Composing JSON-based Web APIs

International audienceThe development of Web APIs has become a discipline that companies have to master to succeed in the Web. The so-called API economy is pushing companies to provide access to their data by means of Web APIs, thus requiring web developers to study and integrate such APIs into their applications. The exchange of data with these APIs is usually performed by using JSON, a schemaless data format easy for computers to parse and use. While JSON data is easy to read, its structure is implicit, thus entailing serious problems when integrating APIs coming from di erent vendors. Web developers have therefore to understand the domain behind each API and study how they can be composed. We tackle this issue by presenting an approach able to both discover the domain of JSON-based Web APIs, and identify composition links among them. Our approach allows developers to easily visualize what is behind APIs and how they can be composed to be used in their applications

3D urban solar potential maps - case study of the i-SCOPE project

Solar maps as web cartographic products that provide information on solar potential of surfaces on the Earth have been exploited in decision making, awareness raising, and promoting the use of solar energy. Web based solar maps of cities have become popular services as the use of solar energy is especially attractive in urban environments. The article discusses the concept and aspects of urban solar potential maps on the example of the i-Scope project as a case study. The i-Scope roof solar potential service built on 3-D urban information models was piloted in eight European cities. To obtain precise data on solar irradiation, a good quality digital surface model is required. A cost efficient innovative method for generation of digital surface model from stereophotogrammetry for urban areas where no advanced source data (e. g. LiDAR) exist is developed. The method works for flat, shed and gable roofs and provides sufficient accuracy of digital surface model

Effects of Anti-VEGF on Predicted Antibody Biodistribution: Roles of Vascular Volume, Interstitial Volume, and Blood Flow

BACKGROUND: The identification of clinically meaningful and predictive models of disposition kinetics for cancer therapeutics is an ongoing pursuit in drug development. In particular, the growing interest in preclinical evaluation of anti-angiogenic agents alone or in combination with other drugs requires a complete understanding of the associated physiological consequences. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Technescan™ PYP™, a clinically utilized radiopharmaceutical, was used to measure tissue vascular volumes in beige nude mice that were naïve or administered a single intravenous bolus dose of a murine anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) antibody (10 mg/kg) 24 h prior to assay. Anti-VEGF had no significant effect (p>0.05) on the fractional vascular volumes of any tissues studied; these findings were further supported by single photon emission computed tomographic imaging. In addition, apart from a borderline significant increase (p = 0.048) in mean hepatic blood flow, no significant anti-VEGF-induced differences were observed (p>0.05) in two additional physiological parameters, interstitial fluid volume and the organ blood flow rate, measured using indium-111-pentetate and rubidium-86 chloride, respectively. Areas under the concentration-time curves generated by a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model changed substantially (>25%) in several tissues when model parameters describing compartmental volumes and blood flow rates were switched from literature to our experimentally derived values. However, negligible changes in predicted tissue exposure were observed when comparing simulations based on parameters measured in naïve versus anti-VEGF-administered mice. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These observations may foster an enhanced understanding of anti-VEGF effects in murine tissues and, in particular, may be useful in modeling antibody uptake alone or in combination with anti-VEGF

BioDMET: a physiologically based pharmacokinetic simulation tool for assessing proposed solutions to complex biological problems

We developed a detailed, whole-body physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling tool for calculating the distribution of pharmaceutical agents in the various tissues and organs of a human or animal as a function of time. Ordinary differential equations (ODEs) represent the circulation of body fluids through organs and tissues at the macroscopic level, and the biological transport mechanisms and biotransformations within cells and their organelles at the molecular scale. Each major organ in the body is modeled as composed of one or more tissues. Tissues are made up of cells and fluid spaces. The model accounts for the circulation of arterial and venous blood as well as lymph. Since its development was fueled by the need to accurately predict the pharmacokinetic properties of imaging agents, BioDMET is more complex than most PBPK models. The anatomical details of the model are important for the imaging simulation endpoints. Model complexity has also been crucial for quickly adapting the tool to different problems without the need to generate a new model for every problem. When simpler models are preferred, the non-critical compartments can be dynamically collapsed to reduce unnecessary complexity. BioDMET has been used for imaging feasibility calculations in oncology, neurology, cardiology, and diabetes. For this purpose, the time concentration data generated by the model is inputted into a physics-based image simulator to establish imageability criteria. These are then used to define agent and physiology property ranges required for successful imaging. BioDMET has lately been adapted to aid the development of antimicrobial therapeutics. Given a range of built-in features and its inherent flexibility to customization, the model can be used to study a variety of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic problems such as the effects of inter-individual differences and disease-states on drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, dosing optimization, and inter-species scaling. While developing a tool to aid imaging agent and drug development, we aimed at accelerating the acceptance and broad use of PBPK modeling by providing a free mechanistic PBPK software that is user friendly, easy to adapt to a wide range of problems even by non-programmers, provided with ready-to-use parameterized models and benchmarking data collected from the peer-reviewed literature

Phase 1–2 Trial of Antisense Oligonucleotide Tofersen for SOD1 ALS

BACKGROUND Tofersen is an antisense oligonucleotide that mediates the degradation of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) messenger RNA to reduce SOD1 protein synthesis. Intrathecal administration of tofersen is being studied for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) due to SOD1 mutations. METHODS We conducted a phase 1–2 ascending-dose trial evaluating tofersen in adults with ALS due to SOD1 mutations. In each dose cohort (20, 40, 60, or 100 mg), participants were randomly assigned in a 3:1 ratio to receive five doses of tofersen or placebo, administered intrathecally for 12 weeks. The primary outcomes were safety and pharmacokinetics. The secondary outcome was the change from baseline in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) SOD1 concentration at day 85. Clinical function and vital capacity were measured. RESULTS A total of 50 participants underwent randomization and were included in the analyses; 48 participants received all five planned doses. Lumbar puncture–related adverse events were observed in most participants. Elevations in CSF white-cell count and protein were reported as adverse events in 4 and 5 participants, respectively, who received tofersen. Among participants who received tofersen, one died from pulmonary embolus on day 137, and one from respiratory failure on day 152; one participant in the placebo group died from respiratory failure on day 52. The difference at day 85 in the change from baseline in the CSF SOD1 concentration between the tofersen groups and the placebo group was 2 percentage points (95% confidence interval [CI], −18 to 27) for the 20-mg dose, −25 percentage points (95% CI, −40 to −5) for the 40-mg dose, −19 percentage points (95% CI, −35 to 2) for the 60-mg dose, and −33 percentage points (95% CI, −47 to −16) for the 100-mg dose. CONCLUSIONS In adults with ALS due to SOD1 mutations, CSF SOD1 concentrations decreased at the highest concentration of tofersen administered intrathecally over a period of 12 weeks. CSF pleocytosis occurred in some participants receiving tofersen. Lumbar puncture–related adverse events were observed in most participants. (Funded by Biogen; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02623699. opens in new tab; EudraCT number, 2015-004098-33. opens in new tab.

Scanning electron microscopy of the collar region of Deropristis inflata and Echinostoma revolutum

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