Dyskinesia Impairment Scale scores in Dutch pre-school children after neonatal therapeutic hypothermia

BACKGROUND: Neonatal therapeutic hypothermia (TH) can ameliorate or prevent the development of dyskinetic cerebral palsy (CP) after hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). The Dyskinesia Impairment Scale (DIS) was recently launched to quantify dyskinetic (dystonic and choreatic) motor features in patients with CP. In TH treated children, who are at risk of developing dyskinetic CP, we aimed to determine DIS-scores at pre-school age. METHOD: In 21 Dutch pre-school children (3-6 years of age) who had received TH according to the Dutch-Flemish treatment protocol, we determined DIS-scores. We associated DIS-scores with 1. age-matched control values (Kuiper et al., 2018) [1], and 2. previously reported DIS-score range in dyskinetic CP (Monbaliu E et al., 2015). RESULTS: The motor phenotype was determined as: normal (n = 18/21), mildly impaired (reduced coordination (n = 2/21)) and abnormal (dyskinetic CP; n = 1/21). In absence of CP (n = 20/21), DIS-scores were lower (more favorable) than in dyskinetic CP, without any overlapping group scores (mean difference: 71 points; p < .05). However, the obtained DIS-scores were still higher than previously reported in healthy age-matched controls (mean difference: 14 points; p < .05). There was an association between DIS-scores and retrospective neonatal MRI (basal ganglia and thalamus injury on diffusion weighted imaging (DWI)) and (a)EEG parameters (p < .05). CONCLUSION: In the vast majority (95%) of Dutch TH-HIE treated pre-school children, the phenotypic motor outcome was favorable. However, DIS-scores were moderately increased compared with healthy age-matched controls. Future studies may elucidate the significance of moderately increased DIS-scores should to further extent

A Logical Framework for the Representation and Verification of Context-aware Agents

© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York. We propose a logical framework for modelling and verifying context-aware multi-agent systems. We extend CTL∗ with belief and communication modalities, and the resulting logic &#120027;OCRS allows us to describe a set of rule-based reasoning agents with bound on time, memory and communication. The set of rules which are used to model a desired systems is derived from OWL 2 RL ontologies. We provide an axiomatization of the logic and prove it is sound and complete. We show how Maude rewriting system can be used to encode and verify interesting properties of &#120027;OCRS models using existing model checking techniques

Extended RDF: Computability and Complexity Issues

ERDF stable model semantics is a recently proposed semantics for ERDF ontologies and a faithful extension of RDFS semantics on RDF graphs. In this paper, we elaborate on the computability and complexity issues of the ERDF stable model semantics. Based on the undecidability result of ERDF stable model semantics, decidability under this semantics cannot be achieved, unless ERDF ontologies of restricted syntax are considered. Therefore, we propose a slightly modified semantics for ERDF ontologies, called ERDF #n- stable model semantics. We show that entailment under this semantics is, in general, decidable and also extends RDFS entailment. Equivalence statements between the two semantics are provided. Additionally, we provide algorithms that compute the ERDF #n-stable models of syntax-restricted and general ERDF ontologies. Further, we provide complexity results for the ERDF #nstable model semantics on syntax-restricted and general ERDF ontologies. Finally, we provide complexity results for the ERDF stable model semantics on syntax-restricted ERDF ontologies

An Efficient Rule-Based Distributed Reasoning Framework for Resource-bounded Systems

© 2018, The Author(s). Over the last few years, context-aware computing has received a growing amount of attention among the researchers in the IoT and ubiquitous computing community. In principle, context-aware computing transforms a physical environment into a smart space by sensing the surrounding environment and interpreting the situation of the user. This process involves three major steps: context acquisition, context modelling, and context-aware reasoning. Among other approaches, ontology-based context modelling and rule-based context reasoning are widely used techniques to enable semantic interoperability and interpreting user situations. However, implementing rich context-aware applications that perform reasoning on resource-bounded mobile devices is quite challenging. In this paper, we present a context-aware systems development framework for smart spaces, which includes a lightweight efficient rule engine and a wide range of user preferences to reduce the number of rules while inferring personalized contexts. This shows rules can be reduced in order to optimize the inference engine execution speed, and ultimately to reduce total execution time and execution cost

Visceral Leishmaniasis Relapse in Southern Sudan (1999–2007): A Retrospective Study of Risk Factors and Trends

Visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) caused by Leishmania donovani is spread from person to person by Phlebotomus sandflies. Major epidemics of visceral leishmaniasis have occurred in Southern Sudan during the 20th century. The worst of these killed 100,000 people in the western Upper Nile area of Southern Sudan from 1984–1994, a loss of one-third of the population. Médecins Sans Frontières has treated 40,000 kala-azar patients in Southern Sudan since the late 1980's. In this study we used routinely collected clinical data to investigate why some patients relapse after treatment. We found that patients with severely enlarged spleens (splenomegaly) are more likely to relapse. Patients treated for 17 days with a combination of two drugs (sodium stibogluconate and paromomycin) were more likely to relapse (but less likely to die) than patients treated for 30 days with a single drug (sodium stibogluconate). However, the transition from sodium stibogluconate to the sodium stibogluconate/paromomycin combination as standard treatment between 2001–2003 has not led to a significant increase in visceral leishmaniasis relapse

Effects of supplemented isoenergetic diets varying in cereal fiber and protein content on the bile acid metabolic signature and relation to insulin resistance

Bile acids (BA) are potent metabolic regulators influenced by diet. We studied effects of isoenergetic increases in the dietary protein and cereal-fiber contents on circulating BA and insulin resistance (IR) in overweight and obese adults. Randomized controlled nutritional intervention (18 weeks) in 72 non-diabetic participants (overweight/obese: 29/43) with at least one further metabolic risk factor. Participants were group-matched and allocated to four isoenergetic supplemented diets: control; high cereal fiber (HCF); high-protein (HP); or moderately increased cereal fiber and protein (MIX). Whole-body IR and insulin-mediated suppression of hepatic endogenous glucose production were measured using euglycaemic–hyperinsulinemic clamps with [6-62H2] glucose infusion. Circulating BA, metabolic biomarkers, and IR were measured at 0, 6, and 18 weeks. Under isoenergetic conditions, HP-intake worsened IR in obese participants after 6 weeks (M-value: 3.77 ± 0.58 vs. 3.07 ± 0.44 mg/kg/min, p = 0.038), with partial improvement back to baseline levels after 18 weeks (3.25 ± 0.45 mg/kg/min, p = 0.089). No deleterious effects of HP-intake on IR were observed in overweight participants. HCF-diet improved IR in overweight participants after 6 weeks (M-value 4.25 ± 0.35 vs. 4.81 ± 0.31 mg/kg/min, p = 0.016), but did not influence IR in obese participants. Control and MIX diets did not influence IR. HP-induced, but not HCF-induced changes in IR strongly correlated with changes of BA profiles. MIX-diet significantly increased most BA at 18 weeks in obese, but not in overweight participants. BA remained unchanged in controls. Pooled BA concentrations correlated with fasting fibroblast growth factor-19 (FGF-19) plasma levels (r = 0.37; p = 0.003). Higher milk protein intake was the only significant dietary predictor for raised total and primary BA in regression analyses (total BA, p = 0.017; primary BA, p = 0.011). Combined increased intake of dietary protein and cereal fibers markedly increased serum BA concentrations in obese, but not in overweight participants. Possible mechanisms explaining this effect may include compensatory increases of the BA pool in the insulin resistant, obese state; or defective BA transport

On Landau damping

Going beyond the linearized study has been a longstanding problem in the theory of Landau damping. In this paper we establish exponential Landau damping in analytic regularity. The damping phenomenon is reinterpreted in terms of transfer of regularity between kinetic and spatial variables, rather than exchanges of energy; phase mixing is the driving mechanism. The analysis involves new families of analytic norms, measuring regularity by comparison with solutions of the free transport equation; new functional inequalities; a control of nonlinear echoes; sharp scattering estimates; and a Newton approximation scheme. Our results hold for any potential no more singular than Coulomb or Newton interaction; the limit cases are included with specific technical effort. As a side result, the stability of homogeneous equilibria of the nonlinear Vlasov equation is established under sharp assumptions. We point out the strong analogy with the KAM theory, and discuss physical implications.Comment: News: (1) the main result now covers Coulomb and Newton potentials, and (2) some classes of Gevrey data; (3) as a corollary this implies new results of stability of homogeneous nonmonotone equilibria for the gravitational Vlasov-Poisson equatio

Neural Substrate of Cold-Seeking Behavior in Endotoxin Shock

Systemic inflammation is a leading cause of hospital death. Mild systemic inflammation is accompanied by warmth-seeking behavior (and fever), whereas severe inflammation is associated with cold-seeking behavior (and hypothermia). Both behaviors are adaptive. Which brain structures mediate which behavior is unknown. The involvement of hypothalamic structures, namely, the preoptic area (POA), paraventricular nucleus (PVH), or dorsomedial nucleus (DMH), in thermoregulatory behaviors associated with endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS])-induced systemic inflammation was studied in rats. The rats were allowed to select their thermal environment by freely moving in a thermogradient apparatus. A low intravenous dose of Escherichia coli LPS (10 µg/kg) caused warmth-seeking behavior, whereas a high, shock-inducing dose (5,000 µg/kg) caused cold-seeking behavior. Bilateral electrocoagulation of the PVH or DMH, but not of the POA, prevented this cold-seeking response. Lesioning the DMH with ibotenic acid, an excitotoxin that destroys neuronal bodies but spares fibers of passage, also prevented LPS-induced cold-seeking behavior; lesioning the PVH with ibotenate did not affect it. Lesion of no structure affected cold-seeking behavior induced by heat exposure or by pharmacological stimulation of the transient receptor potential (TRP) vanilloid-1 channel (“warmth receptor”). Nor did any lesion affect warmth-seeking behavior induced by a low dose of LPS, cold exposure, or pharmacological stimulation of the TRP melastatin-8 (“cold receptor”). We conclude that LPS-induced cold-seeking response is mediated by neuronal bodies located in the DMH and neural fibers passing through the PVH. These are the first two landmarks on the map of the circuitry of cold-seeking behavior associated with endotoxin shock

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta