CUDA virtualization and remoting for gpgpu based acceleration offloading at the edge

In the last decade, GPGPU virtualization and remoting have been among the most important research topics in the field of computer science and engineering due to the rising of cloud computing technologies. Public, private, and hybrid infrastructures need such virtualization tools in order to multiplex and better organize the computing resources. With the advent of novel technologies and paradigms, such as edge computing, code offloading in mobile clouds, deep learning techniques, etc., the need for computing power, especially of specialized hardware such as GPUs, has skyrocketed. Although many GPGPU virtualization tools are available nowadays, in this paper we focus on improving GVirtuS, our solution for GPU virtualization. The contributions in this work focus on the CUDA plug-in, in order to provide updated performance enabling the next generation of GPGPU code offloading applications. Moreover, we present a new GVirtuS implementation characterized by a highly modular approach with a full multithread support. We evaluate and discuss the benchmarks of the new implementation comparing and contrasting the results with the pure CUDA and with the previous version of GVirtuS. The new GVirtuS yielded better results when compared with its previous implementation, closing the gap with the pure CUDA performance and trailblazing the path for the next future improvements

Drug insight:Cabergoline and bromocriptine in the treatment of hyperprolactinemia in man and women.

Prolactinoma is the most frequent pituitary tumor histotype. Men generally have macroadenomas whereas women generally have microadenomas. The major objectives of treating prolactinomas are to suppress excessive hormone secretion and its clinical consequences, to remove the tumor mass while preserving the residual pituitary function, and possibly to prevent disease recurrence or progression. Primary therapy of prolactinomas is based on use of dopamine-receptor agonists. Bromocriptine induces normalization of prolactin levels in 80-90% of patients with microprolactinomas and approximately 70% of those with macroprolactinomas. Tumor-mass shrinkage and improvement of visual-field defects are found in the majority of treated macroprolactinomas, but bromocriptine often causes side effects. Cabergoline is very effective and well tolerated in more than 90% of patients with either microprolactinomas or macroprolactinomas. Cabergoline treatment also induces tumor shrinkage in the majority of patients with macroprolactinomas. Tumor shrinkage is more evident if patients have not previously been treated with other dopamine agonists. Fewer results are available for men than for women, but there is no evidence that men are less responsive to dopamine agonists than are women

Assessment of pharmacogenomic SLCO1B1 assay for prediction of neuromuscular pain in type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular patients: preliminary results

OBJECTIVE: At present, several strategies for preventing neuromuscular pain in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) have been investigated. Recently, findings on genetic variants associated with adverse events to statin-based therapy have been reported. The study aimed at measuring whether Pharmacogenomics (PGx) profile can affect neuromuscular pain in patients carrying T2DM and cardiovascular diseases. An extensive panel of 5 polymorphisms on 4 candidate genes, previously validated as significant markers related to Sulphonylureas and Glitinides (SU-G) plus Simvastatin neuromuscular toxicity, is herein analyzed and discussed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We genotyped 76 T2DM patients carrying cardiovascular dyscrasia undergone anti-diabetic and anti-cholesterolemic polypharmacy. 35 subjects out of the total received concurrent SU-G and Statin-based therapy. Candidate variants consisted of drug transporters, such as Solute Carrier Organic 1B1 (SLCO1B1) Val174Ala ATP-binding cassette subfamily B member (ABCB1), subfamily C member 8 (ABCC8), and drug biotransformers of Cytochrome P450 Family (CYP) including CYP2C9*2 CYP2C9*3 CYP2C8*3, and CYP3A4*22. Moreover, we also focused on an early outline evaluation of the genotyping costs and benefits. RESULTS: 6 out of 35 patients treated with SU-G plus statins (17.1% experienced adverse neuropathy events). Pharmacogenomics analysis showed a lack of any correlation between candidate gene polymorphisms and toxicity, except for the SLCO1B1 T521C allele; 14.3% of patients had a high risk for grade >2 neuromuscular pain (Odds Ratio [OR] 2.61.95% CI 0.90-7.61, p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The clinical polymorphism effectiveness outlined therein will be assured by diagnostic improvements suitable for driving treatment decisions. In light of our experimental results and literature data, the analysis of the SLCO1B1 T521C variant will allow clinicians to take advantage from a better treatment planned for their patients in order to minimize neuromuscular pain and maximize benefits