Using In-Browser Augmented Reality to Promote Knowledge-Based Engineering throughout the Product Life Cycle

While industry vastly undergoes digitalization, knowledge-based engineering becomes a powerful tool, helping enterprises to operate in context of shorter product life cycles and complex value chains. However, there are several challenges to be addressed in order to make knowledge-based engineering a common industry practice. There is a need for affordable tools, trained professionals, and extended use of outcomes of knowledge-based engineering processes beyond design phase of product life cycle. This article describes how web-based system delivering mobile augmented reality experience in browser may leverage results of product design process implemented with knowledge-based engineering tools in order to integrate information, and support its integrity and consistency for different stakeholders along the product life cycle. The approach relies on use of open standards and libraries in order to insure affordability and ease of integration, which is necessary for wider adoption of knowledge-based engineering among small and medium enterprises.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Язвенный колит: клинические и параклинические аспекты

Departamentul Medicină Internă, USMF N. Testemiţanu, USMF N. Testemiţanu, Spitalul Clinic Republican, Conferinţa Naţională de Gastroenterologie și Hepatologie cu participare internaţională 20 iunie 2014 Chişinău, Republica MoldovaUlcerative colitis (UC) represents a major problem in modern gastroenterology. The paper had the following goals: to study the signs and symptoms and the main complications, to appreciate the social impact of the disease, to evaluate the level of accuracy of the paraclinical tests in determining the UC phenotype (extension, activity). This is a retrospective study, which focused on the clinical aspects of UC in 105 patients hospitalized during 2011-2013 in the Gastroenterology Department of the Republican Clinical Hospital. UC affects equally both men and women, but has a high prevalence in young people, has a long course and imposes long-term disabilities. Any case of UC must be phenotyped, i.e. appreciating the extension, activity and longitudinal pattern. C-reactive protein (CRP) proves to be more informative marker concerning disease activity. Colonoscopy has a higher level in determining the level of macroscopical lesions, especially in extended forms of UC.Язвенный колит (ЯК) является важной проблемой современной гастроэнтерологии. Данное исследование имело следующие цели: изучить знаки, симптомы и главные осложнения, проанализировать социальные последствия заболевания, измерить уровень точности параклинических исследований путем определения фенотипа ЯК (протяженность, активность). Данное ретроспективное исследование, было нацелено на изучение клинических аспектов ЯК у 105 пациентов, находящихся в стационаре в период с 2011 по 2013 год в Отделении гастроэнтерологии Республиканской Клинической Больницы. ЯК поражает в равной степени мужской и женский пол, чаще встречается у лиц молодого возраста, имеет продолжительное течение, которое обуславливает длительную потерю трудоспособности. Во всех случаях необходимо фенотипировать ЯК (определение протяженности, активности и эволюции заболевания). С-реактивный белок является более информативным маркером активности заболевания чем СОЭ. Наиболее точным методом определения распространения макроскопических поражений является фиброколоноскопия, особенно при протяженных формах ЯК

Diverticulii esofagieni. management contemporan secţia chirurgie toracică IMSP SCR

Autorii analizează experienţa Secţiei Chirurgie Toracică IMSP SCR în tratamentul a 94 pacienţi cu diverticuli esofagieni de diversă localizare. Sunt prezentate aspectele principale ale tehnicii chirurgicale, complicaţiile (17,88%) şi mortalitatea (3,19%). Experienţa diverticulectomiei videotoracoscopice cuprinde trei cazuri cu evoluţie postoperatorie necomplicată

OATP1B2 deficiency protects against paclitaxel-induced neurotoxicity

Paclitaxel is among the most widely used anticancer drugs and is known to cause a dose-limiting peripheral neurotoxicity, the initiating mechanisms of which remain unknown. Here, we identified the murine solute carrier organic anion–transporting polypeptide B2 (OATP1B2) as a mediator of paclitaxel-induced neurotoxicity. Additionally, using established tests to assess acute and chronic paclitaxel-induced neurotoxicity, we found that genetic or pharmacologic knockout of OATP1B2 protected mice from mechanically induced allodynia, thermal hyperalgesia, and changes in digital maximal action potential amplitudes. The function of this transport system was inhibited by the tyrosine kinase inhibitor nilotinib through a noncompetitive mechanism, without compromising the anticancer properties of paclitaxel. Collectively, our findings reveal a pathway that explains the fundamental basis of paclitaxel-induced neurotoxicity, with potential implications for its therapeutic management

Omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, GALACTIC‐HF: baseline characteristics and comparison with contemporary clinical trials

Aims: The safety and efficacy of the novel selective cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is tested in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC‐HF) trial. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of participants in GALACTIC‐HF and how these compare with other contemporary trials. Methods and Results: Adults with established HFrEF, New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) ≥ II, EF ≤35%, elevated natriuretic peptides and either current hospitalization for HF or history of hospitalization/ emergency department visit for HF within a year were randomized to either placebo or omecamtiv mecarbil (pharmacokinetic‐guided dosing: 25, 37.5 or 50 mg bid). 8256 patients [male (79%), non‐white (22%), mean age 65 years] were enrolled with a mean EF 27%, ischemic etiology in 54%, NYHA II 53% and III/IV 47%, and median NT‐proBNP 1971 pg/mL. HF therapies at baseline were among the most effectively employed in contemporary HF trials. GALACTIC‐HF randomized patients representative of recent HF registries and trials with substantial numbers of patients also having characteristics understudied in previous trials including more from North America (n = 1386), enrolled as inpatients (n = 2084), systolic blood pressure < 100 mmHg (n = 1127), estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (n = 528), and treated with sacubitril‐valsartan at baseline (n = 1594). Conclusions: GALACTIC‐HF enrolled a well‐treated, high‐risk population from both inpatient and outpatient settings, which will provide a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this novel therapy, as well as informing its potential future implementation

PYOSTOMATITIS VEGETANS

Pyostomatitis vegetans is a rare oral disorder with not clear pathogeny, which can be associated with inflammatory gastro-intestinal diseases, cutaneous manifestations or other disorders at articular, hepatic or ocular level. The oral condition is manifested through amicrobian pustule and yellow ulcerations having the „snail tracts” aspect on the jugal and labial mucosa and the tongues dorsal side. The histopathologic analysis reveals epithelial acantosis and superficial ulcerations, as well as neutrophilic and eosinophilic infiltrate into the subiacent conjunctive tissue. The available therapies (systemic and topic corticosteroids) have a relative and transitory benefit. We present the case of a female teenager with oral lesions and histopathologic modifications at their level significant for pyostomatitis vegetans, 1 year old, without other cutaneous or systemic change

Pyostomatitis Vegetans

Pyostomatitis vegetans is a rare oral disorder with unclear pathogenesis, that may be associated with inflammatory gastro-intestinal diseases, cutaneous involvement or with other disorders of the joints, eyes or liver. The etiology of the extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel diseases is obscure, but it is believed that the injured intestinal mucosa may trigger immune responses related to inflammatory processes in extraintestinal areas. Oral manifestations include amicrobial pustules and yellow ulcerations with a typical aspect of snail tracts on the bucal and labial mucosa and on the dorsum of the tongue. Histopathological exam shows epithelial acanthosis and superficial ulcerations, as well as eosinophilic and neutrophilic infiltrate in the subjacent connective tissue. Intraepithelial and subepithelial milliary abcesses may also be present. The available therapeutical alternatives (systemic and topical corticosteroids, sulphones, retinoids) have a relatively poor and transitory effect. We present the case of a teenage girl with oral lesions and histopathological features suggestive for pyostomatitis vegetans, persistent for approximately one year, with no other cutaneous or systemic involvement

Pattern of Primary Resistance of <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> to Clarithromycin among Pediatric Patients from North-Eastern Romania

Background: Helicobacter pylori antibiotic resistance has increased worldwide and affects the effectiveness of current therapies. The recommended first-line empiric treatment should be tailored to the local clarithromycin resistance rate. This study aimed to determine the pediatric patient profile and rate of clarithromycin resistance for patients diagnosed with Helicobacter pylori by gastric biopsy. Methods: We studied 84 positive gastric samples for Helicobacter pylori. Positive results were confirmed by a rapid urease test and histopathological examination, with the type of gastritis established according to the Sydney System. Gastric biopsy samples were stored in RNA saver. Clarithromycin resistance was determined by a real-time polymerase chain reaction-based molecular assay after RNA-DNA extraction. Results: Of the 84 biopsy samples analyzed, 35 (41.6%) were resistant to clarithromycin. Clarithromycin resistance was found mainly in girls (80%) with a mean age of 15 years (range 6–17 years). The history of prior exposure to clarithromycin was 91.6%. The concordance between the histopathological examination and the PCR test was 100%. Conclusions: One in 2.4 children infected with Helicobacter pylori had a strain resistant to clarithromycin. This resistant strain may be a reason for treatment failure in Romanian children, yet this is uninvestigated. The high rate of bacterial resistance to this antibiotic among children indicates the need for susceptibility testing before therapy

Molecular Insights into Inhibition of the Methylated Histone-Plant Homeodomain Complexes by Calixarenes

Plant homeodomain (PHD) finger-containing proteins are implicated in fundamental biological processes, including transcriptional activation and repression, DNA damage repair, cell differentiation, and survival. The PHD finger functions as an epigenetic reader that binds to posttranslationally modified or unmodified histone H3 tails, recruiting catalytic writers and erasers and other components of the epigenetic machinery to chromatin. Despite the critical role of the histone-PHD interaction in normal and pathological processes, selective inhibitors of this association have not been well developed. Here we demonstrate that macrocyclic calixarenes can disrupt binding of PHD fingers to methylated lysine 4 of histone H3 in vitro and in vivo. The inhibitory activity relies on differences in binding affinities of the PHD fingers for H3K4me and the methylation state of the histone ligand, whereas the composition of the aromatic H3K4me-binding site of the PHD fingers appears to have no effect. Our approach provides a novel tool for studying the biological roles of methyllysine readers in epigenetic signaling