IoT Middleware Platforms for Smart Energy Systems: An Empirical Expert Survey

Middleware platforms are key technology in any Internet of Things (IoT) system, considering their role in managing the intermediary communications between devices and applications. In the energy sector, it has been shown that IoT devices enable the integration of all network assets to one large distributed system. This comes with significant benefits, such as improving energy efficiency, boosting the generation of renewable energy, reducing maintenance costs and increasing comfort. Various existing IoT middlware solutions encounter several problems that limit their performance, such as vendor locks. Hence, this paper presents a literature review and an expert survey on IoT middleware platforms in energy systems, in order to provide a set of tools and functionalities to be supported by any future efficient, flexible and interoperable IoT middleware considering the market needs. The analysis of the results shows that experts currently use the IoT middleware mainly to deploy services such as visualization, monitoring and benchmarking of energy consumption, and energy optimization is considered as a future application to target. Likewise, non-functional requirements, such as security and privacy, play vital roles in the IoT platforms’ performances

Focal myocardial fibrosis assessed by late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance in children and adolescents with dilated cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND: Different patterns of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) including mid-wall fibrosis using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) have been reported in adult patients presenting with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). In these studies, LGE was associated with pronounced LV remodelling and predicted adverse cardiac outcomes. Accordingly, the purpose of our study was to determine the presence and patterns of LGE in children and adolescents with DCM. METHODS: Patients <18years of age presenting with severe congestive heart failure who were admitted for evaluation of heart transplantation at our centre underwent CMR examination which consisted of ventricular functional analysis and assessment of LGE for detection of myocardial fibrosis. Ischemic DCM was excluded by coronary angiography, and right ventricular endomyocardial biopsies ruled out acute myocarditis. RESULTS:Thirty-one patients (mean age 2.1+/-4.2years) with severe LV dilatation (mean indexed LVEDV 136+/-48ml/m2) and LV dysfunction (mean LV-EF 23+/-8%) were examined. LGE was detected in 5 of the 31 patients (16%) appearing in various patterns characterized as mid-wall (n=1), focal patchy (n=1), RV insertion site (n=1) and transmural (n=2). Based on histopathological analysis, 4 of the 5 LGE positive patients had lymphocytic myocarditis, whereas one patient was diagnosed with idiopathic DCM. CONCLUSIONS: In children and adolescents with DCM, focal histologically proven myocardial fibrosis is rarely detected by LGE CMR despite marked LV dilatation and severely depressed LV function. LGE occurred in various patterns and mostly in patients with inflammatory cardiomyopathy. It remains unclear whether myocardial fibrosis in childhood DCM reflects different endogenous repair mechanisms that enable favourable reverse remodelling. Larger trials are needed to assess the prognostic implications of LGE in childhood DCM

design of the HELP study extension

Background Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is characterized by recurrent attacks of subcutaneous or submucosal edema. Attacks are unpredictable, debilitating, and have a significant impact on quality of life. Patients may be prescribed prophylactic therapy to prevent angioedema attacks. Current prophylactic treatments may be difficult to administer (i.e., intravenously), require frequent administrations or are not well tolerated, and breakthrough attacks may still occur frequently. Lanadelumab is a subcutaneously-administered monoclonal antibody inhibitor of plasma kallikrein in clinical development for prophylaxis of hereditary angioedema attacks. A Phase 1b study supported its efficacy in preventing attacks. A Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo- controlled, parallel-arm study has been completed and an open-label extension is currently ongoing. Methods/design The primary objective of the open-label extension is to evaluate the long-term safety of repeated subcutaneous administrations of lanadelumab in patients with type I/II HAE. Secondary objectives include evaluation of efficacy and time to first angioedema attack to determine outer bounds of the dosing interval. The study will also evaluate immunogenicity, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, quality of life, characteristics of breakthrough attacks, ease of self-administration, and safety/efficacy in patients who switch to lanadelumab from another prophylactic therapy. The open-label extension will enroll patients who completed the double-blind study (“rollover patients”) and those who did not participate in the double-blind study (“non-rollover patients”), which includes patients who may or may not be currently using another prophylactic therapy. Rollover patients will receive a single 300 mg dose of lanadelumab on Day 0 and the second dose after the patient’s first confirmed angioedema attack. Thereafter, lanadelumab will be administered every 2 weeks. Non- rollover patients will receive 300 mg lanadelumab every 2 weeks regardless of the first attack. All patients will receive their last dose on Day 350 (maximum of 26 doses), and will then undergo a 4-week follow-up. Discussion Prevention of attacks can reduce the burden of illness associated with HAE. Prophylactic therapy requires extended, repeated dosing and the results of this study will provide important data on the long-term safety and efficacy of lanadelumab, a monoclonal antibody inhibitor of plasma kallikrein for subcutaneous administration for the treatment of HAE. Trial registration NCT0274159

An open-label study to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of lanadelumab for prevention of attacks in hereditary angioedema: design of the HELP study extension

Background: Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is characterized by recurrent attacks of subcutaneous or submucosal edema. Attacks are unpredictable, debilitating, and have a significant impact on quality of life. Patients may be prescribed prophylactic therapy to prevent angioedema attacks. Current prophylactic treatments may be difficult to administer (i.e., intravenously), require frequent administrations or are not well tolerated, and breakthrough attacks may still occur frequently. Lanadelumab is a subcutaneously-administered monoclonal antibody inhibitor of plasma kallikrein in clinical development for prophylaxis of hereditary angioedema attacks. A Phase 1b study supported its efficacy in preventing attacks. A Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm study has been completed and an open-label extension is currently ongoing. Methods/design The primary objective of the open-label extension is to evaluate the long-term safety of repeated subcutaneous administrations of lanadelumab in patients with type I/II HAE. Secondary objectives include evaluation of efficacy and time to first angioedema attack to determine outer bounds of the dosing interval. The study will also evaluate immunogenicity, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, quality of life, characteristics of breakthrough attacks, ease of self-administration, and safety/efficacy in patients who switch to lanadelumab from another prophylactic therapy. The open-label extension will enroll patients who completed the double-blind study (“rollover patients”) and those who did not participate in the double-blind study (“non-rollover patients”), which includes patients who may or may not be currently using another prophylactic therapy. Rollover patients will receive a single 300 mg dose of lanadelumab on Day 0 and the second dose after the patient’s first confirmed angioedema attack. Thereafter, lanadelumab will be administered every 2 weeks. Non-rollover patients will receive 300 mg lanadelumab every 2 weeks regardless of the first attack. All patients will receive their last dose on Day 350 (maximum of 26 doses), and will then undergo a 4-week follow-up. Discussion Prevention of attacks can reduce the burden of illness associated with HAE. Prophylactic therapy requires extended, repeated dosing and the results of this study will provide important data on the long-term safety and efficacy of lanadelumab, a monoclonal antibody inhibitor of plasma kallikrein for subcutaneous administration for the treatment of HAE. Trial registration NCT02741596 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13601-017-0172-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Socioeconomic Differences in SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination in Germany: A Seroepidemiological Study After One Year of COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign

Objective: To evaluate the socioeconomic patterns of SARS-CoV-2 antigen contacts through infection, vaccination or both (“hybrid immunity”) after 1 year of vaccination campaign.Methods: Data were derived from the German seroepidemiological Corona Monitoring Nationwide study (RKI-SOEP-2; n = 10,448; November 2021–February 2022). Combining serological and self-report data, we estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) of SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19 vaccination, basic immunization (at least two SARS-CoV-2 antigen contacts through vaccination and/or infection), and three antigen contacts by education and income.Results: Low-education groups had 1.35-times (95% CI 1.01–1.82) the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to high-education groups. COVID-19 vaccination (at least one dose) and basic immunization decreased with lower education and income. Low-education and low-income groups were less likely to have had at least three antigen contacts (PR low vs. high education: 0.74, 95% CI 0.65–0.84; PR low vs. high income: 0.66, 95% CI 0.57–0.77).Conclusion: The results suggest a lower level of protection against severe COVID-19 for individuals from low and medium socioeconomic groups. Pandemic response and vaccination campaigns should address the specific needs and barriers of these groups

Genomic investigations of unexplained acute hepatitis in children

Since its first identification in Scotland, over 1,000 cases of unexplained paediatric hepatitis in children have been reported worldwide, including 278 cases in the UK1. Here we report an investigation of 38 cases, 66 age-matched immunocompetent controls and 21 immunocompromised comparator participants, using a combination of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and immunohistochemical methods. We detected high levels of adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) DNA in the liver, blood, plasma or stool from 27 of 28 cases. We found low levels of adenovirus (HAdV) and human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) in 23 of 31 and 16 of 23, respectively, of the cases tested. By contrast, AAV2 was infrequently detected and at low titre in the blood or the liver from control children with HAdV, even when profoundly immunosuppressed. AAV2, HAdV and HHV-6 phylogeny excluded the emergence of novel strains in cases. Histological analyses of explanted livers showed enrichment for T cells and B lineage cells. Proteomic comparison of liver tissue from cases and healthy controls identified increased expression of HLA class 2, immunoglobulin variable regions and complement proteins. HAdV and AAV2 proteins were not detected in the livers. Instead, we identified AAV2 DNA complexes reflecting both HAdV-mediated and HHV-6B-mediated replication. We hypothesize that high levels of abnormal AAV2 replication products aided by HAdV and, in severe cases, HHV-6B may have triggered immune-mediated hepatic disease in genetically and immunologically predisposed children

Pushing the Quality Level in Networked News Business: Semantic-Based Content Retrieval and Composition in International News Publishing Abstract

Electronic publishing exploits numerous possibilities to present or exchange information and to communicate via most current media like the Internet. By utilizing modern Web technologies like Web Services, loosely coupled services, and peer-to-peer networks we describe the integration of an intelligent business news presentation and distribution network. Employing semantics technologies enables the coupling of multinational and multilingual business news data on a scaleable international level and thus introduce a service quality that is not achieved by alternative technologies in the news distribution area so far. Architecturally, we identified the loosely coupling of existing services as the most feasible way to address multinational and multilingual news presentation and distribution networks. Furthermore we semantically enrich multinational news contents by relating them using AI techniques like the Vector Space Model. Summarizing our experiences we describe the technical integration of semantics and communication technologies in order to create a modern international news network