Organ and prenatal toxicity of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Non-selective cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors, commonly referred to as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), are among the most taken pharmaceuticals. In adults, they can have a series of side effects, including especially gastroenterotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, chondrotoxicity, and neurotoxicity, and they can induce allergic reactions. Any exacerbation of symptoms depends on the chemical structure of the drug, its dosage and duration of exposure, individual sensitivity, comorbidities and the degree of inhibition of basic COX isoenzymes - the constitutive (COX-2) and induced (COX-1) expressions. However, data on prenatal toxicity are inconsistent. Classic nonselective COX inhibitors do not result in an increase in the risk of developing significant congenital defects; however, if used in the late-pregnancy period, they can have an adverse effect on the foetus, by inducing the premature closure of the ductus arteriosus and by producing a tocolytic effect. Individual reports also indicate the increased risk of developing heart and anterior abdominal wall defects, as well as hypospadias

ChimeraTK - A Software Tool Kit for Control Applications

The presentation provides an overview of the ChimeraTK framework. The project started from a demand for software libraries that provide convenient access to PCIE bus based cards on the MicroTCA.4 platform. Previously called MTCA4U, ChimeraTK is evolving towards a set of frameworks and tools that enable users to build up control applications, while abstracting away specifics of the underlying system. Initially, the focus of the project was the DeviceAccess C++ library and its bindings for Matlab and Python, along with a Qt based client that used DeviceAccess under the hood. However, ChimeraTK has expanded to include more tools like the ControlSystemAdapter, VirtualLab and ApplicationCore. The ControlSystemAdapter framework focuses on tools that enable application code to be written in a middle ware agnostic manner. VirtualLab focuses on facilitating testing of application code and providing functional mocks. The ApplicationCore library aims at unifying application interfaces to other tools in the toolkit and improving abstraction. We present an update on improvements to the project and discuss motivations and applications for these new set of tools introduced into the toolkit