Human Leukocyte Antigen alleles associated with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

The etiology and pathogenesis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) are unknown, and autoimmunity is one of many proposed underlying mechanisms. Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations are hallmarks of autoimmune disease, and have not been thoroughly investigated in a large ME/CFS patient cohort. We performed high resolution HLA -A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQB1 and -DPB1 genotyping by next generation sequencing in 426 adult, Norwegian ME/CFS patients, diagnosed according to the Canadian Consensus Criteria. HLA associations were assessed by comparing to 4511 healthy and ethnically matched controls. Clinical information was collected through questionnaires completed by patients or relatives. We discovered two independent HLA associations, tagged by the alleles HLA-C*07:04 (OR 2.1 [95% CI 1.4–3.1]) and HLA-DQB1*03:03 (OR 1.5 [95% CI 1.1–2.0]). These alleles were carried by 7.7% and 12.7% of ME/CFS patients, respectively. The proportion of individuals carrying one or both of these alleles was 19.2% in the patient group and 12.2% in the control group (OR 1.7 [95% CI 1.3–2.2], pnc = 0.00003). ME/CFS is a complex disease, potentially with a substantial heterogeneity. We report novel HLA associations pointing toward the involvement of the immune system in ME/CFS pathogenesis.publishedVersio

Tracking a Swinging Target with a Robot Manipulator using Visual Sensing

In this paper we develop a method for loading parts onto a swinging target using an industrial robot. The orientation of the target is estimated by a particle filter using camera images as measurements. Robust and accurate tracking is achieved by using an accurate dynamic model of the target. The dynamical model is also used to compensate for the time delay between the acquisition of images and the motion response of the robot. The target dynamics is modeled as a spherical pendulum. To ensure robust visual tracking the position of the target mass center is estimated. The method is experimentally validated in a laboratory loading station with a swinging conveyor trolley as target, which is commonly used in industry

Pose Estimation with Dual Quaternions and Iterative Closest Point

This paper presents a method for pose estimation of a rigid body using unit dual quaternions where pose measurements from point clouds are filtered with a multiplicative extended Kalman filter (MEKF). The point clouds come from a 3D camera fixed to the moving rigid body, and then consecutive point clouds are aligned with the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm to obtain pose measurements. The unit constraint of the dual quaternion is ensured in the filtering process with the Dual Quaternion MEKF (DQ-MEKF), where the measurement updates are performed using the dual quaternion product so that the result is a unit dual quaternion. In addition, we use the Cayley transform for the discrete time propagation of the DQ-MEKF estimate, eliminating the need for normalization and projection of the resulting unit dual quaternion. The ICP algorithm is initialized with the time propagated state of the filter to give faster and more accurate pose measurements. To further improve the accuracy of the initialization, angular velocity measurements from a gyroscope fixed to the camera are included in the filter. The proposed method has been tested in experiments using a Kinect v2 3D camera mounted rigidly on a KUKA KR6 robotic arm, while a customized ICP algorithm was successfully implemented on a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) system.acceptedVersion© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works

Modeling and Control of a Bifilar Crane Payload

This paper presents a modeling technique and a controller for an underactuated crane payload. The crane payload is modeled as a bifilar pendulum. The payload is attached to a sheave block, such that a cable can freely run to either side. This configuration is often used in different types of cranes, including offshore cranes. To achieve asymptotic stability in the absence of damping, we propose a controller based on an energy approach and the passivity properties of the system. We prove stability of the system with the proposed controller using LaSalle's invariance principle. The control performance is studied in the numerical simulations. The simulation results show that all the states of the closed-loop system with coupled sway and skew dynamics converge to the origin.acceptedVersion© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works

Modeling and Control of a Bifilar Crane Payload

This paper presents a modeling technique and a controller for an underactuated crane payload. The crane payload is modeled as a bifilar pendulum. The payload is attached to a sheave block, such that a cable can freely run to either side. This configuration is often used in different types of cranes, including offshore cranes. To achieve asymptotic stability in the absence of damping, we propose a controller based on an energy approach and the passivity properties of the system. We prove stability of the system with the proposed controller using LaSalle's invariance principle. The control performance is studied in the numerical simulations. The simulation results show that all the states of the closed-loop system with coupled sway and skew dynamics converge to the origin

Requests for new oral antibiotic prescriptions in children within 2 days: a Norwegian population-based study

Background: Children commonly refuse to take antibiotics, which may induce parents to request new antibiotic prescriptions with different pharmaceutical characteristics. Objectives: To investigate prescription changes for children 0–12 years receiving oral liquid or solid antibiotic formulations and to explore the relationships between prescription changes and characteristics related to the child, prescriber and antibiotic. Methods: A population-based registry study based on data from the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) from 2004 to 2016. Antibiotic prescription changes were defined as the dispensing of subsequent antibiotics with different pharmaceutical characteristics to the same child within 2 days after initial prescriptions. Data were analysed using multivariable logistic regression and generalized estimating equations. Results: Requests for new prescriptions followed 3.0% of 2 691 483 initial antibiotic prescriptions for children. Young children who received solid formulations (10.9%) and certain poor-tasting antibiotics (8.6%) had the highest proportions of new prescriptions. Penicillin V was most commonly changed, while macrolides/lincosamides dominated subsequent prescriptions. In order of magnitude, the characteristics associated with requests for new prescriptions were the children’s ages, poor taste and concentration of liquids, size and shape of solids, prescribers born in recent decades, and girl patients. Reimbursed prescriptions and scored solids were associated with fewer requests. Conclusions: While only 3% of the antibiotic prescriptions were changed, the preference of broad-spectrum over narrow-spectrum antibiotics for young children in this study mirrors international prescription patterns. Avoiding the costs of children’s refusal and consequent changes may thus be a motivation for choosing more preferred antibiotics

Gene expression analysis of hematopoietic progenitor cells identifies Dlg7 as a potential stem cell gene

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldInducible hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell lines represent a model for studying genes involved in self-renewal and differentiation. Here, gene expression was studied in the inducible human CD34+ acute myelogenous leukemia cell line KG1 using oligonucleotide arrays and suppression subtractive cloning. Using this approach, we identified Dlg7, the homolog of the Drosophila Dlg1 tumor suppressor gene, as downregulated at the early stages of KG1 differentiation. Similarly, Dlg7 was expressed in normal purified umbilical cord blood CD34+CD38- progenitors but not in the more committed CD34+CD38+ population. Dlg7 expression was not detected in differentiated cells obtained from hematopoietic colonies, nor was expression detected in purified T-cells, B-cells, and monocytes. When analyzed in different types of stem cells, Dlg7 expression was detected in purified human bone marrow-derived CD133+ progenitor cells, human mesenchymal stem cells, and mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. Overexpression of Dlg7 in mouse ES cells increased their growth rate and reduced the number of EBs emerging upon differentiation. In addition, the EBs were significantly smaller, indicating an inhibition in differentiation. This inhibition was further supported by higher expression of Bmp4, Oct4, Rex1, and Nanog in EBs overexpressing Dlg7 and lower expression of Brachyury. Finally, the Dlg7 protein was detected in liver and colon carcinoma tumors but not in normal adjacent tissues, suggesting a role for the gene in carcinogenesis. In conclusion, our results suggest that Dlg7 has a role in stem cell survival, in maintaining stem cell properties, and in carcinogenesis. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article

Human Leukocyte Antigen alleles associated with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

The etiology and pathogenesis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) are unknown, and autoimmunity is one of many proposed underlying mechanisms. Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations are hallmarks of autoimmune disease, and have not been thoroughly investigated in a large ME/CFS patient cohort. We performed high resolution HLA -A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQB1 and -DPB1 genotyping by next generation sequencing in 426 adult, Norwegian ME/CFS patients, diagnosed according to the Canadian Consensus Criteria. HLA associations were assessed by comparing to 4511 healthy and ethnically matched controls. Clinical information was collected through questionnaires completed by patients or relatives. We discovered two independent HLA associations, tagged by the alleles HLA-C*07:04 (OR 2.1 [95% CI 1.4–3.1]) and HLA-DQB1*03:03 (OR 1.5 [95% CI 1.1– 2.0]). These alleles were carried by 7.7% and 12.7% of ME/CFS patients, respectively. The proportion of individuals carrying one or both of these alleles was 19.2% in the patient group and 12.2% in the control group (OR 1.7 [95% CI 1.3–2.2], pnc=0.00003). ME/CFS is a complex disease, potentially with a substantial heterogeneity. We report novel HLA associations pointing toward the involvement of the immune system in ME/CFS pathogenesis