Crohn's Disease in Transvaal Blacks: A REPORT OF THREE CASES WITH A REVIEW

Crohn's disease is rarely seen in Transvaal Blacks. Three cases are presented. The pathology and radiological features are discussed. The difficulty of diagnosing the extent of the disease in the acute stage both clinically and radiologically is emph,!lsised. The acute case should be recognised at operation and nothing further done. The case presenting with intestinal obstruction should have conservative excision of the organically narrowed segment. Azathioprine may be of some use in the treatment of the acute episode. Its probable chief mode of action is by its antiphlogistic effect.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 580 (1974)

Effect of Abaloparatide on Bone Microarchitecture Assessed by Trabecular Bone Score in Women With Osteoporosis: Post Hoc Analysis of ACTIVE and ACTIVExtend.

Although bone mineral density (BMD) is a predictor of fracture, many fractures occur in women with T-scores > -2.5. Bone microarchitecture, assessed by trabecular bone score (TBS), predicts fracture risk independent of BMD. We evaluated whether abaloparatide improves TBS and whether TBS trends were associated with vertebral fracture risk reduction. Women with osteoporosis randomized to abaloparatide or placebo for 18 months (ACTIVE), followed by alendronate for 24 months (ACTIVExtend), with evaluable TBS, were included in this post hoc analysis (N = 911). TBS was calculated from spine BMD scans using an algorithm adjusted for tissue thickness (TBS <sub>th</sub> ) at baseline, 6, 18, and 43 months. Mean increments in TBS <sub>th</sub> from baseline within and between treatment groups, proportion of women with TBS <sub>th</sub> increments above least significant change (LSC) and proportion with degraded TBS <sub>th</sub> (<1.027) were calculated. Risk estimates for vertebral fracture were compared using binary logistic regressions adjusted for baseline age and spine BMD. At baseline, 42% had degraded TBS <sub>th</sub> . Mean TBS <sub>th</sub> increased 4% after 18 months abaloparatide (p < 0.001) and was unchanged with placebo. After 2 subsequent years of alendronate, the total cumulative TBS <sub>th</sub> increase was 4.4% with abaloparatide/alendronate and 1.7% with placebo/alendronate (group difference, p < 0.001). At 43 months, the proportion of women with degraded TBS <sub>th</sub> had declined to 21% with abaloparatide/alendronate and 37% with placebo/alendronate (p < 0.05). An increase in TBS <sub>th</sub> ≥ LSC was observed in 50% of abaloparatide-treated women at 18 months and was associated with decreased odds (odds ratio [OR]; 95% confidence interval [CI]) of vertebral fracture (0.19; 95% CI, 0.04-0.80, 6 months; 0.30; 95% CI, 0.11-0.79, 43 months). In conclusion, abaloparatide increased TBS <sub>th</sub> rapidly and progressively over 18 months and increments were maintained over 2 years with alendronate. TBS <sub>th</sub> increase was associated with vertebral fracture risk reduction. Microarchitectural improvement may be one mechanism by which abaloparatide strengthens vertebral bone. © 2023 Radius Health, Inc and The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR)

Robust Deep Sensing Through Transfer Learning in Cognitive Radio

We propose a robust spectrum sensing framework based on deep learning. The received signals at the secondary user's receiver are filtered, sampled and then directly fed into a convolutional neural network. Although this deep sensing is effective when operating in the same scenario as the collected training data, the sensing performance is degraded when it is applied in a different scenario with different wireless signals and propagation. We incorporate transfer learning into the framework to improve the robustness. Results validate the effectiveness as well as the robustness of the proposed deep spectrum sensing framework

Abaloparatide: an anabolic treatment to reduce fracture risk in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis

Objective Fractures due to osteoporosis represent a serious burden on patients and healthcare systems. The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the anabolic agent abaloparatide (ABL) for the treatment of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis at high risk for fracture. Methods A literature review was conducted using PubMed to identify articles focused on ABL published prior to February 10, 2020, using the search term “abaloparatide”. Results ABL, a synthetic analog of human parathyroid hormone-related protein, increased bone mineral density (BMD), improved bone microarchitecture, and increased bone strength in preclinical and clinical studies. The pivotal phase 3 trial ACTIVE and its extension (ACTIVExtend) demonstrated the efficacy of initial treatment with ABL for 18 months followed by sequential treatment with alendronate (ALN) for an additional 24 months to reduce the risk of vertebral, nonvertebral, clinical, and major osteoporotic fractures and to increase BMD in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Discontinuations from ACTIVE were slightly more common in ABL-treated patients due to dizziness, palpitations, nausea, and headache. Post hoc analyses of ACTIVE and ACTIVExtend support the efficacy and safety of ABL in relevant subpopulations including postmenopausal women with various baseline risk factors, women ≥80 years, women with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and women with renal impairment. Conclusions ABL is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for women with postmenopausal osteoporosis at high risk for fracture. Its therapeutic effects are sustained with subsequent ALN therapy

Cross layer resource allocation design for uplink video OFDMA wireless systems

Abstract-We study an uplink video communication system with multiple users in a centralized wireless cell. The multiple access scheme is Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA). Both physical layer channel state information (CSI) and application layer rate distortion (RD) information of video streams are collected by the base station. With the goal of minimizing the average video distortion across all the users in the system, we design an iterative resource allocation algorithm for subcarrier assignment and power allocation. Based on the physical layer resource allocation decision, the user will adapt the application layer video source coding rate. To show the advantage of this cross layer algorithm, numerical results are compared with two baseline resource allocation algorithms using only physical layer information or only application layer information. Bit-level simulation results are presented which take into account the imperfection of the video coding rate control, as well as channel errors. Index Terms-Cross layer design, multiuser video communications system, OFDMA, video multiplexing

Syringobulbia and syringomyelia in a case with Chiari 0 malformation successfully treated by posterior fossa reconstruction: Case presentation and literature review

“Chiari zero malformation” is a rare and a relatively new described condition which associates syringohydromyelia without caudal displacement of the cerebellar tonsils through the foramen magnum. We present a case of a 40 years old woman with Chiari zero malformation with both syringomyelia and syringobulbia and a good clinical and radiological outcome after posterior fossa decompression. The presence of associated syringomyelia and syringobulbia in this condition is less frequent and it usually occurs in younger patients. In our case we considered syringobulbia as being an extension of syringomyelia

Computational Characterization and Prediction of Estrogen Receptor Coactivator Binding Site Inhibitors

Many carcinogens have been shown to cause tissue specific tumors in animal models. The mechanism for this specificity has not been fully elucidated and is usually attributed to differences in organ metabolism. For heterocyclic amines, potent carcinogens that are formed in well-done meat, the ability to either bind to the estrogen receptor and activate or inhibit an estrogenic response will have a major impact on carcinogenicity. Here we describe our work with the human estrogen receptor alpha (hERa) and the mutagenic/carcinogenic heterocyclic amines PhIP, MeIQx, IFP, and the hydroxylated metabolite of PhIP, N2-hydroxy-PhIP. We found that PhIP, in contrast to the other heterocyclic amines, increased cell-proliferation in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells and activated the hERa receptor. We show mechanistic data supporting this activation both computationally by homology modeling and docking, and by NMR confirmation that PhIP binds with the ligand binding domain (LBD). This binding competes with estradiol (E2) in the native E2 binding cavity of the receptor. We also find that other heterocyclic amines and N2-hydroxy-PhIP inhibit ER activation presumably by binding into another cavity on the LBD. Moreover, molecular dynamics simulations of inhibitory heterocyclic amines reveal a disruption of the surface of the receptor protein involved with protein-protein signaling. We therefore propose that the mechanism for the tissue specific carcinogenicity seen in the rat breast tumors and the presumptive human breast cancer associated with the consumption of well-done meat maybe mediated by this receptor activation