Thrombosis with Behçet’s disease should be evaluated different conditions

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Pharmacokinetics of orally administered tetrahydrobiopterin in patients with phenylalanine hydroxylase deficiency

Summary: The oral loading test with tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is used to discriminate between variants of hyperphenylalaninaemia and to detect BH4-responsive patients. The outcome of the loading test depends on the genotype, dosage of BH4, and BH4 pharmacokinetics. A total of 71 patients with hyperphenylalaninaemia (mild to classic) were challenged with BH4 (20 mg/kg) according to different protocols (1 × 20 mg or 2 × 20 mg) and blood BH4 concentrations were measured in dried blood spots at different time points (T0, T2, T4, T8, T12, T24, T32 and T48 h). Maximal BH4 concentrations (median 22.69 nmol/g Hb) were measured 4 h after BH4 administration in 63 out of 71 patients. Eight patients presented with maximal BH4 concentrations ∼44% higher at 8 h than at 4 h. After 24 h, BH4 blood concentrations dropped to 11% of maximal values. This profile was similar using different protocols. The following pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated for BH4 in blood: t max = 4 h, AUC (T0−32) = 370 nmol × h/g Hb, and t 1/2 for absorption (1.1 h), distribution (2.5 h), and elimination (46.0 h) phases. Maximal BH4 blood concentrations were not significantly lower in non-responders and there was no correlation between blood concentrations and responsiveness. Of mild PKU patients, 97% responded to BH4 administration, while one was found to be a non-responder. Only 10/19 patients (53%) with Phe concentrations of 600-1200 μmol/L responded to BH4 administration, and of the patients with the severe classical phenotype (blood Phe > 1200 μmol/L) only 4 out of 17 patient responded. An additional 36 patients with mild hyperphenylalaninaemia (HPA) who underwent the combined loading test with Phe+BH4 were all responders. Slow responders and non-responders were found in all groups of HP

A linear programming-based method for job shop scheduling

We present a decomposition heuristic for a large class of job shop scheduling problems. This heuristic utilizes information from the linear programming formulation of the associated optimal timing problem to solve subproblems, can be used for any objective function whose associated optimal timing problem can be expressed as a linear program (LP), and is particularly effective for objectives that include a component that is a function of individual operation completion times. Using the proposed heuristic framework, we address job shop scheduling problems with a variety of objectives where intermediate holding costs need to be explicitly considered. In computational testing, we demonstrate the performance of our proposed solution approach

Characterisation and mechanical modelling of polyacrylonitrile-based nanocomposite membranes reinforced with silica nanoparticles

In this study, neat polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and fumed silica (FS)-doped PAN membranes (0.1, 0.5 and 1 wt% doped PAN/FS) are prepared using the phase inversion method and are characterised extensively. According to the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis, the addition of FS to the neat PAN membrane and the added amount changed the stresses in the membrane structure. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) results show that the addition of FS increased the porosity of the membrane. The water content of all fabricated membranes varied between 50% and 88.8%, their porosity ranged between 62.1% and 90%, and the average pore size ranged between 20.1 and 21.8 nm. While the neat PAN membrane’s pure water flux is 299.8 L/m2 h, it increased by 26% with the addition of 0.5 wt% FS. Furthermore, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) techniques are used to investigate the membranes’ thermal properties. Finally, the mechanical characterisation of manufactured membranes is performed experimentally with tensile testing under dry and wet conditions. To be able to provide further explanation to the explored mechanics of the membranes, numerical methods, namely the finite element method and Mori–Tanaka mean-field homogenisation are performed. The mechanical characterisation results show that FS reinforcement increases the membrane rigidity and wet membranes exhibit more compliant behaviour compared to dry membranes

A review on hierarchical routing protocols for wireless sensor networks

The routing protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is defined as the manner of data dissemination from the network field (source) to the base station (destination). Based on the network topology, there are two types of routing protocols in WSNs, they are namely flat routing protocols and hierarchical routing protocols. Hierarchical routing protocols (HRPs) are more energy efficient and scalable compared to flat routing protocols. This paper discusses how topology management and network application influence the performance of cluster-based and chain-based hierarchical networks. It reviews the basic features of sensor connectivity issues such as power control in topology set-up, sleep/idle pairing and data transmission control that are used in five common HRPs, and it also examines their impact on the protocol performance. A good picture of their respective performances give an indication how network applications, i.e whether reactive or proactive, and topology management i.e. whether centralized or distributed would determine the network performance. Finally, from the ensuring discussion, it is shown that the chain-based HRPs guarantee a longer network lifetime compared to cluster-based HRPs by three to five times

Optimal Placement of Multiple Interconnected Gateways in Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

Data c ollec ted b y sensors of ten h av e to b e rem otely d eliv ered th rou g h m u lti- h op w ireless path s to d ata sink s c onnec ted to applic ation ser v ers for inform ation proc essing . T h e position of th ese sink s h as a h u g e im pac t on th e q u ality of th e spec i c W ireless S ensor N etw or k ( W S N ) . Ind eed , it m ay c reate ar ti c ial traf c b ottlenec k s w h ic h affec t th e energ y ef c ienc y and th e W S N lifetim e. T h is paper c onsid ers a h eterog eneou s netw or k sc enar io w h ere w ireless sensors d eliv er d ata to inter m ed iate g atew ay s g eared w ith a d iv erse w ireless tec h nolog y and inter c onnec ted tog eth er and to th e sink . An optim iz ation f ram ew or k b ased on Integ er L inear P rog ram m ing (IL P ) is d ev eloped to loc ate w ireless g atew ay s m inim iz ing th e ov erall installation c ost and th e energ y c onsu m ption in th e W S N , w h ile ac c ou nting for m u lti- h op c ov erag e b etw een sensors and g atew ay s, and c onnec tiv ity am ong w ireless g atew ay s. T h e proposed IL P for m u lations are solv ed to optim ality for m ed iu m -siz e instanc es to analy z e th e q u ality of th e d esig ned netw or k s, and h eu r istic alg or ith m s are also proposed to tac k le larg e-sc ale h eterog eneou s sc enar ios

Halloysite nanotube-enhanced polyacrylonitrile ultrafiltration membranes: fabrication, characterization, and performance evaluation

This research focuses on the production and characterization of pristine polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as well as halloysite nanotube (HNT)-doped PAN ultrafiltration (UF) membranes via the phase inversion technique. Membranes containing 0.1, 0.5, and 1% wt HNT in 16% wt PAN are fabricated, and their chemical compositions are examined using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is utilized to characterize the membranes’ surface and cross-sectional morphologies. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is employed to assess the roughness of the PAN/HNT membrane. Thermal characterization is conducted using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA), while contact angle and water content measurements reveal the hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties. The pure water flux (PWF) performance of the porous UF water filtration membranes is evaluated at 3 bar, with porosity and mean pore size calculations. The iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiencies of PAN/HNT membranes from dam water are examined, and the surfaces of fouled membranes are investigated by using SEM post-treatment. Mechanical characterization encompasses tensile testing, the Mori–Tanaka homogenization approach, and finite element analysis. The findings offer valuable insights into the impact of HNT doping on PAN membrane characteristics and performance, which will inform future membrane development initiatives