Measuring and Controlling Unfairness in Decentralized Planning of Energy Demand

Demand-side energy management improves robustness and efficiency in Smart Grids. Load-adjustment and load-shifting are performed to match demand to available supply. These operations come at a discomfort cost for consumers as their lifestyle is influenced when they adjust or shift in time their demand. Performance of demand-side energy management mainly concerns how robustness is maximized or discomfort is minimized. However, measuring and controlling the distribution of discomfort as perceived between different consumers provides an enriched notion of fairness in demand-side energy management that is missing in current approaches. This paper defines unfairness in demand-side energy management and shows how unfairness is measurable and controllable by software agents that plan energy demand in a decentralized fashion. Experimental evaluation using real demand and survey data from two operational Smart Grid projects confirms these findings. © 2014 IEEE

Antigenic Conservation of an Immunodominant Invariable Region of the VlsE Lipoprotein among European Pathogenic Genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi SL

Lyme disease is caused by genetically divergent spirochetes, including 3 pathogenic genospecies: Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, B. garinii, and B. afzelii. Serodiagnosisis complicated by this genetic diversity. A synthetic peptide (C6), based on the 26-mer invariable region (IR6) of the variable surface antigen of B. burgdorferi (VlsE), was used as ELISA antigen, to test serum samples collected from mice experimentally infected with the 3 genospecies and from European patients with Lyme disease. Regardless of the infecting strains, mice produced a strong antibody response to C6, which indicates that IR6 is antigenically conserved among the pathogenic genospecies. Twenty of 23 patients with culture-confirmed erythema migrans had a detectable antibody response to C6. A sensitivity of 95.2% was achieved, with serum samples collected from patients with well-defined acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans. Fourteen of 20 patients with symptoms of late Lyme disease also had a positive anti-IR6 ELISA. Thus, it is possible that C6 may be used to serodiagnose Lyme disease universall

Disease progression in systemic sclerosis-overlap syndrome is significantly different from limited and diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis

Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc)-overlap syndromes are a very heterogeneous and remarkable subgroup of SSc-patients, who present at least two connective tissue diseases (CTD) at the same time, usually with a specific autoantibody status. Objectives: To determine whether patients, classified as overlap syndromes, show a disease course different from patients with limited SSc (lcSSc) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc). Methods: The data of 3240 prospectively included patients, registered in the database of the German Network for Systemic Scleroderma and followed between 2003 and 2013, were analysed. Results: Among 3240 registered patients, 10% were diagnosed as SSc-overlap syndrome. Of these, 82.5% were female. SSc-overlap patients had a mean age of 48±1.2 years and carried significantly more often ‘other antibodies’ (68.0%; p<0.0001), including anti-U1RNP, -PmScl, -Ro, -La, as well as anti-Jo-1 and -Ku antibodies. These patients developed musculoskeletal involvement earlier and more frequently (62.5%) than patients diagnosed as lcSSc (32.2%) or dcSSc (43.3%) (p<0.0001). The onset of lung fibrosis and heart involvement in SSc-overlap patients was significantly earlier than in patients with lcSSc and occurred later than in patients with dcSSc. Oesophagus, kidney and PH progression was similar to lcSSc patients, whereas dcSSc patients had a significantly earlier onset. Conclusions: These data support the concept that SSc-overlap syndromes should be regarded as a separate SSc subset, distinct from lcSSc and dcSSc, due to a different progression of the disease, different proportional distribution of specific autoantibodies, and of different organ involvement

Optimization in a Self-Stabilizing Service Discovery Framework for Large Scale Systems

Ability to find and get services is a key requirement in the development of large-scale distributed sys- tems. We consider dynamic and unstable environments, namely Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems. In previous work, we designed a service discovery solution called Distributed Lexicographic Placement Table (DLPT), based on a hierar- chical overlay structure. A self-stabilizing version was given using the Propagation of Information with Feedback (PIF) paradigm. In this paper, we introduce the self-stabilizing COPIF (for Collaborative PIF) scheme. An algo- rithm is provided with its correctness proof. We use this approach to improve a distributed P2P framework designed for the services discovery. Significantly efficient experimental results are presented

LSH At Large - Distributed KNN Search in High Dimensions

We consider K-Nearest Neighbor search for high dimensional data in large-scale structured Peer-to-Peer networks. We present an efficient mapping scheme based on p-stable Locality Sensitive Hashing to assign hash buckets to peers in a Chord-style overlay network. To minimize network traffic, we process queries in an incremental top-K fashion leveraging on a locality preserving mapping to the peer space. Furthermore, we consider load balancing by harnessing estimates of the resulting data mapping, which follows a normal distribution. We report on a comprehensive performance evaluation using high dimensional real-world data, demonstrating the suitability of our approach

Hereditary angioedema in children and adolescents - A consensus update on therapeutic strategies for German-speaking countries.

BACKGROUND/METHODS At a consensus meeting in August 2018, pediatricians and dermatologists from German-speaking countries discussed the therapeutic strategy for the treatment of pediatric patients with types I and II hereditary angioedema due to C1 inhibitor deficiency (HAE-C1-INH) for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, taking into account the current marketing approval status. HAE-C1-INH is a rare disease that usually presents during childhood or adolescence with intermittent episodes of potentially life-threatening angioedema. Diagnosis as early as possible and an optimal management of the disease are important to avoid ineffective therapies and to properly treat swelling attacks. This article provides recommendations for developing appropriate treatment strategies in the management of HAE-C1-INH in pediatric patients in German-speaking countries. An overview of available drugs in this age group is provided, together with their approval status, and study results obtained in adults and pediatric patients. RESULTS/CONCLUSION Currently, plasma-derived C1 inhibitor concentrates have the broadest approval status and are considered the best available option for on-demand treatment of HAE-C1-INH attacks and for short- and long-term prophylaxis across all pediatric age groups in German-speaking countries. For on-demand treatment of children over 2 years of age, bradykinin-receptor icatibant is an alternative. For long-term prophylaxis in adolescents, the parenteral kallikrein inhibitor lanadelumab has recently been approved and can be recommended due to proven efficacy and safety

Skin testing in patients with hypersensitivity reactions to iodinated contrast media - a European multicenter study

BACKGROUND: Iodinated contrast media cause both immediate and nonimmediate hypersensitivity reactions. The aim of this prospective study was to determine the specificity and sensitivity of skin tests in patients who have experienced such reactions. METHODS: Skin prick, intradermal and patch tests with a series of contrast media were conducted in 220 patients with either immediate or nonimmediate reaction. Positive skin tests were defined according to internationally accepted guidelines. Seventy-one never-exposed subjects and 11 subjects who had tolerated contrast medium exposure, served as negative controls. RESULTS: Skin test specificity was 96-100%. For tests conducted within the time period from 2 to 6 months after the reaction, up to 50% of immediate reactors and up to 47% of nonimmediate reactors were skin test positive. For immediate reactors, the intradermal tests were the most sensitive, whereas delayed intradermal tests in combination with patch tests were needed for optimal sensitivity in nonimmediate reactors. Contrast medium cross-reactivity was more common in the nonimmediate than in the immediate group. Interestingly, 49% of immediate and 52% of nonimmediate symptoms occurred in previously unexposed patients. Many of these patients were skin test positive, indicating that they were already sensitized at the time of first contrast medium exposure. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that at least 50% of hypersensitivity reactions to contrast media are caused by an immunological mechanism. Skin testing appears to be a useful tool for diagnosis of contrast medium allergy and may play an important role in selection of a safe product in previous reactors

Skin testing in patients with hypersensitivity reactions to iodinated contrast media - a European multicenter study

BACKGROUND: Iodinated contrast media cause both immediate and nonimmediate hypersensitivity reactions. The aim of this prospective study was to determine the specificity and sensitivity of skin tests in patients who have experienced such reactions. METHODS: Skin prick, intradermal and patch tests with a series of contrast media were conducted in 220 patients with either immediate or nonimmediate reaction. Positive skin tests were defined according to internationally accepted guidelines. Seventy-one never-exposed subjects and 11 subjects who had tolerated contrast medium exposure, served as negative controls. RESULTS: Skin test specificity was 96-100%. For tests conducted within the time period from 2 to 6 months after the reaction, up to 50% of immediate reactors and up to 47% of nonimmediate reactors were skin test positive. For immediate reactors, the intradermal tests were the most sensitive, whereas delayed intradermal tests in combination with patch tests were needed for optimal sensitivity in nonimmediate reactors. Contrast medium cross-reactivity was more common in the nonimmediate than in the immediate group. Interestingly, 49% of immediate and 52% of nonimmediate symptoms occurred in previously unexposed patients. Many of these patients were skin test positive, indicating that they were already sensitized at the time of first contrast medium exposure. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that at least 50% of hypersensitivity reactions to contrast media are caused by an immunological mechanism. Skin testing appears to be a useful tool for diagnosis of contrast medium allergy and may play an important role in selection of a safe product in previous reactors