Logarithmic spin, logarithmic rate and material frame-indifferent generalized plasticity

In this work we present a new rate type formulation of large deformation generalized plasticity which is based on the consistent use of the logarithmic rate concept. For this purpose, the basic constitutive equations are initially established in a local rotationally neutralized configuration which is defined by the logarithmic spin. These are then rephrased in their spatial form, by employing some standard concepts from the tensor analysis on manifolds. Such an approach, besides being compatible with the notion of (hyper)elasticity, offers three basic advantages, namely:(i) The principle of material frame-indifference is trivially satisfied ; (ii) The structure of the infinitesimal theory remains essentially unaltered ; (iii) The formulation does not preclude anisotropic response. A general integration scheme for the computational implementation of generalized plasticity models which are based on the logarithmic rate is also discussed. The performance of the scheme is tested by two representative numerical examples

Excessive weight gain after remission of depression in a schizophrenic patient treated with risperidone: case report

BACKGROUND: The use of atypical antipsychotics in schizophrenic patients has been associated with a risk of weight gain. Similarly, recovery from depression is often followed by improved appetite, greater food intake and potential increase in weight. CASE PRESENTATION: A Caucasian 33-year-old schizophrenic female patient was being treated with 6 mg/day of risperidone and 15 mg/day of clorazepate. She developed depressive symptomatology and 40 mg/day of fluoxetine was gradually added to her treatment regimen for about 9 months. After the remission of depression, and the discontinuation of fluoxetine, she experienced an increase in appetite and subsequently excessive weight gain of 52 kg. Re-administration of fluoxetine did not reverse the situation. The patient developed diabetes mellitus, which was successfully controlled with metformin 1700 mg/day. The addition at first of orlistat 360 mg/day and later of topiramate 200 mg/day has helped her to lose a significant part of the weight gained (30 kg). CONCLUSION: The case suggests a probable association between the remission of depressive symptomatology and weight gain in a schizophrenic patient

Caipirini: using gene sets to rank literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Keeping up-to-date with bioscience literature is becoming increasingly challenging. Several recent methods help meet this challenge by allowing literature search to be launched based on lists of abstracts that the user judges to be 'interesting'. Some methods go further by allowing the user to provide a second input set of 'uninteresting' abstracts; these two input sets are then used to search and rank literature by relevance. In this work we present the service 'Caipirini' (<url>http://caipirini.org</url>) that also allows two input sets, but takes the novel approach of allowing ranking of literature based on one or more sets of genes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To evaluate the usefulness of Caipirini, we used two test cases, one related to the human cell cycle, and a second related to disease defense mechanisms in <it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>. In both cases, the new method achieved high precision in finding literature related to the biological mechanisms underlying the input data sets.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>To our knowledge Caipirini is the first service enabling literature search directly based on biological relevance to gene sets; thus, Caipirini gives the research community a new way to unlock hidden knowledge from gene sets derived via high-throughput experiments.</p

Pan-viral serology implicates enteroviruses in acute flaccid myelitis.

Since 2012, the United States of America has experienced a biennial spike in pediatric acute flaccid myelitis (AFM)1-6. Epidemiologic evidence suggests non-polio enteroviruses (EVs) are a potential etiology, yet EV RNA is rarely detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)2. CSF from children with AFM (n = 42) and other pediatric neurologic disease controls (n = 58) were investigated for intrathecal antiviral antibodies, using a phage display library expressing 481,966 overlapping peptides derived from all known vertebrate and arboviruses (VirScan). Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of AFM CSF RNA (n = 20 cases) was also performed, both unbiased sequencing and with targeted enrichment for EVs. Using VirScan, the viral family significantly enriched by the CSF of AFM cases relative to controls was Picornaviridae, with the most enriched Picornaviridae peptides belonging to the genus Enterovirus (n = 29/42 cases versus 4/58 controls). EV VP1 ELISA confirmed this finding (n = 22/26 cases versus 7/50 controls). mNGS did not detect additional EV RNA. Despite rare detection of EV RNA, pan-viral serology frequently identified high levels of CSF EV-specific antibodies in AFM compared with controls, providing further evidence for a causal role of non-polio EVs in AFM

Diminished social motivation in early psychosis is associated with polygenic liability for low vitamin D

Insufficiency of vitamin D levels often occur in individuals with schizophrenia and first-episode psychosis (FEP). However, it is unknown whether this represents a biological predisposition, or it is essentially driven by illness-related alterations in lifestyle habits. Lower vitamin D has also been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes and predominant negative psychotic symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of polygenic risk score for circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration (PRS-vitD) to symptom presentation among individuals with FEP enrolled in the Athens First-Episode Psychosis Research Study (AthensFEP n = 205) and the Psychosis Incident Cohort Outcome Study (PICOS n = 123). The severity of psychopathology was evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale at baseline and follow-up assessments (AthensFEP: 4-weeks follow-up, PICOS: 1-year follow-up). Premorbid intelligence and adjustment domains were also examined as proxy measures of neurodevelopmental deviations. An inverse association between PRS-vitD and severity of negative symptoms, in particular lack of social motivation, was detected in the AthensFEP at baseline (adjusted R2 = 0.04, p &lt; 0.001) and follow-up (adjusted R2 = 0.03, p &lt; 0.01). The above observation was independently validated in PICOS at follow-up (adjusted R2 = 0.06, p &lt; 0.01). No evidence emerged for a relationship between PRS-vitD and premorbid measures of intelligence and adjustment, likely not supporting an impact of lower PRS-vitD on developmental trajectories related to psychotic illness. These findings suggest that polygenic vulnerability to reduced vitamin D impairs motivation and social interaction in individuals with FEP, thereby interventions that encourage outdoor activities and social engagement in this patient group might attenuate enduring negative symptoms

Sleep disorders, depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life-a cross-sectional comparison between kidney transplant recipients and waitlisted patients on maintenance dialysis

BACKGROUND: Kidney transplantation is believed to improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT). Recent studies suggested that the observed difference in HRQoL between kidney transplant recipients (Tx) vs patients treated with dialysis may reflect differences in patient characteristics. We tested if Tx patients have better HRQoL compared to waitlisted (WL) patients treated with dialysis after extensive adjustment for covariables. METHODS: Eight hundred and eighty-eight prevalent Tx patients followed at a single outpatient transplant clinic and 187 WL patients treated with maintenance dialysis in nine dialysis centres were enrolled in this observational cross-sectional study. Data about socio-demographic and clinical parameters, self-reported depressive symptoms and the most frequent sleep disorders assessed by self-reported questionnaires were collected at enrollment. HRQoL was assessed by the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire. RESULTS: Patient characteristics were similar in the Tx vs WL groups: the proportion of males (58 vs 60%), mean +/- SD age (49 +/- 13 vs 49 +/- 12) and proportion of diabetics (17 vs 18%), respectively, were all similar. Tx patients had significantly better HRQoL scores compared to the WL group both in generic (Physical function, General health perceptions, Energy/fatigue, Emotional well-being) and in kidney disease-specific domains (Symptoms/problems, Effect- and Burden of kidney disease and Sleep). In multivariate regression models adjusting for clinical and socio-demographic characteristics, sleep disorders and depressive symptoms, the modality of RRT (WL vs Tx) remained independently associated with three (General health perceptions, Effect- and Burden of kidney disease) out of the eight HRQoL dimensions analysed. CONCLUSIONS: Kidney Tx recipients have significantly better HRQoL compared to WL dialysis patients in some, but not all, dimensions of quality of life after accounting for differences in patient characteristics. Utilizing multidimensional disease-specific questionnaires will allow better understanding of treatment, disease and patient-related factors potentially affecting quality of life in patients with chronic medical conditions

Demonstration of Zero-touch Device and L3-VPN Service Management using the TeraFlow Cloud-native SDN Controller

We demonstrate zero-touch device bootstrapping, monitoring, and L3-VPN service management using the novel TeraFlow OS SDN controller prototype. TeraFlow aims at producing a cloud-native carrier-grade SDN controller offering scalability, extensibility, high-performance, and high-availability features

Thermomechanical couplings in shape memory alloy materials

In this work we address several theoretical and computational issues which are related to the thermomechanical modeling of shape memory alloy materials. More specifically, in this paper we revisit a non-isothermal version of the theory of large deformation generalized plasticity which is suitable for describing the multiple and complex mechanisms occurring in these materials during phase transformations. We also discuss the computational implementation of a generalized plasticity based constitutive model and we demonstrate the ability of the theory in simulating the basic patterns of the experimentally observed behavior by a set of representative numerical examples

Evaluation and Management of Deficiency of Adenosine Deaminase 2: An International Consensus Statement

IMPORTANCE: Deficiency of adenosine deaminase 2 (DADA2) is a recessively inherited disease characterized by systemic vasculitis, early-onset stroke, bone marrow failure, and/or immunodeficiency affecting both children and adults. DADA2 is among the more common monogenic autoinflammatory diseases, with an estimate of more than 35 000 cases worldwide, but currently, there are no guidelines for diagnostic evaluation or management. OBJECTIVE: To review the available evidence and develop multidisciplinary consensus statements for the evaluation and management of DADA2. EVIDENCE REVIEW: The DADA2 Consensus Committee developed research questions based on data collected from the International Meetings on DADA2 organized by the DADA2 Foundation in 2016, 2018, and 2020. A comprehensive literature review was performed for articles published prior to 2022. Thirty-two consensus statements were generated using a modified Delphi process, and evidence was graded using the Oxford Center for Evidence-Based Medicine Levels of Evidence. FINDINGS: The DADA2 Consensus Committee, comprising 3 patient representatives and 35 international experts from 18 countries, developed consensus statements for (1) diagnostic testing, (2) screening, (3) clinical and laboratory evaluation, and (4) management of DADA2 based on disease phenotype. Additional consensus statements related to the evaluation and treatment of individuals with DADA2 who are presymptomatic and carriers were generated. Areas with insufficient evidence were identified, and questions for future research were outlined. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: DADA2 is a potentially fatal disease that requires early diagnosis and treatment. By summarizing key evidence and expert opinions, these consensus statements provide a framework to facilitate diagnostic evaluation and management of DADA2