Early experience of COVID-19 vaccination in adults with systemic rheumatic diseases: Results from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance Vaccine Survey

BACKGROUND: We describe the early experiences of adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received the COVID-19 vaccine. METHODS: From 2 April to 30 April 2021, we conducted an online, international survey of adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received COVID-19 vaccination. We collected patient-reported data on clinician communication, beliefs and intent about discontinuing disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) around the time of vaccination, and patient-reported adverse events after vaccination. RESULTS: We analysed 2860 adults with systemic rheumatic diseases who received COVID-19 vaccination (mean age 55.3 years, 86.7% female, 86.3% white). Types of COVID-19 vaccines were Pfizer-BioNTech (53.2%), Oxford/AstraZeneca (22.6%), Moderna (21.3%), Janssen/Johnson & Johnson (1.7%) and others (1.2%). The most common rheumatic disease was rheumatoid arthritis (42.3%), and 81.2% of respondents were on a DMARD. The majority (81.9%) reported communicating with clinicians about vaccination. Most (66.9%) were willing to temporarily discontinue DMARDs to improve vaccine efficacy, although many (44.3%) were concerned about rheumatic disease flares. After vaccination, the most reported patient-reported adverse events were fatigue/somnolence (33.4%), headache (27.7%), muscle/joint pains (22.8%) and fever/chills (19.9%). Rheumatic disease flares that required medication changes occurred in 4.6%. CONCLUSION: Among adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received COVID-19 vaccination, patient-reported adverse events were typical of those reported in the general population. Most patients were willing to temporarily discontinue DMARDs to improve vaccine efficacy. The relatively low frequency of rheumatic disease flare requiring medications was reassuring

Analysis of interface management tasks in a digital main control room

Development of digital main control rooms (MCRs) has greatly changed operating environments by altering operator tasks, and thus the unique characteristics of digital MCRs should be considered in terms of human reliability analysis. Digital MCR tasks can be divided into primary tasks that directly supply control input to the plant equipment, and secondary tasks that include interface management conducted via soft controls (SCs). Operator performance regarding these secondary tasks must be evaluated since such tasks did not exist in previous analog systems. In this paper, we analyzed SC-related tasks based on simulation data, and classified the error modes of the SCs following analysis of all operational tasks. Then, we defined the factors to be considered in human reliability analysis methods regarding the SCs; such factors are mainly related to interface management and computerized operator support systems. As these support systems function to reduce the number of secondary tasks required for SC, we conducted an assessment to evaluate the efficiency of one such support system. The results of this study may facilitate the development of training programs as well as help to optimize interface design to better reflect the interface management task characteristics of digitalized MCRs

Towards Integrated Sensing and Communications for 6G: A Standardization Perspective

The radio communication division of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) has recently adopted Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) among the key usage scenarios for IMT-2030/6G. ISAC is envisioned to play a vital role in the upcoming wireless generation standards. In this work, we bring together several paramount and innovative aspects of ISAC technology from a global 6G standardization perspective, including both industrial and academic progress. Specifically, this article provides 6G requirements and ISAC-enabled vision, including various aspects of 6G standardization, benefits of ISAC co-existence, and integration challenges. Moreover, we present key enabling technologies, including intelligent metasurface-aided ISAC, as well as Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) waveform design and interference management for ISAC. Finally, future aspects are discussed to open various research opportunities and challenges on the ISAC technology towards 6G wireless communications.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Early experience of COVID-19 vaccination in adults with systemic rheumatic diseases : Results from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance Vaccine Survey

Funding Information: Competing interests SES has received funding from the Vasculitis Foundation and the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium unrelated to this work. JL has received research grant funding from Pfizer unrelated to this work. ES is a Board Member of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance, a patient run, volunteer-based organisation whose activities are primarily supported by independent grants from pharmaceutical companies. MP was supported by a Rheumatology Research Foundation Scientist Development grant. DA-R is a Scientific Advisor for GlaxoSmithKilne unrelated to this work. FB reports personal fees from Boehringer, Bone Therapeutics, Expanscience, Galapagos, Gilead, GSK, Merck Sereno, MSD, Nordic, Novartis, Pfizer, Regulaxis, Roche, Sandoz, Sanofi, Servier, UCB, Peptinov, TRB Chemedica and 4P Pharma outside of the submitted work. No funding relevant to this manuscript. RC: speakers bureau for Janssen, Roche, Sanofi, AbbVie. KD reports no COI-unpaid volunteer president of the Autoinflammatory Alliance. Any grants or funding from pharma is received by the non-profit organisation only. CLH received funding under a sponsored research agreement unrelated to the data in the paper from Vifor Pharmaceuticals. LeK has received a research grant from Lilly unrelated to this work. AHJK participated in consulting, advisory board or speaker's bureau for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, Annexon Biosciences, Exagen Diagnostics and GlaxoSmithKilne and received funding under a sponsored research agreement unrelated to the data in the paper from GlaxoSmithKline. JSingh has received consultant fees from Crealta/ Horizon, Medisys, Fidia, PK Med, Two Labs, Adept Field Solutions, Clinical Care Options, Clearview Healthcare Partners, Putnam Associates, Focus Forward, Navigant Consulting, Spherix, MedIQ, Jupiter Life Science, UBM, Trio Health, Medscape, WebMD and Practice Point Communications; and the National Institutes of Health and the American College of Rheumatology. JSingh owns stock options in TPT Global Tech, Vaxart Pharmaceuticals and Charlotte’s Web Holdings. JSingh previously owned stock options in Amarin, Viking and Moderna Pharmaceuticals. JSingh is on the speaker’s bureau of Simply Speaking. JSingh is a member of the executive of Outcomes Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT), an organisation that develops outcome measures in rheumatology and receives arms-length funding from eight companies. JSingh serves on the FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee. JSingh is the chair of the Veterans Affairs Rheumatology Field Advisory Committee. JSingh is the editor and the Director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group Satellite Center on Network Meta-analysis. NSingh is supported by funding from the Rheumatology Research Foundation Investigator Award and the American Heart Association. MFU-G has received research support from Pfizer and Janssen, unrelated to this work. SB reports personal fees from Novartis, AbbVie, Pfizer and Horizon Pharma, outside the submitted work. RG reports personal fees from AbbVie New Zealand, Cornerstones, Janssen New Zealand and personal fees and non-financial support Pfizer New Zealand (all <US$10 000) outside the submitted work. PMM reports personal fees from AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer and UCB, grants and personal fees from Orphazyme, outside the submitted work. PCR reports personal fees from AbbVie, Gilead, Lilly and Roche, grants and personal fees from Novartis, UCB Pharma, Janssen and Pfizer and non-financial support from BMS, outside the submitted work. PS reports honoraria from Social media editor for @ACR_Journals, outside the submitted work. ZSW reports grants from NIH, BMS and Principia/ Sanofi and personal fees from Viela Bio and MedPace, outside the submitted work. JY reports personal fees from Pfizer and Eli Lilly, and grants and personal fees from AstraZeneca, outside the submitted work. MJL reports grants from American College of Rheumatology, during the conduct of the study and consulting fees from AbbVie, Amgen, Actelion, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS, Celgene, Gilead, J&J, Mallinckrodt, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sandoz, Sanofi, Sobi and UCB, outside the submitted work. LGR was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS; ZIAES101074) of the National Institutes of Health. JH reports grants from Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) and Rheumatology Research Alliance, and personal fees from Novartis, Pfizer and Biogen, outside the submitted work. JSimard received research grant funding from the National Institutes of Health unrelated to this work (NIAMS: R01 AR077103 and NIAID R01 AI154533). JSparks has performed consultancy for AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead, Inova Diagnostics, Optum and Pfizer unrelated to this work. Funding Information: Funding This study was supported by the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology and American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation. Dr. Lisa Rider's involvement was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Publisher Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.Background. We describe the early experiences of adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received the COVID-19 vaccine. Methods From 2 April to 30 April 2021, we conducted an online, international survey of adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received COVID-19 vaccination. We collected patient-reported data on clinician communication, beliefs and intent about discontinuing disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) around the time of vaccination, and patient-reported adverse events after vaccination. Results We analysed 2860 adults with systemic rheumatic diseases who received COVID-19 vaccination (mean age 55.3 years, 86.7% female, 86.3% white). Types of COVID-19 vaccines were Pfizer-BioNTech (53.2%), Oxford/AstraZeneca (22.6%), Moderna (21.3%), Janssen/Johnson & Johnson (1.7%) and others (1.2%). The most common rheumatic disease was rheumatoid arthritis (42.3%), and 81.2% of respondents were on a DMARD. The majority (81.9%) reported communicating with clinicians about vaccination. Most (66.9%) were willing to temporarily discontinue DMARDs to improve vaccine efficacy, although many (44.3%) were concerned about rheumatic disease flares. After vaccination, the most reported patient-reported adverse events were fatigue/somnolence (33.4%), headache (27.7%), muscle/joint pains (22.8%) and fever/chills (19.9%). Rheumatic disease flares that required medication changes occurred in 4.6%. Conclusion. Among adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received COVID-19 vaccination, patient-reported adverse events were typical of those reported in the general population. Most patients were willing to temporarily discontinue DMARDs to improve vaccine efficacy. The relatively low frequency of rheumatic disease flare requiring medications was reassuring.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Intelligent Access Control Design for Security Context Awareness in Smart Grid

Recently, damages such as internal system intrusion, network and device vulnerability attacks, malicious code infection, and information leakage due to security attacks are increasing within the smart grid environment. Detailed and dynamic access control must be implemented to enable the power system in the smart grid environment to respond to such attacks. Dynamic and partial delegation must be available, and permission role restrictions must be considered for dynamic access control when delegating a role because of changes in power resource manager authority. In this paper, we propose an intelligent access control framework that can recognize security context by analyzing security vulnerabilities for security management of power systems. The intelligent access control framework is designed as a framework that enables collaboration within the smart grid environment, and a system administrator is designed to transmit access control policy information required between the power service principal and the agent. In addition, an experiment is conducted for the control inference of security context ontology-based access, attack detection inference of the security context awareness service, and the attack response of the intelligent integrated access control system. Experimental results show that the precision of security context ontology-based access control inference is 70%, and the attack response rate of integrated access control is 72.8%

Channel Aware Sparse Signaling for Ultra Low-latency Communication in TDD systems

Fifth generation (5G) wireless networks are currently being developed to handle wide variety of use cases. In order to support these cases, new types of requirements other than throughput enhancement have been introduced. One such requirement is to reduce the latency down to a millisecond (ms) level in ultra reliable and low latency communications (URLL-C). In case of uplink transmission, supporting this stringent latency requirement is quite challenging and problematic since the scheduling procedure is a time-consuming and complicated handshaking process. In time division duplexing (TDD) systems, satisfying the latency requirement is far more difficult since the mobile device cannot transmit the data when the subframe is assigned for the downlink. In this paper, we propose a new type of uplink transmission scheme for TDD-based URLLC. Key idea of the proposed scheme is to transmit the latency sensitive data immediately after performing the ultra-short one-way signaling from the basestation to the mobile device. To reduce the processing time of grant signal, we present a fast signaling mechanism, referred to as channel-aware sparse signaling (CASS). Numerical results confirm that the proposed uplink transmission scheme is very effective in TDD-based URLLC systems.N

Channel Aware Sparse Signaling for Ultra-low Latency TDD Access

Future mobile communication systems need to support wide variety of new services and applications. In order to support these, ITU-R introduced new types of use cases. One such use case, called ultra reliable and low latency communication (URLLC), concerns the reduction of latency down to a millisecond level while ensuring the reliability of the transmission. In case of uplink transmission, supporting the stringent latency requirement of URLLC is quite challenging due to a time-consuming and complicated handshaking process. In the time division duplexing (TDD) systems, satisfying the latency requirement is far more difficult since the mobile device cannot transmit the data when the subframe is directed to the downlink. In this paper, we propose a new grant signaling scheme, referred to as channel-aware sparse signaling (CASS), to achieve a low latency access in the TDD-based URLLC systems. Key idea of CASS is to map the grant information into a small number of subcarriers and then decode it using a small number of early received samples. From the numerical evaluations, we demonstrate that the proposed CASS scheme achieves significant reduction in access latency over the conventional LTE-TDD systems.N