Calling on a million minds for community annotation in WikiProteins.

WikiProteins enables community annotation in a Wiki-based system. Extracts of major data sources have been fused into an editable environment that links out to the original sources. Data from community edits create automatic copies of the original data. Semantic technology captures concepts co-occurring in one sentence and thus potential factual statements. In addition, indirect associations between concepts have been calculated. We call on a 'million minds' to annotate a 'million concepts' and to collect facts from the literature with the reward of collaborative knowledge discovery. The system is available for beta testing at http://www.wikiprofessional.org.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Thioguanine is Effective as Maintenance Therapy for Inflammatory Bowel Disease:A Prospective Multicentre Registry Study

Background and Aims: Thioguanine is a well-tolerated and effective therapy for inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] patients. Prospective effectiveness data are needed to substantiate the role of thioguanine as a maintenance therapy for IBD.Methods: IBD patients who previously failed azathioprine or mercaptopurine and initiated thioguanine were prospectively followed for 12 months starting when corticosteroid-free clinical remission was achieved (Harvey-Bradshaw Index [HBI] ≤ 4 or Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index [SCCAI] ≤ 2). The primary endpoint was corticosteroid-free clinical remission throughout 12 months. Loss of clinical remission was defined as SCCAI &gt; 2 or HBI &gt; 4, need of surgery, escalation of therapy, initiation of corticosteroids or study discontinuation. Additional endpoints were adverse events, drug survival, physician global assessment [PGA] and quality of life [QoL].Results: Sustained corticosteroid-free clinical remission at 3, 6 or 12 months was observed in 75 [69%], 66 [61%] and 49 [45%] of 108 patients, respectively. Thioguanine was continued in 86 patients [80%] for at least 12 months. Loss of response [55%] included escalation to biologicals in 15%, corticosteroids in 10% and surgery in 3%. According to PGA scores, 82% of patients were still in remission after 12 months and QoL scores remained stable. Adverse events leading to discontinuation were reported in 11%, infections in 10%, myelo- and hepatotoxicity each in 6%, and portal hypertension in 1% of patients.Conclusion: Sustained corticosteroid-free clinical remission over 12 months was achieved in 45% of IBD patients on monotherapy with thioguanine. A drug continuation rate of 80%, together with favourable PGA and QoL scores, underlines the tolerability and effectiveness of thioguanine for IBD.</p

Are electric vehicle drivers willing to participate in vehicle-to-grid contracts? A context-dependent stated choice experiment

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology could turn electric vehicles (EVs) into a potentially valuable solution to the problem of increased load demand caused by large-scale EV integration. Successful market penetration of V2G relies not only on developing the technology itself, but also on EV drivers' willingness to participate in this technology. This paper aims to explore Dutch EV drivers' preferences for participating in V2G contracts. In particular, we conduct a context-dependent stated choice experiment to examine the impact of EV recharging technology on the V2G contract preferences. Two contexts have been designed: the current EV recharging time and fast recharging. Our results show that in the context of current recharging time, Dutch EV drivers in general prefer not to participate in V2G contracts, while the opposite is true in the context of fast recharging. With regard to specific V2G contract attributes, Dutch EV drivers are most concerned about ‘discharging cycles’. Also important to them is ‘the guaranteed minimum battery level’, but its importance drops significantly in the fast charging context. In addition, ‘monthly remuneration’ and ‘plug-in time’ also influence people's preferences for adopting V2G. From these findings, we draw the implications for the aggregator and policy makers.Transport and LogisticsEnergy & Industr

In a Dutch real-life inflammatory bowel disease score cohort with 90% prior anti-tumour necrosis factor failure, vedolizumab showed a 25% remission rate: a retrospective multicentre study

Background Vedolizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody against α4β7-integrin capable of blocking the migration of several immune cells across endothelium expressing MAdCAM-1. This new class of biological drugs has shown efficacy in treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in randomised clinical trials. Vedolizumab is registered since October 2014 in the Netherlands. Here, we describe the clinical experience in 3 centres using vedolizumab for ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). Methods We retrospectively analysed clinical activity and clinical response determined by a composite score based on a VAS scale for pain and fatigue, number of liquid stools, choice of treatment, patient’s ability to work or study, and the conclusion of the attending physician. Further laboratory parameters and the use of vedolizumab was studied. Results From October 2014 until November 2015, 48 patients with moderate/severe IBD (mean age 43, 39.6% male, 27; CD and 21 UC patients) were included; 90% had failed at least 1 tumour necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist before treatment. The average duration of disease before treatment with vedolizumab was 9.4 years (range 1–38 years). The average duration of vedolizumab treatment was 25.7 weeks (average 5.6 infusions administered). Concomitant medication included mesalazine (20%), MTX or Thiopurines (20%), Steroids (33%), and 27% was treated with vedolizumab as monotherapy. Further, 27 patients, 56 % (17 CD patients and 10 UC patients) responded to vedolizumab (average 6.8 doses; follow-up 32 weeks) 44% of these responders (7 CD patients and 5 UC patients) reached remission after average 7.2 infusions (41 weeks follow-up). In addition, 15 patients, 31% (7 CD patients, 8 UC patients) were primary non-responders. Moreover, 5 patients, 10% (2 CD patients, 3 UC patients) showed loss of response; 1 of them underwent surgery. In 1 CD patient (2%), vedolizumab was stopped after 1 infusion because of side effects (nasopharyngitis). Conclusion In this Dutch real-life IBD cohort with 90% prior anti-TNF failure, vedolizumab showed a 56% response and 25% remission rate without showing major adverse events

In a Dutch real-life inflammatory bowel disease score cohort with 90% prior anti-tumour necrosis factor failure, vedolizumab showed a 25% remission rate: a retrospective multicentre study

Background Vedolizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody against α4β7-integrin capable of blocking the migration of several immune cells across endothelium expressing MAdCAM-1. This new class of biological drugs has shown efficacy in treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in randomised clinical trials. Vedolizumab is registered since October 2014 in the Netherlands. Here, we describe the clinical experience in 3 centres using vedolizumab for ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). Methods We retrospectively analysed clinical activity and clinical response determined by a composite score based on a VAS scale for pain and fatigue, number of liquid stools, choice of treatment, patient’s ability to work or study, and the conclusion of the attending physician. Further laboratory parameters and the use of vedolizumab was studied. Results From October 2014 until November 2015, 48 patients with moderate/severe IBD (mean age 43, 39.6% male, 27; CD and 21 UC patients) were included; 90% had failed at least 1 tumour necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist before treatment. The average duration of disease before treatment with vedolizumab was 9.4 years (range 1–38 years). The average duration of vedolizumab treatment was 25.7 weeks (average 5.6 infusions administered). Concomitant medication included mesalazine (20%), MTX or Thiopurines (20%), Steroids (33%), and 27% was treated with vedolizumab as monotherapy. Further, 27 patients, 56 % (17 CD patients and 10 UC patients) responded to vedolizumab (average 6.8 doses; follow-up 32 weeks) 44% of these responders (7 CD patients and 5 UC patients) reached remission after average 7.2 infusions (41 weeks follow-up). In addition, 15 patients, 31% (7 CD patients, 8 UC patients) were primary non-responders. Moreover, 5 patients, 10% (2 CD patients, 3 UC patients) showed loss of response; 1 of them underwent surgery. In 1 CD patient (2%), vedolizumab was stopped after 1 infusion because of side effects (nasopharyngitis). Conclusion In this Dutch real-life IBD cohort with 90% prior anti-TNF failure, vedolizumab showed a 56% response and 25% remission rate without showing major adverse events