRs generalities: a sectorial case study for companies in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Chile]. It is organized in two sections. The first one covers the unique price theory and the efficient markets hypothesis. In the second one, arbitrage conditions with ADRs are empirically evaluated. The objective is to prove the existence of price differentials between stocks and ADRs, which would allow

  9. ADR 95. European Agreement on International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road - 1995. Annexes A and B, ADR stipulations, index of materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ridder, K.

    1995-01-01

    The ADR, (authentic official name: Accord Europeen relatif au Transport des Marchandises Dangereuses par Route), after several amendments has been revised in 1994, the revised version having again be amended in January 1995 within the framework of the 12th amending ADR Ordinance. The amendments include: (1) revised versions of danger categories as listed in the following: category 3 (flammable, liquid substances), category 6.1 (toxic substances), 6.2 (contagious substances), and 8 (caustic substances). Some amendments are of special importance, as e.g. those in category 3 (reduction of ignition limit to 61 C) and 9 (introduction of water-polluting substances). (2) Stipulation requiring goods for dispatch to be labelled with the relevant UN number. (3) Abolition of the danger sign No. 6.1A (crossed-out spicule - hazardous to health), replaced by new sign for contagious goods (3 crescents). (4) New annex B.5 for classification numbers indicating tanks/homogenous bulk goods. The German GGVS and the ADR are now almost identical, the remaining minor deviations planned to be harmonised in 1997. However, as from January 1995 there is a difficult situation created by the effectiveness of the revised ADR, with the amended version of the German GGVS being delayed. (orig./HP) [de

  10. [Drug resistance reversal of HL-60/ADR cells by simultaneous suppression of XIAP and MRP].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiao-Fang; Wang, Chun; Qin, You-Wen; Yan, Shi-Ke; Gao, Yan-Rong

    2006-12-01

    This study was purposed to explore the mechanisms of drug resistance of HL-60/ADR cells and to compare the reversal drug-resistance effects of antisense oligonucleotides (AS ODN) of XIAP (X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein) and AS ODNs of MRP (multidrug resistance-associated protein) by use alone or in combination. Reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot were applied to detect the expression of XIAP, BCL-2, MRP and MDR1 in mRNA and protein levels of HL-60 cells and HL-60/ADR cells, respectively. Fully phosphorothioated AS ODN of XIAP and MRP was delivered into HL-60/ADR cells with Lipofectamine 2000 in the form of liposome-ODN complexes alone or in combination. CCK-8 cell viability assay was used to determine the effect of AS ODN of XIAP and MRP used alone or in combination on the chemotherapy sensitivity of HL-60/ADR cells to daunorubicin (DNR). Reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot were applied to examine the changes of XIAP, MRP in mRNA and protein levels respectively. The results showed that MRP and XIAP were both significantly higher in HL-60/ADR cells than those in HL-60 cells. AS ODN of XIAP and MRP down-regulated the expression of XIAP and MRP in HL-60/ADR cells and increased the sensitivity of HL-60/ADR cells to DNR, respectively. AS ODN of XIAP + MRP did not enhance the inhibition expression of XIAP in HL-60/ADR cells but increased the sensitivity of HL-60/ADR cells to DNR significantly as compared with AS ODN of XIAP (P MRP did not increase the concentration of DNR nor enhanced the inhibition expression of MRP in HL-60/ADR cells but increased the sensitivity of HL-60/ADR cells to DNR significantly (P MRP. It is concluded that both XIAP and MRP may be involved in the drug resistance mechanisms of HL-60/ADR cells. Drug-resistance of HL-60/ADR cells can be reversed significantly when antisense oligonucleotides of XIAP and MRP were used in combination.

  11. A systematic investigation of computation models for predicting Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuang, Qifan; Wang, MinQi; Li, Rong; Dong, YongCheng; Li, Yizhou; Li, Menglong

    2014-01-01

    Early and accurate identification of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is critically important for drug development and clinical safety. Computer-aided prediction of ADRs has attracted increasing attention in recent years, and many computational models have been proposed. However, because of the lack of systematic analysis and comparison of the different computational models, there remain limitations in designing more effective algorithms and selecting more useful features. There is therefore an urgent need to review and analyze previous computation models to obtain general conclusions that can provide useful guidance to construct more effective computational models to predict ADRs. In the current study, the main work is to compare and analyze the performance of existing computational methods to predict ADRs, by implementing and evaluating additional algorithms that have been earlier used for predicting drug targets. Our results indicated that topological and intrinsic features were complementary to an extent and the Jaccard coefficient had an important and general effect on the prediction of drug-ADR associations. By comparing the structure of each algorithm, final formulas of these algorithms were all converted to linear model in form, based on this finding we propose a new algorithm called the general weighted profile method and it yielded the best overall performance among the algorithms investigated in this paper. Several meaningful conclusions and useful findings regarding the prediction of ADRs are provided for selecting optimal features and algorithms.

  12. A systematic investigation of computation models for predicting Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qifan Kuang

    Full Text Available Early and accurate identification of adverse drug reactions (ADRs is critically important for drug development and clinical safety. Computer-aided prediction of ADRs has attracted increasing attention in recent years, and many computational models have been proposed. However, because of the lack of systematic analysis and comparison of the different computational models, there remain limitations in designing more effective algorithms and selecting more useful features. There is therefore an urgent need to review and analyze previous computation models to obtain general conclusions that can provide useful guidance to construct more effective computational models to predict ADRs.In the current study, the main work is to compare and analyze the performance of existing computational methods to predict ADRs, by implementing and evaluating additional algorithms that have been earlier used for predicting drug targets. Our results indicated that topological and intrinsic features were complementary to an extent and the Jaccard coefficient had an important and general effect on the prediction of drug-ADR associations. By comparing the structure of each algorithm, final formulas of these algorithms were all converted to linear model in form, based on this finding we propose a new algorithm called the general weighted profile method and it yielded the best overall performance among the algorithms investigated in this paper.Several meaningful conclusions and useful findings regarding the prediction of ADRs are provided for selecting optimal features and algorithms.

  13. 14 CFR Appendix A to Part 17 - Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) A...—Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) A. The FAA dispute resolution procedures encourage the parties to..., pursuant to the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-320, 5 U.S.C. 570-579, and...

  14. Determining the Optimal Design for a New ADR Mechanical Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waldvogel, Kelly; Stacey, Gordon; Nikola, Thomas; Parshley, Stephen

    2018-01-01

    ZEUS-2 is a grating spectrometer that is used to observe emission lines in submillimeter wavelengths. It is capable of detecting redshifted fine structure lines of galaxies over a wide redshift range. ZEUS-2 can observe carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen lines, which will in turn allow for modeling of optically thick molecular clouds, provide information about star temperatures, and help gain insight about the interstellar medium and gases from which stars form. The detections collected by ZEUS-2 can provide a glimpse into star formation in the early universe and improve the current understanding of the star formation process.ZEUS-2 utilizes an Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator (ADR) to cool its detectors to around 100 mK. Copper rods connect the salt pills within the ADR and the mechanical supports. These supports are comprised of three main pieces: a base member, an inner member, and a guard member. On two separate mechanical supports, the Kevlar strands have broken. This led to thermal contact between the three members, preventing the detector from reaching its final operating temperature. It is clear that a replacement mechanical support system is necessary for operation.

  15. Automated Price and Demand Response Demonstration for Large Customers in New York City using OpenADR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Joyce Jihyun; Yin, Rongxin; Kiliccote, Sila

    2013-10-01

    Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR), an XML-based information exchange model, is used to facilitate continuous price-responsive operation and demand response participation for large commercial buildings in New York who are subject to the default day-ahead hourly pricing. We summarize the existing demand response programs in New York and discuss OpenADR communication, prioritization of demand response signals, and control methods. Building energy simulation models are developed and field tests are conducted to evaluate continuous energy management and demand response capabilities of two commercial buildings in New York City. Preliminary results reveal that providing machine-readable prices to commercial buildings can facilitate both demand response participation and continuous energy cost savings. Hence, efforts should be made to develop more sophisticated algorithms for building control systems to minimize customer's utility bill based on price and reliability information from the electricity grid.

  16. Final Summary of On-Orbit ADR Operation on Hitomis Soft X-Ray Spectrometer Instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirron, Peter

    2016-01-01

    The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) on the Astro-H observatory contains a 6x6 array of x-ray microcalorimeters that are cooled to 50 mK by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). The ADR consists of three stages in order to provide stable detector cooling using either a 1.2 K superfluid helium bath or a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler as its heat sink. Astro-H was renamed Hitomi after it was successfully launched in February 2016. The SXS carried approximately 36 liters of helium into orbit, and by day 5 the helium had cooled sufficiently (1.4 K) to allow operation of the ADR. This paper summarizes the ADRs performance during the 38 days that the satellite was operational.

  17. The ADR Directive: designed to fail? A hole-ridden stairway to consumer justice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Luzak, J.

    2016-01-01

    The European legislator adopted the new Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Directive with an aim to create an additional, attractive stairway to consumer justice. As such, the ADR Directive intends to encourage more consumers to invoke their consumer rights and thus strengthen consumer law

  18. Interaction and sonodynamic damage activity of acridine red (AD-R) to bovine serum albumin (BSA)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Dandan; Xie, Jinhui; Wu, Qiong; Fan, Ping; Wang, Jun, E-mail: wangjun888tg@126.com

    2015-04-15

    The sonodynamic therapy (SDT) has become an attractive antitumor treatment method in recent years, but the selection of sonosensitizer, mechanism of damage biomolecule and kind of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated during sonodynamic process have not been investigated in detail. In this paper, the acridine red (AD-R), as a sonosensitizer, combining with ultrasonic irradiation to damage bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated. At first, the interaction of AD-R to BSA molecules in aqueous solution was studied by fluorescence spectroscopy. As judged from the experimental results, the quenching mechanism of BSA fluorescence belongs to a static process. Synchronous fluorescence spectra demonstrate that the binding and damage sites to BSA molecules are mainly on the tryptophan residues. The generation and kind of generated ROS were also estimated by the method of oxidation and extraction photometry. This paper may offer some valuable references for the study of the sonodynamic activity and application of AD-R in SDT for tumor treatment. - Highlights: ●Acridine red (AD-R) is used to study interaction with BSA. ●Spectroscopy is used to study sonodynamic damage activity of AD-R to BSA. ●Generation of ROS caused by AD-R under ultrasonic irradiation was determined.

  19. Interaction and sonodynamic damage activity of acridine red (AD-R) to bovine serum albumin (BSA)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Dandan; Xie, Jinhui; Wu, Qiong; Fan, Ping; Wang, Jun

    2015-01-01

    The sonodynamic therapy (SDT) has become an attractive antitumor treatment method in recent years, but the selection of sonosensitizer, mechanism of damage biomolecule and kind of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated during sonodynamic process have not been investigated in detail. In this paper, the acridine red (AD-R), as a sonosensitizer, combining with ultrasonic irradiation to damage bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated. At first, the interaction of AD-R to BSA molecules in aqueous solution was studied by fluorescence spectroscopy. As judged from the experimental results, the quenching mechanism of BSA fluorescence belongs to a static process. Synchronous fluorescence spectra demonstrate that the binding and damage sites to BSA molecules are mainly on the tryptophan residues. The generation and kind of generated ROS were also estimated by the method of oxidation and extraction photometry. This paper may offer some valuable references for the study of the sonodynamic activity and application of AD-R in SDT for tumor treatment. - Highlights: ●Acridine red (AD-R) is used to study interaction with BSA. ●Spectroscopy is used to study sonodynamic damage activity of AD-R to BSA. ●Generation of ROS caused by AD-R under ultrasonic irradiation was determined

  20. Categorias de Riscos Evidenciadas nos Relatórios da Administração de Empresas Brasileiras com ADRsRisk Categories Disclosed in the Administration Reports of Brazilian Companies with ADRsCategorías de Riesgos Constatadas en los Informes de Administración de Empresas Brasileñas con ADRs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ZONATTO, Vinícius Costa da Silva

    2010-06-01

    and image risks. The survey results show that in general there is no standardization of the types of risks disclosed by the companies. A total of 14 types of risks have been identified. The predominant category in the disclosure was the operational risk, with 20.72% of the observations. There was no disclosure of image risk in the AR of the companies surveyed. It was found that 19 companies, 67.86% of the surveyed companies, demonstrate some kind of risk to which they are exposed. On the other hand, nine companies (32.14% did not show any kind of risk.RESUMENEl estudio tiene como objetivo identificar las categorías de riesgos que constan en el Informe de Administración, referente al año 2007, de Empresas Brasileñas con emisión de ADRs. La investigación, definida como descriptiva se realizó por medio de análisis documental. La muestra comprende 28 empresas brasileñas con emisión de American Depositary Receipt (ADRs en la Bolsa de valores de Nueva York (EEUU. Se consideraron siete categorías de riesgos corporativos, identificadas a partir de la metodología COSO (2004: riesgos estratégicos, riesgos de mercado, riesgos de crédito, riesgos de liquidez, riesgos operacionales, riesgos legales y riesgos de imagen. Los resultados de la investigación muestran que, en general, no hay una estandarización de los tipos de riesgo constatados por las empresas. En total se identificaron 14 tipos de riesgo. El riesgo operacional fue la categoría predominante en la constatación, con el 20.72% de las observaciones. No se encontró evidencia de riesgos de imagen en los I.A. de las empresas investigadas. Se constató que 19 empresas manifiestan algún tipo de riesgo al que la empresa está expuesta, lo que representa el 67.86% de la muestra. Por otro lado, en nueve empresas (el 32.14% no se constató la existencia de ningún tipo de riesgo.

  1. A revisit on the current practice of dispute resolution and ADR in the Malaysian construction industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohd Suhaimi Mohd Danuri

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The current dispute resolution procedures available in the Malaysian construction industry are mainly litigation and arbitration. In addition, the alternative dispute resolutions (ADR, namely mediation and adjudication, have also been introduced as the other methods for resolving disputes. The objective of this study is to examine the current practice of dispute resolution and ADR available in the Malaysian construction industry. The aim of this paper is two-fold: to report the current practice of dispute resolution and ADR, and identify the attributes of successful implementation of both mechanisms based on the perceptions of the Malaysian construction industry players. From the jurisprudence point of view, this study looks into the law as it is, in relation to the current practice of dispute resolution and ADR, by showing how those findings can be used to explain why improvement is needed to promote a successful and well received dispute resolution and ADR, and what lessons can be learnt, towards the formulation of a more viable methods for the Malaysian construction industry. NVivo software has been used to manage and organise the complete interview transcripts and facilitate the data analysis process for this study. Literature review reveals a continuous development of dispute resolution and ADR in the Malaysian construction industry, while, globally the industry has not only embraced ADR but also spearheaded the development of innovative forms of dispute avoidance mechanism. The findings of interviews show that locally, apart from litigation, the common types of ADR are arbitration, mediation and ad hoc mechanism. The findings also lead to the discovery of the following attributes: faster, less procedural, cost effective and enforceable; regulation and government's support; professionalism and ethic; training; and facility, that may promote a successful implementation of dispute resolution and ADR in Malaysia.

  2. 48 CFR 5452.233-9001 - Disputes: Agreement To Use Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). 5452.233-9001 Section 5452.233-9001 Federal Acquisition Regulations... of Provisions and Clauses 5452.233-9001 Disputes: Agreement To Use Alternative Dispute Resolution... Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) (APR 2001)—DLAD (a) The parties agree to negotiate with each other to try...

  3. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR): A Different Framework for Conflict Resolution in Educational Settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turan, Selahattin; Taylor, Charles

    This paper briefly introduces alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes and their fundamental principles. The paper provides a review of the literature on ADR and discusses its applicability in educational settings. The concept of conflict is explained, along with analysis of the limitations of traditional conflict resolution processes. The…

  4. Thermodynamic Performance of the 3-Stage ADR for the Astro-H Soft X-Ray Spectrometer Instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirron, Peter J.; Kimball, Mark O.; James, Bryan L.; Muench, Theodore; DiPirro, Michael J.; Bialas, Thomas G.; Sneiderman, Gary A.; Porter, Frederick S.; Kelley, Richard L.

    2015-01-01

    The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) instrument[1] on Astro-H[2] will use a 3-stage ADR[3] to cool the microcalorimeter array to 50 mK. In the primary operating mode, two stages of the ADR cool the detectors using superfluid helium at =1.20 K as the heat sink[4]. In the secondary mode, which is activated when the liquid helium is depleted, the ADR uses a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson cooler as its heat sink. In this mode, all three stages operate together to continuously cool the (empty) helium tank and singleshot cool the detectors. The flight instrument - dewar, ADR, detectors and electronics - were integrated in 2014 and have since undergone extensive performance testing. This paper presents a thermodynamic analysis of the ADR's operation, including cooling capacity, heat rejection to the heat sinks, and various measures of efficiency.

  5. Adjacent segment disease and C-ADR: promises fulfilled?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riew, K Daniel; Schenk-Kisser, Jeannette M.; Skelly, Andrea C.

    2012-01-01

    Study design: Systematic review. Clinical question: Do the rates and timing of adjacent segment disease (ASD) differ between cervical total disc arthroplasty (C-ADR) and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in patients treated for cervical degenerative disc disease? Methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE/PubMed and bibliographies of key articles was done to identify studies with long-term follow-up for symptomatic and/or radiographic ASD comparing C-ADR with fusion for degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine. The focus was on studies with longer follow-up (48–60 months) of primary US Food and Drug Administration trials of Prestige ST, Prodisc-C, and Bryan devices as available. Trials of other discs with a minimum of 24 months follow-up were considered for inclusion. Studies evaluating lordosis/angle changes at adjacent segments and case series were excluded. Results: From 14 citations identified, four reports from three randomized controlled trials and four nonrandomized studies are summarized. Risk differences between C-ADR and ACF for symptomatic ASD were 1.5%–2.3% and were not significant across RCT reports. Time to development of ASD did not significantly differ between treatments. Rates of radiographic ASD were variable. No meaningful comparison of ASD rates based on disc design was possible. No statistical differences in adjacent segment range of motion were noted between treatment groups. Conclusion: Our analysis reveals that, to date, there is no evidence that arthroplasty decreases ASD compared with ACDF; the promise of arthroplasty decreasing ASD has not been fulfilled. PMID:23236312

  6. 48 CFR 3033.214 - Alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ..., DISPUTES, AND APPEALS Disputes and Appeals 3033.214 Alternative dispute resolution (ADR). (c) The Administrative Dispute Resolution Act (ADRA) of 1996, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 571, et seq., authorizes and... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Alternative dispute...

  7. 10 CFR 1023.8 - Alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... (time and procedurally limited) trial with one-judge; summary binding (non-appealable) bench decision... resolve problems in a way that the remaining performance is eased and improved. For these reasons, the... provide ADR services and such services may be furnished whenever they are warranted by the overall best...

  8. Thermodynamic Analysis of the 3-Stage ADR for the Astro-H Soft X-Ray Spectrometer Instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirron, Peter; Kimball, Mark; DiPirro, Michael; Bialas, Tom; Sneiderman, Gary; Porter, Scott; Kelley, Richard

    2015-01-01

    The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) instrument on Astro-H will use a 3-stage ADR to cool the microcalorimeter array to 50 mK. In the primary operating mode, two stages of the ADR cool the detectors using superfluid helium at 1.20 K as the heat sink. In the secondary mode, which is activated when the liquid helium is depleted, two of the stages continuously cool the (empty) helium tank using a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson cooler as the heat sink, and the third stage cools the detectors. In the design phase, a high-fidelity model of the ADR was developed in order to predict both the cooling capacity and heat rejection rates in both operating modes. The primary sources of heat flow are from the salt pills, hysteresis heat from the magnets and magnetic shields, and power dissipated by the heat switches. The flight instrument dewar, ADR, detectors and electronics were integrated in mid-2014 and have since undergone extensive performance testing, in part to validate the performance model. This paper will present the thermodynamic performance of the ADR, including cooling capacity, heat rejection to the heat sinks, and various measures of efficiency.

  9. Chaetominine reduces MRP1-mediated drug resistance via inhibiting PI3K/Akt/Nrf2 signaling pathway in K562/Adr human leukemia cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yao, Jingyun; Wei, Xing [State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai (China); Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomanufacturing Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai (China); Lu, Yanhua, E-mail: luyanhua@ecust.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai (China); Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomanufacturing Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai (China)

    2016-05-13

    Drug resistance limits leukemia treatment and chaetominine, a cytotoxic alkaloid that promotes apoptosis in a K562 human leukemia cell line via the mitochondrial pathway was studied with respect to chemoresistance in a K562/Adr human resistant leukemia cell line. Cytotoxicity assays indicated that K562/Adr resistance to adriamycin (ADR) did not occur in the presence of chaetominine and that chaetominine increased chemosensitivity of K562/Adr to ADR. Data show that chaetominine enhanced ADR-induced apoptosis and intracellular ADR accumulation in K562/Adr cells. Accordingly, chaetominine induced apoptosis by upregulating ROS, pro-apoptotic Bax and downregulating anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. RT-PCR and western-blot confirmed that chaetominine suppressed highly expressed MRP1 at mRNA and protein levels. But little obvious alternation of another drug transporter MDR1 mRNA was observed. Furthermore, inhibition of MRP1 by chaetominine relied on inhibiting Akt phosphorylation and nuclear Nrf2. In summary, chaetominine strongly reverses drug resistance by interfering with the PI3K/Akt/Nrf2 signaling, resulting in reduction of MRP1-mediated drug efflux and induction of Bax/Bcl-2-dependent apoptosis in an ADR-resistant K562/Adr leukemia cell line. - Highlights: • Chaetominine enhanced chemosensitivity of ADR against K562/Adr cells. • Chaetominine increased intracellular ADR levels via inhibiting MRP1. • Chaetominine induced apoptosis of K562/Adr cells through upregulation of ROS and modulation of Bax/Bcl-2. • Inhibition of MRP1 and Nrf2 by chaetominine treatment was correlative with blockade of PI3K/Akt signaling.

  10. Application of Reinforced HTS 2212 Wires in ADR Magnets Operating at 30K-40K, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators (ADRs) are considered for operations in many space missions. At the heart of an ADR is a magnet that produces the background...

  11. Map-based Cloning and Characterization of a Brown Planthopper Resistance Gene BPH26 from Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica Cultivar ADR52

    OpenAIRE

    Tamura, Yasumori; Hattori, Makoto; Yoshioka, Hirofumi; Yoshioka, Miki; Takahashi, Akira; Wu, Jianzhong; Sentoku, Naoki; Yasui, Hideshi

    2014-01-01

    The brown planthopper (BPH) is the most serious insect pest of rice in Asia. The indica rice cultivar ADR52 carries two BPH resistance genes, BPH26 (BROWN PLANTHOPPER RESISTANCE 26) and BPH25. Map-based cloning of BPH26 revealed that BPH26 encodes a coiled-coil-nucleotide-binding-site?leucine-rich repeat (CC?NBS?LRR) protein. BPH26 mediated sucking inhibition in the phloem sieve element. BPH26 was identical to BPH2 on the basis of DNA sequence analysis and feeding ability of the BPH2-virulent...

  12. 48 CFR 1233.214 - Alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... Alternative dispute resolution (ADR). (c) The Administrative Dispute Resolution Act (ADRA) of 1990, Public Law... Specialist, who is responsible for the operations of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, (C-4... alternative means of dispute resolution set forth in the ADRA, 5 U.S.C. 571(3) on a non-reimbursable basis for...

  13. Medicare Under Age 65 and Medicaid Patients Have Poorer Bowel Preparations: Implications for Recommendations for an Early Repeat Colonoscopy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bryan B Brimhall

    Full Text Available Colonoscopy is performed on patients across a broad spectrum of demographic characteristics. These characteristics may aggregate by patient insurance provider and influence bowel preparation quality and the prevalence of adenomas. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of insurance status and suboptimal bowel preparation, recommendation for an early repeat colonoscopy due to suboptimal bowel preparation, adenoma detection rate (ADR, and advanced ADR (AADR.This is a cohort study of outpatient colonoscopies (n = 3113 at a single academic medical center. Patient insurance status was categorized into five groups: 1 Medicare < 65y; 2 Medicare ≥ 65y; 3 Tricare/VA; 4 Medicaid/Colorado Indigent Care Program (CICP; and 5 commercial insurance. We used multivariable logistic or linear regression modeling to estimate the risks for the association between patient insurance and suboptimal bowel preparation, recommendation for an early repeat colonoscopy due to suboptimal bowel preparation, ADR, and AADR. Models were adjusted for appropriate covariates.Medicare patients < 65y (OR 4.91; 95% CI: 3.25-7.43 and Medicaid/CICP patients (OR 4.23; 95% CI: 2.65-7.65 were more likely to have a suboptimal preparation compared to commercial insurance patients. Medicare patients < 65y (OR 5.58; 95% CI: 2.85-10.92 and Medicaid/CICP patients (OR 3.64; CI: 1.60-8.28 were more likely to receive a recommendation for an early repeat colonoscopy compared to commercial insurance patients. Medicare patients < 65y had a significantly higher adjusted ADR (OR 1.50; 95% CI: 1.03-2.18 and adjusted AADR (OR 1.99; 95% CI: 1.15-3.44 compared to commercial insurance patients.Understanding the reasons for the higher rate of a suboptimal bowel preparation in Medicare < 65y and Medicaid/CICP patients and reducing this rate is critical to improving colonoscopy outcomes and reducing healthcare costs in these populations.

  14. Information about adverse drug reactions reported in children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Christensen, Arne; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2010-01-01

    AIM: To review the literature on adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in children with respect to occurrence, seriousness, type, therapeutic group, age and gender of the child and category of reporter. METHODS: Medline and Embase databases were searched from origin and updated until February 2010. We...... included empirically based articles on ADRs in populations aged 0 to 17 years. Studies monitoring ADRs in patients with particular conditions or drug exposure were excluded. We extracted information about types and seriousness of ADRs, therapeutic groups, age and gender of the child and category...... of reporter. ADR occurrence was calculated as incidence rate and prevalence. RESULTS: We included 33 studies monitoring ADRs in general paediatric populations. The highest numbers of ADRs were reported in national ADR databases where data were collected over a longer period than in studies monitoring...

  15. The proportion of patient reports of suspected ADRs to signal detection in the Netherlands : case-control study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hunsel, Florence; Talsma, Attje; van Puijenbroek, Eugène; de Jong-van den Berg, Lolkje; van Grootheest, Kees

    Aim To determine the contribution of patients' adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports to signals detection, through a study of the signals sent by Lareb to the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board. Methods The percentage of patient's ADR reports contributing to generate signals of adverse drug reactions

  16. OpenADR Open Source Toolkit: Developing Open Source Software for the Smart Grid

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McParland, Charles

    2011-02-01

    Demand response (DR) is becoming an increasingly important part of power grid planning and operation. The advent of the Smart Grid, which mandates its use, further motivates selection and development of suitable software protocols to enable DR functionality. The OpenADR protocol has been developed and is being standardized to serve this goal. We believe that the development of a distributable, open source implementation of OpenADR will benefit this effort and motivate critical evaluation of its capabilities, by the wider community, for providing wide-scale DR services

  17. Xanthohumol, a Prenylated Chalcone from Hops, Inhibits the Viability and Stemness of Doxorubicin-Resistant MCF-7/ADR Cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ming Liu

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Xanthohumol is a unique prenylated flavonoid in hops (Humulus lupulus L. and beer. Xanthohumol has been shown to possess a variety of pharmacological activities. There is little research on its effect on doxorubicin-resistant breast cancer cells (MCF-7/ADR and the cancer stem-like cells exiting in this cell line. In the present study, we investigate the effect of xanthohumol on the viability and stemness of MCF-7/ADR cells. Xanthohumol inhibits viability, induces apoptosis, and arrests the cell cycle of MCF-7/ADR cells in a dose-dependent manner; in addition, xanthohumol sensitizes the inhibition effect of doxorubicin on MCF-7/ADR cells. Interestingly, we also find that xanthohumol can reduce the stemness of MCF-7/ADR cells evidenced by the xanthohumol-induced decrease in the colony formation, the migration, the percentage of side population cells, the sphere formation, and the down-regulation of stemness-related biomarkers. These results demonstrate that xanthohumol is a promising compound targeting the doxorubicin resistant breast cancer cells and regulating their stemness, which, therefore, will be applied as a potential candidate for the development of a doxorubicin-resistant breast cancer agent and combination therapy of breast cancer.

  18. My Car Is a Lemon! Use of the Better Business Bureau's Auto Line[R] Program as a Pedagogical Model of ADR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steslow, Donna M.

    2010-01-01

    Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is normally included as part of an introductory business law/legal environment course. While some business schools offer stand-alone ADR courses, the majority do not. As a result, a business student's only exposure to ADR processes may be through a Legal Studies in Business course. Several scholars have created…

  19. PENYELESAIAN SENGKETA BISNIS MELALUI ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ADR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joko Nur Sariono

    2006-07-01

    Full Text Available ADR represent alternative of solving of extrajudical done law dispute that is passing process of negonisasi and of mediasi and of abitrase for the process of and negonisasi of mediasi represent process of is solving of dispute compromisely with result of troubleshooting with while abitrasi represent process of solving of dispute by compromise of negonisasi compete which decision have the character of final.

  20. Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transitions and the Expression of Twist in MCF-7/ADR,Human Multidrug-Resistant Breast Cancer Cells

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Fei Zhang; Yurong Shi; Lin Zhang; Bin Zhang; Xiyin Wei; Yi Yang; RUi Wang; Ruifang Niu

    2007-01-01

    OBJECTIVE To study the expression levels of Twist and epithelialmesenchymal transitions in multidrug-resistant MCF-7/ADR breast cancer cells,and to study the relationship between multidrug resistance (MDR) and metastatic potential of the cells.METHODS RT-PCR,immunohislochemical and Western blotting methods were used to examine the changes of expression levels of the transcription factor Twist.E-cadherin and N-cadherin in the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line and its multidrug-resistant variant.MCF-7/ADR.RESULTS In MCF-7 cells,the expression of E-cadherin can be detected,but there is no expression of Twisl or N-cadherin.In MCF-7/ADR cells,E-cadherin expression is lost.bul the expression of two other genes was significantly positive.CONCLUSION Epithelial-mesenchymal transitions induced by Twist,may have a relationship with enhanced invasion and metastatic potential during the development of multidrug-resistant MCF-7/ADR breast cancer cells.

  1. Exploring antecedents of consumer satisfaction and repeated search behavior on e-health information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Yun Jung; Park, Jungkun; Widdows, Richard

    2009-03-01

    E-health information has become an important resource for people seeking health information. Even though many studies have been conducted to examine the quality of e-health information, only a few studies have explored the effects of the information seekers' motivations on the perceived quality of e-health information. There is even less information about repeated searches for e-health information after the users' initial experience of e-health information use. Using an online survey of information seekers, 252 e-health information users' responses were collected. The research examines the relationship among motivation, perceived quality, satisfaction, and intention to repeat-search e-health information. The results identify motivations to search e-health information and confirm the relationship among motivation, perceived quality dimensions, and satisfaction and intention to repeat searches for e-health information.

  2. Multi-Stage ADRs for Current and Future Astronomy Missions: Performance and Requirements for Cryogen-Free Operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirron, Peter; Kimball, Mark; Vlahacos, Kosta

    2010-01-01

    The cooling requirements for current (e.g. Astro-H) and future (e.g. IXO and ASP) astronomy missions pose significant challenges for the sub-Kelvin Cooler. In particular, the use of large detector arrays increases the cooling power needed, and the variety of cryocoolers that can be used for pre-cooling greatly expands the range of temperatures at which the sub-Kelvin cooler can be designed to reject heat. In most cases, there is also a need for a stable higher temperature stage for cooling amplifiers or telescope components. NASA/GSFC is currently building a 3-stage ADR for the Astro-H mission, and is developing a 5-stage ADR suitable for IXO and ASP, as well as many other missions in the early planning stages. The architecture of these ADRs allows them to be adapted rather easily for different cooling requirements and to accommodate different cryocooler capabilities (operating temperature and cooling power). This paper will discuss the performance of these ADRs, which operate in both continuous, and single-shot cooling modes, and the minimum cryocooler capabilities needed to meet the requirements of future missions.

  3. Surface protein Adr2 of Rickettsia rickettsii induced protective immunity against Rocky Mountain spotted fever in C3H/HeN mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Wenping; Xiong, Xiaolu; Qi, Yong; Jiao, Jun; Duan, Changsong; Wen, Bohai

    2014-04-11

    Rickettsia rickettsii is the pathogen of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), a life-threatening tick-transmitted infection. Adr2 was a surface-exposed adhesion protein of R. rickettsii and its immunoprotection against RMSF was investigated in mice. Recombinant Adr2 (rAdr2) was used to immunize C3H/HeN mice, and the rickettsial loads in organs of the mice were detected after challenge with R. rickettsii. The levels of specific antibodies of sera from the immunized mice were determined and the sera from immunized mice were applied to neutralize R. rickettsii. Proliferation and cytokine secretion of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells isolated from R. rickettsii-infected mice were also assayed after rAdr2 stimulation. After R. rickettsii challenge, the rickettsial loads in spleens, livers, and lungs were significantly lower and the impairment degrees of these organs in rAdr2-immunized mice were markedly slighter, compared with those in negative control mice. The ratio of specific IgG2a/IgG1 of rAdr2-immunized mice kept increasing during the immunization. After treatment with rAdr2-immunized sera, the total number of R. rickettsii organisms adhering and invading host cells was significantly lower than that treated with PBS-immunized sera. Interferon-γ secretion by CD4(+) or CD8(+) T cells and tumor necrosis factor-α secretion by CD4(+) T cells from R. rickettsii-infected mice were respectively significantly greater than those from uninfected mice after rAdr2 stimulation. Adr2 is a protective antigen of R. rickettsii. Protection offered by Adr2 is mainly dependent on antigen-specific cell-mediated immune responses, including efficient activity of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells to produce great amount of TNF-α and/or IFN-γ as well as rapid increase of specific IgG2a, which synergistically activate and opsonize host cells to killing intracellular rickettsiae. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. 76 FR 22848 - Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Conflict Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-25

    ...-AI63 Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Conflict Management AGENCY: Defense Legal Services Agency... conflict management practices as an integral part of normal business practices within the Department of...) AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT Sec. 83.1 Purpose. 83.2 Applicability. 83.3 Definitions. 83.4 Policy. 83.5...

  5. Demonstration of the improved PID method for the accurate temperature control of ADRs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shinozaki, K.; Hoshino, A.; Ishisaki, Y.; Mihara, T.

    2006-01-01

    Microcalorimeters require extreme stability (-bar 10μK) of thermal bath at low temperature (∼100mK). We have developed a portable adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) system for ground experiments with TES microcalorimeters, in which we observed residual temperature between aimed and measured values when magnet current was controlled with the standard Proportional, Integral, and Derivative control (PID) method. The difference increases in time as the magnet current decreases. This phenomenon can be explained by the theory of the magnetic cooling, and we have introduced a new functional parameter to improve the PID method. With this improvement, long-term stability of the ADR temperature about 10μK rms is obtained up to the period of ∼15ks down to almost zero magnet current. We briefly describe our ADR system and principle of the improved PID method, showing the temperature control result. It is demonstrated that the controlled time of the aimed temperature can be extended by about 30% longer than the standard PID method in our system. The improved PID method is considered to be of great advantage especially in the range of small magnet current

  6. Operating Modes and Cooling Capabilities of the 3-Stage ADR Developed for the Soft-X-Ray Spectrometer Instrument on Astro-H

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirron, Peter J.; Kimball, Mark O.; James, Bryan L.; Muench, Theo; DiPirro, Michael J.; Letmate, Richard V.; Sampson, Michael A.; Bialas, Tom G.; Sneiderman, Gary A.; Porter, Frederick S.; hide

    2015-01-01

    A 3-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) is used on the Soft X-ray Spectrometer instrument on Astro-H to cool a 6x6 array of x-ray microcalorimeters to 50 mK. The ADR is supported by a cryogenic system consisting of a superfluid helium tank, a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler, and additional 2-stage Stirling cryocoolers that pre-cool the JT cooler and cool radiation shields within the cryostat. The ADR is configured so that it can use either the liquid helium or the JT cryocooler as its heat sink, giving the instrument an unusual degree of tolerance for component failures or degradation in the cryogenic system. The flight detector assembly, ADR and dewar were integrated into the flight dewar in early 2014, and have since been extensively characterized and calibrated. This paper summarizes the operation and performance of the ADR in all of its operating modes

  7. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for dentists: a better way.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freudman, L

    1998-06-01

    Any dentist faced with a legal or potential legal dispute should consider all the options available to handle the dispute. Selection of the appropriate process may be approached from a consumer's perspective, with the emphasis on service, value and satisfaction. Awareness of ADR and its proper utilization can assist the dentist in choosing the method that will result in the most satisfactory outcome.

  8. Discrepancies in listed adverse drug reactions in pharmaceutical product information supplied by the regulatory authorities in Denmark and the USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eriksson, Robert; Aagaard, Lise; Jensen, Lars Juhl; Borisova, Liza; Hørlück, Dorte; Brunak, Søren; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2014-06-01

    Pharmaceutical product information (PI) supplied by the regulatory authorities serves as a source of information on safe and effective use of drugs. The objectives of this study were to qualitatively and quantitatively compare PIs for selected drugs marketed in both Denmark and the USA with respect to consistency and discrepancy of listed adverse drug reaction (ADR) information. We compared individual ADRs listed in PIs from Denmark and the USA with respect to type and frequency. Consistency was defined as match of ADRs and of ADR frequency or match could not be ruled out. Discrepancies were defined as ADRs listed only in one country or listed with different frequencies. We analyzed PIs for 40 separate drugs from ten therapeutic groups and assigned the 4003 identified ADRs to System Organ Classes (Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities [MedDRA] terminology). Less than half of listed ADRs (n = 1874; 47%) showed consistency. Discrepancies (n = 2129; 53%) were split into ADRs listed only in the USA (n = 1558; 39%), ADRs listed only in Denmark (n = 325; 8%) and ADRs listed with different frequencies (n = 246; 6%). The majority of listed ADRs were of the type "gastrointestinal disorders" and "nervous system disorders". Our results show great differences in PIs for drugs approved in both Denmark and the USA illuminating concerns about the credibility of the publicly available PIs. The results also represent an argument for further harmonization across borders to improve consistency between authority-supplied information.

  9. Variation in adverse drug reactions listed in product information for antidepressants and anticonvulsants, between the USA and Europe: a comparison review of paired regulatory documents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornelius, Victoria R; Liu, Kun; Peacock, Janet; Sauzet, Odile

    2016-03-20

    To compare consistency of adverse drug reaction (ADR) data in publicly available product information documents for brand drugs, between the USA and Europe. To assess the usefulness of information for prescribers and patients. A comparison review of product information documents for antidepressants and anticonvulsants concurrently marketed by the same pharmaceutical company in the USA and Europe. For each drug, data were extracted from the US Product Inserts and the European Summary of Product Characteristics documents between 09/2013 and 01/2015. Individuals contributing ADR information to product information documents. All ADRs reported in product information sections 5 and 6 (USA), and 4·4 and 4·8 (Europe). Twelve brand drugs--24 paired documents--were included. On average, there were 77 more ADRs reported in the USA compared with in the European product information document, with a median number of 201 ADRs (range: 65-425) and 114 (range: 56-265), respectively. More product information documents in the USA reported information on the source of evidence (10 vs 5) and risk (9 vs 5) for greater than 80% of ADRs included in the document. There was negligible information included regarding duration, severity, reversibility or recurrence of ADRs. On average, only 29% of ADR terms were reported in both paired documents. Product information documents contained a large number of ADRs, but lacked contextual data and information important to patients and prescribers, such as duration, severity and reversibility. The ADR profile was found to be inconsistently reported between the USA and Europe, for the same drug. Identifying, selecting, summarising and presenting multidimensional harm data should be underpinned by practical evidence-based guidelines. In order for prescribers to provide considered risk-benefit advice across competing drug therapies to patients, they need access to comprehensible and reliable ADR information. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited

  10. Investigating patient narratives posted on Internet and their informativeness level for pharmacovigilance purpose: The example of comments about statins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kheloufi, Farid; Default, Anne; Blin, Olivier; Micallef, Joelle

    2017-09-01

    Health-related networks like patient health forums may be considered as potential sources of information to early detect pharmacovigilance issues or complete data on drug safety. However, the clinical and pharmacological relevancy of such a source has not been clearly explored. We aimed to describe the characteristics and the informativeness level of Internet narratives posted by patients and mentioning adverse drug reactions (ADRs) related to statins. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on an Internet website dedicated to share experience on medicines. One day of December 2012, postings about simvastatin, rosuvastatin and atorvastatin publicly available on the website were collected. Their informativeness according to 16 key elements of information (including drug start and stop date, duration of treatment, time to onset and duration of the ADR, outcome, medical history, concomitant medication) was assessed. General information about reported ADRs was also investigated. Among the 96 postings related to statins, 72 (40 women, 32 men; mean age: 59 [40-78]) mentioned at least one ADR accounting for a total of 176 ADRs. Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders (42.6%) and nervous system disorders (15.3%) were the main represented ADRs. Only 2 patients mentioned ADRs that could be considered as serious but 24 patients mentioned they stopped or switched their treatment toward another lipid modifying agent because of the ADR. Mean number of available key elements of information per narrative was 6/16. Time to onset and duration of the ADR were respectively available in only 31% and 3% of the narratives. Medical history and concomitant medication were respectively lacking in 87% and 86% of the narratives. Outcome was found only in 39% of the narratives. Patient narratives posted on Internet include mainly non-serious expected ADR. However, their informativeness level is very incomplete and makes difficult their assessment and use for

  11. Development of an End-to-End Active Debris Removal (ADR) Mission Strategic Plan

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The original proposal was to develop an ADR mission strategic plan. However, the task was picked up by the OCT. Subsequently the award was de-scoped to $30K to...

  12. A low-volume polyethylene glycol solution was associated with an increased suboptimal bowel preparation rate but had similar recommendations for an early repeat colonoscopy, procedure times, and adenoma detection rates.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sam C Hankins

    Full Text Available Low-volume polyethylene glycol (PEG bowel preparations are better tolerated by patients than high-volume preparations and may achieve similar preparation quality. However, there is little data comparing their effects on a recommendation for an early repeat colonoscopy (because of a suboptimal preparation, procedure times, adenoma detection rate (ADR, and advanced adenoma detection rate (AADR.This is a retrospective cohort study of outpatient colonoscopies performed during a one-year period at a single academic medical center in which low-volume MoviPrep® (n = 1841 or high-volume Colyte® (n = 1337 was used. All preparations were split-dosed. Appropriate covariates were included in regression models assessing suboptimal preparation quality (fair, poor, or inadequate, procedure times, recommendation for an early repeat colonoscopy, ADR, and AADR.MoviPrep® was associated with an increase in having a suboptimal bowel preparation (OR 1.36; 95% CI: 1.06-1.76, but it was not associated with differences in insertion (p = 0.43, withdrawal (p = 0.22, or total procedure times (p = 0.10. The adjusted percentage with a suboptimal preparation was 11.7% for patients using MoviPrep® and 8.8% for patients using Colyte®. MoviPrep® was not associated with a significant difference in overall ADR (OR 0.93; 95% CI: 0.78-1.11, AADR (OR 1.18; 95% CI: 0.87-1.62, or recommendation for early repeat colonoscopy (OR 1.16; 95% CI: 0.72-1.88.MoviPrep® was associated with a small absolute increase in having a suboptimal preparation, but did not affect recommendations for an early repeat colonoscopy, procedure times, or adenoma detection rates. Mechanisms to reduce financial barriers limiting low-volume preparations should be considered because of their favorable tolerability profile.

  13. Patient-Reported Safety Information: A Renaissance of Pharmacovigilance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Härmark, Linda; Raine, June; Leufkens, Hubert; Edwards, I Ralph; Moretti, Ugo; Sarinic, Viola Macolic; Kant, Agnes

    2016-10-01

    The role of patients as key contributors in pharmacovigilance was acknowledged in the new EU pharmacovigilance legislation. This contains several efforts to increase the involvement of the general public, including making patient adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting systems mandatory. Three years have passed since the legislation was introduced and the key question is: does pharmacovigilance yet make optimal use of patient-reported safety information? Independent research has shown beyond doubt that patients make an important contribution to pharmacovigilance signal detection. Patient reports provide first-hand information about the suspected ADR and the circumstances under which it occurred, including medication errors, quality failures, and 'near misses'. Patient-reported safety information leads to a better understanding of the patient's experiences of the ADR. Patients are better at explaining the nature, personal significance and consequences of ADRs than healthcare professionals' reports on similar associations and they give more detailed information regarding quality of life including psychological effects and effects on everyday tasks. Current methods used in pharmacovigilance need to optimise use of the information reported from patients. To make the most of information from patients, the systems we use for collecting, coding and recording patient-reported information and the methodologies applied for signal detection and assessment need to be further developed, such as a patient-specific form, development of a severity grading and evolution of the database structure and the signal detection methods applied. It is time for a renaissance of pharmacovigilance.

  14. Minimal disturbance : Ensign's ADR-1000-CT rig aimed at CBM market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roche, P.

    2005-01-01

    Ensign Resource Services Group Inc. has recently designed a light, mobile rig aimed at Western Canada's coalbed methane (CBM) market. With a 1000 metre depth rating, the automated ADR-1000-CT rig can drill with either jointed pipe or 3 and a half-inch coil. Tractor units are used to move the rig to avoid the extra traffic generated by third-party trucks. The rig's self-levelling capability creates less environmental disturbance. Each component works on sites with as much as 2 metres difference in elevation, which reduces the need for earth-moving equipment. As drilling moves closer to farms and acreages, minimal environmental disturbance is crucial to the CBM industry. The rig won a 2005 Alberta government award for innovations in workplace health and safety as the design eliminates many of the tasks where injuries occur on conventional rigs. On conventional rigs, drill-strings are suspended from a travelling block which is suspended from the crown of a large, heavy derrick. With the ADR, hydraulic cylinders bear the weight of the drill string, and the derrick serves mainly to guide the top drive. When drilling only with jointed pipe, the coiled-tubing reel is a separate load so that drilling crews don't have to transport it around on programs requiring only jointed pipe. If coil is needed, the reel can be trucked to the site and plugged in to the rest of the rig. Tubing is expected to last 3 times as long as on a regular coiled-tubing rig, as the reel is positioned directly over the rotary table. The rigs have been used for various drilling projects and have performed satisfactorily with high penetration rates due to their large mud pumps. It was concluded that the ADR-1000-CT rig's hydraulic self-levelling capability and agility are helpful features when drilling in a minimal disturbance environment. 3 figs

  15. Consequences of the exclusion of known adverse drug reactions in a spontaneous reporting system on the possibility to detect unknown drug/ADR combinations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Borgsteede, Sander; Van Puijenbroek, Eugene; Van Grootheest, Kees

    Background: The Reporting Odds Ratio (ROR) is one of the expressions to analyse disproportionallity of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in a spontaneous reporting system. The ROR is defined as the extent to which the association between a suspected drug and ADR stands out against the background

  16. 47 CFR 25.263 - Information sharing requirements for SDARS terrestrial repeater operators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Information sharing requirements for SDARS terrestrial repeater operators. 25.263 Section 25.263 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS Technical Standards § 25.263 Information sharing...

  17. Mimosoudní řešení sporů (ADR) se zaměřením na mediaci

    OpenAIRE

    Vykysalá, Nikola

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this thesis is to present the main features of out-of-court dispute resolution (alternative dispute resolution) with mediation in civil and commercial issues under Directive No. 2008/52/EC, Act No. 202/2012 Coll., on Mediation and Change Some Laws ("Medition Act"), and Spanish Act No. 5/2012 on Mediation in Civil and Commercial Matters. The thesis purpose is definition of ADR and types of ADR, mediation and its relationship with international law and legislation in the Czech Re...

  18. Development of a quality instrument for assessing the spontaneous reports of ADR/ADE using Delphi method in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Lixun; Jiang, Ling; Shen, Aizong; Wei, Wei

    2016-09-01

    The frequently low quality of submitted spontaneous reports is of an increasing concern; to our knowledge, no validated instrument exists for assessing case reports' quality comprehensively enough. This work was conducted to develop such a quality instrument for assessing the spontaneous reports of adverse drug reaction (ADR)/adverse drug event (ADE) in China. Initial evaluation indicators were generated using systematic and literature data analysis. Final indicators and their weights were identified using Delphi method. The final quality instrument was developed by adopting the synthetic scoring method. A consensus was reached after four rounds of Delphi survey. The developed quality instrument consisted of 6 first-rank indicators, 18 second-rank indicators, and 115 third-rank indicators, and each rank indicator has been weighted. It evaluates the quality of spontaneous reports of ADR/ADE comprehensively and quantitatively on six parameters: authenticity, duplication, regulatory, completeness, vigilance level, and reporting time frame. The developed instrument was tested with good reliability and validity, which can be used to comprehensively and quantitatively assess the submitted spontaneous reports of ADR/ADE in China.

  19. O impacto da Lei Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX na qualidade do lucro das empresas brasileiras que emitiram ADRs The impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on earnings quality of Brazilian ADR issuers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark Miranda de Mendonça

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Este trabalho objetiva analisar o impacto da Lei Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX na qualidade do lucro das empresas brasileiras que emitiram ADR antes de 2002. Os escândalos contábeis de companhias como Enron e WorldCom reduziram a confiança dos investidores sobre a veracidade das demonstrações financeiras. A SOX surgiu com o propósito de proteger os investidores pela melhora na precisão e na confiabilidade na divulgação das demonstrações das empresas. Para medir a qualidade dos lucros, foram utilizados o Modelo de Basu (1997 e os modelos apresentados em Ball e Shivakumar (2005, estimados com dados em painel. Esperava-se que o aumento da regulamentação implicasse em maior grau de qualidade dos lucros nas empresas no período pós-SOX. Os resultados encontrados não são significativos nos modelos de Reversão à média das variações dos lucros e Cash Flow de Ball e Shivakumar (2005, mas os resultados do Modelo de Basu (1997 sugerem indício de aumento do conservadorismo contábil após a SOX, nas empresas brasileiras que emitiram ADR antes de 2002. Contudo, esse aumento do conservadorismo pelo Modelo de Basu (1997 também foi observado para todas as empresas brasileiras. Portanto, os resultados aqui apresentados sugerem indícios de aumento do conservadorismo brasileiro a partir de 2002, mas por outros motivos econômicos que não ocasionados pelo efeito SOX.This study analyzes the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX on earnings quality of Brazilian companies qualified as ADR issuers before 2002. The accounting scandals involving firms like Enron and WorldCom reduced investors confidence in the reliability of financial statements. SOX arose to protect investors by mandating more precise and reliable financial disclosure by firms. To measure earnings quality, we used the models by Basu (1997 and Ball and Shivakumar (2005, estimated with panel data. We expected that the enhanced legal framework would imply greater earnings quality in the

  20. Involvement of CD147 on multidrug resistance through the regulation of P-glycoprotein expression in K562/ADR leukemic cell line

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aoranit Somno

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The relationship between P-gp and CD147 in the regulation of MDR in leukemic cells has not been reported. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between CD147 and P-gp in the regulation of drug resistance in the K562/ADR leukemic cell line. The results showed that drug-resistant K562/ADR cells expressed significantly higher P-gp and CD147 levels than drug-free K562/ADR cells. To determine the regulatory effect of CD147 on P-gp expression, anti-CD147 antibody MEM-M6/6 significantly decreased P-gp and CD147 mRNA and protein levels. This is the first report to show that CD147 mediates MDR in leukemia through the regulation of P-gp expression.

  1. 26 CFR 12.4 - Election of Class Life Asset Depreciation Range System (ADR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 26 Internal Revenue 14 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Election of Class Life Asset Depreciation Range... Election of Class Life Asset Depreciation Range System (ADR). (a) Elections filed before February 1, 1972... tax return in accordance with § 1.167(a)-11 of this chapter (relating to depreciation allowances using...

  2. Knockdown of dual specificity phosphatase 4 enhances the chemosensitivity of MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR breast cancer cells to doxorubicin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Yu; Du, Feiya; Chen, Wei; Yao, Minya; Lv, Kezhen; Fu, Peifen

    2013-01-01

    Background: Breast cancer is the major cause of cancer-related deaths in females world-wide. Doxorubicin-based therapy has limited efficacy in breast cancer due to drug resistance, which has been shown to be associated with the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, the molecular mechanisms linking the EMT and drug resistance in breast cancer cells remain unclear. Dual specificity phosphatase 4 (DUSP4), a member of the dual specificity phosphatase family, is associated with cellular proliferation and differentiation; however, its role in breast cancer progression is controversial. Methods: We used cell viability assays, Western blotting and immunofluorescent staining, combined with siRNA interference, to evaluate chemoresistance and the EMT in MCF-7 and adriamycin-resistant MCF-7/ADR breast cancer cells, and investigate the underlying mechanisms. Results: Knockdown of DUSP4 significantly increased the chemosensitivity of MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR breast cancer cells to doxorubicin, and MCF-7/ADR cells which expressed high levels of DUSP4 had a mesenchymal phenotype. Furthermore, knockdown of DUSP4 reversed the EMT in MCF-7/ADR cells, as demonstrated by upregulation of epithelial biomarkers and downregulation of mesenchymal biomarkers, and also increased the chemosensitivity of MCF-7/ADR cells to doxorubicin. Conclusions: DUSP4 might represent a potential drug target for inhibiting drug resistance and regulating the process of the EMT during the treatment of breast cancer. - Highlights: • We used different technologies to prove our conclusion. • DUSP4 knockdown increased doxorubicin chemosensitivity in breast cancer cells. • DUSP4 is a potential target for combating drug resistance in breast cancer. • DUSP4 is a potential target for regulating the EMT in breast cancer

  3. The Quality of Clinical Information in Adverse Drug Reaction Reports by Patients and Healthcare Professionals: A Retrospective Comparative Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rolfes, Leàn; van Hunsel, Florence; van der Linden, Laura; Taxis, Katja; van Puijenbroek, Eugène

    2017-07-01

    Clinical information is needed to assess the causal relationship between a drug and an adverse drug reaction (ADR) in a reliable way. Little is known about the level of relevant clinical information about the ADRs reported by patients. The aim was to determine to what extent patients report relevant clinical information about an ADR compared with their healthcare professional. A retrospective analysis of all ADR reports on the same case, i.e., cases with a report from both the patient and the patient's healthcare professional, selected from the database of the Dutch Pharmacovigilance Center Lareb, was conducted. The extent to which relevant clinical information was reported was assessed by trained pharmacovigilance assessors, using a structured tool. The following four domains were assessed: ADR, chronology, suspected drug, and patient characteristics. For each domain, the proportion of reported information in relation to information deemed relevant was calculated. An average score of all relevant domains was determined and categorized as poorly (≤45%), moderately (from 46 to 74%) or well (≥75%) reported. Data were analyzed using a paired sample t test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. A total of 197 cases were included. In 107 cases (54.3%), patients and healthcare professionals reported a similar level of clinical information. Statistical analysis demonstrated no overall differences between the groups (p = 0.126). In a unique study of cases of ADRs reported by patients and healthcare professionals, we found that patients report clinical information at a similar level as their healthcare professional. For an optimal pharmacovigilance, both healthcare professionals and patient should be encouraged to report.

  4. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FIRM VALUE IN EMERGING MARKETS AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ADR ISSUING EMERGING MARKET FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aysun Ficici

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the value implications of good corporate governance for a sample of 54 ADR issuing emerging market firms (EMFs from 9 countries primarily located in the regions of Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America and the and employs recently constructed company composite corporate governance metric along with some alternative corporate governance measures associated with the origin of the issuing firm. Although the ADR literature primarily focuses on the impact of subscription to US disclosure requirements we contend that company and country specific corporate governance standards play a significant role in the risk reduction and ensuing value capture.  The fundamental inquiry in this study has the following foci: The primary focus is on the impact of corporate governance structures on firm performance as to whether adherence to standards creates market value for ADR issuing EMFs.  Do good corporate governance practices affect the value of EMFs? The secondary focus is concerned with whether the impact of corruption level and legal system in a firm’s home country affect the corporate structures of EMFs thus affecting the market value of firms.  In this study, we utilize Tobin’s q as the measure of firm performance/market value.  Our findings suggest that there is a significant correlation between corporate governance structures of ADR issuing EMFs and their market values and/or performances.  The results also indicate that the level of corruption and legal structures in home countries of EMFs strongly impact the corporate governance structures of these firms and sequentially affect their market values. Therefore, this research further contributes to the scholarly findings and suppositions that corporate structures of firms do create consequences on firm value.

  5. ADR salt pill design and crystal growth process for hydrated magnetic salts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirron, Peter J. (Inventor); DiPirro, Michael J. (Inventor); Canavan, Edgar R. (Inventor)

    2013-01-01

    A process is provided for producing a salt pill for use in very low temperature adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators (ADRs). The method can include providing a thermal bus in a housing. The thermal bus can include an array of thermally conductive metal conductors. A hydrated salt can be grown on the array of thermally conductive metal conductors. Thermal conductance can be provided to the hydrated salt.

  6. Study on traffic accidents mechanism with automatic recording systems. Part 2. Application of data from ADR and DMR for practical driver education; Jidosha kiroku sochi ni yoru kotsu jiko hassei mechanism no kenkyu. 2. Jiko data kirokukei (ADR) to unko kirokukei (DMR) no untensha kyoiku eno katsuyo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ueyama, M; Ogawa, S [National Research Inst. of Police Science, Tokyo (Japan); Chikasue, H; Muramatsu, K [Yazaki Meter Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

    1997-10-01

    A field trial are carried out using automatic receding system; ADR (Accident Data Recorder) and DMR (Driving Monitoring Recorder) installed on 20 commercial vehicles, in order to assess the implications for driver behavior and accidents. The data suggest that the accident mechanism can be explained in terms of situation-specific factor and behavior of drivers just before accident that is, their attitude to the handing and control of vehicles. The data might offer a new information for practical driver education. 3 refs., 9 figs., 1 tab.

  7. A Kinematic, Kevlar(registered) Suspension System for an ADR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voellmer, George M.; Jackson, Michael L.; Shirron, Peter J.; Tuttle, James G.

    2003-01-01

    The High Resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC) and the Submillimeter And Far Infrared Experiment (SAFIRE) will use identical Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators (ADR) to cool their bolometer detectors to 200mK and 100mK, respectively. In order to minimize thermal loads on the salt pill, a Kevlar@ suspension system is used to hold it in place. An innovative, kinematic suspension system is presented. The suspension system is unique in that it consists or two parts that can be assembled and tensioned offline, and later bolted onto the salt pill. The resulting assembly constrains each degree of freedom only once, yielding a kinematic, tensile structure.

  8. Generalidades de los ADRS: Un estudio de caso sectorial para empresas de Colombia, México, Brasil y Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrés Mauricio Mora

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available El presente artículo es uno de los productos que surgen a partir de la investigación “Arbitraje con ADRs: un Estudio de Caso Sectorial para Empresas de Colombia, México, Brasil y Chile” en el cual se hace un análisis detallado de las generalidades de los ADRs por medio de la búsqueda de las razones macroeconómicas y microeconómicas que llevaron a importantes empresas de Latinoamérica a emitir este tipo de activos financieros, buscando aumentar su participación en el mercado estadounidense y captar recursos para llevar a cabo sus planes expansionistas y de mejoramiento de la empresa.

  9. Le fihrist (catalogue) de la bibliothèque de Ṣadr-i Żiyâ’

    OpenAIRE

    Vohidov, Šodmon; Erkinov, Aftandil

    2010-01-01

    Muḥammad Sharîf-jân (Laṭîf-jân) Makhdûm (1867-1932), fils de ‘Abd al-Shakûr Qâżî-kalân, connu sous le nom de Ṣadr-i Żiyâ’, occupe une place prépondérante dans l’histoire de la vie culturelle à Boukhara au début du XXe siècle. Dernier qâżî-kalân, juge musulman suprême, de l’émirat de Boukhara sous le règne de l’émir ‘Âlim Khân (1910-septembre 1920), il fut homme d’État, poète, mécène, bibliophile et bibliographe. Homme sensible, intelligent et profondément cultivé, Ṣadr-i Żiyâ’ était également...

  10. Knowledge and attitudes of HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy regarding adverse drug reactions (ADRs in selected hospitals in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenneth Anene Agu

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The study evaluated the knowledge and attitudes of HIV-infected patients on ART regarding ADRs following routine patient counseling and education in selected hospitals in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: From 36,459 HIV-infected patients on ART in the 36 selected hospitals, a study-specific instrument was administered to 3,650 patients in a cross-sectional study. Patients were provided counseling and education on ADRs before and after commencing ART. Factor analysis was performed using principal components extraction. Item score means above midpoint (3.7 on a 5-point scale were regarded as positive attitudes and below as negative attitudes. A chi-square test was used for inferential statistics; P3.7 which denotes positive attitudes to ADRs. Three extracted factors accounted for 73.1% of cumulative variability. All attitude items had very significant loadings of ≥0.5. Conclusion: Overall, participants reported good knowledge and positive attitudes to adverse effects of their medicines compared to what was reported previously. The patient counseling and education on drug therapy provided to patients may have contributed to these findings and are highly recommended.

  11. The reversal effects of 3-bromopyruvate on multidrug resistance in vitro and in vivo derived from human breast MCF-7/ADR cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Long Wu

    Full Text Available P-glycoprotein mediated efflux is one of the main mechanisms for multidrug resistance in cancers, and 3-Bromopyruvate acts as a promising multidrug resistance reversal compound in our study. To test the ability of 3-Bromopyruvate to overcome P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance and to explore its mechanisms of multidrug resistance reversal in MCF-7/ADR cells, we evaluate the in vitro and in vivo modulatory activity of this compound.The in vitro and in vivo activity was determined using the MTT assay and human breast cancer xenograft models. The gene and protein expression of P-glycoprotein were determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction and the Western blotting technique, respectively. ABCB-1 bioactivity was tested by fluorescence microscopy, multi-mode microplate reader, and flow cytometry. The intracellular levels of ATP, HK-II, and ATPase activity were based on an assay kit according to the manufacturer's instructions.3-Bromopyruvate treatment led to marked decreases in the IC50 values of selected chemotherapeutic drugs [e.g., doxorubicin (283 folds, paclitaxel (85 folds, daunorubicin (201 folds, and epirubicin (171 folds] in MCF-7/ADR cells. 3-Bromopyruvate was found also to potentiate significantly the antitumor activity of epirubicin against MCF-7/ADR xenografts. The intracellular level of ATP decreased 44%, 46% in the presence of 12.5.25 µM 3-Bromopyruvate, whereas the accumulation of rhodamine 123 and epirubicin (two typical P-glycoprotein substrates in cells was significantly increased. Furthermore, we found that the mRNA and the total protein level of P-glycoprotein were slightly altered by 3-Bromopyruvate. Moreover, the ATPase activity was significantly inhibited when 3-Bromopyruvate was applied.We demonstrated that 3-Bromopyruvate can reverse P-glycoprotein-mediated efflux in MCF-7/ADR cells. Multidrug resistance reversal by 3-Bromopyruvate occurred through at least three approaches, namely, a decrease in the

  12. The reversal effects of 3-bromopyruvate on multidrug resistance in vitro and in vivo derived from human breast MCF-7/ADR cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Long; Xu, Jun; Yuan, Weiqi; Wu, Baojian; Wang, Hao; Liu, Guangquan; Wang, Xiaoxiong; Du, Jun; Cai, Shaohui

    2014-01-01

    P-glycoprotein mediated efflux is one of the main mechanisms for multidrug resistance in cancers, and 3-Bromopyruvate acts as a promising multidrug resistance reversal compound in our study. To test the ability of 3-Bromopyruvate to overcome P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance and to explore its mechanisms of multidrug resistance reversal in MCF-7/ADR cells, we evaluate the in vitro and in vivo modulatory activity of this compound. The in vitro and in vivo activity was determined using the MTT assay and human breast cancer xenograft models. The gene and protein expression of P-glycoprotein were determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction and the Western blotting technique, respectively. ABCB-1 bioactivity was tested by fluorescence microscopy, multi-mode microplate reader, and flow cytometry. The intracellular levels of ATP, HK-II, and ATPase activity were based on an assay kit according to the manufacturer's instructions. 3-Bromopyruvate treatment led to marked decreases in the IC50 values of selected chemotherapeutic drugs [e.g., doxorubicin (283 folds), paclitaxel (85 folds), daunorubicin (201 folds), and epirubicin (171 folds)] in MCF-7/ADR cells. 3-Bromopyruvate was found also to potentiate significantly the antitumor activity of epirubicin against MCF-7/ADR xenografts. The intracellular level of ATP decreased 44%, 46% in the presence of 12.5.25 µM 3-Bromopyruvate, whereas the accumulation of rhodamine 123 and epirubicin (two typical P-glycoprotein substrates) in cells was significantly increased. Furthermore, we found that the mRNA and the total protein level of P-glycoprotein were slightly altered by 3-Bromopyruvate. Moreover, the ATPase activity was significantly inhibited when 3-Bromopyruvate was applied. We demonstrated that 3-Bromopyruvate can reverse P-glycoprotein-mediated efflux in MCF-7/ADR cells. Multidrug resistance reversal by 3-Bromopyruvate occurred through at least three approaches, namely, a decrease in the intracellular

  13. Co-ordinate loss of protein kinase C and multidrug resistance gene expression in revertant MCF-7/Adr breast carcinoma cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Budworth, J; Gant, T W; Gescher, A

    1997-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the link between protein kinase C (PKC) and multidrug resistance (mdr) phenotype. The expression of both was studied in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7/Adr cells as they reverted to the wild-type phenotype when cultured in the absence of drug. The following parameters were measured in cells 4, 10, 15, 20 and 24 weeks after removal of doxorubicin; (1) sensitivity of the cells towards doxorubicin; (2) levels of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and MDR1 mRNA; (3) levels and cellular localization of PKC isoenzyme proteins alpha, theta and epsilon; and (4) gene copy number of PKC-alpha and MDR1 genes. Cells lost their resistance gradually with time, so that by week 24 they had almost completely regained the drug sensitivity seen in wild-type MCF-7 cells. P-gp levels measured by Western blot mirrored the change in doxorubicin sensitivity. By week 20, P-gp had decreased to 18% of P-gp protein levels at the outset, and P-gp was not detectable at week 24. Similarly, MDR1 mRNA levels had disappeared by week 24. MCF-7/Adr cells expressed more PKCs-alpha and -theta than wild-type cells and possessed a different cellular localization of PKC-epsilon. The expression and distribution pattern of these PKCs did not change for up to 20 weeks, but reverted back to that seen in wild-type cells by week 24. MDR1 gene amplification remained unchanged until week 20, but then was lost precipitously between weeks 20 and 24. The PKC-alpha gene was not amplified in MCF-7/Adr cells. The results suggest that MCF-7/Adr cells lose MDR1 gene expression and PKC activity in a co-ordinate fashion, consistent with the existence of a mechanistic link between MDR1 and certain PKC isoenzymes.

  14. Impact of product information and repeated exposure on consumer liking, sensory perception and concept associations of local apple juice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stolzenbach, Sandra; Bredie, Wender Laurentius Petrus; Christensen, Rune Haubo Bojesen

    2013-01-01

    The impact of product information and repeated exposure of local apple juice on consumer liking, sensory perception and concept associations was studied. Findings showed that consumers had high expectations towards the studied local apples juices. Consequently, the liking for the local apple juices...... did not fully determine consumer liking. Thus the sensory characteristics were also found to be of importance. Besides liking, the concept associations were also affected by product information. All local apple juices were associated as being more exclusive under informed tasting conditions....... No effects were found for liking of the apple juices over repeated exposure. Also, the consumers did not change their sensory perception over repeated consumption. However, the local apple juices were conceptualised as more familiar but remained exclusive after repeated consumption. When local producers have...

  15. O impacto do uso de ADRs sobre o valor de empresas brasileiras : um estudo de evento

    OpenAIRE

    Miyazaki, Joel

    2010-01-01

    Investiga o impacto do uso de ADRs sobre o valor de empresas brasileiras e a eficiência do mercado de capitais. Aborda as hipóteses que podem explicar este impacto e compara os resultados deste estudo com os de outras pesquisas efetuadas no Brasil e sobre ações de outros países.

  16. Preparation of psoralen polymer-lipid hybrid nanoparticles and their reversal of multidrug resistance in MCF-7/ADR cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Qingqing; Cai, Tiange; Li, Qianwen; Huang, Yinghong; Liu, Qian; Wang, Bingyue; Xia, Xi; Wang, Qi; Whitney, John C C; Cole, Susan P C; Cai, Yu

    2018-11-01

    Multidrug resistance (MDR) is the leading cause of failure for breast cancer in the clinic. Thus far, polymer-lipid hybrid nanoparticles (PLN) loaded chemotherapeutic agents has been used to overcome MDR in breast cancer. In this study, we prepared psoralen polymer-lipid hybrid nanoparticles (PSO-PLN) to reverse drug resistant MCF-7/ADR cells in vitro and in vivo. PSO-PLN was prepared by the emulsification evaporation-low temperature solidification method. The formulation, water solubility and bioavailability, particle size, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency, and in vitro release experiments were optimized in order to improve the activity of PSO to reverse MDR. Optimal formulation: soybean phospholipids 50 mg, poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) 15 mg, PSO 3 mg, and Tween-80 1%. The PSO-PLN possessed a round appearance, uniform size, exhibited no adhesion. The average particle size was 93.59 ± 2.87 nm, the dispersion co-efficient was 0.249 ± 0.06, the zeta potential was 25.47 ± 2.84 mV. In vitro analyses revealed that PSO resistance index was 3.2, and PSO-PLN resistance index was 5.6, indicating that PSO-PLN versus MCF-7/ADR reversal effect was significant. Moreover, PSO-PLN is somewhat targeted to the liver, and has an antitumor effect in the xenograft model of drug-resistant MCF-7/ADR cells. In conclusion, PSO-PLN not only reverses MDR but also improves therapeutic efficiency by enhancing sustained release of PSO.

  17. The role of health care ADR (alternative dispute resolution) in reducing legal fees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, D M

    1995-11-01

    An increasingly complex health care system undergoing rapid changes is an ideal set-up for frequent conflicts among the numerous participants. While conflict is inevitable, the manner in which it is handled can markedly affect the outcome of the dispute and the future relationship of the parties, as well as the emotional and financial cost of the dispute. This article presents an overview of the principles and processes of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and describes how these processes are currently being used to resolve health care disputes.

  18. EVIDENCIAÇÃO DA GESTÃO DE RISCOS DO COSO (2004 NOS RELATÓRIOS DA ADMINISTRAÇÃO DE EMPRESAS BRASILEIRAS COM ADRs [doi: 10.5329/RECADM.20100902001

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vinícius Costa da Silva Zonatto

    2010-11-01

    environments. The environment that has more disclosure of terms related to risk management is the control environment, and less, risk response. It was concluded that there is no uniformity in the information disclosed by the companies about the risk management practices. In general, they disclose actions related to the control activities and risks identification, but do not indicate how they respond to these risks.   Keywords Disclosure; risk management; coso; administration report; companies issuing ADRs.

  19. Decree No 2674/1973 of 19 October 1973 determining the authorities competent for application of the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1973-01-01

    In accordance with the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) signed by Spain on 22 November 1972, every Government Parts to the Agreement must designate the authorities competent for its application, which in Spain are the Minister of the Interior, the Minister for Public Works and the Minister for Industry. Radioactive materials are classified as dangerous goods under the ADR. (N.E.A.) [fr

  20. Development of a space-flight ADR providing continuous cooling at 50 mK with heat rejection at 10 K

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuttle, James; Canavan, Edgar; DeLee, Hudson; DiPirro, Michael; Jahromi, Amir; James, Bryan; Kimball, Mark; Shirron, Peter; Sullivan, Dan; Switzer, Eric

    2017-12-01

    Future astronomical instruments will require sub-Kelvin detector temperatures to obtain high sensitivity. In many cases large arrays of detectors will be used, and the associated cooling systems will need performance surpassing the limits of present technologies. NASA is developing a compact cooling system that will lift heat continuously at temperatures below 50 mK and reject it at over 10 K. Based on adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators (ADRs), it will have high thermodynamic efficiency and vibration-free operation with no moving parts. It will provide more than 10 times the current flight ADR cooling power at 50 mK and will also continuously cool a 4 K stage for instruments and optics. In addition, it will include an advanced magnetic shield resulting in external field variations below 5 μT. We describe the cooling system here and report on the progress in its development.

  1. Information technology-based approaches to reducing repeat drug exposure in patients with known drug allergies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cresswell, Kathrin M; Sheikh, Aziz

    2008-05-01

    There is increasing interest internationally in ways of reducing the high disease burden resulting from errors in medicine management. Repeat exposure to drugs to which patients have a known allergy has been a repeatedly identified error, often with disastrous consequences. Drug allergies are immunologically mediated reactions that are characterized by specificity and recurrence on reexposure. These repeat reactions should therefore be preventable. We argue that there is insufficient attention being paid to studying and implementing system-based approaches to reducing the risk of such accidental reexposure. Drawing on recent and ongoing research, we discuss a number of information technology-based interventions that can be used to reduce the risk of recurrent exposure. Proven to be effective in this respect are interventions that provide real-time clinical decision support; also promising are interventions aiming to enhance patient recognition, such as bar coding, radiofrequency identification, and biometric technologies.

  2. ADRES : autonomous decentralized regenerative energy systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brauner, G.; Einfalt, A.; Leitinger, C.; Tiefgraber, D. [Vienna Univ. of Technology (Austria)

    2007-07-01

    The autonomous decentralized regenerative energy systems (ADRES) research project demonstrates that decentralized network independent microgrids are the target power systems of the future. This paper presented a typical structure of a microgrid, demonstrating that all types of generation available can be integrated, from wind and small hydro to photovoltaic, fuel cell, biomass or biogas operated stirling motors and micro turbines. In grid connected operation the balancing energy and reactive power for voltage control will come from the public grid. If there is no interconnection to a superior grid, it will form an autonomous micro grid. In order to reduce peak power demand and base energy, autonomous microgrid technology requires highly efficient appliances. Otherwise large collector design, high storage and balancing generation capacities would be necessary, which would increase costs. End-use energy efficiency was discussed with reference to demand side management (DSM) strategies that match energy demand with actual supply in order to minimize the storage size needed. This paper also discussed network controls that comprise active and reactive power. Decentralized robust algorithms were investigated with reference to black-start ability and congestion management features. It was concluded that the trend to develop small decentralized grids in parallel to existing large systems will improve security of supply and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Decentralized grids will also increase energy efficiency because regenerative energy will be used where it is collected in the form of electricity and heat, thus avoiding transport and the extension of transmission lines. Decentralized energy technology is now becoming more economic by efficient and economic mass production of components. Although decentralized energy technology requires energy automation, computer intelligence is becoming increasingly cost efficient. 2 refs., 4 figs.

  3. Catatonia Secondary to Sudden Clozapine Withdrawal: A Case with Three Repeated Episodes and a Literature Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Bilbily

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A literature search identified 9 previously published cases that were considered as possible cases of catatonia secondary to sudden clozapine withdrawal. Two of these 9 cases did not provide enough information to make a diagnosis of catatonia according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5th Edition (DSM-5. The Liverpool Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR Causality Scale was modified to assess ADRs secondary to drug withdrawal. From the 7 published cases which met DSM-5 catatonia criteria, using the modified scale, we established that 3 were definitive and 4 were probable cases of catatonia secondary to clozapine withdrawal. A new definitive case is described with three catatonic episodes which (1 occurred after sudden discontinuation of clozapine in the context of decades of follow-up, (2 had ≥3 of 12 DSM-5 catatonic symptoms and serum creatinine kinase elevation, and (3 required medical hospitalization and intravenous fluids. Clozapine may be a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA receptor agonist; sudden clozapine withdrawal may explain a sudden decrease in GABA activity that may contribute to the development of catatonic symptoms in vulnerable patients. Based on the limited information from these cases, the pharmacological treatment for catatonia secondary to sudden clozapine withdrawal can include benzodiazepines and/or restarting clozapine.

  4. Demonstration of automated price response in large customers in New York City using Auto-DR and OpenADR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Joyce Jihyun [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Schetrit, Oren [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Yin, Rongxin [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Kiliccote, Sila [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2014-05-01

    Demand response (DR) – allowing customers to respond to reliability requests and market prices by changing electricity use from their normal consumption pattern – continues to be seen as an attractive means of demand-side management and a fundamental smart-grid improvement that links supply and demand. From October 2011 to December 2013, the Demand Response Research Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and partners Honeywell and Akuacom, have conducted a demonstration project enabling Automated Demand Response (Auto-DR) in large commercial buildings located in New York City using Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) communication protocols. In particular, this project focuses on demonstrating how the OpenADR platform, enabled by Akuacom, can automate and simplify interactions between buildings and various stakeholders in New York State and enable the automation of customers’ price response to yield bill savings under dynamic pricing. In this paper, the cost control opportunities under day-ahead hourly pricing and Auto-DR control strategies are presented for four demonstration buildings; present the breakdown of Auto-DR enablement costs; summarize the field test results and their load impact; and show potential bill savings by enabling automated price response under Consolidated Edison’s Mandatory Hourly Pricing (MHP) tariff. For one of the sites, the potential bill savings at the site’s current retail rate are shown. Facility managers were given granular equipment-level opt-out capability to ensure full control of the sites during the Auto-DR implementation. The expected bill savings ranged from 1.1% to 8.0% of the total MHP bill. The automation and enablement costs ranged from $70 to $725 per kW shed. The results show that OpenADR can facilitate the automation of price response, deliver savings to the customers and opt-out capability of the implementation retains control of the

  5. Integrating the Radiology Information System with Computerised Provider Order Entry: The Impact on Repeat Medical Imaging Investigations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vecellio, Elia; Georgiou, Andrew

    2016-01-01

    Repeat and redundant procedures in medical imaging are associated with increases in resource utilisation and labour costs. Unnecessary medical imaging in some modalities, such as X-Ray (XR) and Computed Tomography (CT) is an important safety issue because it exposes patients to ionising radiation which can be carcinogenic and is associated with higher rates of cancer. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of implementing an integrated Computerised Provider Order Entry (CPOE)/Radiology Information System (RIS)/Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) system on the number of XR and CT imaging procedures (including repeat imaging requests) for inpatients at a large metropolitan hospital. The study found that patients had an average 0.47 fewer XR procedures and 0.07 fewer CT procedures after the implementation of the integrated system. Part of this reduction was driven by a lower rate of repeat procedures: the average inpatient had 0.13 fewer repeat XR procedures within 24-hours of the previous identical XR procedure. A similar decrease was not evident for repeat CT procedures. Reduced utilisation of imaging procedures (especially those within very short intervals from the previous identical procedure, which are more likely to be redundant) has implications for the safety of patients and the cost of medical imaging services.

  6. Downregulation of eIF4G by microRNA-503 enhances drug sensitivity of MCF-7/ADR cells through suppressing the expression of ABC transport proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Xia; Yang, Xiaoyan; Zang, Jinglei; Zhang, Si; Huang, Nan; Guan, Xinxin; Zhang, Jianhua; Wang, Zhihui; Li, Xi; Lei, Xiaoyong

    2017-06-01

    Overexpression of adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette (ABC) transport protein is emerging as a critical contributor to anticancer drug resistance. The eukaryotic translation initiation factor (eIF) 4F complex, the key modulator of mRNA translation, is regulated by the phosphoinositide 3-kinase-AKT-mammalian target of rapamycin pathway in anticancer drug-resistant tumors. The present study demonstrated the roles of ABC translation protein alterations in the acquisition of the Adriamycin (ADM)-resistant phenotype of MCF-7 human breast cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were applied to examine the differences in mRNA and protein levels, respectively. It was found that the expression of the ABC sub-family B member 1, ABC sub-family C member 1 and ABC sub-family G member 2 transport proteins were upregulated in MCF-7/ADR cells. An MTT assay was used to detect the cell viability, from the results MCF-7/ADR cells were less sensitive to ADM, tamoxifen (TAM) and taxol (TAX) treatment compared with MCF-7 cells. We predicted that the 3'-untranslated region of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4-γ 1 (eIF4G) contains a potential miRNA binding site for microRNA (miR)-503 through using computational programs. These binding sites were confirmed by luciferase reporter assays. eIF4G mRNA degradation was accelerated in cells transfected with miR-503 mimics. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that eIF4G and ABC translation proteins were significantly downregulated in MCF-7/ADR cells after transfection with miR-503. It was found that miR-503 mimics could sensitize the cells to treatment with ADM, TAM and TAX. These findings demonstrated for the first time that eIF4G acted as a key factor in MCF-7/ADR cells, and may be an efficient agent for preventing and reversing multi-drug resistance in breast cancer.

  7. Always look on both sides: phylogenetic information conveyed by simple sequence repeat allele sequences.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stéphanie Barthe

    Full Text Available Simple sequence repeat (SSR markers are widely used tools for inferences about genetic diversity, phylogeography and spatial genetic structure. Their applications assume that variation among alleles is essentially caused by an expansion or contraction of the number of repeats and that, accessorily, mutations in the target sequences follow the stepwise mutation model (SMM. Generally speaking, PCR amplicon sizes are used as direct indicators of the number of SSR repeats composing an allele with the data analysis either ignoring the extent of allele size differences or assuming that there is a direct correlation between differences in amplicon size and evolutionary distance. However, without precisely knowing the kind and distribution of polymorphism within an allele (SSR and the associated flanking region (FR sequences, it is hard to say what kind of evolutionary message is conveyed by such a synthetic descriptor of polymorphism as DNA amplicon size. In this study, we sequenced several SSR alleles in multiple populations of three divergent tree genera and disentangled the types of polymorphisms contained in each portion of the DNA amplicon containing an SSR. The patterns of diversity provided by amplicon size variation, SSR variation itself, insertions/deletions (indels, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs observed in the FRs were compared. Amplicon size variation largely reflected SSR repeat number. The amount of variation was as large in FRs as in the SSR itself. The former contributed significantly to the phylogenetic information and sometimes was the main source of differentiation among individuals and populations contained by FR and SSR regions of SSR markers. The presence of mutations occurring at different rates within a marker's sequence offers the opportunity to analyse evolutionary events occurring on various timescales, but at the same time calls for caution in the interpretation of SSR marker data when the distribution of within

  8. Quantum and Information Thermodynamics: A Unifying Framework Based on Repeated Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strasberg, Philipp; Schaller, Gernot; Brandes, Tobias; Esposito, Massimiliano

    2017-04-01

    We expand the standard thermodynamic framework of a system coupled to a thermal reservoir by considering a stream of independently prepared units repeatedly put into contact with the system. These units can be in any nonequilibrium state and interact with the system with an arbitrary strength and duration. We show that this stream constitutes an effective resource of nonequilibrium free energy, and we identify the conditions under which it behaves as a heat, work, or information reservoir. We also show that this setup provides a natural framework to analyze information erasure ("Landauer's principle") and feedback-controlled systems ("Maxwell's demon"). In the limit of a short system-unit interaction time, we further demonstrate that this setup can be used to provide a thermodynamically sound interpretation to many effective master equations. We discuss how nonautonomously driven systems, micromasers, lasing without inversion and the electronic Maxwell demon can be thermodynamically analyzed within our framework. While the present framework accounts for quantum features (e.g., squeezing, entanglement, coherence), we also show that quantum resources do not offer any advantage compared to classical ones in terms of the maximum extractable work.

  9. Mapping and pyramiding of two major genes for resistance to the brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens [Stål]) in the rice cultivar ADR52.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myint, Khin Khin Marlar; Fujita, Daisuke; Matsumura, Masaya; Sonoda, Tomohiro; Yoshimura, Atsushi; Yasui, Hideshi

    2012-02-01

    The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), is one of the most serious and destructive pests of rice, and can be found throughout the rice-growing areas of Asia. To date, more than 24 major BPH-resistance genes have been reported in several Oryza sativa ssp. indica cultivars and wild relatives. Here, we report the genetic basis of the high level of BPH resistance derived from an Indian rice cultivar, ADR52, which was previously identified as resistant to the whitebacked planthopper (Sogatella furcifera [Horváth]). An F(2) population derived from a cross between ADR52 and a susceptible cultivar, Taichung 65 (T65), was used for quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis. Antibiosis testing showed that multiple loci controlled the high level of BPH resistance in this F(2) population. Further linkage analysis using backcross populations resulted in the identification of BPH-resistance (antibiosis) gene loci from ADR52. BPH25 co-segregated with marker S00310 on the distal end of the short arm of chromosome 6, and BPH26 co-segregated with marker RM5479 on the long arm of chromosome 12. To characterize the virulence of the most recently migrated BPH strain in Japan, preliminary near-isogenic lines (pre-NILs) and a preliminary pyramided line (pre-PYL) carrying BPH25 and BPH26 were evaluated. Although both pre-NILs were susceptible to the virulent BPH strain, the pre-PYL exhibited a high level of resistance. The pyramiding of resistance genes is therefore likely to be effective for increasing the durability of resistance against the new virulent BPH strain in Japan.

  10. Who Repeats Algebra, and How Does Initial Performance Relate to Improvement When the Course Is Repeated?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fong, Anthony; Jaquet, Karina; Finkelstein, Neal

    2016-01-01

    The information provided in this report shows how students perform when they repeat algebra I and how the level of improvement varies depending on initial course performance and the academic measure (course grades or CST scores). This information can help inform decisions and policies regarding whether and under what circumstances students should…

  11. Do women give the same information on binge drinking during pregnancy when asked repeatedly?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Strandberg-Larsen, Katrine; Andersen, Anne-Marie Nybo; Olsen, Jørn

    2006-01-01

    in question. As the report of binge drinking was highest in the first of two interviews referring to the same period, as well as women who participated in the first interview in pregnancy week 12 or earlier reported more binge drinking compared to women who participated in the interview later in pregnancy......OBJECTIVE: To study if pregnant women give the same answers to questions on frequency and timing of binge drinking when asked more than once during and after pregnancy. DESIGN: Cohort study.Setting:The Danish National Birth Cohort. SUBJECTS: The study is based on 76 307 pregnant women with repeated...... information on binge drinking during the early part of pregnancy and 8933 pregnant women with information on binge drinking during pregnancy weeks 30-36, obtained while pregnant and 6 months after delivery. RESULTS: More women reported binge drinking, if the interview took place close to the period...

  12. Adverse drug reactions in children reported by European consumers from 2007 to 2011

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2014-01-01

    Background Information about medicines safety in children is very limited. Consumer adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports can provide information about serious and unknown ADRs from medicine use in children. Objective To characterize ADRs in children reported by consumers in Europe from 2007 to 2011...... agents for 23 % and sex hormones for 13 %. Conclusion Only few paediatric ADR consumer reports were found in EudraVigilance. Many of these ADRs were serious, and fatal cases were reported, however also nonserious reports were present. The findings indicate that consumer reports may be of value....... Methods We analysed ADRs reported to the European ADR database, EudraVigilance (EV) for individuals from birth to 17 years. Data were characterized with respect to age and sex of the child, type of ADR (system organ class and preferred term), seriousness and suspected medicines (anatomical therapeutic...

  13. Relationship between quantum repeating devices and quantum seals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Guangping

    2009-01-01

    It is revealed that quantum repeating devices and quantum seals have a very close relationship, thus the theory in one field can be applied to the other. Consequently, it is shown that the fidelity bounds and optimality of quantum repeating devices for decoding quantum information can be violated when they are used for decoding classical information from quantum states and the security bounds for protocols sealing quantum data exist.

  14. Adverse drug reaction labelling for atomoxetine, methylphenidate and modafinil

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2013-01-01

    Medical product information contains information about efficacy and safety for marketed pharmaceuticals. Three studies have compared safety labelling for different therapeutic categories in different countries and detected large variations in a number of reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs......). The rapid increase in use of medications for treatment of ADHD symptoms has created concern due to lack of information about effects from long-term use. The aim of this study was to compare ADR information in product information (PI)/summary of product characteristics (SPC) for oral formulations...... of atomoxetine, methylphenidate and modafinil marketed by the same pharmaceutical companies in Australia, Denmark and the United States. Discrepancies in listed ADRs were defined as types of ADRs (system organ class) not listed in all countries. For ADRs where discrepancies were detected, we extracted...

  15. Repeat migration and disappointment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grant, E K; Vanderkamp, J

    1986-01-01

    This article investigates the determinants of repeat migration among the 44 regions of Canada, using information from a large micro-database which spans the period 1968 to 1971. The explanation of repeat migration probabilities is a difficult task, and this attempt is only partly successful. May of the explanatory variables are not significant, and the overall explanatory power of the equations is not high. In the area of personal characteristics, the variables related to age, sex, and marital status are generally significant and with expected signs. The distance variable has a strongly positive effect on onward move probabilities. Variables related to prior migration experience have an important impact that differs between return and onward probabilities. In particular, the occurrence of prior moves has a striking effect on the probability of onward migration. The variable representing disappointment, or relative success of the initial move, plays a significant role in explaining repeat migration probabilities. The disappointment variable represents the ratio of actural versus expected wage income in the year after the initial move, and its effect on both repeat migration probabilities is always negative and almost always highly significant. The repeat probabilities diminish after a year's stay in the destination region, but disappointment in the most recent year still has a bearing on the delayed repeat probabilities. While the quantitative impact of the disappointment variable is not large, it is difficult to draw comparisons since similar estimates are not available elsewhere.

  16. Simple sequence repeat marker development and genetic mapping ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    polymorphic SSR (simple sequence repeats) markers from libraries enriched for GA, CAA and AAT repeats, as well as 6 ... ers for quinoa was the development of a genetic linkage map ...... Weber J. L. 1990 Informativeness of human (dC-dA)n.

  17. Ethnic differences in adverse drug reactions to asthma medications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hu, Yusun; Cantarero-Arévalo, Lourdes

    2016-01-01

    , intervention, and types and severities of ADRs. RESULTS: Among the selected 15 randomised clinical trials, six pooled analyses of randomized clinical trials, and five prospective observational studies, only six studies compared ADRs across different ethnic groups. The majority of the comparisons were either...... studies disaggregated information by ethnic background, and reports of ADRs to asthma medications in different ethnic groups were rare. We suggest that the inclusion of ADR analysis by different ethnic backgrounds is desirable....... and to examine the relationship between ethnic background and ADRs to asthma medications. METHODS: MEDLINE was searched until March 2014. All types of studies reporting ADRs to asthma medications involving more than one ethnic group were included. Extracted information includes study designs, ethnic backgrounds...

  18. The Reversal Effects of 3-Bromopyruvate on Multidrug Resistance In Vitro and In Vivo Derived from Human Breast MCF-7/ADR Cells

    OpenAIRE

    Wu, Long; Xu, Jun; Yuan, Weiqi; Wu, Baojian; Wang, Hao; Liu, Guangquan; Wang, Xiaoxiong; Du, Jun; Cai, Shaohui

    2014-01-01

    Purpose P-glycoprotein mediated efflux is one of the main mechanisms for multidrug resistance in cancers, and 3-Bromopyruvate acts as a promising multidrug resistance reversal compound in our study. To test the ability of 3-Bromopyruvate to overcome P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance and to explore its mechanisms of multidrug resistance reversal in MCF-7/ADR cells, we evaluate the in vitro and in vivo modulatory activity of this compound. Methods The in vitro and in vivo activity wa...

  19. Discrepancies in listed adverse drug reactions in pharmaceutical product information supplied by the regulatory authorities in Denmark and the USA

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksson, Robert; Aagaard, Lise; Jensen, Lars Juhl

    2014-01-01

    as ADRs listed only in one country or listed with different frequencies. We analyzed PIs for 40 separate drugs from ten therapeutic groups and assigned the 4003 identified ADRs to System Organ Classes (Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities [MedDRA] terminology). Less than half of listed ADRs (n...

  20. Data-driven prediction of adverse drug reactions induced by drug-drug interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ruifeng; AbdulHameed, Mohamed Diwan M; Kumar, Kamal; Yu, Xueping; Wallqvist, Anders; Reifman, Jaques

    2017-06-08

    The expanded use of multiple drugs has increased the occurrence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) induced by drug-drug interactions (DDIs). However, such reactions are typically not observed in clinical drug-development studies because most of them focus on single-drug therapies. ADR reporting systems collect information on adverse health effects caused by both single drugs and DDIs. A major challenge is to unambiguously identify the effects caused by DDIs and to attribute them to specific drug interactions. A computational method that provides prospective predictions of potential DDI-induced ADRs will help to identify and mitigate these adverse health effects. We hypothesize that drug-protein interactions can be used as independent variables in predicting ADRs. We constructed drug pair-protein interaction profiles for ~800 drugs using drug-protein interaction information in the public domain. We then constructed statistical models to score drug pairs for their potential to induce ADRs based on drug pair-protein interaction profiles. We used extensive clinical database information to construct categorical prediction models for drug pairs that are likely to induce ADRs via synergistic DDIs and showed that model performance deteriorated only slightly, with a moderate amount of false positives and false negatives in the training samples, as evaluated by our cross-validation analysis. The cross validation calculations showed an average prediction accuracy of 89% across 1,096 ADR models that captured the deleterious effects of synergistic DDIs. Because the models rely on drug-protein interactions, we made predictions for pairwise combinations of 764 drugs that are currently on the market and for which drug-protein interaction information is available. These predictions are publicly accessible at http://avoid-db.bhsai.org . We used the predictive models to analyze broader aspects of DDI-induced ADRs, showing that ~10% of all combinations have the potential to induce ADRs

  1. Performance Comparisons of Improved Regular Repeat Accumulate (RA and Irregular Repeat Accumulate (IRA Turbo Decoding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmed Abdulkadhim Hamad

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, different techniques are used to improve the turbo decoding of regular repeat accumulate (RA and irregular repeat accumulate (IRA codes. The adaptive scaling of a-posteriori information produced by Soft-output Viterbi decoder (SOVA is proposed. The encoded pilots are another scheme that applied for short length RA codes. This work also suggests a simple and a fast method to generate a random interleaver having a free 4 cycle Tanner graph. Progressive edge growth algorithm (PEG is also studied and simulated to create the Tanner graphs which have a great girth.

  2. Mapping and pyramiding of two major genes for resistance to the brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens [St?l]) in the rice cultivar ADR52

    OpenAIRE

    Myint, Khin Khin Marlar; Fujita, Daisuke; Matsumura, Masaya; Sonoda, Tomohiro; Yoshimura, Atsushi; Yasui, Hideshi

    2011-01-01

    The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (St?l), is one of the most serious and destructive pests of rice, and can be found throughout the rice-growing areas of Asia. To date, more than 24 major BPH-resistance genes have been reported in several Oryza sativa ssp. indica cultivars and wild relatives. Here, we report the genetic basis of the high level of BPH resistance derived from an Indian rice cultivar, ADR52, which was previously identified as resistant to the whitebacked planthoppe...

  3. Layered Architectures for Quantum Computers and Quantum Repeaters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Nathan C.

    This chapter examines how to organize quantum computers and repeaters using a systematic framework known as layered architecture, where machine control is organized in layers associated with specialized tasks. The framework is flexible and could be used for analysis and comparison of quantum information systems. To demonstrate the design principles in practice, we develop architectures for quantum computers and quantum repeaters based on optically controlled quantum dots, showing how a myriad of technologies must operate synchronously to achieve fault-tolerance. Optical control makes information processing in this system very fast, scalable to large problem sizes, and extendable to quantum communication.

  4. Adverse drug reactions from psychotropic medicines in the paediatric population

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Hansen, Ebba H

    2010-01-01

    of these products in childhood. Little evidence has been reported about the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of these medicines in practice. As spontaneous reports are the main source for information about previously unknown ADRs, we analysed data submitted to a national ADR database. The objective was to characterise...... ADRs reported for psychotropic medicines in the Danish paediatric population over a decade. FINDINGS: All spontaneous ADR reports from 1998 to 2007 for children from birth to 17 years of age were included. The unit of analysis was one ADR. We analysed the distribution of ADRs per year, seriousness, age...... and gender of the child, suspected medicine and type of reported ADR. A total of 429 ADRs were reported for psychotropic medicines and 56% of these were classified as serious. Almost 20% of psychotropic ADRs were reported for children from birth up to 2 years of age and one half of ADRs were reported...

  5. Decree N0 68-1023 of 8 November 1968 publishing Annexes A and B, as amemded, to the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) of 30 September

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1968-01-01

    This Decree provides that Annexes A and B of the ADR shall be published in the Official Gazette of the French Republic. These are accordingly published as an Annex to the Official Gazette of the same date [fr

  6. Global patterns of adverse drug reactions over a decade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Strandell, Johanna; Melskens, Lars

    2012-01-01

    Background: Although systems to collect information about suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were established in many countries and by the WHO in the 1960s, few studies have examined reported ADRs related to national income. Objective: The aim of the study was to characterize ADRs reported......, classified in accordance with the World Bank definition: low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high. Results: We analysed 1¿359¿067 ADR reports including 3¿013¿074 ADRs. Overall, 16% of reports were serious and 60% were reported for females. High-income countries had the highest ADR reporting rates (range 3...

  7. The importance of monitoring adverse drug reactions in pediatric patients: the results of a national surveillance program in Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carnovale, Carla; Brusadelli, Tatiana; Zuccotti, GianVincenzo; Beretta, Silvia; Sullo, Maria Giuseppa; Capuano, Annalisa; Rossi, Francesco; Moschini, Martina; Mugelli, Alessandro; Vannacci, Alfredo; Laterza, Marcella; Clementi, Emilio; Radice, Sonia

    2014-09-01

    To gain information on safety of drugs used in pediatrics through a 4-year post-marketing active pharmacovigilance program. The program sampled the Italian population and was termed 'Monitoring of the Adverse Effects in Pediatric population' (MEAP). Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were collected for individuals aged 0 - 17 years treated in hospitals and territorial health services in Lombardy, Tuscany, Apulia and Campania; located to gain an appropriate sampling of the population. ADRs were evaluated using the Adverse Drug Reaction Probability Scale (Naranjo) and analyzed with respect to time, age, sex, category of ADR, seriousness, suspected medicines, type of reporter and off-label use. We collected and analyzed reports from 3539 ADRs. Vaccines, antineoplastic and psychotropic drugs were the most frequently pharmacotherapeutic subgroups involved. Seventeen percent of reported ADRs were serious; of them fever, vomiting and angioedema were the most frequently reported. Eight percent of ADRs were associated with off-label use, and 10% were unknown ADRs. Analysis of these revealed possible strategies of therapy optimization. The MEAP project demonstrated that active post-marketing pharmacovigilance programs are a valid strategy to increase awareness on pediatric pharmacology, reduce underreporting and provide information on drug actions in pediatrics. This information enhances drug therapy optimization in the pediatric patients.

  8. Inferring repeat-protein energetics from evolutionary information.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rocío Espada

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Natural protein sequences contain a record of their history. A common constraint in a given protein family is the ability to fold to specific structures, and it has been shown possible to infer the main native ensemble by analyzing covariations in extant sequences. Still, many natural proteins that fold into the same structural topology show different stabilization energies, and these are often related to their physiological behavior. We propose a description for the energetic variation given by sequence modifications in repeat proteins, systems for which the overall problem is simplified by their inherent symmetry. We explicitly account for single amino acid and pair-wise interactions and treat higher order correlations with a single term. We show that the resulting evolutionary field can be interpreted with structural detail. We trace the variations in the energetic scores of natural proteins and relate them to their experimental characterization. The resulting energetic evolutionary field allows the prediction of the folding free energy change for several mutants, and can be used to generate synthetic sequences that are statistically indistinguishable from the natural counterparts.

  9. Treatments that generate higher number of adverse drug reactions and their symptoms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucía Fernández-López

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs are an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and generate high health costs. Therefore, the aims of this study were to determine the treatments which produce more ADRs in general population and the main symptoms they generate. Methods: An observational, cross-sectional study consisting in performing a self-rated questionnaire was carried out. 510 patients were asked about the treatments, illnesses and ADRs, they had suffered from. Results: 26.7% of patients had suffered from some ADR. Classifying patients according to the type of prescribed treatment and studying the number of ADR that they had, we obtained significant differences (p ≤ 0.05 for treatments against arthrosis, anemia and nervous disorders (anxiety, depression, insomnia. Moreover, determining absolute frequencies of these ADRs appearance in each treatment, higher frequencies were again for drugs against arthrosis (22.6% of patients treated for arthrosis suffered some ADR, anemia (14.28%, nerve disorders (13.44% and also asthma (16%. Regarding the symptoms produced by ADRs, the most frequent were gastrointestinal (60% of patients who suffered an ADR, had gastrointestinal symptoms and nervous alterations (dizziness, headache, sleep disturbances etc (24.6%. Conclusion: Therapeutic groups which produce more commonly ADRs are those for arthrosis, anemia, nervous disorders and asthma. In addition, symptoms which are generated more frequently are gastrointestinal and nervous problems. This is in accordance with the usual side effects of mentioned treatments. Health professionals should be informed about it, so that they would be more alert about a possible emergence of an ADR in these treatments. They also could provide enough information to empower patients and thus, they probably could detect ADR events. This would facilitate ADR detection and would avoid serious consequences generated to both patients' health and health economics.

  10. Qualification campaign of the 50 mK hybrid sorption-ADR cooler for SPICA/SAFARI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duval, J.-M.; Duband, L.; Attard, A.

    2015-12-01

    SAFARI (SpicA FAR-infrared Instrument) is an infrared instrument planned to be part of the SPICA (SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) Satellite. It will offer high spectral resolution in the 30 - 210 μm frequency range. SAFARI will benefit from the cold telescope of SPICA and to obtain the required detectors sensitivity, a temperature of 50 mK is required. This temperature is reached thanks to the use of a hybrid sorption - ADR (Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator) cooler presented here. This cooler provides respectively 14 μW and 0.4 μW of cooling power at 300 mK and 50 mK. The cooler is planned to advantageously use two thermal interfaces of the instrument at 1.8 and 4.9 K. One of the challenges discussed in this paper is the low power available at each intercept. A dedicated laboratory electronic is being designed based on previous development with a particular focus on the 50 mK readout. Temperature regulation at 50 mK is also discussed. This cooler has been designed following flight constraints and will reach a high TRL, including mechanical and environmental tests at the end of the on-going qualification campaign.

  11. Fluxo de Caixa, ADRs e Restrições de Crédito no Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristiano M. Costa

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Seguindo Almeida, Campello e Weisbach (2003, usamos a relação entre restrição de crédito e a demanda por liquidez para mensurar o efeito das restrições crédito sobre as políticas das empresas brasileiras. O efeito da restrição de crédito pode ser capturado via propensão à poupança de fundos líquidos extraordinários. Enquanto empresas que enfrentam restrições de crédito deveriam apresentar uma sensibilidade positiva à entrada de recursos extraordinários em seu fluxo de caixa, as empresas irrestritas não apresentariam qualquer relação neste sentido. Utilizando o método 2SLS, estimamos a sensibilidade do fluxo de caixa à receitas extraordinárias usando uma amostra de empresas brasileiras entre 1995 e 2007 e, utilizando o acesso ao mercado financeiro internacional através de ADRs, verificamos que as empresas restritas financeiramente apresentam uma sensibilidade positiva do fluxo de caixa à recursos extraordinários, enquanto as empresas irrestritas não se comportam da mesma forma.

  12. Pharmacovigilance: Empowering healthcare professionals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mugoša Snežana S.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Spontaneous reporting of adverse reactions is of greatest importance for obtaining information about adverse drug reactions (ADRs after granting the marketing authorization. The most important role and also the greatest responsibility belong to healthcare professionals. Their active participation is a prerequisite for the existence of an effective national drug safety monitoring. Methods: This paper examines the legislative framework concerning the pharmacovigilance system in Montenegro. The information was collected from scientific articles and the website of the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Montenegro. Topic: Key segments of pharmacovigilance system are presented, with a special reference to the importance of spontaneous reporting of ADRs, results of spontaneous reporting of ADRs according to the latest Agency's Annual report on the results of spontaneous reporting of adverse reactions to medicines, possible reasons for underreporting ADRs, as well as the new EU regulation on pharmacovigilance. Conclusions: Spontaneous reporting of ADRs remains the cornerstone of pharmacovigilance systems. Hence, continuous education of healthcare professionals is needed, with the aim of improving their awareness of the importance of ADRs and risk factors that lead to them, in order to reduce the incidence of ADRs and to increase the number of reported suspected ADRs.

  13. A Novel Submicron Emulsion System Loaded with Doxorubicin Overcome Multi-Drug Resistance in MCF-7/ADR Cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, W P; Hua, H Y; Sun, P C; Zhao, Y X

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to develop the Solutol HS15-based doxorubicin submicron emulsion with good stability and overcoming multi-drug resistance. In this study, we prepared doxorubicin submicron emulsion, and examined the stability after autoclaving, the in vitro cytotoxic activity, the intracellular accumulation and apoptpsis of doxorubicin submicron emulsion in MCF-7/ADR cells. The physicochemical properties of doxorubicin submicron emulsion were not significantly affected after autoclaving. The doxorubicin submicron emulsion significantly increased the intracellular accumulation of doxorubicin submicron emulsion and enhanced cytotoxic activity and apoptotic effects of doxorubicin. These results may be correlated to doxorubicin submicron emulsion inhibitory effects on efflux pumps through the progressive release of intracellular free Solutol HS15 from doxorubicin submicron emulsion. Furthermore, these in vitro results suggest that the Solutol HS15-based submicron emulsion may be a potentially useful drug delivery system to circumvent multi-drug resistance of tumor cells.

  14. The GMRT 150 MHz all-sky radio survey. First alternative data release TGSS ADR1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Intema, H. T.; Jagannathan, P.; Mooley, K. P.; Frail, D. A.

    2017-02-01

    We present the first full release of a survey of the 150 MHz radio sky, observed with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) between April 2010 and March 2012 as part of the TIFR GMRT Sky Survey (TGSS) project. Aimed at producing a reliable compact source survey, our automated data reduction pipeline efficiently processed more than 2000 h of observations with minimal human interaction. Through application of innovative techniques such as image-based flagging, direction-dependent calibration of ionospheric phase errors, correcting for systematic offsets in antenna pointing, and improving the primary beam model, we created good quality images for over 95 percent of the 5336 pointings. Our data release covers 36 900 deg2 (or 3.6 π steradians) of the sky between -53° and +90° declination (Dec), which is 90 percent of the total sky. The majority of pointing images have a noise level below 5 mJy beam-1 with an approximate resolution of 25''×25'' (or 25''×25''/ cos(Dec-19°) for pointings south of 19° declination). We have produced a catalog of 0.62 Million radio sources derived from an initial, high reliability source extraction at the seven sigma level. For the bulk of the survey, the measured overall astrometric accuracy is better than two arcseconds in right ascension and declination, while the flux density accuracy is estimated at approximately ten percent. Within the scope of the TGSS alternative data release (TGSS ADR) project, the source catalog, as well as 5336 mosaic images (5°×5°) and an image cutout service, are made publicly available at the CDS as a service to the astronomical community. Next to enabling a wide range of different scientific investigations, we anticipate that these survey products will provide a solid reference for various new low-frequency radio aperture array telescopes (LOFAR, LWA, MWA, SKA-low), and can play an important role in characterizing the epoch-of-reionisation (EoR) foreground. The TGSS ADR project aims at

  15. A study on the strength of leg extention and leg curl exercise measured with the "Tremax System" and the "ADR" (Aero Dynamic Resistance System)

    OpenAIRE

    安藤, 勝英

    1995-01-01

    This is a study on the nature of the extensor and flexor muscles by the leg extention and leg curl exercise. The strength of the static muscles were measured with the "Tremax system" and for the strength of the dynamic muscles the "ADR" was used. Measuring the strength of the extensor muscles at bar no.1 to 4 of the Tremax System,it comes to a maximum at bar no.2 (extention 60°) but it declines radically when approaching extention 0°. Compared to the extensor muscles, the flexor muscules show...

  16. Presença de excipientes com potencial para indução de reações adversas em medicamentos comercializados no Brasil The presence of pharmaceutical excipients as possible cause of adverse drug reactions (ADR - situation in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Vinicios Alves da Silva

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Os excipientes farmacêuticos podem ser os responsáveis por inúmeras Reações Adversas a Medicamentos (RAM. O objetivo do trabalho foi identificar a presença de possíveis excipientes indutores de RAM em medicamentos comercializados no Brasil. Foram listados os 12 produtos mais vendidos no mercado brasileiro para análise. A detecção dos excipientes ocorreu a partir da consulta à composição da fórmula farmacêutica dos produtos, realizada de Agosto a Setembro/04, no Dicionário de Especialidades Farmacêuticas, sites SAC do laboratório produtor, e ficha técnica disponível no site da ANVISA. A identificação dos excipientes, possíveis causadores de RAM, foi realizada a partir de consulta à literatura. Foram identificadas 35 apresentações farmacêuticas, 26 classificadas como medicamentos de venda livre (71,4% e 15 de uso pediátrico (42,8%. Entre os excipientes identificados (n=100, nove eram possíveis causadores de RAM: metilparabeno, propilparabeno, corante amarelo tartrazina, bissulfito de sódio, benzoato de sódio, lactose, cloreto de benzalcônio, sorbitol e álcool benzílico, sendo identificados em sete apresentações de uso pediátrico (18,9% e doze de venda livre (32,4%. Os resultados demonstram a necessidade de maior atenção por parte dos profissionais de saúde, dos usuários de medicamentos e da avaliação pelos sistemas de farmacovigilância, da presença de excipientes como possíveis indutores de RAM.Pharmaceutical excipients can be responsible for many ADR. The objectives of this study were to identify the presence of possible excipients as cause of ADR in drugs commercialized in Brazil. Twelve medicines with high indices of sales in Brazil, were selected to analysis. The bibliographic research about the Pharmaceutical Preparations (PP was carried from August to September/04. The sources of information used were Pharmaceutical Specialties Dictionary, web sites and customer services from the manufacturers

  17. The relationship of social support concept and repeat mammography among Iranian women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farhadifar, Fariba; Taymoori, Parvaneh; Bahrami, Mitra; Zarea, Shamsy

    2015-10-24

    Breast cancer ranks as the first most common cancer among the Iranian women. The regular repeat of mammography with 1-2 year intervals leads to the increased efficiency of early detection of breast cancer. The present study examined the predictors of repeat mammography. It was hypothesized that higher social support is connected with mammography repeat. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 400 women 50 years and older in Sanandaj, Iran. Data was collected by the questionnaire including information on socio demographical variables and measuring social support level. Data was analyzed by SPSS16 software. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine the predictive power of demographic variables and dimensions of social support for repeat mammography. Women aged 50-55 years had three times odds of repeat mammography compared to women aged 56-60 years) OR, 3.02). Married women had greater odds of repeat mammography compared to single women (P women with higher social support was 0.93 times greater than the women with lower social support (OR, 0.93; 95 % CI, 0.91-0.95; P women are less likely repeat mammography than other Asian women. Identifying the associations between perceived social support and repeat mammography may offer detailed information to allow for future study and guide the development of interventions not only for Iranian women but also for similar cultural that received pay too little attention to date in the breast cancer literature.

  18. Qualification campaign of the 50 mK hybrid sorption-ADR cooler for SPICA/SAFARI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duval, J-M; Duband, L; Attard, A

    2015-01-01

    SAFARI (SpicA FAR-infrared Instrument) is an infrared instrument planned to be part of the SPICA (SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) Satellite. It will offer high spectral resolution in the 30 - 210 μm frequency range. SAFARI will benefit from the cold telescope of SPICA and to obtain the required detectors sensitivity, a temperature of 50 mK is required. This temperature is reached thanks to the use of a hybrid sorption - ADR (Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator) cooler presented here. This cooler provides respectively 14 μW and 0.4 μW of cooling power at 300 mK and 50 mK. The cooler is planned to advantageously use two thermal interfaces of the instrument at 1.8 and 4.9 K. One of the challenges discussed in this paper is the low power available at each intercept. A dedicated laboratory electronic is being designed based on previous development with a particular focus on the 50 mK readout. Temperature regulation at 50 mK is also discussed. This cooler has been designed following flight constraints and will reach a high TRL, including mechanical and environmental tests at the end of the on-going qualification campaign. (paper)

  19. Antibiotic-Related Adverse Drug Reactions at a Tertiary Care Hospital in South Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    In Young Jung

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs are any unwanted/uncomfortable effects from medication resulting in physical, mental, and functional injuries. Antibiotics account for up to 40.9% of ADRs and are associated with several serious outcomes. However, few reports on ADRs have evaluated only antimicrobial agents. In this study, we investigated antibiotic-related ADRs at a tertiary care hospital in South Korea. Methods. This is a retrospective cohort study that evaluated ADRs to antibiotics that were reported at a 2400-bed tertiary care hospital in 2015. ADRs reported by physicians, pharmacists, and nurses were reviewed. Clinical information reported ADRs, type of antibiotic, causality assessment, and complications were evaluated. Results. 1,277 (62.8% patients were considered antibiotic-related ADRs based on the World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Center criteria (certain, 2.2%; probable, 35.7%; and possible, 62.1%. Totally, 44 (3.4% patients experienced serious ADRs. Penicillin and quinolones were the most common drugs reported to induce ADRs (both 16.0%, followed by third-generation cephalosporins (14.9%. The most frequently experienced side effects were skin manifestations (45.1% followed by gastrointestinal disorders (32.6%. Conclusion. Penicillin and quinolones are the most common causative antibiotics for ADRs and skin manifestations were the most frequently experienced symptom.

  20. Ecological Panel Inference from Repeated Cross Sections

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pelzer, Ben; Eisinga, Rob; Franses, Philip Hans

    2004-01-01

    This chapter presents a Markov chain model for the estimation of individual-level binary transitions from a time series of independent repeated cross-sectional (RCS) samples. Although RCS samples lack direct information on individual turnover, it is demonstrated here that it is possible with these

  1. t2prhd: a tool to study the patterns of repeat evolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pénzes Zsolt

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The models developed to characterize the evolution of multigene families (such as the birth-and-death and the concerted models have also been applied on the level of sequence repeats inside a gene/protein. Phylogenetic reconstruction is the method of choice to study the evolution of gene families and also sequence repeats in the light of these models. The characterization of the gene family evolution in view of the evolutionary models is done by the evaluation of the clustering of the sequences with the originating loci in mind. As the locus represents positional information, it is straightforward that in the case of the repeats the exact position in the sequence should be used, as the simple numbering according to repeat order can be misleading. Results We have developed a novel rapid visual approach to study repeat evolution, that takes into account the exact repeat position in a sequence. The "pairwise repeat homology diagram" visualizes sequence repeats detected by a profile HMM in a pair of sequences and highlights their homology relations inferred by a phylogenetic tree. The method is implemented in a Perl script (t2prhd available for downloading at http://t2prhd.sourceforge.net and is also accessible as an online tool at http://t2prhd.brc.hu. The power of the method is demonstrated on the EGF-like and fibronectin-III-like (Fn-III domain repeats of three selected mammalian Tenascin sequences. Conclusion Although pairwise repeat homology diagrams do not carry all the information provided by the phylogenetic tree, they allow a rapid and intuitive assessment of repeat evolution. We believe, that t2prhd is a helpful tool with which to study the pattern of repeat evolution. This method can be particularly useful in cases of large datasets (such as large gene families, as the command line interface makes it possible to automate the generation of pairwise repeat homology diagrams with the aid of scripts.

  2. Longitudinal monitoring of the safety of drugs by using a web-based system : the case of pregabalin

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Harmark, Linda; van Puijenbroek, Eugene; van Grootheest, Kees

    Purpose Information about the time course of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is often lacking. If this information would be available, it could help increase patient's adherence to drugs when experiencing an ADR. The aim of this study was to demonstrate how a web-based intensive monitoring system

  3. The occurrence of adverse drug reactions reported for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD medications in the pediatric population: a qualitative review of empirical studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aagaard L

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Lise Aagaard1-3, Ebba Holme Hansen1-31Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Section for Social Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; 2FKL-Research Centre for Quality in Medicine Use, Copenhagen, Denmark; 3Danish Pharmacovigilance Research Project (DANPREP, Copenhagen, DenmarkBackground: To review empirical studies of adverse drug reactions (ADRs reported to be associated with the use of medications generally licensed for treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD symptoms in the pediatric population.Methods: PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO® databases were searched from origin until June 2011. Studies reporting ADRs from amphetamine derivates, atomoxetine, methylphenidate, and modafinil in children from birth to age 17 were included. Information about ADR reporting rates, age and gender of the child, type, and seriousness of ADRs, setting, study design, ADR assessors, authors, and funding sources were extracted.Results: The review identified 43 studies reporting ADRs associated with medicines for treatment of ADHD in clinical studies covering approximately 7000 children, the majority of 6- to 12-year-old boys, and particularly in the United States of America (USA. The most frequently reported ADRs were decrease in appetite, gastrointestinal pain, and headache. There were wide variations in reported ADR occurrence between studies of similar design, setting, included population, and type of medication. Reported ADRs were primarily assessed by the children/their parents, and very few ADRs were rated as being serious. A large number of children dropped out of studies due to serious ADRs, and therefore, the actual number of serious ADRs from use of psychostimulants is probably higher. A large number of studies were conducted by the same groups of authors and sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing the respective medications.Conclusion: Reported ADRs from use of

  4. Identification, variation and transcription of pneumococcal repeat sequences

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background Small interspersed repeats are commonly found in many bacterial chromosomes. Two families of repeats (BOX and RUP) have previously been identified in the genome of Streptococcus pneumoniae, a nasopharyngeal commensal and respiratory pathogen of humans. However, little is known about the role they play in pneumococcal genetics. Results Analysis of the genome of S. pneumoniae ATCC 700669 revealed the presence of a third repeat family, which we have named SPRITE. All three repeats are present at a reduced density in the genome of the closely related species S. mitis. However, they are almost entirely absent from all other streptococci, although a set of elements related to the pneumococcal BOX repeat was identified in the zoonotic pathogen S. suis. In conjunction with information regarding their distribution within the pneumococcal chromosome, this suggests that it is unlikely that these repeats are specialised sequences performing a particular role for the host, but rather that they constitute parasitic elements. However, comparing insertion sites between pneumococcal sequences indicates that they appear to transpose at a much lower rate than IS elements. Some large BOX elements in S. pneumoniae were found to encode open reading frames on both strands of the genome, whilst another was found to form a composite RNA structure with two T box riboswitches. In multiple cases, such BOX elements were demonstrated as being expressed using directional RNA-seq and RT-PCR. Conclusions BOX, RUP and SPRITE repeats appear to have proliferated extensively throughout the pneumococcal chromosome during the species' past, but novel insertions are currently occurring at a relatively slow rate. Through their extensive secondary structures, they seem likely to affect the expression of genes with which they are co-transcribed. Software for annotation of these repeats is freely available from ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/pathogens/strep_repeats/. PMID:21333003

  5. Overcoming drug resistance of MCF-7/ADR cells by altering intracellular distribution of doxorubicin via MVP knockdown with a novel siRNA polyamidoamine-hyaluronic acid complex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Min; Lv, Qing; Tang, Xin-Jiang; Hu, Yu-Lan; Xu, Dong-Hang; Li, Fan-Zhu; Liang, Wen-Quan; Gao, Jian-Qing

    2012-10-28

    Drug resistance is one of the critical reasons leading to failure in chemotherapy. Enormous studies have been focused on increasing intracellular drug accumulation through inhibiting P-glycoprotein (Pgp). Meanwhile, we found that major vault protein (MVP) may be also involved in drug resistance of human breast cancer MCF-7/ADR cells by transporting doxorubicin (DOX) from the action target (i.e. nucleus) to cytoplasma. Herein polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers was functionalized by a polysaccharide hyaluronic acid (HA) to effectively deliver DOX as well as MVP targeted small-interfering RNA (MVP-siRNA) to down regulate MVP expression and improve DOX chemotherapy in MCF-7/ADR cells. In comparison with DOX solution (IC50=48.5 μM), an enhanced cytotoxicity could be observed for DOX PAMAM-HA (IC50=11.3 μM) as well as enhanced tumor target, higher intracellular accumulation, increased blood circulating time and less in vivo toxicity. Furthermore, codelivery of siRNA and DOX by PAMAM-HA exhibited satisfactory gene silencing effect as well as enhanced stability and efficient intracellular delivery of siRNA, which allowed DOX access to nucleus and induced subsequent much more cytotoxicity than siRNA absent case as a result of MVP knockdown. This observation highlights a promising application of novel nanocarrier PAMAM-HA, which could co-deliver anticancer drug and siRNA, in reversing drug resistance by altering intracellular drug distribution. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. [Management of adverse drug effects].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlienger, R G

    2000-09-01

    Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are still considered one of the main problems of drug therapy. ADRs are associated with considerable morbidity, mortality, decreased compliance and therapeutic success as well as high direct and indirect medical costs. Several considerations have to come into play when managing a potential ADR. It is critical to establish an accurate clinical diagnosis of the adverse event. Combining information about drug exposure together with considering other possible causes of the reaction is crucial to establish a causal relationship between the reaction and the suspected drug. Identification of the underlying pathogenesis of an ADR together with the severity of the reaction will have profound implications on continuation of drug therapy after an ADR. Since spontaneous reports about ADRs are a key stone of a functioning post-marketing surveillance system and therefore play a key role in improving drug safety, health care professionals are highly encouraged to report ADRs to a local or national organization. However, because the majority of ADRs is dose-dependent and therefore preventable, individualization of pharmacotherapy may have a major impact on reducing such events.

  7. Amitriptyline adverse reactions reported by outpatients / Reacciones adversas a amitriptilina relatadas por pacientes ambulatoriales / Reações adversas a amitriptilina relatadas por pacientes ambulatoriais

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastião ECO

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available Aim: The aim of the present study was to know the profile of adverse drug reactions (ADR, at ambulatory level, suffered by patients using amitrityline. Method: After an informed consent, 130 randomly chosen patients using pharmacy services from eight different health units in Riberão Preto - São Paulo (Brazil were interviewed. To gather socioeconomic, clinical data and ADR, an structured questionnaire was used. The latter were analyzed regarding their seriousness, frequency, causality and preventability. Results: All surveyed patients reported at least one ADR to amitriptyline, being doubtful (4%, possible (44% and probable (52%. From probable/possible, 29% were reported as moderate/serious, and among them, 67% were frequent. 79% of total ADR were considered as preventable. 5 more cited symptoms (29.5% were: dry mouth or taste disturbances, drowsiness, orthostatic hypotension and weakness. Conclusions: Reported amitriptylin ADRs could have been prevented or reduced their seriousness, or, at least, advised when occurring, because they may produce other drug-related problems, non-compliance or discomfort. Patients should be taken into account as ADR information sources, improving physician-patient relationship and their quality of life by improving medical care.

  8. A dataset of 200 structured product labels annotated for adverse drug reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demner-Fushman, Dina; Shooshan, Sonya E; Rodriguez, Laritza; Aronson, Alan R; Lang, Francois; Rogers, Willie; Roberts, Kirk; Tonning, Joseph

    2018-01-30

    Adverse drug reactions (ADRs), unintended and sometimes dangerous effects that a drug may have, are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality during medical care. To date, there is no structured machine-readable authoritative source of known ADRs. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) partnered with the National Library of Medicine to create a pilot dataset containing standardised information about known adverse reactions for 200 FDA-approved drugs. The Structured Product Labels (SPLs), the documents FDA uses to exchange information about drugs and other products, were manually annotated for adverse reactions at the mention level to facilitate development and evaluation of text mining tools for extraction of ADRs from all SPLs. The ADRs were then normalised to the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and to the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA). We present the curation process and the structure of the publicly available database SPL-ADR-200db containing 5,098 distinct ADRs. The database is available at https://bionlp.nlm.nih.gov/tac2017adversereactions/; the code for preparing and validating the data is available at https://github.com/lhncbc/fda-ars.

  9. Repeat immigration: A previously unobserved source of heterogeneity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aradhya, Siddartha; Scott, Kirk; Smith, Christopher D

    2017-07-01

    Register data allow for nuanced analyses of heterogeneities between sub-groups which are not observable in other data sources. One heterogeneity for which register data is particularly useful is in identifying unique migration histories of immigrant populations, a group of interest across disciplines. Years since migration is a commonly used measure of integration in studies seeking to understand the outcomes of immigrants. This study constructs detailed migration histories to test whether misclassified migrations may mask important heterogeneities. In doing so, we identify a previously understudied group of migrants called repeat immigrants, and show that they differ systematically from permanent immigrants. In addition, we quantify the degree to which migration information is misreported in the registers. The analysis is carried out in two steps. First, we estimate income trajectories for repeat immigrants and permanent immigrants to understand the degree to which they differ. Second, we test data validity by cross-referencing migration information with changes in income to determine whether there are inconsistencies indicating misreporting. From the first part of the analysis, the results indicate that repeat immigrants systematically differ from permanent immigrants in terms of income trajectories. Furthermore, income trajectories differ based on the way in which years since migration is calculated. The second part of the analysis suggests that misreported migration events, while present, are negligible. Repeat immigrants differ in terms of income trajectories, and may differ in terms of other outcomes as well. Furthermore, this study underlines that Swedish registers provide a reliable data source to analyze groups which are unidentifiable in other data sources.

  10. Pharmacist's knowledge, practice and attitudes toward pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reactions reporting process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suyagh, Maysa; Farah, Doaa; Abu Farha, Rana

    2015-04-01

    Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major cause of drug related morbidity and mortality. Pharmacovigilance is the science that plays an essential role in the reduction of ADRs, thus the evolution and growth of this science are critical for effective and safe clinical practice. This study is considered the first study in the region to evaluate pharmacist's knowledge, practice and attitudes toward ADRs reporting after establishing the national ADRs reporting center in Jordan. A cross sectional study was used to evaluate pharmacist knowledge and attitude toward ADRs reporting. A structured validated questionnaire was developed for this purpose and a total of 208 pharmacists were recruited to participate in this study. The majority of pharmacists have insufficient awareness and lack of knowledge about pharmacovigilance and ADRs reporting. Also the rate of reporting of ADRs was extremely poor. Several factors were found to discourage pharmacists from reporting ADRs, which include inadequate information available from the patient, unavailability of pharmacist ADRs form when needed, unawareness of the existence of the national ADRs reporting system. Also pharmacists think that ADRs are unimportant or they did not know how to report them. The results of this study suggest that pharmacists have insufficient knowledge about the concept of pharmacovigilance and spontaneous ADRs reporting. On the other hand, pharmacists had positive attitudes toward pharmacovigilance, despite their little experience with ADRs reporting. Educational programs are needed to increase pharmacist's role in the reporting process, and thus to have a positive impact on the overall patient caring process.

  11. Repeating and non-repeating fast radio bursts from binary neutron star mergers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamasaki, Shotaro; Totani, Tomonori; Kiuchi, Kenta

    2018-04-01

    Most fast radio bursts (FRB) do not show evidence of repetition, and such non-repeating FRBs may be produced at the time of a merger of binary neutron stars (BNS), provided that the BNS merger rate is close to the high end of the currently possible range. However, the merger environment is polluted by dynamical ejecta, which may prohibit the radio signal from propagating. We examine this by using a general-relativistic simulation of a BNS merger, and show that the ejecta appears about 1 ms after the rotation speed of the merged star becomes the maximum. Therefore there is a time window in which an FRB signal can reach outside, and the short duration of non-repeating FRBs can be explained by screening after ejecta formation. A fraction of BNS mergers may leave a rapidly rotating and stable neutron star, and such objects may be the origin of repeating FRBs like FRB 121102. We show that a merger remnant would appear as a repeating FRB on a time scale of ˜1-10 yr, and expected properties are consistent with the observations of FRB 121102. We construct an FRB rate evolution model that includes these two populations of repeating and non-repeating FRBs from BNS mergers, and show that the detection rate of repeating FRBs relative to non-repeating ones rapidly increases with improving search sensitivity. This may explain why only the repeating FRB 121102 was discovered by the most sensitive FRB search with Arecibo. Several predictions are made, including the appearance of a repeating FRB 1-10 yr after a BNS merger that is localized by gravitational waves and subsequent electromagnetic radiation.

  12. Online learning in repeated auctions

    OpenAIRE

    Weed, Jonathan; Perchet, Vianney; Rigollet, Philippe

    2015-01-01

    Motivated by online advertising auctions, we consider repeated Vickrey auctions where goods of unknown value are sold sequentially and bidders only learn (potentially noisy) information about a good's value once it is purchased. We adopt an online learning approach with bandit feedback to model this problem and derive bidding strategies for two models: stochastic and adversarial. In the stochastic model, the observed values of the goods are random variables centered around the true value of t...

  13. Repeatability and reproducibility of decisions by latent fingerprint examiners.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bradford T Ulery

    Full Text Available The interpretation of forensic fingerprint evidence relies on the expertise of latent print examiners. We tested latent print examiners on the extent to which they reached consistent decisions. This study assessed intra-examiner repeatability by retesting 72 examiners on comparisons of latent and exemplar fingerprints, after an interval of approximately seven months; each examiner was reassigned 25 image pairs for comparison, out of total pool of 744 image pairs. We compare these repeatability results with reproducibility (inter-examiner results derived from our previous study. Examiners repeated 89.1% of their individualization decisions, and 90.1% of their exclusion decisions; most of the changed decisions resulted in inconclusive decisions. Repeatability of comparison decisions (individualization, exclusion, inconclusive was 90.0% for mated pairs, and 85.9% for nonmated pairs. Repeatability and reproducibility were notably lower for comparisons assessed by the examiners as "difficult" than for "easy" or "moderate" comparisons, indicating that examiners' assessments of difficulty may be useful for quality assurance. No false positive errors were repeated (n = 4; 30% of false negative errors were repeated. One percent of latent value decisions were completely reversed (no value even for exclusion vs. of value for individualization. Most of the inter- and intra-examiner variability concerned whether the examiners considered the information available to be sufficient to reach a conclusion; this variability was concentrated on specific image pairs such that repeatability and reproducibility were very high on some comparisons and very low on others. Much of the variability appears to be due to making categorical decisions in borderline cases.

  14. EPA Alternative Dispute Resolution Contacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    The success of EPA's ADR efforts depends on a network of talented and experienced professionals in Headquarters offices and EPA Regions. For Agency-wide ADR information, please contact the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center.

  15. Finite stage asymmetric repeated games: Both players' viewpoints

    KAUST Repository

    Li, Lichun

    2017-01-05

    In asymmetric zero-sum games, one player has superior information about the game over the other. It is known that the informed players (maximizer) face the tradeoff of exploiting its superior information at the cost of revealing its superior information, but the basic point of the uninformed player (minimizer)\\'s decision making remains unknown. This paper studies the finite stage asymmetric repeated games from both players\\' viewpoints, and derives that not only security strategies but also the opponents\\' corresponding best responses depends only on the informed player\\'s history action sequences. Moreover, efficient LP formulations to compute both player\\'s security strategies are provided.

  16. Y-Chromosome short tandem repeat, typing technology, locus ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Aghomotsegin

    2015-07-08

    Jul 8, 2015 ... Y-Chromosome short tandem repeat, typing technology, locus information and allele frequency in different population: A review. Muhanned Abdulhasan Kareem1, Ameera Omran Hussein2 and Imad Hadi Hameed2*. 1Babylon University, Centre of Environmental Research, Hilla City, Iraq. 2Department of ...

  17. Potentials and limitations of histone repeat sequences for phylogenetic reconstruction of Sophophora.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baldo, A M; Les, D H; Strausbaugh, L D

    1999-11-01

    Simplified DNA sequence acquisition has provided many new data sets that are useful for phylogenetic reconstruction, including single- and multiple-copy nuclear and organellar genes. Although transcribed regions receive much attention, nontranscribed regions have recently been added to the repertoire of sequences suitable for phylogenetic studies, especially for closely related taxa. We evaluated the efficacy of a small portion of the histone repeat for phylogenetic reconstruction among Drosophila species. Histone repeats in invertebrates offer distinct advantages similar to those of widely used ribosomal repeats. First, the units are tandemly repeated and undergo concerted evolution. Second, histone repeats include both highly conserved coding and variable intergenic regions. This composition facilitates application of "universal" primers spanning potentially informative sites. We examined a small region of the histone repeat, including the intergenic spacer segments of coding regions from the divergently transcribed H2A and H2B histone genes. The spacer (about 230 bp) exists as a mosaic with highly conserved functional motifs interspersed with rapidly diverging regions; the former aid in alignment of the spacer. There are no ambiguities in alignment of coding regions. Coding and noncoding regions were analyzed together and separately for phylogenetic information. Parsimony, distance, and maximum-likelihood methods successfully retrieve the corroborated phylogeny for the taxa examined. This study demonstrates the resolving power of a small histone region which may now be added to the growing collection of phylogenetically useful DNA sequences.

  18. Study of adverse drug reactions in out-patient departments of a teaching hospital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zinnat Ara Begum

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The study conducted in the Medicine and Skin outpatient departments of Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka revealed 19 cases (7 males, 12 females of adverse drug reactions (ADR out of 160 patients. 31.58% ADRs were of mild type, 42.1% were of moderate and 26.32% were of severe in nature. Gastrointestinal complications were the most frequent adverse effect (56%. Antimicrobial drugs were the most common cause of ADR (42.86% followed by NSAIDs (33.33%. This study is a preliminary study for getting information on the pattern of ADRs in Bangladesh needing further studies.

  19. A Unified Model for Repeating and Non-repeating Fast Radio Bursts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bagchi, Manjari

    2017-01-01

    The model that fast radio bursts (FRBs) are caused by plunges of asteroids onto neutron stars can explain both repeating and non-repeating bursts. If a neutron star passes through an asteroid belt around another star, there would be a series of bursts caused by a series of asteroid impacts. Moreover, the neutron star would cross the same belt repetitively if it were in a binary with the star hosting the asteroid belt, leading to a repeated series of bursts. I explore the properties of neutron star binaries that could lead to the only known repeating FRB so far (FRB121102). In this model, the next two epochs of bursts are expected around 2017 February 27 and 2017 December 18. On the other hand, if the asteroid belt is located around the neutron star itself, then a chance fall of an asteroid from that belt onto the neutron star would lead to a non-repeating burst. Even a neutron star grazing an asteroid belt can lead to a non-repeating burst caused by just one asteroid plunge during the grazing. This is possible even when the neutron star is in a binary with the asteroid-hosting star, if the belt and the neutron star orbit are non-coplanar.

  20. A Unified Model for Repeating and Non-repeating Fast Radio Bursts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bagchi, Manjari, E-mail: manjari@imsc.res.in [The Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc-HBNI), 4th Cross Road, CIT Campus, Taramani, Chennai 600113 (India)

    2017-04-01

    The model that fast radio bursts (FRBs) are caused by plunges of asteroids onto neutron stars can explain both repeating and non-repeating bursts. If a neutron star passes through an asteroid belt around another star, there would be a series of bursts caused by a series of asteroid impacts. Moreover, the neutron star would cross the same belt repetitively if it were in a binary with the star hosting the asteroid belt, leading to a repeated series of bursts. I explore the properties of neutron star binaries that could lead to the only known repeating FRB so far (FRB121102). In this model, the next two epochs of bursts are expected around 2017 February 27 and 2017 December 18. On the other hand, if the asteroid belt is located around the neutron star itself, then a chance fall of an asteroid from that belt onto the neutron star would lead to a non-repeating burst. Even a neutron star grazing an asteroid belt can lead to a non-repeating burst caused by just one asteroid plunge during the grazing. This is possible even when the neutron star is in a binary with the asteroid-hosting star, if the belt and the neutron star orbit are non-coplanar.

  1. Repeatability of Cryogenic Multilayer Insulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, W. L.; Vanderlaan, M.; Wood, J. J.; Rhys, N. O.; Guo, W.; Van Sciver, S.; Chato, D. J.

    2017-12-01

    Due to the variety of requirements across aerospace platforms, and one off projects, the repeatability of cryogenic multilayer insulation (MLI) has never been fully established. The objective of this test program is to provide a more basic understanding of the thermal performance repeatability of MLI systems that are applicable to large scale tanks. There are several different types of repeatability that can be accounted for: these include repeatability between identical blankets, repeatability of installation of the same blanket, and repeatability of a test apparatus. The focus of the work in this report is on the first two types of repeatability. Statistically, repeatability can mean many different things. In simplest form, it refers to the range of performance that a population exhibits and the average of the population. However, as more and more identical components are made (i.e. the population of concern grows), the simple range morphs into a standard deviation from an average performance. Initial repeatability testing on MLI blankets has been completed at Florida State University. Repeatability of five Glenn Research Center (GRC) provided coupons with 25 layers was shown to be +/- 8.4% whereas repeatability of repeatedly installing a single coupon was shown to be +/- 8.0%. A second group of 10 coupons has been fabricated by Yetispace and tested by Florida State University, the repeatability between coupons has been shown to be +/- 15-25%. Based on detailed statistical analysis, the data has been shown to be statistically significant.

  2. Measurements in international units of antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen(anti-HBs) after immunization with a yeast-derived, subtype adr hepatitis B vaccine are considerably different between chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) and chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogata, Norio

    2006-04-01

    The worldwide consensus of the minimum protective anti-HBs level against HBV infection is 10 mIU/mL on assays standardized by the World Health Organization (WHO) reference preparations. To investigate whether this value could be applied to recipients of yeast-derived recombinant HB vaccine containing the major surface protein of subtype adr (Bimmugen, Astellas Pharmaceutical, Tokyo), we compared anti-HBs measurements between chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) (Architect Ausab, Abbott Japan, Tokyo) and chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) (Lumipulse Forte, Fujirebio, Tokyo) in given serum samples obtained from the vaccinees. The vaccine and the two assay methods are currently in a wide use in Japan. The study included 300 medical students who completed a standard vaccination course (0, 1 and 6 months). Serum samples obtained 1 month or 13 months after completing the vaccination were simultaneously tested for anti-HBs by CLIA and CLEIA. In 147 samples with quantifiable values on both CLIA and CLEIA (10 to 1000 mIU/mL) the geometric mean titer on CLEIA (225.0 mIU/mL) was significantly higher than that on CLIA (94.5 mIU/mL) (p < 0.0001). Of 26 subjects with CLIA measurements below 10 mIU/mL, 15 samples (57.7%) showed CLEIA measurements more than 10 mIU/mL. Thus, in the subtype adr-vaccinees CLEIA demonstrated considerably high serum anti-HBs measurements compared to CLIA and discordance in determining critical anti-HBs level of 10 mIU/mL was observed in more than half the samples. This suggests that the minimum HBV-protective anti HBs titer of 10 mIU/mL is difficult to be introduced to Japan where subtype adr-HB vaccines or -HBV infection are prevalent, unless characteristics of assay methods are carefully evaluated.

  3. Repfinder: Finding approximately repeated scene elements for image editing

    KAUST Repository

    Cheng, Ming-Ming

    2010-07-26

    Repeated elements are ubiquitous and abundant in both manmade and natural scenes. Editing such images while preserving the repetitions and their relations is nontrivial due to overlap, missing parts, deformation across instances, illumination variation, etc. Manually enforcing such relations is laborious and error-prone. We propose a novel framework where user scribbles are used to guide detection and extraction of such repeated elements. Our detection process, which is based on a novel boundary band method, robustly extracts the repetitions along with their deformations. The algorithm only considers the shape of the elements, and ignores similarity based on color, texture, etc. We then use topological sorting to establish a partial depth ordering of overlapping repeated instances. Missing parts on occluded instances are completed using information from other instances. The extracted repeated instances can then be seamlessly edited and manipulated for a variety of high level tasks that are otherwise difficult to perform. We demonstrate the versatility of our framework on a large set of inputs of varying complexity, showing applications to image rearrangement, edit transfer, deformation propagation, and instance replacement. © 2010 ACM.

  4. Deployment Repeatability

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-04-01

    evaluating the deployment repeatability builds upon the testing or analysis of deployment kinematics (Chapter 6) and adds repetition. Introduction...material yield or failure during a test. For the purposes of this chapter, zero shift will refer to permanent changes in the structure, while reversible ...the content of other chapters in this book: Gravity Compensation (Chapter 4) and Deployment Kinematics and Dynamics (Chapter 6). Repeating the

  5. A Retrospective Analysis of Spontaneous Adverse Drug Reactions Reports Relating to Paediatric Patients.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosliana Rosli

    Full Text Available Spontaneous reporting on adverse drug reactions (ADR has been established in Malaysia since 1987, and although these reports are monitored by the Malaysia drug monitoring authority, the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau, information about ADRs in the paediatric patient population still remains unexplored. The aims of this study, therefore, were to characterize the ADRs reported in respect to the Malaysian paediatric population and to relate the data to specific paediatric age groups.Data on all ADRs reported to the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau between 2000 and 2013 for individuals aged from birth to 17 years old were analysed with respect to age and gender, type of reporter, suspected medicines (using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification, category of ADR (according to system organ class as well as the severity of the ADR.In total, 11,523 ADR reports corresponding to 22,237 ADRs were analysed, with half of these reporting one ADR per report. Vaccines comprised 55.7% of the 11,523 ADR reports with the remaining being drug related ADRs. Overall, 63.9% of ADRs were reported for paediatric patients between 12 and 17 years of age, with the majority of ADRs reported in females (70.7%. The most common ADRs reported were from the following system organ classes: application site disorders (32.2%, skin and appendages disorders (20.6%, body as a whole general disorders (12.8% and central and peripheral nervous system disorders (11.2%. Meanwhile, ADRs in respect to anti-infectives for systemic use (2194/5106; 43.0% were the most frequently reported across all age groups, followed by drugs from the nervous system (1095/5106; 21.4%. Only 0.28% of the ADR cases were reported as fatal. A large proportion of the reports were received from healthcare providers in government health facilities.ADR reports concerning vaccines and anti-infectives were the most commonly reported in children, and are mainly seen in adolescents, with most of

  6. Reconfigurable multiport EPON repeater

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oishi, Masayuki; Inohara, Ryo; Agata, Akira; Horiuchi, Yukio

    2009-11-01

    An extended reach EPON repeater is one of the solutions to effectively expand FTTH service areas. In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable multi-port EPON repeater for effective accommodation of multiple ODNs with a single OLT line card. The proposed repeater, which has multi-ports in both OLT and ODN sides, consists of TRs, BTRs with the CDR function and a reconfigurable electrical matrix switch, can accommodate multiple ODNs to a single OLT line card by controlling the connection of the matrix switch. Although conventional EPON repeaters require full OLT line cards to accommodate subscribers from the initial installation stage, the proposed repeater can dramatically reduce the number of required line cards especially when the number of subscribers is less than a half of the maximum registerable users per OLT. Numerical calculation results show that the extended reach EPON system with the proposed EPON repeater can save 17.5% of the initial installation cost compared with a conventional repeater, and can be less expensive than conventional systems up to the maximum subscribers especially when the percentage of ODNs in lightly-populated areas is higher.

  7. Overcoming fixation with repeated memory suppression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angello, Genna; Storm, Benjamin C; Smith, Steven M

    2015-01-01

    Fixation (blocks to memories or ideas) can be alleviated not only by encouraging productive work towards a solution, but, as the present experiments show, by reducing counterproductive work. Two experiments examined relief from fixation in a word-fragment completion task. Blockers, orthographically similar negative primes (e.g., ANALOGY), blocked solutions to word fragments (e.g., A_L_ _GY) in both experiments. After priming, but before the fragment completion test, participants repeatedly suppressed half of the blockers using the Think/No-Think paradigm, which results in memory inhibition. Inhibiting blockers did not alleviate fixation in Experiment 1 when conscious recollection of negative primes was not encouraged on the fragment completion test. In Experiment 2, however, when participants were encouraged to remember negative primes at fragment completion, relief from fixation was observed. Repeated suppression may nullify fixation effects, and promote creative thinking, particularly when fixation is caused by conscious recollection of counterproductive information.

  8. The impact of a changed legislation on reporting of adverse drug reactions in Sweden, with focus on nurses' reporting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karlsson, Sofia A; Jacobsson, Ingela; Boman, Marit Danell; Hakkarainen, Katja M; Lövborg, Henrik; Hägg, Staffan; Jönsson, Anna K

    2015-05-01

    In March 2007, a legislative amendment was issued in Sweden compelling nurses to report all suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to the national pharmacovigilance system. The aims of this study were to describe the status of ADR reporting, before and after the implementation of the legislative changes, and to describe the general characteristics of suspected ADRs reported by nurses. The Swedish pharmacovigilance system during the study period constituted six regional centres responsible for the handling of all spontaneous ADR reports within their region. In this study, we identified all individual ADR reports from 2005 and 2010, analysed in depth the ADR reports from two regional centres and collated information about the reporter and the nature of the reported ADR. From the two regional centres, a total of 898 and 1074 reports were submitted in 2005 and 2010 respectively. Nurses submitted 31% (275 reports) of the reports in 2005 and 24% (260 reports) in 2010. Nurses' reporting of serious ADRs was 3% (seven reports) in 2005 and 7% (17 reports) in 2010 with reporting of unlabelled ADRs at 4% (11 reports) in 2005 and 17% (45 reports) in 2010. Most of the serious and/or unlabelled reactions were related to vaccine administration (14 reports in 2005 and 36 reports in 2010). The overall ADR reporting by nurses did not appear to increase after the change in reporting legislation. The proportion of serious and/or unlabelled ADRs reported by nurses did however appear to increase during the same period. Taken together, our data suggests that further pro-active measures should be considered in order to involve nurses in the reporting of suspected ADRs.

  9. Adverse drug reactions associated with asthma medications in children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2014-01-01

    , Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, IPA, and CINAHLs databases were searched from origin until July 2013 for studies reporting ADRs for beta2-receptor agonists, inhaled corticosteroids, leukotriene receptor antagonists and combination products in children from birth to age 17. Information on ADR reporting rates......Background Respiratory medications are frequently prescribed for use in children. Several studies have reported information on the safety of asthma medications in clinical studies in adults, but information about safety in children is scarce. Objective To review published clinical trials......, age and gender, type and seriousness of ADRs, design, setting, observation period, type of assessors, and funding sources was extracted from the articles. Results Literature searches resulted in 162 potential relevant articles. However only 12 of these studies were included in this review...

  10. A survey of Bureau of Land Management employees on collaboration and alternative dispute resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruell, Emily W.; Burkardt, Nina; Donovan, Ryan M.

    2015-01-01

    The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been actively expanding its capacity to work cooperatively with other agencies, Tribes, the public, and other stakeholders using collaborative and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) approaches. In 1997, the BLM created the BLM’s Collaboration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Program (Collaboration/ADR Program) to centralize, strengthen, and coordinate these efforts. Specifically, the Collaboration/ADR Program is charged with developing ADR policies; ensuring that statutory and regulatory requirements are met; and providing training, resources, and direct support for collaboration and ADR in the BLM. At the request of the Collaboration/ADR Program, the Policy Analysis and Science Assistance Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, located in the Fort Collins Science Center, conducted an online survey of BLM employees in early 2013 to address four overarching questions: What information sources and assistance resources are BLM employees currently accessing to fill their conflict/dispute resolution and collaboration needs? 

  11. Nurses' reporting of suspect adverse drug reactions: a mixed-methods study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessia De Angelis

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To assess nurses' knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP towards spontaneous adverse drug reactions (ADRs reporting. METHODS: The mixed-method study was conducted following a quanti-qualitative sequential approach: a survey (using a KAP questionnaire followed by a focus group was performed. RESULTS: In the quantitative findings, responders (570 hospital nurses declared that they were unaware of the pharmacovigilance system (58.1%, n = 331; where to find the reporting form (63.5%, n = 362; how fill it in (71.6%, n = 408; to whom and how to send it (65.8%, n = 375. Only 11.1% (n = 63 reported ADRs. The qualitative phase supported the quantitative findings and provided new information about other factors that condition ADR reporting: misinterpretation of the meaning of "reporting", unawareness of nurses' autonomy in ADR reporting and fear of consequences after ADR reporting. CONCLUSION: Nurses are not fully aware of their role in ADR reporting. We recommend educational interventions and management changes.

  12. Pharmacy Student Facilitation of Reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions in a Hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wentzell, Jason; Nguyen, Tiffany; Bui, Stephanie; MacDonald, Erika

    2017-01-01

    Health Canada relies on health professionals to voluntarily report adverse reactions to the Canada Vigilance Program. Current rates of reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are inadequate to detect important safety issues. To assess the impact of pharmacy student facilitation of ADR reporting by pharmacists at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Canada. The intervention of interest, implemented at one campus of the hospital, was facilitation of ADR reporting by pharmacy students. The students received training on how to submit ADR reports and presented information sessions on the topic to hospital pharmacists; the pharmacists were then encouraged to report ADRs to a designated student for formal reporting. Frequency of reporting by pharmacists at the intervention campus was compared with reporting at a control campus of the same hospital. Data were collected prospectively over a 6-month pilot period, starting in April 2015. During the pilot period, 27 ADR reports were submitted at the intervention campus, and 3 reports at the control campus. All student participants strongly agreed that they would recommend that responsibility for submitting ADR reports to the Canada Vigilance Program remain with pharmacy students during future rotations. Availability of a pharmacy student to facilitate reporting of ADRs may increase the frequency of ADR reporting and could alleviate pharmacist workload; this activity is also a potentially valuable learning experience for students.

  13. Assimilation of repeated woody biomass observations constrains decadal ecosystem carbon cycle uncertainty in aggrading forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smallman, T. L.; Exbrayat, J.-F.; Mencuccini, M.; Bloom, A. A.; Williams, M.

    2017-03-01

    Forest carbon sink strengths are governed by plant growth, mineralization of dead organic matter, and disturbance. Across landscapes, remote sensing can provide information about aboveground states of forests and this information can be linked to models to estimate carbon cycling in forests close to steady state. For aggrading forests this approach is more challenging and has not been demonstrated. Here we apply a Bayesian approach, linking a simple model to a range of data, to evaluate their information content, for two aggrading forests. We compare high information content analyses using local observations with retrievals using progressively sparser remotely sensed information (repeated, single, and no woody biomass observations). The net biome productivity of both forests is constrained to be a net sink with litter dynamics at one forest, while at the second forest total dead organic matter estimates are within observational uncertainty. The uncertainty of retrieved ecosystem traits in the repeated biomass analysis is reduced by up to 50% compared to analyses with less biomass information. This study quantifies the importance of repeated woody observations in constraining the dynamics of both wood and dead organic matter, highlighting the benefit of proposed remote sensing missions.

  14. The impact of repeat-testing of common chemistry analytes at critical concentrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Onyenekwu, Chinelo P; Hudson, Careen L; Zemlin, Annalise E; Erasmus, Rajiv T

    2014-12-01

    Early notification of critical values by the clinical laboratory to the treating physician is a requirement for accreditation and is essential for effective patient management. Many laboratories automatically repeat a critical value before reporting it to prevent possible misdiagnosis. Given today's advanced instrumentation and quality assurance practices, we questioned the validity of this approach. We performed an audit of repeat-testing in our laboratory to assess for significant differences between initial and repeated test results, estimate the delay caused by repeat-testing and to quantify the cost of repeating these assays. A retrospective audit of repeat-tests for sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium in the first quarter of 2013 at Tygerberg Academic Laboratory was conducted. Data on the initial and repeat-test values and the time that they were performed was extracted from our laboratory information system. The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment criteria for allowable error were employed to assess for significant difference between results. A total of 2308 repeated tests were studied. There was no significant difference in 2291 (99.3%) of the samples. The average delay ranged from 35 min for magnesium to 42 min for sodium and calcium. At least 2.9% of laboratory running costs for the analytes was spent on repeating them. The practice of repeating a critical test result appears unnecessary as it yields similar results, delays notification to the treating clinician and increases laboratory running costs.

  15. Expansion of protein domain repeats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asa K Björklund

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available Many proteins, especially in eukaryotes, contain tandem repeats of several domains from the same family. These repeats have a variety of binding properties and are involved in protein-protein interactions as well as binding to other ligands such as DNA and RNA. The rapid expansion of protein domain repeats is assumed to have evolved through internal tandem duplications. However, the exact mechanisms behind these tandem duplications are not well-understood. Here, we have studied the evolution, function, protein structure, gene structure, and phylogenetic distribution of domain repeats. For this purpose we have assigned Pfam-A domain families to 24 proteomes with more sensitive domain assignments in the repeat regions. These assignments confirmed previous findings that eukaryotes, and in particular vertebrates, contain a much higher fraction of proteins with repeats compared with prokaryotes. The internal sequence similarity in each protein revealed that the domain repeats are often expanded through duplications of several domains at a time, while the duplication of one domain is less common. Many of the repeats appear to have been duplicated in the middle of the repeat region. This is in strong contrast to the evolution of other proteins that mainly works through additions of single domains at either terminus. Further, we found that some domain families show distinct duplication patterns, e.g., nebulin domains have mainly been expanded with a unit of seven domains at a time, while duplications of other domain families involve varying numbers of domains. Finally, no common mechanism for the expansion of all repeats could be detected. We found that the duplication patterns show no dependence on the size of the domains. Further, repeat expansion in some families can possibly be explained by shuffling of exons. However, exon shuffling could not have created all repeats.

  16. The leucine-rich repeat structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bella, J; Hindle, K L; McEwan, P A; Lovell, S C

    2008-08-01

    The leucine-rich repeat is a widespread structural motif of 20-30 amino acids with a characteristic repetitive sequence pattern rich in leucines. Leucine-rich repeat domains are built from tandems of two or more repeats and form curved solenoid structures that are particularly suitable for protein-protein interactions. Thousands of protein sequences containing leucine-rich repeats have been identified by automatic annotation methods. Three-dimensional structures of leucine-rich repeat domains determined to date reveal a degree of structural variability that translates into the considerable functional versatility of this protein superfamily. As the essential structural principles become well established, the leucine-rich repeat architecture is emerging as an attractive framework for structural prediction and protein engineering. This review presents an update of the current understanding of leucine-rich repeat structure at the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary levels and discusses specific examples from recently determined three-dimensional structures.

  17. Educational Paper: Aspects of clinical pharmacology in children--pharmacovigilance and safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choonara, Imti

    2013-05-01

    Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a significant problem in children, affecting one in ten children in hospital. Within the community, one in 500 children will experience an adverse drug reaction each year. Pharmacovigilance has been useful in detecting suspected ADRs. However, most ADRs are unreported and often not suspected. Education of health professionals in relation to drug toxicity improves the reporting rate of suspected ADRs. Clinical trials are useful to evaluate the efficacy of drugs. They are, however, not the best way of looking at ADRs where surveillance following the widespread use of a drug is more appropriate. Alongside work by the regulatory agencies, independent investigators have helped collate data. This information has been useful in developing guidelines to prevent further cases of drug toxicity. Greater awareness and understanding of drug toxicity in children should result in more rational prescribing.

  18. Identification of the centromeric repeat in the threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cech, Jennifer N; Peichel, Catherine L

    2015-12-01

    Centromere sequences exist as gaps in many genome assemblies due to their repetitive nature. Here we take an unbiased approach utilizing centromere protein A (CENP-A) chomatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing to identify the centromeric repeat sequence in the threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus). A 186-bp, AT-rich repeat was validated as centromeric using both fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunofluorescence combined with FISH (IF-FISH) on interphase nuclei and metaphase spreads. This repeat hybridizes strongly to the centromere on all chromosomes, with the exception of weak hybridization to the Y chromosome. Together, our work provides the first validated sequence information for the threespine stickleback centromere.

  19. Hysteresis of magnetostructural transitions: Repeatable and non-repeatable processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Provenzano, Virgil; Della Torre, Edward; Bennett, Lawrence H.; ElBidweihy, Hatem

    2014-02-01

    The Gd5Ge2Si2 alloy and the off-stoichiometric Ni50Mn35In15 Heusler alloy belong to a special class of metallic materials that exhibit first-order magnetostructural transitions near room temperature. The magnetic properties of this class of materials have been extensively studied due to their interesting magnetic behavior and their potential for a number of technological applications such as refrigerants for near-room-temperature magnetic refrigeration. The thermally driven first-order transitions in these materials can be field-induced in the reverse order by applying a strong enough field. The field-induced transitions are typically accompanied by the presence of large magnetic hysteresis, the characteristics of which are a complicated function of temperature, field, and magneto-thermal history. In this study we show that the virgin curve, the major loop, and sequentially measured MH loops are the results of both repeatable and non-repeatable processes, in which the starting magnetostructural state, prior to the cycling of field, plays a major role. Using the Gd5Ge2Si2 and Ni50Mn35In15 alloys, as model materials, we show that a starting single phase state results in fully repeatable processes and large magnetic hysteresis, whereas a mixed phase starting state results in non-repeatable processes and smaller hysteresis.

  20. Hysteresis of magnetostructural transitions: Repeatable and non-repeatable processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Provenzano, Virgil; Della Torre, Edward; Bennett, Lawrence H.; ElBidweihy, Hatem

    2014-01-01

    The Gd 5 Ge 2 Si 2 alloy and the off-stoichiometric Ni 50 Mn 35 In 15 Heusler alloy belong to a special class of metallic materials that exhibit first-order magnetostructural transitions near room temperature. The magnetic properties of this class of materials have been extensively studied due to their interesting magnetic behavior and their potential for a number of technological applications such as refrigerants for near-room-temperature magnetic refrigeration. The thermally driven first-order transitions in these materials can be field-induced in the reverse order by applying a strong enough field. The field-induced transitions are typically accompanied by the presence of large magnetic hysteresis, the characteristics of which are a complicated function of temperature, field, and magneto-thermal history. In this study we show that the virgin curve, the major loop, and sequentially measured MH loops are the results of both repeatable and non-repeatable processes, in which the starting magnetostructural state, prior to the cycling of field, plays a major role. Using the Gd 5 Ge 2 Si 2 and Ni 50 Mn 35 In 15 alloys, as model materials, we show that a starting single phase state results in fully repeatable processes and large magnetic hysteresis, whereas a mixed phase starting state results in non-repeatable processes and smaller hysteresis

  1. Two-Hierarchy Entanglement Swapping for a Linear Optical Quantum Repeater.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Ping; Yong, Hai-Lin; Chen, Luo-Kan; Liu, Chang; Xiang, Tong; Yao, Xing-Can; Lu, He; Li, Zheng-Da; Liu, Nai-Le; Li, Li; Yang, Tao; Peng, Cheng-Zhi; Zhao, Bo; Chen, Yu-Ao; Pan, Jian-Wei

    2017-10-27

    Quantum repeaters play a significant role in achieving long-distance quantum communication. In the past decades, tremendous effort has been devoted towards constructing a quantum repeater. As one of the crucial elements, entanglement has been created in different memory systems via entanglement swapping. The realization of j-hierarchy entanglement swapping, i.e., connecting quantum memory and further extending the communication distance, is important for implementing a practical quantum repeater. Here, we report the first demonstration of a fault-tolerant two-hierarchy entanglement swapping with linear optics using parametric down-conversion sources. In the experiment, the dominant or most probable noise terms in the one-hierarchy entanglement swapping, which is on the same order of magnitude as the desired state and prevents further entanglement connections, are automatically washed out by a proper design of the detection setting, and the communication distance can be extended. Given suitable quantum memory, our techniques can be directly applied to implementing an atomic ensemble based quantum repeater, and are of significant importance in the scalable quantum information processing.

  2. Two-Hierarchy Entanglement Swapping for a Linear Optical Quantum Repeater

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Ping; Yong, Hai-Lin; Chen, Luo-Kan; Liu, Chang; Xiang, Tong; Yao, Xing-Can; Lu, He; Li, Zheng-Da; Liu, Nai-Le; Li, Li; Yang, Tao; Peng, Cheng-Zhi; Zhao, Bo; Chen, Yu-Ao; Pan, Jian-Wei

    2017-10-01

    Quantum repeaters play a significant role in achieving long-distance quantum communication. In the past decades, tremendous effort has been devoted towards constructing a quantum repeater. As one of the crucial elements, entanglement has been created in different memory systems via entanglement swapping. The realization of j -hierarchy entanglement swapping, i.e., connecting quantum memory and further extending the communication distance, is important for implementing a practical quantum repeater. Here, we report the first demonstration of a fault-tolerant two-hierarchy entanglement swapping with linear optics using parametric down-conversion sources. In the experiment, the dominant or most probable noise terms in the one-hierarchy entanglement swapping, which is on the same order of magnitude as the desired state and prevents further entanglement connections, are automatically washed out by a proper design of the detection setting, and the communication distance can be extended. Given suitable quantum memory, our techniques can be directly applied to implementing an atomic ensemble based quantum repeater, and are of significant importance in the scalable quantum information processing.

  3. Revisiting the TALE repeat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Dong; Yan, Chuangye; Wu, Jianping; Pan, Xiaojing; Yan, Nieng

    2014-04-01

    Transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors specifically bind to double stranded (ds) DNA through a central domain of tandem repeats. Each TAL effector (TALE) repeat comprises 33-35 amino acids and recognizes one specific DNA base through a highly variable residue at a fixed position in the repeat. Structural studies have revealed the molecular basis of DNA recognition by TALE repeats. Examination of the overall structure reveals that the basic building block of TALE protein, namely a helical hairpin, is one-helix shifted from the previously defined TALE motif. Here we wish to suggest a structure-based re-demarcation of the TALE repeat which starts with the residues that bind to the DNA backbone phosphate and concludes with the base-recognition hyper-variable residue. This new numbering system is consistent with the α-solenoid superfamily to which TALE belongs, and reflects the structural integrity of TAL effectors. In addition, it confers integral number of TALE repeats that matches the number of bound DNA bases. We then present fifteen crystal structures of engineered dHax3 variants in complex with target DNA molecules, which elucidate the structural basis for the recognition of bases adenine (A) and guanine (G) by reported or uncharacterized TALE codes. Finally, we analyzed the sequence-structure correlation of the amino acid residues within a TALE repeat. The structural analyses reported here may advance the mechanistic understanding of TALE proteins and facilitate the design of TALEN with improved affinity and specificity.

  4. The adverse drug reaction reporting assignment for specialist oncology nurses: a preliminary evaluation of quality, relevance and educational value in a prospective cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schutte, Tim; van Eekeren, Rike; Richir, Milan; van Staveren, Jojanneke; van Puijenbroek, Eugène; Tichelaar, Jelle; van Agtmael, Michiel

    2018-01-01

    In a new prescribing qualification course for specialist oncology nurses, we thought that it is important to emphasize pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting. We aimed to develop and evaluate an ADR reporting assignment for specialist oncology nurses. The quality of report documentation was assessed with the "Clinical Documentation tool to assess Individual Case Safety Reports" (ClinDoc). The relevance of the reports was evaluated in terms of ADR seriousness, the listing for additional monitoring of the drug by European Medicines Agency (EMA), and lack of labelling information about the ADR. Nurses' opinions of the assignment were evaluated using an E-survey. Thirty-three ADRs were reported, 32 (97%) of which were well documented according to ClinDoc. Thirteen ADRs (39%) were "serious" according to CIOMS criteria. In five cases (15%), the suspect drugs were listed for additional monitoring by EMA and in seven cases (21%), the ADR was not mentioned in the Summary of Product Characteristics. Twenty-five (78.1%) of the 32 enrolled nurses completed the E-survey. Most were > 45 years of age (68%), female (92%) and had extensive clinical experience (6-33 years). All agreed or completely agreed that the reporting assignment was useful, that it fitted in daily practice and that it increased their attention for medication/patient safety. A large majority (84.0%) agreed the assignment changed how they dealt with ADRs. Specialist oncology nurses are capable of reporting ADRs, and they considered the assignment useful. The assignment yielded valuable, relevant, and well-documented ADR reports for pharmacovigilance practice.

  5. Constructs for the expression of repeating triple-helical protein domains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peng, Yong Y; Werkmeister, Jerome A; Vaughan, Paul R; Ramshaw, John A M

    2009-01-01

    The development of novel scaffolds will be an important aspect in future success of tissue engineering. Scaffolds will preferably contain information that directs the cellular content of constructs so that the new tissue that is formed is closely aligned in structure, composition and function to the target natural tissue. One way of approaching this will be the development of novel protein-based constructs that contain one or more repeats of functional elements derived from various proteins. In the present case, we describe a strategy to make synthetic, recombinant triple-helical constructs that contain repeat segments of biologically relevant domains. Copies of a DNA fragment prepared by PCR from human type III collagen have been inserted in a co-linear contiguous fashion into the yeast expression vector YEpFlag-1, using sequential addition between selected restriction sites. Constructs containing 1, 2 and 3 repeats were designed to maintain the (Gly-X-Y) repeat, which is essential for the formation of an extended triple helix. All constructs gave expressed protein, with the best being the 3-repeat construct which was readily secreted. This material had the expected composition and N-terminal sequence. Incubation of the product at low temperature led to triple-helix formation, shown by reaction with a conformation dependent monoclonal antibody.

  6. Constructs for the expression of repeating triple-helical protein domains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peng, Yong Y; Werkmeister, Jerome A; Vaughan, Paul R; Ramshaw, John A M, E-mail: jerome.werkmeister@csiro.a [CSIRO Molecular and Health Technologies, Bag 10, Clayton South, VIC 3169 (Australia)

    2009-02-15

    The development of novel scaffolds will be an important aspect in future success of tissue engineering. Scaffolds will preferably contain information that directs the cellular content of constructs so that the new tissue that is formed is closely aligned in structure, composition and function to the target natural tissue. One way of approaching this will be the development of novel protein-based constructs that contain one or more repeats of functional elements derived from various proteins. In the present case, we describe a strategy to make synthetic, recombinant triple-helical constructs that contain repeat segments of biologically relevant domains. Copies of a DNA fragment prepared by PCR from human type III collagen have been inserted in a co-linear contiguous fashion into the yeast expression vector YEpFlag-1, using sequential addition between selected restriction sites. Constructs containing 1, 2 and 3 repeats were designed to maintain the (Gly-X-Y) repeat, which is essential for the formation of an extended triple helix. All constructs gave expressed protein, with the best being the 3-repeat construct which was readily secreted. This material had the expected composition and N-terminal sequence. Incubation of the product at low temperature led to triple-helix formation, shown by reaction with a conformation dependent monoclonal antibody.

  7. All-photonic quantum repeaters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azuma, Koji; Tamaki, Kiyoshi; Lo, Hoi-Kwong

    2015-01-01

    Quantum communication holds promise for unconditionally secure transmission of secret messages and faithful transfer of unknown quantum states. Photons appear to be the medium of choice for quantum communication. Owing to photon losses, robust quantum communication over long lossy channels requires quantum repeaters. It is widely believed that a necessary and highly demanding requirement for quantum repeaters is the existence of matter quantum memories. Here we show that such a requirement is, in fact, unnecessary by introducing the concept of all-photonic quantum repeaters based on flying qubits. In particular, we present a protocol based on photonic cluster-state machine guns and a loss-tolerant measurement equipped with local high-speed active feedforwards. We show that, with such all-photonic quantum repeaters, the communication efficiency scales polynomially with the channel distance. Our result paves a new route towards quantum repeaters with efficient single-photon sources rather than matter quantum memories. PMID:25873153

  8. Estimation of dose rate of a package ({sup 223+}Ra) and evaluation of transport index; Dosisleistungsabschaetzung bei einem Versandstueck ({sup 223+}Ra) und Ermittlung der Transportkennzahl nach ADR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bittner, Michael [TUEV SUED Industrie Services GmbH, Region Nordost, Leipzig (Germany). Anlagensicherheit/Strahlenschutz; Richter, Jens [TUEV SUED Industrie Services GmbH, Region Nordost, Dresden (Germany). Anlagensicherheit/Strahlenschutz

    2016-08-01

    The transport index of a package is to be determined according to provisions of the ADR. It is directly related to the maximum radiation level in mSv/h at a distance of 1 m from the external surface of the package or pallet. To evaluate the existing distribution of the dose equivalent outside the package or pallet calculations of photon dose rates are required. For Monte-Carlo simulations with MCNP5 a three-dimensional model of a package containing Xofigo trademark was created, which contains all relevant sources from {sup 223}Ra and its decay chain.

  9. PSSRdb: a relational database of polymorphic simple sequence repeats extracted from prokaryotic genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Pankaj; Chaitanya, Pasumarthy S; Nagarajaram, Hampapathalu A

    2011-01-01

    PSSRdb (Polymorphic Simple Sequence Repeats database) (http://www.cdfd.org.in/PSSRdb/) is a relational database of polymorphic simple sequence repeats (PSSRs) extracted from 85 different species of prokaryotes. Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are the tandem repeats of nucleotide motifs of the sizes 1-6 bp and are highly polymorphic. SSR mutations in and around coding regions affect transcription and translation of genes. Such changes underpin phase variations and antigenic variations seen in some bacteria. Although SSR-mediated phase variation and antigenic variations have been well-studied in some bacteria there seems a lot of other species of prokaryotes yet to be investigated for SSR mediated adaptive and other evolutionary advantages. As a part of our on-going studies on SSR polymorphism in prokaryotes we compared the genome sequences of various strains and isolates available for 85 different species of prokaryotes and extracted a number of SSRs showing length variations and created a relational database called PSSRdb. This database gives useful information such as location of PSSRs in genomes, length variation across genomes, the regions harboring PSSRs, etc. The information provided in this database is very useful for further research and analysis of SSRs in prokaryotes.

  10. Knowledge and attitudes of physicians relating to reporting of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    appraise the current documentation of ADR in Sokoto, to analyze the extent to which ... on each of the Inman's attitude measured except that more experienced physicians ..... be consistent with known non-assertiveness of ... less assertive behaviors in clinical scenarios. ... given by patients on ADRs, information processing.

  11. PeakSeeker: a program for interpreting genotypes of mononucleotide repeats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salipante Stephen J

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Mononucleotide repeat microsatellites are abundant, highly polymorphic DNA sequences, having the potential to serve as valuable genetic markers. Use of mononucleotide microsatellites has been limited by their tendency to produce "stutter", confounding signals from insertions and deletions within the mononucleotide tract that occur during PCR, which complicates interpretation of genotypes by masking the true position of alleles. Consequently, microsatellites with larger repeating subunits (dinucleotide and trinucleotide motifs are used, which produce less stutter but are less genetically heterogeneous and less informative. A method to interpret the genotypes of mononucleotide repeats would permit the widespread use of those highly informative microsatellites in genetic research. Findings We have developed an approach to interpret genotypes of mononucleotide repeats using a software program, named PeakSeeker. PeakSeeker interprets experimental electropherograms as the most likely product of signals from individual alleles. Because mononucleotide tracts demonstrate locus-specific patterns of stutter peaks, this approach requires that the genotype pattern from a single allele is defined for each marker, which can be approximated by genotyping single DNA molecules or homozygotes. We have evaluated the program's ability to discriminate various types of homozygous and heterozygous mononucleotide loci using simulated and experimental data. Conclusion Mononucleotide tracts offer significant advantages over di- and tri-nucleotide microsatellite markers traditionally employed in genetic research. The PeakSeeker algorithm provides a high-throughput means to type mononucleotide tracts using conventional and widely implemented fragment length polymorphism genotyping. Furthermore, the PeakSeeker algorithm could potentially be adapted to improve, and perhaps to standardize, the analysis of conventional microsatellite genotypes.

  12. Development and Demonstration of the Open Automated Demand Response Standard for the Residential Sector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herter, Karen; Rasin, Josh; Perry, Tim

    2009-11-30

    The goal of this study was to demonstrate a demand response system that can signal nearly every customer in all sectors through the integration of two widely available and non- proprietary communications technologies--Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) over lnternet protocol and Utility Messaging Channel (UMC) over FM radio. The outcomes of this project were as follows: (1) a software bridge to allow translation of pricing signals from OpenADR to UMC; and (2) a portable demonstration unit with an lnternet-connected notebook computer, a portfolio of DR-enabling technologies, and a model home. The demonstration unit provides visitors the opportunity to send electricity-pricing information over the lnternet (through OpenADR and UMC) and then watch as the model appliances and lighting respond to the signals. The integration of OpenADR and UMC completed and demonstrated in this study enables utilities to send hourly or sub-hourly electricity pricing information simultaneously to the residential, commercial and industrial sectors.

  13. Multiple Repeated Cesarean Deliveries: Operative Complications in the Fourth and Fifth Surgeries in Urgent and Elective Cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Gedikbasi

    2010-12-01

    Conclusion: Multiple repeated cesarean sections increase the risks for operative complications and poor perinatal outcomes. Patients must be informed about the related risks of multiple repeated cesarean sections and tubal ligation needs to be encouraged.

  14. Visual imagery in autobiographical memory: The role of repeated retrieval in shifting perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butler, Andrew C.; Rice, Heather J.; Wooldridge, Cynthia L.; Rubin, David C.

    2016-01-01

    Recent memories are generally recalled from a first-person perspective whereas older memories are often recalled from a third-person perspective. We investigated how repeated retrieval affects the availability of visual information, and whether it could explain the observed shift in perspective with time. In Experiment 1, participants performed mini-events and nominated memories of recent autobiographical events in response to cue words. Next, they described their memory for each event and rated its phenomenological characteristics. Over the following three weeks, they repeatedly retrieved half of the mini-event and cue-word memories. No instructions were given about how to retrieve the memories. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to adopt either a first- or third-person perspective during retrieval. One month later, participants retrieved all of the memories and again provided phenomenology ratings. When first-person visual details from the event were repeatedly retrieved, this information was retained better and the shift in perspective was slowed. PMID:27064539

  15. RePS: a sequence assembler that masks exact repeats identified from the shotgun data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Jun; Wong, Gane Ka-Shu; Ni, Peixiang

    2002-01-01

    We describe a sequence assembler, RePS (repeat-masked Phrap with scaffolding), that explicitly identifies exact 20mer repeats from the shotgun data and removes them prior to the assembly. The established software is used to compute meaningful error probabilities for each base. Clone......-end-pairing information is used to construct scaffolds that order and orient the contigs. We show with real data for human and rice that reasonable assemblies are possible even at coverages of only 4x to 6x, despite having up to 42.2% in exact repeats. Udgivelsesdato: 2002-May...

  16. The value of patient reporting to the pharmacovigilance system: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inácio, Pedro; Cavaco, Afonso; Airaksinen, Marja

    2017-02-01

    Current trends in pharmacovigilance systems are veering towards patient involvement in spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The aim of the current systematic review was to identify what is known and what remains unknown with respect to patient reporting to pharmacovigilance systems. A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, Journals@Ovid and the Cochrane Library. Studies were included if they contained: (i) reviews about patient reporting; (ii) evaluation of patient reports to national or supranational pharmacovigilance authorities; (iii) a comparison between patient and healthcare professional (HCP) reports submitted to pharmacovigilance authorities; and (iv) surveys of patient experiences, opinions and awareness about reporting ADRs. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed according to principles of Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE). A total of thirty four studies were included. Five of the studies were reviews (two of which systematic reviews), fourteen retrospective observational studies, nine surveys and six applied mixed research methods. Patient reporting has the advantages of bringing novel information about ADRs. It provides a more detailed description of ADRs, and reports about different drugs and system organ classes when compared with HCP reporting. In addition, patients describe the severity and impact of ADRs on daily life, complementing information derived from HCPs. Patient reporting is relatively rare in most countries. Patient reporting adds new information, and perspective about ADRs in a way otherwise unavailable. This can contribute to better decision-making processes in regulatory activities. The present review identified gaps in knowledge that should be addressed to improve our understanding of the full potential and drawbacks of patient reporting. © 2016 The British Pharmacological Society.

  17. Perception of the risk of adverse reactions to analgesics: differences between medical students and residents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Castillo-Guzman

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Background. Medications are not exempt from adverse drug reactions (ADR and how the physician perceives the risk of prescription drugs could influence their availability to report ADR and their prescription behavior. Methods. We assess the perception of risk and the perception of ADR associated with COX2-Inbitors, paracetamol, NSAIDs, and morphine in medical students and residents of northeast of Mexico. Results. The analgesic with the highest risk perception in both group of students was morphine, while the drug with the least risk perceived was paracetamol. Addiction and gastrointestinal bleeding were the ADR with the highest score for morphine and NSAIDs respectively. Discussion. Our findings show that medical students give higher risk scores than residents toward risk due to analgesics. Continuing training and informing physicians about ADRs is necessary since the lack of training is known to induce inadequate use of drugs.

  18. A study on radiographic repeat rate data of several hospitals in Jeddah

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Malki, M.A.; Abulfaraj, W.H.; Bhuiyan, S.I.; Kinsara, A.A.

    2003-01-01

    Radiographic repeat rate data in diagnostic radiology in King Fahad Hospital (KFH), King Abdulaziz Hospital (KAH), and Maternity and Children Hospital (MCH) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, have been studied. The study provided valuable information to suggest preventive measures to reduce repeats. The variables included in the study are exposure techniques, examination types, total number of films used, number of films repeated, the film sizes, gender, the age groups of the patients, and reason for repetition. The total number of examinations in all three hospitals is 6001 using 8887 films on 5412 patients. The average repeat rate was 7.93%, where the individual hospital repeat rates were 9.57% in the MCH, 7.84% in KAH and 7.44% in KFH. The repeat rate for children and infants was found to be undesirable. The quality assurance (QA) programme can effectively reduce the unnecessary exposure and can identify the cause of the exposure. The overexposure, underexposure and position fault were the foremost contributors for repeats and constitute 32.91%, 28.94% and 22.98% of the total respectively. The QA study identified that human error and equipment malfunction are the major contributors to these causes of repeats. The highest repetition rate was for pelvis, 13.64%, followed by skull, 11.59%, and abdomen, 10.41%. It is estimated that the total area of wasted film in all three hospitals is 74.3 m 2 . As per the average repeat rate, the cost of repeat films in the entire kingdom per year has been projected to be about US$1.82 million (SR 6.83 million) in the government hospitals only. Based on the findings of this study a set of recommendations have been prescribed for the radiology department to reduce the repeat rate and to improve the safety culture. (author)

  19. A study on radiographic repeat rate data of several hospitals in Jeddah

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Al-Malki, M.A.; Abulfaraj, W.H.; Bhuiyan, S.I.; Kinsara, A.A

    2003-07-01

    Radiographic repeat rate data in diagnostic radiology in King Fahad Hospital (KFH), King Abdulaziz Hospital (KAH), and Maternity and Children Hospital (MCH) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, have been studied. The study provided valuable information to suggest preventive measures to reduce repeats. The variables included in the study are exposure techniques, examination types, total number of films used, number of films repeated, the film sizes, gender, the age groups of the patients, and reason for repetition. The total number of examinations in all three hospitals is 6001 using 8887 films on 5412 patients. The average repeat rate was 7.93%, where the individual hospital repeat rates were 9.57% in the MCH, 7.84% in KAH and 7.44% in KFH. The repeat rate for children and infants was found to be undesirable. The quality assurance (QA) programme can effectively reduce the unnecessary exposure and can identify the cause of the exposure. The overexposure, underexposure and position fault were the foremost contributors for repeats and constitute 32.91%, 28.94% and 22.98% of the total respectively. The QA study identified that human error and equipment malfunction are the major contributors to these causes of repeats. The highest repetition rate was for pelvis, 13.64%, followed by skull, 11.59%, and abdomen, 10.41%. It is estimated that the total area of wasted film in all three hospitals is 74.3 m{sup 2}. As per the average repeat rate, the cost of repeat films in the entire kingdom per year has been projected to be about US$1.82 million (SR 6.83 million) in the government hospitals only. Based on the findings of this study a set of recommendations have been prescribed for the radiology department to reduce the repeat rate and to improve the safety culture. (author)

  20. Interrogating Key Positions of Size-Reduced TALE Repeats Reveals a Programmable Sensor of 5-Carboxylcytosine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maurer, Sara; Giess, Mario; Koch, Oliver; Summerer, Daniel

    2016-12-16

    Transcription-activator-like effector (TALE) proteins consist of concatenated repeats that recognize consecutive canonical nucleobases of DNA via the major groove in a programmable fashion. Since this groove displays unique chemical information for the four human epigenetic cytosine nucleobases, TALE repeats with epigenetic selectivity can be engineered, with potential to establish receptors for the programmable decoding of all human nucleobases. TALE repeats recognize nucleobases via key amino acids in a structurally conserved loop whose backbone is positioned very close to the cytosine 5-carbon. This complicates the engineering of selectivities for large 5-substituents. To interrogate a more promising structural space, we engineered size-reduced repeat loops, performed saturation mutagenesis of key positions, and screened a total of 200 repeat-nucleobase interactions for new selectivities. This provided insight into the structural requirements of TALE repeats for affinity and selectivity, revealed repeats with improved or relaxed selectivity, and resulted in the first selective sensor of 5-carboxylcytosine.

  1. Myotonin protein-kinase [AGC]n trinucleotide repeat in seven nonhuman primates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Novelli, G.; Sineo, L.; Pontieri, E. [Catholic Univ. of Rome (Italy)]|[Univ. of Milan (Italy)]|[Univ. Florence (Italy)] [and others

    1994-09-01

    Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is due to a genomic instability of a trinucleotide [AGC]n motif, located at the 3{prime} UTR region of a protein-kinase gene (myotonin protein kinase, MT-PK). The [AGC] repeat is meiotically and mitotically unstable, and it is directly related to the manifestations of the disorder. Although a gene dosage effect of the MT-PK has been demonstrated n DM muscle, the mechanism(s) by which the intragenic repeat expansion leads to disease is largely unknown. This non-standard mutational event could reflect an evolutionary mechanism widespread among animal genomes. We have isolated and sequenced the complete 3{prime}UTR region of the MT-PK gene in seven primates (macaque, orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, gibbon, owl monkey, saimiri), and examined by comparative sequence nucleotide analysis the [AGC]n intragenic repeat and the surrounding nucleotides. The genomic organization, including the [AGC]n repeat structure, was conserved in all examined species, excluding the gibbon (Hylobates agilis), in which the [AGC]n upstream sequence (GGAA) is replaced by a GA dinucleotide. The number of [AGC]n in the examined species ranged between 7 (gorilla) and 13 repeats (owl monkeys), with a polymorphism informative content (PIC) similar to that observed in humans. These results indicate that the 3{prime}UTR [AGC] repeat within the MT-PK gene is evolutionarily conserved, supporting that this region has important regulatory functions.

  2. 78 FR 65594 - Vehicular Repeaters

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-01

    ... coordinators estimate the effect on coordination fees? Does the supposed benefit that mobile repeater stations... allow the licensing and operation of vehicular repeater systems and other mobile repeaters by public... email: [email protected] or phone: 202-418- 0530 or TTY: 202-418-0432. For detailed instructions for...

  3. Tevatron serial data repeater system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ducar, R.J.

    1981-01-01

    A ten megabit per second serial data repeater system has been developed for the 6.28km Tevatron accelerator. The repeaters are positioned at each of the thirty service buildings and accommodate control and abort system communications as well as distribution of the Tevatron time and energy clocks. The repeaters are transparent to the particular protocol of the transmissions. Serial data are encoded locally as unipolar two volt signals employing the self-clocking Manchester Bi-Phase code. The repeaters modulate the local signals to low-power bursts of 50 MHz rf carrier for the 260m transmission between service buildings. The repeaters also demodulate the transmission and restructure the data for local utilization. The employment of frequency discrimination techniques yields high immunity to the characteristic noise spectrum

  4. Phylogenetic Information Content of Copepoda Ribosomal DNA Repeat Units: ITS1 and ITS2 Impact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zagoskin, Maxim V.; Lazareva, Valentina I.; Grishanin, Andrey K.; Mukha, Dmitry V.

    2014-01-01

    The utility of various regions of the ribosomal repeat unit for phylogenetic analysis was examined in 16 species representing four families, nine genera, and two orders of the subclass Copepoda (Crustacea). Fragments approximately 2000 bp in length containing the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) 18S and 28S gene fragments, the 5.8S gene, and the internal transcribed spacer regions I and II (ITS1 and ITS2) were amplified and analyzed. The DAMBE (Data Analysis in Molecular Biology and Evolution) software was used to analyze the saturation of nucleotide substitutions; this test revealed the suitability of both the 28S gene fragment and the ITS1/ITS2 rDNA regions for the reconstruction of phylogenetic trees. Distance (minimum evolution) and probabilistic (maximum likelihood, Bayesian) analyses of the data revealed that the 28S rDNA and the ITS1 and ITS2 regions are informative markers for inferring phylogenetic relationships among families of copepods and within the Cyclopidae family and associated genera. Split-graph analysis of concatenated ITS1/ITS2 rDNA regions of cyclopoid copepods suggested that the Mesocyclops, Thermocyclops, and Macrocyclops genera share complex evolutionary relationships. This study revealed that the ITS1 and ITS2 regions potentially represent different phylogenetic signals. PMID:25215300

  5. Repeat Customer Success in Extension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bess, Melissa M.; Traub, Sarah M.

    2013-01-01

    Four multi-session research-based programs were offered by two Extension specialist in one rural Missouri county. Eleven participants who came to multiple Extension programs could be called "repeat customers." Based on the total number of participants for all four programs, 25% could be deemed as repeat customers. Repeat customers had…

  6. Film repeats in radiology department

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suwan, A. Z.; Al-Shakharah, A. I

    1997-01-01

    During a one year period, 4910 radiographs of 55780 films were repeated. The objective of our study was to analyse and to classify the causes in order to minimize the repeats, cut the expenses and to provide optimal radiographs for accurate diagnosis. Analysis of the different factors revealed that, 43.6% of film repeats in our service were due to faults in exposure factors, centering comprises 15.9% of the repeats, while too much collimation was responsible for 7.6% of these repeats. All of which can be decreased by awareness and programmed training of technicians. Film blurring caused by patient motion was also responsible for 4.9% for radiographs reexamination, which can be minimized by detailed explanation to the patient and providing the necessary privacy. Fogging of X-Ray films by improper storage or inadequate handling or processing faults were responsible for 14.5% in repeats in our study. Methods and criteria for proper storage and handling of films were discussed. Recommendation for using modern day-light and laser processor has been high lighted. Artefacts are noticeably high in our cases, due to spinal dresses and frequent usage of precious metals for c osmotic purposes in this part of the world. The repeated films comprise 8.8% of all films We conclude that, the main factor responsible for repeats of up to 81.6% of cases was the technologists, thus emphasizing the importance of adequate training of the technologists. (authors). 15 refs., 9 figs., 1 table

  7. The repeatability and reproducibility of the BioRID IIg in a repeatable laboratory seat based on a production car seat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hynd, David; Depinet, Paul; Lorenz, Bernd

    2013-01-01

    The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Informal Group on GTR No. 7 Phase 2 are working to define a build level for the BioRID II rear impact (whiplash) crash test dummy that ensures repeatable and reproducible performance in a test procedure that has been proposed for future legislation. This includes the specification of dummy hardware, as well as the development of comprehensive certification procedures for the dummy. This study evaluated whether the dummy build level and certification procedures deliver the desired level of repeatability and reproducibility. A custom-designed laboratory seat was made using the seat base, back, and head restraint from a production car seat to ensure a representative interface with the dummy. The seat back was reinforced for use in multiple tests and the recliner mechanism was replaced by an external spring-damper mechanism. A total of 65 tests were performed with 6 BioRID IIg dummies using the draft GTR No.7 sled pulse and seating procedure. All dummies were subject to the build, maintenance, and certification procedures defined by the Informal Group. The test condition was highly repeatable, with a very repeatable pulse, a well-controlled seat back response, and minimal observed degradation of seat foams. The results showed qualitatively reasonable repeatability and reproducibility for the upper torso and head accelerations, as well as for T1 Fx and upper neck Fx . However, reproducibility was not acceptable for T1 and upper neck Fz or for T1 and upper neck My . The Informal Group has not selected injury or seat assessment criteria for use with BioRID II, so it is not known whether these channels would be used in the regulation. However, the ramping-up behavior of the dummy showed poor reproducibility, which would be expected to affect the reproducibility of dummy measurements in general. Pelvis and spine characteristics were found to significantly influence the dummy measurements for which poor reproducibility was

  8. Patient-Reported Safety Information : A Renaissance of Pharmacovigilance?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Härmark, Linda; Raine, June; Leufkens, Bert|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/075255049; Edwards, I Ralph; Moretti, Ugo; Sarinic, Viola Macolic; Kant, Agnes

    2016-01-01

    The role of patients as key contributors in pharmacovigilance was acknowledged in the new EU pharmacovigilance legislation. This contains several efforts to increase the involvement of the general public, including making patient adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting systems mandatory. Three years

  9. Deception and Retribution in Repeated Ultimatum Bargaining.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boles; Croson; Murnighan

    2000-11-01

    This paper investigates the dynamics of deception and retribution in repeated ultimatum bargaining. Anonymous dyads exchanged messages and offers in a series of four ultimatum bargaining games that had prospects for relatively large monetary outcomes. Variations in each party's knowledge of the other's resources and alternatives created opportunities for deception. Revelation of prior unknowns exposed deceptions and created opportunities for retribution in subsequent interactions. Results showed that although proposers and responders chose deceptive strategies almost equally, proposers told more outright lies. Both were more deceptive when their private information was never revealed, and proposers were most deceptive when their potential profits were largest. Revelation of proposers' lies had little effect on their subsequent behavior even though responders rejected their offers more than similar offers from truthful proposers or proposers whose prior deceit was never revealed. The discussion and conclusions address the dynamics of deception and retribution in repeated bargaining interactions. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

  10. Quantum repeated games revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frąckiewicz, Piotr

    2012-01-01

    We present a scheme for playing quantum repeated 2 × 2 games based on Marinatto and Weber’s approach to quantum games. As a potential application, we study the twice repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma game. We show that results not available in the classical game can be obtained when the game is played in the quantum way. Before we present our idea, we comment on the previous scheme of playing quantum repeated games proposed by Iqbal and Toor. We point out the drawbacks that make their results unacceptable. (paper)

  11. A comparison of patterns of spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting with St. John's Wort and fluoxetine during the period 2000-2013.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoban, Claire L; Byard, Roger W; Musgrave, Ian F

    2015-07-01

    Herbal medicines are perceived to be safe by the general public and medical practitioners, despite abundant evidence from clinical trials and case reports that show herbal preparations can have significant adverse effects. The overall impact of adverse events to herbal medicines in Australia is currently unknown. Post marketing surveillance of medications through spontaneous adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is one way to estimate this risk. The patterns of spontaneously reported ADRs provide insight to herbal dangers, especially when compared with patterns of a mechanistically similar conventional drug. The study compared the pattern of spontaneously reported ADRs to St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum), a common herbal treatment for depression which contains selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), to fluoxetine, a commonly prescribed synthetic SSRI antidepressant. Spontaneous ADR reports sent to the TGA between 2000-2013 for St. John's Wort (n = 84) and fluoxetine (n = 447) were obtained and analysed. The demographic information, types of interaction, severity of the ADR, and the body systems affected (using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system) were recorded for individual ADR cases. The majority of spontaneously reported ADRs for St. John's Wort and fluoxetine were concerning females aged 26-50 years (28.6%, 22.8%). The organ systems affected by ADRs to St John's Wort and fluoxetine have a similar profile, with the majority of cases affecting the central nervous system (45.2%, 61.7%). This result demonstrates that herbal preparations can result in ADRs similar to those of prescription medications. © 2015 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  12. Genetic Analysis of Eight X-Chromosomal Short Tandem Repeat ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    X-Chromosome short tandem repeat (STR) typing can complement existing DNA profiling protocols and can also offer useful information in cases of complex kinship analysis. This is the first population study of 8 X-linked STRs in Iraq. The purpose of this work was to provide a basic data of allele and haplotype frequency for ...

  13. Maintaining confidentiality in prospective studies: anonymous repeated measurements via email (ARME) procedure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carli, Vladimir; Hadlaczky, Gergö; Wasserman, Camilla; Stingelin-Giles, Nicola; Reiter-Theil, Stella; Wasserman, Danuta

    2012-02-01

    Respecting and protecting the confidentiality of data and the privacy of individuals regarding the information that they have given as participants in a research project is a cornerstone of complying with accepted research standards. However, in longitudinal studies, establishing and maintaining privacy is often challenging because of the necessity of repeated contact with participants. A novel internet-based solution is introduced here, which maintains privacy while at the same time ensures linkage of data to individual participants in a repeated measures design. With the use of the anonymous repeated measurements via email (ARME) procedure, two separate one-way communication systems are established through ad hoc email accounts and a secure study website. Strengths and limitations of the approach are discussed.

  14. Pharmacovigilance and drug safety 2011 in Calabria (Italy: Adverse events analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesca Scicchitano

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background : Pharmacovigilance assesses the safety profile of drugs. Its main aim is the increase of spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs. The Italian Drug Agency (AIFA; Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco is financing several projects to the aim of increasing reporting, and in Calabria a Pharmacovigilance Information Centre has been created. Materials and Methods: We analyzed the AIFA database relatively to Calabria in the year 2011 and we have analyzed ADRs using descriptive statistics. We have also collected a questionnaire-based interview in order to describe the background knowledge in the field. Results : Regarding the number of AIFA reported ADRs from Calabria, a 38% increase (138 vs. 100 in comparison to 2010 was evidenced. Hospital Doctors represent the main source of signaling (71.7 %. Ketoprofene and the combination amoxicillin/clavulanic acid represent the most frequently reported drugs causing ADRs. Our questionnaires indicated that despite the health professionals have met at least once an ADR only a small percentage of them was reported to the authorities (37%. There is a very good knowledge of the ADR concept and reporting system (90% of interviewed distinguish an ADR and knows how to report it, and there is a strong interest in participating to training courses in the field (95% are interested. Conclusions : Despite Calabria has had a positive increase in the number of reported ADRs, the total number is very low and the pharmacovigilance culture is far from being achieved in this region.

  15. Pharmacovigilance and drug safety 2011 in Calabria (Italy): Adverse events analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scicchitano, Francesca; Giofrè, Chiara; Palleria, Caterina; Mazzitello, Carmela; Ciriaco, Miriam; Gallelli, Luca; Paletta, Laura; Marrazzo, Giuseppina; De Fazio, Salvatore; Menniti, Michele; Curia, Rubens; Arena, Concetta; Chimirri, Serafina; Patanè, Marinella; Esposito, Stefania; Cilurzo, Felisa; Staltari, Orietta; Russo, Emilio; De Sarro, Giovambattista

    2012-09-01

    Pharmacovigilance assesses the safety profile of drugs. Its main aim is the increase of spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The Italian Drug Agency (AIFA; Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco) is financing several projects to the aim of increasing reporting, and in Calabria a Pharmacovigilance Information Centre has been created. We analyzed the AIFA database relatively to Calabria in the year 2011 and we have analyzed ADRs using descriptive statistics. We have also collected a questionnaire-based interview in order to describe the background knowledge in the field. Regarding the number of AIFA reported ADRs from Calabria, a 38% increase (138 vs. 100) in comparison to 2010 was evidenced. Hospital Doctors represent the main source of signaling (71.7 %). Ketoprofene and the combination amoxicillin/clavulanic acid represent the most frequently reported drugs causing ADRs. Our questionnaires indicated that despite the health professionals have met at least once an ADR only a small percentage of them was reported to the authorities (37%). There is a very good knowledge of the ADR concept and reporting system (90% of interviewed distinguish an ADR and knows how to report it), and there is a strong interest in participating to training courses in the field (95% are interested). Despite Calabria has had a positive increase in the number of reported ADRs, the total number is very low and the pharmacovigilance culture is far from being achieved in this region.

  16. Role of Information Anxiety and Information Load on Processing of Prescription Drug Information Leaflets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bapat, Shweta S; Patel, Harshali K; Sansgiry, Sujit S

    2017-10-16

    In this study, we evaluate the role of information anxiety and information load on the intention to read information from prescription drug information leaflets (PILs). These PILs were developed based on the principals of information load and consumer information processing. This was an experimental prospective repeated measures study conducted in the United States where 360 (62% response rate) university students (>18 years old) participated. Participants were presented with a scenario followed by exposure to the three drug product information sources used to operationalize information load. The three sources were: (i) current practice; (ii) pre-existing one-page text only; and (iii) interventional one-page prototype PILs designed for the study. Information anxiety was measured as anxiety experienced by the individual when encountering information. The outcome variable of intention to read PILs was defined as the likelihood that the patient will read the information provided in the leaflets. A survey questionnaire was used to capture the data and the objectives were analyzed by performing a repeated measures MANOVA using SAS version 9.3. When compared to current practice and one-page text only leaflets, one-page PILs had significantly lower scores on information anxiety ( p information load ( p Information anxiety and information load significantly impacted intention to read ( p < 0.001). Newly developed PILs increased patient's intention to read and can help in improving the counseling services provided by pharmacists.

  17. 13-year overview of serious adverse drug reactions following subcutaneous specific immunotherapy with a chemically modified allergen preparation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Distler, Andreas; Pappelendam, Debbie

    The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) published an analysis of reports of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in 2001 with test and therapy allergens from the period from 1991 to 2000. Possible risk factors were evaluated for the ADR reports classified as "serious". During the analyzed period, modified semi-depot preparations (allergoids) induced between 0.01 % and 0.0005 % serious systemic reactions, i. e. one serious ADR occurred in 10,000 to 200,000 injections. No information was provided regarding the respective incidences in relation to the individual companies or preparations. Within the scope of a 13-year analysis (2001-2013), the serious ADRs were analysed at HAL for the allergoid preparations PURETHAL® Pollen and Mites. As in the analysis of PEI, the frequency of serious ADRs was based on the estimated number of administered injections. A total of 46 cases with serious ADRs were received. In 26 % of the cases, a serious ADR occurred during initial treatment after the first injection. In 82.6 % of the cases, the serious ADR occurred within the 30-minute observation period in the practice. Adrenaline was administered as emergency treatment in seven cases. Hospitalisations were initiated by the treating physician or by patients themselves in 45 cases. The duration of the hospital stay varied from a few hours up to three days for further monitoring. Serious ADRs occurred in 11 cases with mites and in 35 cases with pollen. If it is assumed that there are six injections in each vial, this yields an incidence of 0.00061 % (1 : 164,000). The frequency with mites (0.00093 %) was slightly higher than with pollen (0.00055 %). The allergoid preparations (pollen and mite allergens) showed a very low risk of serious ADRs, which was close to the lower level of incidence of 0.0005 % for allergoid preparations published by the PEI.

  18. What can we learn from consumer reports on psychiatric adverse drug reactions with antidepressant medication? Experiences from reports to a consumer association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vilhelmsson, Andreas; Svensson, Tommy; Meeuwisse, Anna; Carlsten, Anders

    2011-10-25

    According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the cost of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in the general population is high and under-reporting by health professionals is a well-recognized problem. Another way to increase ADR reporting is to let the consumers themselves report directly to the authorities. In Sweden it is mandatory for prescribers to report serious ADRs to the Medical Products Agency (MPA), but there are no such regulations for consumers. The non-profit and independent organization Consumer Association for Medicines and Health, KILEN has launched the possibility for consumers to report their perceptions and experiences from their use of medicines in order to strengthen consumer rights within the health care sector. This study aimed to analyze these consumer reports. All reports submitted from January 2002 to April 2009 to an open web site in Sweden where anyone could report their experience with the use of pharmaceuticals were analyzed with focus on common psychiatric side effects related to antidepressant usage. More than one ADR for a specific drug could be reported. In total 665 reports were made during the period. 442 reports concerned antidepressant medications and the individual antidepressant reports represented 2392 ADRs and 878 (37%) of these were psychiatric ADRs. 75% of the individual reports concerned serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and the rest serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI). Women reported more antidepressant psychiatric ADRs (71%) compared to men (24%). More potentially serious psychiatric ADRs were frequently reported to KILEN and withdrawal symptoms during discontinuation were also reported as a common issue. The present study indicates that consumer reports may contribute with important information regarding more serious psychiatric ADRs following antidepressant treatment. Consumer reporting may be considered a complement to traditional ADR reporting.

  19. Repeatability of visual acuity measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raasch, T W; Bailey, I L; Bullimore, M A

    1998-05-01

    This study investigates features of visual acuity chart design and acuity testing scoring methods which affect the validity and repeatability of visual acuity measurements. Visual acuity was measured using the Sloan and British Standard letter series, and Landolt rings. Identifiability of the different letters as a function of size was estimated, and expressed in the form of frequency-of-seeing curves. These functions were then used to simulate acuity measurements with a variety of chart designs and scoring criteria. Systematic relationships exist between chart design parameters and acuity score, and acuity score repeatability. In particular, an important feature of a chart, that largely determines the repeatability of visual acuity measurement, is the amount of size change attributed to each letter. The methods used to score visual acuity performance also affect repeatability. It is possible to evaluate acuity score validity and repeatability using the statistical principles discussed here.

  20. Analysis of patients' narratives posted on social media websites on benfluorex's (Mediator® ) withdrawal in France.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abou Taam, M; Rossard, C; Cantaloube, L; Bouscaren, N; Roche, G; Pochard, L; Montastruc, F; Herxheimer, A; Montastruc, J L; Bagheri, H

    2014-02-01

    Websites and discussion lists on health issues are among the most popular resources on the Web. Use experience reported on social media websites may provide useful information on drugs and their adverse reactions (ADRs). Clear communication on the benefit/harm balance of drugs is important to inform proper use of drugs. Some data have shown that communication (advisories or warnings) is difficult. This study aimed to explore the Internet as a source of data on patients' perception of risk associated with benfluorex and the impact of wider media coverage. Three French websites were selected: Doctissimo, Atoute.org considered the best-known and visited website in France for health questions and Vivelesrondes (Long live the Tubbies) for overweight people. Three periods were chosen: (1) before November 2009 (i.e. before benfluorex withdrawal), (2) between November 2009 and November 2010 (when the risk of valvulopathy with benfluorex appeared in social media) and (3) after November 2010. Two hundred twenty initial postings were analysed. These lead to 660 secondary postings which were analysed separately. In period 1, 114 initial postings were analysed, mostly concerning efficacy of the drug (72%). In period 2, 42 initial postings were analysed involving mainly ADRs or warnings (73%). In period 3, 64 initial postings were analysed; most frequent expressing anger directed at the healthcare system (58%) and anxiety about cardiovascular ADRs (30%). Online consumer postings showed that there were drastic changes in consumers' perceptions following media coverage. This study suggests that analysis of website data can inform on drug ADRs. Social media are important for communicating information on drug ADRs and for assessing consumer behaviour and their risk perception. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  1. Fostering repeat donations in Ghana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owusu-Ofori, S; Asenso-Mensah, K; Boateng, P; Sarkodie, F; Allain, J-P

    2010-01-01

    Most African countries are challenged in recruiting and retaining voluntary blood donors by cost and other complexities and in establishing and implementing national blood policies. The availability of replacement donors who are a cheaper source of blood has not enhanced repeat voluntary donor initiatives. An overview of activities for recruiting and retaining voluntary blood donors was carried out. Donor records from mobile sessions were reviewed from 2002 to 2008. A total of 71,701 blood donations; 45,515 (63.5%) being voluntary donations with 11,680 (25%) repeat donations were collected during the study period. Donations from schools and colleges contributed a steady 60% of total voluntary whilst radio station blood drives increased contribution from 10 to 27%. Though Muslim population is less than 20%, blood collection was above the 30-donation cost-effectiveness threshold with a repeat donation trend reaching 60%. In contrast Christian worshippers provided donations. Repeat donation trends amongst school donors and radio blood drives were 20% and 70% respectively. Repeat donations rates have been variable amongst different blood donor groups in Kumasi, Ghana. The impact of community leaders in propagating altruism cannot be overemphasized. Programs aiming at motivating replacement donors to be repeat donors should be developed and assessed. Copyright 2009 The International Association for Biologicals. All rights reserved.

  2. Utility of repeat testing of critical values: a Q-probes analysis of 86 clinical laboratories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lehman, Christopher M; Howanitz, Peter J; Souers, Rhona; Karcher, Donald S

    2014-06-01

    A common laboratory practice is to repeat critical values before reporting the test results to the clinical care provider. This may be an unnecessary step that delays the reporting of critical test results without adding value to the accuracy of the test result. To determine the proportions of repeated chemistry and hematology critical values that differ significantly from the original value as defined by the participating laboratory, to determine the threshold differences defined by the laboratory as clinically significant, and to determine the additional time required to analyze the repeat test. Participants prospectively reviewed critical test results for 4 laboratory tests: glucose, potassium, white blood cell count, and platelet count. Participants reported the following information: initial and repeated test result; time initial and repeat results were first known to laboratory staff; critical result notification time; if the repeat result was still a critical result; if the repeat result was significantly different from the initial result, as judged by the laboratory professional or policy; significant difference threshold, as defined by the laboratory; the make and model of the instrument used for primary and repeat testing. Routine, repeat analysis of critical values is a common practice. Most laboratories did not formally define a significant difference between repeat results. Repeated results were rarely considered significantly different. Median repeated times were at least 17 to 21 minutes for 10% of laboratories. Twenty percent of laboratories reported at least 1 incident in the last calendar year of delayed result reporting that clinicians indicated had adversely affected patient care. Routine repeat analysis of automated chemistry and hematology critical values is unlikely to be clinically useful and may adversely affect patient care.

  3. Repeated DNA sequences in fungi

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dutta, S K

    1974-11-01

    Several fungal species, representatives of all broad groups like basidiomycetes, ascomycetes and phycomycetes, were examined for the nature of repeated DNA sequences by DNA:DNA reassociation studies using hydroxyapatite chromatography. All of the fungal species tested contained 10 to 20 percent repeated DNA sequences. There are approximately 100 to 110 copies of repeated DNA sequences of approximately 4 x 10/sup 7/ daltons piece size of each. Repeated DNA sequence homoduplexes showed on average 5/sup 0/C difference of T/sub e/50 (temperature at which 50 percent duplexes dissociate) values from the corresponding homoduplexes of unfractionated whole DNA. It is suggested that a part of repetitive sequences in fungi constitutes mitochondrial DNA and a part of it constitutes nuclear DNA. (auth)

  4. Repeater Analysis for Combining Information from Different Assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haberman, Shelby; Yao, Lili

    2015-01-01

    Admission decisions frequently rely on multiple assessments. As a consequence, it is important to explore rational approaches to combine the information from different educational tests. For example, U.S. graduate schools usually receive both TOEFL iBT® scores and GRE® General scores of foreign applicants for admission; however, little guidance…

  5. Topological characteristics of helical repeat proteins

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Groves, M R; Barford, D

    The recent elucidation of protein structures based upon repeating amino acid motifs, including the armadillo motif, the HEAT motif and tetratricopeptide repeats, reveals that they belong to the class of helical repeat proteins. These proteins share the common property of being assembled from tandem

  6. Desenvolvimento e Teste Preliminar da Estabilidade de formulações cosméticas acrescidas de extrato comercial de Trichilia catigua Adr. Juss (e Ptychopetalum olacoides Bentham

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. V.R. VELASCO

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available

    O presente estudo apresenta etapas de desenvolvimento de emulsões cosméticas, contendo 5% do extrato comercial de Trichilia catigua Adr. Juss (e Ptychopetalum olacoides Bentham. Desenvolveramse 14 formulações-teste e avaliou-se a obtenção de emulsões macroscopicamente estáveis, com valores de viscosidade aparente variados, pH compatível com o da pele e características organolépticas adequadas, por meio dos Testes de Estabilidade Preliminar e Acelerada. Estas formulações foram divididas em dois grupos: um com emulsões fluidas e outro com emulsões mais viscosas. Após análise, oito formulações-teste foram consideradas aptas para serem submetidas ao Teste de Estabilidade Preliminar. Após os ensaios, cinco formulações-teste foram selecionadas para o Teste de Estabilidade Acelerada. Os ensaios foram conduzidos em condições de armazenamento, de luminosidade e de temperatura extremas. Ao final do estudo, duas formulações-teste foram consideradas aprovadas por apresentarem os perfis mais estáveis durante o estudo, sendo ambas, emulsões fluidas constituídas de ceras auto-emulsionantes e 0,3% p/p de um polímero natural, e uma delas adicionada também de 2,0% lecitina de soja. Palavras-chave: estabilidade de emulsões cosméticas; desenvolvimento de emulsões; Trichilia catigua Adr. Juss (e Ptychopetalum olacoides Bentham

  7. In vivo multimodality imaging of miRNA-16 iron nanoparticle reversing drug resistance to chemotherapy in a mouse gastric cancer model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Zhongchan; Song, Xinxing; Li, Xiujuan; Su, Tao; Qi, Shun; Qiao, Ruirui; Wang, Fu; Huan, Yi; Yang, Weidong; Wang, Jing; Nie, Yongzhan; Wu, Kaichun; Gao, Mingyuan; Cao, Feng

    2014-11-01

    resistance of gastric cancer cells by enforcing miR16 expression in SGC7901/ADR cells. The MNPs with good biocompatibility were synthesized by thermal decomposition, and then conjugated with miRNA via electrostatic interaction producing miR16/MNPs. After co-culture with miR16/MNPs, ADR-induced apoptosis of SGC7901/ADR was examined by MTT and TUNEL. miR16/MNPs treatment significantly increased cell apoptosis in vitro. SGC7901/ADRfluc tumor-bearing nude mice under ADR therapy were treated with miR16/MNPs by tail vein injection for in vivo study. After intraperitoneal injection of ADR, tumor volume measurement and fluorescence imaging were performed to for the death of SGC7901/ADR cells in vivo. Results showed that miR16/MNPs were able to significantly suppress SGC7901/ADR tumor growth, probably through increasing SGC7901/ADR cells' sensitivity to ADR. Our results suggest the efficient delivery of miR16 by MNPs as a novel therapeutic strategy for drug resistant tumor treatment. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4nr03003f

  8. UK 2009-2010 repeat station report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas J.G. Shanahan

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The British Geological Survey is responsible for conducting the UK geomagnetic repeat station programme. Measurements made at the UK repeat station sites are used in conjunction with the three UK magnetic observatories: Hartland, Eskdalemuir and Lerwick, to produce a regional model of the local field each year. The UK network of repeat stations comprises 41 stations which are occupied at approximately 3-4 year intervals. Practices for conducting repeat station measurements continue to evolve as advances are made in survey instrumentation and as the usage of the data continues to change. Here, a summary of the 2009 and 2010 UK repeat station surveys is presented, highlighting the measurement process and techniques, density of network, reduction process and recent results.

  9. Short tandem repeat (STR) DNA markers are hypervariable and informative in Cannabis sativa: implications for forensic investigations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilmore, Simon; Peakall, Rod; Robertson, James

    2003-01-09

    Short tandem repeat (STR) markers are the DNA marker of choice in forensic analysis of human DNA. Here we extend the application of STR markers to Cannabis sativa and demonstrate their potential for forensic investigations. Ninety-three individual cannabis plants, representing drug and fibre accessions of widespread origin were profiled with five STR makers. A total of 79 alleles were detected across the five loci. All but four individuals from a single drug-type accession had a unique multilocus genotype. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed significant genetic variation among accessions, with an average of 25% genetic differentiation. By contrast, only 6% genetic difference was detected between drug and fibre crop accessions and it was not possible to unequivocally assign plants as either drug or fibre type. However, our results suggest that drug strains may typically possess lower genetic diversity than fibre strains, which may ultimately provide a means of genetic delineation. Our findings demonstrate the promise of cannabis STR markers to provide information on: (1) agronomic type, (2) the geographical origin of drug seizures, and (3) evidence of conspiracy in production of clonally propagated drug crops.

  10. Nonparametric modeling and analysis of association between Huntington's disease onset and CAG repeats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Yanyuan; Wang, Yuanjia

    2014-04-15

    Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with a dominant genetic mode of inheritance caused by an expansion of CAG repeats on chromosome 4. Typically, a longer sequence of CAG repeat length is associated with increased risk of experiencing earlier onset of HD. Previous studies of the association between HD onset age and CAG length have favored a logistic model, where the CAG repeat length enters the mean and variance components of the logistic model in a complex exponential-linear form. To relax the parametric assumption of the exponential-linear association to the true HD onset distribution, we propose to leave both mean and variance functions of the CAG repeat length unspecified and perform semiparametric estimation in this context through a local kernel and backfitting procedure. Motivated by including family history of HD information available in the family members of participants in the Cooperative Huntington's Observational Research Trial (COHORT), we develop the methodology in the context of mixture data, where some subjects have a positive probability of being risk free. We also allow censoring on the age at onset of disease and accommodate covariates other than the CAG length. We study the theoretical properties of the proposed estimator and derive its asymptotic distribution. Finally, we apply the proposed methods to the COHORT data to estimate the HD onset distribution using a group of study participants and the disease family history information available on their family members. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  11. Reject/repeat analysis and the effect prior film viewing has on a department's reject/repeat rate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clark, P.A.; Hogg, P.

    2003-01-01

    Purpose: Achieving cost-effectiveness within the NHS is an old initiative but one that has again been highlighted by recent government policies (The New NHS-Modern and Dependable, Stationary Office, London, 1997). It has been reiterated that it is the responsibility of individual Trusts to devise means to provide such a service. Reject/repeat analyses have long been the primary tool used to assess the cost-effectiveness of radiography departments (Quality Assurance in Diagnostic Radiology, WHO, Geneva, 1982). This research paper examines an in-house initiative (viewing patients' previous films) commonly employed in other Health Trusts in order to reduce departmental repeat/reject rates. Method: Three hundred orthopaedic patients with hip, knee and ankle prostheses were included in a reject/repeat analysis. The aim was to investigate whether or not viewing patient's previous relevant radiographs would be advantageous to the practicing radiographer. This was done through an audit cycle consisting of two audit periods each lasting for 3 months. The primary audit period recorded the baseline repeat/reject rate, with the secondary audit period recording the repeat/reject rate under an experimental condition of viewing the relevant radiographs. Results: The baseline audit revealed repeat rates of 33% in orthopaedic patients with hip, knee and ankle prostheses. The availability of prior film viewing to the radiographer reduced this repeat rate to 10.6%. Conclusion: Prior film viewing dramatically reduced the department's repeat/reject rate by 22.4%. This provides scope for significant patient dose reductions as well as reducing departmental film expenses. This is an underestimated initiative and should be used appropriately in routine clinical practice

  12. Pharmacogenetics of drug-induced arrhythmias

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    De Bruin, Marie L; van Puijenbroek, Eugene P; Bracke, Madelon

    2006-01-01

    PURPOSE: The bottleneck in pharmacogenetic research on rare adverse drug reactions (ADR) is retrieval of patients. Spontaneous reports of ADRs may form a useful source of patients. We investigated the feasibility of a pharmacogenetic study, in which cases were selected from the database...... of a spontaneous reporting system for ADRs, using drug-induced arrhythmias as an example. METHODS: Reports of drug-induced arrhythmias to proarrhythmic drugs were selected from the database of the Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre (1996-2003). Information on the patient's general practitioner (GP) was obtained...... be included in the study, giving an overall participation rate of 9% (4/45). The main reason for GPs not being willing to participate was lack of time. Variants were identified in KCNH2, SCN5A and KCNE1. CONCLUSIONS: Spontaneous reporting systems for ADRs may be used for pharmacogenetic research. The methods...

  13. Adverse drug reactions associated with the use of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Enrique Machado-Alba

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This study describes the adverse drug reactions (ADRs and their incidence in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were treated in the Colombian health system. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using information from all patients who were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and attended specialized health care centers in the cities of Bogotá, Cali, Manizales, Medellin, and Pereira between 1 December 2009 and 30 August 2013. The ADRs were obtained from medical records and the pharmacovigilance system registry and sorted by frequency and affected tissue according to World Health Organization Adverse Reaction Terminology (WHO-ART. A total of 949 reports of ADRs were obtained from 419 patients (32.8 ADRs per 100 patient-years; these patients were from a cohort of 1 364 patients being treated for rheumatoid arthritis and followed up for an average of 23.8 months (± 12.9. The cohort was mostly female (366, 87.4% and had a mean age of 52.7 years (± 13.1. The highest numbers of ADRs were reported following the use of tocilizumab, rituximab, and infliximab (28.8, 23.1, and 13.3 reports per 100 patient-years respectively. The most frequently reported ADRs were elevated transaminase levels and dyspepsia. Overall, 87.7% of ADRs were classified as type A, 36.6% as mild, 40.7% as moderate, and 22.7% as severe. As a result, 73.2% of patients who experienced an ADR stopped taking their drugs. The occurrence of ADRs in patients treated for rheumatoid arthritis is common, especially in those associated with the use of biotechnologically produced anti-rheumatic drugs. This outcome should be studied in future research and monitoring is needed to reduce the risks in these patients.

  14. Repeating Marx

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fuchs, Christian; Monticelli, Lara

    2018-01-01

    This introduction sets out the context of the special issue “Karl Marx @ 200: Debating Capitalism & Perspectives for the Future of Radical Theory”, which was published on the occasion of Marx’s bicentenary on 5 May 2018. First, we give a brief overview of contemporary capitalism’s development...... and its crises. Second, we argue that it is important to repeat Marx today. Third, we reflect on lessons learned from 200 years of struggles for alternatives to capitalism. Fourth, we give an overview of the contributions in this special issue. Taken together, the contributions in this special issue show...... that Marx’s theory and politics remain key inspirations for understanding exploitation and domination in 21st-century society and for struggles that aim to overcome these phenomena and establishing a just and fair society. We need to repeat Marx today....

  15. Adverse drug reactions reporting : Knowledge and opinion of general public in Penang, Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elkalmi, Ramadan; Hassali, Mohamed Azmi; Al-Lela, Omar Qutaiba; Jawad Awadh, Ammar Ihsan; Al-Shami, Abdul Kareem; Jamshed, Shazia Qasim

    2013-07-01

    The objective of this study was to explore the knowledge of the general population towards ADR and their reporting system. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire (15 items) was designed. The questionnaire was subjected to face validity and content validity. The reliability coefficient was found to be 0.71. This study recruited proportionately large convenience sample of the general public in Penang. Interviews using a structured questionnaire were conducted over a week period in August 2009. The recommended sample size was calculated to be 368. Three hundred thirty-four responses were received. Slightly more than half of the respondents were in the age group of 18-25 years (53.6%; n = 179). When asked about the sources of their medication majority of them reported medical doctor (85.6%), whereas small number (34.7%) reported community pharmacists as sources of medications. Three-quarter of the respondents (77.2%) get their information about the side-effects of drugs from physicians, followed by pharmacist (44.6%). More than half of the respondents (65.6%, n = 219) reported unawareness about the existence of ADR center set up by the Ministry of Health. Respondents reflected inadequate knowledge on ADR reporting. This needs to be corrected as the trend of future pharmacovigilance is toward the patient. Moreover, the new trend seems to be more appropriate as the patient is the group of the people who are directly affected from the ADR of a particular drug and not the health-care providers. Furthermore, the patient will be informed about the economic implications of not reporting ADR. It is recommended that government agencies, like MADRAC needs to find ways to increase patient- reported ADR cases.

  16. The Dark Side of Testing Memory: Repeated Retrieval Can Enhance Eyewitness Suggestibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Jason C. K.; LaPaglia, Jessica A.

    2011-01-01

    Eyewitnesses typically recount their experiences many times before trial. Such repeated retrieval can enhance memory retention of the witnessed event. However, recent studies (e.g., Chan, Thomas, & Bulevich, 2009) have found that initial retrieval can exacerbate eyewitness suggestibility to later misleading information--a finding termed…

  17. Analysis of repeated measures data

    CERN Document Server

    Islam, M Ataharul

    2017-01-01

    This book presents a broad range of statistical techniques to address emerging needs in the field of repeated measures. It also provides a comprehensive overview of extensions of generalized linear models for the bivariate exponential family of distributions, which represent a new development in analysing repeated measures data. The demand for statistical models for correlated outcomes has grown rapidly recently, mainly due to presence of two types of underlying associations: associations between outcomes, and associations between explanatory variables and outcomes. The book systematically addresses key problems arising in the modelling of repeated measures data, bearing in mind those factors that play a major role in estimating the underlying relationships between covariates and outcome variables for correlated outcome data. In addition, it presents new approaches to addressing current challenges in the field of repeated measures and models based on conditional and joint probabilities. Markov models of first...

  18. On the crustal bias of repeat stations in Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venera Dobrica

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available A magnetic induction model has been applied to recordings obtained in 2010 during the field campaigns for geomagnetic measurements at the 26 repeat stations of the Romanian secular variation network. The model is based on the observation that a variable external magnetic field induces a response of the Earth's interior not only by electromagnetic induction, but also by magnetic induction in the magnetic rocks above the Curie temperature. The model computes coefficients of a linear relationship between recorded values of a certain geomagnetic element (X, Y, Z, or F at the repeat station and recorded X, Y, Z values at a reference station (in this case, SUA observatory. Coefficients depend on magnetic permeabilities of rocks beneath the station and stand as a proxy for the anomaly bias characterizing the site. Maps of the lateral variation of this type of information were obtained and discussed.

  19. Awareness among tertiary care doctors about Pharmacovigilance Programme of India: Do endocrinologists differ from others?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pramod Kumar Sharma

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background and Objectives: Reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs associated with drug use is an important factor in patient safety. Majority of ADRs are preventable through improved prescribing and monitoring. Endocrinologists prescribe drugs with actions on almost all organs and for relatively longer durations. ADR are expected following the use of these drugs. Pharmacovigilance is the study of drug-related adverse effects aimed at protecting patients and public from drug-related harms. The concept of pharmacovigilance is relatively new in India, and this survey is an attempt to explore awareness among doctors of an establishing institution of national importance. Materials and Methods: The survey was conducted on faculty and resident doctors by administering a written structured questionnaire in a voluntary manner. The questionnaire contained questions meant to evaluate their awareness, understanding, and misconception about ADR reporting. Identity of the responder was kept confidential. Results: A total of 106 (faculty = 56; residents = 50 participated in survey. The most common cause cited for not reporting an ADR was “do not know how to report” by 64.15%. Majority of them (64% had no information about the Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI, and only few (8.5% had actually reported or published an ADR. Interpretation and Conclusions: ADRs are major public health problem that needs to be addressed at all levels of health care. High index of clinical suspicion are crucial for their timely detection and management. Various educational interventions have shown to improve medical professionals' awareness, understanding about ADRs and in their reporting behavior. PvPI is an important initiative toward ensuring patient safety.

  20. Efficient Strategy Computation in Zero-Sum Asymmetric Repeated Games

    KAUST Repository

    Li, Lichun

    2017-03-06

    Zero-sum asymmetric games model decision making scenarios involving two competing players who have different information about the game being played. A particular case is that of nested information, where one (informed) player has superior information over the other (uninformed) player. This paper considers the case of nested information in repeated zero-sum games and studies the computation of strategies for both the informed and uninformed players for finite-horizon and discounted infinite-horizon nested information games. For finite-horizon settings, we exploit that for both players, the security strategy, and also the opponent\\'s corresponding best response depend only on the informed player\\'s history of actions. Using this property, we refine the sequence form, and formulate an LP computation of player strategies that is linear in the size of the uninformed player\\'s action set. For the infinite-horizon discounted game, we construct LP formulations to compute the approximated security strategies for both players, and provide a bound on the performance difference between the approximated security strategies and the security strategies. Finally, we illustrate the results on a network interdiction game between an informed system administrator and uniformed intruder.

  1. Convergence of repeated quantum nondemolition measurements and wave-function collapse

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bauer, Michel; Bernard, Denis

    2011-01-01

    Motivated by recent experiments on quantum trapped fields, we give a rigorous proof that repeated indirect quantum nondemolition (QND) measurements converge to the collapse of the wave function as predicted by the postulates of quantum mechanics for direct measurements. We also relate the rate of convergence toward the collapsed wave function to the relative entropy of each indirect measurement, a result which makes contact with information theory.

  2. Alu repeats as markers for forensic DNA analyses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Batzer, M.A.; Alegria-Hartman, M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States); Kass, D.H. [Louisiana State Univ., New Orleans, LA (United States)] [and others

    1994-01-01

    The Human-Specific (HS) subfamily of Alu sequences is comprised of a group of 500 nearly identical members which are almost exclusively restricted to the human genome. Individual subfamily members share an average of 98.9% nucleotide identity with the HS subfamily consensus sequence, and have an average age of 2.8 million years. We have developed a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) based assay using primers complementary to the 5 inch and 3 inch unique flanking DNA sequences from each HS Alu that allow the locus to be assayed for the presence or absence of the Alu repeat. The dimorphic HS Alu sequences probably inserted in the human genome after the radiation of modem humans (within the last 200,000-one million years) and represent a unique source of information for human population genetics and forensic DNA analyses. These sites can be developed into Dimorphic Alu Sequence Tagged Sites (DASTS) for the Human Genome Project. HS Alu family member insertions differ from other types of polymorphism (e.g. Variable Number of Tandem Repeat [VNTR] or Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism [RFLP]) in that polymorphisms due to Alu insertions arise as a result of a unique event which has occurred only one time in the human population and spread through the population from that point. Therefore, individuals that share HS Alu repeats inherited these elements from a common ancestor. Most VNTR and RFLP polymorphisms may arise multiple times in parallel within a population.

  3. Receptionist input to quality and safety in repeat prescribing in UK general practice: ethnographic case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swinglehurst, Deborah; Greenhalgh, Trisha; Russell, Jill; Myall, Michelle

    2011-11-03

    To describe, explore, and compare organisational routines for repeat prescribing in general practice to identify contributors and barriers to safety and quality. Ethnographic case study. Four urban UK general practices with diverse organisational characteristics using electronic patient records that supported semi-automation of repeat prescribing. 395 hours of ethnographic observation of staff (25 doctors, 16 nurses, 4 healthcare assistants, 6 managers, and 56 reception or administrative staff), and 28 documents and other artefacts relating to repeat prescribing locally and nationally. Potential threats to patient safety and characteristics of good practice. Observation of how doctors, receptionists, and other administrative staff contributed to, and collaborated on, the repeat prescribing routine. Analysis included mapping prescribing routines, building a rich description of organisational practices, and drawing these together through narrative synthesis. This was informed by a sociological model of how organisational routines shape and are shaped by information and communications technologies. Results Repeat prescribing was a complex, technology-supported social practice requiring collaboration between clinical and administrative staff, with important implications for patient safety. More than half of requests for repeat prescriptions were classed as "exceptions" by receptionists (most commonly because the drug, dose, or timing differed from what was on the electronic repeat list). They managed these exceptions by making situated judgments that enabled them (sometimes but not always) to bridge the gap between the idealised assumptions about tasks, roles, and interactions that were built into the electronic patient record and formal protocols, and the actual repeat prescribing routine as it played out in practice. This work was creative and demanded both explicit and tacit knowledge. Clinicians were often unaware of this input and it did not feature in policy

  4. SUMBER KONFLIK DAN POTENSI PENERAPAN ALTERNATIF PENYELESAIAN KONFLIK (APK DALAM SENGKETA LINGKUNGAN HIDUP(Conflict Sources and the Potential of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR Application on Environmental Conflict: The Case of Sasorladang Community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tua Hasiholan Hutabarat

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRAK Penelitian ini mengkaji konflik lingkungan yang terjadi antara masyarakat Porsea dengan PT. Inti Indorayon Utama (IIU. Konflik ini terjadi berkepanjangan karena tidak bertemunya faktor-faktor rasional dan irasional. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengkaji bagaimana faktor-faktor yang irasional bekerja dalam penyelesaian konflik melalui Altemative Dispute Resolution (ADR. Penelitian ini menggunakan metodologi deskriptif melalui survai baik dengan kuesioner maupun interview. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa dari 4 faktor rasional yang dipertimbangkan dalam penyelesaian konflik hanya faktor penerimaan bantuan yang berkorelasi dengan pengembangan sikap masyarakat. Adapun faktor-faktor irasional memiliki relasi, dan faktor etnosentrik manjadi faktor yang paling berpengaruh.   ABSTRACT This research was carried out based on an environmental conflict phenomenon between Porsea people, especially Sosorladang, and PT Inti Indorayan Utama or Toba Pulp Lestari (PT IIU/TPL. Occurred four years, the conflict is difficult to resolve due to some irrational factors aside from rational ones that should have made the conflict resolution realistic. The research aims to identify how the nonrealistic conflict influences an unfeasibility of solution through an approach of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR. The method used was a combination of survey and descriptive approaches. The main means of data collection questionnaire supported by in-depth interview and direct field observation, including the company environment. Data derived from questionnaire and interview were analyzed by examining their correlation. The result of the correlation test show that among four rational factors considered, only aid acceptance factor that has relation in building up the societal attitude. The irrational factors prove a real relationship, and the ethnocentric factor become the most influential factor. It is proven that the conflict between the inhabitant and company is due to a

  5. simple sequence repeats (EST-SSR)

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Yomi

    2012-01-19

    Jan 19, 2012 ... 212 primer pairs selected, based on repeat patterns of n≥8 for di-, tri-, tetra- and penta-nucleotide repeat ... Cluster analysis revealed a high genetic similarity among the sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) breeding lines which could reduce the genetic gain in ..... The multiple allele characteristic of SSR com-.

  6. Nifty Nines and Repeating Decimals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Scott A.

    2016-01-01

    The traditional technique for converting repeating decimals to common fractions can be found in nearly every algebra textbook that has been published, as well as in many precalculus texts. However, students generally encounter repeating decimal numerals earlier than high school when they study rational numbers in prealgebra classes. Therefore, how…

  7. Repeated Prescribed Burning in Aspen

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donald A. Perala

    1974-01-01

    Infrequent burning weather, low flammability of the aspen-hardwood association, and prolific sprouting and seeding of shrubs and hardwoods made repeated dormant season burning a poor tool to convert good site aspen to conifers. Repeat fall burns for wildlife habitat maintenance is workable if species composition changes are not important.

  8. Dose-specific adverse drug reaction identification in electronic patient records: temporal data mining in an inpatient psychiatric population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eriksson, Robert; Werge, Thomas; Jensen, Lars Juhl; Brunak, Søren

    2014-04-01

    Data collected for medical, filing and administrative purposes in electronic patient records (EPRs) represent a rich source of individualised clinical data, which has great potential for improved detection of patients experiencing adverse drug reactions (ADRs), across all approved drugs and across all indication areas. The aim of this study was to take advantage of techniques for temporal data mining of EPRs in order to detect ADRs in a patient- and dose-specific manner. We used a psychiatric hospital's EPR system to investigate undesired drug effects. Within one workflow the method identified patient-specific adverse events (AEs) and links these to specific drugs and dosages in a temporal manner, based on integration of text mining results and structured data. The structured data contained precise information on drug identity, dosage and strength. When applying the method to the 3,394 patients in the cohort, we identified AEs linked with a drug in 2,402 patients (70.8 %). Of the 43,528 patient-specific drug substances prescribed, 14,736 (33.9 %) were linked with AEs. From these links we identified multiple ADRs (p patient population, larger doses were prescribed to sedated patients than non-sedated patients; five antipsychotics [corrected] exhibited a significant difference (p<0.05). Finally, we present two cases (p < 0.05) identified by the workflow. The method identified the potentially fatal AE QT prolongation caused by methadone, and a non-described likely ADR between levomepromazine and nightmares found among the hundreds of identified novel links between drugs and AEs (p < 0.05). The developed method can be used to extract dose-dependent ADR information from already collected EPR data. Large-scale AE extraction from EPRs may complement or even replace current drug safety monitoring methods in the future, reducing or eliminating manual reporting and enabling much faster ADR detection.

  9. Deep learning for pharmacovigilance: recurrent neural network architectures for labeling adverse drug reactions in Twitter posts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cocos, Anne; Fiks, Alexander G; Masino, Aaron J

    2017-07-01

    Social media is an important pharmacovigilance data source for adverse drug reaction (ADR) identification. Human review of social media data is infeasible due to data quantity, thus natural language processing techniques are necessary. Social media includes informal vocabulary and irregular grammar, which challenge natural language processing methods. Our objective is to develop a scalable, deep-learning approach that exceeds state-of-the-art ADR detection performance in social media. We developed a recurrent neural network (RNN) model that labels words in an input sequence with ADR membership tags. The only input features are word-embedding vectors, which can be formed through task-independent pretraining or during ADR detection training. Our best-performing RNN model used pretrained word embeddings created from a large, non-domain-specific Twitter dataset. It achieved an approximate match F-measure of 0.755 for ADR identification on the dataset, compared to 0.631 for a baseline lexicon system and 0.65 for the state-of-the-art conditional random field model. Feature analysis indicated that semantic information in pretrained word embeddings boosted sensitivity and, combined with contextual awareness captured in the RNN, precision. Our model required no task-specific feature engineering, suggesting generalizability to additional sequence-labeling tasks. Learning curve analysis showed that our model reached optimal performance with fewer training examples than the other models. ADR detection performance in social media is significantly improved by using a contextually aware model and word embeddings formed from large, unlabeled datasets. The approach reduces manual data-labeling requirements and is scalable to large social media datasets. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  10. Adverse drug reactions reporting : Knowledge and opinion of general public in Penang, Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramadan Elkalmi

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the knowledge of the general population towards ADR and their reporting system. Methods: An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire (15 items was designed. The questionnaire was subjected to face validity and content validity. The reliability coefficient was found to be 0.71. This study recruited proportionately large convenience sample of the general public in Penang. Interviews using a structured questionnaire were conducted over a week period in August 2009. The recommended sample size was calculated to be 368. Results: Three hundred thirty-four responses were received. Slightly more than half of the respondents were in the age group of 18-25 years (53.6%; n = 179. When asked about the sources of their medication majority of them reported medical doctor (85.6%, whereas small number (34.7% reported community pharmacists as sources of medications. Three-quarter of the respondents (77.2% get their information about the side-effects of drugs from physicians, followed by pharmacist (44.6%. More than half of the respondents (65.6%, n = 219 reported unawareness about the existence of ADR center set up by the Ministry of Health. Conclusion: Respondents reflected inadequate knowledge on ADR reporting. This needs to be corrected as the trend of future pharmacovigilance is toward the patient. Moreover, the new trend seems to be more appropriate as the patient is the group of the people who are directly affected from the ADR of a particular drug and not the health-care providers. Furthermore, the patient will be informed about the economic implications of not reporting ADR. It is recommended that government agencies, like MADRAC needs to find ways to increase patient- reported ADR cases.

  11. Adverse Reactions to Antituberculosis Drugs in Iranian Tuberculosis Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aliasghar Farazi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Antituberculosis multidrug regimens have been associated with increased incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs. This study aimed to determine the incidence and associated factors of ADRs due to antituberculosis therapy. Methods. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study on tuberculosis patients who were treated in tuberculosis clinics in Markazi province in Iran. The information contained in the medical files was extracted and entered into the questionnaire. Data was descriptively analyzed by using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 18. Results. A total of 940 TB patients of 1240 patients’ medical records available in 10 medical offices were included in this study. Of the 563 ADRs found in this study, 82.4% were considered minor reactions and 17.6% were major reactions. No death from antituberculosis ADR was observed. We found that the risk of major ADRs was higher in females (P  value=0.0241, age >50 y (P  value=0.0223, coinfection with HIV (P  value=0.0323, smoking (P  value=0.002, retreatment TB (P  value=0.0203, and comorbidities (P  value=0.0005. Conclusions. This study showed that severe side effects of anti-TB drugs are common in patients who have risk factors of ADRs and they should be followed up by close monitoring.

  12. Regret in repeat purchase versus switching decisions : The attenuating role of decision justifiability

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Inman, J.J.; Zeelenberg, M.

    2002-01-01

    The decision-making literature has consistently reported that decisions to maintain the status quo tend to be regretted less than decisions to change it. We examine the consequences of repeat purchasing (maintaining the status quo) versus switching in the context of information regarding the reason

  13. Patient Participation and the Use of Ehealth Tools for Pharmacoviligance

    OpenAIRE

    Berrewaerts, Jo?lle; Delbecque, Laure; Orban, Pierre; Desseilles, Martin

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, pharmacovigilance has undergone some major changes. First, the patient’s active role in identifying and describing adverse drug reactions (ADRs) has gained recognition. Second, pharmacovigilance has increasingly incorporated information and communications technology (ICT). Patients can now upload their own reports of ADRs online. Data on intensive medication monitoring are now collected via the Internet and smartphones. Worldwide collection of AEs using smart phones might bec...

  14. Spatial cluster detection for repeatedly measured outcomes while accounting for residential history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, Andrea J; Gold, Diane R; Li, Yi

    2009-10-01

    Spatial cluster detection has become an important methodology in quantifying the effect of hazardous exposures. Previous methods have focused on cross-sectional outcomes that are binary or continuous. There are virtually no spatial cluster detection methods proposed for longitudinal outcomes. This paper proposes a new spatial cluster detection method for repeated outcomes using cumulative geographic residuals. A major advantage of this method is its ability to readily incorporate information on study participants relocation, which most cluster detection statistics cannot. Application of these methods will be illustrated by the Home Allergens and Asthma prospective cohort study analyzing the relationship between environmental exposures and repeated measured outcome, occurrence of wheeze in the last 6 months, while taking into account mobile locations.

  15. The Pentapeptide Repeat Proteins

    OpenAIRE

    Vetting, Matthew W.; Hegde, Subray S.; Fajardo, J. Eduardo; Fiser, Andras; Roderick, Steven L.; Takiff, Howard E.; Blanchard, John S.

    2006-01-01

    The Pentapeptide Repeat Protein (PRP) family has over 500 members in the prokaryotic and eukaryotic kingdoms. These proteins are composed of, or contain domains composed of, tandemly repeated amino acid sequences with a consensus sequence of [S,T,A,V][D,N][L,F]-[S,T,R][G]. The biochemical function of the vast majority of PRP family members is unknown. The three-dimensional structure of the first member of the PRP family was determined for the fluoroquinolone resistance protein (MfpA) from Myc...

  16. Comparison of Variable Number Tandem Repeat and Short Tandem Repeat Genetic Markers for Qualitative and Quantitative Chimerism Analysis Post Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mossallam, G.I.; Smith, A.G.; Mcfarland, C.

    2005-01-01

    Analysis of donor chimerism has become a routine procedure for the documentation of engraftment after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Quantitative analysis of chimerism kinetics has been shown to predict graft failure or relapse. In this study, we compared the use of variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) and short tandem repeats (STR) as polymorphic genetic markers in chimerism analysis. This study included qualitative and quantitative assessment of both techniques to assess informative yield and sensitivity. Patients and Methods: We analyzed 206 samples representing 40 transplant recipients and their HLA identical sibling donors. A panel of six VNTR loci, 15 STR loci and 1 sex chromosome locus was used. Amplified VNTR products were visualized in an ethidium bromide stained gel. STR loci were amplified using fluorescent primers, and the products were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis. VNTR and STR analysis gave comparable qualitative results in the majority of cases. The incidence of mixed chimerism (Me) by STR analysis was 45% compared to 32% in cases evaluated by VNTR analysis. STR markers were more informative; several informative loci could be identified in all patients. Unique alleles for both patient and donor could be identified in all patients by STR versus 32/40 by VNTR analysis. The STR markers were also more sensitive in the detection of chimerism. The size of VNTR alleles and differences between the size of donor and recipient VNTR alleles affected the sensitivity of detection. With both techniques, quantitative assessment of chimerism showed some discrepancies between the estimated and the calculated percentage of donor DNA. Discordance between the two estimates was observed in 8/19 patients with Me. However, sequential monitoring of the relative band intensity of VNTR alleles offered some insight into the direction of change in engraftment over time. The higher yield of informative loci with STR and the automated measurement of

  17. Jammer Type Estimation in LTE with a Smart Jammer Repeated Game

    KAUST Repository

    Aziz, Farhan

    2017-02-22

    LTE/LTE-Advanced networks are known to be vulnerable to denial-of-service (DOS) and loss-of-service attacks from smart jammers. The interaction between the network and the smart jammer has been modeled as an infinite-horizon general-sum (non-zero-sum) Bayesian game with asymmetric information, with the network being the uninformed player. Although significant work has been done on optimal strategy computation and control of information revelation of the informed player in repeated asymmetric information games, it has been limited to zero-sum games with perfect monitoring. Recent progress on the strategy computation of the uninformed player is also limited to zero-sum games with perfect monitoring and is focused on expected payoff formulations. Since the proposed formulation is a general-sum game with imperfect monitoring, existing formulations cannot be leveraged for estimating true state of nature (the jammer type). Hence, a threat-based mechanism is proposed for the uninformed player (the network) to estimate the informed player’s type (jammer type). The proposed mechanism helps the network resolve uncertainty about the state of nature (jammer type) so that it can compute a repeated-game strategy conditioned on its estimate. The proposed algorithm does not rely on the commonly assumed “full monitoring” premise, and uses a combination of threat-based mechanism and non-parametric estimation to estimate the jammer type. In addition, it does not require any explicit feedback from the network users nor does it rely on a specific distribution (e.g., Gaussian) of test statistic. It is shown that the proposed algorithm’s estimation performance is quite robust under realistic modeling and observational constraints despite all the aforementioned challenges.

  18. [Data-mining characteristics of adverse drug reactions and pharmacovi-gilance of Chinese patent drugs including Aconitum herbs].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiao-Meng; Li, Fan; Zhang, Bing; Chen, Xiao-Fen; Piao, Jing-Zhu

    2018-01-01

    The common Aconitum herbs in clinical application mainly include Aconiti Radix(Chuanwu), Aconiti Kusnezoffii Radix(Caowu) and Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparaia(Fuzi), all of which have toxicity. Therefore, the safety of using Chinese patent drugs including Aconitum herbs has become an hot topic in clinical controversy. Based on the data-mining methods, this study explored the characteristics and causes of adverse drug reactions/events (ADR/ADE) of the Chinese patent drugs including Aconitum, in order to provide pharmacovigilance and rational drug use suggestions for clinical application. The detailed ADR/ADE reports about the Chinese patent drugs including Aconitum herbs were retrieved in the domestic literature databases since 1984 to now. The information extraction and data-mining were conducted based on the platforms of Microsoft office Excel 2016, Clementine 12.0 and Cytoscape 3.3.0. Finally, 78 detailed ADR/ADE reports involving a total of 30 varieties were included. 92.31% ADR/ADE were surely or likely led by the Chinese patent drugs including Aconitum, mostly involving multiple system/organ damages with good prognosis, and even 1 case of death. The incidence of included ADRs/ADEs was associated with various factors such as the patient idiosyncratic, drug toxicity, as well as clinical medication. The patient age was most closely related to ADR/ADEs, and those aged from 60 to 69 were more easily suffered from the ADRs/ADEs of Chinese patent drugs including Aconitum. The probability of ADR/ADEs for the drugs including Chuanwu or Caowu was greater than that of Fuzi, and the using beyond the instructions dose was the most important potential safety hazard in the clinical medication process. For the regular and characteristics of ADR/ADEs led by Chinese patent drugs including Aconitum, special attention shall be paid to the elder patients or with the patients with allergies; strictly control the dosage and course of treatment, strengthen the safety medication

  19. Metoclopramide-induced cardiac arrest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martha M. Rumore

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available The authors report a case of cardiac arrest in a patient receiving intravenous (IV metoclopramide and review the pertinent literature. A 62-year-old morbidly obese female admitted for a gastric sleeve procedure, developed cardiac arrest within one minute of receiving metoclopramide 10 mg via slow intravenous (IV injection. Bradycardia at 4 beats/min immediately appeared, progressing rapidly to asystole. Chest compressions restored vital function. Electrocardiogram (ECG revealed ST depression indicative of myocardial injury. Following intubation, the patient was transferred to the intensive care unit. Various cardiac dysrrhythmias including supraventricular tachycardia (SVT associated with hypertension and atrial fibrillation occurred. Following IV esmolol and metoprolol, the patient reverted to normal sinus rhythm. Repeat ECGs revealed ST depression resolution without pre-admission changes. Metoclopramide is a non-specific dopamine receptor antagonist. Seven cases of cardiac arrest and one of sinus arrest with metoclopramide were found in the literature. The metoclopramide prescribing information does not list precautions or adverse drug reactions (ADRs related to cardiac arrest. The reaction is not dose related but may relate to the IV administration route. Coronary artery disease was the sole risk factor identified. According to Naranjo, the association was possible. Other reports of cardiac arrest, severe bradycardia, and SVT were reviewed. In one case, five separate IV doses of 10 mg metoclopramide were immediately followed by asystole repeatedly. The mechanism(s underlying metoclopramide’s cardiac arrest-inducing effects is unknown. Structural similarities to procainamide may play a role. In view of eight previous cases of cardiac arrest from metoclopramide having been reported, further elucidation of this ADR and patient monitoring is needed. Our report should alert clinicians to monitor patients and remain diligent in surveillance and

  20. Measuring environmental change in forest ecosystems by repeated soil sampling: a North American perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, Gregory B.; Fernandez, Ivan J.; Richter, Daniel D.; Ross, Donald S.; Hazlett, Paul W.; Bailey, Scott W.; Oiumet, Rock; Warby, Richard A.F.; Johnson, Arthur H.; Lin, Henry; Kaste, James M.; Lapenis, Andrew G.; Sullivan, Timothy J.

    2013-01-01

    Environmental change is monitored in North America through repeated measurements of weather, stream and river flow, air and water quality, and most recently, soil properties. Some skepticism remains, however, about whether repeated soil sampling can effectively distinguish between temporal and spatial variability, and efforts to document soil change in forest ecosystems through repeated measurements are largely nascent and uncoordinated. In eastern North America, repeated soil sampling has begun to provide valuable information on environmental problems such as air pollution. This review synthesizes the current state of the science to further the development and use of soil resampling as an integral method for recording and understanding environmental change in forested settings. The origins of soil resampling reach back to the 19th century in England and Russia. The concepts and methodologies involved in forest soil resampling are reviewed and evaluated through a discussion of how temporal and spatial variability can be addressed with a variety of sampling approaches. Key resampling studies demonstrate the type of results that can be obtained through differing approaches. Ongoing, large-scale issues such as recovery from acidification, long-term N deposition, C sequestration, effects of climate change, impacts from invasive species, and the increasing intensification of soil management all warrant the use of soil resampling as an essential tool for environmental monitoring and assessment. Furthermore, with better awareness of the value of soil resampling, studies can be designed with a long-term perspective so that information can be efficiently obtained well into the future to address problems that have not yet surfaced.

  1. In situ detection of tandem DNA repeat length

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yaar, R.; Szafranski, P.; Cantor, C.R.; Smith, C.L. [Boston Univ., MA (United States)

    1996-11-01

    A simple method for scoring short tandem DNA repeats is presented. An oligonucleotide target, containing tandem repeats embedded in a unique sequence, was hybridized to a set of complementary probes, containing tandem repeats of known lengths. Single-stranded loop structures formed on duplexes containing a mismatched (different) number of tandem repeats. No loop structure formed on duplexes containing a matched (identical) number of tandem repeats. The matched and mismatched loop structures were enzymatically distinguished and differentially labeled by treatment with S1 nuclease and the Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase. 7 refs., 4 figs.

  2. Automated genotyping of dinucleotide repeat markers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perlin, M.W.; Hoffman, E.P. [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)]|[Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

    1994-09-01

    The dinucleotide repeats (i.e., microsatellites) such as CA-repeats are a highly polymorphic, highly abundant class of PCR-amplifiable markers that have greatly streamlined genetic mapping experimentation. It is expected that over 30,000 such markers (including tri- and tetranucleotide repeats) will be characterized for routine use in the next few years. Since only size determination, and not sequencing, is required to determine alleles, in principle, dinucleotide repeat genotyping is easily performed on electrophoretic gels, and can be automated using DNA sequencers. Unfortunately, PCR stuttering with these markers generates not one band for each allele, but a pattern of bands. Since closely spaced alleles must be disambiguated by human scoring, this poses a key obstacle to full automation. We have developed methods that overcome this obstacle. Our model is that the observed data is generated by arithmetic superposition (i.e., convolution) of multiple allele patterns. By quantitatively measuring the size of each component band, and exploiting the unique stutter pattern associated with each marker, closely spaced alleles can be deconvolved; this unambiguously reconstructs the {open_quotes}true{close_quotes} allele bands, with stutter artifact removed. We used this approach in a system for automated diagnosis of (X-linked) Duchenne muscular dystrophy; four multiplexed CA-repeats within the dystrophin gene were assayed on a DNA sequencer. Our method accurately detected small variations in gel migration that shifted the allele size estimate. In 167 nonmutated alleles, 89% (149/167) showed no size variation, 9% (15/167) showed 1 bp variation, and 2% (3/167) showed 2 bp variation. We are currently developing a library of dinucleotide repeat patterns; together with our deconvolution methods, this library will enable fully automated genotyping of dinucleotide repeats from sizing data.

  3. Analysis of spontaneous inquiries about suspected adverse drug reactions posted by the general public on the electronic Japanese bulletin board “Yahoo! Japan Chiebukuro”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dobashi A

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Akira Dobashi,1 Kaori Kurata,1 Mitsuhiro Okazaki,2,3 Mari Nishizawa4 1Education and Research Institute of Information Science, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Hachioji, Tokyo, 2Faculty of Health Sciences, Health Innovation and Technology Center, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, 3Cross Care Field Co., Ltd., 4Yakuju Corporation, Tokyo, Japan Purpose: Spontaneous inquiries about the development of adverse drug reactions (ADRs to medicines can be extracted based on the questions posted by the general public on the electronic Japanese bulletin board “Yahoo! Japan Chiebukuro”. Our aim was to clarify the characteristics related to people’s descriptions of suspected ADRs and determine the reasons for submitting a spontaneous inquiry. Methods: Fifty brand names of medicines used for inquiry extraction were chosen by selecting 35 pharmaceutical products, based on the generic names that had the highest sales in Japan. Questions containing both the brand name of one of these medicines and the term “Fukusayō” (ADR in Japanese that were posted from July 2004 to June 2009 were extracted from the site. Results: Among 1,419 questions extracted, 614 questions had at least one identifiable brand name of a suspected medicine, an ADR description, and the extent to which the ADR appeared to be caused by the suspected medicine(s. Among these 614 questions, 589 described in detail the symptoms/signs that the inquirers themselves or their families had experienced as ADRs. The highest number of questions was found for Paxil (525. Posts asking whether the symptoms being experienced were due to an ADR accounted for the highest number of questions. In most cases, the inquirer suspected that a single medicine led to an ADR and was seeking advice from others taking the same medicine. Conclusion: Our examination of spontaneous inquiries showed that people have sufficient knowledge to adequately report potential ADRs in terms of their symptoms

  4. Test-retest repeatability of child's respiratory symptoms and perceived indoor air quality - comparing self- and parent-administered questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lampi, Jussi; Ung-Lanki, Sari; Santalahti, Päivi; Pekkanen, Juha

    2018-02-09

    Questionnaires can be used to assess perceived indoor air quality and symptoms in schools. Questionnaires for primary school aged children have traditionally been parent-administered, but self-administered questionnaires would be easier to administer and may yield as good, if not better, information. Our aim was to compare the repeatability of self- and parent-administered indoor air questionnaires designed for primary school aged pupils. Indoor air questionnaire with questions on child's symptoms and perceived indoor air quality in schools was sent to parents of pupils aged 7-12 years in two schools and again after two weeks. Slightly modified version of the questionnaire was administered to pupils aged 9-12 years in another two schools and repeated after a week. 351 (52%) parents and 319 pupils (86%) answered both the first and the second questionnaire. Test-retest repeatability was assessed with intra-class correlation (ICC) and Cohen's kappa coefficients (k). Test-retest repeatability was generally between 0.4-0.7 (ICC; k) in both self- and parent-administered questionnaire. In majority of the questions on symptoms and perceived indoor air quality test-retest repeatability was at the same level or slightly better in self-administered compared to parent-administered questionnaire. Agreement of self- and parent administered questionnaires was generally indoor air quality. Children aged 9-12 years can give as, or even more, repeatable information about their respiratory symptoms and perceived indoor air quality than their parents. Therefore, it may be possible to use self-administered questionnaires in future studies also with children.

  5. Adriamycin resistance, heat resistance and radiation response in Chinese hamster fibroblasts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wallner, K.; Li, G.

    1985-01-01

    Previous investigators have demonstrated synergistic interaction between hyperthermia and radiation or Adriamycin (ADR), using cell lines that are sensitive to heat or ADR alone. The authors investigated the effect of heat, radiation or ADR on Chinese hamster fibroblasts (HA-1), their heat resistant variants and their ADR resistant variants. Heat for ADR resistance did not confer cross resistance to radiation. Cells resistant to heat did show cross resistance to ADR. While cells selected for ADR resistance were not cross resistant to heat, they did not exhibit drug potentiation by hyperthermia, characteristic of ADR sensitive cells. Cytofluorometric measurement showed decreased ADR uptake in both heat and ADR resistant cells. The possibility of cross resistance between heat and ADR should be considered when designing combined modality trials

  6. Pharmacovigilance in China: current situation, successes and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Li; Wong, Lisa Y L; He, Ying; Wong, Ian C K

    2014-10-01

    With the integration of the global pharmaceutical economy and the gradual transformation of the healthcare insurance system in China, the legislative framework for a comprehensive regulatory system monitoring the whole process including drug development, manufacture, distribution and use has been established by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) to ensure the safety and effectiveness of medication use. China has established a relatively comprehensive pharmacovigilance system covering regulation, organisation and technology from 1989 to 2014. As of 2013, one national centre, 34 provincial centres and more than 400 municipal centres for adverse drug reaction (ADR) monitoring were included in the four-level pharmacovigilance network (national, provincial, municipal and county) with more than 200,000 grassroot organisation users. The China Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring System (CADRMS) is an online spontaneous reporting system which connects the four-level pharmacovigilance network. By 2013, CADRMS had received over 6.6 million ADR case reports. After integrating and analysing pharmacovigilance data, the National Centre for ADR Monitoring (NCADRM) publishes medication safety information by releasing ADR bulletins, National ADR Annual Reports and International Pharmacovigilance Newsletters. The NCADRM also routinely provides CADRMS data feedback to manufacturers. The CFDA implemented risk management through several approaches, including arranging 'manufacturer communication meetings', modification of medication package inserts, and restriction, suspension or withdrawal of marketing authorisations. Seamless information exchange with overseas regulatory authorities and organisations remains an area for improvement. Further development of the China pharmacovigilance system in terms of signal generation, post-marketing pharmacoepidemiology research and education is also needed.

  7. Utilizing social media data for pharmacovigilance: A review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarker, Abeed; Ginn, Rachel; Nikfarjam, Azadeh; O'Connor, Karen; Smith, Karen; Jayaraman, Swetha; Upadhaya, Tejaswi; Gonzalez, Graciela

    2015-04-01

    Automatic monitoring of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs), defined as adverse patient outcomes caused by medications, is a challenging research problem that is currently receiving significant attention from the medical informatics community. In recent years, user-posted data on social media, primarily due to its sheer volume, has become a useful resource for ADR monitoring. Research using social media data has progressed using various data sources and techniques, making it difficult to compare distinct systems and their performances. In this paper, we perform a methodical review to characterize the different approaches to ADR detection/extraction from social media, and their applicability to pharmacovigilance. In addition, we present a potential systematic pathway to ADR monitoring from social media. We identified studies describing approaches for ADR detection from social media from the Medline, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science databases, and the Google Scholar search engine. Studies that met our inclusion criteria were those that attempted to extract ADR information posted by users on any publicly available social media platform. We categorized the studies according to different characteristics such as primary ADR detection approach, size of corpus, data source(s), availability, and evaluation criteria. Twenty-two studies met our inclusion criteria, with fifteen (68%) published within the last two years. However, publicly available annotated data is still scarce, and we found only six studies that made the annotations used publicly available, making system performance comparisons difficult. In terms of algorithms, supervised classification techniques to detect posts containing ADR mentions, and lexicon-based approaches for extraction of ADR mentions from texts have been the most popular. Our review suggests that interest in the utilization of the vast amounts of available social media data for ADR monitoring is increasing. In terms of sources, both health

  8. Utilizing Social Media Data for Pharmacovigilance: A Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarker, Abeed; Ginn, Rachel; Nikfarjam, Azadeh; O’Connor, Karen; Smith, Karen; Jayaraman, Swetha; Upadhaya, Tejaswi; Gonzalez, Graciela

    2015-01-01

    Objective Automatic monitoring of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs), defined as adverse patient outcomes caused by medications, is a challenging research problem that is currently receiving significant attention from the medical informatics community. In recent years, user-posted data on social media, primarily due to its sheer volume, has become a useful resource for ADR monitoring. Research using social media data has progressed using various data sources and techniques, making it difficult to compare distinct systems and their performances. In this paper, we perform a methodical review to characterize the different approaches to ADR detection/extraction from social media, and their applicability to pharmacovigilance. In addition, we present a potential systematic pathway to ADR monitoring from social media. Methods We identified studies, describing approaches for ADR detection from social media from the Medline, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science databases, and the Google Scholar search engine. Studies that met our inclusion criteria were those that attempted to utilize ADR information posted by users on any publicly available social media platform. We categorized the studies into various dimensions such as primary ADR detection approach, size of data, source(s), availability, evaluation criteria, and so on. Results Twenty-two studies met our inclusion criteria, with fifteen (68.2%) published within the last two years. The survey revealed a clear trend towards the usage of annotated data with eleven of the fifteen (73.3%) studies published in the last two years relying on expert annotations. However, publicly available annotated data is still scarce, and we found only six (27.3%) studies that made the annotations used publicly available, making system performance comparisons difficult. In terms of algorithms, supervised classification techniques to detect posts containing ADR mentions, and lexicon-based approaches for extraction of ADR mentions from texts have been

  9. Pharmacovigilance and drug safety in Calabria (Italy): 2012 adverse events analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giofrè, Chiara; Scicchitano, Francesca; Palleria, Caterina; Mazzitello, Carmela; Ciriaco, Miriam; Gallelli, Luca; Paletta, Laura; Marrazzo, Giuseppina; Leporini, Christian; Ventrice, Pasquale; Carbone, Claudia; Saullo, Francesca; Rende, Pierandrea; Menniti, Michele; Mumoli, Laura; Chimirri, Serafina; Patanè, Marinella; Esposito, Stefania; Cilurzo, Felisa; Staltari, Orietta; Russo, Emilio; De Sarro, Giovambattista

    2013-12-01

    Pharmacovigilance (PV) is designed to monitor drugs continuously after their commercialization, assessing and improving their safety profile. The main objective is to increase the spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), in order to have a wide variety of information. The Italian Drug Agency (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco [AIFA]) is financing several projects to increase reporting. In Calabria, a PV information center has been created in 2010. We obtained data using the database of the National Health Information System AIFA relatively to Italy and Calabria in the year 2012. Descriptive statistics were performed to analyze the ADRs. A total number of 461 ADRs have been reported in the year 2012 with an increase of 234% compared with 2011 (138 reports). Hospital doctors are the main source of this reporting (51.62%). Sorafenib (Nexavar(®)), the combination of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and ketoprofen represent the drugs most frequently reported causing adverse reactions. Adverse events in female patients (61.83%) were more frequently reported, whereas the age groups "41-65" (39.07%) and "over 65" (27.9%) were the most affected. Calabria has had a positive increase in the number of ADRs reported, although it has not yet reached the gold standard set by World Health Organization (about 600 reports), the data have shown that PV culture is making inroads in this region and that PV projects stimulating and increasing PV knowledge are needed.

  10. Comparison of step-by-step kinematics in repeated 30m sprints in female soccer players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van den Tillaar, Roland

    2018-01-04

    The aim of this study was to compare kinematics in repeated 30m sprints in female soccer players. Seventeen subjects performed seven 30m sprints every 30s in one session. Kinematics were measured with an infrared contact mat and laser gun, and running times with an electronic timing device. The main findings were that sprint times increased in the repeated sprint ability test. The main changes in kinematics during the repeated sprint ability test were increased contact time and decreased step frequency, while no change in step length was observed. The step velocity increased in almost each step until the 14, which occurred around 22m. After this, the velocity was stable until the last step, when it decreased. This increase in step velocity was mainly caused by the increased step length and decreased contact times. It was concluded that the fatigue induced in repeated 30m sprints in female soccer players resulted in decreased step frequency and increased contact time. Employing this approach in combination with a laser gun and infrared mat for 30m makes it very easy to analyse running kinematics in repeated sprints in training. This extra information gives the athlete, coach and sports scientist the opportunity to give more detailed feedback and help to target these changes in kinematics better to enhance repeated sprint performance.

  11. Attributes of the Quality of Accounting Information in Firms that Participate in the Brazilian Stock Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sady Mazzioni

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study is to analyze the quality of accounting information in companies participating in the Brazilian stock market. The sample studied consists of 101 non-financial companies listed on the BM&FBovespa, from 2003 to 2014. The study is descriptive, using documentary research and quantitative analysis. Based on the individual calculation of the attributes of persistence, predictability and profit smoothing for each company, we developed a ranking of the quality of accounting information using the multi-criteria analysis method TOPSIS and entropy. Then the determinants of company positioning in the ranking of accounting information quality were analyzed using the t test for means and multivariate linear regression. By separating the companies into two groups, the business characteristics of sales growth, level of corporate governance, return on assets and issuance of ADRs presented means with statistically significant differences. However, in explaining the positioning of companies in the ranking of quality of accounting information, only sales growth showed a statistically significant negative relationship, confirming existing empirical evidence that companies with high growth have lower persistence of profits.

  12. Role of free radicals in an adriamycin-resistant human small cell lung cancer cell line

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meijer, C.; Mulder, N H; Timmer-Bosscha, H; Zijlstra, J G; de Vries, E G

    1987-01-01

    In two Adriamycin (Adr) resistant sublines (GLC4-Adr1 and GLC4-Adr2) of a human small cell lung carcinoma cell line, GLC4, cross-resistance for radiation was found. GLC4-Adr1 has an acquired Adr resistance factor of 44 after culturing without Adr for 20 days and GLC4-Adr2, the same subline cultured

  13. Generation of a superposition of odd photon number states for quantum information networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Neergaard-Nielsen, Jonas Schou; Nielsen, B.; Hettich, C.

    2006-01-01

    Quantum information networks, quantum memories, quantum repeaters, linear optics quantum computers Udgivelsesdato: 25 August......Quantum information networks, quantum memories, quantum repeaters, linear optics quantum computers Udgivelsesdato: 25 August...

  14. Digital repeat analysis; setup and operation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nol, J; Isouard, G; Mirecki, J

    2006-06-01

    Since the emergence of digital imaging, there have been questions about the necessity of continuing reject analysis programs in imaging departments to evaluate performance and quality. As a marketing strategy, most suppliers of digital technology focus on the supremacy of the technology and its ability to reduce the number of repeats, resulting in less radiation doses given to patients and increased productivity in the department. On the other hand, quality assurance radiographers and radiologists believe that repeats are mainly related to positioning skills, and repeat analysis is the main tool to plan training needs to up-skill radiographers. A comparative study between conventional and digital imaging was undertaken to compare outcomes and evaluate the need for reject analysis. However, digital technology still being at its early development stages, setting a credible reject analysis program became the major task of the study. It took the department, with the help of the suppliers of the computed radiography reader and the picture archiving and communication system, over 2 years of software enhancement to build a reliable digital repeat analysis system. The results were supportive of both philosophies; the number of repeats as a result of exposure factors was reduced dramatically; however, the percentage of repeats as a result of positioning skills was slightly on the increase for the simple reason that some rejects in the conventional system qualifying for both exposure and positioning errors were classified as exposure error. The ability of digitally adjusting dark or light images reclassified some of those images as positioning errors.

  15. Use of Repeated Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Measurements to Improve Cardiovascular Disease Risk Prediction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paige, Ellie; Barrett, Jessica; Pennells, Lisa

    2017-01-01

    The added value of incorporating information from repeated blood pressure and cholesterol measurements to predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk has not been rigorously assessed. We used data on 191,445 adults from the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (38 cohorts from 17 countries with data...

  16. Statistical Signal Process in R Language in the Pharmacovigilance Programme of India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Aman; Ahuja, Jitin; Shrivastava, Tarani Prakash; Kumar, Vipin; Kalaiselvan, Vivekanandan

    2018-05-01

    The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, initiated the Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI) in July 2010. The purpose of the PvPI is to collect data on adverse reactions due to medications, analyze it, and use the reference to recommend informed regulatory intervention, besides communicating the risk to health care professionals and the public. The goal of the present study was to apply statistical tools to find the relationship between drugs and ADRs for signal detection by R programming. Four statistical parameters were proposed for quantitative signal detection. These 4 parameters are IC 025 , PRR and PRR lb , chi-square, and N 11 ; we calculated these 4 values using R programming. We analyzed 78,983 drug-ADR combinations, and the total count of drug-ADR combination was 4,20,060. During the calculation of the statistical parameter, we use 3 variables: (1) N 11 (number of counts), (2) N 1. (Drug margin), and (3) N .1 (ADR margin). The structure and calculation of these 4 statistical parameters in R language are easily understandable. On the basis of the IC value (IC value >0), out of the 78,983 drug-ADR combination (drug-ADR combination), we found the 8,667 combinations to be significantly associated. The calculation of statistical parameters in R language is time saving and allows to easily identify new signals in the Indian ICSR (Individual Case Safety Reports) database.

  17. Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of adverse drug reaction reporting among healthcare professionals in secondary and tertiary hospitals in the capital of Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zaka Un Nisa

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs underreporting is a great challenge to pharmacovigilance. Healthcare professionals should consider ADR reporting as their professional obligation because the effective system of ADR reporting is important to improve patient care and safety. This study was designed to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and factors associated with ADR reporting by healthcare professionals (physicians and pharmacists in secondary and tertiary hospitals of Islamabad. A pretested questionnaire comprising of 27 questions (knowledge 12, attitude 4, practice 9 and factors influencing ADR reporting 2 was administered to 384 physicians and pharmacists in public and private hospitals. Respondents were evaluated for their knowledge, attitude and practice related to ADR reporting. Additionally, the factors which encourage and discourage respondents to report ADRs were also determined. The data was analysed by using SPSS statistical software. Among 384 respondents, 367 provided responses to questionnaire, giving a response rate of 95.5%. The mean age was 28.3 (SD = 6.7. Most of the respondents indicated poor ADR reporting knowledge (83.1%. The majority of respondents (78.2% presented a positive attitude towards ADR reporting and only a few (12.3% hospitals have good ADR reporting practice. The seriousness of ADR, unusualness of reaction, new drug involvement and confidence in the diagnosis of ADR are the factors which encourage respondents to report ADR whereas lack of knowledge regarding where and how to report ADR, lack of access to ADR reporting form, managing patient is more important than reporting ADR legal liability issues were the major factors which discourage respondents to report ADR. The study reveals poor knowledge and practice regarding ADR reporting. However, most of the respondents have shown a positive attitude towards ADR reporting. There is a serious need for educational training as well as sincere and sustained

  18. Genus-specific protein binding to the large clusters of DNA repeats (short regularly spaced repeats) present in Sulfolobus genomes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Peng, Xu; Brügger, Kim; Shen, Biao

    2003-01-01

    terminally modified and corresponds to SSO454, an open reading frame of previously unassigned function. It binds specifically to DNA fragments carrying double and single repeat sequences, binding on one side of the repeat structure, and producing an opening of the opposite side of the DNA structure. It also...... recognizes both main families of repeat sequences in S. solfataricus. The recombinant protein, expressed in Escherichia coli, showed the same binding properties to the SRSR repeat as the native one. The SSO454 protein exhibits a tripartite internal repeat structure which yields a good sequence match...... with a helix-turn-helix DNA-binding motif. Although this putative motif is shared by other archaeal proteins, orthologs of SSO454 were only detected in species within the Sulfolobus genus and in the closely related Acidianus genus. We infer that the genus-specific protein induces an opening of the structure...

  19. Simple sequence repeat marker loci discovery using SSR primer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Andrew J; Love, Christopher G; Batley, Jacqueline; Barker, Gary; Edwards, David

    2004-06-12

    Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) have become important molecular markers for a broad range of applications, such as genome mapping and characterization, phenotype mapping, marker assisted selection of crop plants and a range of molecular ecology and diversity studies. With the increase in the availability of DNA sequence information, an automated process to identify and design PCR primers for amplification of SSR loci would be a useful tool in plant breeding programs. We report an application that integrates SPUTNIK, an SSR repeat finder, with Primer3, a PCR primer design program, into one pipeline tool, SSR Primer. On submission of multiple FASTA formatted sequences, the script screens each sequence for SSRs using SPUTNIK. The results are parsed to Primer3 for locus-specific primer design. The script makes use of a Web-based interface, enabling remote use. This program has been written in PERL and is freely available for non-commercial users by request from the authors. The Web-based version may be accessed at http://hornbill.cspp.latrobe.edu.au/

  20. Coexistence of 3G repeaters with LTE base stations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeo, Woon-Young; Lee, Sang-Min; Hwang, Gyung-Ho; Kim, Jae-Hoon

    2013-01-01

    Repeaters have been an attractive solution for mobile operators to upgrade their wireless networks at low cost and to extend network coverage effectively. Since the first LTE commercial deployment in 2009, many mobile operators have launched LTE networks by upgrading their 3G and legacy networks. Because all 3G frequency bands are shared with the frequency bands for LTE deployment and 3G mobile operators have an enormous number of repeaters, reusing 3G repeaters in LTE networks is definitely a practical and cost-efficient solution. However, 3G repeaters usually do not support spatial multiplexing with multiple antennas, and thus it is difficult to reuse them directly in LTE networks. In order to support spatial multiplexing of LTE, the role of 3G repeaters should be replaced with small LTE base stations or MIMO-capable repeaters. In this paper, a repeater network is proposed to reuse 3G repeaters in LTE deployment while still supporting multilayer transmission of LTE. Interestingly, the proposed network has a higher cluster throughput than an LTE network with MIMO-capable repeaters.

  1. Repeatability & Workability Evaluation of SIGMOD 2009

    KAUST Repository

    Manegold, Stefan

    2010-12-15

    SIGMOD 2008 was the first database conference that offered to test submitters\\' programs against their data to verify the repeatability of the experiments published [1]. Given the positive feedback concerning the SIGMOD 2008 repeatability initiative, SIGMOD 2009 modified and expanded the initiative with a workability assessment.

  2. Repeatability & Workability Evaluation of SIGMOD 2009

    KAUST Repository

    Manegold, Stefan; Manolescu, Ioana; Afanasiev, Loredana; Feng, Jieling; Gou, G.; Hadjieleftheriou, Marios; Harizopoulos, Stavros; Kalnis, Panos; Karanasos, Konstantinos; Laurent, Dominique; Lupu, M.; Onose, N.; Ré , C.; Sans, Virginie; Senellart, Pierre; Wu, T.; Shasha, Dennis E.

    2010-01-01

    SIGMOD 2008 was the first database conference that offered to test submitters' programs against their data to verify the repeatability of the experiments published [1]. Given the positive feedback concerning the SIGMOD 2008 repeatability initiative, SIGMOD 2009 modified and expanded the initiative with a workability assessment.

  3. FRB 121102: A Starquake-induced Repeater?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Weiyang; Luo, Rui; Yue, Han; Chen, Xuelei; Lee, Kejia; Xu, Renxin

    2018-01-01

    Since its initial discovery, the fast radio burst (FRB) FRB 121102 has been found to be repeating with millisecond-duration pulses. Very recently, 14 new bursts were detected by the Green Bank Telescope during its continuous monitoring observations. In this paper, we show that the burst energy distribution has a power-law form which is very similar to the Gutenberg–Richter law of earthquakes. In addition, the distribution of burst waiting time can be described as a Poissonian or Gaussian distribution, which is consistent with earthquakes, while the aftershock sequence exhibits some local correlations. These findings suggest that the repeating FRB pulses may originate from the starquakes of a pulsar. Noting that the soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) also exhibit such distributions, the FRB could be powered by some starquake mechanisms associated with the SGRs, including the crustal activity of a magnetar or solidification-induced stress of a newborn strangeon star. These conjectures could be tested with more repeating samples.

  4. Unraveling the Role of RNA Mediated Toxicity of C9orf72 Repeats in C9-FTD/ALS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vijay Kumar

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The most frequent genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS and frontotemporal dementia (FTD is intronic hexanucleotide (G4C2 repeat expansions (HRE in the C9orf72 gene. The non-exclusive pathogenic mechanisms by which C9orf72 repeat expansions contribute to these neurological disorders include loss of C9orf72 function and gain-of-function determined by toxic RNA molecules and dipeptides repeats protein toxicity. The expanded repeats are transcribed bidirectionally and forms RNA foci in the central nervous system, and sequester key RNA-binding proteins (RBPs leading to impairment in RNA processing events. Many studies report widespread transcriptome changes in ALS carrying a C9orf72 repeat expansion. Here we review the contribution of RNA foci interaction with RBPs as well as transcriptome changes involved in the pathogenesis of C9orf72- associated FTD/ALS. These informations are essential to elucidate the pathology and therapeutic intervention of ALS and/or FTD.

  5. Predicting and detecting adverse drug reactions in old age: challenges and opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mangoni, Arduino A

    2012-05-01

    Increased, often inappropriate, drug exposure, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes, reduced homeostatic reserve and frailty increase the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in the older population, thereby imposing a significant public health burden. Predicting and diagnosing ADRs in old age presents significant challenges for the clinician, even when specific risk scoring systems are available. The picture is further compounded by the potential adverse impact of several drugs on more 'global' health indicators, for example, physical function and independence, and the fragmentation of care (e.g., increased number of treating doctors and care transitions) experienced by older patients during their clinical journey. The current knowledge of drug safety in old age is also curtailed by the lack of efficacy and safety data from pre-marketing studies. Moreover, little consideration is given to individual patients' experiences and reporting of specific ADRs, particularly in the presence of cognitive impairment. Pending additional data on these issues, the close review and monitoring of individual patients' drug prescribing, clinical status and biochemical parameters remain essential to predict and detect ADRs in old age. Recently developed strategies, for example, medication reconciliation and trigger tool methodology, have the potential for ADRs risk mitigation in this population. However, more information is required on their efficacy and applicability in different healthcare settings.

  6. Systematic drug safety evaluation based on public genomic expression (Connectivity Map) data: myocardial and infectious adverse reactions as application cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Kejian; Weng, Zuquan; Sun, Liya; Sun, Jiazhi; Zhou, Shu-Feng; He, Lin

    2015-02-13

    Adverse drug reaction (ADR) is of great importance to both regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical industry. Various techniques, such as quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) and animal toxicology, are widely used to identify potential risks during the preclinical stage of drug development. Despite these efforts, drugs with safety liabilities can still pass through safety checkpoints and enter the market. This situation raises the concern that conventional chemical structure analysis and phenotypic screening are not sufficient to avoid all clinical adverse events. Genomic expression data following in vitro drug treatments characterize drug actions and thus have become widely used in drug repositioning. In the present study, we explored prediction of ADRs based on the drug-induced gene-expression profiles from cultured human cells in the Connectivity Map (CMap) database. The results showed that drugs inducing comparable ADRs generally lead to similar CMap expression profiles. Based on such ADR-gene expression association, we established prediction models for various ADRs, including severe myocardial and infectious events. Drugs with FDA boxed warnings of safety liability were effectively identified. We therefore suggest that drug-induced gene expression change, in combination with effective computational methods, may provide a new dimension of information to facilitate systematic drug safety evaluation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Reporting patterns of adverse drug reactions over recent years in China: analysis from publications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Xiao-jing; Ye, Xiao-fei; Wang, Xing-xing; Wang, Jing; Shi, Wen-tao; Gao, Qing-bin; Zhang, Tian-yi; Xu, Jin-fang; Zhu, Tian-tian; He, Jia

    2015-02-01

    The goal of this study was to clarify the reporting patterns of self-reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in China. A variety of sources were searched, including the official website of China FDA, the national center for ADR monitoring center, publications from PubMed, and so on. We retrieved the relevant information and made descriptive and comparative analysis from the year 2009 to 2013. The ADR reporting numbers were 638,996, 692,904, 852,799, 1,200,000 and 1,317,000 from 2009 to 2013, respectively. Healthcare professionals contributed significantly, and their proportion always exceeded 80% before 2012. The average report per million inhabitants has increased from 479 to 983 from 2009 to 2013. However, the proportion of new or serious report was always below 25%. The reports mainly concern anti-infective agents and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), especially TCM injection. The proportion of ADR reports in geriatric patients has increased for 4 consecutive years. ADR report numbers and reporting rates in China are on the rise. However, the proportion of new or serious reports as well as the proportion of reports contributed by consumers and pharmaceutical companies are still quite low. More attention should be paid to the elderly, anti-infective agents and TCM, especially TCM injections.

  8. How do pharmaceutical companies handle consumer adverse drug reaction reports? An overview based on a survey of French drug safety managers and officers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleuranceau-Morel, P

    2002-01-01

    It is surprising to see how consumer Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) reports have been continuously increasing for the last few years in Europe. This probably results from the influence of United States (US) market where the patients feels justified in telephoning the pharmaceutical companies directly with queries regarding their treatment. The growing number of alternative sources of information (e.g. health and popular magazines, spots on radio and TV etc.) to which a consumer is exposed has added to this growth too. The changing relationship between patients and doctors may also contribute to this phenomenon. It is then interesting to evaluate the way pharmaceutical companies currently deal with consumer ADR reports. The management of consumer ADR reporting was investigated by means of a questionnaire sent to 46 French drug safety managers and drug safety officers (DSOs) of multinational pharmaceutical companies. The analysis of the survey stressed the fact that pharmaceutical companies should be prepared to face up to an increase in the number of consumer ADR reports. It clearly appears that the consumers who telephone to register side-effects should be forwarded to a trained DSO with medical or pharmaceutical background and the communication skills acquired through specific training. This person should also be able to release adequate product information validated by his/her own company. The influence of the US market seems to be changing the way pharmaceutical companies deal with consumer ADR reports. Nowadays, these reports are entered into a drug safety database by most of the companies without previously having contacted the patient's general practitioner (GP) or specialist for medical confirmation. Lastly, the drug safety managers and DSOs consulted have divided opinions about the usefulness of call centres and e-mails as tools for ADR reporting. But both tools are globally rejected by the pharmaceutical companies as a reliable means of reporting. As stated

  9. Consumer reporting of adverse drug reactions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Nielsen, Lars Hougaard; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2009-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs) has traditionally been the sole province of healthcare professionals. Since 2003 in Denmark, consumers have been able to report ADRs directly to the authorities. The objective of this study was to compare ADRs reported by consumers with ADRs...... medicines on level 1 of the anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC) classification system. ADR reports from consumers were compared with reports from other sources (physicians, pharmacists, lawyers, pharmaceutical companies and other healthcare professionals). Chi-square and odds ratios (ORs) were calculated...... to investigate the dependence between type of reporter and reported ADRs (classified by ATC or SOC). FINDINGS: We analysed 6319 ADR reports corresponding to 15 531 ADRs. Consumers reported 11% of the ADRs. Consumers' share of 'serious' ADRs was comparable to that of physicians (approximately 45%) but lower than...

  10. Factors associated with repeat induced abortion in Kenya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maina, Beatrice W; Mutua, Michael M; Sidze, Estelle M

    2015-10-12

    Over six million induced abortions were reported in Africa in 2008 with over two million induced abortions occurring in Eastern Africa. Although a significant proportion of women in the region procure more than one abortion during their reproductive period, there is a dearth of research on factors associated with repeat abortion. Data for this study come from the Magnitude and Incidence of Unsafe Abortion Study conducted by the African Population and Health Research Center in Kenya in 2012. The study used a nationally-representative sample of 350 facilities (level II to level VI) that offer post-abortion services for complications following induced and spontaneous abortions. A prospective morbidity survey tool was used by health providers in 328 facilities to collect information on socio-demographic charateristics, reproductive health history and contraceptive use at conception for all patients presenting for post-abortion services. Our analysis is based on data recorded on 769 women who were classified as having had an induced abortion. About 16 % of women seeking post abortion services for an induced abortion reported to have had a previous induced abortion. Being separated or divorced or widowed, having no education, having unwanted pregnancy, having 1-2 prior births and using traditional methods of contraception were associated with a higher likelihood of a repeat induced abortion. The findings point to the need to address the reasons why women with first time induced abortion do not have the necessary information to prevent unintended pregnancies and further induced abortions. Possible explanations linked to the quality of post-abortion family planning and coverage of long-acting methods should be explored.

  11. Novel expressed sequence tag- simple sequence repeats (EST ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Using different bioinformatic criteria, the SUCEST database was used to mine for simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Among 42,189 clusters, 1,425 expressed sequence tag- simple sequence repeats (EST-SSRs) were identified in silico. Trinucleotide repeats were the most abundant SSRs detected. Of 212 primer pairs ...

  12. Role of memory errors in quantum repeaters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hartmann, L.; Kraus, B.; Briegel, H.-J.; Duer, W.

    2007-01-01

    We investigate the influence of memory errors in the quantum repeater scheme for long-range quantum communication. We show that the communication distance is limited in standard operation mode due to memory errors resulting from unavoidable waiting times for classical signals. We show how to overcome these limitations by (i) improving local memory and (ii) introducing two operational modes of the quantum repeater. In both operational modes, the repeater is run blindly, i.e., without waiting for classical signals to arrive. In the first scheme, entanglement purification protocols based on one-way classical communication are used allowing to communicate over arbitrary distances. However, the error thresholds for noise in local control operations are very stringent. The second scheme makes use of entanglement purification protocols with two-way classical communication and inherits the favorable error thresholds of the repeater run in standard mode. One can increase the possible communication distance by an order of magnitude with reasonable overhead in physical resources. We outline the architecture of a quantum repeater that can possibly ensure intercontinental quantum communication

  13. Ocular surface sensitivity repeatability with Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Cecilia; Stapleton, Fiona; Badarudin, Ezailina; Golebiowski, Blanka

    2015-02-01

    To determine the repeatability of ocular surface threshold measurements using the Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer on the same day and 3 months apart. Two separate studies were conducted to determine the repeatability of ocular surface threshold measurements made on the same day (n = 20 subjects) and 3 months apart (n = 29 subjects). The Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer was used to measure corneal and inferior conjunctival thresholds using the ascending method of limits. The pressure exerted by the Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer was determined using an analytical balance, for both the 0.08- and 0.12-mm-diameter filaments. This calibration was then used to convert filament length measurements to pressure. Repeatability was determined using a Bland and Altman analysis. The pressure exerted at each filament length differed between the two filament diameters. The measured pressure also differed from values provided by the manufacturer. Repeatability of threshold measurements at the central cornea was shown to be good, with better repeatability for same-day measurements (coefficient of repeatability [CoR] = ±0.23 g/mm²) than for those 3 months apart (CoR = ±0.52 g/mm²). Threshold measurements at the inferior conjunctiva, in contrast, were poorly repeatable (CoR = ±12.78 g/mm²). Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometry is repeatable when performed on the central cornea on the same day and 3 months apart, but this instrument is not recommended for conjunctival threshold measurements.

  14. Safety of Repeated Yttrium-90 Radioembolization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lam, Marnix G. E. H.; Louie, John D.; Iagaru, Andrei H.; Goris, Michael L.; Sze, Daniel Y.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: Repeated radioembolization (RE) treatments carry theoretically higher risk of radiation-induced hepatic injury because of the liver’s cumulative memory of previous exposure. We performed a retrospective safety analysis on patients who underwent repeated RE. Methods: From 2004 to 2011, a total of 247 patients were treated by RE. Eight patients (5 men, 3 women, age range 51–71 years) underwent repeated treatment of a targeted territory, all with resin microspheres (SIR-Spheres; Sirtex, Lane Cove, Australia). Adverse events were graded during a standardized follow-up. In addition, the correlation between the occurrence of RE-induced liver disease (REILD) and multiple variables was investigated in univariate and multivariate analyses in all 247 patients who received RE. Results: Two patients died shortly after the second treatment (at 84 and 107 days) with signs and symptoms of REILD. Both patients underwent whole liver treatment twice (cumulative doses 3.08 and 2.66 GBq). The other 6 patients demonstrated only minor toxicities after receiving cumulative doses ranging from 2.41 to 3.88 GBq. All patients experienced objective tumor responses. In the whole population, multifactorial analysis identified three risk factors associated with REILD: repeated RE (p = 0.036), baseline serum total bilirubin (p = 0.048), and baseline serum aspartate aminotransferase (p = 0.043). Repeated RE proved to be the only independent risk factor for REILD in multivariate analysis (odds ratio 9.6; p = 0.002). Additionally, the administered activity per target volume (in GBq/L) was found to be an independent risk factor for REILD, but only in whole liver treatments (p = 0.033). Conclusion: The risk of REILD appears to be elevated for repeated RE. Objective tumor responses were observed, but establishment of safety limits will require improvement in dosimetric measurement and prediction

  15. Safety of Repeated Yttrium-90 Radioembolization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lam, Marnix G. E. H.; Louie, John D. [Stanford University School of Medicine, Division of Interventional Radiology (United States); Iagaru, Andrei H.; Goris, Michael L. [Stanford University School of Medicine, Division of Nuclear Medicine (United States); Sze, Daniel Y., E-mail: dansze@stanford.edu [Stanford University School of Medicine, Division of Interventional Radiology (United States)

    2013-10-15

    Purpose: Repeated radioembolization (RE) treatments carry theoretically higher risk of radiation-induced hepatic injury because of the liver's cumulative memory of previous exposure. We performed a retrospective safety analysis on patients who underwent repeated RE. Methods: From 2004 to 2011, a total of 247 patients were treated by RE. Eight patients (5 men, 3 women, age range 51-71 years) underwent repeated treatment of a targeted territory, all with resin microspheres (SIR-Spheres; Sirtex, Lane Cove, Australia). Adverse events were graded during a standardized follow-up. In addition, the correlation between the occurrence of RE-induced liver disease (REILD) and multiple variables was investigated in univariate and multivariate analyses in all 247 patients who received RE. Results: Two patients died shortly after the second treatment (at 84 and 107 days) with signs and symptoms of REILD. Both patients underwent whole liver treatment twice (cumulative doses 3.08 and 2.66 GBq). The other 6 patients demonstrated only minor toxicities after receiving cumulative doses ranging from 2.41 to 3.88 GBq. All patients experienced objective tumor responses. In the whole population, multifactorial analysis identified three risk factors associated with REILD: repeated RE (p = 0.036), baseline serum total bilirubin (p = 0.048), and baseline serum aspartate aminotransferase (p = 0.043). Repeated RE proved to be the only independent risk factor for REILD in multivariate analysis (odds ratio 9.6; p = 0.002). Additionally, the administered activity per target volume (in GBq/L) was found to be an independent risk factor for REILD, but only in whole liver treatments (p = 0.033). Conclusion: The risk of REILD appears to be elevated for repeated RE. Objective tumor responses were observed, but establishment of safety limits will require improvement in dosimetric measurement and prediction.

  16. Retrieval and sleep both counteract the forgetting of spatial information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antony, James W; Paller, Ken A

    2018-06-01

    Repeatedly studying information is a good way to strengthen memory storage. Nevertheless, testing recall often produces superior long-term retention. Demonstrations of this testing effect, typically with verbal stimuli, have shown that repeated retrieval through testing reduces forgetting. Sleep also benefits memory storage, perhaps through repeated retrieval as well. That is, memories may generally be subject to forgetting that can be counteracted when memories become reactivated, and there are several types of reactivation: (i) via intentional restudying, (ii) via testing, (iii) without provocation during wake, or (iv) during sleep. We thus measured forgetting for spatial material subjected to repeated study or repeated testing followed by retention intervals with sleep versus wake. Four groups of subjects learned a set of visual object-location associations and either restudied the associations or recalled locations given the objects as cues. We found the advantage for restudied over retested information was greater in the PM than AM group. Additional groups tested at 5-min and 1-wk retention intervals confirmed previous findings of greater relative benefits for restudying in the short-term and for retesting in the long-term. Results overall support the conclusion that repeated reactivation through testing or sleeping stabilizes information against forgetting. © 2018 Antony and Paller; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  17. Chicken microsatellite markers isolated from libraries enriched for simple tandem repeats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbs, M; Dawson, D A; McCamley, C; Wardle, A F; Armour, J A; Burke, T

    1997-12-01

    The total number of microsatellite loci is considered to be at least 10-fold lower in avian species than in mammalian species. Therefore, efficient large-scale cloning of chicken microsatellites, as required for the construction of a high-resolution linkage map, is facilitated by the construction of libraries using an enrichment strategy. In this study, a plasmid library enriched for tandem repeats was constructed from chicken genomic DNA by hybridization selection. Using this technique the proportion of recombinant clones that cross-hybridized to probes containing simple tandem repeats was raised to 16%, compared with < 0.1% in a non-enriched library. Primers were designed from 121 different sequences. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of two chicken reference pedigrees enabled 72 loci to be localized within the collaborative chicken genetic map, and at least 30 of the remaining loci have been shown to be informative in these or other crosses.

  18. 5meCpG epigenetic marks neighboring a primate-conserved core promoter short tandem repeat indicate X-chromosome inactivation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Machado, Filipe Brum; Machado, Fabricio Brum; Faria, Milena Amendro; Lovatel, Viviane Lamim; Alves da Silva, Antonio Francisco; Radic, Claudia Pamela; De Brasi, Carlos Daniel; Rios, Álvaro Fabricio Lopes; de Sousa Lopes, Susana Marina Chuva; da Silveira, Leonardo Serafim; Ruiz-Miranda, Carlos Ramon; Ramos, Ester Silveira; Medina-Acosta, Enrique

    2014-01-01

    X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) is the epigenetic transcriptional silencing of an X-chromosome during the early stages of embryonic development in female eutherian mammals. XCI assures monoallelic expression in each cell and compensation for dosage-sensitive X-linked genes between females (XX) and males (XY). DNA methylation at the carbon-5 position of the cytosine pyrimidine ring in the context of a CpG dinucleotide sequence (5meCpG) in promoter regions is a key epigenetic marker for transcriptional gene silencing. Using computational analysis, we revealed an extragenic tandem GAAA repeat 230-bp from the landmark CpG island of the human X-linked retinitis pigmentosa 2 RP2 promoter whose 5meCpG status correlates with XCI. We used this RP2 onshore tandem GAAA repeat to develop an allele-specific 5meCpG-based PCR assay that is highly concordant with the human androgen receptor (AR) exonic tandem CAG repeat-based standard HUMARA assay in discriminating active (Xa) from inactive (Xi) X-chromosomes. The RP2 onshore tandem GAAA repeat contains neutral features that are lacking in the AR disease-linked tandem CAG repeat, is highly polymorphic (heterozygosity rates approximately 0.8) and shows minimal variation in the Xa/Xi ratio. The combined informativeness of RP2/AR is approximately 0.97, and this assay excels at determining the 5meCpG status of alleles at the Xp (RP2) and Xq (AR) chromosome arms in a single reaction. These findings are relevant and directly translatable to nonhuman primate models of XCI in which the AR CAG-repeat is monomorphic. We conducted the RP2 onshore tandem GAAA repeat assay in the naturally occurring chimeric New World monkey marmoset (Callitrichidae) and found it to be informative. The RP2 onshore tandem GAAA repeat will facilitate studies on the variable phenotypic expression of dominant and recessive X-linked diseases, epigenetic changes in twins, the physiology of aging hematopoiesis, the pathogenesis of age-related hematopoietic

  19. 5meCpG epigenetic marks neighboring a primate-conserved core promoter short tandem repeat indicate X-chromosome inactivation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Filipe Brum Machado

    Full Text Available X-chromosome inactivation (XCI is the epigenetic transcriptional silencing of an X-chromosome during the early stages of embryonic development in female eutherian mammals. XCI assures monoallelic expression in each cell and compensation for dosage-sensitive X-linked genes between females (XX and males (XY. DNA methylation at the carbon-5 position of the cytosine pyrimidine ring in the context of a CpG dinucleotide sequence (5meCpG in promoter regions is a key epigenetic marker for transcriptional gene silencing. Using computational analysis, we revealed an extragenic tandem GAAA repeat 230-bp from the landmark CpG island of the human X-linked retinitis pigmentosa 2 RP2 promoter whose 5meCpG status correlates with XCI. We used this RP2 onshore tandem GAAA repeat to develop an allele-specific 5meCpG-based PCR assay that is highly concordant with the human androgen receptor (AR exonic tandem CAG repeat-based standard HUMARA assay in discriminating active (Xa from inactive (Xi X-chromosomes. The RP2 onshore tandem GAAA repeat contains neutral features that are lacking in the AR disease-linked tandem CAG repeat, is highly polymorphic (heterozygosity rates approximately 0.8 and shows minimal variation in the Xa/Xi ratio. The combined informativeness of RP2/AR is approximately 0.97, and this assay excels at determining the 5meCpG status of alleles at the Xp (RP2 and Xq (AR chromosome arms in a single reaction. These findings are relevant and directly translatable to nonhuman primate models of XCI in which the AR CAG-repeat is monomorphic. We conducted the RP2 onshore tandem GAAA repeat assay in the naturally occurring chimeric New World monkey marmoset (Callitrichidae and found it to be informative. The RP2 onshore tandem GAAA repeat will facilitate studies on the variable phenotypic expression of dominant and recessive X-linked diseases, epigenetic changes in twins, the physiology of aging hematopoiesis, the pathogenesis of age-related hematopoietic

  20. Tetranucleotide repeat polymorphism at the human prostatic acid phosphatase (ACPP) gene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Polymeropoulos, M H; Xiao, Hong; Rath, D S; Merril, C R [National Inst. of Mental Health Neuroscience Center, Washington, DC (United States)

    1991-09-11

    The polymorphic (AAAT){sub n} repeat begins at base pair 2342 of the human prostatic acid phosphatase gene on chromosome 3q21-qter. The polymorphism can be typed using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as described previously. The predicted length of the amplified sequence was 275 bp. Co-dominant segregation was observed in two informative families. The human prostatic acid phosphatase gene has been assigned to chromosome 3q21-qter.

  1. Dental Fear in Children with Repeated Tooth Injuries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negovetić Vranić, Dubravka; Ivančić Jokić, Nataša; Bakarčić, Danko; Carek, Andreja; Rotim, Željko; Verzak, Željko

    2016-06-01

    Tooth injuries are serious clinical conditions. Some children experience dental trauma only once, while others are more prone to repeated tooth injuries. Repeated dental trauma occurs in 19.4% to 30% of patients. Pain and dental trauma are the most common reasons for fear and anxiety. The main objective of this study was to investigate how dental trauma, as well as repeated dental trauma affects the occurrence and development of dental fear in children. The study was conducted on a random sample of 147 subjects (88 boys and 59 girls) aged 5-8 and 9-12 years. Subjects in both age groups were divided into subroups without dental trauma, with one dental trauma and with repeated dental trauma. The validated Children’s Fear Survey Schedule – Dental Subscale was used on fear assessment. Results showed that only 12.2% of children without trauma, 33.3% with one trauma and 51.7% with repeated trauma were not afraid of injection. Older children had a significantly lower fear of injections, touch of an unknown person, choking, going to the hospital and people in white uniforms. Dentist was not the cause of fear in 65.5% of patients with repeated trauma. With each repeated injury of teeth, the degree of their fear of dental treatment was lower.

  2. Erroneous Memories Arising from Repeated Attempts to Remember

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henkel, Linda A.

    2004-01-01

    The impact of repeated and prolonged attempts at remembering on false memory rates was assessed in three experiments. Participants saw and imagined pictures and then made repeated recall attempts before taking a source memory test. Although the number of items recalled increased with repeated tests, the net gains were associated with more source…

  3. Superfamily of ankyrin repeat proteins in tomato.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Xiaowei; Zhang, Shizhong; Qing, Xiaohe; Sun, Meihong; Liu, Shiyang; Su, Hongyan; Shu, Huairui; Li, Xinzheng

    2013-07-10

    The ankyrin repeat (ANK) protein family plays a crucial role in plant growth and development and in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, no detailed information concerning this family is available for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) due to the limited information on whole genome sequences. In this study, we identified a total of 130 ANK genes in tomato genome (SlANK), and these genes were distributed across all 12 chromosomes at various densities. And chromosomal localizations of SlANK genes indicated 25 SlANK genes were involved in tandem duplications. Based on their domain composition, all of the SlANK proteins were grouped into 13 subgroups. A combined phylogenetic tree was constructed with the aligned SlANK protein sequences. This tree revealed that the SlANK proteins comprise five major groups. An analysis of the expression profiles of SlANK genes in tomato in different tissues and in response to stresses showed that the SlANK proteins play roles in plant growth, development and stress responses. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a genome-wide analysis of the tomato ANK gene family. This study provides valuable information regarding the classification and putative functions of SlANK genes in tomato. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Challenges of Pluralistic Societies with Dissimilar Cultural Identities and Religious Legal Traditions: ADR and the Role of Religious Mediation and Arbitration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gloria M. Morán García

    2017-10-01

    Abstract: Most of juridical systems are historically developed from the interaction of two main legal principles: the principle of personality and the principle of territoriality. Roman Law is one of the best examples of it; its legacy channeled the growth and coexistence of religious and secular jurisdictions in the Germanic kingdoms of Western Europe. Under the principle of personality of laws, bonding individuals to their cultural or religious communities, legal pluralism was the common grounds from the Antiquity to the pre-Modern era. However, as a result of the religious wars in the Holy Roman Empire between Catholics and Protestants in the 16th and the 17th centuries, the Westphalian state model reinforced a territorial religious jurisdiction under the principle cuius regio eius religio, allowing the ruler to impose his religion on his subjects. The Muslim legal tradition developed, as well, plural juridical systems from the Dhimma System. One of them was the Ottoman Millet system that was adapted from the colonial era to the most of Middle East nation-states as a bonding personal religious law applied to non-Muslim communities. The secular paradigm of the Rule of Law, centralizing and reinforcing state and federal legislative powers, is implemented in Europe and her former colonies in the 19th century under the nation-state constitutional model, expanding worldwide the principles of territoriality and citizenship. As a result, religious legal systems are progressively confined to the private sphere. However, the secular paradigm is confronted gradually by a new development of legal pluralism, mainly as an effect of an extensive increment of global migrations; Halakha or Jewish Law, Canon Law or Catholic Law, Sharia or Islamic Law, are gaining strength as formal or informal religious ADR under the principle of Religious Freedom. Religious legal systems are becoming an innovative tool of mediation, conciliation, and arbitration accepted by some secular

  5. Risk Factors for Acquired Rifamycin and Isoniazid Resistance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neesha Rockwood

    Full Text Available Studies looking at acquired drug resistance (ADR are diverse with respect to geographical distribution, HIV co-infection rates, retreatment status and programmatic factors such as regimens administered and directly observed therapy. Our objective was to examine and consolidate evidence from clinical studies of the multifactorial aetiology of acquired rifamycin and/or isoniazid resistance within the scope of a single systematic review. This is important to inform policy and identify key areas for further studies.Case-control and cohort studies and randomised controlled trials that reported ADR as an outcome during antitubercular treatment regimens including a rifamycin and examined the association of at least 1 risk factor were included. Post hoc, we carried out random effects Mantel-Haenszel weighted meta-analyses of the impact of 2 key risk factors 1 HIV and 2 baseline drug resistance on the binary outcome of ADR. Heterogeneity was assessed used I2 statistic. As a secondary outcome, we calculated median cumulative incidence of ADR, weighted by the sample size of the studies.Meta-analysis of 15 studies showed increased risk of ADR with baseline mono- or polyresistance (RR 4.85 95% CI 3.26 to 7.23, heterogeneity I2 58%, 95% CI 26 to 76%. Meta-analysis of 8 studies showed that HIV co-infection was associated with increased risk of ADR (RR 3.02, 95% CI 1.28 to 7.11; there was considerable heterogeneity amongst these studies (I2 81%, 95% CI 64 to 90%. Non-adherence, extrapulmonary/disseminated disease and advanced immunosuppression in HIV co-infection were other risk factors noted. The weighted median cumulative incidence of acquired multi drug resistance calculated in 24 studies (assuming whole cohort as denominator, regardless of follow up DST was 0.1% (5th to 95th percentile 0.07 to 3.2%.Baseline drug resistance and HIV co-infection were significant risk factors for ADR. There was a trend of positive association with non-adherence which is likely

  6. Adverse drug reaction prediction using scores produced by large-scale drug-protein target docking on high-performance computing machines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LaBute, Montiago X; Zhang, Xiaohua; Lenderman, Jason; Bennion, Brian J; Wong, Sergio E; Lightstone, Felice C

    2014-01-01

    Late-stage or post-market identification of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is a significant public health issue and a source of major economic liability for drug development. Thus, reliable in silico screening of drug candidates for possible ADRs would be advantageous. In this work, we introduce a computational approach that predicts ADRs by combining the results of molecular docking and leverages known ADR information from DrugBank and SIDER. We employed a recently parallelized version of AutoDock Vina (VinaLC) to dock 906 small molecule drugs to a virtual panel of 409 DrugBank protein targets. L1-regularized logistic regression models were trained on the resulting docking scores of a 560 compound subset from the initial 906 compounds to predict 85 side effects, grouped into 10 ADR phenotype groups. Only 21% (87 out of 409) of the drug-protein binding features involve known targets of the drug subset, providing a significant probe of off-target effects. As a control, associations of this drug subset with the 555 annotated targets of these compounds, as reported in DrugBank, were used as features to train a separate group of models. The Vina off-target models and the DrugBank on-target models yielded comparable median area-under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic-curves (AUCs) during 10-fold cross-validation (0.60-0.69 and 0.61-0.74, respectively). Evidence was found in the PubMed literature to support several putative ADR-protein associations identified by our analysis. Among them, several associations between neoplasm-related ADRs and known tumor suppressor and tumor invasiveness marker proteins were found. A dual role for interstitial collagenase in both neoplasms and aneurysm formation was also identified. These associations all involve off-target proteins and could not have been found using available drug/on-target interaction data. This study illustrates a path forward to comprehensive ADR virtual screening that can potentially scale with increasing number

  7. Adverse drug reaction prediction using scores produced by large-scale drug-protein target docking on high-performance computing machines.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Montiago X LaBute

    Full Text Available Late-stage or post-market identification of adverse drug reactions (ADRs is a significant public health issue and a source of major economic liability for drug development. Thus, reliable in silico screening of drug candidates for possible ADRs would be advantageous. In this work, we introduce a computational approach that predicts ADRs by combining the results of molecular docking and leverages known ADR information from DrugBank and SIDER. We employed a recently parallelized version of AutoDock Vina (VinaLC to dock 906 small molecule drugs to a virtual panel of 409 DrugBank protein targets. L1-regularized logistic regression models were trained on the resulting docking scores of a 560 compound subset from the initial 906 compounds to predict 85 side effects, grouped into 10 ADR phenotype groups. Only 21% (87 out of 409 of the drug-protein binding features involve known targets of the drug subset, providing a significant probe of off-target effects. As a control, associations of this drug subset with the 555 annotated targets of these compounds, as reported in DrugBank, were used as features to train a separate group of models. The Vina off-target models and the DrugBank on-target models yielded comparable median area-under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic-curves (AUCs during 10-fold cross-validation (0.60-0.69 and 0.61-0.74, respectively. Evidence was found in the PubMed literature to support several putative ADR-protein associations identified by our analysis. Among them, several associations between neoplasm-related ADRs and known tumor suppressor and tumor invasiveness marker proteins were found. A dual role for interstitial collagenase in both neoplasms and aneurysm formation was also identified. These associations all involve off-target proteins and could not have been found using available drug/on-target interaction data. This study illustrates a path forward to comprehensive ADR virtual screening that can potentially scale with

  8. Dedicated mobile application for drug adverse reaction reporting by patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (Vigip-SEP study): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Defer, Gilles; Le Caignec, Florian; Fedrizzi, Sophie; Montastruc, François; Chevanne, Damien; Parienti, Jean-Jacques; Peyro-Saint-Paul, Laure

    2018-03-09

    The reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADR) by patients represents an interesting challenge in the field of pharmacovigilance, but the reporting system is not adequately implemented in France. In 2015, only 20 MS patients in France reported ADR due to first-line disease-modifying drugs (DMD), while more than 3000 patients were initiated on DMD. The aim of this study is to validate a proof-of-concept as to whether the use of a mobile application (App) increases ADR reporting among patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS) receiving DMD. We designed a multi-centric, open cluster-randomized controlled trial, called the Vigip-SEP study (NCT03029897), using the App My eReport France® to report ADR to the appropriate authorities in E2B language, in accordance with European regulations. RR-MS patients who were initiated on, or switched, first-line DMD will be included. In the experimental arm, a neurologist will introduce the patient to the App to report ADR to the appropriate French authorities. In the control arm, the patient will be informed of the existence of the App but will not be introduced to its use and will then report ADR according to the usual reporting procedures. Primary assessment criteria are defined as the average number of ADR per patient and per center. We assume that the App will increase patient reporting by 10-fold. Therefore, we will require 24 centers (12 per arm: 6 MS academic expert centers, 3 general hospitals, 3 private practice neurologists), allowing for an expected enrollment of 180 patients (alpha risk 5%, power 90% and standard deviation 4%). Increasing patient reporting of ADR in a real-life setting is extremely important for therapeutic management of RR-MS, particularly for monitoring newly approved DMD to gain better knowledge of their safety profiles. To increase patient involvement, teaching patients to use tools, such as mobile applications, should be encouraged, and these tools should be tested rigorously

  9. Nonparametric additive regression for repeatedly measured data

    KAUST Repository

    Carroll, R. J.; Maity, A.; Mammen, E.; Yu, K.

    2009-01-01

    We develop an easily computed smooth backfitting algorithm for additive model fitting in repeated measures problems. Our methodology easily copes with various settings, such as when some covariates are the same over repeated response measurements

  10. Quantum key distribution with two-segment quantum repeaters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kampermann, Hermann; Abruzzo, Silvestre; Bruss, Dagmar [Theoretische Physik III, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf (Germany)

    2014-07-01

    Quantum repeaters represent one possible way to achieve long-distance quantum key distribution. One way of improving the repeater rate and decreasing the memory coherence time is the usage of multiplexing. Motivated by the experimental fact that long-range connections are practically demanding, we extend the analysis of the quantum repeater multiplexing protocol to the case of short-range connections. We derive formulas for the repeater rate and we show that short-range connections lead to most of the benefits of a full-range multiplexing protocol. A less demanding QKD-protocol without quantum memories was recently introduced by Lo et al. We generalize this measurement-device-independent quantum key Distribution protocol to the scenario where the repeater Station contains also heralded quantum memories. We assume either single-photon sources or weak coherent pulse sources plus decay states. We show that it is possible to significantly outperform the original proposal, even in presence of decoherence of the quantum memory. We give formulas in terms of device imperfections i.e., the quantum bit error rate and the repeater rate.

  11. Deployment Repeatability

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-08-31

    large cohort of trials to spot unusual cases. However, deployment repeatability is inherently a nonlinear phenomenon, which makes modeling difficult...and GEMS tip position were both tracked during ground testing by a laser target tracking system. Earlier SAILMAST testing in 2005 [8] used...recalls the strategy used by SRTM, where a constellation of lights was installed at the tip of the boom and a modified star tracker was used to track tip

  12. Clinical coding of prospectively identified paediatric adverse drug reactions--a retrospective review of patient records.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellis, Jennifer R; Kirkham, Jamie J; Nunn, Anthony J; Pirmohamed, Munir

    2014-12-17

    National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in the UK use a system of coding for patient episodes. The coding system used is the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10). There are ICD-10 codes which may be associated with adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and there is a possibility of using these codes for ADR surveillance. This study aimed to determine whether ADRs prospectively identified in children admitted to a paediatric hospital were coded appropriately using ICD-10. The electronic admission abstract for each patient with at least one ADR was reviewed. A record was made of whether the ADR(s) had been coded using ICD-10. Of 241 ADRs, 76 (31.5%) were coded using at least one ICD-10 ADR code. Of the oncology ADRs, 70/115 (61%) were coded using an ICD-10 ADR code compared with 6/126 (4.8%) non-oncology ADRs (difference in proportions 56%, 95% CI 46.2% to 65.8%; p codes as a single means of detection. Data derived from administrative healthcare databases are not reliable for identifying ADRs by themselves, but may complement other methods of detection.

  13. R-loops: targets for nuclease cleavage and repeat instability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freudenreich, Catherine H

    2018-01-11

    R-loops form when transcribed RNA remains bound to its DNA template to form a stable RNA:DNA hybrid. Stable R-loops form when the RNA is purine-rich, and are further stabilized by DNA secondary structures on the non-template strand. Interestingly, many expandable and disease-causing repeat sequences form stable R-loops, and R-loops can contribute to repeat instability. Repeat expansions are responsible for multiple neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington's disease, myotonic dystrophy, and several types of ataxias. Recently, it was found that R-loops at an expanded CAG/CTG repeat tract cause DNA breaks as well as repeat instability (Su and Freudenreich, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114, E8392-E8401, 2017). Two factors were identified as causing R-loop-dependent breaks at CAG/CTG tracts: deamination of cytosines and the MutLγ (Mlh1-Mlh3) endonuclease, defining two new mechanisms for how R-loops can generate DNA breaks (Su and Freudenreich, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114, E8392-E8401, 2017). Following R-loop-dependent nicking, base excision repair resulted in repeat instability. These results have implications for human repeat expansion diseases and provide a paradigm for how RNA:DNA hybrids can cause genome instability at structure-forming DNA sequences. This perspective summarizes mechanisms of R-loop-induced fragility at G-rich repeats and new links between DNA breaks and repeat instability.

  14. Repeat profile analysis in an x-ray department

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bassey, C.E.; Ojo, O.O.; Akpabio, I.

    1991-01-01

    The repeat profile of an x-ray department in a developing country was analysed monthly between July 1989 and June 1990. Results showed an average repeat rate of 3.7% for the period of study. The main causes of film repetition were: equipment fault, 33.9%; radiographer's fault, 27.4%; film fault, 19.3%; processing fault, 10.8% and patient's fault, 8.6%. The average repeat rate in the first 6 months of study reduced by 50% in the last 6 months. This was due to the effectiveness of implementation of corrective actions. The overall repeat rate was found to correlate well with both the equipment fault and radiographer's fault with correlation coefficients, r, of 0.94 and 0.91, respectively. It is expected that a further reduction in the repeat rate will be obtained after the introduction of quality assurance programmes. (author)

  15. D20S16 is a complex interspersed repeated sequence: Genetic and physical analysis of the locus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bowden, D.W.; Krawchuk, M.D.; Howard, T.D. [Wake Forest Univ., Winston-Salem, NC (United States)] [and others

    1995-01-20

    The genomic structure of the D20S16 locus has been evaluated using genetic and physical methods. D20S16, originally detected with the probe CRI-L1214, is a highly informative, complex restriction fragment length polymorphism consisting of two separate allelic systems. The allelic systems have the characteristics of conventional VNTR polymorphisms and are separated by recombination ({theta} = 0.02, Z{sub max} = 74.82), as demonstrated in family studies. Most of these recombination events are meiotic crossovers and are maternal in origin, but two, including deletion of the locus in a cell line from a CEPH family member, occur without evidence for exchange of flanking markers. DNA sequence analysis suggests that the basis of the polymorphism is variable numbers of a 98-bp sequence tandemly repeated with 87 to 90% sequence similarity between repeats. The 98-bp repeat is a dimer of 49 bp sequence with 45 to 98% identity between the elements. In addition, nonpolymorphic genomic sequences adjacent to the polymorphic 98-bp repeat tracts are also repeated but are not polymorphic, i.e., show no individual to individual variation. Restriction enzyme mapping of cosmids containing the CRI-L1214 sequence suggests that there are multiple interspersed repeats of the CRI-L1214 sequence on chromosome 20. The results of dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization experiments with interphase nuclei are also consistent with multiple repeats of an interspersed sequence on chromosome 20. 23 refs., 6 figs.

  16. Reliable and repeatable characterization of optical streak cameras

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charest, Michael R. Jr.; Torres, Peter III; Silbernagel, Christopher T.; Kalantar, Daniel H.

    2008-01-01

    Optical streak cameras are used as primary diagnostics for a wide range of physics and laser experiments at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility. To meet the strict accuracy requirements needed for these experiments, the systematic nonlinearities of the streak cameras (attributed to nonlinearities in the optical and electrical components that make up the streak camera system) must be characterized. In some cases the characterization information is used as a guide to help determine how experiment data should be taken. In other cases, the characterization data are applied to the raw data images to correct for the nonlinearities. In order to characterize an optical streak camera, a specific set of data is collected, where the response to defined inputs are recorded. A set of analysis software routines has been developed to extract information such as spatial resolution, dynamic range, and temporal resolution from this data set. The routines are highly automated, requiring very little user input and thus provide very reliable and repeatable results that are not subject to interpretation. An emphasis on quality control has been placed on these routines due to the high importance of the camera characterization information.

  17. Reliable and Repeatable Characterization of Optical Streak Cameras

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kalantar, D; Charest, M; Torres III, P; Charest, M

    2008-01-01

    Optical streak cameras are used as primary diagnostics for a wide range of physics and laser experiments at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF). To meet the strict accuracy requirements needed for these experiments, the systematic nonlinearities of the streak cameras (attributed to nonlinearities in the optical and electrical components that make up the streak camera system) must be characterized. In some cases the characterization information is used as a guide to help determine how experiment data should be taken. In other cases, the characterization data are applied to the raw data images to correct for the nonlinearities. In order to characterize an optical streak camera, a specific set of data is collected, where the response to defined inputs are recorded. A set of analysis software routines has been developed to extract information such as spatial resolution, dynamic range, and temporal resolution from this data set. The routines are highly automated, requiring very little user input and thus provide very reliable and repeatable results that are not subject to interpretation. An emphasis on quality control has been placed on these routines due to the high importance of the camera characterization information

  18. Reliable and Repeatable Characterization of Optical Streak Cameras

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Michael Charest Jr., Peter Torres III, Christopher Silbernagel, and Daniel Kalantar

    2008-10-31

    Optical streak cameras are used as primary diagnostics for a wide range of physics and laser experiments at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF). To meet the strict accuracy requirements needed for these experiments, the systematic nonlinearities of the streak cameras (attributed to nonlinearities in the optical and electrical components that make up the streak camera system) must be characterized. In some cases the characterization information is used as a guide to help determine how experiment data should be taken. In other cases, the characterization data are applied to the raw data images to correct for the nonlinearities. In order to characterize an optical streak camera, a specific set of data is collected, where the response to defined inputs are recorded. A set of analysis software routines has been developed to extract information such as spatial resolution, dynamic range, and temporal resolution from this data set. The routines are highly automated, requiring very little user input and thus provide very reliable and repeatable results that are not subject to interpretation. An emphasis on quality control has been placed on these routines due to the high importance of the camera characterization information.

  19. Reliable and Repeatable Characterication of Optical Streak Cameras

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kalantar, D; Charest, M; Torres III, P; Charest, M

    2008-05-06

    Optical streak cameras are used as primary diagnostics for a wide range of physics and laser experiments at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF). To meet the strict accuracy requirements needed for these experiments, the systematic nonlinearities of the streak cameras (attributed to nonlinearities in the optical and electrical components that make up the streak camera system) must be characterized. In some cases the characterization information is used as a guide to help determine how experiment data should be taken. In other cases, the characterization data are applied to the raw data images to correct for the nonlinearities. In order to characterize an optical streak camera, a specific set of data is collected, where the response to defined inputs are recorded. A set of analysis software routines has been developed to extract information such as spatial resolution, dynamic range, and temporal resolution from this data set. The routines are highly automated, requiring very little user input and thus provide very reliable and repeatable results that are not subject to interpretation. An emphasis on quality control has been placed on these routines due to the high importance of the camera characterization information.

  20. Reliable and Repeatable Characterization of Optical Streak Cameras

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Michael R. Charest, Peter Torres III, Christopher Silbernagel

    2008-01-01

    Optical streak cameras are used as primary diagnostics for a wide range of physics and laser performance verification experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). To meet the strict accuracy requirements needed for these experiments, the systematic nonlinearities of the streak cameras (attributed to nonlinearities in the optical and electronic components that make up the streak camera system) must be characterized. In some cases the characterization information is used as a guide to help determine how experiment data should be taken. In other cases the characterization data is used to 'correct' data images, to remove some of the nonlinearities. In order to obtain these camera characterizations, a specific data set is collected where the response to specific known inputs is recorded. A set of analysis software routines has been developed to extract information such as spatial resolution, dynamic range, temporal resolution, etc., from this data set. The routines are highly automated, requiring very little user input and thus provide very reliable and repeatable results that are not subject to interpretation. An emphasis on quality control has been placed on these routines due to the high importance of the camera characterization information

  1. Heralded quantum repeater based on the scattering of photons off single emitters in one-dimensional waveguides

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Song, Guo-Zhu; Zhang, Mei; Ai, Qing; Yang, Guo-Jian [Department of Physics, Applied Optics Beijing Area Major Laboratory, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Alsaedi, Ahmed; Hobiny, Aatef [NAAM-Research Group, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589 (Saudi Arabia); Deng, Fu-Guo, E-mail: fgdeng@bnu.edu.cn [Department of Physics, Applied Optics Beijing Area Major Laboratory, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); NAAM-Research Group, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589 (Saudi Arabia)

    2017-03-15

    We propose a heralded quantum repeater based on the scattering of photons off single emitters in one-dimensional waveguides. We show the details by implementing nonlocal entanglement generation, entanglement swapping, and entanglement purification modules with atoms in waveguides, and discuss the feasibility of the repeater with currently achievable technology. In our scheme, the faulty events can be discarded by detecting the polarization of the photons. That is, our protocols are accomplished with a fidelity of 100% in principle, which is advantageous for implementing realistic long-distance quantum communication. Moreover, additional atomic qubits are not required, but only a single-photon medium. Our scheme is scalable and attractive since it can be realized in solid-state quantum systems. With the great progress on controlling atom-waveguide systems, the repeater may be very useful in quantum information processing in the future.

  2. Spatial Cluster Detection for Repeatedly Measured Outcomes while Accounting for Residential History

    OpenAIRE

    Cook, Andrea J.; Gold, Diane R.; Li, Yi

    2009-01-01

    Spatial cluster detection has become an important methodology in quantifying the effect of hazardous exposures. Previous methods have focused on cross-sectional outcomes that are binary or continuous. There are virtually no spatial cluster detection methods proposed for longitudinal outcomes. This paper proposes a new spatial cluster detection method for repeated outcomes using cumulative geographic residuals. A major advantage of this method is its ability to readily incorporate information ...

  3. Repeated assessment of orthotopic glioma pO2 by multi-site EPR oximetry: A technique with the potential to guide therapeutic optimization by repeated measurements of oxygen

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Nadeem; Mupparaju, Sriram; Hou, Huagang; Williams, Benjamin B.; Swartz, Harold

    2011-01-01

    Tumor hypoxia plays a vital role in therapeutic resistance. Consequently, measurements of tumor pO2 could be used to optimize the outcome of oxygen-dependent therapies, such as, chemoradiation. However, the potential optimizations are restricted by the lack of methods to repeatedly and quantitatively assess tumor pO2 during therapies, particularly in gliomas. We describe the procedures for repeated measurements of orthotopic glioma pO2 by multi-site electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) oximetry. This oximetry approach provides simultaneous measurements of pO2 at more than one site in the glioma and contralateral cerebral tissue. The pO2 of intracerebral 9L, C6, F98 and U251 tumors, as well as contralateral brain, were measured repeatedly for five consecutive days. The 9L glioma was well oxygenated with pO2 of 27 - 36 mm Hg, while C6, F98 and U251 glioma were hypoxic with pO2 of 7 - 12 mm Hg. The potential of multi-site EPR oximetry to assess temporal changes in tissue pO2 was investigated in rats breathing 100% O2. A significant increase in F98 tumor and contralateral brain pO2 was observed on day 1 and day 2, however, glioma oxygenation declined on subsequent days. In conclusion, EPR oximetry provides the capability to repeatedly assess temporal changes in orthotopic glioma pO2. This information could be used to test and optimize the methods being developed to modulate tumor hypoxia. Furthermore, EPR oximetry could be potentially used to enhance the outcome of chemoradiation by scheduling treatments at times of increase in glioma pO2. PMID:22079559

  4. Adverse drug reactions induced by cardiovascular drugs in outpatients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gholami, Kheirollah; Ziaie, Shadi; Shalviri, Gloria

    2008-01-01

    Considering increased use of cardiovascular drugs and limitations in pre-marketing trials for drug safety evaluation, post marketing evaluation of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) induced by this class of medicinal products seems necessary. To determine the rate and seriousness of adverse reactions induced by cardiovascular drugs in outpatients. To compare sex and different age groups in developing ADRs with cardiovascular agents. To assess the relationship between frequencies of ADRs and the number of drugs used. This cross-sectional study was done in cardiovascular clinic at a teaching hospital. All patients during an eight months period were evaluated for cardiovascular drugs induced ADRs. Patient and reaction factors were analyzed in detected ADRs. Patients with or without ADRs were compared in sex and age by using chi-square test. Assessing the relationship between frequencies of ADRs and the number of drugs used was done by using Pearson analysis. The total number of 518 patients was visited at the clinic. ADRs were detected in 105 (20.3%) patients. The most frequent ADRs were occurred in the age group of 51-60. The highest rate of ADRs was recorded to be induced by Diltiazem (23.5%) and the lowest rate with Atenolol (3%). Headache was the most frequent detected ADR (23%). Assessing the severity and preventability of ADRs revealed that 1.1% of ADRs were detected as severe and 1.9% as preventable reactions. Women significantly developed more ADRs in this study (chi square = 3.978, PPearson=0.259, P<0.05). Monitoring ADRs in patients using cardiovascular drugs is a matter of importance since this class of medicines is usually used by elderly patients with critical conditions and underlying diseases.

  5. Patterns of adverse drug reaction signals in NAFDAC Pharmacovigilance activities from September to November, 2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Awodele, Olufunsho; Ibrahim, Ali; Orhii, Paul

    2016-03-16

    Adverse drug reaction signals are reported information on possible causal relationships between an adverse event and a drug. The National Pharmacovigilance Centre (NPC) in Nigeria has over 3,000 reported adverse drug reaction cases which have been adequately entered into the ADR data bank. Data mining of ADR reports from September to November, 2014 were carried out in this present study with the intention to describe the pattern of ADRs and generate possible signals. A total of about 100 reported cases with arrays of adverse drug reactions were reported between September and November, 2014 and the data were analyzed using SPSS version 17. Efavirenz/Tenofovir/Lamivudine combination was the highest reported drugs (24.2%) while efavirenz alone was reported in 8 times (8.8%) and HIV (63.3%) was the highest reported indication of drug use. Efavirenz caused central nervous system adverse reactions as revealed in the ADRs analyses. Zidovudine/Lamivudine/Nevirapine combination in concomitant use with Cotrimoxazole were reported 8 times with generalized maculopapular rashes on the trunk with some area of hyper pigmentation with intense itching documented twice and big/swollen rashes all over the faces. Zidovudine was also reported four times to cause severe anaemia. More surveillance is advocated so as to ascertain the consistency of the observed ADRs and thereafter establish appropriate signals.

  6. Development of analog watch with minute repeater

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okigami, Tomio; Aoyama, Shigeru; Osa, Takashi; Igarashi, Kiyotaka; Ikegami, Tomomi

    A complementary metal oxide semiconductor with large scale integration was developed for an electronic minute repeater. It is equipped with the synthetic struck sound circuit to generate natural struck sound necessary for the minute repeater. This circuit consists of an envelope curve drawing circuit, frequency mixer, polyphonic mixer, and booster circuit made by using analog circuit technology. This large scale integration is a single chip microcomputer with motor drivers and input ports in addition to the synthetic struck sound circuit, and it is possible to make an electronic system of minute repeater at a very low cost in comparison with the conventional type.

  7. Adverse drug reactions induced by cardiovascular drugs in outpatients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gholami K

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Considering increased use of cardiovascular drugs and limitations in pre-marketing trials for drug safety evaluation, post marketing evaluation of adverse drug reactions (ADRs induced by this class of medicinal products seems necessary.Objectives: To determine the rate and seriousness of adverse reactions induced by cardiovascular drugs in outpatients. To compare sex and different age groups in developing ADRs with cardiovascular agents. To assess the relationship between frequencies of ADRs and the number of drugs used. Methods: This cross-sectional study was done in cardiovascular clinic at a teaching hospital. All patients during an eight months period were evaluated for cardiovascular drugs induced ADRs. Patient and reaction factors were analyzed in detected ADRs. Patients with or without ADRs were compared in sex and age by using chi-square test. Assessing the relationship between frequencies of ADRs and the number of drugs used was done by using Pearson analysis. Results: The total number of 518 patients was visited at the clinic. ADRs were detected in 105 (20.3% patients. The most frequent ADRs were occurred in the age group of 51-60. The highest rate of ADRs was recorded to be induced by Diltiazem (23.5% and the lowest rate with Atenolol (3%. Headache was the most frequent detected ADR (23%. Assessing the severity and preventability of ADRs revealed that 1.1% of ADRs were detected as severe and 1.9% as preventable reactions. Women significantly developed more ADRs in this study (chi square = 3.978, P<0.05. ADRs more frequently occurred with increasing age in this study (chi square = 15.871, P<0.05. With increasing the number of drugs used, the frequency of ADRs increased (Pearson=0.259, P<0.05. Conclusion: Monitoring ADRs in patients using cardiovascular drugs is a matter of importance since this class of medicines is usually used by elderly patients with critical conditions and underlying diseases.

  8. RTEL1 Inhibits Trinucleotide Repeat Expansions and Fragility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aisling Frizzell

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Human RTEL1 is an essential, multifunctional helicase that maintains telomeres, regulates homologous recombination, and helps prevent bone marrow failure. Here, we show that RTEL1 also blocks trinucleotide repeat expansions, the causal mutation for 17 neurological diseases. Increased expansion frequencies of (CTG⋅CAG repeats occurred in human cells following knockdown of RTEL1, but not the alternative helicase Fbh1, and purified RTEL1 efficiently unwound triplet repeat hairpins in vitro. The expansion-blocking activity of RTEL1 also required Rad18 and HLTF, homologs of yeast Rad18 and Rad5. These findings are reminiscent of budding yeast Srs2, which inhibits expansions, unwinds hairpins, and prevents triplet-repeat-induced chromosome fragility. Accordingly, we found expansions and fragility were suppressed in yeast srs2 mutants expressing RTEL1, but not Fbh1. We propose that RTEL1 serves as a human analog of Srs2 to inhibit (CTG⋅CAG repeat expansions and fragility, likely by unwinding problematic hairpins.

  9. Isolation of human simple repeat loci by hybridization selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armour, J A; Neumann, R; Gobert, S; Jeffreys, A J

    1994-04-01

    We have isolated short tandem repeat arrays from the human genome, using a rapid method involving filter hybridization to enrich for tri- or tetranucleotide tandem repeats. About 30% of clones from the enriched library cross-hybridize with probes containing trimeric or tetrameric tandem arrays, facilitating the rapid isolation of large numbers of clones. In an initial analysis of 54 clones, 46 different tandem arrays were identified. Analysis of these tandem repeat loci by PCR showed that 24 were polymorphic in length; substantially higher levels of polymorphism were displayed by the tetrameric repeat loci isolated than by the trimeric repeats. Primary mapping of these loci by linkage analysis showed that they derive from 17 chromosomes, including the X chromosome. We anticipate the use of this strategy for the efficient isolation of tandem repeats from other sources of genomic DNA, including DNA from flow-sorted chromosomes, and from other species.

  10. Social value and information quality in online health information search

    OpenAIRE

    Hameed, Tahir; Swar, Bobby

    2016-01-01

    This paper extends and validates a model of value-driven online healthcare information search in online shared contexts. Perceived value is an important factor behind users' decisions concerning search, consumption and reuse of products and services. The role of utilitarian, hedonic and epistemic value of information in user satisfaction and intention to repeat online search is well recognized, but little support has been found for social value affecting user satisfaction critical for such de...

  11. Ranking adverse drug reactions with crowdsourcing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gottlieb, Assaf; Hoehndorf, Robert; Dumontier, Michel; Altman, Russ B

    2015-03-23

    There is no publicly available resource that provides the relative severity of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Such a resource would be useful for several applications, including assessment of the risks and benefits of drugs and improvement of patient-centered care. It could also be used to triage predictions of drug adverse events. The intent of the study was to rank ADRs according to severity. We used Internet-based crowdsourcing to rank ADRs according to severity. We assigned 126,512 pairwise comparisons of ADRs to 2589 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers and used these comparisons to rank order 2929 ADRs. There is good correlation (rho=.53) between the mortality rates associated with ADRs and their rank. Our ranking highlights severe drug-ADR predictions, such as cardiovascular ADRs for raloxifene and celecoxib. It also triages genes associated with severe ADRs such as epidermal growth-factor receptor (EGFR), associated with glioblastoma multiforme, and SCN1A, associated with epilepsy. ADR ranking lays a first stepping stone in personalized drug risk assessment. Ranking of ADRs using crowdsourcing may have useful clinical and financial implications, and should be further investigated in the context of health care decision making.

  12. Ranking Adverse Drug Reactions With Crowdsourcing

    KAUST Repository

    Gottlieb, Assaf

    2015-03-23

    Background: There is no publicly available resource that provides the relative severity of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Such a resource would be useful for several applications, including assessment of the risks and benefits of drugs and improvement of patient-centered care. It could also be used to triage predictions of drug adverse events. Objective: The intent of the study was to rank ADRs according to severity. Methods: We used Internet-based crowdsourcing to rank ADRs according to severity. We assigned 126,512 pairwise comparisons of ADRs to 2589 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers and used these comparisons to rank order 2929 ADRs. Results: There is good correlation (rho=.53) between the mortality rates associated with ADRs and their rank. Our ranking highlights severe drug-ADR predictions, such as cardiovascular ADRs for raloxifene and celecoxib. It also triages genes associated with severe ADRs such as epidermal growth-factor receptor (EGFR), associated with glioblastoma multiforme, and SCN1A, associated with epilepsy. Conclusions: ADR ranking lays a first stepping stone in personalized drug risk assessment. Ranking of ADRs using crowdsourcing may have useful clinical and financial implications, and should be further investigated in the context of health care decision making.

  13. On balanced minimal repeated measurements designs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shakeel Ahmad Mir

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Repeated Measurements designs are concerned with scientific experiments in which each experimental unit is assigned more than once to a treatment either different or identical. This class of designs has the property that the unbiased estimators for elementary contrasts among direct and residual effects are obtainable. Afsarinejad (1983 provided a method of constructing balanced Minimal Repeated Measurements designs p < t , when t is an odd or prime power, one or more than one treatment may occur more than once in some sequences and  designs so constructed no longer remain uniform in periods. In this paper an attempt has been made to provide a new method to overcome this drawback. Specifically, two cases have been considered                RM[t,n=t(t-t/(p-1,p], λ2=1 for balanced minimal repeated measurements designs and  RM[t,n=2t(t-t/(p-1,p], λ2=2 for balanced  repeated measurements designs. In addition , a method has been provided for constructing              extra-balanced minimal designs for special case RM[t,n=t2/(p-1,p], λ2=1.

  14. ATXN2 trinucleotide repeat length correlates with risk of ALS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sproviero, William; Shatunov, Aleksey; Stahl, Daniel; Shoai, Maryam; van Rheenen, Wouter; Jones, Ashley R; Al-Sarraj, Safa; Andersen, Peter M; Bonini, Nancy M; Conforti, Francesca L; Van Damme, Philip; Daoud, Hussein; Del Mar Amador, Maria; Fogh, Isabella; Forzan, Monica; Gaastra, Ben; Gellera, Cinzia; Gitler, Aaron D; Hardy, John; Fratta, Pietro; La Bella, Vincenzo; Le Ber, Isabelle; Van Langenhove, Tim; Lattante, Serena; Lee, Yi-Chung; Malaspina, Andrea; Meininger, Vincent; Millecamps, Stéphanie; Orrell, Richard; Rademakers, Rosa; Robberecht, Wim; Rouleau, Guy; Ross, Owen A; Salachas, Francois; Sidle, Katie; Smith, Bradley N; Soong, Bing-Wen; Sorarù, Gianni; Stevanin, Giovanni; Kabashi, Edor; Troakes, Claire; van Broeckhoven, Christine; Veldink, Jan H; van den Berg, Leonard H; Shaw, Christopher E; Powell, John F; Al-Chalabi, Ammar

    2017-03-01

    We investigated a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the ATXN2 gene in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Two new case-control studies, a British dataset of 1474 ALS cases and 567 controls, and a Dutch dataset of 1328 ALS cases and 691 controls were analyzed. In addition, to increase power, we systematically searched PubMed for case-control studies published after 1 August 2010 that investigated the association between ATXN2 intermediate repeats and ALS. We conducted a meta-analysis of the new and existing studies for the relative risks of ATXN2 intermediate repeat alleles of between 24 and 34 CAG trinucleotide repeats and ALS. There was an overall increased risk of ALS for those carrying intermediate sized trinucleotide repeat alleles (odds ratio 3.06 [95% confidence interval 2.37-3.94]; p = 6 × 10 -18 ), with an exponential relationship between repeat length and ALS risk for alleles of 29-32 repeats (R 2  = 0.91, p = 0.0002). No relationship was seen for repeat length and age of onset or survival. In contrast to trinucleotide repeat diseases, intermediate ATXN2 trinucleotide repeat expansion in ALS does not predict age of onset but does predict disease risk. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. The effect of repeated testing vs repeated practice on skills learning in undergraduate dental education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sennhenn-Kirchner, S; Goerlich, Y; Kirchner, B; Notbohm, M; Schiekirka, S; Simmenroth, A; Raupach, T

    2018-02-01

    Recent studies in undergraduate medical education have demonstrated the advantage of repeated testing over repeated practice with regard to knowledge and skills retention. The aim of this study was to investigate whether this "testing effect" also applies to skills retention in undergraduate dental education. In this prospective, randomised controlled trial, fourth-year dental students at Göttingen University Medical Centre participated in a training session on surgical suturing in winter term 2014/2015. Following this, they were either assigned to two sessions of additional skills training (group A) or two sessions of skills assessment with feedback (group B). These sessions were spaced over a period of 4 weeks. Skills retention was assessed in a summative objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) at the end of term, that is 6 months after the initial teaching session. A total of 32 students completed the study. With regard to suturing, OSCE performance was significantly better in group B than group A (81.9±13.1% vs 63.0±15.4%; P=0.001; Cohen's d=1.33). There was no significant OSCE performance difference in the two groups with regard to other learning objectives that were addressed in the end-of-term examination. Thus, the group difference was specific to suturing skills. This is the first study to demonstrate that in dental education, repeated testing produces more favourable skills retention than repeated practice. Test-enhanced learning might be a viable concept for skills retention in undergraduate dentistry education. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. RTEL1 Inhibits Trinucleotide Repeat Expansions and Fragility

    OpenAIRE

    Aisling Frizzell; Jennifer H.G. Nguyen; Mark I.R. Petalcorin; Katherine D. Turner; Simon J. Boulton; Catherine H. Freudenreich; Robert S. Lahue

    2014-01-01

    SUMMARY Human RTEL1 is an essential, multifunctional helicase that maintains telomeres, regulates homologous recombination, and helps prevent bone marrow failure. Here, we show that RTEL1 also blocks trinucleotide repeat expansions, the causal mutation for 17 neurological diseases. Increased expansion frequencies of (CTG·CAG) repeats occurred in human cells following knockdown of RTEL1, but not the alternative helicase Fbh1, and purified RTEL1 efficiently unwound triplet repeat hairpins in vi...

  17. Statistical Validation for Clinical Measures: Repeatability and Agreement of Kinect™-Based Software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, Natalia; Perez, Elisa; Tello, Emanuel; Rodrigo, Alejandro; Valentinuzzi, Max E

    2018-01-01

    The rehabilitation process is a fundamental stage for recovery of people's capabilities. However, the evaluation of the process is performed by physiatrists and medical doctors, mostly based on their observations, that is, a subjective appreciation of the patient's evolution. This paper proposes a tracking platform of the movement made by an individual's upper limb using Kinect sensor(s) to be applied for the patient during the rehabilitation process. The main contribution is the development of quantifying software and the statistical validation of its performance, repeatability, and clinical use in the rehabilitation process. The software determines joint angles and upper limb trajectories for the construction of a specific rehabilitation protocol and quantifies the treatment evolution. In turn, the information is presented via a graphical interface that allows the recording, storage, and report of the patient's data. For clinical purposes, the software information is statistically validated with three different methodologies, comparing the measures with a goniometer in terms of agreement and repeatability. The agreement of joint angles measured with the proposed software and goniometer is evaluated with Bland-Altman plots; all measurements fell well within the limits of agreement, meaning interchangeability of both techniques. Additionally, the results of Bland-Altman analysis of repeatability show 95% confidence. Finally, the physiotherapists' qualitative assessment shows encouraging results for the clinical use. The main conclusion is that the software is capable of offering a clinical history of the patient and is useful for quantification of the rehabilitation success. The simplicity, low cost, and visualization possibilities enhance the use of the software Kinect for rehabilitation and other applications, and the expert's opinion endorses the choice of our approach for clinical practice. Comparison of the new measurement technique with established

  18. Germ-line CAG repeat instability causes extreme CAG repeat expansion with infantile-onset spinocerebellar ataxia type 2

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vinther-Jensen, Tua; Ek, Jakob; Duno, Morten

    2013-01-01

    The spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of diseases, characterized by dominant inheritance, progressive cerebellar ataxia and diverse extracerebellar symptoms. A subgroup of the ataxias is caused by unstable CAG-repeat expansions in their respective ...... of paternal germ-line repeat sequence instability of the expanded SCA2 locus.European Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication, 10 October 2012; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2012.231....

  19. Effect of adrenaline on glucose kinetics during exercise in adrenalectomised humans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Howlett, K.; Galbo, Henrik; Lorentsen, J.

    1999-01-01

    for 45 min at 68 +/- 1 % maximum pulmonary O2 uptake (VO2,max), followed by 15 min at 84 +/- 2 % VO2, max without (-ADR) or with (+ADR) adrenaline infusion, which elevated plasma adrenaline levels (45 min, 4.49 +/- 0.69 nmol l-1; 60 min, 12.41 +/- 1.80 nmol l-1; means +/- s.e.m.). Glucose kinetics were...... measured using [3-3H]glucose. 3. Euglycaemia was maintained during exercise in CON and -ADR, whilst in +ADR plasma glucose was elevated. The exercise-induced increase in hepatic glucose production was similar in +ADR and -ADR; however, adrenaline infusion augmented the rise in hepatic glucose production...... early in exercise. Glucose uptake increased during exercise in +ADR and -ADR, but was lower and metabolic clearance rate was reduced in +ADR. 4. During exercise noradrenaline and glucagon concentrations increased, and insulin and cortisol concentrations decreased, but plasma levels were similar between...

  20. Diagnosis-based and external cause-based criteria to identify adverse drug reactions in hospital ICD-coded data: application to an Australia population-based study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Du

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: External cause International Classification of Diseases (ICD codes are commonly used to ascertain adverse drug reactions (ADRs related to hospitalisation. We quantified ascertainment of ADR-related hospitalisation using external cause codes and additional ICD-based hospital diagnosis codes. Methods: We reviewed the scientific literature to identify different ICD-based criteria for ADR-related hospitalisations, developed algorithms to capture ADRs based on candidate hospital ICD-10 diagnoses and external cause codes (Y40–Y59, and incorporated previously published causality ratings estimating the probability that a specific diagnosis was ADR related. We applied the algorithms to the NSW Admitted Patient Data Collection records of 45 and Up Study participants (2011–2013. Results: Of 493 442 hospitalisations among 267 153 study participants during 2011–2013, 18.8% (n = 92 953 had hospital diagnosis codes that were potentially ADR related; 1.1% (n = 5305 had high/very high–probability ADR-related diagnosis codes (causality ratings: A1 and A2; and 2.0% (n = 10 039 had ADR-related external cause codes. Overall, 2.2% (n = 11 082 of cases were classified as including an ADR-based hospitalisation on either external cause codes or high/very high–probability ADR-related diagnosis codes. Hence, adding high/very high–probability ADR-related hospitalisation codes to standard external cause codes alone (Y40–Y59 increased the number of hospitalisations classified as having an ADR-related diagnosis by 10.4%. Only 6.7% of cases with high-probability ADR-related mental symptoms were captured by external cause codes. Conclusion: Selective use of high-probability ADR-related hospital diagnosis codes in addition to external cause codes yielded a modest increase in hospitalised ADR incidence, which is of potential clinical significance. Clinically validated combinations of diagnosis codes could potentially further enhance capture.

  1. Analysis of CR1 Repeats in the Zebra Finch Genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George E. Liu

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Most bird species have smaller genomes and fewer repeats than mammals. Chicken Repeat 1 (CR1 repeat is one of the most abundant families of repeats, ranging from ~133,000 to ~187,000 copies accounting for ~50 to ~80% of the interspersed repeats in the zebra finch and chicken genomes, respectively. CR1 repeats are believed to have arisen from the retrotransposition of a small number of master elements, which gave rise to multiple CR1 subfamilies in the chicken. In this study, we performed a global assessment of the divergence distributions, phylogenies, and consensus sequences of CR1 repeats in the zebra finch genome. We identified and validated 34 CR1 subfamilies and further analyzed the correlation between these subfamilies. We also discovered 4 novel lineage-specific CR1 subfamilies in the zebra finch when compared to the chicken genome. We built various evolutionary trees of these subfamilies and concluded that CR1 repeats may play an important role in reshaping the structure of bird genomes.

  2. Measurement of repeat effects in Chicago’s criminal social network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul Kump

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The “near-repeat” effect is a well-known criminological phenomenon in which the occurrence of a crime incident gives rise to a temporary elevation of crime risk within close physical proximity to an initial incident. Adopting a social network perspective, we instead define a near repeat in terms of geodesic distance within a criminal social network, rather than spatial distance. Specifically, we report a statistical analysis of repeat effects in arrest data for Chicago during the years 2003–2012. We divide the arrest data into two sets (violent crimes and other crimes and, for each set, we compare the distributions of time intervals between repeat incidents to theoretical distributions in which repeat incidents occur only by chance. We first consider the case of the same arrestee participating in repeat incidents (“exact repeats” and then extend the analysis to evaluate repeat risks of those arrestees near one another in the social network. We observe repeat effects that diminish as a function of geodesic distance and time interval, and we estimate typical time scales for repeat crimes in Chicago.

  3. Large Polyglutamine Repeats Cause Muscle Degeneration in SCA17 Mice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shanshan Huang

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available In polyglutamine (polyQ diseases, large polyQ repeats cause juvenile cases with different symptoms than those of adult-onset patients, who carry smaller expanded polyQ repeats. The mechanisms behind the differential pathology mediated by different polyQ repeat lengths remain unknown. By studying knockin mouse models of spinal cerebellar ataxia-17 (SCA17, we found that a large polyQ (105 glutamines in the TATA-box-binding protein (TBP preferentially causes muscle degeneration and reduces the expression of muscle-specific genes. Direct expression of TBP with different polyQ repeats in mouse muscle revealed that muscle degeneration is mediated only by the large polyQ repeats. Different polyQ repeats differentially alter TBP’s interaction with neuronal and muscle-specific transcription factors. As a result, the large polyQ repeat decreases the association of MyoD with TBP and DNA promoters. Our findings suggest that specific alterations in protein interactions by large polyQ repeats may account for the unique pathology in juvenile polyQ diseases.

  4. Large Polyglutamine Repeats Cause Muscle Degeneration in SCA17 Mice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Shanshan; Yang, Su; Guo, Jifeng; Yan, Sen; Gaertig, Marta A.; Li, Shihua; Li, Xiao-Jiang

    2015-01-01

    SUMMARY In polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases, large polyQ repeats cause juvenile cases with different symptoms than adult-onset patients, who carry smaller expanded polyQ repeats. The mechanisms behind the differential pathology mediated by different polyQ repeat lengths remain unknown. By studying knock-in mouse models of spinal cerebellar ataxia-17 (SCA17), we found that a large polyQ (105 glutamines) in the TATA box-binding protein (TBP) preferentially causes muscle degeneration and reduces the expression of muscle-specific genes. Direct expression of TBP with different polyQ repeats in mouse muscle revealed that muscle degeneration is mediated only by the large polyQ repeats. Different polyQ repeats differentially alter TBP’s interaction with neuronal and muscle-specific transcription factors. As a result, the large polyQ repeat decreases the association of MyoD with TBP and DNA promoters. Our findings suggest that specific alterations in protein interactions by large polyQ repeats may account for the unique pathology in juvenile polyQ diseases. PMID:26387956

  5. The PRIMARA study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schwarz, P; Body, J J; Cáp, J

    2014-01-01

    centres. METHODS: For patients with PHPT, aged 23-92 years, starting cinacalcet treatment for the first time, information was collected on dosing pattern, biochemistry and adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Initial cinacalcet dosage and subsequent dose changes were at the investigator's discretion. RESULTS...... and 12 months from the start of treatment, 63, 69 and 71% of patients, respectively, had an ACSC of ≤10.3 mg/dl vs 9.9% at baseline. Reductions from baseline in ACSC of ≥1 mg/dl were seen in 56, 63 and 60% of patients respectively. ADRs were reported in 81 patients (27%), most commonly nausea. A total...... of 7.6% of patients discontinued cinacalcet due to ADRs. CONCLUSIONS: Reductions in calcium levels of ≥1 mg/dl was observed in 60% of patients 12 months after initiation of cinacalcet, without notable safety concerns....

  6. Estimating prognosis at the time of repeat whole brain radiation therapy for multiple brain metastases: The reirradiation score

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalie Logie, MD

    2017-07-01

    Conclusions: In the largest reported cohort to receive repeat WBRT, application of the RPA score was not predictive of MS. The new ReRT score is a simple tool based on readily available clinical information.

  7. Pattern of adverse drug reactions reported by the community pharmacists in Nepal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Palaian S

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available The pharmacovigilance program in Nepal is less than a decade old, and is hospital centered. This study highlights the findings of a community based pharmacovigilance program involving the community pharmacists. Objectives: To collect the demographic details of the patients experiencing adverse drug reactions (ADR reported by the community pharmacists; to identify the common drugs causing the ADRs, the common types of ADRs; and to carry out the causality, severity and preventability assessments of the reported ADRs. Methods: The baseline Knowledge-Attitude-Practices (KAP of 116 community pharmacists from Pokhara valley towards drug safety was evaluated using a validated (Cronbach alpha=0.61 KAP questionnaire having 20 questions [(knowledge 11, attitude 5 and practice 4 maximum possible score 40]. Thirty community pharmacists with high scores were selected for three training sessions, each session lasting for one to two hours, covering the basic knowledge required for the community pharmacists for ADR reporting. Pharmacist from the regional pharmacovigilance center visited the trained community pharmacists every alternate day and collected the filled ADR reporting forms. Results: Altogether 71 ADRs, from 71 patients (37 males were reported. Antibiotics/ antibacterials caused 42% (n=37 of the total ADRs followed by non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [25% (n=22]. Ibuprofen/paracetamol combination accounted for ten ADRs. The most common type of ADR was itching [17.2 % (n=20, followed by generalized edema [8.6 % (n=10]. In order to manage the ADRs, the patients needed medical treatment in 69% (n=49 of the cases. Over two third (69% of the ADRs had a ‘possible’ association with the suspected drugs and a high percentage (70.4% were of ‘mild (level 2’ type. Nearly two third [64.7 % (n=46] of the ADRs were ‘definitely preventable’. Conclusion: The common class of drugs known to cause ADRs was antibacterial/ antibiotics. Ibuprofen

  8. A repeating fast radio burst.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spitler, L G; Scholz, P; Hessels, J W T; Bogdanov, S; Brazier, A; Camilo, F; Chatterjee, S; Cordes, J M; Crawford, F; Deneva, J; Ferdman, R D; Freire, P C C; Kaspi, V M; Lazarus, P; Lynch, R; Madsen, E C; McLaughlin, M A; Patel, C; Ransom, S M; Seymour, A; Stairs, I H; Stappers, B W; van Leeuwen, J; Zhu, W W

    2016-03-10

    Fast radio bursts are millisecond-duration astronomical radio pulses of unknown physical origin that appear to come from extragalactic distances. Previous follow-up observations have failed to find additional bursts at the same dispersion measure (that is, the integrated column density of free electrons between source and telescope) and sky position as the original detections. The apparent non-repeating nature of these bursts has led to the suggestion that they originate in cataclysmic events. Here we report observations of ten additional bursts from the direction of the fast radio burst FRB 121102. These bursts have dispersion measures and sky positions consistent with the original burst. This unambiguously identifies FRB 121102 as repeating and demonstrates that its source survives the energetic events that cause the bursts. Additionally, the bursts from FRB 121102 show a wide range of spectral shapes that appear to be predominantly intrinsic to the source and which vary on timescales of minutes or less. Although there may be multiple physical origins for the population of fast radio bursts, these repeat bursts with high dispersion measure and variable spectra specifically seen from the direction of FRB 121102 support an origin in a young, highly magnetized, extragalactic neutron star.

  9. RTEL1 inhibits trinucleotide repeat expansions and fragility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frizzell, Aisling; Nguyen, Jennifer H G; Petalcorin, Mark I R; Turner, Katherine D; Boulton, Simon J; Freudenreich, Catherine H; Lahue, Robert S

    2014-03-13

    Human RTEL1 is an essential, multifunctional helicase that maintains telomeres, regulates homologous recombination, and helps prevent bone marrow failure. Here, we show that RTEL1 also blocks trinucleotide repeat expansions, the causal mutation for 17 neurological diseases. Increased expansion frequencies of (CTG⋅CAG) repeats occurred in human cells following knockdown of RTEL1, but not the alternative helicase Fbh1, and purified RTEL1 efficiently unwound triplet repeat hairpins in vitro. The expansion-blocking activity of RTEL1 also required Rad18 and HLTF, homologs of yeast Rad18 and Rad5. These findings are reminiscent of budding yeast Srs2, which inhibits expansions, unwinds hairpins, and prevents triplet-repeat-induced chromosome fragility. Accordingly, we found expansions and fragility were suppressed in yeast srs2 mutants expressing RTEL1, but not Fbh1. We propose that RTEL1 serves as a human analog of Srs2 to inhibit (CTG⋅CAG) repeat expansions and fragility, likely by unwinding problematic hairpins. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Comparison of Repeated Measurement Design and Mixed Models in Evaluation of the Entonox Effect on Labor Pain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nasim Karimi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background & objectives: In many medical studies, the response variable is measured repeatedly over time to evaluate the treatment effect that is known as longitudinal study. The analysis method for this type of data is repeated measures ANOVA that uses only one correlation structure and the results are not valid with inappropriate correlation structure. To avoid this problem, a convenient alternative is mixed models. So, the aim of this study was to compare of mixed and repeated measurement models for examination of the Entonox effect on the labor pain. Methods: This experimental study was designed to compare the effect of Entonox and oxygen inhalation on pain relief between two groups. Data were analyzed using repeated measurement and mixed models with different correlation structures. Selection and comparison of proper correlation structures performed using Akaike information criterion, Bayesian information criterion and restricted log-likelihood. Data were analyzed using SPSS-22. Results: Results of our study showed that all variables containing analgesia methods, labor duration of the first and second stages, and time were significant in these tests. In mixed model, heterogeneous first-order autoregressive, first-order autoregressive, heterogeneous Toeplitz and unstructured correlation structures were recognized as the best structures. Also, all variables were significant in these structures. Unstructured variance covariance matrix was recognized as the worst structure and labor duration of the first and second stages was not significant in this structure. Conclusions: This study showed that the Entonox inhalation has a significant effect on pain relief in primiparous and it is confirmed by all of the models.

  11. Contraceptive Use among Women Seeking Repeat Abortion in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    AJRH Managing Editor

    Compared with women seeking their first abortion, significantly more repeat abortion clients had ever used contraceptives ... findings, the level of repeat abortions in Europe, .... and contraceptive history, and post-abortion ..... working women.

  12. Overcoming acquired drug resistance in colorectal cancer cells by targeted delivery of 5-FU with EGF grafted hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Lijue; She, Xiaodong; Wang, Tao; He, Li; Shigdar, Sarah; Duan, Wei; Kong, Lingxue

    2015-08-01

    effect and mechanism of 5-FU loaded EGF grafted HMSNs (EGF-HMSNs-5-FU) in overcoming acquired drug resistance in SW480/ADR cells were studied. The EGF-HMSNs were demonstrated to be specifically internalized in EGFR overexpressed SW480/ADR cells via a receptor-mediated endocytosis and can escape from endo-lysosomes. The EGF-HMSNs-5-FU exhibited much higher cytotoxicity on SW480/ADR cells than HMSNs-5-FU and free 5-FU while the plain HMSNs did not show significant cytotoxicity. The mechanism of EGF-HMSNs-5-FU in overcoming drug resistance in SW480/ADR cells could be attributed to the specific internalization of EGF-HMSNs-5-FU in EGFR overexpressed cells which can lead to high intracellular drug accumulation and cause cell death through S phase arrest. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: TEM image of EGF-HMSNs, characterization of HMSNs, EGFR expression in colorectal cancer cells, flow cytometry results, inhibition of endocytosis, confocal microscopy images of endosome escape and cell cycle distribution in SW480 cells. See DOI: 10.1039/C5NR03527A

  13. Value of repeat brain MRI in children with focal epilepsy and negative findings on initial MRI

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jeon, Tae Yeon; Kim, Ji Hye; Lee, Jee Hun; Yoo, So Young; Hwang, Sook Min; Lee, Mun Hyang [Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-08-01

    To evaluate the value of repeat brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in identifying potential epileptogenic lesions in children with initial MRI-negative focal epilepsy. Our Institutional Review Board approved this retrospective study and waived the requirement for informed consent. During a 15-year period, 257 children (148 boys and 109 girls) with initial MRI-negative focal epilepsy were included. After re-evaluating both initial and repeat MRIs, positive results at repeat MRI were classified into potential epileptogenic lesions (malformation of cortical development and hippocampal sclerosis) and other abnormalities. Contributing factors for improved lesion conspicuity of the initially overlooked potential epileptogenic lesions were analyzed and classified into lesion factors and imaging factors. Repeat MRI was positive in 21% (55/257) and negative in 79% cases (202/257). Of the positive results, potential epileptogenic lesions comprised 49% (27/55) and other abnormalities comprised 11% of the cases (28/257). Potential epileptogenic lesions included focal cortical dysplasia (n = 11), hippocampal sclerosis (n = 10), polymicrogyria (n = 2), heterotopic gray matter (n = 2), microlissencephaly (n = 1), and cortical tumor (n = 1). Of these, seven patients underwent surgical resection. Contributing factors for new diagnoses were classified as imaging factors alone (n = 6), lesion factors alone (n = 2), both (n = 18), and neither (n = 1). Repeat MRI revealed positive results in 21% of the children with initial MRI-negative focal epilepsy, with 50% of the positive results considered as potential epileptogenic lesions. Enhanced MRI techniques or considering the chronological changes of lesions on MRI may improve the diagnostic yield for identification of potential epileptogenic lesions on repeat MRI.

  14. Value of repeat brain MRI in children with focal epilepsy and negative findings on initial MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeon, Tae Yeon; Kim, Ji Hye; Lee, Jee Hun; Yoo, So Young; Hwang, Sook Min; Lee, Mun Hyang

    2017-01-01

    To evaluate the value of repeat brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in identifying potential epileptogenic lesions in children with initial MRI-negative focal epilepsy. Our Institutional Review Board approved this retrospective study and waived the requirement for informed consent. During a 15-year period, 257 children (148 boys and 109 girls) with initial MRI-negative focal epilepsy were included. After re-evaluating both initial and repeat MRIs, positive results at repeat MRI were classified into potential epileptogenic lesions (malformation of cortical development and hippocampal sclerosis) and other abnormalities. Contributing factors for improved lesion conspicuity of the initially overlooked potential epileptogenic lesions were analyzed and classified into lesion factors and imaging factors. Repeat MRI was positive in 21% (55/257) and negative in 79% cases (202/257). Of the positive results, potential epileptogenic lesions comprised 49% (27/55) and other abnormalities comprised 11% of the cases (28/257). Potential epileptogenic lesions included focal cortical dysplasia (n = 11), hippocampal sclerosis (n = 10), polymicrogyria (n = 2), heterotopic gray matter (n = 2), microlissencephaly (n = 1), and cortical tumor (n = 1). Of these, seven patients underwent surgical resection. Contributing factors for new diagnoses were classified as imaging factors alone (n = 6), lesion factors alone (n = 2), both (n = 18), and neither (n = 1). Repeat MRI revealed positive results in 21% of the children with initial MRI-negative focal epilepsy, with 50% of the positive results considered as potential epileptogenic lesions. Enhanced MRI techniques or considering the chronological changes of lesions on MRI may improve the diagnostic yield for identification of potential epileptogenic lesions on repeat MRI

  15. Environmental stress induces trinucleotide repeat mutagenesis in human cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatterjee, Nimrat; Lin, Yunfu; Santillan, Beatriz A; Yotnda, Patricia; Wilson, John H

    2015-03-24

    The dynamic mutability of microsatellite repeats is implicated in the modification of gene function and disease phenotype. Studies of the enhanced instability of long trinucleotide repeats (TNRs)-the cause of multiple human diseases-have revealed a remarkable complexity of mutagenic mechanisms. Here, we show that cold, heat, hypoxic, and oxidative stresses induce mutagenesis of a long CAG repeat tract in human cells. We show that stress-response factors mediate the stress-induced mutagenesis (SIM) of CAG repeats. We show further that SIM of CAG repeats does not involve mismatch repair, nucleotide excision repair, or transcription, processes that are known to promote TNR mutagenesis in other pathways of instability. Instead, we find that these stresses stimulate DNA rereplication, increasing the proportion of cells with >4 C-value (C) DNA content. Knockdown of the replication origin-licensing factor CDT1 eliminates both stress-induced rereplication and CAG repeat mutagenesis. In addition, direct induction of rereplication in the absence of stress also increases the proportion of cells with >4C DNA content and promotes repeat mutagenesis. Thus, environmental stress triggers a unique pathway for TNR mutagenesis that likely is mediated by DNA rereplication. This pathway may impact normal cells as they encounter stresses in their environment or during development or abnormal cells as they evolve metastatic potential.

  16. Oxidative stress adaptation with acute, chronic, and repeated stress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickering, Andrew M; Vojtovich, Lesya; Tower, John; A Davies, Kelvin J

    2013-02-01

    Oxidative stress adaptation, or hormesis, is an important mechanism by which cells and organisms respond to, and cope with, environmental and physiological shifts in the level of oxidative stress. Most studies of oxidative stress adaption have been limited to adaptation induced by acute stress. In contrast, many if not most environmental and physiological stresses are either repeated or chronic. In this study we find that both cultured mammalian cells and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster are capable of adapting to chronic or repeated stress by upregulating protective systems, such as their proteasomal proteolytic capacity to remove oxidized proteins. Repeated stress adaptation resulted in significant extension of adaptive responses. Repeated stresses must occur at sufficiently long intervals, however (12-h or more for MEF cells and 7 days or more for flies), for adaptation to be successful, and the levels of both repeated and chronic stress must be lower than is optimal for adaptation to acute stress. Regrettably, regimens of adaptation to both repeated and chronic stress that were successful for short-term survival in Drosophila nevertheless also caused significant reductions in life span for the flies. Thus, although both repeated and chronic stress can be tolerated, they may result in a shorter life. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. The Impact of Experiencing Adverse Drug Reactions on the Patient's Quality of Life : A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rolfes, Leàn; van Hunsel, Florence; Taxis, Katja; van Puijenbroek, Eugène

    INTRODUCTION: There is little information as to what extent adverse drug reactions (ADRs) influence patients' health-related quality of life (HR-QOL). From a pharmacovigilance perspective, capturing and making the best use of this information remains a challenge. The Netherlands Pharmacovigilance

  18. Incidence of adverse drug reactions in human immune deficiency virus-positive patients using highly active antiretroviral therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B Akshaya Srikanth

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available To estimate the incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs in Human immune deficiency virus (HIV patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART. To identify the risk factors associated with ADRs in HIV patients. To analyze reported ADRs based on various parameters like causality, severity, predictability, and preventability. Retrospective case-control study. An 18-month retrospective case-control study of 208 patients newly registered in ART center, RIMS hospital, Kadapa, were intensively monitored for ADRs to HAART. Predictability was calculated based on the history of previous exposure to drug. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to identify the risk factors for ADRs. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test for estimating the correlation between ADRs and different variables. All statistical calculations were performed using EpiInfo version 3.5.3. Monitoring of 208 retrospective patients by active Pharmacovigilance identified 105 ADRs that were identified in 71 patients. Skin rash and anemia were the most commonly observed ADRs. The organ system commonly affected by ADR was skin and appendages (31.57%. The ADRs that were moderate were 90.14% of cases. The incidence of ADRs (53.52% was higher with Zidovudine + Lamivudine + Nevirapine combination. CD4 cell count less than <250 cells/μl were 80.28%, male gender were observed to be the risk factors for ADRs. Our study finding showed that there is a need of active pharmaceutical care with intensive monitoring for ADRs in Indian HIV-positive patients who are illiterate, of male and female gender, with CD4 count ≤250 cells/mm 3 with comorbid conditions.

  19. Repeat Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aubuchon, Adam C.; Chan, Michael D.; Lovato, James F.; Balamucki, Christopher J.; Ellis, Thomas L.; Tatter, Stephen B.; McMullen, Kevin P.; Munley, Michael T.; Deguzman, Allan F.; Ekstrand, Kenneth E.; Bourland, J. Daniel; Shaw, Edward G.

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: Repeat gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery (GKRS) for recurrent or persistent trigeminal neuralgia induces an additional response but at the expense of an increased incidence of facial numbness. The present series summarized the results of a repeat treatment series at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, including a multivariate analysis of the data to identify the prognostic factors for treatment success and toxicity. Methods and Materials: Between January 1999 and December 2007, 37 patients underwent a second GKRS application because of treatment failure after a first GKRS treatment. The mean initial dose in the series was 87.3 Gy (range, 80–90). The mean retreatment dose was 84.4 Gy (range, 60–90). The dosimetric variables recorded included the dorsal root entry zone dose, pons surface dose, and dose to the distal nerve. Results: Of the 37 patients, 81% achieved a >50% pain relief response to repeat GKRS, and 57% experienced some form of trigeminal dysfunction after repeat GKRS. Two patients (5%) experienced clinically significant toxicity: one with bothersome numbness and one with corneal dryness requiring tarsorraphy. A dorsal root entry zone dose at repeat treatment of >26.6 Gy predicted for treatment success (61% vs. 32%, p = .0716). A cumulative dorsal root entry zone dose of >84.3 Gy (72% vs. 44%, p = .091) and a cumulative pons surface dose of >108.5 Gy (78% vs. 44%, p = .018) predicted for post-GKRS numbness. The presence of any post-GKRS numbness predicted for a >50% decrease in pain intensity (100% vs. 60%, p = .0015). Conclusion: Repeat GKRS is a viable treatment option for recurrent trigeminal neuralgia, although the patient assumes a greater risk of nerve dysfunction to achieve maximal pain relief.

  20. Repeat Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aubuchon, Adam C., E-mail: acaubuchon@gmail.com [Department of Radiation Oncology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC (United States); Chan, Michael D. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC (United States); Lovato, James F. [Department of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC (United States); Balamucki, Christopher J. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Ellis, Thomas L.; Tatter, Stephen B. [Department of Neurosurgery, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC (United States); McMullen, Kevin P.; Munley, Michael T.; Deguzman, Allan F.; Ekstrand, Kenneth E.; Bourland, J. Daniel; Shaw, Edward G. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC (United States)

    2011-11-15

    Purpose: Repeat gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery (GKRS) for recurrent or persistent trigeminal neuralgia induces an additional response but at the expense of an increased incidence of facial numbness. The present series summarized the results of a repeat treatment series at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, including a multivariate analysis of the data to identify the prognostic factors for treatment success and toxicity. Methods and Materials: Between January 1999 and December 2007, 37 patients underwent a second GKRS application because of treatment failure after a first GKRS treatment. The mean initial dose in the series was 87.3 Gy (range, 80-90). The mean retreatment dose was 84.4 Gy (range, 60-90). The dosimetric variables recorded included the dorsal root entry zone dose, pons surface dose, and dose to the distal nerve. Results: Of the 37 patients, 81% achieved a >50% pain relief response to repeat GKRS, and 57% experienced some form of trigeminal dysfunction after repeat GKRS. Two patients (5%) experienced clinically significant toxicity: one with bothersome numbness and one with corneal dryness requiring tarsorraphy. A dorsal root entry zone dose at repeat treatment of >26.6 Gy predicted for treatment success (61% vs. 32%, p = .0716). A cumulative dorsal root entry zone dose of >84.3 Gy (72% vs. 44%, p = .091) and a cumulative pons surface dose of >108.5 Gy (78% vs. 44%, p = .018) predicted for post-GKRS numbness. The presence of any post-GKRS numbness predicted for a >50% decrease in pain intensity (100% vs. 60%, p = .0015). Conclusion: Repeat GKRS is a viable treatment option for recurrent trigeminal neuralgia, although the patient assumes a greater risk of nerve dysfunction to achieve maximal pain relief.

  1. A web-based quantitative signal detection system on adverse drug reaction in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chanjuan; Xia, Jielai; Deng, Jianxiong; Chen, Wenge; Wang, Suzhen; Jiang, Jing; Chen, Guanquan

    2009-07-01

    To establish a web-based quantitative signal detection system for adverse drug reactions (ADRs) based on spontaneous reporting to the Guangdong province drug-monitoring database in China. Using Microsoft Visual Basic and Active Server Pages programming languages and SQL Server 2000, a web-based system with three software modules was programmed to perform data preparation and association detection, and to generate reports. Information component (IC), the internationally recognized measure of disproportionality for quantitative signal detection, was integrated into the system, and its capacity for signal detection was tested with ADR reports collected from 1 January 2002 to 30 June 2007 in Guangdong. A total of 2,496 associations including known signals were mined from the test database. Signals (e.g., cefradine-induced hematuria) were found early by using the IC analysis. In addition, 291 drug-ADR associations were alerted for the first time in the second quarter of 2007. The system can be used for the detection of significant associations from the Guangdong drug-monitoring database and could be an extremely useful adjunct to the expert assessment of very large numbers of spontaneously reported ADRs for the first time in China.

  2. Repeat Assessed Values Model for Housing Price Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carini Manuela

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This study proposes an innovative methodology, named Repeat Appraised Price Model (RAV, useful for determining the price index numbers for real estate markets and the corresponding index numbers of hedonic prices of main real estate characteristics in the case of a lack of data. The methodological approach proposed in this paper aims to appraise the time series of price index numbers. It integrates the principles of the method of repeat sales with the peculiarities of the Hedonic Price Method, overcoming the problem of an almost total absence of repeat sales for the same property in a given time range; on the other hand, the technique aims to overcome the limitation of the repeat sales technique concerning the inability to take into account the characteristics of individual properties.

  3. The CRISPRdb database and tools to display CRISPRs and to generate dictionaries of spacers and repeats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vergnaud Gilles

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In Archeae and Bacteria, the repeated elements called CRISPRs for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats" are believed to participate in the defence against viruses. Short sequences called spacers are stored in-between repeated elements. In the current model, motifs comprising spacers and repeats may target an invading DNA and lead to its degradation through a proposed mechanism similar to RNA interference. Analysis of intra-species polymorphism shows that new motifs (one spacer and one repeated element are added in a polarised fashion. Although their principal characteristics have been described, a lot remains to be discovered on the way CRISPRs are created and evolve. As new genome sequences become available it appears necessary to develop automated scanning tools to make available CRISPRs related information and to facilitate additional investigations. Description We have produced a program, CRISPRFinder, which identifies CRISPRs and extracts the repeated and unique sequences. Using this software, a database is constructed which is automatically updated monthly from newly released genome sequences. Additional tools were created to allow the alignment of flanking sequences in search for similarities between different loci and to build dictionaries of unique sequences. To date, almost six hundred CRISPRs have been identified in 475 published genomes. Two Archeae out of thirty-seven and about half of Bacteria do not possess a CRISPR. Fine analysis of repeated sequences strongly supports the current view that new motifs are added at one end of the CRISPR adjacent to the putative promoter. Conclusion It is hoped that availability of a public database, regularly updated and which can be queried on the web will help in further dissecting and understanding CRISPR structure and flanking sequences evolution. Subsequent analyses of the intra-species CRISPR polymorphism will be facilitated by CRISPRFinder and the

  4. Is gender still a predisposing factor in contrast-media associated adverse drug reactions? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials and observational studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Heeyoung, E-mail: sselmul@hanmail.net [Evidence-Based Research Laboratory, Division of Health, Social and Clinical Pharmacotherapy, College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Song, Seungyeon, E-mail: tmddus0121@hotmail.com [Evidence-Based Research Laboratory, Division of Health, Social and Clinical Pharmacotherapy, College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Oh, Yun-Kyoung, E-mail: rky221@hanmail.net [Evidence-Based Research Laboratory, Division of Health, Social and Clinical Pharmacotherapy, College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Department of Pharmacy, Konkuk University Medical Center, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kang, WonKu, E-mail: wkang@cau.ac.kr [College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Eunyoung, E-mail: eykimjcb777@cau.ac.kr [Evidence-Based Research Laboratory, Division of Health, Social and Clinical Pharmacotherapy, College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-04-15

    Highlights: • Analyzing RCTs and observational studies shows similar CM-ADR developments between genders. • Gender factor is not related to developing CIN and non-renal CM-ADR. • Gender is not a predisposing factor of CM-ADRs under current evidences. - Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the role of gender as a risk factor for developing contrast media-associated adverse drug reactions (CM-ADRs) by comparing the incidence of CM-ADR between male and female patients according to study design, ADR type, and computed tomography (CT) examination. Material and methods: We systematically searched three electronic databases for eligible studies. In the studies included (n = 18), we assessed effect estimates of the relative incidence of CM-ADR, analysed by experimental design, ADR type and CT examination. This was calculated by using a random effects model if clinical conditions showed heterogeneity; otherwise, a fixed effects model was used. Results: We identified 10,776 patients administered CM. According to the designs, studies were classified into randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies. Results were as follows: risk ratio (RR) = 1.07 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.79–1.46, P = 0.66) for RCTs, and RR = 0.77 (95% CI: 0.58–1.04, P = 0.09) for observational studies. The results of analysis according to ADR type and for undergoing CT demonstrated that the incidence of CM-ADR did not differ between males and females. Conclusions: We found no significant difference in the incidence of CM-ADRs between male and female patients according to study design, ADR type, or CT examination. Future studies to determine why gender has shown different roles as a risk factor between CM-ADRs and non-CM ADRs are needed.

  5. Is gender still a predisposing factor in contrast-media associated adverse drug reactions? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials and observational studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Heeyoung; Song, Seungyeon; Oh, Yun-Kyoung; Kang, WonKu; Kim, Eunyoung

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Analyzing RCTs and observational studies shows similar CM-ADR developments between genders. • Gender factor is not related to developing CIN and non-renal CM-ADR. • Gender is not a predisposing factor of CM-ADRs under current evidences. - Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the role of gender as a risk factor for developing contrast media-associated adverse drug reactions (CM-ADRs) by comparing the incidence of CM-ADR between male and female patients according to study design, ADR type, and computed tomography (CT) examination. Material and methods: We systematically searched three electronic databases for eligible studies. In the studies included (n = 18), we assessed effect estimates of the relative incidence of CM-ADR, analysed by experimental design, ADR type and CT examination. This was calculated by using a random effects model if clinical conditions showed heterogeneity; otherwise, a fixed effects model was used. Results: We identified 10,776 patients administered CM. According to the designs, studies were classified into randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies. Results were as follows: risk ratio (RR) = 1.07 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.79–1.46, P = 0.66) for RCTs, and RR = 0.77 (95% CI: 0.58–1.04, P = 0.09) for observational studies. The results of analysis according to ADR type and for undergoing CT demonstrated that the incidence of CM-ADR did not differ between males and females. Conclusions: We found no significant difference in the incidence of CM-ADRs between male and female patients according to study design, ADR type, or CT examination. Future studies to determine why gender has shown different roles as a risk factor between CM-ADRs and non-CM ADRs are needed.

  6. Effects of different feedback types on information integration in repeated monetary gambles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter eHaffke

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Most models of risky decision making assume that all relevant information is taken into account (e.g., Kahneman & Tversky, 1979; von Neumann & Morgenstern, 1944. However, there are also some models supposing that only part of the information is considered (e.g., Brandstätter, Gigerenzer, & Hertwig, 2006; Gigerenzer & Gaissmaier, 2011. To further investigate the amount of information that is usually used for decision making, and how the use depends on feedback, we conducted a series of three experiments in which participants choose between two lotteries and where no feedback, outcome feedback, and error feedback was provided, respectively. The result show that without feedback participants mostly chose the lottery with the higher winning probability, and largely ignored the potential gains. The same result occurred when the outcome of each decision was fed back. Only after presenting error feedback (i.e., signaling whether a choice was optimal or not, participants considered probabilities as well as gains, resulting in more optimal choices. We propose that outcome feedback was ineffective, because of its probabilistic and ambiguous nature. Participants improve information integration only if provided with a consistent and deterministic signal such as error feedback.

  7. [Do pediatricians identify adverse drug reactions even when they do not report them?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morales-Ríos, Olga; Jasso-Gutiérrez, Luis; Garduño-Espinosa, Juan; Olivar-López, Víctor; Muñoz-Hernández, Onofre

    Spontaneous notification depends on the ability of pediatricians to identify adverse drug reactions (ADRs) along with their habit of reporting these incidents. During the years 2008 and 2009, the frequency of reports of ADRs to the Electronic Program of Pharmacovigilance (SISFAR) in the Hospital Infantil of Mexico Federico Gomez (HIMFG) was low (0.44% and 0.20%, respectively). Because of the above, the ability of pediatricians from the Emergency Department (ED) to identify ADRs using the clinical chart review was evaluated in 2010 in this study. A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted in the ED from March 1 to August 31. ADRs were classified and quantified as "ADRs identified by pediatricians" when there was evidence in the clinical chart that pediatricians associated a clinical sign, symptom and laboratory value with an ADR. The numbers of notifications reported in SISFAR were quantified. Descriptive analysis was done using SPSS v.18. Considering patients who were admitted to the ED, the frequency of ADRs was 21.8%. The frequency of ADRs identified by physicians in clinical charts was 86%. The pharmacist detected 14% of ADRs. The frequency of ADRs reported by physicians was 6.1%. Although identification of ADRs in the clinical charts by pediatricians was high, it is possible that some ADRs were undetected. Because underreporting was very high, it is necessary to take actions to improve the reporting process. Copyright © 2015. Publicado por Masson Doyma México S.A.

  8. Reproducibility and Reliability of Repeated Quantitative Fluorescence Angiography

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nerup, Nikolaj; Knudsen, Kristine Bach Korsholm; Ambrus, Rikard

    2017-01-01

    INTRODUCTION: When using fluorescence angiography (FA) in perioperative perfusion assessment, repeated measures with re-injections of fluorescent dye (ICG) may be required. However, repeated injections may cause saturation of dye in the tissue, exceeding the limit of fluorescence intensity...... that the camera can detect. As the emission of fluorescence is dependent of the excitatory light intensity, reduction of this may solve the problem. The aim of the present study was to investigate the reproducibility and reliability of repeated quantitative FA during a reduction of excitatory light....

  9. Filtering big data from social media--Building an early warning system for adverse drug reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Ming; Kiang, Melody; Shang, Wei

    2015-04-01

    Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are believed to be a leading cause of death in the world. Pharmacovigilance systems are aimed at early detection of ADRs. With the popularity of social media, Web forums and discussion boards become important sources of data for consumers to share their drug use experience, as a result may provide useful information on drugs and their adverse reactions. In this study, we propose an automated ADR related posts filtering mechanism using text classification methods. In real-life settings, ADR related messages are highly distributed in social media, while non-ADR related messages are unspecific and topically diverse. It is expensive to manually label a large amount of ADR related messages (positive examples) and non-ADR related messages (negative examples) to train classification systems. To mitigate this challenge, we examine the use of a partially supervised learning classification method to automate the process. We propose a novel pharmacovigilance system leveraging a Latent Dirichlet Allocation modeling module and a partially supervised classification approach. We select drugs with more than 500 threads of discussion, and collect all the original posts and comments of these drugs using an automatic Web spidering program as the text corpus. Various classifiers were trained by varying the number of positive examples and the number of topics. The trained classifiers were applied to 3000 posts published over 60 days. Top-ranked posts from each classifier were pooled and the resulting set of 300 posts was reviewed by a domain expert to evaluate the classifiers. Compare to the alternative approaches using supervised learning methods and three general purpose partially supervised learning methods, our approach performs significantly better in terms of precision, recall, and the F measure (the harmonic mean of precision and recall), based on a computational experiment using online discussion threads from Medhelp. Our design provides

  10. Clinical oversight and the avoidance of repeat induced abortion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacovetty, Erica L; Clare, Camille A; Squire, Mary-Beatrice; Kubal, Keshar P; Liou, Sherry; Inchiosa, Mario A

    2018-06-03

    To evaluate the impact of patient counseling, demographics, and contraceptive methods on repeat induced abortion in women attending family planning clinics. A retrospective chart review of repeat induced abortions was performed. The analysis included patients with an initial induced abortion obtained between January 1, 2001, and March 31, 2014, at New York City Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. The duration of involvement in the family planning program, the use of contraceptive interventions, and 18 patient factors were analyzed for their correlation with the incidence of repeat induced abortions per year of follow-up. A decreased rate of repeat induced abortions was associated with a longer duration of clinical oversight (r 2 =0.449, Pabortions. By determining the patient characteristics that most influence repeat induced abortion rates, providers can best choose the most efficacious method of contraception available. © 2018 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

  11. Magnetic Repeat Station Network on the Baltic Sea — Why So Needed?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Welker Elżbieta

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The development of navigation systems requires more and more accurate base data. Currently, attention is paid to utilization of geophysical fields — gravitational and magnetic ones — for navigation purposes. The Earth’s magnetic field distribution — both onshore and offshore — is complicated and variable in time. Hence, it is essential to precisely know the secular variations in the area of interest. In the case of Baltic Sea, this involves establishing (re-establishing of a marine network of secular points (repeat stations and regular magnetic measurements of the three independent components of the Earth’s magnetic field. Such measurements require equipment that ensures not only high stability, but also information about sensors’ orientation in relation to geographic north and to the level. This article presents a new project of the Baltic network of repeat stations and gives a solution for the instruments usable for quasi-absolute magnetic measurements.

  12. Epidemiology of adverse drug reactions in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bouvy, Jacoline C; De Bruin, Marie L; Koopmanschap, Marc A

    2015-01-01

    Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) cause considerable mortality and morbidity but no recent reviews are currently available for the European region. Therefore, we performed a review of all epidemiological studies quantifying ADRs in a European setting that were published between 1 January 2000 and 3...... September 2014. Included studies assessed the number of patients who were admitted to hospital due to an ADR, studies that assessed the number of patients who developed an ADR during hospitalization, and studies that measured ADRs in the outpatient setting. In total, 47 articles were included in the final...... review. The median percentage of hospital admissions due to an ADR was 3.5 %, based on 22 studies, and the median percentage of patients who experienced an ADR during hospitalization was 10.1 %, based on 13 studies. Only five studies were found that assessed ADRs occurring in the outpatient setting...

  13. Establishing column batch repeatability according to Quality by Design (QbD) principles using modeling software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rácz, Norbert; Kormány, Róbert; Fekete, Jenő; Molnár, Imre

    2015-04-10

    Column technology needs further improvement even today. To get information of batch-to-batch repeatability, intelligent modeling software was applied. Twelve columns from the same production process, but from different batches were compared in this work. In this paper, the retention parameters of these columns with real life sample solutes were studied. The following parameters were selected for measurements: gradient time, temperature and pH. Based on calculated results, batch-to-batch repeatability of BEH columns was evaluated. Two parallel measurements on two columns from the same batch were performed to obtain information about the quality of packing. Calculating the average of individual working points at the highest critical resolution (R(s,crit)) it was found that the robustness, calculated with a newly released robustness module, had a success rate >98% among the predicted 3(6) = 729 experiments for all 12 columns. With the help of retention modeling all substances could be separated independently from the batch and/or packing, using the same conditions, having high robustness of the experiments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Het volgen van bijwerkingen in de tijd met webbased intensive monitoring : Pregabaline als voorbeeld

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Härmark, Linda; Van Puijenbroek, Eugene; Van Grootheest, Kees

    2013-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate how a web-based intensive monitoring system using the patient as a source of information can be used to gather longitudinal safety data of a drug. Information about the time course of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is often lacking. If this information would be available, it

  15. Alu repeats as markers for human population genetics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Batzer, M.A.; Alegria-Hartman, M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States); Bazan, H. [Louisiana State Univ., New Orleans, LA (United States). Medical Center] [and others

    1993-09-01

    The Human-Specific (HS) subfamily of Alu sequences is comprised of a group of 500 nearly identical members which are almost exclusively restricted to the human genome. Individual subfamily members share an average of 97.9% nucleotide identity with each other and an average of 98.9% nucleotide identity with the HS subfamily consensus sequence. HS Alu family members are thought to be derived from a single source ``master`` gene, and have an average age of 2.8 million years. We have developed a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) based assay using primers complementary to the 5 in. and 3 in. unique flanking DNA sequences from each HS Alu that allows the locus to be assayed for the presence or absence of an Alu repeat. Individual HS Alu sequences were found to be either monomorphic or dimorphic for the presence or absence of each repeat. The monomorphic HS Alu family members inserted in the human genome after the human/great ape divergence (which is thought to have occurred 4--6 million years ago), but before the radiation of modem man. The dimorphic HS Alu sequences inserted in the human genome after the radiation of modem man (within the last 200,000-one million years) and represent a unique source of information for human population genetics and forensic DNA analyses. These sites can be developed into Dimorphic Alu Sequence Tagged Sites (DASTS) for the Human Genome Project as well. HS Alu family member insertion dimorphism differs from other types of polymorphism (e.g. Variable Number of Tandem Repeat [VNTR] or Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism [RFLP]) because individuals share HS Alu family member insertions based upon identity by descent from a common ancestor as a result of a single event which occurred one time within the human population. The VNTR and RFLP polymorphisms may arise multiple times within a population and are identical by state only.

  16. Methods for analysing cardiovascular studies with repeated measures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cleophas, T. J.; Zwinderman, A. H.; van Ouwerkerk, B. M.

    2009-01-01

    Background. Repeated measurements in a single subject are generally more similar than unrepeated measurements in different subjects. Unrepeated analyses of repeated data cause underestimation of the treatment effects. Objective. To review methods adequate for the analysis of cardiovascular studies

  17. TALEN-Induced Double-Strand Break Repair of CTG Trinucleotide Repeats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentine Mosbach

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Trinucleotide repeat expansions involving CTG/CAG triplets are responsible for several neurodegenerative disorders, including myotonic dystrophy and Huntington’s disease. Because expansions trigger the disease, contracting repeat length could be a possible approach to gene therapy for these disorders. Here, we show that a TALEN-induced double-strand break was very efficient at contracting expanded CTG repeats in yeast. We show that RAD51, POL32, and DNL4 are dispensable for double-strand break repair within CTG repeats, the only required genes being RAD50, SAE2, and RAD52. Resection was totally abolished in the absence of RAD50 on both sides of the break, whereas it was reduced in a sae2Δ mutant on the side of the break containing the longest repeat tract, suggesting that secondary structures at double-strand break ends must be removed by the Mre11-Rad50 complex and Sae2. Following the TALEN double-strand break, single-strand annealing occurred between both sides of the repeat tract, leading to repeat contraction.

  18. In silico reversal of repeat-induced point mutation (RIP identifies the origins of repeat families and uncovers obscured duplicated genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hane James K

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Repeat-induced point mutation (RIP is a fungal genome defence mechanism guarding against transposon invasion. RIP mutates the sequence of repeated DNA and over time renders the affected regions unrecognisable by similarity search tools such as BLAST. Results DeRIP is a new software tool developed to predict the original sequence of a RIP-mutated region prior to the occurrence of RIP. In this study, we apply deRIP to the genome of the wheat pathogen Stagonospora nodorum SN15 and predict the origin of several previously uncharacterised classes of repetitive DNA. Conclusions Five new classes of transposon repeats and four classes of endogenous gene repeats were identified after deRIP. The deRIP process is a new tool for fungal genomics that facilitates the identification and understanding of the role and origin of fungal repetitive DNA. DeRIP is open-source and is available as part of the RIPCAL suite at http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/ripcal.

  19. Short tandem repeat analysis in Japanese population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hashiyada, M

    2000-01-01

    Short tandem repeats (STRs), known as microsatellites, are one of the most informative genetic markers for characterizing biological materials. Because of the relatively small size of STR alleles (generally 100-350 nucleotides), amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is relatively easy, affording a high sensitivity of detection. In addition, STR loci can be amplified simultaneously in a multiplex PCR. Thus, substantial information can be obtained in a single analysis with the benefits of using less template DNA, reducing labor, and reducing the contamination. We investigated 14 STR loci in a Japanese population living in Sendai by three multiplex PCR kits, GenePrint PowerPlex 1.1 and 2.2. Fluorescent STR System (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) and AmpF/STR Profiler (Perkin-Elmer, Norwalk, CT, USA). Genomic DNA was extracted using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) proteinase K or Chelex 100 treatment followed by the phenol/chloroform extraction. PCR was performed according to the manufacturer's protocols. Electrophoresis was carried out on an ABI 377 sequencer and the alleles were determined by GeneScan 2.0.2 software (Perkin-Elmer). In 14 STRs loci, statistical parameters indicated a relatively high rate, and no significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was detected. We apply this STR system to paternity testing and forensic casework, e.g., personal identification in rape cases. This system is an effective tool in the forensic sciences to obtain information on individual identification.

  20. Healthcare professionals and pharmacovigilance of pediatric adverse drug reactions: a 5-year analysis of Adverse Events Reporting System database of the Food and Drug Administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bigi, Caterina; Tuccori, Marco; Bocci, Guido

    2017-02-17

    To analyze the Adverse Events Reporting System (AERS) database of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), investigating the characteristics of pediatric adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and describing the effective participation of healthcare professionals in the reporting activity. Reports of ADRs were obtained from the FDA website. Only ADRs in pediatric subjects (divided by age, by country and by professional category) were included into the analysis. The drugs suspected as primary cause of the ADRs in pediatric subjects and their principal anatomic group according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system were considered. To classify the ADRs, the Medical Dictionary for Regularity Activities terminology was adopted. Between 2008 and 2012, FDA collected 113,077 ADRs in pediatric patients. Of the total pediatric ADR reports, those performed by medical doctors were 32%, followed by consumers (26%) and healthcare professionals (25%). Most of the ADR reports were related to the adolescent group (39%). Healthcare professionals resulted the category with the highest rate of ADR reports in neonates and infants. Drugs acting on nervous system and antineoplastic/immunomodulating agents were the most involved the pediatric ADR reports. Pyrexia, convulsion, vomiting and accidental overdose were the reactions more reported both from healthcare professionals and medical doctors. The present study describes the pediatric ADR reports of the FDA database through healthcare professional's perspective, describing the various aspects of pediatric pharmacovigilance.

  1. Quiet but still bright: XMM-Newton observations of the soft gamma-ray repeater SGR 0526-66

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tiengo, A.; Esposito, P.; Mereghetti, S.; Israel, G.L.; Stella, L.; Turolla, R.; Zane, S.; Rea, N.; Götz, D.; Feroci, M.

    2009-01-01

    SGR 0526-66 was the first soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR) from which a giant flare was detected in March 1979, suggesting the existence of magnetars, i.e. neutron stars powered by the decay of their extremely strong magnetic field. Since then, very little information has been obtained on this object,

  2. The role of proxy information in missing data analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Rong; Liang, Yuanyuan; Carrière, K C

    2005-10-01

    This article investigates the role of proxy data in dealing with the common problem of missing data in clinical trials using repeated measures designs. In an effort to avoid the missing data situation, some proxy information can be gathered. The question is how to treat proxy information, that is, is it always better to utilize proxy information when there are missing data? A model for repeated measures data with missing values is considered and a strategy for utilizing proxy information is developed. Then, simulations are used to compare the power of a test using proxy to simply utilizing all available data. It is concluded that using proxy information can be a useful alternative when such information is available. The implications for various clinical designs are also considered and a data collection strategy for efficiently estimating parameters is suggested.

  3. Adverse drug reactions in the paediatric population in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Weber, Camilla Blicher; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2010-01-01

    of ADR (System Organ Class [SOC]), seriousness, suspected medicines (level 2 of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical [ATC] Classification System) and type of reporter. RESULTS: 2437 ADR reports corresponding to 4500 ADRs were analysed. On average, 234 ADR reports were submitted annually, corresponding...

  4. simple sequence repeat (SSR)

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In the present study, 78 mapped simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers representing 11 linkage groups of adzuki bean were evaluated for transferability to mungbean and related Vigna spp. 41 markers amplified characteristic bands in at least one Vigna species. The transferability percentage across the genotypes ranged ...

  5. Repeatability study of replicate crash tests: A signal analysis approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seppi, Jeremy; Toczyski, Jacek; Crandall, Jeff R; Kerrigan, Jason

    2017-10-03

    To provide an objective basis on which to evaluate the repeatability of vehicle crash test methods, a recently developed signal analysis method was used to evaluate correlation of sensor time history data between replicate vehicle crash tests. The goal of this study was to evaluate the repeatability of rollover crash tests performed with the Dynamic Rollover Test System (DRoTS) relative to other vehicle crash test methods. Test data from DRoTS tests, deceleration rollover sled (DRS) tests, frontal crash tests, frontal offset crash tests, small overlap crash tests, small overlap impact (SOI) crash tests, and oblique crash tests were obtained from the literature and publicly available databases (the NHTSA vehicle database and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety TechData) to examine crash test repeatability. Signal analysis of the DRoTS tests showed that force and deformation time histories had good to excellent repeatability, whereas vehicle kinematics showed only fair repeatability due to the vehicle mounting method for one pair of tests and slightly dissimilar mass properties (2.2%) in a second pair of tests. Relative to the DRS, the DRoTS tests showed very similar or higher levels of repeatability in nearly all vehicle kinematic data signals with the exception of global X' (road direction of travel) velocity and displacement due to the functionality of the DRoTS fixture. Based on the average overall scoring metric of the dominant acceleration, DRoTS was found to be as repeatable as all other crash tests analyzed. Vertical force measures showed good repeatability and were on par with frontal crash barrier forces. Dynamic deformation measures showed good to excellent repeatability as opposed to poor repeatability seen in SOI and oblique deformation measures. Using the signal analysis method as outlined in this article, the DRoTS was shown to have the same or better repeatability of crash test methods used in government regulatory and consumer evaluation test

  6. Open Automated Demand Response Communications Specification (Version 1.0)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Piette, Mary Ann; Ghatikar, Girish; Kiliccote, Sila; Koch, Ed; Hennage, Dan; Palensky, Peter; McParland, Charles

    2009-02-28

    The development of the Open Automated Demand Response Communications Specification, also known as OpenADR or Open Auto-DR, began in 2002 following the California electricity crisis. The work has been carried out by the Demand Response Research Center (DRRC), which is managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This specification describes an open standards-based communications data model designed to facilitate sending and receiving demand response price and reliability signals from a utility or Independent System Operator to electric customers. OpenADR is one element of the Smart Grid information and communications technologies that are being developed to improve optimization between electric supply and demand. The intention of the open automated demand response communications data model is to provide interoperable signals to building and industrial control systems that are preprogrammed to take action based on a demand response signal, enabling a demand response event to be fully automated, with no manual intervention. The OpenADR specification is a flexible infrastructure to facilitate common information exchange between the utility or Independent System Operator and end-use participants. The concept of an open specification is intended to allow anyone to implement the signaling systems, the automation server or the automation clients.

  7. Identity Management ToolKit (IdM TK)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Veterans Affairs — With the IdM TK, authorized users can search and view identity and exception information from the Administrative Data Repository (ADR). Specifically, users can view...

  8. Effect and mechanism of Qishen Yiqi Pills on adriamycin- induced cardiomyopathy in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Jia-Yi; Xu, Yan-Juan; Bian, Ye-Ping; Shen, Xiang-Bo; Yan, Lei; Zhu, Xin-Yi

    2013-09-01

    To study the effect and probable mechanism of Qishen Yiqi Pills on adriamycin (ADR)-induced cardiomyopathy in mice. Sixty-four mice were randomly divided into (1) the ADR group: saline (1 mL/100 g) administered every day by intragavage, ADR (4 mg·kg(-1)) administered to each mouse by intraperitoneal injection twice a week for four weeks; (2) the ADR + Qishen Yiqi Pills I group: ADR (4 mg·kg(-1)) administered to each mouse by intraperitoneal injection twice a week for four weeks, and at the beginning of the third week Qishen Yiqi Pills (3.5 mg/100 g) administered by intragavage every day for four weeks; (3) the ADR + Qishen Yiqi Pills II group: ADR (4 mg·kg(-1)) administered to each mouse by intraperitoneal injection twice a week for four weeks, and at the same time Qishen Yiqi Pills (3.5 mg/100 g) administered by intragavage every day for four weeks; (4) the control group: saline (1 mL/100 g) administered every day by intragavage, saline (1 mL·kg(-1)) administered to each mouse by intraperitoneal injection twice a week for four weeks. Six weeks later, cardiac function, myocardial pathology, and expression of Bcl-2 and Bax were evaluated. 1. The left ventricular diastolic diameter and the left ventricular systolic diameter were significantly increased (P Pills I group and the ADR + Qishen Yiqi Pills II group improved. 2. Myocardial morphologic observation showed that the myocardial fibers were disordered, there was cell edema, and gap widening in the ADR group. The degree of myocardial cell injury was reduced in the ADR + Qishen Yiqi Pills I group and ADR + Qishen Yiqi Pills II group compared with the ADR group. 3. The expression of Bax in the ADR group was significantly up-regulated, and the expression of Bcl-2 was significantly downregulated in the ADR group compared with the ADR + Qishen Yiqi Pills I group, the ADR + Qishen Yiqi Pills II group, and the control group (P Pills can effectively improve the cardiac function of ADR-induced cardiomyopathy, and the

  9. Repeating pneumatic pellet injector in JAERI

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kasai, Satoshi; Hasegawa, Kouichi; Suzuki, Sadaaki; Miura, Yukitoshi (Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Naka, Ibaraki (Japan). Naka Fusion Research Establishment); Oda, Yasushi; Onozuka, Masanori; Tsujimura, Seiichi.

    1992-09-01

    A repeating pneumatic pellet injector has been developed and constructed at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. This injector can provide repetitive pellet injection to fuel tokamak plasmas for an extended period of time, aiming at the improvement of plasma performance. The pellets with nearly identical speed and mass can be repeatedly injected with a repetition rate of 2-3.3 Hz and a speed of up to 1.7 km/s by controlling the temperature of the cryogenic system, the piston speed and the pressure of the propellant gas. (author).

  10. Repeating pneumatic pellet injector in JAERI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasai, Satoshi; Hasegawa, Kouichi; Suzuki, Sadaaki; Miura, Yukitoshi; Oda, Yasushi; Onozuka, Masanori; Tsujimura, Seiichi.

    1992-09-01

    A repeating pneumatic pellet injector has been developed and constructed at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. This injector can provide repetitive pellet injection to fuel tokamak plasmas for an extended period of time, aiming at the improvement of plasma performance. The pellets with nearly identical speed and mass can be repeatedly injected with a repetition rate of 2-3.3 Hz and a speed of up to 1.7 km/s by controlling the temperature of the cryogenic system, the piston speed and the pressure of the propellant gas. (author)

  11. ACCA phosphopeptide recognition by the BRCT repeats of BRCA1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ray, Hind; Moreau, Karen; Dizin, Eva; Callebaut, Isabelle; Venezia, Nicole Dalla

    2006-06-16

    The tumour suppressor gene BRCA1 encodes a 220 kDa protein that participates in multiple cellular processes. The BRCA1 protein contains a tandem of two BRCT repeats at its carboxy-terminal region. The majority of disease-associated BRCA1 mutations affect this region and provide to the BRCT repeats a central role in the BRCA1 tumour suppressor function. The BRCT repeats have been shown to mediate phospho-dependant protein-protein interactions. They recognize phosphorylated peptides using a recognition groove that spans both BRCT repeats. We previously identified an interaction between the tandem of BRCA1 BRCT repeats and ACCA, which was disrupted by germ line BRCA1 mutations that affect the BRCT repeats. We recently showed that BRCA1 modulates ACCA activity through its phospho-dependent binding to ACCA. To delineate the region of ACCA that is crucial for the regulation of its activity by BRCA1, we searched for potential phosphorylation sites in the ACCA sequence that might be recognized by the BRCA1 BRCT repeats. Using sequence analysis and structure modelling, we proposed the Ser1263 residue as the most favourable candidate among six residues, for recognition by the BRCA1 BRCT repeats. Using experimental approaches, such as GST pull-down assay with Bosc cells, we clearly showed that phosphorylation of only Ser1263 was essential for the interaction of ACCA with the BRCT repeats. We finally demonstrated by immunoprecipitation of ACCA in cells, that the whole BRCA1 protein interacts with ACCA when phosphorylated on Ser1263.

  12. ChloroSSRdb: a repository of perfect and imperfect chloroplastic simple sequence repeats (cpSSRs) of green plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapil, Aditi; Rai, Piyush Kant; Shanker, Asheesh

    2014-01-01

    Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are regions in DNA sequence that contain repeating motifs of length 1-6 nucleotides. These repeats are ubiquitously present and are found in both coding and non-coding regions of genome. A total of 534 complete chloroplast genome sequences (as on 18 September 2014) of Viridiplantae are available at NCBI organelle genome resource. It provides opportunity to mine these genomes for the detection of SSRs and store them in the form of a database. In an attempt to properly manage and retrieve chloroplastic SSRs, we designed ChloroSSRdb which is a relational database developed using SQL server 2008 and accessed through ASP.NET. It provides information of all the three types (perfect, imperfect and compound) of SSRs. At present, ChloroSSRdb contains 124 430 mined SSRs, with majority lying in non-coding region. Out of these, PCR primers were designed for 118 249 SSRs. Tetranucleotide repeats (47 079) were found to be the most frequent repeat type, whereas hexanucleotide repeats (6414) being the least abundant. Additionally, in each species statistical analyses were performed to calculate relative frequency, correlation coefficient and chi-square statistics of perfect and imperfect SSRs. In accordance with the growing interest in SSR studies, ChloroSSRdb will prove to be a useful resource in developing genetic markers, phylogenetic analysis, genetic mapping, etc. Moreover, it will serve as a ready reference for mined SSRs in available chloroplast genomes of green plants. Database URL: www.compubio.in/chlorossrdb/ © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

  13. Electromyographic analysis of repeated bouts of eccentric exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McHugh, M P; Connolly, D A; Eston, R G; Gartman, E J; Gleim, G W

    2001-03-01

    The repeated bout effect refers to the protective effect provided by a single bout of eccentric exercise against muscle damage from a similar subsequent bout. The aim of this study was to determine if the repeated bout was associated with an increase in motor unit activation relative to force production, an increased recruitment of slow-twitch motor units or increased motor unit synchronization. Surface electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded from the hamstring muscles during two bouts of submaximal isokinetic (2.6 rad x s(-1)) eccentric (11 men, 9 women) or concentric (6 men, 4 women) contractions separated by 2 weeks. The EMG per unit torque and median frequency were analysed. The initial bout of eccentric exercise resulted in strength loss, pain and muscle tenderness, while the repeated eccentric bout resulted in a slight increase in strength, no pain and no muscle tenderness (bout x time effects, P exercise. The EMG per unit torque and median frequency were not different between the initial and repeated bouts of eccentric exercise. The EMG per unit torque and median frequency increased during both bouts of eccentric exercise (P < 0.01) but did not change during either concentric bout. In conclusion, there was no evidence that the repeated bout effect was due to a neural adaptation.

  14. 40 CFR 1065.305 - Verifications for accuracy, repeatability, and noise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ..., repeatability, and noise. 1065.305 Section 1065.305 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... Verifications for accuracy, repeatability, and noise. (a) This section describes how to determine the accuracy, repeatability, and noise of an instrument. Table 1 of § 1065.205 specifies recommended values for individual...

  15. The usefulness of repeated ictal SPET for the localization of epileptogenic zones in intractable epilepsy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Dong Soo; Chung, June-Key; Lee, Myung Chul [Institute of Radiation Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center (Korea); Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine (Korea); Lee, Sang Kun [Department of Neurology, Seoul National University College of Medicine (Korea); Kim, Yu Kyeong [Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine (Korea); Kang, Eunjoo; Lee, Jae Sung [Institute of Radiation Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center (Korea)

    2002-05-01

    This study investigated whether repeated ictal single-photon emission tomography (SPET) is helpful in the localization of epileptogenic zones and whether it can provide information confirming that an area of increased perfusion is really the culprit epileptogenic lesion. Fifty-four repeated ictal SPET studies were performed in 24 patients with ambiguous or unexpected findings on the first ictal SPET study. These patients were enrolled from among 502 patients with intractable epilepsy in whom pre-operative localization of epileptogenic zones was attempted with a view to possible surgical resection. Video monitoring of ictal behaviour and EEGs was performed in all patients. Repeated ictal SPET was performed using technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (HMPAO) when there was no prominently hyperperfused area or when unexpected findings were obtained during the first study. Two ictal SPET studies were performed in 19 patients, three studies in four patients and four studies in one patient. The average delay between ictal onset and injection was 28 s for the first study and 22 s for the second, third and fourth studies. Using interictal SPET, ictal-interictal subtraction images were acquired and co-registered with the population magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) template. Invasive study and surgery were performed in 18 patients, and in these cases the surgical outcome was known. In the other six patients, epileptogenic foci were determined using MRI, positron emission tomography (PET) and ictal EEG findings. Two patients were found to have mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, two lateral temporal lobe epilepsy, eight frontal lobe epilepsy, three parietal lobe epilepsy and one occipital lobe epilepsy. The other eight had multifocal epilepsy. The first study was normal in 12 patients (group I) and indicated certain zones to be epileptogenic in the other 12 (group II). Among group I, the correct epileptogenic zone or lateralization was revealed at the repeated study in

  16. Two tandemly repeated telomere-associated sequences in Nicotiana plumbaginifolia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, C M; Wang, C T; Wang, C J; Ho, C H; Kao, Y Y; Chen, C C

    1997-12-01

    Two tandemly repeated telomere-associated sequences, NP3R and NP4R, have been isolated from Nicotiana plumbaginifolia. The length of a repeating unit for NP3R and NP4R is 165 and 180 nucleotides respectively. The abundance of NP3R, NP4R and telomeric repeats is, respectively, 8.4 x 10(4), 6 x 10(3) and 1.5 x 10(6) copies per haploid genome of N. plumbaginifolia. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that NP3R is located at the ends and/or in interstitial regions of all 10 chromosomes and NP4R on the terminal regions of three chromosomes in the haploid genome of N. plumbaginifolia. Sequence homology search revealed that not only are NP3R and NP4R homologous to HRS60 and GRS, respectively, two tandem repeats isolated from N. tabacum, but that NP3R and NP4R are also related to each other, suggesting that they originated from a common ancestral sequence. The role of these repeated sequences in chromosome healing is discussed based on the observation that two to three copies of a telomere-similar sequence were present in each repeating unit of NP3R and NP4R.

  17. Paediatric adverse drug reactions following use of asthma medications in Europe from 2007 to 2011

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2014-01-01

    licensed for paediatric use. Setting Spontaneous ADR reports located in the European ADR database, EudraVigilance. Method ADRs reported for asthma medications licensed for paediatric use from 2007 to 2011 were analysed. The included substances were beclometasone, budesonide, fenoterol, fluticasone...... administered" and "respiratory failure". Conclusion Only a few ADRs from use of asthma medications in children were identified in the EudraVigilance ADR database, but a large majority of these were serious including fatal cases....

  18. On model selections for repeated measurement data in clinical studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Baiming; Jin, Bo; Koch, Gary G; Zhou, Haibo; Borst, Stephen E; Menon, Sandeep; Shuster, Jonathan J

    2015-05-10

    Repeated measurement designs have been widely used in various randomized controlled trials for evaluating long-term intervention efficacies. For some clinical trials, the primary research question is how to compare two treatments at a fixed time, using a t-test. Although simple, robust, and convenient, this type of analysis fails to utilize a large amount of collected information. Alternatively, the mixed-effects model is commonly used for repeated measurement data. It models all available data jointly and allows explicit assessment of the overall treatment effects across the entire time spectrum. In this paper, we propose an analytic strategy for longitudinal clinical trial data where the mixed-effects model is coupled with a model selection scheme. The proposed test statistics not only make full use of all available data but also utilize the information from the optimal model deemed for the data. The performance of the proposed method under various setups, including different data missing mechanisms, is evaluated via extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Our numerical results demonstrate that the proposed analytic procedure is more powerful than the t-test when the primary interest is to test for the treatment effect at the last time point. Simulations also reveal that the proposed method outperforms the usual mixed-effects model for testing the overall treatment effects across time. In addition, the proposed framework is more robust and flexible in dealing with missing data compared with several competing methods. The utility of the proposed method is demonstrated by analyzing a clinical trial on the cognitive effect of testosterone in geriatric men with low baseline testosterone levels. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  19. [Direct costs and clinical aspects of adverse drug reactions in patients admitted to a level 3 hospital internal medicine ward].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tribiño, Gabriel; Maldonado, Carlos; Segura, Omar; Díaz, Jorge

    2006-03-01

    Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) occur frequently in hospitals and increase costs of health care; however, few studies have quantified the clinical and economic impact of ADRs in Colombia. These impacts were evaluated by calculating costs associated with ADRs in patients hospitalized in the internal medicine ward of a Level 3 hospital located in Bogotá, Colombia. In addition, salient clinical features of ADRs were identified and characterized. Intensive follow-ups for a cohort of patients were conducted for a five month period in order to detect ADRs; different ways to classify them, according to literature, were considered as well. Information was collected using the INVIMA reporting format, and causal probability was evaluated with the Naranjo algorithm. Direct costs were calculated from the perspective of payer, based on the following costs: additional hospital stay, medications, paraclinical tests, additional procedures, patient displacement to intermediate or intensive care units, and other costs. Of 836 patients admitted to the service, 268 adverse drug reactions were detected in 208 patients (incidence proportion 25.1%, occurence rate 0.32). About the ADRs found, 74.3% were classified as probable, 92.5% were type A, and 81.3% were moderate. The body system most often affected was the circulatory system (33.9%). Drugs acting on the blood were most frequently those ones associated with adverse reactions (37.6%). The costs resulting from medical care of adverse drug reactions varied from COL dollar 93,633,422 (USD dollar 35,014.92) to COL dollar 122,155,406 (USD dollar 45,680.94), according to insurance type, during the study period. Adverse drug reactions have a significant negative health and financial impact on patient welfare. Because of the substantial resources required for their medical care and the significant proportion of preventable adverse reactions, active programs of institutional pharmacovigilance are highly recommended.

  20. 47 CFR 80.469 - Maritime mobile repeater stations in Alaska.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Maritime mobile repeater stations in Alaska. 80... RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Public Coast Stations Use of Telephony § 80.469 Maritime mobile repeater stations in Alaska. (a) Maritime mobile repeater stations are authorized to extend...

  1. Adverse drug reaction monitoring of newer oral anti diabetic drugs – a pharmacovigilance perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ankita Bhattacharjee

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To monitor and evaluate adverse drug reactions (ADRs of newer oral anti-diabetic drugs in type II diabetics by spontaneous/solicited ADR monitoring.Material and methods: Two hundred and thirty two diabetic patients on newer oral antidiabetic drugs were evaluated prospectively in a cross-sectional study over a period of eighteen months. All patients were followed up for ADRs which were evaluated for incidence, frequency, severity and causality. ADR severity was graded according to University of Virginia Health System Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting program criteria and causality assessment was done using WHO-UMC scale.Results: 190 out of 232 patients (42 patients lost to follow up were evaluated. ADRs were observed in 34 cases (17.9%. Most common ADRs were gastrointestinal (44.2% followed by musculoskeletal (17.6%, metabolic (14.7%, infections (5.9% and others (17.6%. The maximal frequency of ADRs was seen with sitagliptin (6.4% followed by vildagliptin(3.8%, saxagliptin(2.7%, saroglitazar(2.1%, linagliptin(1.6%, canagliflozin(1.6%. 25(73.5%, 8(23.5% and 1(3% ADRs were mild, moderate and severe respectively. 24(70% ADRs were classified as possible, 9(27% probable and 1(3% unlikely on causality assessment. Conclusion: Newer oral antidiabetic drugs like gliptins and SGLT-2 inhibitors have potential to cause ADRs. Gastro-intestinal, musculoskeletal, metabolic were most common ADRs. Active pharmacovigilance should be carried out for risk identification and management. 

  2. Is gender still a predisposing factor in contrast-media associated adverse drug reactions? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials and observational studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Heeyoung; Song, Seungyeon; Oh, Yun-Kyoung; Kang, WonKu; Kim, Eunyoung

    2017-04-01

    To evaluate the role of gender as a risk factor for developing contrast media-associated adverse drug reactions (CM-ADRs) by comparing the incidence of CM-ADR between male and female patients according to study design, ADR type, and computed tomography (CT) examination. We systematically searched three electronic databases for eligible studies. In the studies included (n=18), we assessed effect estimates of the relative incidence of CM-ADR, analysed by experimental design, ADR type and CT examination. This was calculated by using a random effects model if clinical conditions showed heterogeneity; otherwise, a fixed effects model was used. We identified 10,776 patients administered CM. According to the designs, studies were classified into randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies. Results were as follows: risk ratio (RR)=1.07 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.79-1.46, P=0.66) for RCTs, and RR=0.77 (95% CI: 0.58-1.04, P=0.09) for observational studies. The results of analysis according to ADR type and for undergoing CT demonstrated that the incidence of CM-ADR did not differ between males and females. We found no significant difference in the incidence of CM-ADRs between male and female patients according to study design, ADR type, or CT examination. Future studies to determine why gender has shown different roles as a risk factor between CM-ADRs and non-CM ADRs are needed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Characterization in vitro and in vivo of progressively adriamycin-resistant B16-BL6 mouse melanoma cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganapathi, R; Grabowski, D; Schmidt, H; Bell, D; Melia, M

    1987-07-01

    Adriamycin (ADR)-resistant sublines of B16-BL6 mouse melanoma selected by exposure to increasing concentrations of ADR were characterized in vitro for growth properties and in vivo for tumorigenicity and pulmonary metastases. The progressively resistant sublines adapted to grow in the presence of 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.25 microgram/ml ADR in monolayer culture were found to be 5-, 10-, 20-, and 40-fold ADR-resistant, respectively, compared to the parental sensitive cells, using a soft-agar colony assay and continuous ADR treatment for 7 days. The doubling time in monolayer culture of the parent sensitive and progressively ADR-resistant sublines of B16-BL6 melanoma cells was approximately 16-18 h. Although the colony-forming efficiency in soft agar of parental sensitive cells was only 0.5-4%, the 5-, 10-, 20-, and 40-fold ADR-resistant sublines had colony-forming efficiencies of 15, 20, 30, and 77%, respectively. Tumorigenicity in C57BL/6 mice of progressively ADR-resistant sublines was similar to parental sensitive cells following s.c. and i.p. implantation of 10(5)-10(6) tumor cells. Experimental pulmonary metastases were significantly lower in ADR-resistant sublines with progressive resistance. Additionally, unlike the parental sensitive and 5-fold ADR-resistant B16-BL6 cells, the 10-, 20-, and 40-fold ADR-resistant sublines were spontaneously nonmetastatic. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunochemical detection of P-glycoprotein revealed the presence of a Mr 170,000 plasma membrane glycoprotein in the 40-fold ADR-resistant subline and its counterpart maintained for 1 year in ADR-free medium. Results from this study suggest that progressively ADR-resistant B16-BL6 mouse melanoma cells selected in vitro demonstrate a marked increase in colony formation in soft agar and a decrease in the ability to produce pulmonary metastases, without alterations in tumorigenicity.

  4. RNA FISH for detecting expanded repeats in human diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urbanek, Martyna O; Krzyzosiak, Wlodzimierz J

    2016-04-01

    RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a widely used technique for detecting transcripts in fixed cells and tissues. Many variants of RNA FISH have been proposed to increase signal strength, resolution and target specificity. The current variants of this technique facilitate the detection of the subcellular localization of transcripts at a single molecule level. Among the applications of RNA FISH are studies on nuclear RNA foci in diseases resulting from the expansion of tri-, tetra-, penta- and hexanucleotide repeats present in different single genes. The partial or complete retention of mutant transcripts forming RNA aggregates within the nucleoplasm has been shown in multiple cellular disease models and in the tissues of patients affected with these atypical mutations. Relevant diseases include, among others, myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) with CUG repeats, Huntington's disease (HD) and spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) with CAG repeats, fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) with CGG repeats, myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) with CCUG repeats, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal dementia (ALS/FTD) with GGGGCC repeats and spinocerebellar ataxia type 32 (SCA32) with GGCCUG. In this article, we summarize the results obtained with FISH to examine RNA nuclear inclusions. We provide a detailed protocol for detecting RNAs containing expanded CAG and CUG repeats in different cellular models, including fibroblasts, lymphoblasts, induced pluripotent stem cells and murine and human neuronal progenitors. We also present the results of the first single-molecule FISH application in a cellular model of polyglutamine disease. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. StaRProtein, A Web Server for Prediction of the Stability of Repeat Proteins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Yongtao; Zhou, Xu; Huang, Meilan

    2015-01-01

    Repeat proteins have become increasingly important due to their capability to bind to almost any proteins and the potential as alternative therapy to monoclonal antibodies. In the past decade repeat proteins have been designed to mediate specific protein-protein interactions. The tetratricopeptide and ankyrin repeat proteins are two classes of helical repeat proteins that form different binding pockets to accommodate various partners. It is important to understand the factors that define folding and stability of repeat proteins in order to prioritize the most stable designed repeat proteins to further explore their potential binding affinities. Here we developed distance-dependant statistical potentials using two classes of alpha-helical repeat proteins, tetratricopeptide and ankyrin repeat proteins respectively, and evaluated their efficiency in predicting the stability of repeat proteins. We demonstrated that the repeat-specific statistical potentials based on these two classes of repeat proteins showed paramount accuracy compared with non-specific statistical potentials in: 1) discriminate correct vs. incorrect models 2) rank the stability of designed repeat proteins. In particular, the statistical scores correlate closely with the equilibrium unfolding free energies of repeat proteins and therefore would serve as a novel tool in quickly prioritizing the designed repeat proteins with high stability. StaRProtein web server was developed for predicting the stability of repeat proteins. PMID:25807112

  6. Caffeine's impairment of insulin-mediated glucose disposal cannot be solely attributed to adrenaline in humans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Battram, D S; Graham, T E; Dela, F

    2007-01-01

    Caffeine (CAF) impedes insulin-mediated glucose disposal (IMGD) and increases plasma adrenaline concentrations ([ADR]; 0.6 nm). While the antagonism of ADR abolishes the CAF effect, infusion of ADR (0.75 nm) has no effect on IMGD. We have now examined CAF and ADR in concert to determine whether...

  7. Differential Regulation of Strand-Specific Transcripts from Arabidopsis Centromeric Satellite Repeats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Centromeres interact with the spindle apparatus to enable chromosome disjunction and typically contain thousands of tandemly arranged satellite repeats interspersed with retrotransposons. While their role has been obscure, centromeric repeats are epigenetically modified and centromere specification has a strong epigenetic component. In the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, long heterochromatic repeats are transcribed and contribute to centromere function via RNA interference (RNAi. In the higher plant Arabidopsis thaliana, as in mammalian cells, centromeric satellite repeats are short (180 base pairs, are found in thousands of tandem copies, and are methylated. We have found transcripts from both strands of canonical, bulk Arabidopsis repeats. At least one subfamily of 180-base pair repeats is transcribed from only one strand and regulated by RNAi and histone modification. A second subfamily of repeats is also silenced, but silencing is lost on both strands in mutants in the CpG DNA methyltransferase MET1, the histone deacetylase HDA6/SIL1, or the chromatin remodeling ATPase DDM1. This regulation is due to transcription from Athila2 retrotransposons, which integrate in both orientations relative to the repeats, and differs between strains of Arabidopsis. Silencing lost in met1 or hda6 is reestablished in backcrosses to wild-type, but silencing lost in RNAi mutants and ddm1 is not. Twenty-four-nucleotide small interfering RNAs from centromeric repeats are retained in met1 and hda6, but not in ddm1, and may have a role in this epigenetic inheritance. Histone H3 lysine-9 dimethylation is associated with both classes of repeats. We propose roles for transcribed repeats in the epigenetic inheritance and evolution of centromeres.

  8. Adverse Drug Reactions Causing Admission to Medical Wards: A Cross-Sectional Survey at 4 Hospitals in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mouton, Johannes P; Njuguna, Christine; Kramer, Nicole; Stewart, Annemie; Mehta, Ushma; Blockman, Marc; Fortuin-De Smidt, Melony; De Waal, Reneé; Parrish, Andy G; Wilson, Douglas P K; Igumbor, Ehimario U; Aynalem, Getahun; Dheda, Mukesh; Maartens, Gary; Cohen, Karen

    2016-05-01

    Limited data exist on the burden of serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in sub-Saharan Africa, which has high HIV and tuberculosis prevalence. We determined the proportion of adult admissions attributable to ADRs at 4 hospitals in South Africa. We characterized drugs implicated in, risk factors for, and the preventability of ADR-related admissions.We prospectively followed patients admitted to 4 hospitals' medical wards over sequential 30-day periods in 2013 and identified suspected ADRs with the aid of a trigger tool. A multidisciplinary team performed causality, preventability, and severity assessment using published criteria. We categorized an admission as ADR-related if the ADR was the primary reason for admission.There were 1951 admissions involving 1904 patients: median age was 50 years (interquartile range 34-65), 1057 of 1904 (56%) were female, 559 of 1904 (29%) were HIV-infected, and 183 of 1904 (10%) were on antituberculosis therapy (ATT). There were 164 of 1951 (8.4%) ADR-related admissions. After adjustment for age and ATT, ADR-related admission was independently associated (P ≤ 0.02) with female sex (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.51, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.06-2.14), increasing drug count (aOR 1.14 per additional drug, 95% CI 1.09-1.20), increasing comorbidity score (aOR 1.23 per additional point, 95% CI 1.07-1.41), and use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) if HIV-infected (aOR 1.92 compared with HIV-negative/unknown, 95% CI 1.17-3.14). The most common ADRs were renal impairment, hypoglycemia, liver injury, and hemorrhage. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, insulin, rifampicin, and warfarin were most commonly implicated, respectively, in these 4 ADRs. ART, ATT, and/or co-trimoxazole were implicated in 56 of 164 (34%) ADR-related admissions. Seventy-three of 164 (45%) ADRs were assessed as preventable.In our survey, approximately 1 in 12 admissions was because of an ADR. The range of ADRs and implicated drugs reflect South Africa's high HIV

  9. E-pharmacovigilance: development and implementation of a computable knowledge base to identify adverse drug reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neubert, Antje; Dormann, Harald; Prokosch, Hans-Ulrich; Bürkle, Thomas; Rascher, Wolfgang; Sojer, Reinhold; Brune, Kay; Criegee-Rieck, Manfred

    2013-09-01

    Computer-assisted signal generation is an important issue for the prevention of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). However, due to poor standardization of patients' medical data and a lack of computable medical drug knowledge the specificity of computerized decision support systems for early ADR detection is too low and thus those systems are not yet implemented in daily clinical practice. We report on a method to formalize knowledge about ADRs based on the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPCs) and linking them with structured patient data to generate safety signals automatically and with high sensitivity and specificity. A computable ADR knowledge base (ADR-KB) that inherently contains standardized concepts for ADRs (WHO-ART), drugs (ATC) and laboratory test results (LOINC) was built. The system was evaluated in study populations of paediatric and internal medicine inpatients. A total of 262 different ADR concepts related to laboratory findings were linked to 212 LOINC terms. The ADR knowledge base was retrospectively applied to a study population of 970 admissions (474 internal and 496 paediatric patients), who underwent intensive ADR surveillance. The specificity increased from 7% without ADR-KB up to 73% in internal patients and from 19.6% up to 91% in paediatric inpatients, respectively. This study shows that contextual linkage of patients' medication data with laboratory test results is a useful and reasonable instrument for computer-assisted ADR detection and a valuable step towards a systematic drug safety process. The system enables automated detection of ADRs during clinical practice with a quality close to intensive chart review. © 2013 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology © 2013 The British Pharmacological Society.

  10. Incidence and cost estimate of treating pediatric adverse drug reactions in Lagos, Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazeem Adeola Oshikoya

    Full Text Available CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs may cause prolonged hospital admissions with high treatment costs. The burden of ADRs in children has never been evaluated in Nigeria. The incidence of pediatric ADRs and the estimated cost of treatment over an 18-month period were determined in this study. DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective observational study on children admitted to the pediatric wards of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH in Nigeria, between July 2006 and December 2007. METHODS: Each patient was assessed for ADRs throughout admission. Medical and non-medical costs to the hospital and patient were estimated for each ADR by reviewing the medical and pharmacy bills, medical charts and diagnostic request forms and by interviewing the parents. Cost estimates were performed in 2007 naira (Nigeria currency from the perspectives of the hospital (government, service users (patients and society (bearers of the total costs attributable to treating ADRs. The total estimated cost was expressed in 2007 United States dollars (USD. RESULTS: Two thousand and four children were admitted during the study; 12 (0.6% were admitted because of ADRs and 23 (1.2% developed ADR(s during admission. Forty ADRs were suspected in these 35 patients and involved 53 medicines. Antibiotics (50% were the most suspected medicines. Approximately 1.83 million naira (USD 15,466.60 was expended to manage all the patients admitted due to ADRs. CONCLUSIONS: Treating pediatric ADRs was very expensive. Pediatric drug use policies in Nigeria need to be reviewed so as to discourage self-medication, polypharmacy prescription and sales of prescription medicines without prescription.

  11. The attitudes of pharmacists and physicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina towards adverse drug reaction reporting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tarik Catic

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs are threat to the patient’s safety and the quality of life, and they increase the cost of health care. Spontaneous ADR reporting system mainly relies on physicians, but also pharmacists, nurses, and even patients. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes, barriers, and possible improvements to ADR reporting practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was developed to collect data on the perception of pharmacovigilance practice and ADR reporting. The survey was conducted in the period between September, 2014 and October, 2014.Results: The response rate was 73% (44 of 60 and 93% (148 of 160 among the pharmacist and family medicine physician groups, respectively. Regarding the attitudes to pharmacovigilance practice and reporting, both the pharmacists and physicians found the practices important. The majority of pharmacists and physicians in year 2014 did not report any ADR, while 18% of the pharmacists and 12% of the physicians, who participated in this study, reported one ADR. Reporting procedure, uncertainty, and their exposure were the main barriers to reporting ADRs for the pharmacists. The physicians claimed lack of knowledge to whom to report an ADR as the main barrier. A significant number of the respondents thought that additional education in ADR reporting would have a positive impact, and would increase the ADR reporting rate.Conclusions: Despite the overall positive attitude towards ADR reporting, the reporting rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina is still low. Different barriers to the ADR reporting have been identified, and there is also the need for improvements in the traditional education in this field.

  12. Adverse Drug Reactions Related to Drug Administration in Hospitalized Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallelli, Luca; Siniscalchi, Antonio; Palleria, Caterina; Mumoli, Laura; Staltari, Orietta; Squillace, Aida; Maida, Francesca; Russo, Emilio; Gratteri, Santo; De Sarro, Giovambattista

    2017-01-01

    Drug treatment may be related to the development of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). In this paper, we evaluated the ADRs in patients admitted to Catanzaro Hospital. After we obtained the approval by local Ethical Committee, we performed a retrospective study on clinical records from March 01, 2013 to April 30, 2015. The association between drug and ADR or between drug and drug-drug-interactions (DDIs) was evaluated using the Naranjo's probability scale and Drug Interaction Probability Scale (DIPS), respectively. During the study period, we analyzed 2870 clinical records containing a total of 11,138 prescriptions, and we documented the development of 770 ADRs. The time of hospitalization was significantly higher (P<0.05) in women with ADRs (12.6 ± 1.2 days) with respect to men (11.8± 0.83 days). Using the Naranjo score, we documented a probable association in 78% of these reactions, while DIPS revealed that about 22% of ADRs were related to DDIs. Patients with ADRs received 3052 prescriptions on 11,138 (27.4%) having a mean of 6.1±0.29 drugs that was significantly higher (P<0.01) with respect to patients not experiencing ADRs (mean of 3.4±0.13 drugs). About 19% of ADRs were not diagnosed and were treated as new diseases. Our results indicate that drug administration induces the development of ADRs also during the hospitalization, particularly in elderly women. Moreover, we also documented that ADRs in some patients are under-diagnosed, therefore, it is important to motivate healthcare to report the ADRs in order to optimize the patients' safety. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

  13. Telomerase Repeated Amplification Protocol (TRAP).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mender, Ilgen; Shay, Jerry W

    2015-11-20

    Telomeres are found at the end of eukaryotic linear chromosomes, and proteins that bind to telomeres protect DNA from being recognized as double-strand breaks thus preventing end-to-end fusions (Griffith et al. , 1999). However, due to the end replication problem and other factors such as oxidative damage, the limited life span of cultured cells (Hayflick limit) results in progressive shortening of these protective structures (Hayflick and Moorhead, 1961; Olovnikov, 1973). The ribonucleoprotein enzyme complex telomerase-consisting of a protein catalytic component hTERT and a functional RNA component hTR or hTERC - counteracts telomere shortening by adding telomeric repeats to the end of chromosomes in ~90% of primary human tumors and in some transiently proliferating stem-like cells (Shay and Wright, 1996; Shay and Wright, 2001). This results in continuous proliferation of cells which is a hallmark of cancer. Therefore, telomere biology has a central role in aging, cancer progression/metastasis as well as targeted cancer therapies. There are commonly used methods in telomere biology such as Telomere Restriction Fragment (TRF) (Mender and Shay, 2015b), Telomere Repeat Amplification Protocol (TRAP) and Telomere dysfunction Induced Foci (TIF) analysis (Mender and Shay, 2015a). In this detailed protocol we describe Telomere Repeat Amplification Protocol (TRAP). The TRAP assay is a popular method to determine telomerase activity in mammalian cells and tissue samples (Kim et al. , 1994). The TRAP assay includes three steps: extension, amplification, and detection of telomerase products. In the extension step, telomeric repeats are added to the telomerase substrate (which is actually a non telomeric oligonucleotide, TS) by telomerase. In the amplification step, the extension products are amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specific primers (TS upstream primer and ACX downstream primer) and in the detection step, the presence or absence of telomerase is

  14. SeqEntropy: genome-wide assessment of repeats for short read sequencing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hsueh-Ting Chu

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Recent studies on genome assembly from short-read sequencing data reported the limitation of this technology to reconstruct the entire genome even at very high depth coverage. We investigated the limitation from the perspective of information theory to evaluate the effect of repeats on short-read genome assembly using idealized (error-free reads at different lengths. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We define a metric H(k to be the entropy of sequencing reads at a read length k and use the relative loss of entropy ΔH(k to measure the impact of repeats for the reconstruction of whole-genome from sequences of length k. In our experiments, we found that entropy loss correlates well with de-novo assembly coverage of a genome, and a score of ΔH(k>1% indicates a severe loss in genome reconstruction fidelity. The minimal read lengths to achieve ΔH(k<1% are different for various organisms and are independent of the genome size. For example, in order to meet the threshold of ΔH(k<1%, a read length of 60 bp is needed for the sequencing of human genome (3.2 10(9 bp and 320 bp for the sequencing of fruit fly (1.8×10(8 bp. We also calculated the ΔH(k scores for 2725 prokaryotic chromosomes and plasmids at several read lengths. Our results indicate that the levels of repeats in different genomes are diverse and the entropy of sequencing reads provides a measurement for the repeat structures. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The proposed entropy-based measurement, which can be calculated in seconds to minutes in most cases, provides a rapid quantitative evaluation on the limitation of idealized short-read genome sequencing. Moreover, the calculation can be parallelized to scale up to large euakryotic genomes. This approach may be useful to tune the sequencing parameters to achieve better genome assemblies when a closely related genome is already available.

  15. Dynamics of Soil Bacterial Communities in Response to Repeated Application of Manure Containing Sulfadiazine

    OpenAIRE

    Ding, Guo-Chun; Radl, Viviane; Schloter-Hai, Brigitte; Jechalke, Sven; Heuer, Holger; Smalla, Kornelia; Schloter, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Large amounts of manure have been applied to arable soils as fertilizer worldwide. Manure is often contaminated with veterinary antibiotics which enter the soil together with antibiotic resistant bacteria. However, little information is available regarding the main responders of bacterial communities in soil affected by repeated inputs of antibiotics via manure. In this study, a microcosm experiment was performed with two concentrations of the antibiotic sulfadiazine (SDZ) which were applied ...

  16. Assessment of six tapping systems for four Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex Adr. de Juss.) Muell.-Arg.,clones in the Colombian High Plains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quesada Mendez, Isaac; Aristizabal Gutierrez, Fabio Ancizar; Chaves Cordoba, Bernardo

    2009-01-01

    The rubber yield of four Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex Adr. de Juss.) Muell.-Arg. clones was evaluated on the Colombian high plains in the Meta department: IAN 873 and RRIM 600 (third year of tapping being done) and PB 260 and GT 1 (first year of tapping). Six tapping systems were used, including a combination of different tapping frequencies (d/4 and d/5), Ethephon concentrations (0%, 2.5%, 3.3% and 5%) and a number of applications per year (4 to 8) were also used depending on the clone. The production figures for one commercial year were obtained from assays, using a completely random- block design (having four repetitions) independently defined for each clone: having on average 4446 g rubber/tree of produce per year for the RRIM 600 clone within a system 1/2S, d/4, 6d/7, 10m/12, ET 2.5%, Pa 7/y; 2696 g rubber/tree for the PB 260 clone with 1/2S, d/4, 6d/7, 10m/12, ET 2.5%, Pa 5/y; 3822 g rubber/tree for the IAN 873 clone, 1/2S, d/4, 6d/7, 10m/12, ET 3.3%, Pa 8/y, and 3472 g rubber/ tree for the GT 1 clone, 1/2S, d/4, 6d/7, 10m/12, ET 2.5%, Pa 5/y. The highest produce was obtained with a four-day tapping frequency.

  17. Structure of thrombospondin type 3 repeats in bacterial outer membrane protein A reveals its intra-repeat disulfide bond-dependent calcium-binding capability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dai, Shuyan; Sun, Cancan; Tan, Kemin; Ye, Sheng; Zhang, Rongguang

    2017-09-01

    Eukaryotic thrombospondin type 3 repeat (TT3R) is an efficient calcium ion (Ca2+) binding motif only found in mammalian thrombospondin family. TT3R has also been found in prokaryotic cellulase Cel5G, which was thought to forfeit the Ca2+-binding capability due to the formation of intra-repeat disulfide bonds, instead of the inter-repeat ones possessed by eukaryotic TT3Rs. In this study, we have identified an enormous number of prokaryotic TT3R-containing proteins belonging to several different protein families, including outer membrane protein A (OmpA), an important structural protein connecting the outer membrane and the periplasmic peptidoglycan layer in gram-negative bacteria. Here, we report the crystal structure of the periplasmic region of OmpA from Capnocytophaga gingivalis, which contains a linker region comprising five consecutive TT3Rs. The structure of OmpA-TT3R exhibits a well-ordered architecture organized around two tightly-coordinated Ca2+ and confirms the presence of abnormal intra-repeat disulfide bonds. Further mutagenesis studies showed that the Ca2+-binding capability of OmpA-TT3R is indeed dependent on the proper formation of intra-repeat disulfide bonds, which help to fix a conserved glycine residue at its proper position for Ca2+ coordination. Additionally, despite lacking inter repeat disulfide bonds, the interfaces between adjacent OmpA-TT3Rs are enhanced by both hydrophobic and conserved aromatic-proline interactions.

  18. Discrepancy variation of dinucleotide microsatellite repeats in eukaryotic genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HUAN GAO

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available To address whether there are differences of variation among repeat motif types and among taxonomic groups, we present here an analysis of variation and correlation of dinucleotide microsatellite repeats in eukaryotic genomes. Ten taxonomic groups were compared, those being primates, mammalia (excluding primates and rodentia, rodentia, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles, insects, molluscs, plants and fungi, respectively. The data used in the analysis is from the literature published in the Journal of Molecular Ecology Notes. Analysis of variation reveals that there are no significant differences between AC and AG repeat motif types. Moreover, the number of alleles correlates positively with the copy number in both AG and AC repeats. Similar conclusions can be obtained from each taxonomic group. These results strongly suggest that the increase of SSR variation is almost linear with the increase of the copy number of each repeat motif. As well, the results suggest that the variability of SSR in the genomes of low-ranking species seem to be more than that of high-ranking species, excluding primates and fungi.

  19. REPEATABILITY OF FRUIT QUALITY TRAITS OF CACTUS PEAR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    VALTÂNIA XAVIER NUNES

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Repeatability analysis has been used to study traits in several crops, assisting in the definition of the minimum number needed to evaluate genotypes more efficiently and with less time and resource consumption. So far, however, no repeatability studies on cactus pear have been found in the literature. The objective of this study was to determine the coefficient of repeatability for cactus pear fruits traits and the minimum number of evaluations (fruit that can provide acceptable accuracy for the prediction of the true value. The experiment was conducted at the Federal Institute of Bahia/Campus Guanambi, with 150 fruits collected from three municipalities in the state of Bahia. The coefficients of repeatability were estimated by the methods of analysis of variance, principal components based on the covariance (PCCV and correlation (PCC matrices, and structural analysis based on the correlation matrix (SA. The analysis of variance showed that, except for fruit diameter, the effect of the production site (municipality was significant for all traits evaluated. The PCCV method was proven the most suitable for studying the repeatability of quality traits of cactus pear fruits. Seven fruits were required to determine, with 90% confidence, the traits length, diameter, fruit firmness, skin thickness, number of seeds, fruit mass, bark mass, pulp mass, pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids, SS/AT ratio, and pulp yield.

  20. Improvement of Repeated-Sprint Ability and Horizontal-Jumping Performance in Elite Young Basketball Players With Low-Volume Repeated-Maximal-Power Training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalo-Skok, Oliver; Tous-Fajardo, Julio; Arjol-Serrano, José Luis; Suarez-Arrones, Luis; Casajús, José Antonio; Mendez-Villanueva, Alberto

    2016-05-01

    To examine the effects of a low-volume repeated-power-ability (RPA) training program on repeated-sprint and change-of- direction (COD) ability and functional jumping performance. Twenty-two male elite young basketball players (age 16.2 ± 1.2 y, height 190.0 ± 10.0 cm, body mass 82.9 ± 10.1 kg) were randomly assigned either to an RPA-training group (n = 11) or a control group (n = 11). RPA training consisted of leg-press exercise, twice a week for 6 wk, of 1 or 2 blocks of 5 sets × 5 repetitions with 20 s of passive recovery between sets and 3 min between blocks with the load that maximized power output. Before and after training, performance was assessed by a repeated-sprint-ability (RSA) test, a repeated-COD-ability test, a hop for distance, and a drop jump followed by tests of a double unilateral hop with the right and left legs. Within-group and between-groups differences showed substantial improvements in slowest (RSAs) and mean time (RSAm) on RSA; best, slowest and mean time on repeated-COD ability; and unilateral right and left hop in the RPA group in comparison with control. While best time on RSA showed no improvement in any group, there was a large relationship (r = .68, 90% CI .43;.84) between the relative decrement in RSAm and RSAs, suggesting better sprint maintenance with RPA training. The relative improvements in best and mean repeated-COD ability were very largely correlated (r = .89, 90% CI .77;.94). Six weeks of lowvolume (4-14 min/wk) RPA training improved several physical-fitness tests in basketball players.

  1. Retrospective analysis of non-laboratory-based adverse drug reactions induced by intravenous radiocontrast agents in a Joint Commission International-accredited academic medical center hospital in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen QL

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Qin-lan Chen,1 Xiao-ying Zhao,2 Xiao-mi Wang,1 Na Lv,2 Ling-ling Zhu,3 Hui-min Xu,4 Quan Zhou4 1Radiology Nursing Unit, Division of Nursing, 2Department of Quality Management, 3Geriatric VIP Care Ward, Division of Nursing, 4Department of Pharmacy, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China Abstract: The authors retrospectively analyzed the pattern and characteristics of non-laboratory-based adverse drug reactions (ADRs induced by intravenous radiocontrast agents in a large-scale hospital in China during 2014–2015. There were 314 ADR cases among 118,208 patients receiving enhanced CT or MRI examinations. The frequency of moderate/severe ADRs defined by Chinese Society of Radiology (ie, severe vomiting, systematic urticaria, facial swelling, dyspnea, vasovagal reaction, laryngeal edema, seizure, trembling, convulsions, unconsciousness, shock, death, and other unexpected adverse reactions was rare (0.0431%, whereas the mild ADRs were uncommon (0.2225% and accounted for 83.76% of ADRs. Frequency of ADRs induced by iodinated contrast agents was related with examination site, sex, and type of patient settings (P<0.01 and was higher compared with gadolinium contrast agents (0.3676% vs 0.0504%, P<0.01. From 2014 to 2015, frequencies of total and moderate/severe ADRs induced by iodinated contrast agents decreased significantly (0.4410% vs 0.2947%, P<0.01; 0.0960% vs 0.0282%, P<0.01, respectively. Frequency of ADRs differed among different iodinated contrast and gadolinium contrast (P<0.05 agents. Iopromide’s ADR frequency in 2014 was significantly higher compared with iopamidol, ioversol, or iohexol (P<0.01. Frequency of moderate/severe ADRs induced by iodixanol was 4.1–5.4 times that of iohexol, iopromide, or iopamidol. Rash was the predominant ADR subtype (84.39% and occurred more frequently with iodixanol compared with iohexol, iopamidol, or ioversol (P<0

  2. Estimating Tritium Fluxes from the Shallow Unsaturated Zone to the Atmosphere in an Arid Environment Dominated by Creosote Bush (USGS-ADRS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, C. A.; Andraski, B. J.; Wheatcraft, S. W.; Johnson, M. J.; Michel, R. L.; Stonestrom, D. A.

    2006-12-01

    Understanding the transport and fate of tritium is essential when evaluating options for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) isolation. The magnitude and spatio-temporal variability of tritium transport from the shallow unsaturated zone to the atmosphere are being investigated adjacent to a LLRW facility at the U.S. Geological Survey's Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) in Southern Nevada. Site and community-scale tritium fluxes from the subsurface to the atmosphere were quantified using a simple gas-phase diffusive loading approach combining evaporation and transpiration fluxes with mass fractions of gas-phase tritium concentrations. A Priestly-Taylor model, calibrated with quarterly bare-soil evaporation measurements, was used to estimate continuous bare-soil evaporation from measured continuous eddy-covariance evapotransporation. Continuous transpiration was computed as the difference between measured evapotranspiration and estimated bare-soil evaporation. Tritium concentrations in plant water and soil-water vapor were measured along two transects perpendicular to the LLRW using azeotropic distillation of creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) foliage and soil vapor extraction from 0.5 and 1.5 m depths below land surface. A preliminary daily tritium flux estimate at a single plant site was 1.66 × 10-11 gm-2. Spatio- temporal variability over a 75-ha area and 2-yr period will be quantified using a combination of tritium concentration maps and continuous evaporation and transpiration flux estimates. Quantifying tritium fluxes from the shallow unsaturated zone to the atmosphere on a site and community-scale will improve knowledge and understanding of vertical contaminant transport in arid environments.

  3. Andrographolide Suppresses MV4-11 Cell Proliferation through the Inhibition of FLT3 Signaling, Fatty Acid Synthesis and Cellular Iron Uptake

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao Chen

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Background: Andrographolide (ADR, the main active component of Andrographis paniculata, displays anticancer activity in various cancer cell lines, among which leukemia cell lines exhibit the highest sensitivity to ADR. In particular, ADR was also reported to have reduced drug resistance in multidrug resistant cell lines. However, the mechanism of action (MOA of ADR’s anticancer and anti-drug-resistance activities remain elusive. Methods: In this study, we used the MV4-11 cell line, a FLT3 positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML cell line that displays multidrug resistance, as our experimental system. We first evaluated the effect of ADR on MV4-11 cell proliferation. Then, a quantitative proteomics approach was applied to identify differentially expressed proteins in ADR-treated MV4-11 cells. Finally, cellular processes and signal pathways affected by ADR in MV4-11 cell were predicted with proteomic analysis and validated with in vitro assays. Results: ADR inhibits MV4-11 cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. With a proteomic approach, we discovered that ADR inhibited fatty acid synthesis, cellular iron uptake and FLT3 signaling pathway in MV4-11 cells. Conclusions: ADR inhibits MV4-11 cell proliferation through inhibition of fatty acid synthesis, iron uptake and protein synthesis. Furthermore, ADR reduces drug resistance by blocking FLT3 signaling.

  4. Predicting adverse drug reaction profiles by integrating protein interaction networks with drug structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Liang-Chin; Wu, Xiaogang; Chen, Jake Y

    2013-01-01

    The prediction of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) has become increasingly important, due to the rising concern on serious ADRs that can cause drugs to fail to reach or stay in the market. We proposed a framework for predicting ADR profiles by integrating protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks with drug structures. We compared ADR prediction performances over 18 ADR categories through four feature groups-only drug targets, drug targets with PPI networks, drug structures, and drug targets with PPI networks plus drug structures. The results showed that the integration of PPI networks and drug structures can significantly improve the ADR prediction performance. The median AUC values for the four groups were 0.59, 0.61, 0.65, and 0.70. We used the protein features in the best two models, "Cardiac disorders" (median-AUC: 0.82) and "Psychiatric disorders" (median-AUC: 0.76), to build ADR-specific PPI networks with literature supports. For validation, we examined 30 drugs withdrawn from the U.S. market to see if our approach can predict their ADR profiles and explain why they were withdrawn. Except for three drugs having ADRs in the categories we did not predict, 25 out of 27 withdrawn drugs (92.6%) having severe ADRs were successfully predicted by our approach. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  5. The absolute number of repeat operations for complex intra ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    abdominal sepsis, questions about futility of treatment frequently arise. This study focuses specifically on patients who required two or more repeat laparotomies and describes the spectrum of disease necessitating multiple repeat laparotomies ...

  6. Antarctic Ice Sheet Slope and Aspect Based on Icesat's Repeat Orbit Measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, L.; Li, F.; Zhang, S.; Xie, S.; Xiao, F.; Zhu, T.; Zhang, Y.

    2017-09-01

    Accurate information of ice sheet surface slope is essential for estimating elevation change by satellite altimetry measurement. A study is carried out to recover surface slope of Antarctic ice sheet from Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) elevation measurements based on repeat orbits. ICESat provides repeat ground tracks within 200 meters in cross-track direction and 170 meters in along-track direction for most areas of Antarctic ice sheet. Both cross-track and along-track surface slopes could be obtained by adjacent repeat ground tracks. Combining those measurements yields a surface slope model with resolution of approximately 200 meters. An algorithm considering elevation change is developed to estimate the surface slope of Antarctic ice sheet. Three Antarctic Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) were used to calculate surface slopes. The surface slopes from DEMs are compared with estimates by using in situ GPS data in Dome A, the summit of Antarctic ice sheet. Our results reveal an average surface slope difference of 0.02 degree in Dome A. High resolution remote sensing images are also used in comparing the results derived from other DEMs and this paper. The comparison implies that our results have a slightly better coherence with GPS observation than results from DEMs, but our results provide more details and perform higher accuracy in coastal areas because of the higher resolution for ICESat measurements. Ice divides are estimated based on the aspect, and are weakly consistent with ice divides from other method in coastal regions.

  7. Assembly of Repeat Content Using Next Generation Sequencing Data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    labutti, Kurt; Kuo, Alan; Grigoriev, Igor; Copeland, Alex

    2014-03-17

    Repetitive organisms pose a challenge for short read assembly, and typically only unique regions and repeat regions shorter than the read length, can be accurately assembled. Recently, we have been investigating the use of Pacific Biosciences reads for de novo fungal assembly. We will present an assessment of the quality and degree of repeat reconstruction possible in a fungal genome using long read technology. We will also compare differences in assembly of repeat content using short read and long read technology.

  8. A study on the repeatability of ultrasonic testing data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshimura, Seiichi; Fukumoto, Hiroshi

    1980-01-01

    Reliability improvement of ultrasonic testing data is strongly desired in ultrasonic testing working of nuclear power plants. This paper deals with the problems of the testing by the manual and the remote control apparatus, and with the factors which influence the repeatability of ultrasonic testing data. Following results are found in it. (1) In the testing by the manual, working time and posture influence the repeatability of testing data. (2) Glycerin in suitable for the couplant in the respect of the repeatability of testing data. In the case of using machine oil, the pressure to the probe necessitates to be over 0.2 kg/cm 2 . (3) In the testing by the remote control apparatus, working time, working environment and defect position does not influence the repeatability of testing data. (author)

  9. Variability and repeatability analysis of plantar pressure during gait in older people.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franco, Pedro S; Silva, Caio Borella P da; Rocha, Emmanuel S da; Carpes, Felipe P

    2015-01-01

    Repeatability and variability of the plantar pressure during walking are important components in the clinical assessment of the elderly. However, there is a lack of information on the uniformity of plantar pressure patterns in the elderly. To analyze the repeatability and variability in plantar pressure considering mean, peak and asymmetries during aged gait. Plantar pressure was monitored in four different days for ten elderly subjects (5 female), with mean±standard-deviation age of 73±6 years, walking barefoot at preferred speed. Data were compared between steps for each day and between different days. Mean and peak plantar pressure values were similar between the different days of evaluation. Asymmetry indexes were similar between the different days evaluated. Plantar pressure presented a consistent pattern in the elderly. However, the asymmetry indexes observed suggest that the elderly are exposed to repetitive asymmetric loading during locomotion. Such result requires further investigation, especially concerning the role of these asymmetries for development of articular injuries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  10. The Effects of Repeated Experience on Children's Suggestibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, Martine B.; Roberts, Kim P.; Ceci, Stephen J.; Hembrooke, Helene

    1999-01-01

    Examined effect of suggestive questions on 3- to 5-year-olds' and 6- to 8-year-olds' recall of the final occurrence of repeated event. Found that relative to reports of children experiencing single occurrence, reports about fixed items of repeated events were less contaminated by false suggestions. Children's age and delay of interview were…

  11. Baseline and annual repeat rounds of screening. Implications for optimal regimens of screening

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Henschke, Claudia I.; Salvatore, Mary; Cham, Matthew; Eber, Corey; Yip, Rowena; Yankelevitz, David F. [Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Department of Radiology, New York, NY (United States); Powell, Charles A.; DiFabrizio, Larry [Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Department of Medicine, New York, NY (United States); Flores, Raja; Kaufman, Andrew [Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Department of Thoracic Surgery, New York, NY (United States); Collaboration: International Early Lung Cancer Action Program Investigators

    2018-03-15

    Differences in results of baseline and subsequent annual repeat rounds provide important information for optimising the regimen of screening. A prospective cohort study of 65,374 was reviewed to examine the frequency/percentages of the largest noncalcified nodule (NCN), lung cancer cell types and Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival rates, separately for baseline and annual rounds. Of 65,374 baseline screenings, NCNs were identified in 28,279 (43.3%); lung cancer in 737 (1.1%). Of 74,482 annual repeat screenings, new NCNs were identified in 4959 (7%); lung cancer in 179 (0.24%). Only adenocarcinoma was diagnosed in subsolid NCNs. Percentages of lung cancers by cell type were significantly different (p < 0.0001) in the baseline round compared with annual rounds, reflecting length bias, as were the ratios, reflecting lead times. Long-term K-M survival rate was 100% for typical carcinoids and for adenocarcinomas manifesting as subsolid NCNs; 85% (95% CI 81-89%) for adenocarcinoma, 74% (95% CI 63-85%) for squamous cell, 48% (95% CI 34-62%) for small cell. The rank ordering by lead time was the same as the rank ordering by survival rates. The significant differences in the frequency of NCNs and frequency and aggressiveness of diagnosed cancers in baseline and annual repeat need to be recognised for an optimal regimen of screening. (orig.)

  12. Non-radioactive detection of trinucleotide repeat size variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomé, Stéphanie; Nicole, Annie; Gomes-Pereira, Mario; Gourdon, Genevieve

    2014-03-06

    Many human diseases are associated with the abnormal expansion of unstable trinucleotide repeat sequences. The mechanisms of trinucleotide repeat size mutation have not been fully dissected, and their understanding must be grounded on the detailed analysis of repeat size distributions in human tissues and animal models. Small-pool PCR (SP-PCR) is a robust, highly sensitive and efficient PCR-based approach to assess the levels of repeat size variation, providing both quantitative and qualitative data. The method relies on the amplification of a very low number of DNA molecules, through sucessive dilution of a stock genomic DNA solution. Radioactive Southern blot hybridization is sensitive enough to detect SP-PCR products derived from single template molecules, separated by agarose gel electrophoresis and transferred onto DNA membranes. We describe a variation of the detection method that uses digoxigenin-labelled locked nucleic acid probes. This protocol keeps the sensitivity of the original method, while eliminating the health risks associated with the manipulation of radiolabelled probes, and the burden associated with their regulation, manipulation and waste disposal.

  13. Repeated Causal Decision Making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagmayer, York; Meder, Bjorn

    2013-01-01

    Many of our decisions refer to actions that have a causal impact on the external environment. Such actions may not only allow for the mere learning of expected values or utilities but also for acquiring knowledge about the causal structure of our world. We used a repeated decision-making paradigm to examine what kind of knowledge people acquire in…

  14. Adverse drug reactions to CT contrast media in south Korea: Incidence and risk factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bae, Kyung Soo; Jeon, Kyung Nyeo; Moon, Jin Il; Choi, Bo Hwa; Baek, Hye Jin; Cho, Soo Buem; Lee, Sang Min; Ha, Ji Young; Choi, Dae Seob; Cho, Jae Min; Na, Jae Beom

    2016-01-01

    To evaluate the incidence, severity, and risk factors of adverse drug reactions (ADR) to intravenous administration of nonionic iodinated contrast media in computed tomography (CT), and to determine the recurrence rate after premedication in patients with a previous history of ADR. We prospectively recorded all ADR to intravenous CT contrast media in 32313 consecutive outpatients (54572 cases) who underwent contrast enhanced CT examinations. Clinical report forms and electronic medical records were reviewed to search for the incidence of ADR, treatment, and clinical outcome of patients. The risk factors of ADR to CT contrast media (age, sex, history of previous ADR, season) were evaluated using statistical analysis. Of the 54572 cases, a total of 191 (0.35%) had adverse reactions. Of the 191 cases, 157 (82%) were categorized as mild reactions, 29 (15%) were moderate, and 5 (3%) were severe. A total of 165 (86.4%) cases had acute adverse reactions (which occurred within 1 hour after administration), while 26 (13.6%) had delayed adverse reactions (occurred 1 hour after the administration). The rate of ADR was significantly higher in females [relative risk (RR) = 2.05, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.53-2.75], patients under the age of 60 years (RR = 1.45, 95% CI 1.07-1.98), patients with a history of previous ADR (RR = 6.51, 95% CI 3.13-13.57), and in the spring season (RR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.07-1.95). The recurrence rate after premedication in patients with previous ADR to CT contrast media was 3.2% (8/247). No deaths occurred that were attributed to the contrast media. The incidence of ADR to nonionic CT contrast media was 0.35%; most of which were mild reactions. Risk factors for ADR included female gender, an age of under 60 years, a history of previous ADR, and spring season

  15. Adverse drug reactions to CT contrast media in south Korea: Incidence and risk factors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bae, Kyung Soo; Jeon, Kyung Nyeo; Moon, Jin Il; Choi, Bo Hwa; Baek, Hye Jin; Cho, Soo Buem [Dept. of Radiology, Gyeongsang National University Changwon Hospital, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Changwon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Sang Min; Ha, Ji Young; Choi, Dae Seob; Cho, Jae Min; Na, Jae Beom [Dept. of Radiology, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-07-15

    To evaluate the incidence, severity, and risk factors of adverse drug reactions (ADR) to intravenous administration of nonionic iodinated contrast media in computed tomography (CT), and to determine the recurrence rate after premedication in patients with a previous history of ADR. We prospectively recorded all ADR to intravenous CT contrast media in 32313 consecutive outpatients (54572 cases) who underwent contrast enhanced CT examinations. Clinical report forms and electronic medical records were reviewed to search for the incidence of ADR, treatment, and clinical outcome of patients. The risk factors of ADR to CT contrast media (age, sex, history of previous ADR, season) were evaluated using statistical analysis. Of the 54572 cases, a total of 191 (0.35%) had adverse reactions. Of the 191 cases, 157 (82%) were categorized as mild reactions, 29 (15%) were moderate, and 5 (3%) were severe. A total of 165 (86.4%) cases had acute adverse reactions (which occurred within 1 hour after administration), while 26 (13.6%) had delayed adverse reactions (occurred 1 hour after the administration). The rate of ADR was significantly higher in females [relative risk (RR) = 2.05, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.53-2.75], patients under the age of 60 years (RR = 1.45, 95% CI 1.07-1.98), patients with a history of previous ADR (RR = 6.51, 95% CI 3.13-13.57), and in the spring season (RR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.07-1.95). The recurrence rate after premedication in patients with previous ADR to CT contrast media was 3.2% (8/247). No deaths occurred that were attributed to the contrast media. The incidence of ADR to nonionic CT contrast media was 0.35%; most of which were mild reactions. Risk factors for ADR included female gender, an age of under 60 years, a history of previous ADR, and spring season.

  16. Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Business (and) Communication Strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Netzley, Michael

    2001-01-01

    Investigates Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and its potential as a topic for business communication practice and research. Explores what ADR is; how mediation and ADR are used in business; how mediation and ADR are similar to and different from negotiating; and two or three essential learning points or skills to teach business students about…

  17. Adverse drug reactions in older patients during hospitalisation: are they predictable?

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    O'Connor, Marie N

    2012-11-01

    adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major cause of morbidity and healthcare utilisation in older people. The GerontoNet ADR risk score aims to identify older people at risk of ADRs during hospitalisation. We aimed to assess the clinical applicability of this score and identify other variables that predict ADRs in hospitalised older people.

  18. Systematic drug safety evaluation based on public genomic expression (Connectivity Map) data: Myocardial and infectious adverse reactions as application cases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Kejian; Weng, Zuquan; Sun, Liya; Sun, Jiazhi; Zhou, Shu-Feng; He, Lin

    2015-01-01

    Adverse drug reaction (ADR) is of great importance to both regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical industry. Various techniques, such as quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) and animal toxicology, are widely used to identify potential risks during the preclinical stage of drug development. Despite these efforts, drugs with safety liabilities can still pass through safety checkpoints and enter the market. This situation raises the concern that conventional chemical structure analysis and phenotypic screening are not sufficient to avoid all clinical adverse events. Genomic expression data following in vitro drug treatments characterize drug actions and thus have become widely used in drug repositioning. In the present study, we explored prediction of ADRs based on the drug-induced gene-expression profiles from cultured human cells in the Connectivity Map (CMap) database. The results showed that drugs inducing comparable ADRs generally lead to similar CMap expression profiles. Based on such ADR-gene expression association, we established prediction models for various ADRs, including severe myocardial and infectious events. Drugs with FDA boxed warnings of safety liability were effectively identified. We therefore suggest that drug-induced gene expression change, in combination with effective computational methods, may provide a new dimension of information to facilitate systematic drug safety evaluation. - Highlights: • Drugs causing common toxicity lead to similar in vitro gene expression changes. • We built a model to predict drug toxicity with drug-specific expression profiles. • Drugs with FDA black box warnings were effectively identified by our model. • In vitro assay can detect severe toxicity in the early stage of drug development

  19. Active Disaster Response System for a Smart Building

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Chun-Yen; Chu, Edward T.-H; Ku, Lun-Wei; Liu, Jane W. S.

    2014-01-01

    Disaster warning and surveillance systems have been widely applied to help the public be aware of an emergency. However, existing warning systems are unable to cooperate with household appliances or embedded controllers; that is, they cannot provide enough time for preparedness and evacuation, especially for disasters like earthquakes. In addition, the existing warning and surveillance systems are not responsible for collecting sufficient information inside a building for relief workers to conduct a proper rescue action after a disaster happens. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a proof of concept prototype, named the active disaster response system (ADRS), which automatically performs emergency tasks when an earthquake happens. ADRS can interpret Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) messages, published by an official agency, and actuate embedded controllers to perform emergency tasks to respond to the alerts. Examples of emergency tasks include opening doors and windows and cutting off power lines and gas valves. In addition, ADRS can maintain a temporary network by utilizing the embedded controllers; hence, victims trapped inside a building are still able to post emergency messages if the original network is disconnected. We conducted a field trial to evaluate the effectiveness of ADRS after an earthquake happened. Our results show that compared to manually operating emergency tasks, ADRS can reduce the operation time by up to 15 s, which is long enough for people to get under sturdy furniture, or to evacuate from the third floor to the first floor, or to run more than 100 m. PMID:25237897

  20. Systematic drug safety evaluation based on public genomic expression (Connectivity Map) data: Myocardial and infectious adverse reactions as application cases

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Kejian, E-mail: kejian.wang.bio@gmail.com [Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai (China); Weng, Zuquan [Japan National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Kawasaki (Japan); Sun, Liya [Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai (China); Sun, Jiazhi; Zhou, Shu-Feng [Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL (United States); He, Lin, E-mail: helin@Bio-X.com [Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai (China)

    2015-02-13

    Adverse drug reaction (ADR) is of great importance to both regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical industry. Various techniques, such as quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) and animal toxicology, are widely used to identify potential risks during the preclinical stage of drug development. Despite these efforts, drugs with safety liabilities can still pass through safety checkpoints and enter the market. This situation raises the concern that conventional chemical structure analysis and phenotypic screening are not sufficient to avoid all clinical adverse events. Genomic expression data following in vitro drug treatments characterize drug actions and thus have become widely used in drug repositioning. In the present study, we explored prediction of ADRs based on the drug-induced gene-expression profiles from cultured human cells in the Connectivity Map (CMap) database. The results showed that drugs inducing comparable ADRs generally lead to similar CMap expression profiles. Based on such ADR-gene expression association, we established prediction models for various ADRs, including severe myocardial and infectious events. Drugs with FDA boxed warnings of safety liability were effectively identified. We therefore suggest that drug-induced gene expression change, in combination with effective computational methods, may provide a new dimension of information to facilitate systematic drug safety evaluation. - Highlights: • Drugs causing common toxicity lead to similar in vitro gene expression changes. • We built a model to predict drug toxicity with drug-specific expression profiles. • Drugs with FDA black box warnings were effectively identified by our model. • In vitro assay can detect severe toxicity in the early stage of drug development.

  1. Quantitative Proteomics Analysis Identifies Mitochondria as Therapeutic Targets of Multidrug-Resistance in Ovarian Cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xiulan; Wei, Shasha; Ma, Ying; Lu, Jie; Niu, Gang; Xue, Yanhong; Chen, Xiaoyuan; Yang, Fuquan

    2014-01-01

    Doxorubicin is a widely used chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of a variety of solid tumors. However, resistance to this anticancer drug is a major obstacle to the effective treatment of tumors. As mitochondria play important roles in cell life and death, we anticipate that mitochondria may be related to drug resistance. Here, stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC)-based quantitative proteomic strategy was applied to compare mitochondrial protein expression in doxorubicin sensitive OVCAR8 cells and its doxorubicin-resistant variant NCI_ADR/RES cells. A total of 2085 proteins were quantified, of which 122 proteins displayed significant changes in the NCI_ADR/RES cells. These proteins participated in a variety of cell processes including cell apoptosis, substance metabolism, transport, detoxification and drug metabolism. Then qRT-PCR and western blot were applied to validate the differentially expressed proteins quantified by SILAC. Further functional studies with RNAi demonstrated TOP1MT, a mitochondrial protein participated in DNA repair, was involved in doxorubicin resistance in NCI_ADR/RES cells. Besides the proteomic study, electron microscopy and fluorescence analysis also observed that mitochondrial morphology and localization were greatly altered in NCI_ADR/RES cells. Mitochondrial membrane potential was also decreased in NCI_ADR/RES cells. All these results indicate that mitochondrial function is impaired in doxorubicin-resistant cells and mitochondria play an important role in doxorubicin resistance. This research provides some new information about doxorubicin resistance, indicating that mitochondria could be therapeutic targets of doxorubicin resistance in ovarian cancer cells. PMID:25285166

  2. Intra-examiner repeatability and agreement in accommodative response measurements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antona, B; Sanchez, I; Barrio, A; Barra, F; Gonzalez, E

    2009-11-01

    Clinical measurement of the accommodative response (AR) identifies the focusing plane of a subject with respect to the accommodative target. To establish whether a significant change in AR has occurred, it is important to determine the repeatability of this measurement. This study had two aims: First, to determine the intraexaminer repeatability of AR measurements using four clinical methods: Nott retinoscopy, monocular estimate method (MEM) retinoscopy, binocular crossed cylinder test (BCC) and near autorefractometry. Second, to study the level of agreement between AR measurements obtained with the different methods. The AR of the right eye at one accommodative demand of 2.50 D (40 cm) was measured on two separate occasions in 61 visually normal subjects of mean age 19.7 years (range 18-32 years). The intraexaminer repeatability of the tests, and agreement between them, were estimated by the Bland-Altman method. We determined mean differences (MD) and the 95% limits of agreement [coefficient of repeatability (COR) and coefficient of agreement (COA)]. Nott retinoscopy and BCC offered the best repeatability, showing the lowest MD and narrowest 95% interval of agreement (Nott: -0.10 +/- 0.66 D, BCC: -0.05 +/- 0.75 D). The 95% limits of agreement for the four techniques were similar (COA = +/- 0.92 to +/-1.00 D) yet clinically significant, according to the expected values of the AR. The two dynamic retinoscopy techniques (Nott and MEM) had a better agreement (COA = +/-0.64 D) although this COA must be interpreted in the context of the low MEM repeatability (COR = +/-0.98 D). The best method of assessing AR was Nott retinoscopy. The BCC technique was also repeatable, and both are recommended as suitable methods for clinical use. Despite better agreement between MEM and Nott, agreement among the remaining methods was poor such that their interchangeable use in clinical practice is not recommended.

  3. Repeatability of cervical joint flexion and extension within and between days

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Xu; Lindstroem, René; Plocharski, Maciej

    2018-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate within- and between-day repeatability of free and unrestricted healthy cervical flexion and extension motion when assessing dynamic cervical spine motion. METHODS: Fluoroscopy videos of 2 repeated cervical flexion and 2 repeated extension...

  4. Analysis of genetic polymorphism of nine short tandem repeat loci in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Yomi

    2012-03-15

    Mar 15, 2012 ... Key words: short tandem repeat, repeat motif, genetic polymorphism, Han population, forensic genetics. INTRODUCTION. Short tandem repeat (STR) is widely .... Data analysis. The exact test of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was conducted with. Arlequin version 3.5 software (Computational and Molecular.

  5. Repeated checking causes memory distrust

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Hout, M.; Kindt, M.

    2003-01-01

    This paper attempts to explain why in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) checkers distrust in memory persists despite extensive checking. It is argued that: (1) repeated checking increases familiarity with the issues checked; (2) increased familiarity promotes conceptual processing which inhibits

  6. Medical malpractice reform: the role of alternative dispute resolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sohn, David H; Bal, B Sonny

    2012-05-01

    Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) refers to techniques used to resolve conflicts without going to the courtroom. As healthcare and malpractice costs continue to rise, there is growing interest in tactics such as early apology, mediation, and arbitration in the medical arena. (1) Why is ADR needed? (2) Is ADR useful in health care? (3) What are the current legal and political developments favoring ADR? (4) What obstacles remain? We performed MEDLINE, PubMed, and Google Scholar searches with key words "medical malpractice", "ADR", and "alternative dispute resolution" to obtain public policy studies, law review articles, case analyses, ADR surveys, and healthcare review articles. Early apology and disclosure programs report 50% to 67% success in avoiding litigation as well as substantial reductions in the amount paid per claim. Mediation boasts 75% to 90% success in avoiding litigation, cost savings of $50,000 per claim, and 90% satisfaction rates among both plaintiffs and defendants. Arbitration is viewed as less satisfying and less efficient than mediation but still more time- and cost-effective than litigation. The current legal environment is favorable to ADR with recent court decisions upholding pretreatment arbitration clauses. The main obstacle to ADR is the mandatory reporting requirement of the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). ADR has the potential to help reform the current tort system, reducing cost and increasing both parties' satisfaction. Easing the reporting requirements for the NPDB would lead to more widespread acceptance of ADR among physicians.

  7. A family of DNA repeats in Aspergillus nidulans has assimilated degenerated retrotransposons

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, M.L.; Hermansen, T.D.; Aleksenko, Alexei Y.

    2001-01-01

    In the course of a chromosomal walk towards the centromere of chromosome IV of Aspergillus nidulans, several cross- hybridizing genomic cosmid clones were isolated. Restriction mapping of two such clones revealed that their restriction patterns were similar in a region of at least 15 kb, indicati......) phenomenon, first described in Neurospora crassa, may have operated in A. nidulans. The data indicate that this family of repeats has assimilated mobile elements that subsequently degenerated but then underwent further duplications as a part of the host repeats....... the presence of a large repeat. The nature of the repeat was further investigated by sequencing and Southern analysis. The study revealed a family of long dispersed repeats with a high degree of sequence similarity. The number and location of the repeats vary between wild isolates. Two copies of the repeat...

  8. Do Geriatric Conditions Increase Risk of Adverse Drug Reactions in Ambulatory Elders? Results From the VA GEM Drug Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanlon, Joseph T.; Sloane, Richard J.; Boscardin, W. John; Schmader, Kenneth E.

    2011-01-01

    Background. Many clinicians prescribe cautiously to older adults with common geriatric conditions for fear of causing adverse drug reactions (ADRs). However, little is known about the association between these conditions and risk of ADRs. Methods. Using data from the VA Geriatric Evaluation and Management Drug Study, we determined any, preventable, and serious ADRs in 808 elders for 12 months after hospital discharge using a validated process involving patient self-report and chart review adjudicated by two health care professionals. Eight common geriatric conditions (activities of daily living, dementia, incontinence, falls, difficulty ambulating, malnourishment, depression, and prolonged bed rest) were evaluated at study baseline through self-report and structured assessments. We used Poisson regression to model the relationship between these geriatric conditions and ADRs. Results. Participants had a mean of 2.9 ± 1.2 geriatric conditions. Over the 12-month follow-up period, 497 ADRs occurred in 269 participants, including 187 ADRs considered preventable and 127 considered severe. On multivariable analyses, participants with dependency in one or more activities of daily living were less likely to suffer ADRs than those who were fully independent (incidence rate ratio: 0.78, 95% confidence interval = 0.62–1.00). None of the other seven geriatric conditions assessed were associated with ADR risk. Results were similar for preventable and serious ADRs, although participants with a history of falls were more likely to develop serious ADRs (incidence rate ratio: 1.49, 95% confidence interval = 1.00–2.21). Conclusions. Many geriatric conditions were not associated with risk of ADRs. Although it is prudent to prescribe judiciously in patients with these conditions, excessive caution may not be warranted. PMID:21321003

  9. Adriamycin-induced oxidative stress is prevented by mixed hydro-alcoholic extract of Nigella sativa and Curcuma longa in rat kidney.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohebbati, Reza; Shafei, Mohammad Naser; Soukhtanloo, Mohammad; Mohammadian Roshan, Noema; Khajavi Rad, Abolfazl; Anaeigoudari, Akbar; Hosseinian, Sara; Karimi, Sareh; Beheshti, Farimah

    2016-01-01

    Inflammation and oxidative stress is considered to have a crucial role in induction of nephropathy. Curcuma longa (C. longa) and Nigella sativa (N. sativa) have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. This study was designed to investigate the effect of mixed hydro-alcoholic extract of N.sativa and C. longa on the oxidative stress induced by Adriamycin (ADR) in rat kidney. The animals were divided into 6 groups: control (CO), ADR, Adriamycin+ Vitamin C (ADR+VIT C), C. longa extract+ Adriamycin (C.LE+ADR), N. sativa extract+ Adriamycin (N.SE+ADR) and C. longa extract+ N. sativa extract + Adriamycin (N.S+C.L+ADR). ADR (5mg/kg) was injected intravenously, whereas VITC (100mg/kg) and extract of C. longa (1000mg/kg) and N. sativa (200mg/kg) were administrated orally. Finally, the renal tissue, urine and blood samples were collected and submitted to measure of redox markers, osmolarity and renal index. The renal content of total thiol and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity significantly decreased and Malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration increased in Adriamycin group compared to control group. The renal content of total thiol and SOD activity significantly enhanced and MDA concentration reduced in treated-mixed extract of C. longa and N. sativa along with ADR group compared to ADR group. The mixed extract did not restore increased renal index percentage induced by ADR. There also was no significant difference in urine and serum osmolarity between the groups. hydro-alcoholic extracts of N.sativa and C.longa led to an improvement in ADR-induced oxidative stress and mixed administration of the extracts enhanced the aforementioned therapeutic effect.

  10. 45 CFR 74.91 - Alternative dispute resolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... resolution (ADR) techniques. ADR often is effective in reducing the cost, delay and contentiousness involved in appeals and other traditional ways of handling disputes. ADR techniques include mediation, neutral...

  11. Repeated radiation injuries by fission products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vasilenko, I.Ya.

    1986-01-01

    Attention is given to repeated radiation injuries during internal irradiation of theoretical and practical interest, particularly in case of the intake into organism of young products of nuclear fission (PNF). The results of experiments with dogs with repeated radioactive iodine injury the isotopes of which (131-135sub(I)) constitute a considerable part of PNF activity are discussed. The blood reaction and protein metabolism state have been studied. Observations for dogs have been continued for about 4 years. The doses for thyroid, gastrointestinal tract and liver subjected to the most intensive irradiation consituted in the first series of experiments after the first intake about 3;0.3;0.05 Gy, after the second - 5;0.5;0.08 Gy and in the second series of experiments - 3;0.3;0.05 Gy and 0.6;0.06;0.01 Gy, respectively. Hematologic factors,thyroid function, changes in exchange and immunologic reactivity have been studied. The dogs have been under observation for 5 years. It is shown in case of repeated intake of Isup(131) PNF into animals organism in quantity which does not cause during the acute period a clinically outlined sickness, substantial differences in the organism reaction as compared with the first intake of radionuclides have not been found. The presence of residual radiation injuries did not cause charging action during the acute period during PNF and repeated intake which in the author's opinion testifies to perfection of compensator mechanisms in case of intake of such quantities of radioactive products. At the remote periods blastomogenic action manifested which is estimated as a result of general biological action of radionuclides administered to the organism. The necessity in subsequent investigations for obtaining the data on organism reactivity, clinic and pathogenesis with the aim of prophylaxis and treatment of such injuries is indicated

  12. Design and analysis of communication protocols for quantum repeater networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jones, Cody; Kim, Danny; Rakher, Matthew T; Ladd, Thaddeus D; Kwiat, Paul G

    2016-01-01

    We analyze how the performance of a quantum-repeater network depends on the protocol employed to distribute entanglement, and we find that the choice of repeater-to-repeater link protocol has a profound impact on entanglement-distribution rate as a function of hardware parameters. We develop numerical simulations of quantum networks using different protocols, where the repeater hardware is modeled in terms of key performance parameters, such as photon generation rate and collection efficiency. These parameters are motivated by recent experimental demonstrations in quantum dots, trapped ions, and nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. We find that a quantum-dot repeater with the newest protocol (‘MidpointSource’) delivers the highest entanglement-distribution rate for typical cases where there is low probability of establishing entanglement per transmission, and in some cases the rate is orders of magnitude higher than other schemes. Our simulation tools can be used to evaluate communication protocols as part of designing a large-scale quantum network. (paper)

  13. Repeated morphine treatment influences operant and spatial learning differentially

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Mei-Na WANG; Zhi-Fang DONG; Jun CAO; Lin XU

    2006-01-01

    Objective To investigate whether repeated morphine exposure or prolonged withdrawal could influence operant and spatial learning differentially. Methods Animals were chronically treated with morphine or subjected to morphine withdrawal. Then, they were subjected to two kinds of learning: operant conditioning and spatial learning.Results The acquisition of both simple appetitive and cued operant learning was impaired after repeated morphine treatment. Withdrawal for 5 weeks alleviated the impairments. Single morphine exposure disrupted the retrieval of operant memory but had no effect on rats after 5-week withdrawal. Contrarily, neither chronic morphine exposure nor 5-week withdrawal influenced spatial learning task of the Morris water maze. Nevertheless, the retrieval of spatial memory was impaired by repeated morphine exposure but not by 5-week withdrawal. Conclusion These observations suggest that repeated morphine exposure can influence different types of learning at different aspects, implicating that the formation of opiate addiction may usurp memory mechanisms differentially.

  14. Vital signs: Repeat births among teens - United States, 2007-2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-05

    Teen childbearing has potential negative health, economic, and social consequences for mother and child. Repeat teen childbearing further constrains the mother's education and employment possibilities. Rates of preterm and low birth weight are higher in teens with a repeat birth, compared with first births. To assess patterns of repeat childbearing and postpartum contraceptive use among teens, CDC analyzed natality data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) and the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) from 2007-2010. Based on 2010 NVSS data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, of more than 367,000 births to teens aged 15-19 years, 18.3% were repeat births. The percentage of teen births that represented repeat births decreased by 6.2% between 2007 and 2010. Disparities in repeat teen births exist by race/ethnicity, with the highest percentages found among American Indian/Alaska Natives (21.6%), Hispanics (20.9%), and non-Hispanic blacks (20.4%) and lowest among non-Hispanic whites (14.8%). Wide geographic disparities in the percentage of teen births that were repeat births also exist, ranging from 22% in Texas to 10% in New Hampshire. PRAMS data from 16 reporting areas (15 states and New York City) indicate that 91.2% of teen mothers used a contraceptive method 2-6 months after giving birth, but only 22.4% of teen mothers used the most effective methods. Teens with a previous live birth were significantly more likely to use the most effective methods postpartum compared with those with no prior live birth (29.6% versus 20.9%, respectively). Non-Hispanic white and Hispanic teens were significantly more likely to use the most effective methods than non-Hispanic black teens (24.6% and 27.9% versus 14.3%, respectively). The percentage of teens reporting postpartum use of the most effective methods varied greatly geographically across the PRAMS reporting areas, ranging from 50.3% in Colorado to 7.2% in New York State. Although the

  15. Learning With Repeated-Game Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christos A. Ioannou

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available We use the self-tuning Experience Weighted Attraction model with repeated-game strategies as a computer testbed to examine the relative frequency, speed of convergence and progression of a set of repeated-game strategies in four symmetric 2x2 games: Prisoner's Dilemma, Battle of the Sexes, Stag-Hunt, and Chicken. In the Prisoner's Dilemma game, we fi□nd that the strategy with the most occurrences is the Grim-Trigger. In the Battle of the Sexes game, a cooperative pair that alternates between the two pure-strategy Nash equilibria emerges as the one with the most occurrences. In the Stag-Hunt and Chicken games, the Win-Stay, Lose-Shift and Grim-Trigger strategies are the ones with the most occurrences. Overall, the pairs that converged quickly ended up at the cooperative outcomes, whereas the ones that were extremely slow to reach convergence ended up at non-cooperative outcomes.

  16. Gene conversion homogenizes the CMT1A paralogous repeats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hurles Matthew E

    2001-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Non-allelic homologous recombination between paralogous repeats is increasingly being recognized as a major mechanism causing both pathogenic microdeletions and duplications, and structural polymorphism in the human genome. It has recently been shown empirically that gene conversion can homogenize such repeats, resulting in longer stretches of absolute identity that may increase the rate of non-allelic homologous recombination. Results Here, a statistical test to detect gene conversion between pairs of non-coding sequences is presented. It is shown that the 24 kb Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1A paralogous repeats (CMT1A-REPs exhibit the imprint of gene conversion processes whilst control orthologous sequences do not. In addition, Monte Carlo simulations of the evolutionary divergence of the CMT1A-REPs, incorporating two alternative models for gene conversion, generate repeats that are statistically indistinguishable from the observed repeats. Bounds are placed on the rate of these conversion processes, with central values of 1.3 × 10-4 and 5.1 × 10-5 per generation for the alternative models. Conclusions This evidence presented here suggests that gene conversion may have played an important role in the evolution of the CMT1A-REP paralogous repeats. The rates of these processes are such that it is probable that homogenized CMT1A-REPs are polymorphic within modern populations. Gene conversion processes are similarly likely to play an important role in the evolution of other segmental duplications and may influence the rate of non-allelic homologous recombination between them.

  17. Exploiting heterogeneous publicly available data sources for drug safety surveillance: computational framework and case studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koutkias, Vassilis G; Lillo-Le Louët, Agnès; Jaulent, Marie-Christine

    2017-02-01

    Driven by the need of pharmacovigilance centres and companies to routinely collect and review all available data about adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and adverse events of interest, we introduce and validate a computational framework exploiting dominant as well as emerging publicly available data sources for drug safety surveillance. Our approach relies on appropriate query formulation for data acquisition and subsequent filtering, transformation and joint visualization of the obtained data. We acquired data from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), PubMed and Twitter. In order to assess the validity and the robustness of the approach, we elaborated on two important case studies, namely, clozapine-induced cardiomyopathy/myocarditis versus haloperidol-induced cardiomyopathy/myocarditis, and apixaban-induced cerebral hemorrhage. The analysis of the obtained data provided interesting insights (identification of potential patient and health-care professional experiences regarding ADRs in Twitter, information/arguments against an ADR existence across all sources), while illustrating the benefits (complementing data from multiple sources to strengthen/confirm evidence) and the underlying challenges (selecting search terms, data presentation) of exploiting heterogeneous information sources, thereby advocating the need for the proposed framework. This work contributes in establishing a continuous learning system for drug safety surveillance by exploiting heterogeneous publicly available data sources via appropriate support tools.

  18. Flanking Variation Influences Rates of Stutter in Simple Repeats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    August E. Woerner

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available It has been posited that the longest uninterrupted stretch (LUS of tandem repeats, as defined by the number of exactly matching repeating motif units, is a better predictor of rates of stutter than the parental allele length (PAL. While there are cases where this hypothesis is likely correct, such as the 9.3 allele in the TH01 locus, there can be situations where it may not apply as well. For example, the PAL may capture flanking indel variations while remaining insensitive to polymorphisms in the repeat, and these haplotypic changes may impact the stutter rate. To address this, rates of stutter were contrasted against the LUS as well as the PAL on different flanking haplotypic backgrounds. This study shows that rates of stutter can vary substantially depending on the flanking haplotype, and while there are cases where the LUS is a better predictor of stutter than the PAL, examples to the contrary are apparent in commonly assayed forensic markers. Further, flanking variation that is 7 bp from the repeat region can impact rates of stutter. These findings suggest that non-proximal effects, such as DNA secondary structure, may be impacting the rates of stutter in common forensic short tandem repeat markers.

  19. A COMPARISON OF PAIRS FIGURE SKATERS IN REPEATED JUMPS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William A. Sands

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Trends in pairs figure skating have shown that increasingly difficult jumps have become an essential aspect of high-level performance, especially in the latter part of a competitive program. We compared a repeated jump power index in a 60 s repeated jump test to determine the relationship of repeated jump test to competitive rank and to measure 2D hip, knee, and ankle angles and angular velocities at 0, 20, 40, and 60 s. Eighteen National Team Pairs Figure Skaters performed a 60 s repeated jump test on a large switch-mat with timing of flight and ground durations and digital video recording. Each 60-s period was divided into 6, 10-s intervals, with power indexes (W/kg calculated for each 10-s interval. Power index by 10-s interval repeated measures ANOVAs (RMANOVA showed that males exceeded females at all intervals, and the highest power index interval was during 10 to 20 s for both sexes. RMANOVAs of angles and angular velocities showed main effects for time only. Power index and jumping techniques among figure skaters showed rapid and steady declines over the test duration. Power index can predict approximately 50% of competitive rank variance, and sex differences in jumping technique were rare

  20. Characteristics of intergenerational contractions of the CTG repeat in myotonic dystropy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ashizawa, T.; Anvret, M.; Grandell, U.; Baiget, M.; Cobo, A.M.; Barcelo, J.M.; Korneluk, R.G.; Dallapiccola, B.; Novelli, G.; Fenwick, R.G. Jr. (and others)

    1994-03-01

    In myotonic dystropy (DM), the size of a CTG repeat in the DM kinase gene generally increases in successive generations with clinical evidence of anticipation. However, there have also been cases with an intergenerational contraction of the repeat. The authors have examined 1,489 DM parent-offspring pairs, of which 95 (6.4%) showed such contractions in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL). In 56 of th 95 pairs, clinical data allowed an analysis of their anticipation status. It is surprising that anticipation occurred in 27 (48%) of these 56 pairs, while none clearly showed a later onset of DM in the asymptomatic offspring. The contraction occurred in 76 (10%) of 753 paternal transmission and in 19 (3%) of 736 maternal transmissions. Anticipation was observed more frequently in maternal (85%) than in paternal (37%) transmissions (P<.001). The parental repeat size correlated with the size of intergenerational contraction (r[sup 2] = .50, P [much lt].001), and the slope of linear regression was steeper in paternal ([minus].62) than in maternal ([minus].30) transmissions (P [much lt].001). Sixteen DM parents had multiple DM offspring with the CTG repeat contractions. This frequency was higher than the frequency expected from the probability of the repeat contractions (6.4%) and the size of DM sib population (1.54 DM offspring per DM parent, in 968 DM parents). The authors conclude that (1) intergenerational contraction of the CTG repeat in leukocyte DNA frequently accompanies apparent anticipation, especially when DM is maternally transmitted, and (2) the paternal origin of the repeat and the presence of the repeat contraction in a sibling increase the probability of the CTG repeat contraction. 43 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs.

  1. Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) loci mapping in the genome of perennial ryegrass

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pivorienė, O; Pašakinskienė, I; Brazauskas, G

    2008-01-01

    The aim of this study was to identify and characterize new ISSR markers and their loci in the genome of perennial ryegrass. A subsample of the VrnA F2 mapping family of perennial ryegrass comprising 92 individuals was used to develop a linkage map including inter-simple sequence repeat markers...... demonstrated a 70% similarity to the Hordeum vulgare germin gene GerA. Inter-SSR mapping will provide useful information for gene targeting, quantitative trait loci mapping and marker-assisted selection in perennial ryegrass....

  2. Comparability and repeatability of three commonly used methods for measuring endurance capacity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baxter-Gilbert, James; Mühlenhaupt, Max; Whiting, Martin J

    2017-12-01

    Measures of endurance (time to exhaustion) have been used to address a wide range of questions in ecomorphological and physiological research, as well as being used as a proxy for survival and fitness. Swimming, stationary (circular) track running, and treadmill running are all commonly used methods for measuring endurance. Despite the use of these methods across a broad range of taxa, how comparable these methods are to one another, and whether they are biologically relevant, is rarely examined. We used Australian water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii), a species that is morphologically adept at climbing, swimming, and running, to compare these three methods of endurance and examined if there is repeatability within and between trial methods. We found that time to exhaustion was not highly repeatable within a method, suggesting that single measures or a mean time to exhaustion across trials are not appropriate. Furthermore, we compared mean maximal endurance times among the three methods, and found that the two running methods (i.e., stationary track and treadmill) were similar, but swimming was distinctly different, resulting in lower mean maximal endurance times. Finally, an individual's endurance rank was not repeatable across methods, suggesting that the three endurance trial methods are not providing similar information about an individual's performance capacity. Overall, these results highlight the need to carefully match a measure of performance capacity with the study species and the research questions being asked so that the methods being used are behaviorally, ecologically, and physiologically relevant. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Huntingtin gene repeat size variations affect risk of lifetime depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gardiner, Sarah L; van Belzen, Martine J; Boogaard, Merel W; van Roon-Mom, Willeke M C; Rozing, Maarten P; van Hemert, Albert M; Smit, Johannes H; Beekman, Aartjan T F; van Grootheest, Gerard; Schoevers, Robert A; Oude Voshaar, Richard C; Roos, Raymund A C; Comijs, Hannie C; Penninx, Brenda W J H; van der Mast, Roos C; Aziz, N Ahmad

    2017-12-11

    Huntington disease (HD) is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder caused by a cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) repeat expansion in the HTT gene. Although HD is frequently complicated by depression, it is still unknown to what extent common HTT CAG repeat size variations in the normal range could affect depression risk in the general population. Using binary logistic regression, we assessed the association between HTT CAG repeat size and depression risk in two well-characterized Dutch cohorts─the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety and the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older Persons─including 2165 depressed and 1058 non-depressed persons. In both cohorts, separately as well as combined, there was a significant non-linear association between the risk of lifetime depression and HTT CAG repeat size in which both relatively short and relatively large alleles were associated with an increased risk of depression (β = -0.292 and β = 0.006 for the linear and the quadratic term, respectively; both P < 0.01 after adjustment for the effects of sex, age, and education level). The odds of lifetime depression were lowest in persons with a HTT CAG repeat size of 21 (odds ratio: 0.71, 95% confidence interval: 0.52 to 0.98) compared to the average odds in the total cohort. In conclusion, lifetime depression risk was higher with both relatively short and relatively large HTT CAG repeat sizes in the normal range. Our study provides important proof-of-principle that repeat polymorphisms can act as hitherto unappreciated but complex genetic modifiers of depression.

  4. Repeated assessments of symptom severity improve predictions for risk of death among patients with cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutradhar, Rinku; Atzema, Clare; Seow, Hsien; Earle, Craig; Porter, Joan; Barbera, Lisa

    2014-12-01

    Although prior studies show the importance of self-reported symptom scores as predictors of cancer survival, most are based on scores recorded at a single point in time. To show that information on repeated assessments of symptom severity improves predictions for risk of death and to use updated symptom information for determining whether worsening of symptom scores is associated with a higher hazard of death. This was a province-based longitudinal study of adult outpatients who had a cancer diagnosis and had assessments of symptom severity. We implemented a time-to-death Cox model with a time-varying covariate for each symptom to account for changing symptom scores over time. This model was compared with that using only a time-fixed (baseline) covariate for each symptom. The regression coefficients of each model were derived based on a randomly selected 60% of patients, and then, the predictive performance of each model was assessed via concordance probabilities when applied to the remaining 40% of patients. This study had 66,112 patients diagnosed with cancer and more than 310,000 assessments of symptoms. The use of repeated assessments of symptom scores improved predictions for risk of death compared with using only baseline symptom scores. Increased pain and fatigue and reduced appetite were the strongest predictors for death. If available, researchers should consider including changing information on symptom scores, as opposed to only baseline information on symptom scores, when examining hazard of death among patients with cancer. Worsening of pain, fatigue, and appetite may be a flag for impending death. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Hyaluronan and calcium carbonate hybrid nanoparticles for colorectal cancer chemotherapy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bai, Jinghui; Xu, Jian; Zhao, Jian; Zhang, Rui

    2017-09-01

    A hybrid drug delivery system (DDS) composed of hyaluronan and calcium carbonate (CC) was developed. By taking advantage of the tumor-targeting ability of hyaluronan and the drug-loading property of CC, the well-formed hyaluronan-CC nanoparticles were able to serve as a DDS targeting colorectal cancer with a decent drug loading content, which is beneficial in the chemotherapy of colorectal cancer. In this study, hyaluronan-CC nanoparticles smaller than 100 nm were successfully developed to load the wide-range anti-cancer drug adriamycin (Adr) to construct hyaluronan-CC/Adr nanoparticles. On the other hand, we also found that hyaluronan-CC/Adr nanoparticles can possibly increase the uptake ratio of Adr into HT29 colorectal cancer cells when compared with hyaluronan-free nanoparticles (CC/Adr) via the CD44 receptor-mediated endocytosis via competitive uptake and in vivo imaging assays. Note that both in vitro (CCK-8 assay on HT29 cells) and in vivo (anti-cancer assay on HT-29 tumor-bearing nude mice model) experiments revealed that hyaluronan-CC/Adr nanoparticles exhibited stronger anti-cancer activity than free Adr or CC/Adr nanoparticles with minimized toxic side effects and preferable cancer-suppression potential.

  6. Methodological approaches to developing and establishing the body of evidence on post-marketing Chinese medicine safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Xing; Robinson, Nicola

    2013-07-01

    Evidence based medicine demands the highest form of scientific evidence to demonstrate the efficacy and clinical effectiveness for any therapeutic intervention in order to provide best care. It is however accepted that in the absence of scientific evidence, personal experience and expert opinion together with professional judgement are critical. Obtaining evidence for drug safety, postmarketing surveillance (PMS) has focussed on follow up of observational cohorts exposed to a particular drug in order to estimate the incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Evidence on PMS of Chinese herbal products is still limited, in particular for herbal injections. The aim of this article is to suggest a new model of ascertaining the safety of Chinese medicine using a more comprehensive approach for collecting data. To collect safety data on the Chinese herbal injection, Kudiezi, a mixed methods approach is proposed using 18 hospital information systems to detect ADRs in order to prospectively observe 30,000 patients over 3 years. Evidence will also be collected using a questionnaire survey and through a sample of semi structured interviews. This information based on the expert opinion and the experience of clinicians will produce additional data on the frequency and types of side effects in clinical practice. Furthermore semi structured interviews with a random sample of patients receiving the injection will be carried out to ascertain any potential side effects missed. It is hoped that this comprehensive approach to data collection will accumulate wider evidence based on individual traditional Chinese medicine care and treatment and provide important feedback to the national data collection system to ensure completeness of ADR data recording, monitoring and any potential wider effects through developing improved ADR guidelines.

  7. Towards accurate de novo assembly for genomes with repeats

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bucur, Doina

    2017-01-01

    De novo genome assemblers designed for short k-mer length or using short raw reads are unlikely to recover complex features of the underlying genome, such as repeats hundreds of bases long. We implement a stochastic machine-learning method which obtains accurate assemblies with repeats and

  8. Repeat cesarean delivery: what indications are recorded in the medical chart?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lydon-Rochelle, Mona T; Gardella, Carolyn; Cárdenas, Vicky; Easterling, Thomas R

    2006-03-01

    National surveillance estimates reported a troubling 63 percent decline in the rate of vaginal birth after cesarean delivery (VBAC) from 1996 (28.3%) to 2003 (10.6%), with subsequent rising rates of repeat cesarean delivery. The study objective was to examine patterns of documented indications for repeat cesarean delivery in women with and without labor. We conducted a population-based validation study of 19 nonfederal short-stay hospitals in Washington state. Of the 4,541 women who had live births in 2000, 11 percent (n = 493) had repeat cesarean without labor and 3 percent (n = 138) had repeat cesarean with labor. Incidence of medical conditions and pregnancy complications, patterns of documented indications for repeat cesarean delivery, and perioperative complications in relation to repeat cesarean delivery with and without labor were calculated. Of the 493 women who underwent a repeat cesarean delivery without labor, "elective"(36%) and "maternal request"(18%) were the most common indications. Indications for maternal medical conditions (3.0%) were uncommon. Among the 138 women with repeat cesarean delivery with labor, 60.1 percent had failure to progress, 24.6 percent a non-reassuring fetal heart rate, 8.0 percent cephalopelvic disproportion, and 7.2 percent maternal request during labor. Fetal indications were less common (5.8%). Breech, failed vacuum, abruptio placentae, maternal complications, and failed forceps were all indicated less than 5.0 percent. Women's perioperative complications did not vary significantly between women without and with labor. Regardless of a woman's labor status, nearly 10 percent of women with repeat cesarean delivery had no documented indication as to why a cesarean delivery was performed. "Elective" and "maternal request" were common indications among women undergoing repeat cesarean delivery without labor, and nearly 10 percent of women had undocumented indications for repeat cesarean delivery in their medical record

  9. Revisiting Slow Slip Events Occurrence in Boso Peninsula, Japan, Combining GPS Data and Repeating Earthquakes Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gardonio, B.; Marsan, D.; Socquet, A.; Bouchon, M.; Jara, J.; Sun, Q.; Cotte, N.; Campillo, M.

    2018-02-01

    Slow slip events (SSEs) regularly occur near the Boso Peninsula, central Japan. Their time of recurrence has been decreasing from 6.4 to 2.2 years from 1996 to 2014. It is important to better constrain the slip history of this area, especially as models show that the recurrence intervals could become shorter prior to the occurrence of a large interplate earthquake nearby. We analyze the seismic waveforms of more than 2,900 events (M≥1.0) taking place in the Boso Peninsula, Japan, from 1 April 2004 to 4 November 2015, calculating the correlation and the coherence between each pair of events in order to define groups of repeating earthquakes. The cumulative number of repeating earthquakes suggests the existence of two slow slip events that have escaped detection so far. Small transient displacements observed in the time series of nearby GPS stations confirm these results. The detection scheme coupling repeating earthquakes and GPS analysis allow to detect small SSEs that were not seen before by classical methods. This work brings new information on the diversity of SSEs and demonstrates that the SSEs in Boso area present a more complex history than previously considered.

  10. Adverse drug reactions monitoring of psychotropic drugs: a tertiary care centre study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hemendra Singh

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Many new psychotropic drugs/ agents have been developed and found to be effective in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. However, these drugs also exhibit adverse drug reactions (ADRs which may affect compliance in psychiatric patients. Hence the present study was aimed at monitoring and assessing ADRs caused by psychotropic drugs. Methods: A hospital based prospective observational study was carried out in the psychiatry outpatient department of a tertiary care teaching hospital for the duration of six months. Two hundred and two patients were included in the study and ADRs were documented using a predesigned data collection form. The causality assessment was carried out as per the criteria of both the World Health Organization- Uppsala Monitoring Centre (WHO-UMC and Naranjo scale. Severity and predictability assessment of ADRs were also performed. Results: A total of 106 ADRs were observed during the study period with majority of them occurring in 25-35 years of age group (40.56%. Weight gain (18.86% followed by sedation (16.03% and insomnia (11.32% were found to be the commonest ADRs. Risperidone (19.8% and escitalopram (12.3% were the drugs responsible for majority of the ADRs. Causality assessment showed that most of ADRs were possible and probable. 94.33% of ADRs were found to be mild and 89% of them were predictable. Conclusion: A wide range of ADRs affecting central nervous and metabolic systems were reported with psychotropic drugs. The study findings necessitate the need for an active pharmacovigilance programme for the safe and effective use of psychotropics.

  11. Nephroprotective effect of heparanase in experimental nephrotic syndrome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suheir Assady

    Full Text Available Heparanase, an endoglycosidase that cleaves heparan sulfate (HS, is involved in various biologic processes. Recently, an association between heparanase and glomerular injury was suggested. The present study examines the involvement of heparanase in the pathogenesis of Adriamycin-induced nephrotic syndrome (ADR-NS in a mouse model.BALB/c wild-type (wt mice and heparanase overexpressing transgenic mice (hpa-TG were tail-vein injected with either Adriamycin (ADR, 10 mg/kg or vehicle. Albuminuria was investigated at days 0, 7, and 14 thereafter. Mice were sacrificed at day 15, and kidneys were harvested for various analyses: structure and ultrastructure alterations, podocyte proteins expression, and heparanase enzymatic activity.ADR-injected wt mice developed severe albuminuria, while ADR-hpa-TG mice showed only a mild elevation in urinary albumin excretion. In parallel, light microscopy of stained cross sections of kidneys from ADR-injected wt mice, but not hpa-TG mice, showed mild to severe glomerular and tubular damage. Western blot and immunofluorescence analyses revealed significant reduction in nephrin and podocin protein expression in ADR-wt mice, but not in ADR-hpa-TG mice. These results were substantiated by electron-microscopy findings showing massive foot process effacement in injected ADR-wt mice, in contrast to largely preserved integrity of podocyte architecture in ADR-hpa-TG mice.Our results suggest that heparanase may play a nephroprotective role in ADR-NS, most likely independently of HS degradation. Moreover, hpa-TG mice comprise an invaluable in vivo platform to investigate the interplay between heparanase and glomerular injury.

  12. Selection pressure on human STR loci and its relevance in repeat expansion disease

    KAUST Repository

    Shimada, Makoto K.; Sanbonmatsu, Ryoko; Yamaguchi-Kabata, Yumi; Yamasaki, Chisato; Suzuki, Yoshiyuki; Chakraborty, Ranajit; Gojobori, Takashi; Imanishi, Tadashi

    2016-01-01

    Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) comprise repeats of one to several base pairs. Because of the high mutability due to strand slippage during DNA synthesis, rapid evolutionary change in the number of repeating units directly shapes the range of repeat

  13. Peiminine serves as an adriamycin chemosensitizer in gastric cancer by modulating the EGFR/FAK pathway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Qianqian; Wang, Yunfei; Ma, Lanjing; Ding, Meiling; Li, Tingyu; Nie, Yongzhan; Gu, Zhengyi

    2018-03-01

    Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignancies of the digestive tract. Adriamycin (ADR) has been widely utilized in various chemotherapy regimens for treating GC, yet its long-term application may increase drug resistance resulting in treatment failure. Increasing evidence shows that bioactive natural products can be used as chemotherapeutic sensitizers that can significantly improve chemotherapy sensitivity. Peiminine (PMI) is a biologically active component extracted from Fritillaria walujewii Regel. Thus, in the present study, we aimed to investigate whether peiminine (PMI) alters the chemosensitivity of GC to adriamycin (ADR). GC cells were treated with ADR with or without PMI. MTT assay, flow cytometry and a nude mouse tumor xenograft model of SGC7901 cells were used to evaluate the chemosensitization activity of PMI combined with ADR. Western blotting was used to examine the expression of cyclin D1 and cleaved PARP. The RayBio® Human RTK phosphorylation antibody array kit was used to test the differential protein expression. Compared with the ADR group, PMI combined with ADR significantly suppressed cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis in vitro. The growth curve and tumor weight of the tumor xenografts were significantly decreased in mice treated with the combination of PMI and ADR. However, the organs showed no obvious abnormality after treatment with PMI plus ADR. The expression of cyclin D1 was decreased and the level of cleaved PARP was increased after treatment with PMI and ADR. The expression of p-EGFR and p-FAK was downregulated in cells treated with PMI and ADR, and the validation of p-EGFR and p-FAK was in accordance with the result of the phosphorylation antibody array kit. PMI may serve as a new chemosensitizer by inhibiting the proliferation and inducing the apoptosis to enhance the chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity of ADR in GC.

  14. Characteristics of persons with repeat syphilis - Idaho, 2011-2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kassem, Ahmed M; Bartschi, Jared; Carter, Kris K

    2018-03-14

    During 2011-2015 in Idaho, 14 (7%) of 193 persons with early syphilis had repeat syphilis. Persons with repeat infections were more likely to have had secondary or early latent syphilis (P = 0.037) and be infected with HIV (P < 0.001) compared with those having one infection.

  15. Zolpidem prescribing and adverse drug reactions in hospitalized general medicine patients at a Veterans Affairs hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahoney, Jane E; Webb, Melissa J; Gray, Shelly L

    2004-03-01

    Zolpidem is prescribed for sleep disruption in hospitalized patients, but data on the incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are based largely on outpatient studies. Thus, the incidence of ADRs in hospitalized patients may be much higher. The goal of this study was to describe prescribing patterns of zolpidem for hospitalized medical patients aged 50 years, the incidence of ADRs possibly and probably associated with its use, and the factors associated with central nervous system (CNS) ADRs. This case series was conducted in 4 general medicine wards at a Veterans Affairs hospital and was a consecutive sample of patients aged 50 years who were hospitalized between 1993 and 1997 and received zolpidem as a hypnotic during hospitalization, but had not received it in the previous 3 months. Chart review was conducted by 2 evaluators. Data extracted from the medical records included admission demographic characteristics, medications, comorbidities, and levels of function in performing basic and instrumental activities of daily living. The main outcome measure was ADRs possibly or probably related to zolpidem use. The association between zolpidem and the occurrence of CNS ADRs (eg, confusion, dizziness, daytime somnolence) was analyzed separately. The review included 119 medical patients aged > or =50 years who had newly received zolpidem for sleep disruption during hospitalization. The median age of the population was 70 years; 86 (72.3%) patients were aged 65 years. The initial zolpidem dose was 5 mg in 42 patients (35.3%) and 10 mg in 77 patients (64.7%). Twenty-three patients had a respective 16 and 10 ADRs possibly and probably related to zolpidem use (19.3% incidence). Of a total of 26 ADRs, 21 (80.8%) were CNS ADRs, occurring with both zolpidem 5 mg (10.8% of users) and 10 mg (18.3% of users). On univariate analyses, the only factor significantly associated with a CNS ADR was functional impairment at baseline (P = 0.003). Zolpidem was discontinued in 38.8% of

  16. Liposomal curcumin alters chemosensitivity of breast cancer cells to Adriamycin via regulating microRNA expression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Siying; Li, Jian; Xu, Hanzi; Zhang, Sijie; Chen, Xiu; Chen, Wei; Yang, Sujin; Zhong, Shanliang; Zhao, Jianhua; Tang, Jinhai

    2017-07-30

    Emerging evidence suggests that curcumin can overcome drug resistance to classical chemotherapies, but poor bioavailability and low absorption have limited its clinical use and the mechanisms remain unclear. Also, Adriamycin (Adr) is one of the most active cytotoxic agents in breast cancer; however, the high resistant rate of Adr leads to a poor prognosis. We utilized encapsulation in liposomes as a strategy to improve the bioavailability of curcumin and demonstrated that liposomal curcumin altered chemosensitivity of Adr-resistant MCF-7 human breast cancer (MCF-7/Adr) by MTT assay. The miRNA and mRNA expression profiles of MCF-7/S, MCF-7/Adr and curcumin-treated MCF-7/Adr cells were analyzed by microarray and further confirmed by real-time PCR. We focused on differentially expressed miR-29b-1-5p to explore the involvement of miR-29b-1-5p in the resistance of Adr. Candidate genes of dysregulated miRNAs were identified by prediction algorithms based on gene expression profiles. Networks of KEGG pathways were organized by the selected dysregulated miRNAs. Moreover, protein-protein interaction (PPI) was utilized to map protein interaction networks of curcumin regulated proteins. We first demonstrated liposomal curcumin could rescue part of Adriamycin resistance in breast cancer and further identified 67 differentially expressed microRNAs among MCF-7/S, MCF-7/Adr and curcumin-treated MCF-7/Adr. The results showed that lower expressed miR-29b-1-5p decreased the IC50 of MCF-7/Adr cells and higher expressed miR-29b-1-5p, weaken the effects of liposomal curcumin to Adr-resistance. Besides, we found that 20 target genes (mRNAs) of each dysregulated miRNA were not only predicted by prediction algorithms, but also differentially expressed in the microarray. The results showed that MAPK, mTOR, PI3K-Akt, AMPK, TNF, Ras signaling pathways and several target genes such as PPARG, RRM2, SRSF1and EPAS1, may associate with drug resistance of breast cancer cells to Adr. We determined

  17. Development of simple sequence repeat markers and diversity analysis in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zan; Yan, Hongwei; Fu, Xinnian; Li, Xuehui; Gao, Hongwen

    2013-04-01

    Efficient and robust molecular markers are essential for molecular breeding in plant. Compared to dominant and bi-allelic markers, multiple alleles of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are particularly informative and superior in genetic linkage map and QTL mapping in autotetraploid species like alfalfa. The objective of this study was to enrich SSR markers directly from alfalfa expressed sequence tags (ESTs). A total of 12,371 alfalfa ESTs were retrieved from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Total 774 SSR-containing ESTs were identified from 716 ESTs. On average, one SSR was found per 7.7 kb of EST sequences. Tri-nucleotide repeats (48.8 %) was the most abundant motif type, followed by di-(26.1 %), tetra-(11.5 %), penta-(9.7 %), and hexanucleotide (3.9 %). One hundred EST-SSR primer pairs were successfully designed and 29 exhibited polymorphism among 28 alfalfa accessions. The allele number per marker ranged from two to 21 with an average of 6.8. The PIC values ranged from 0.195 to 0.896 with an average of 0.608, indicating a high level of polymorphism of the EST-SSR markers. Based on the 29 EST-SSR markers, assessment of genetic diversity was conducted and found that Medicago sativa ssp. sativa was clearly different from the other subspecies. The high transferability of those EST-SSR markers was also found for relative species.

  18. Analyzing Repeated Measures Marginal Models on Sample Surveys with Resampling Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James D. Knoke

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Packaged statistical software for analyzing categorical, repeated measures marginal models on sample survey data with binary covariates does not appear to be available. Consequently, this report describes a customized SAS program which accomplishes such an analysis on survey data with jackknifed replicate weights for which the primary sampling unit information has been suppressed for respondent confidentiality. First, the program employs the Macro Language and the Output Delivery System (ODS to estimate the means and covariances of indicator variables for the response variables, taking the design into account. Then, it uses PROC CATMOD and ODS, ignoring the survey design, to obtain the design matrix and hypothesis test specifications. Finally, it enters these results into another run of CATMOD, which performs automated direct input of the survey design specifications and accomplishes the appropriate analysis. This customized SAS program can be employed, with minor editing, to analyze general categorical, repeated measures marginal models on sample surveys with replicate weights. Finally, the results of our analysis accounting for the survey design are compared to the results of two alternate analyses of the same data. This comparison confirms that such alternate analyses, which do not properly account for the design, do not produce useful results.

  19. Mechanism of Repeat-Associated MicroRNAs in Fragile X Syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen Kelley

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The majority of the human genome is comprised of non-coding DNA, which frequently contains redundant microsatellite-like trinucleotide repeats. Many of these trinucleotide repeats are involved in triplet repeat expansion diseases (TREDs such as fragile X syndrome (FXS. After transcription, the trinucleotide repeats can fold into RNA hairpins and are further processed by Dicer endoribonuclases to form microRNA (miRNA-like molecules that are capable of triggering targeted gene-silencing effects in the TREDs. However, the function of these repeat-associated miRNAs (ramRNAs is unclear. To solve this question, we identified the first native ramRNA in FXS and successfully developed a transgenic zebrafish model for studying its function. Our studies showed that ramRNA-induced DNA methylation of the FMR1 5′-UTR CGG trinucleotide repeat expansion is responsible for both pathological and neurocognitive characteristics linked to the transcriptional FMR1 gene inactivation and the deficiency of its protein product FMRP. FMRP deficiency often causes synapse deformity in the neurons essential for cognition and memory activities, while FMR1 inactivation augments metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR-activated long-term depression (LTD, leading to abnormal neuronal responses in FXS. Using this novel animal model, we may further dissect the etiological mechanisms of TREDs, with the hope of providing insights into new means for therapeutic intervention.

  20. Kinematic repeatability of a multi-segment foot model for dance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carter, Sarah L; Sato, Nahoko; Hopper, Luke S

    2018-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the intra and inter-assessor repeatability of a modified Rizzoli Foot Model for analysing the foot kinematics of ballet dancers. Six university-level ballet dancers performed the movements; parallel stance, turnout plié, turnout stance, turnout rise and flex-point-flex. The three-dimensional (3D) position of individual reflective markers and marker triads was used to model the movement of the dancers' tibia, entire foot, hindfoot, midfoot, forefoot and hallux. Intra and inter-assessor reliability demonstrated excellent (ICC ≥ 0.75) repeatability for the first metatarsophalangeal joint in the sagittal plane. Intra-assessor reliability demonstrated excellent (ICC ≥ 0.75) repeatability during flex-point-flex across all inter-segmental angles except for the tibia-hindfoot and hindfoot-midfoot frontal planes. Inter-assessor repeatability ranged from poor to excellent (0.5 > ICC ≥ 0.75) for the 3D segment rotations. The most repeatable measure was the tibia-foot dorsiflexion/plantar flexion articulation whereas the least repeatable measure was the hindfoot-midfoot adduction/abduction articulation. The variation found in the inter-assessor results is likely due to inconsistencies in marker placement. This 3D dance specific multi-segment foot model provides insight into which kinematic measures can be reliably used to ascertain in vivo technical errors and/or biomechanical abnormalities in a dancer's foot motion.

  1. Automated detection of repeated structures in building facades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Previtali

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Automatic identification of high-level repeated structures in 3D point clouds of building façades is crucial for applications like digitalization and building modelling. Indeed, in many architectural styles building façades are governed by arrangements of objects into repeated patterns. In particular, façades are generally designed as the repetition of some few basic objects organized into interlaced and\\or concatenated grid structures. Starting from this key observation, this paper presents an algorithm for Repeated Structure Detection (RSD in 3D point clouds of building façades. The presented methodology consists of three main phases. First, in the point cloud segmentation stage (i the building façade is decomposed into planar patches which are classified by means of some weak prior knowledge of urban buildings formulated in a classification tree. Secondly (ii, in the element clustering phase detected patches are grouped together by means of a similarity function and pairwise transformations between patches are computed. Eventually (iii, in the structure regularity estimation step the parameters of repeated grid patterns are calculated by using a Least- Squares optimization. Workability of the presented approach is tested using some real data from urban scenes.

  2. Aktuální chemický adresář na Webu

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Klán, Petr; Jindřich, J.; Rieger, S.

    2001-01-01

    Roč. 95, č. 7 (2001), s. 453-460 ISSN 0009-2770 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LI200008; GA MŠk LI200055 Institutional research plan: AV0Z1030915 Keywords : chemical web resources * chemistry of the web * chemical information * index of databases Subject RIV: BD - Theory of Information Impact factor: 0.317, year: 2001

  3. Genome-wide identification and validation of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) from Asparagus officinalis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Shufen; Zhang, Guojun; Li, Xu; Wang, Lianjun; Yuan, Jinhong; Deng, Chuanliang; Gao, Wujun

    2016-06-01

    Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), an important vegetable cultivated worldwide, can also serve as a model dioecious plant species in the study of sex determination and sex chromosome evolution. However, limited DNA marker resources have been developed and used for this species. To expand these resources, we examined the DNA sequences for simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in 163,406 scaffolds representing approximately 400 Mbp of the A. officinalis genome. A total of 87,576 SSRs were identified in 59,565 scaffolds. The most abundant SSR repeats were trinucleotide and tetranucleotide, accounting for 29.2 and 29.1% of the total SSRs, respectively, followed by di-, penta-, hexa-, hepta-, and octanucleotides. The AG motif was most common among dinucleotides and was also the most frequent motif in the entire A. officinalis genome, representing 14.7% of all SSRs. A total of 41,917 SSR primers pairs were designed to amplify SSRs. Twenty-two genomic SSR markers were tested in 39 asparagus accessions belonging to ten cultivars and one accession of Asparagus setaceus for determination of genetic diversity. The intra-species polymorphism information content (PIC) values of the 22 genomic SSR markers were intermediate, with an average of 0.41. The genetic diversity between the ten A. officinalis cultivars was low, and the UPGMA dendrogram was largely unrelated to cultivars. It is here suggested that the sex of individuals is an important factor influencing the clustering results. The information reported here provides new information about the organization of the microsatellites in A. officinalis genome and lays a foundation for further genetic studies and breeding applications of A. officinalis and related species. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Highly sensitive detection of individual HEAT and ARM repeats with HHpred and COACH.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kippert, Fred; Gerloff, Dietlind L

    2009-09-24

    HEAT and ARM repeats occur in a large number of eukaryotic proteins. As these repeats are often highly diverged, the prediction of HEAT or ARM domains can be challenging. Except for the most clear-cut cases, identification at the individual repeat level is indispensable, in particular for determining domain boundaries. However, methods using single sequence queries do not have the sensitivity required to deal with more divergent repeats and, when applied to proteins with known structures, in some cases failed to detect a single repeat. Testing algorithms which use multiple sequence alignments as queries, we found two of them, HHpred and COACH, to detect HEAT and ARM repeats with greatly enhanced sensitivity. Calibration against experimentally determined structures suggests the use of three score classes with increasing confidence in the prediction, and prediction thresholds for each method. When we applied a new protocol using both HHpred and COACH to these structures, it detected 82% of HEAT repeats and 90% of ARM repeats, with the minimum for a given protein of 57% for HEAT repeats and 60% for ARM repeats. Application to bona fide HEAT and ARM proteins or domains indicated that similar numbers can be expected for the full complement of HEAT/ARM proteins. A systematic screen of the Protein Data Bank for false positive hits revealed their number to be low, in particular for ARM repeats. Double false positive hits for a given protein were rare for HEAT and not at all observed for ARM repeats. In combination with fold prediction and consistency checking (multiple sequence alignments, secondary structure prediction, and position analysis), repeat prediction with the new HHpred/COACH protocol dramatically improves prediction in the twilight zone of fold prediction methods, as well as the delineation of HEAT/ARM domain boundaries. A protocol is presented for the identification of individual HEAT or ARM repeats which is straightforward to implement. It provides high

  5. Hybrid Semantic Analysis for Mapping Adverse Drug Reaction Mentions in Tweets to Medical Terminology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emadzadeh, Ehsan; Sarker, Abeed; Nikfarjam, Azadeh; Gonzalez, Graciela

    2017-01-01

    Social networks, such as Twitter, have become important sources for active monitoring of user-reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Automatic extraction of ADR information can be crucial for healthcare providers, drug manufacturers, and consumers. However, because of the non-standard nature of social media language, automatically extracted ADR mentions need to be mapped to standard forms before they can be used by operational pharmacovigilance systems. We propose a modular natural language processing pipeline for mapping (normalizing) colloquial mentions of ADRs to their corresponding standardized identifiers. We seek to accomplish this task and enable customization of the pipeline so that distinct unlabeled free text resources can be incorporated to use the system for other normalization tasks. Our approach, which we call Hybrid Semantic Analysis (HSA), sequentially employs rule-based and semantic matching algorithms for mapping user-generated mentions to concept IDs in the Unified Medical Language System vocabulary. The semantic matching component of HSA is adaptive in nature and uses a regression model to combine various measures of semantic relatedness and resources to optimize normalization performance on the selected data source. On a publicly available corpus, our normalization method achieves 0.502 recall and 0.823 precision (F-measure: 0.624). Our proposed method outperforms a baseline based on latent semantic analysis and another that uses MetaMap.

  6. Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices regarding Pharmacovigilance and Adverse Drug Reaction reporting among Dental Students in a Teaching Hospital, Jodhpur, India: A Cross-sectional Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chhabra, Kumar G; Sharma, Ashish; Chhabra, Chaya; Reddy, J Jyothirmai; Deolia, Shravani G; Mittal, Yogesh

    2017-10-01

    This is a cross-sectional knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAPs) study on pharmacovigilance (PV) and adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting among dental students in a teaching hospital in India. The aim of this study was to assess the KAP of dental students regarding PV, ADR reporting, and barriers toward the same. A cross-sectional survey using a self-administered, investigator-developed, close-ended questionnaire was conducted in an academic dental hospital in India. All prescribers including third year students, final year students, and house surgeons of the same institute were included for assessment of KAP regarding PV using 16, 8, and 8 items respectively. Data regarding barriers toward ADR reporting and demographics were also collected. Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal-Wallis test were applied followed by post hoc test. A total of 241 of 275 respondents participated in the study with a response rate of 87.5%. Overall, 64% reported that they had no idea about the term PV. Age was significantly associated with knowledge (p = 0.045) and attitude (p = 0.016). Barriers contributing to underreporting were difficulty in deciding whether or not an ADR has occurred (52.0%), concerns that the report may be wrong (37%), lack of confidence to discuss ADR with colleagues (29%), and almost no financial benefits (24%). Participants had a comparatively favorable attitude toward PV, but their knowledge and practice need considerable improvements. This study highlights the need for appropriate dental curriculum changes and further multicentric studies to shed more light on important issues of PV among dentists in India. This study explores dentists' knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding PV, which could help to improve patient's safety and care. The favorable attitude of dentists is an indication that PV could be added in depth in the curriculum and in general practice. Information on barriers for reporting the ADRs could help to find possible solutions for removing the

  7. Perfectionism and negative affect after repeated failure: Anxiety, depression, and anger

    OpenAIRE

    Stoeber, Joachim; Schneider, Natalia; Hussain, Rimi; Matthews, Kelly

    2014-01-01

    Perfectionists have shown increased negative affect after failure compared to nonperfectionists. However, little is known about how perfectionists react to repeated failure. This study investigated the effects of two forms of perfectionism--self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism--on 100 university students’ reactions to repeated failure (versus repeated success) examining three negative emotions: anxiety, depression, and anger. Results showed that socially prescribe...

  8. Coordination in continuously repeated games

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weeren, A.J.T.M.; Schumacher, J.M.; Engwerda, J.C.

    1995-01-01

    In this paper we propose a model to describe the effectiveness of coordination in a continuously repeated two-player game. We study how the choice of a decision rule by a coordinator affects the strategic behavior of the players, resulting in more or less cooperation. Our model requires the analysis

  9. Repeat-aware modeling and correction of short read errors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xiao; Aluru, Srinivas; Dorman, Karin S

    2011-02-15

    High-throughput short read sequencing is revolutionizing genomics and systems biology research by enabling cost-effective deep coverage sequencing of genomes and transcriptomes. Error detection and correction are crucial to many short read sequencing applications including de novo genome sequencing, genome resequencing, and digital gene expression analysis. Short read error detection is typically carried out by counting the observed frequencies of kmers in reads and validating those with frequencies exceeding a threshold. In case of genomes with high repeat content, an erroneous kmer may be frequently observed if it has few nucleotide differences with valid kmers with multiple occurrences in the genome. Error detection and correction were mostly applied to genomes with low repeat content and this remains a challenging problem for genomes with high repeat content. We develop a statistical model and a computational method for error detection and correction in the presence of genomic repeats. We propose a method to infer genomic frequencies of kmers from their observed frequencies by analyzing the misread relationships among observed kmers. We also propose a method to estimate the threshold useful for validating kmers whose estimated genomic frequency exceeds the threshold. We demonstrate that superior error detection is achieved using these methods. Furthermore, we break away from the common assumption of uniformly distributed errors within a read, and provide a framework to model position-dependent error occurrence frequencies common to many short read platforms. Lastly, we achieve better error correction in genomes with high repeat content. The software is implemented in C++ and is freely available under GNU GPL3 license and Boost Software V1.0 license at "http://aluru-sun.ece.iastate.edu/doku.php?id = redeem". We introduce a statistical framework to model sequencing errors in next-generation reads, which led to promising results in detecting and correcting errors

  10. Low-Normal FMR1 CGG Repeat Length: Phenotypic Associations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marsha eMailick

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This population-based study investigates genotype-phenotype correlations of low-normal CGG repeats in the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1 gene. FMR1 plays an important role in brain development and function, and encodes FMRP (fragile X mental retardation protein, an RNA-binding protein that regulates protein synthesis impacting activity-dependent synaptic development and plasticity. Most past research has focused on CGG premutation expansions (41 to 200 CGG repeats and on fragile X syndrome (200+ CGG repeats, with considerably less attention on the other end of the spectrum of CGG repeats. Using existing data, older adults with 23 or fewer CGG repeats (2 SDs below the mean were compared with age-peers who have normal numbers of CGGs (24-40 with respect to cognition, mental health, cancer, and having children with disabilities. Men (n = 341 with an allele in the low-normal range and women (n = 46 with two low-normal alleles had significantly more difficulty with their memory and ability to solve day to day problems. Women with both FMR1 alleles in the low-normal category had significantly elevated odds of feeling that they need to drink more to get the same effect as in the past. These women also had two and one-half times the odds of having had breast cancer and four times the odds of uterine cancer. Men and women with low-normal CGGs had higher odds of having a child with a disability, either a developmental disability or a mental health condition. These findings are in line with the hypothesis that there is a need for tight neuronal homeostatic control mechanisms for optimal cognitive and behavioral functioning, and more generally that low numbers as well as high numbers of CGG repeats may be problematic for health.

  11. Distribution of creep in the northern San Francisco Bay Area illuminated by repeating earthquakes and InSAR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funning, G.; Shakibay Senobari, N.; Swiatlowski, J. L.

    2017-12-01

    Surface observations of fault creep in the region north of San Francisco Bay are sporadic. While there are long-standing instances of creep-affected infrastructure on the Maacama and Bartlett Springs faults, the lateral and depth extents of creep on these and other faults in the region remain a question. Here, we supplement this sparse existing observation set with additional information from repeating earthquake sequences (REs) and InSAR, to illuminate, and significantly improve our knowledge of, creep across the region. Repeating earthquakes have long been considered indicators of creep on faults. We present the results of an extensive similarity search through over 600,000 archived waveforms from 43,000 events using a fast algorithm; from this we can identify 39 periodic repeating sequences and over 80 nonperiodic repeated event groups. We compare these with decadal line-of-sight velocity measurements made by applying the StaMPS time series InSAR code to ERS and Envisat data covering the region, that can be used to identify surface creep on faults. On the Rodgers Creek, Maacama and Bartlett Springs faults, both InSAR and REs show corroborating evidence for creep at locations where it was previously inferred. The REs additionally provide information on its depth extent. On the Maacama fault, we find REs extending almost to the southern limit of the mapped fault trace, south of Cloverdale, suggesting that creep may be pervasive on the fault. We can also identify structural complexity both in the stepover region with the Rodgers Creek fault, and in the northern segment of the fault close to Willits, potentially indicating parallel and/or down-dip branching creeping structures in both locations. REs on the Bartlett Springs fault indicate creep that extends across the full down-dip width of the brittle fault; here the proximity of InSAR creep rate estimates and a shallow RE sequence may permit a calibration of the RE `creepmeter', allowing us to estimate creep rates

  12. Does Dry Eye Affect Repeatability of Corneal Topography Measurements?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aysun Şanal Doğan

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the repeatability of corneal topography measurements in dry eye patients and healthy controls. Materials and Methods: Participants underwent consecutive corneal topography measurements (Sirius; Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici, Florence, Italy. Two images with acquisition quality higher than 90% were accepted. The following parameters were evaluated: minimum and central corneal thickness, aqueous depth, apex curvature, anterior chamber volume, horizontal anterior chamber diameter, iridocorneal angle, cornea volume, and average simulated keratometry. Repeatability was assessed by calculating intra-class correlation coefficient. Results: Thirty-three patients with dry eye syndrome and 40 healthy controls were enrolled to the study. The groups were similar in terms of age (39 [18-65] vs. 30.5 [18-65] years, p=0.198 and gender (M/F: 4/29 vs. 8/32, p=0.366. Intra-class correlation coefficients among all topography parameters within both groups showed excellent repeatability (>0.90. Conclusion: The anterior segment measurements provided by the Sirius corneal topography system were highly repeatable for dry eye patients and are sufficiently reliable for clinical practice and research.

  13. Does Dry Eye Affect Repeatability of Corneal Topography Measurements?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doğan, Aysun Şanal; Gürdal, Canan; Köylü, Mehmet Talay

    2018-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to assess the repeatability of corneal topography measurements in dry eye patients and healthy controls. Participants underwent consecutive corneal topography measurements (Sirius; Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici, Florence, Italy). Two images with acquisition quality higher than 90% were accepted. The following parameters were evaluated: minimum and central corneal thickness, aqueous depth, apex curvature, anterior chamber volume, horizontal anterior chamber diameter, iridocorneal angle, cornea volume, and average simulated keratometry. Repeatability was assessed by calculating intra-class correlation coefficient. Thirty-three patients with dry eye syndrome and 40 healthy controls were enrolled to the study. The groups were similar in terms of age (39 [18-65] vs. 30.5 [18-65] years, p=0.198) and gender (M/F: 4/29 vs. 8/32, p=0.366). Intra-class correlation coefficients among all topography parameters within both groups showed excellent repeatability (>0.90). The anterior segment measurements provided by the Sirius corneal topography system were highly repeatable for dry eye patients and are sufficiently reliable for clinical practice and research.

  14. Device-independent secret-key-rate analysis for quantum repeaters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holz, Timo; Kampermann, Hermann; Bruß, Dagmar

    2018-01-01

    The device-independent approach to quantum key distribution (QKD) aims to establish a secret key between two or more parties with untrusted devices, potentially under full control of a quantum adversary. The performance of a QKD protocol can be quantified by the secret key rate, which can be lower bounded via the violation of an appropriate Bell inequality in a setup with untrusted devices. We study secret key rates in the device-independent scenario for different quantum repeater setups and compare them to their device-dependent analogon. The quantum repeater setups under consideration are the original protocol by Briegel et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5932 (1998), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5932] and the hybrid quantum repeater protocol by van Loock et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 240501 (2006), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.240501]. For a given repeater scheme and a given QKD protocol, the secret key rate depends on a variety of parameters, such as the gate quality or the detector efficiency. We systematically analyze the impact of these parameters and suggest optimized strategies.

  15. 30 CFR 250.522 - When do I have to repeat casing diagnostic testing?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false When do I have to repeat casing diagnostic... Operations Casing Pressure Management § 250.522 When do I have to repeat casing diagnostic testing? Casing diagnostic testing must be repeated according to the following table: When * * * you must repeat diagnostic...

  16. Public awareness and perception toward Adverse Drug Reactions reporting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sales, Ibrahim; Aljadhey, Hisham; Albogami, Yasser; Mahmoud, Mansour A

    2017-09-01

    Purpose: To assess the general public awareness and perception about Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) reporting and pharmacovigilance. Method: A cross-sectional study conducted on June 2012 during awareness campaign held in two malls in Riyadh city for two days. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of three parts was distributed to the attendees who accepted to participate in the study. Results: A total of 204 questionnaires were collected with a response rate of 68%. Twenty-three percent could correctly define ADRs. Only 13(15.7%) of responders were familiar with the term "Pharmacovigilance" and only 78.6% were aware about the Saudi Pharmacovigilance Center. Sixty-seventy percent indicated that their physicians or pharmacists don't actively encourage them to report ADRs that may occur when they take their medications. The majority of responders (73.2%) believed that the medical team, rather than consumers, should report ADRs. When asked why patients do not report ADRs, 19.1(48.5%) believed that patients do not know whether the ADR is from the medication or not, 18.1(46.1%) stated that the reason was because patients don't know about the Pharmacovigilance Center, 16(40.7%) think that patients don't know about the importance of ADRs reporting, and 14(36.3%) responded that patients probably don't know how to report ADRs. Conclusion: The general public in Saudi Arabia are not aware about ADRs reporting and the pharmacovigilance system. The Saudi Food and Drug Authorities (FDA) need to put more efforts to increasing public awareness about the importance of ADRs reporting process and the importance of pharmacovigilance system in promoting patient safety.

  17. Risk factors for adverse drug reactions in pediatric inpatients: A cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrade, Paulo Henrique Santos; Lobo, Iza Maria Fraga; da Silva, Wellington Barros

    2017-01-01

    The present study aims to identify the risk factors for adverse drug reactions (ADR) in pediatric inpatients. A prospective cohort study in one general pediatric ward in a hospital in Northeast Brazil was conducted in two stages: the first stage was conducted between August 17th and November 6th, 2015, and the second one between March 1st and August 25th, 2016. We included children aged 0-14 years 11 months hospitalized with a minimum stay of 48 hours. Observed outcomes were the ADR occurrence and the time until the first ADR observed. In the univariate analysis, the time to the first ADR was compared among groups using a log-rank test. For the multivariate analysis, the Cox regression model was used. A total of 173 children (208 admissions) and 66 ADR classified as "definite" and "probable" were identified. The incidence rate was 3/100 patient days. The gastro-intestinal system disorders were the main ADR observed (28.8%). In addition, 22.7% of the ADR were related to antibacterials for systemic use and 15.2% to general anesthesia. Prior history of ADR of the child [hazard ratio (HR) 2.44; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19-5.00], the use of meglumine antimonate (HR 4.98; 95% CI 1.21-20.54), antibacterial for systemic use (HR 2.75; 95% CI 1.08-6.98) and antiepileptic drugs (HR 3.84; 95% CI 1.40-10.56) were identified risk factors for ADR. We identified as risk factors the prior history of ADR of the child and the use of meglumine antimonate, antibacterial for systemic use and antiepileptic drugs.

  18. Longitudinal trends of HIV drug resistance in a large Canadian cohort, 1996-2016.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rocheleau, G; Brumme, C J; Shoveller, J; Lima, V D; Harrigan, P R

    2018-02-01

    We aim to identify long-term trends in HIV drug resistance before and after combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation. IAS-USA (2015) mutations were identified in 23 271 HIV protease-reverse transcriptase sequences from 6543 treatment naïve adults in British Columbia. Participants who started cART between 1996 and 2014 were followed until April 2016. Equality of proportions test was used to compare the percentage of participants with acquired drug resistance (ADR) or transmitted drug resistance (TDR) in 1996, to those in 2014. Kaplan-Meier was used to estimate time to ADR in four drug resistance categories. Multivariable regression odds ratios (OR) of ADR for select clinical variables were determined by 5-year eras of cART initiation. The proportion of individuals with ADR declined from 39% (51/132) to 3% (8/322) in 1996-2014 (p 16 years of therapy. After 5 years on therapy, participants initiating cART in 1996-2000 had 5.5-times more 3TC/FTC ADR, 5.3-times more other nRTI ADR, 4.7-times more NNRTI ADR, and 24-times more PI ADR than those starting in 2011-2014. The individuals with highest odds of developing ADR in 1996-2010 were adherent to regimens at levels between 60% and 80%, which shifted to 40% adherent in 2011-2014. HIV drug resistance transitioned from being primarily selected de-novo to being driven by TDR. Among those who started treatment in the past 5 years, ADR is rare and observed mostly in the lowest adherence strata. Copyright © 2017 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Risk factors for adverse drug reactions in pediatric inpatients: A cohort study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo Henrique Santos Andrade

    Full Text Available The present study aims to identify the risk factors for adverse drug reactions (ADR in pediatric inpatients.A prospective cohort study in one general pediatric ward in a hospital in Northeast Brazil was conducted in two stages: the first stage was conducted between August 17th and November 6th, 2015, and the second one between March 1st and August 25th, 2016. We included children aged 0-14 years 11 months hospitalized with a minimum stay of 48 hours. Observed outcomes were the ADR occurrence and the time until the first ADR observed. In the univariate analysis, the time to the first ADR was compared among groups using a log-rank test. For the multivariate analysis, the Cox regression model was used.A total of 173 children (208 admissions and 66 ADR classified as "definite" and "probable" were identified. The incidence rate was 3/100 patient days. The gastro-intestinal system disorders were the main ADR observed (28.8%. In addition, 22.7% of the ADR were related to antibacterials for systemic use and 15.2% to general anesthesia. Prior history of ADR of the child [hazard ratio (HR 2.44; 95% confidence interval (CI 1.19-5.00], the use of meglumine antimonate (HR 4.98; 95% CI 1.21-20.54, antibacterial for systemic use (HR 2.75; 95% CI 1.08-6.98 and antiepileptic drugs (HR 3.84; 95% CI 1.40-10.56 were identified risk factors for ADR.We identified as risk factors the prior history of ADR of the child and the use of meglumine antimonate, antibacterial for systemic use and antiepileptic drugs.

  20. Direct costs of managing adverse drug reactions during rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis treatment in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schnippel, K; Firnhaber, C; Berhanu, R; Page-Shipp, L; Sinanovic, E

    2018-04-01

    To estimate the provider costs of managing adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to standard long-course treatment for multidrug- and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB) according to South African guidelines. We parameterised a published Markov health state model for MDR/RR-TB with guidelines-based, bottom-up public-sector provider costing of ADR management. Frequency of ADR occurrence was extracted from the literature. Costs were estimated over 10 years, discounted 3% annually and tested using probabilistic sensitivity analysis. On average, guidelines-based costing of moderate ADRs weighted by the frequency of occurrence was US$135.76 (standard deviation [SD] US$17.18) and the cost of serious ADRs was US$521.29 (SD US$55.99). We estimated that the incremental costs of ADR management were US$380.17 annually per patient initiating MDR/RR-TB treatment. The incremental costs of ADR management for the public health sector in South Africa was US$4.76 million, 8.3% of the estimated cohort costs of MDR/RR-TB treatment ($57.55 million) for the 2015 cohort of 12 527 patients. Management of multiple ADRs and serious ADRs, which are common during the first 6 months of standard, long-course MDR/RR-TB treatment, substantially increases provider treatment costs. These results need to be taken into account when comparing regimen costs, and highlight the urgent need to identify drug regimens with improved safety profiles.