bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Information Theoretic Framework For Designing Information Elicitation Mechanisms That Reward Truth-telling
Authors: Kong Yuqing , Schoenebeck Grant
Published: January 2019

In the setting where information cannot be verified, we propose a simple yet powerful information theoretical framework—the Mutual Information Paradigm—for information elicitation mechanisms. Our framework pays every agent a measure of mutual information between her signal and a peer’s signal. We require that the mutual information measurement has the key property that any “data processing” on the two random variables will decrease the mutual information between them. We identify such information measures that generalize Shannon mutual information.

Our Mutual Information Paradigm overcomes the two main challenges in information elicitation without verification: (1) how to incentivize high-quality reports and avoid agents colluding to report random or identical responses; (2) how to motivate agents who believe they are in the minority to report truthfully.

Aided by the information measures, we found (1) we use the paradigm to design a family of novel mechanisms where truth-telling is a dominant strategy and pays better than any other strategy profile (in the multi-question, detail free, minimal setting where the number of questions is large); (2) we show the versatility of our framework by providing a unified theoretical understanding of existing mechanisms—Bayesian Truth Serum Prelec (2004) and Dasgupta and Ghosh (2013)—by mapping them into our framework such that theoretical results of those existing mechanisms can be reconstructed easily.

We also give an impossibility result that illustrates, in a certain sense, the the optimality of our framework.
An Introduction to Multiobjective Simulation Optimization
Authors: Hunter Susan R. , Applegate Eric A. , Arora Viplove , Chong Bryan , Cooper Kyle , Rincón-Guevara Oscar , Vivas-Valencia Carolina
Published: January 2019

The multiobjective simulation optimization (MOSO) problem is a nonlinear multiobjective optimization problem in which multiple simultaneous and conflicting objective functions can only be observed with stochastic error. We provide an introduction to MOSO at the advanced tutorial level, aimed at researchers and practitioners who wish to begin working in this emerging area. Our focus is exclusively on MOSO methods that characterize the entire efficient or Pareto-optimal set as the solution to the MOSO problem; later, this set may be used as input to the broader multicriteria decision-making process. Our introduction to MOSO includes an overview of existing theory, methods, and provably convergent algorithms that explicitly control sampling error for (1) MOSO on finite sets, called multiobjective ranking and selection; (2) MOSO with integer-ordered decision variables; and (3) MOSO with continuous decision variables. In the context of integer-ordered and continuous decision variables, we focus on methods that provably converge to a local efficient set under the natural ordering. We also discuss key open questions that remain in this emerging field.
Hidden semi-Markov models for electricity load disaggregation
Authors: Wong Yung Fei , Andrew Lachlan L. H. , Sekercioglu Y. Ahmet
Published: January 2019

This paper assesses the performance of a technique for estimating the power consumption of individual devices based on aggregate consumption. The new semi-Markov technique, outperforms pure hidden Markov models on the REDD dataset.

The technique also exploits information from transients to eliminate a substantial fraction of the observed errors.
Weighted Fair Caching
Authors: Shi Lianjie , Wang Xin , Ma Richard T. B. , Tay Y. C.
Published: January 2019

Traditional cache replacement policies such as LRU and LFU were often designed with the focus on efficiency and aimed at maximizing the hit rates. However, the resource owners of modern computing systems such as cloud infrastructures and content delivery networks often have new objectives such as fairness and revenue to be optimized rather than the overall hit rate. A general resource management framework that allows resource owners to determine various resource allocations is desirable. Although such a mechanism like Weighted Fair Queueing (WFQ) exists for indivisible time-shared resources such as CPU and network bandwidth, no such counterpart exists for space-shared resources such as cache and main memory.

In this paper, we propose Weighted Fair Caching (WFC), a capacity-driven cache policy that provides explicitly tunable resource allocations for cache owners in terms of the occupancy rates of contents. Through analysis of the continuoustime Markov Chain model of cache dynamics, we derive the closed-form occupancy rates as a function of the weights of contents, and various properties such as monotonicity and scaling of WFC. We show that WFC can be used to provide fair sharing of cache space among contents, as well as class-based service differentiations.
WOJ
Authors: Ni Fan , Wu Xingbo , Li Weijun , Wang Lei , Jiang Song
Published: January 2019

Journaling is a commonly used technique to ensure data consistency in file systems, such as ext3 and ext4. With journaling technique, file system updates are first recorded in a journal (in the commit phase) and later applied to their home locations in the file system (in the checkpoint phase). Based on the contents recorded in the journal, file sytem can be either in data or metadata journaling mode. With data journaling mode enabled, all file system (data and metadata) updates are written to the journal before being written to the files later on. In contrast, with metadata journaling mode, only updated metadata are written to and protected by the journal, while data are written directly to their home locations in the files. File system users are usually reluctant to use the data journaling mode as every modification (data and metadata) to the file system is written twice, and instead resort to metadata journaling for its fast speed.
Auction mechanisms for Licensed Shared Access
Authors: Chouayakh Ayman , Bechler Aurelien , Amigo Isabel , Nuaymi Loutfi , Maillé Patrick
Published: January 2019

Licensed shared access (LSA) is a new approach that allows Mobile Network Operators to use a portion of the spectrum initially licensed to another incumbent user, by obtaining a license from the regulator via an auction mechanism. In this context, different truthful auction mechanisms have been proposed, and differ in terms of allocation (who gets the spectrum) but also on revenue. Since those mechanisms could generate an extremely low revenue, we extend them by introducing a reserve price per bidder which represents the minimum amount that each winning bidder should pay. Since this may be at the expense of the allocation fairness, for each mechanism we find by simulation the reserve price that optimizes a trade-off between expected fairness and expected revenue. Also, for each mechanism, we analytically express the expected revenue when valuations of operators for the spectrum are independent and identically distributed from a uniform distribution.
Towards An Efficient Market Mediator for Divisible Resources
Authors: Zou Mao , Ma Richard T. B. , Xu Yinlong
Published: January 2019

Auction-based markets of divisible resources have proliferated over recent years. One fundamental problem facing every market mediator is how to achieve market efficiency for optimal social welfare, especially when a limited number of agents forms a monopolistic or oligopolistic market, because each agent's selfish strategic behavior may leads to serious degradation in efficiency. In general, it is difficult for a market mediator to achieve efficiency since agents' preferences are hidden information that they are unwilling to reveal due to security and privacy concerns.

In this paper, we consider a market of divisible resource consisting of agents on both sides of demand and supply. We design an adaptive auction framework for a market mediator to achieve efficient resource allocation and acquisition. Our novel design generalizes demand/supply function bidding mechanisms by introducing price differentiation via tunable parameters. We design algorithms that enable the mediator and agents to jointly run the market in an adaptive fashion: the mediator sends market signals to agents; each agent submits her bid based on the signals in a distributed manner; the mediator adjusts tunable parameters based on bids and update market signals. We also design an adaptive algorithm to dynamically determine the optimal amount of resource that needs to be transacted so as to maximize social welfare, if not known a priori. By utilizing our market mechanisms, the market mediator will be able to reach an efficient market outcome under Nash equilibrium.
Locating the Source of Diffusion in Large-scale and Random Networks.
Authors: Thiran Patrick
Published: January 2019

We survey some results on the localization of the source of diffusion in a network. There have been significant efforts in studying the dynamics of epidemic propagations on networks, and more particularly on the forward problem of epidemics: understanding the diffusion process and its dependence on the infecting and curing rates. We address here the inverse problem of inferring the original source of diffusion. If we could observe the entire diffusion process and collect the times at which nodes of the network get infected, identifying its source would be easy. Unfortunately, due to the costs of information collection and to overhead constraints, the data available for source localization is usually very sparse, first because the information that can provided by a node is limited, and second because the number of nodes in the network is often prohibitively large, and only some of them, which we call hereafter sensors, might be able or willing to provide any information about their state.
Temporal starvation in multi-channel CSMA networks
Authors: Zocca Alessandro
Published: January 2019

In this paper we consider a stochastic model for a frequencyagile CSMA protocol for wireless networks where multiple orthogonal frequency channels are available. Even when the possible interference on the different channels is described by different conflict graphs, we show that the network dynamics can be equivalently described as that of a single-channel CSMA algorithm on an appropriate virtual network. Our focus is on the asymptotic regime in which the network nodes try to activate aggressively in order to achieve maximum throughput. Of particular interest is the scenario where the number of available channels is not sufficient for all nodes of the network to be simultaneously active and the well-studied temporal starvation issues of the single-channel CSMA dynamics persist. For most networks we expect that a larger number of available channels should alleviate these temporal starvation issues. However, we prove that the aggregate throughput is a non-increasing function of the number of available channels. To investigate this trade-off that emerges between aggregate throughput and temporal starvation phenomena, we propose an analytical framework to study the transient dynamics of multi-channel CSMA networks by means of first hitting times. Our analysis further reveals that the mixing time of the activity process does not always correctly characterize the temporal starvation in the multi-channel scenario and often leads to pessimistic performance estimates.
Analysis of Redundancy(d) with Identical Replicas
Authors: Hellemans T. , Vanhoudt B.
Published: January 2019

Queueing systems with redundancy have received considerable attention recently. The idea of redundancy is to reduce latency by replicating each incoming job a number of times and to assign these replicas to a set of randomly selected servers. As soon as one replica completes service the remaining replicas are cancelled. Most prior work on queueing systems with redundancy assumes that the job durations of the different replicas are i.i.d., which yields insights that can be misleading for computer system design.

In this paper we develop a differential equation, using the cavity method, to assess the workload and response time distribution in a large homogeneous system with redundancy without the need to rely on this independence assumption. More specifically, we assume that the duration of each replica of a single job is identical across the servers and follows a general service time distribution.

Simulation results suggest that the differential equation yields exact results as the system size tends to infinity and can be used to study the stability of the system.
Highlight Talk on Battery Modeling
Authors: Rosenberg Catherine
Published: January 2019

We are addressing in this Highlight Talk the general problem of finding a model with the right level of complexity and accuracy for a given use case. Focusing on energy systems and more precisely on how such systems would benefit from energy storage, we discuss what makes a good battery model and propose a suite of battery models going from extremely simple to complex and compare their pros and cons on two use cases.
Leveraging Sparsity in Distribution Grids
Authors: Ardakanian Omid
Published: January 2019

Power distribution grids are sparse networks. The admittance matrix of a (radial or non-radial) power distribution grid is sparse, safety-critical events are relatively sparse at any given time compared with the number of nodes, and loads that produce significant harmonics at a specific order are also sparse. In this highlight talk, we define different types of sparsity in unbalanced three-phase power distribution systems, and explain how sparsity can be leveraged to address three increasingly important problems:
State Estimation in the Power Distribution System
Authors: Danner Dominik , de Meer Hermann
Published: January 2019

In the domain of power distribution network, software that can estimate the grid state using several measurement values as input has been rarely used in the low voltage grid. Such software tools are based on adaptive state estimation methods and their accuracy highly depends on the available input data. Especially, in the low voltage grid which is mostly not monitored at all, the increasing number of controllable high-power loads, such as electric vehicle charging stations or decentralized photovoltaics and battery storage systems, directs the focus to the actual grid state, in particular with regard to the power quality.
A Primal-Dual Gradient Method for Time-Varying Optimization with Application to Power Systems
Authors: Tang Yujie , Dall'Anese Emiliano , Bernstein Andrey , Low S. H.
Published: January 2019

We consider time-varying nonconvex optimization problems where the objective function and the feasible set vary over discrete time. This sequence of optimization problems induces a trajectory of Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) points. We present a class of regularized primal-dual gradient algorithms that track the KKT trajectory. These algorithms are feedback-based algorithms, where analytical models for system state or constraints are replaced with actual measurements. We present conditions for the proposed algorithms to achieve bounded tracking error when the cost and constraint functions are twice continuously differentiable. We discuss their practical implications and illustrate their applications in power systems through numerical simulations.
Seamless handover for video streaming over an SDN-based Aeronautical Communications Network
Authors: Luong Doanh Kim , Ali Muhammad , Benamrane Fouad , Ammar Ibrahim , Hu Yim-Fun
Published: January 2019

There have been increasing interests in applying Software Defined Networking (SDN) to aeronautical communications primarily for air traffic management purposes. From the service passenger communications' point of view, a major goal is to improve passengers' perception of quality of experience on the infotainment services being provided for them. Due to the high speed of aircrafts and the use of multiple radio technologies during different flight phases and across different areas, vertical handovers between these different radio technologies are envisaged. This poses a challenge to maintain the quality of service during such handovers, especially for high bandwidth applications such as video streaming. This paper proposes an SDN-based aeronautical communications architecture consisting of both satellite and terrestrial-based radio technology. In addition, an experimental implementation of the Locator ID Separation Protocol (LISP) protocol with built-in multi-homing capability over the SDN-based architecture was proposed to handle vertical handovers between the satellite and other radio technologies onboard the aircraft. By using both objective and subjective Quality of Experience (QoE) metrics, the simulation experiments show the benefit of combining LISP with SDN to improve the video streaming quality during the handover in the aeronautical communication environment.
Interference Management Schemes for High Spectral Efficiency Satellite Communications
Authors: Bas J. , Caus M. , Perez A. , Soleymani R. , Beigi N.A.K.
Published: January 2019

This paper presents a short review on the main high spectral efficient systems for multibeam satellite communications. In this regard, we study the use of Multi-User Detectors (MUD) and Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) applied to aggressive frequency reuse, frequency packing and Non Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA). Furthermore, we have also considered the presence of co-channel interference and spectrum limitations. The experimental validations have been conducted using DVB-S2 waveform. The results point out that the residual co-channel interference reduce the benefits of using frequency packing schemes. Moreover, we investigate the effect of asynchronous reception of data streams in our previously proposed interference management scheme based on cooperative NOMA in multibeam satellite systems.
Benchmarks and Models for Blockchain
Authors: van Moorsel Aad
Published: January 2019

In this presentation we consider blockchain from a performance engineering perspective, with an emphasis on consensus algorithms. A set of examples of performance characteristics and challenges of public blockchains serves as introduction to the presentation. These examples motivate a list of main topics that require further analysis by the research community, in both public and private blockchain variants. This list considers performance engineering challenges across the different layers of blockchain systems, which we identify as system, connector, and incentives layers, respectively. We go in some more depth regarding the evaluation of consensus algorithms, such as Proof of Work, which are a core element of the connector layer. In the presentation we will advocate probabilistic verification as a key approach to evaluate different consensus algorithms with respect to practically meaningful metrics. Throughout the talk, we present snippets of our recent research results in the area of modelling and benchmarking blockchain systems [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
DAGsim
Authors: Zander Manuel , Waite Tom , Harz Dominik
Published: January 2019

Scalability of distributed ledgers is a key adoption factor. As an alternative to blockchain-based protocols, directed acyclic graph (DAG) protocols are proposed with the intention to allow a higher volume of transactions to be processed. However, there is still limited understanding of the behaviour and security considerations of DAG-based systems. We present an asynchronous, continuous time, and multi-agent simulation framework for DAG-based cryptocurrencies. We model honest and semi-honest actors in the system to analyse the behaviour of one specific cryptocurrency, IOTA. Our simulations show that the agents that have low latency and a high connection degree have a higher probability of having their transactions accepted in the network with honest and semi-honest strategies. Last, the simulator is built with extensibility in mind. We are in the process of implementing SPECTRE as well as including malicious agents.
A Deep Learning Strategy for Vehicular Floating Content Management
Authors: Manzo Gaetano , Otalora Juan Sebastian , Marsan Marco Ajmone , Rizzo Gianluca
Published: January 2019

Floating Content (FC) is a communication paradigm for the local dissemination of contextualized information through D2D connectivity, in a way which minimizes the use of resources while achieving some specified performance target. Existing approaches to FC dimensioning are based on unrealistic system assumptions that make them, highly inaccurate and overly conservative when applied in realistic settings. In this paper, we present a first step towards the development of a cognitive approach to efficient dynamic management of FC. We propose a deep learning strategy for FC dimensioning, which exploits a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to efficiently modulate over time the resources employed by FC in a QoS-aware manner. Numerical evaluations show that our approach achieves a maximum rejection rate of 3%, and resource savings of 37.5% with respect to the benchmark strategy.
Distributed Learning in Ad-Hoc Networks with Unknown Number of Players
Authors: Hanawal Manjesh K. , Darak Sumit J.
Published: January 2019

We study algorithms for distributed learning in ad-hoc cognitive networks where no central controller is available. In such networks, the players cannot communicate with each other and even may not know how many other players are present in the network. If multiple players select a common channel they collide, which results in loss of throughput for the colliding players. We consider both the static and dynamic scenarios where the number of players remains fixed throughout the game in the former case and can change in the later. We provide algorithms based on a novel 'trekking approach' that guarantees with high probability constant regret for the static case and sub-linear regret for the dynamic case. The trekking approach gives improved aggregate throughput and also results in fewer collisions compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms.
Influence Analysis of Transmission Lines on a Stable Non-Foster-Loaded Electrically Small Dipole
Authors: Huang Zhixun , Yang Hu , Liu Taolin
Published: January 2019

Non-Foster-loaded antennas have the advantages of compact size and large bandwidth. Meanwhile, they suffer from two issues: internal instability and simulation inaccuracy resulting from distribution parameters. The most commonly used stability analysis method for microwave circuits, Rollett’s criteria, is not suitable for negative impedance circuits. This paper has explained the reason and proposed an effective method for stability analysis. Transmission lines between lumped components are found to be a main reason of inaccurate simulations, which is analyzed in this paper, and it is concluded that their influence also exists at hundreds of megahertz. In order to solve this problem and improve simulation accuracy, circuit and electromagnetic cosimulation is conducted. Finally, a 320 mm dipole loading with a negative capacitor is fabricated to verify the analysis. Simulated and measured results indicate that the proposed stability analysis is effective and the simulation accuracy is significantly improved. The matched dipole achieves less than −10 dB reflection coefficient from 30 MHz to 580 MHz. Furthermore, a 14 dB gain improvement is obtained in electrically small condition.
BeautyNet: Joint Multiscale CNN and Transfer Learning Method for Unconstrained Facial Beauty Prediction
Authors: Zhai Yikui , Cao He , Deng Wenbo , Gan Junying , Piuri Vincenzo , Zeng Junying
Published: January 2019

Because of the lack of discriminative face representations and scarcity of labeled training data, facial beauty prediction (FBP), which aims at assessing facial attractiveness automatically, has become a challenging pattern recognition problem. Inspired by recent promising work on fine-grained image classification using the multiscale architecture to extend the diversity of deep features, BeautyNet for unconstrained facial beauty prediction is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a multiscale network is adopted to improve the discriminative of face features. Secondly, to alleviate the computational burden of the multiscale architecture, MFM (max-feature-map) is utilized as an activation function which can not only lighten the network and speed network convergence but also benefit the performance. Finally, transfer learning strategy is introduced here to mitigate the overfitting phenomenon which is caused by the scarcity of labeled facial beauty samples and improves the proposed BeautyNet’s performance. Extensive experiments performed on LSFBD demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms the state-of-the-art methods, which can achieve 67.48% classification accuracy.
Circular RNA Profiling by Illumina Sequencing via Template-Dependent Multiple Displacement Amplification
Authors: Guria Ashirbad , Velayudha Vimala Kumar Kavitha , Srikakulam Nagesh , Krishnamma Anakha , Chanda Saibal , Sharma Satyam , Fan Xiaofeng , Pandi Gopal
Published: January 2019

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are newly discovered incipient non-coding RNAs with potential roles in disease progression in living organisms. Significant reports, since their inception, highlight the abundance and putative functional roles of circRNAs in every organism checked for, likeO. sativa,Arabidopsis, human, and mouse. CircRNA expression is generally less than their linear mRNA counterparts which fairly explains the competitive edge of canonical splicing over non-canonical splicing. However, existing methods may not be sensitive enough for the discovery of low-level expressed circRNAs. By combining template-dependent multiple displacement amplification (tdMDA), Illumina sequencing, and bioinformatics tools, we have developed an experimental protocol that is able to detect 1,875 novel and known circRNAs fromO. sativa. The same method also revealed 9,242 putative circRNAs in less than 40 million reads for the first time from theNicotiana benthamianawhose genome has not been fully annotated. Supported by the PCR-based validation and Sanger sequencing of selective circRNAs, our method represents a valuable tool in profiling circRNAs from the organisms with or without genome annotation.
A Scientometric Analysis of the 50 Most Cited Articles for Reconstruction of the Lower Extremity
Authors: Mbaidjol Zacharia , Rothenberger Jens , Chetany Rajesh
Published: January 2019

Background. Lower extremity reconstruction has always been a challenge. Some of the published articles had a major impact on the field but are often not considered as classics because they have fewer citations. We therefore conducted a scientometric analysis of the most cited articles with a focus solely on the lower limb. Methods. A search was conducted on Medline, the Web of Science database, Google Scholar, and Scopus identifying articles relevant to reconstructive surgery of the lower limb. All journals were included with no time frames. Articles relating solely to orthopedics or vascular reconstruction were excluded. The number of citations obtained were then plotted and compared between the different search engines. The mean citation number was calculated by taking into consideration the total number of years since the article’s first year of publication. Articles were then ranked and classified according to their authors, their years of publications, and their countries. They were furthermore categorized and analyzed. Results. Highly cited articles were easily retrieved with Google Scholar, mostly published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (n = 37) and were mainly authored by American Medical Centers (n = 22). Fifty-four percent (54%) of these classic articles discussed the design of new flaps or were anatomical studies. Conclusions. We were not able to find a correlation between the year of citation and the number of citations. The citation pattern of a paper cannot be predicted, but a majority of highly cited article allowed the design of new reconstructive techniques.
Relationship between Blocking Performance and Foam Texture in Porous Media
Authors: Wang Zhuangzhuang , Li Zhaomin , Chen Hailong , Wang Fei , Hou Dawei , Xu Yajie
Published: January 2019

Foam is widely used as a selective blocking agent through mobility control in oil field development. Its flow behavior in porous media has been investigated sufficiently, but few studies were carried out to understand the change of foam texture in flow. In this work, sandpack and micromodel experiments were conducted simultaneously to analyze foam flow behavior from the perspective of foam texture. Based on the measured flowing pressure and the observed foam image, the correlation between blocking pressure and foam texture was quantitatively investigated. The blocking pressure has a strong correlation with average diameter (-0.906) and variation coefficient (-0.78) and has a positive correlation with the filling ratio (0.84). These indicate that the blocking performance of foam is influenced by its texture closely. But path analysis shows only that the average diameter and variation coefficient have a significant direct effect on blocking pressure (-0.624 and -0.404). These show that the blocking capacity of foam is mainly influenced by the size and uniformity of bubbles. Tiny, dense, and homogeneous foam has a stronger blocking capacity. This study provides a deep insight of foam flow in porous media.
Design of a PIN Diode-Based Reconfigurable Metasurface Antenna for Beam Switching Applications
Authors: Chaimool Sarawuth , Hongnara Tanan , Rakluea Chawalit , Akkaraekthalin Prayoot , Zhao Yan
Published: January 2019

In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable metasurface antenna for beam switching applications. The reconfigurable metasurface is formed by uniformly distributed double-split square rings loaded with positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) diodes for dual operations of a wave reflector and a wave director. Specifically, when the PIN diodes are forward biased, an epsilon-negative (ENG) metasurface is realized which reflects all incident waves with appropriate polarization; when the diodes are reverse biased, at the same operating frequency, a mu-near-zero (MNZ) metasurface is acquired which directs wave propagation. For excitation, a dipole radiator loaded with the same type of PIN diode is designed. Simulation and measurement results show good agreement and verify the beam switching functionality of the proposed metasurface antenna.
Renal Recovery following Liposomal Amphotericin B-Induced Nephrotoxicity
Authors: Personett Heather A. , Kayhart Bryce M. , Barreto Erin F. , Tosh Pritish , Dierkhising Ross , Mara Kristin , Leung Nelson
Published: January 2019

Background. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of treatment with liposomal amphotericin B (LAmB). The trajectory of renal recovery after LAmB-associated AKI has not been well described, nor has effect of LAmB dose on recovery of renal function been explored. Objective. Characterize the pattern of renal recovery after incident AKI during LAmB and determine potential influencing factors. Methods. This retrospective cohort study analyzed patients who developed a ≥50% increase in serum creatinine while on LAmB. Patients were followed up until complete renal recovery or death or for 30 days, whichever occurred first. The primary outcome was complete renal recovery, defined as serum creatinine convalescence to within 10% of the patient’s pretreatment baseline. Multivariable modeling was used to identify independent predictors of renal recovery. Results. Ninety-eight patients experienced nephrotoxicity during LAmB, 94% of which received doses <7 mg/kg/day. Fifty-one patients at least partially recovered renal function and, of these, 32 exhibited complete recovery after a mean 9.8 ± 7.8 days. No statistical relationship was found between LAmB dose at the time of AKI or cumulative exposure to LAmB and the likelihood of renal recovery. Concomitant nephrotoxins, age, and pretreatment renal function did not modify this effect in multivariable analysis. Conclusion and Relevance. Our data suggests that LAmB dose did not impact the likelihood of renal recovery. Additional investigation is needed to confirm these findings when aggressive dosing strategies are employe. Additional research is also warranted to further characterize the course of recovery after LAmB-associated nephrotoxicity and comprehensive spectrum of renal outcomes.
Wnt-GSK3β/β-Catenin Regulates the Differentiation of Dental Pulp Stem Cells into Bladder Smooth Muscle Cells
Authors: Jiang Wenkai , Wang Diya , Alraies Amr , Liu Qian , Zhu Bangfu , Sloan Alastair J. , Ni Longxing , Song Bing
Published: January 2019

Smooth muscle cell- (SMC-) based tissue engineering provides a promising therapeutic strategy for SMC-related disorders. It has been demonstrated that human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) possess the potential to differentiate into mature bladder SMCs by induction with condition medium (CM) from bladder SMC culture, in combination with the transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). However, the molecular mechanism of SMC differentiation from DPSCs has not been fully uncovered. The canonical Wnt signaling (also known as Wnt/β-catenin) pathway plays an essential role in stem cell fate decision. The aim of this study is to explore the regulation via GSK3βand associated downstream effectors for SMC differentiation from DPSCs. We characterized one of our DPSC clones with the best proliferation and differentiation abilities. This stem cell clone has shown the capacity to generate a smooth muscle layer-like phenotype after an extended differentiation duration using the SMC induction protocol we established before. We further found that Wnt-GSK3β/β-catenin signaling is involved in the process of SMC differentiation from DPSCs, as well as a serial of growth factors, including TGF-β1, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), platelet-derived growth factor-homodimer polypeptide of B chain (BB) (PDGF-BB), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Pharmacological inhibition on the canonical Wnt-GSK3β/β-catenin pathway significantly downregulated GSK3βphosphorylation andβ-catenin activation, which in consequence reduced the augmented expression of the growth factors (including TGF-β1, HGF, PDGF-BB, and VEGF) as well as SMC markers (especially myosin) at a late stage of SMC differentiation. These results suggest that the canonical Wnt-GSK3β/β-catenin pathway contributes to DPSC differentiation into mature SMCs through the coordination of different growth factors.
Cell-Proliferation Imaging for Monitoring Response to CDK4/6 Inhibition Combined with Endocrine-Therapy in Breast Cancer: Comparison of [18F]FLT and [18F]ISO-1 PET/CT
Authors: Elmi Azadeh , Makvandi Mehran , Weng Chi-Chang , Hou Catherine , Clark Amy S. , Mach Robert H. , Mankoff David A.
Published: January 2019

Purpose:

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors in combination with endocrine-therapy have emerged as an important regimen of care for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive metastatic breast cancer, although identifying predictive biomarkers remains a challenge. We assessed the ability of two PET-proliferation tracers, [18F]FLT and [18F]ISO-1, for evaluating response to CDK4/6-inhibitor (palbociclib) and ER-antagonist (fulvestrant).

Experimental Design:

To determine the effect of CDK4/6 inhibition combined with estrogen-blockade, we assessed cell proliferation in six breast cancer cell lines after 1, 3, and 6 days of treatment with palbociclib and/or fulvestrant. These data were correlated to in vitro radiotracer assays and results were verified by longitudinal [18F]FLT and [18F]ISO-1 micro-PET imaging performed in MCF7 tumor-bearing mice.

Results:

All palbociclib-sensitive cell lines showed decreased [18F]FLT accumulation and S-phase depletion after treatment, with both measures augmented by combination therapy. In contrast, these cells showed changes in [18F]ISO-1 analogue-binding and G0 arrest only after prolonged treatment. MicroPET imaging of MCF7 xenografts showed a significant decrease in [18F]FLT but no changes in [18F]ISO-1 uptake in all treated mice on day 3. On day 14, however, mice treated with combination therapy showed a significant decrease in [18F]ISO-1, corresponding to G0 arrest, while maintaining reduced [18F]FLT uptake, which corresponded to S-phase depletion.

Conclusions:

Our data suggest complementary roles of [18F]FLT and [18F]ISO-1 PET in evaluating tumor-proliferation after combined CDK4/6 inhibitor and endocrine therapy in breast cancer. [18F]FLT is more sensitive to immediate changes in S-phase, whereas [18F]ISO-1 can assess more delayed changes related to cell-cycle arrest and transition to G0 quiescence from combination therapy. These data suggest a potential role for early prediction of long-term response using these imaging biomarkers.
NOACs in Anesthesiology
Authors: Spahn Donat R. , Beer Jürg-Hans , Borgeat Alain , Chassot Pierre-Guy , Kern Christian , Mach François , Nedeltchev Krassen , Korte Wolfgang
Published: January 2019

Background: Due to increasing use of new oral anticoagulants (NOACs), clinicians are faced more and more frequently with clinical issues related to these drugs. Objective: The objective of this publication is to make practical suggestions for the perioperative management of NOACs as well as for their handling in overdoses and bleedings. Recommendations: In elective surgery and creatinine clearance ≥ 50 ml/min, a NOAC should be discontinued 24-36 h before the intervention, and even earlier in case of reduced kidney function. In emergency interventions that cannot be delayed, the management is dependent on the NOAC plasma levels. With levels ≤ 30 ng/ml, surgery can be performed. With levels >30 ng/ml, reversal agents should be considered. In low bleeding risk surgery, NOACs can be re-started 24 h after the intervention, which is prolonged to 48-72 h after surgery with high bleeding risk. In case of NOAC overdose and minor bleedings, temporary discontinuation and supportive care are usually sufficient to control the situation. In severe or life-threatening bleedings, nonspecific and specific reversal agents should be considered.
ПСИХОПАТОЛОГІЧНА ФЕНОМЕНОЛОГІЯ ДЕПРЕСИВНИХ РОЗЛАДІВ З УРАХУВАННЯМ ФАКТОРА МІГРАЦІЇ
Authors: Venger O. P. , Smashna O. Ye. , Mysula Yu. I. , Bilous V. S. , Sas L. M. , Liuta O. O. , Nestorovych Ya. M. , Guseva T. P.
Published: January 2019

Сучасна політична та економічна ситуація в Україні обумовлює те, що явища еміграції та рееміграції входять до числа найактуальніших державних та суспільних проблемних питань. Згідно з даними Міжнародної організації з міграції, станом на 2011 рік кількість українських емігрантів складала близько 6,5 млн осіб (14,4 % постійного населення).

Мета дослідження – вивчення синдромологічних особливостей депресивних розладів у емігрантів та реемігрантів.

Матеріал і методи. Клінічно обстежено 98 емігрантів, 95 реемігрантів та 98 не емігрантів, хворих на депресивні розлади психогенного, ендогенного та органічного характеру.

Результати. Виявлена більша ураженість реемігрантів типовими афективними синдромами – вітальної та апатичної депресії, а емігрантів – атиповими афективними синдромами, зокрема, тривожно-депресивними та ажитації, що можна пояснити впливом об’єктивних соціально-психологічних факторів, а також інтрапсихічною трансформацією актуальних стресогенних подразників, пов’язаних з еміграцією та рееміграцією.

Висновки. 1. Фактор еміграції та рееміграції впливає на психоемоційну сферу емігрантів та реемігрантів, хворих на депресивні розлади різного ґенезу, про що свідчать особливості виявленої нами в процесі дослідження психопатологічної симптоматики. 2. Пацієнти з психогенними депресивними розладами найбільше піддаються впливу фактора еміграції, порівняно з пацієнтами із ендогенними та органічними депресіями. 3. Контингент емігрантів та реемігрантів відрізняється значуще більш вираженими ознаками соматизації, обсесивно-компульсивних розладів і тривожності, дещо вищими компонентами ворожості та фобічної тривожності. 4. Найбільш вираженими показниками, що характеризують депресивні та астенічні тенденції у реемігрантів, були ознаки депресії та міжособистісної сенситивності, а також індекс виразності дистресу. На наш погляд, причинами цих відмінностей є вплив об’єктивного фактора фрустрації у групі реемігрантів та тривожних побоювань щодо можливості продов­ження роботи за кордоном у зв'язку із психічним захворюванням – у емігрантів.
ОЦІНКА ВИДОВОГО СКЛАДУ МІКРОФЛОРИ ПРОСВІТУ ТОВСТОЇ КИШКИ У ЩУРІВ ПРИ БАГАТОРАЗОВОМУ ІНГАЛЯЦІЙНОМУ ВПЛИВІ НІТРОКСОЛІНУ
Authors: Yaskiv G. I. , Kuzminov B. P. , Platonova I. L. , Ruda I. A.
Published: January 2019

Резюме. Важливим у схемі досліджень по гігієнічному обгрунтуванню гігієнічних регламентів допустимого вмісту лікарських засобів у повітрі робочої зони фармацевтичних підприємств є встановлення параметрів токсичності, алергічної, ембріотоксичної, дисбіотичної дії.

Мета. Оцінка видового складу мікрофлори просвіту прямого відділу товстого кишківника у щурів при багаторазовому інгаляційному впливі нітроксоліну.

Матеріали і методи. Дисбіотичну дію нітроксоліну вивчали на щурах, яких упродовж 30 днів піддавали впливу лікарського засобу у концентраціях 5 мг/м3, 15 мг/м3, 45 мг/м3, шляхом інтраназального введення.

Результати та обговорення. Домінантними представниками нормобіоти фекального біотопу є біфідобактерії, лактобактерії, бактерії групи кишкових паличок, зокрема Е. coli, ентерококи, стафілококи, які виявляли у випорожненнях 100,0 % тварин. Частота зустрічності пептострептококів та стрептококів коливалася в межах 33,3 % - 66,7 %, протею – 16,7 % - 50,0 %, грибів роду кандіда – 16,7 % - 33,3 % , плісені – 0% - 16,7 %. При концентраціях нітроксоліну 5 мг/м3, 15 мг/м3, 45 мг/м3 показник частоти зустрічності для домінуючих бактеріальних популяцій: біфідо-, лактобактерій, БГКП, ентерококів і стафілококів залишався незмінним – 100,0 %. Нітроксолін у концентрації 5 мг/м3 не викликав змін в структурі мікробіоти кишківника. Концентрації 15 мг/м3, 45 мг/м3 викликали зростання частоти виявлення умовно-патогенних штамів та зниження пептострептококів і стрептококів. Наприкінці відновного періоду частота зустрічності протею, грибів роду кандіда, плісеневих грибів у фекальному біотопі щурів другої (15 мг/м3) та третьої дослідної групи (45 мг/м3) утримувалися на рівні показників 4 тижня експерименту.

Висновки. Багаторазова інгаляційна дія нітроксоліну у концентрації 15 мг/м3 викликає дисбактеріоз товстого кишківника у щурів, при цьому концентрація сполуки 15мг/м3 є пороговою для цього ефекту.
ПРОГНОЗУВАННЯ ЗМІН МОТОРНОЇ ФУНКЦІЇ РУК ВНАСЛІДОК ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ МЕТОДУ КОЗЯВКІНА® У ДІТЕЙ ІЗ СПАСТИЧНОЮ ФОРМОЮ ЦЕРЕБРАЛЬНОГО ПАРАЛІЧУ ЗА ЇХ ПОЧАТКОВИМ РІВНЕМ, А ТАКОЖ ЗА ПОКАЗНИКАМИ ЕЕГ, ВСР ТА ГРВ
Authors: Kozyavkina O. V. , Kozyavkina N. V. , Hordiyevych M. S. , Voloshyn T. V. , Lysovych V. L. , Babelyuk V. Y. , Dubkova H. I. , Korolyshyn T. A. , Popovych D. V. , Mysula I. R. , Sydliaruk N. I. , Zukow W. , Popovych I. L.
Published: January 2019

Раніше ми повідомляли, що у дітей із спастичною формою церебрального паралічу (CФЦП) після двотижневого курсу реабілітації методом Козявкіна© тести на моторну функцію рук змінювалися неоднозначно (у 11 із 14 поліпшувались, проте у 3 погіршувалися), і такі зміни супроводжувалися різноспрямованими змінами низки параметрів ЕЕГ, варіабельності ритму серця (ВРС) та газорорядної візуалізації (ГРВ).

Мета дослідження – виявити особливості змін параметрів ЕЕГ, ВРС і ГРВ у дітей зі сприятливими і несприятливими змінами параметрів моторної функції рук, а також з’ясувати можливість передбачити характер змін мотор­ної функції рук за сукупністю початкових параметрів організму.

Матеріал і методи. Об'єктом спостереження було 14 дітей (6 дівчаток та 8 хлопчиків) у віці 8–15 років з СФЦП. Стан моторного розвитку за шкалою GMFCS був на рівні II÷IV. Функціональний стан рук за шкалою MACS був на рівні II÷III. Оцінка функції рук здійснювалася за допомогою динамометрії (D), тесту «коробка і блоки» (BB) та тесту «дев'ять лунок і кілків» (NHP). Ми реєстрували також компоненти м'язового тонусу за допомогою пристрою «NeuroFlexor» (Aggero MedTech AB, Швеція), пара­метри ВРС та EEГ одночасно за допомогою апаратно-програмних комплексів «Cardiolab + VSR» та «NeuroCom Standard» (ХАІ Медика, Харків, Україна), а також параметри ГРВ «GDV Chamber» («Biotechprogress», СПб, РФ).

Результати. Методом дискримінантного аналізу з’ясовано, що прогнозування лише за статтю, шкалою MACS, ВВ тестом лівої руки і в’язкою компонентою м'язового тонусу, попри безпомилковість, все ж недостатньо надійне (квадрат віддалі Mahalanobis D2M між кластерами 6,85; p=0,208). Натомість дискримінантна модель на основі 7 параметрів ЕЕГ і ULF смуги ВРС вже цілком надійна (D2M=116; p=0,011). Додаткове включення у модель параметра ГРВ веде до подальшого підвищення надійності прогнозу (D2M=222; p=0,011), котра сягає максимуму при врахуванні ВВ тесту правої руки (D2M=262; p=0,002).

Висновок. Характер змін параметрів моторної функції рук внаслідок курсу реабілітації методом Козявкіна© кондиціонується як їх початковим рівнем, так і сукупністю параметрів ЕЕ, ВРС і ГРВ і піддається надійному прогнозуванню.
MORPHOLOGICAL AND METABOLIC CHANGES CAUSED BY SYNDROME OF ISCHEMIA-REPERFUSION, AND FEATURES OF ITS THERAPEUTIC INFLUENCE
Authors: Volotovska N. V. , Hodovana A. Yu. , Appiah D. N.
Published: January 2019

The article analyzes literary sources regarding the causes and characteristics of the development of ischemia-reperfusion syndrome, as well as manifestations of pathophysiological changes under the influence of environmental factors. The influence of treatment and prophylactic measures aimed at reducing the damage is investigated.

An influx of oxygenated blood which contains nutrients is imperative for the nutrition of each organ. Ischemia, being a condition of limiting or stopping of blood supply, has many causes – acute and chronic.

Changes that cause ischemia can develop for decades (cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases). There are also those that arise against the backdrop of a relatively short period of time and are associated with a sudden cessation of blood supply (embolism, thrombosis, long-term compression syndrome and one of its variants – complications arising from the use of a hemostatic tourniquet, as well as a tourniquet for blood supply stoppage in organ during surgery).

The type of ischemia that leads to the restoration of blood flow, causes a special phenomenon, when restoring the blood supply of ischemic tissue and it leads also to quite expressed tissues' damage than those that occur on the background of isolated ischemia. This phenomenon is called the syndrome of ischemia-reperfusion. Acute limb ischemia has such symptoms as pain, edema, loss of function and violation of nerve condition. But in complicated state it can cause damaging of the whole body.