An ABS control logic based on wheel force measurement

The paper presents an anti-lock braking system (ABS) control logic based on the measurement of the longitudinal forces at the hub bearings. The availability of force information allows to design a logic that does not rely on the estimation of the tyre-road friction coefficient, since it continuously tries to exploit the maximum longitudinal tyre force. The logic is designed by means of computer simulation and then tested on a specific hardware in the loop test bench: the experimental results confirm that measured wheel force can lead to a significant improvement of the ABS performances in terms of stopping distance also in the presence of road with variable friction coefficien

Daptomycin versus standard therapy for bacteremia and endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus aureus.

BACKGROUND: Alternative therapies for Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and endocarditis are needed. METHODS: We randomly assigned 124 patients with S. aureus bacteremia with or without endocarditis to receive 6 mg of daptomycin intravenously per kilogram of body weight daily and 122 to receive initial low-dose gentamicin plus either an antistaphylococcal penicillin or vancomycin. The primary efficacy end point was treatment success 42 days after the end of therapy. RESULTS: Forty-two days after the end of therapy in the modified intention-to-treat analysis, a successful outcome was documented for 53 of 120 patients who received daptomycin as compared with 48 of 115 patients who received standard therapy (44.2 percent vs. 41.7 percent; absolute difference, 2.4 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, -10.2 to 15.1 percent). Our results met prespecified criteria for the noninferiority of daptomycin. The success rates were similar in subgroups of patients with complicated bacteremia, right-sided endocarditis, and methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Daptomycin therapy was associated with a higher rate of microbiologic failure than was standard therapy (19 vs. 11 patients, P=0.17). In 6 of the 19 patients with microbiologic failure in the daptomycin group, isolates with reduced susceptibility to daptomycin emerged; similarly, a reduced susceptibility to vancomycin was noted in isolates from patients treated with vancomycin. As compared with daptomycin therapy, standard therapy was associated with a nonsignificantly higher rate of adverse events that led to treatment failure due to the discontinuation of therapy (17 vs. 8, P=0.06). Clinically significant renal dysfunction occurred in 11.0 percent of patients who received daptomycin and in 26.3 percent of patients who received standard therapy (P=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Daptomycin (6 mg per kilogram daily) is not inferior to standard therapy for S. aureus bacteremia and right-sided endocarditis. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00093067 [ClinicalTrials.gov].)

Metastatic potential of an aneurysmal bone cyst

Aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) are benign bone tumors consisting of blood-filled cavities lined by connective tissue septa. Recently, the hypothesis that ABCs are lesions reactive to local hemodynamics has been challenged after the discovery of specific recurrent chromosomal abnormalities. Multiple cases of malignant transformation of ABC into (osteo)sarcoma have been described, as well as a number of cases of telangiectatic osteosarcoma which had been misdiagnosed as ABC. We herewith document a case of a pelvic ABC metastatic to the lung, liver, and kidneys. Diagnosis was confirmed by the presence of a break in the USP6 gene, which is pathognomonic for ABC, in a pulmonary metastasis of our patient. Sarcomatous transformation as an explanation for this behavior was ruled out by demonstrating diploid DNA content in both the pulmonary lesion and the primary tumor