Virtual Communication Stack: Towards Building Integrated Simulator of Mobile Ad Hoc Network-based Infrastructure for Disaster Response Scenarios

Responses to disastrous events are a challenging problem, because of possible damages on communication infrastructures. For instance, after a natural disaster, infrastructures might be entirely destroyed. Different network paradigms were proposed in the literature in order to deploy adhoc network, and allow dealing with the lack of communications. However, all these solutions focus only on the performance of the network itself, without taking into account the specificities and heterogeneity of the components which use it. This comes from the difficulty to integrate models with different levels of abstraction. Consequently, verification and validation of adhoc protocols cannot guarantee that the different systems will work as expected in operational conditions. However, the DEVS theory provides some mechanisms to allow integration of models with different natures. This paper proposes an integrated simulation architecture based on DEVS which improves the accuracy of ad hoc infrastructure simulators in the case of disaster response scenarios.Comment: Preprint. Unpublishe

The Burundi Heart Centre: From concept to design.

Burundi is one of the worlds poorest nations, which is also reflected in its relative lack of cardiac facilities, particularly those catering to young children and adults. The authors discuss current efforts to build The Burundi Heart Centre to help address this challenge. In particular, they highlight how the project can act as a case study for a sustainable architecture that involves local people and uses locally available materials in a contemporary and innovative way

The Tunisian Pharmaceutical Sector in Transformation: Inventory of Fixtures and Innovation Prospects

Since the entrance of Tunisia to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995, the Tunisian pharmaceutical industry has recorded considerable changes. Notably, with the extension of patentability to pharmaceuticals, the sector is now at a dynamic stage of transformation, translated by a notable development of the industry of generics. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the mutations that have marked the Tunisian pharmaceutical industry over the last decade and study its potential of developing future innovation. In this purpose, the paper is divided into two main parts. In the first one, we are going to present the legal and economic changes in the Tunisian pharmaceutical sector and highlight the emphasis of the government on the production of generics. In the second part, the paper aims at studying the perspectives for innovation in Tunisia through the study of the innovation capabilities in the Tunisian pharmaceutical sector. The results show that in spite of some strengths of the Tunisian economy, the perspectives for pharmaceutical innovation remain handicapped by several financial and structural deficiencies of the national and pharmaceutical innovation systems. Depuis l’adhésion de la Tunisie à l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce (OMC) en 1995, le secteur pharmaceutique tunisien enregistre des changements considérables. Il se situe aujourd’hui à un stade dynamique de transformations, traduites particulièrement par le développement notable de l’industrie des génériques. L’objectif de cet article consiste donc à analyser les mutations ayant marqué le secteur pharmaceutique tunisien durant la dernière décennie et d’étudier son potentiel d’innovation. Dans cette perspective, l’article s’articule autour de deux grandes parties. Dans la première, nous allons exposer les changements réglementaires et économiques du secteur pharmaceutique tunisien et mettre l’accent surtout sur l’incitation du gouvernement pour la production des génériques. Dans la seconde partie, nous nous proposons d’étudier les perspectives d’innovation en Tunisie à travers l’étude des capacités d’innovation locales dans le secteur pharmaceutique. Les résultats montrent qu’en dépit de certaines forces qui caractérisent l’économie tunisienne par comparaison à d’autres Pays En Développement (PED) similaires, les perspectives d’innovation pharmaceutique demeurent handicapées par nombreuses défaillances financières et structurelles liées aux systèmes national et pharmaceutique d’innovation.generics, innovation, innovation system, patents, pharmaceuticals, Tunisia

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) has recently emerged as a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Contrary to initial beliefs, HFpEF is now known to be as common as heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and carries an unacceptably high mortality rate. With a prevalence that has been steadily rising over the past two decades, it is very likely that HFpEF will represent the dominant heart failure phenotype over the coming few years. The scarcity of trials in this semi-discrete form of heart failure and lack of unified enrolment criteria in the studies conducted to date might have contributed to the current absence of specific therapies. Understanding the epidemiological, pathophysiological and molecular differences (and similarities) between these two forms of heart failure is cornerstone to the development of targeted therapies. Carefully designed studies that adhere to unified diagnostic criteria with the recruitment of appropriate controls and adoption of practical end-points are urgently needed to help identify effective treatment strategies

The role of endothelin-1 in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare but debilitating disease, which if left untreated rapidly progresses to right ventricular failure and eventually death. In the quest to understand the pathogenesis of this disease differences in the profile, expression and action of vasoactive substances released by the endothelium have been identified in patients with PAH. Of these, endothelin-1 (ET-1) is of particular interest since it is known to be an extremely powerful vasoconstrictor and also involved in vascular remodelling. Identification of ET-1 as a target for pharmacological intervention has lead to the discovery of a number of compounds that can block the receptors via which ET-1 mediates its effects. This review sets out the evidence in support of a role for ET-1 in the onset and progression of the disease and reviews the data from the various clinical trials of ET-1 receptor antagonists for the treatment of PAH

CADUCEUS, SCIPIO, ALCADIA: Cell therapy trials using cardiac-derived cells for patients with post myocardial infarction LV dysfunction, still evolving.

The early results of the CArdiosphere-Derived aUtologous stem CElls to reverse ventricUlar dySfunction study were recently published in the Lancet [1]. This study is a phase 1 prospective randomised study, performed at two centres. The study was designed to test the hypothesis that intracoronary infusion of autologous cardiac-derived cells following myocardial infarction can reduce the size of the infarct and increase the amount of viable myocardium. The eligible patients were randomised in a 2:1 ratio to receive CDCs or standard care. In all, 17 patients were randomised to cell therapy and 8 to standard care. The cell therapy consisted of an infusion of 25 million cells into the infarct related artery, 1.5–3 months after successful primary angioplasty in patients who developed LV dysfunction (EF less than 37 per cent). The cells were derived from RV endomyocardial biopsies performed within the previous 37 days. The number of cells was determined from previous experimental studies of the maximum number of cells which can be injected without inducing infarction. The study was not blinded because of ethical considerations regarding performing right ventricular biopsy on the controls. The exclusion criteria included patients who had evidence of right ventricular infarction, or could not have an MRI examination because of claustrophobia or prior insertion of devices. There was no death, myocardial infarction or serious arrhythmia reported in either group during the period of follow up, which was between 6-12 months. Serious adverse events were observed in 24 percent of the intervention group versus 12 per cent in the controls (p not significant)

Impacts of the Species Elaeagnus umbellate on the Soil and Water Quality of the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute Ecosystem

The species Elaeagnus umbellate, more commonly known as autumn olive, is a shrub that is invasive to the United States and indigenous to East Asia. Even though the autumn olive is not native to North America, it was able to thrive and adapt to the new environment by using its ability to fix nitrogen. Nitrogen-fixing is a process where plants intake molecular nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into other forms of nitrogen that can be used by the plants. One of the nitrogen-fixing by-products is nitrate. Excessive amounts of nitrate can easily leach from the plant’s root region into underlying aquifer systems. Relatively small amounts (\u3e10mg/L) of nitrate in the environment are known to be toxic to humans and aquatic life. This study was conducted to assess the impact of Elaeagnus umbellate on nitrate concentrations in its surrounding soil and groundwater. Thirty plots were selected for collecting groundwater and soil samples. Fifteen of those plots were dominated by mature E. umbellate. The other fifteen plots were dominated by native grass species. Water and soil samples were collected two feet below the ground surface (root zones of the autumn olive plants). Samples were collected during the growing season, in ten day intervals during the summer of 2010, and analyzed for the respective concentrations of nitrate, ammonia, total nitrogen, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. The data obtained from these analyses was statistically analyzed. The results of the samples collected from the autumn olive dominated plots showed an increase in the concentrations of nitrates and other nitrogen forms. However, statistical t-tests showed that this increase is not significantly different compared to results of the control plots dominated by native grass species

Utility of mass spectrometry for the diagnosis of the unstable coronary plaque.

Mass spectrometry is a powerful technique that is used to identify unknown compounds, to quantify known materials, and to elucidate the structure and chemical properties of molecules. Recent advances in the accuracy and speed of the technology have allowed data acquisition for the global analysis of lipids from complex samples such as blood plasma or serum. Here, mass spectrometry as a tool is described, its limitations explained and its application to biomarker discovery in coronary artery disease is considered. In particular an application of mass spectrometry for the discovery of lipid biomarkers that may indicate plaque morphology that could lead to myocardial infarction is elucidated