Soluble interleukin-2 receptors in ulcerative colitis

T-Cell activation results in the release or shedding of a soluble form (45 kDa) of the cellular (55 kDa) low-affinity interleukin-2 receptor (α-chain) (slL-2R). The present study was performed to investigate if the serum concentration of sIL-2R is a marker of disease activity in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Twenty-seven UC patients (about half of them in remission) and 13 healthy volunteers were studied, sIL-2R concentrations were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and significantly elevated median sIL-2R values were found in clinically active UC (150 pg/ml; range 100–420), compared to inactive UC (145 pg/ml; range 110–255), and healthy controls (110 pg/ml; range 80–165) (p < 0.01). There was no correlation between sIL-2R concentrations and extent of the disease. Due to the overlap of serum sIL-2R concentrations between different disease stages and controls, the general diagnostic value seems to be limited. However, since slL-2R release is an IL-2 dependent phenomenon, we conclude that the demonstration of increased serum sIL-2R concentrations in UC suggests the existence of an enhanced T-cell activation in vivo in this disease. Further longitudinal studies are required to elucidate if repeated measurements of sIL-2R levels provide an additional way of monitoring UC disease activity in individual patients

Weaving seams with data: Conceptualizing City APIs as elements of infrastructures

This article addresses the role of application programming interfaces (APIs) for integrating data sources in the context of smart cities and communities. On top of the built infrastructures in cities, application programming interfaces allow to weave new kinds of seams from static and dynamic data sources into the urban fabric. Contributing to debates about “urban informatics” and the governance of urban information infrastructures, this article provides a technically informed and critically grounded approach to evaluating APIs as crucial but often overlooked elements within these infrastructures. The conceptualization of what we term City APIs is informed by three perspectives: In the first part, we review established criticisms of proprietary social media APIs and their crucial function in current web architectures. In the second part, we discuss how the design process of APIs defines conventions of data exchanges that also reflect negotiations between API producers and API consumers about affordances and mental models of the underlying computer systems involved. In the third part, we present recent urban data innovation initiatives, especially CitySDK and OrganiCity, to underline the centrality of API design and governance for new kinds of civic and commercial services developed within and for cities. By bridging the fields of criticism, design, and implementation, we argue that City APIs as elements of infrastructures reveal how urban renewal processes become crucial sites of socio-political contestation between data science, technological development, urban management, and civic participation

Metaphor Comprehension in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Core Language Skills Matter

Poor metaphor comprehension was considered a hallmark of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but recent research has questioned the extent and the sources of these difculties. In this cross-sectional study, we compared metaphor comprehension in individuals with ASD (N=29) and individuals with typical development (TD; N=31), and investigated the relationship between core language and metaphor comprehension. Individuals with ASD showed more difculty but also a more variable performance in both metaphor and literal items of the task used than individuals with TD did. This indicates that core language ability accounts for metaphor comprehension and should be considered in future research and interventions aiming to improve metaphor comprehension in individuals with ASD.publishedVersio

Proceedings of the Sixth Danish Human-Computer Interaction Research Symposium.

Proceedings of theSixth Danish Human-Computer Interaction Research Symposium.Aarhus, Denmark, November 15, 200

Circulating cytokines and cytokine receptors in infliximab treatment failure due to TNF-α independent Crohn disease

The inflammatory response at infliximab (IFX) treatment failure due to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-independent Crohn disease activity is unknown. This is an exploratory, hypothesis-generating study based on samples collected in a clinical trial among patients failing conventional IFX dosages and treated with an intensified IFX regimen for 12 weeks. Patients with clinical response at week 12, as defined by a reduction of Crohn disease activity index by ≥70, were considered to suffer from nonimmune pharmacokinetic (PK) treatment failure (n = 18), and nonresponders had a presumed pharmacodynamic (PD) failure due to non-TNF-driven disease (n = 8). Patients failing IFX due to functional anti-IFX antibodies (n = 2) were excluded. The study population also comprised a group of 12 patients in long-term remission on IFX. A functional cell-based reporter gene assay was applied to measure IFX and anti-IFX antibodies. Circulating cytokines and cytokine receptors were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay: granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interferon-γ, interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β, IL-1Ra, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, soluble TNF receptor (sTNF-R) 1, sTNF-R2, IL-17A, and monocyte chemotactic protein 1. The IFX levels were similar between patients with IFX failure caused by nonimmune PK or PD at treatment failure (median 1.4 vs 2.4 μg/mL; P = 0.52), during treatment intensification (8.1 vs 5.6; P = 0.85), and after 12 weeks (8.8 vs 7.7; P = 0.93), congruent with nonresponders failing IFX due to predominantly TNF-α-independent signaling pathways in their disease. Cytokine and cytokine receptor levels were comparable between patients with nonimmune PK failure and PD failure at time of manifestation of IFX failure, but with higher IL-6 and sTNF-R2 levels among IFX treatment failures as compared with patients in remission (IL-6 median 3.6 vs <3.1 pg/mL; P = 0.03; sTNF-R2 3207 vs 2547 pg/mL; P = 0.01). IL-6 and sTNF-R2 were lower after 12 weeks in nonimmune PK failures than in PD failures (<3.1 vs 4.0; P = 0.02; 3209 vs 4740; P = 0.04, respectively), and were measured at levels comparable with patients in remission. Further, trends of decreased IL-6 and sTNF-R2 levels among nonimmune PK failures during IFX intensification (P < 0.05 and P = 0.12) were observed. These observations indicate that IL-6 and sTNF-R2 are of potential relevance in driving the inflammatory response in IFX refractory Crohn disease caused by TNF-α-independent disease activity