New treatment strategies in the treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common chronic rheumatic disease in childhood with an incidence of 10-19/100.000 children below the age of 16 years, and it is also one of the major causes of acquired disability and impairment of quality of life in childhood. Early and aggressive control of arthritis is essential to prevent long-term disability. Methotrexate (MTX) provides clinical benefits in JIA with an acceptable profile of toxic effects. Nevertheless, in many cases, inefficacy, especially in patients with polyarticular and systemic-onset form of JIA (SOJIA) or intolerance to MTX, has led investigators to try other therapeutic options. Biologic agents have been designed to target key cytokines implicated in JIA including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-6 as well as signaling molecules involved in the regulation of T-cell and B-cell lympocyte responses. Up to now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved three biologic agents for use in moderate to severe polyarticular JIA: etanercept, adalimumab and abatacept. In general, TNF-α inhibitors are more beneficial for children with polyarticular disease, and the biological agents that target IL-1 and IL-6 activity appear to be successful also in treating patients with SOJIA. The T-cell costimulation modulator, abatacept, was shown to be effective for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe polyarticular JIA. Autologous stem cell transplantation has also been used in patients with refractory JIA; however, the procedure carries the risk of treatment-related high morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this review is to summarise the recent advances in the treatment of JIA. © 2011 Turkish League Against Rheumatism. All rights reserved

Bayesian testing of many hypotheses ×\times many genes: A study of sleep apnea

Substantial statistical research has recently been devoted to the analysis of large-scale microarray experiments which provide a measure of the simultaneous expression of thousands of genes in a particular condition. A typical goal is the comparison of gene expression between two conditions (e.g., diseased vs. nondiseased) to detect genes which show differential expression. Classical hypothesis testing procedures have been applied to this problem and more recent work has employed sophisticated models that allow for the sharing of information across genes. However, many recent gene expression studies have an experimental design with several conditions that requires an even more involved hypothesis testing approach. In this paper, we use a hierarchical Bayesian model to address the situation where there are many hypotheses that must be simultaneously tested for each gene. In addition to having many hypotheses within each gene, our analysis also addresses the more typical multiple comparison issue of testing many genes simultaneously. We illustrate our approach with an application to a study of genes involved in obstructive sleep apnea in humans.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-AOAS241 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Protracted Febrile Myalgia in a Child as the Presenting Sign of Familial Mediterranean Fever: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Protracted febrile myalgia (PFM) is a rare form of vasculitic disease which is an uncommon dramatic manifestation of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), characterized by severe crippling myalgia and high fever. We describe a 14-year-old boy who presented with fever, abdominal pain and severe myalgia in all his muscles for 5 days. The diagnosis of PFM was considered based on the presence of fever, paralyzing myalgia with normal CPK, elevated CRP and ESR. Thus, we started prednisolone treatment and his symptoms disappeared and acute-phase reactants declined rapidly. Mutational analysis of the MEFV gene demonstrated homozygote M694V mutation. Thus, he was diagnosed as PFM and FMF. In this report, we present a child with PFM as the sole feature preceding the diagnosis of FMF, and draw attention to the PFM for the diagnosis of FMF even the patient does not fulfi ll the criteria for the clinical diagnosis. © Trakya University Faculty of Medicine

Peridynamic simulations of nanoindentation tests to determine elastic modulus of polymer thin films

This study combines atomic force microscope (AFM) nanoindentation tests and peridynamic (PD) simulations to extract the elastic moduli of polystyrene (PS) films with varying thicknesses. AFM nanoindentation tests are applied to relatively hard PS thin films deposited on soft polymer (polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)) substrates. Linear force versus deformation response was observed in nanoindentation experiments and numerical simulations since the soft PDMS substrate under the stiff PS films allowed bending of thin PS films instead of penetration of AFM tip towards the PS films. The elastic moduli of PS thin films are found to be increasing with increasing film thickness. The validity of both the simulation and experimental results is established by comparison against those previously published in the literature

All-pass section with high gain opportunity

Minaei, Shahram (Dogus Author) -- Conference full title: 33rd International Conference on Telecommunications and Signal Processing, TSP 2010; Baden near Vienna; Austria; 17 August 2010 through 20 August 2010 -- Paper published in Radioengineering, 20 (1) pp. 3-9. Fultext accessible via https://hdl.handle.net/11376/1383In this paper, a new circuit configuration for realizing voltage-mode (VM) all-pass section (APS) is presented. The circuit is cascadable with other VM circuits because of its high input and low output impedances. It consists of two differential difference current conveyors (DDCCs), one grounded resistor and one grounded capacitor. The proposed circuit can be slightly changed by using two additional grounded resistors to provide high gain. Moreover, a quadrature oscillator with minimum number of active and passive elements is derived from the proposed APS. SPICE simulations are performed to verify the theory.Motorol

A Case of Biliary Pancreatitis Which Subsided after Endoscopic Sphincterotomy during Pregnancy

A 24-year-old pregnant patient was referred to us because of pain and tenderness in the right upper quadrant. Her liver enzymes and bilirubin levels were elevated; an abdominal ultrasound examination revealed gallstones within the gallbladder. Diagnosis of biliary pancreatitis was established based on elevated amylase levels. Oral intake was withheld; intravenous antibiotic therapy and total parenteral nutrition were administered. An endoscopic sphincterotomy without the use of fluoroscopy was performed. Abdominal pain and elevated serum amylase levels subsided after this procedure. In our case, biliary pancreatitis, which developed during pregnancy, responded well to the endoscopic sphincterotomy, and this procedure obviated the need for surgical intervention and prevented the recurrence of pancreatitis

Investigation of optimal designs for concrete cantilever retaining walls in different soils

In this paper, the investigation of the optimum designs for two types of concrete cantilever retaining walls was performed utilizing the artificial bee colony algorithm. Stability conditions like safety factors sliding, overturning and bearing capacity and some geometric instances due to inherent of the wall were considered as the design constraints. The effect of the existence of the key in wall design on the objective function was probed for changeable properties of foundation and backfill soils. In optimization analysis, wall concrete weight which directly affect parameters such as carbon dioxide emission and the cost was considered as the objective function and analyzes were performed according to different discrete design variables. The optimum concrete cantilever retaining wall designs satisfying constraints of stability conditions and geometric instances were obtained for different soil cases. Optimum designs of concrete cantilever retaining wall with the key were attained in some soil cases which were not found the feasible optimum solution of the concrete cantilever retaining wall. Results illustrate that the artificial bee colony algorithm was a favorable metaheuristic optimization method to gain optimum designs of concrete cantilever retaining wall

An investigation on determining optimum wall ratio–cost relationship of shear walled reinforced concrete buildings

Reinforced concrete walls are very efficient structural elements in terms of carrying the lateral loads that are expected to affect the structures during the service of the buildings. These elements, which are not used for economic reasons in buildings designed in areas with low seismic hazard, can actually provide a significant increase in performance with a very small increase in construction cost. In this study, a total of 9 building models have been created and the relationship between optimum reinforced concrete wall ratio and cost on these buildings has been investigated. The design and analysis of the models were carried out according to the criteria specified in TSC 2018. Three different structural systems specified in TSC 2018 were used in the designed models. These structural systems used; RC frame structures, RC wall-frame structures and RC wall structures. These structures were analyzed by Response Spectrum Method which is linear analysis method and base shear forces were obtained. Then, push-over analysis, which is a nonlinear analysis method, was applied to obtain the base shear forces that the structure can actually carry. After the analysis, the quantities of materials to be used for the construction of the structural systems of the models were calculated and current manufacturing prices and rough costs were calculated. In order to compare the obtained costs with the structural performances, nonlinear shear forces and linear shear forces ratios were calculated and the over strength factors were calculated for each model. In the light of the data obtained from the studies in the literature, when the over strength factors and cost values are examined together, it is concluded that the optimum design for the conditions specified in TSC 2018 will be provided with the RC wall ratio between 0.001 - 0.0016. It is concluded that lateral load carrying capacity of construction increases up to 650% by increasing the construction cost by 17% for the designed models

The effects of different transporting methods and waiting periods on olive

In this study, it is aimed to determine the effects of different transporting methods and waiting period on olive. In the study, olive (memecik cultivar) as main material, which is planted widely in Aydın location, was used. The harvested olives were divided into two groups by filling to boxes with 15 cm, 30 cm and 45 cm heights as well as nylon sacks. First and second groups were transported by one axle and two axle-trailers respectively on the stabilized ways. While a part of transported materials was investigated without waiting (directly), the other part was studied after waiting for 7, 14 and 21 days in terms of moisture, shape index, hectoliter weight, friction coefficient of friction and percent of oleic acid values. In conclusion, it was observed that the boxes, sacks and the waiting period were significantly important on investigated parameters. However, there was no statistical difference in comparison of the transportation with one-axle and two-axle trailers.Bu çalısmada, degisik tasıma sekilleri ve bekleme sürelerinin zeytin üzerine etkilerini belirlemek amaçlanmıstır. Çalısmada ana materyal olarak Aydın yöresinde yaygın olarak yetistirilmekte olan Memecik çesidi zeytin kullanılmıstır. Hasat edilen zeytinler 15 cm, 30 cm, 45 cm yüksekligindeki kasalara ve naylon çuvallara doldurulup, iki guruba ayrılmıstır. Birinci grup traktöre baglı tek dingilli tarım arabasıyla, ikinci grup ise çift dingilli tarım arabasıyla stabilize yolda tasınmıstır. Tasınan örneklerin, bir kısmı hiç bekletilmeden, diger kısmı ise 7, 14 ve 21 gün bekletilerek, nem, sekil indeksi, hektolitre agırlıgı, sürtünme katsayıları ve % oleik asit degerleri açısından incelenmistir. Çalısma sonucunda, tasımada kullanılan kasalar ve çuvallar ile bekleme süresinin, incelenen parametreler üzerinde istatistiksel olarak etkili oldugu görülmüstür. Bununla birlikte, tek dingilli ve çift dingili tarım arabasıyla tasıma arasında ise istatistiksel bir fark görülmemistir