Coordinated Autonomic Managers for Energy Efficient Date Centers

The complexity of today’s data centers has led researchers to investigate ways in which autonomic methods can be used for data center management. Autonomic managers try to monitor and manage resources to ensure that the components they manage are self-configuring, self-optimizing, self-healing and self-protecting (so called “self-*” properties). In this research, we consider autonomic management systems for data centers with a particular focus on making data centers more energy-aware. In particular, we consider a policy based, multi-manager autonomic management systems for energy aware data centers. Our focus is on defining the foundations – the core concepts, entities, relationships and algorithms - for autonomic management systems capable of supporting a range of management configurations. Central to our approach is the notion of a “topology” of autonomic managers that when instantiated can support a range of different configurations of autonomic managers and communication among them. The notion of “policy” is broadened to enable some autonomic managers to have more direct control over the behavior of other managers through changes in policies. The ultimate goal is to create a management framework that would allow the data center administrator to a) define managed objects, their corresponding managers, management system topology, and policies to meet their operation needs and b) rely on the management system to maintain itself automatically. A data center simulator that computes its energy consumption (computing and cooling) at any given time is implemented to evaluate the impact of different management scenarios. The management system is evaluated with different management scenarios in our simulated data center

Neurological Involvements in COVID-19: A hospital-based study

ObjectivesThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is the most challenging crisis in the contemporary world. Besides severe pulmonary involvement, the disease also has several extrapulmonary manifestations, and new signs and symptoms are associated with it every dayThe present study aimed to inquire about the frequency of neurological manifestations and risk factors of COVID-19. Materials & MethodsThis retrospective, descriptive study included patients with neurological involvement admitted to the Alborz University of Medical Sciences academic hospitals from March 2020 to July 2020 with confirmed COVID-19 infection. The data included in the analysis were the patient’s demographic information, underlying diseases, neurological manifestations, and laboratory findings.   ResultsThe study included ninety-five patients with a mean age of fiftynine. Neurological symptoms and signs were observed in 91.6% and 10.5% of the patients, respectively. The most frequently associated neurological symptoms of COVID-19 were fatigue (49.5%), headache (47.4%), and dizziness (45.3%). Furthermore, the most common neurological involvements included gait disorders (6.3%), cerebellar dysfunction (4.2%), and cerebrovascular accidents (3.15%). Positive troponin was shown to be the strongest predictor of neurological signs (OR=21, P=0.017), followed by WBC≥15,000 (OR = 20.75, P=0.018) and a history of respiratory disease (OR=7.42, P=0.007)

Adaptacja kulturowa i ocena rzetelności irańskiej wersji skali Functional Assessment Measure u chorych po urazie rdzenia kręgowego

Background and purpose The aim of this study was to translate and validate the Iranian version of the Functional Assessment Measure (FAM) among patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Material and methods Two hundred patients with SCI participated in this study. A convenience sampling approach was used for selection of the patients. The FAM was translated into Persian language and then independently translated back into English. The reliability of the FAM was assessed by test-retest methods with a 14-day interval for interrater reliability. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICCs) was calculated and interrater reliability and intrarater reliability were assessed. Results The mean age of the patients was 35.7 years (SD, 7.2) and 86% of patients were male. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for both raters was above 0.70. Intrarater reliability of the Iranian version of the FAM ranged from good to excellent agreement. The highest level of intrarater reliability was observed for Community mobility (ICC = 0.93). There was good to excellent agreement for interrater reliability of the FAM. The FAM could differentiate between subgroups of patients based on the level of injury but not for the time elapsed from the injury. Conclusions Based on the results of this study, the Iranian version of the FAM (FAM-Ir) was highly valid and reliable for evaluation of functional ability in patients with SCI. Therefore, we would suggest that the FAM could also be used as an assessment tool for SCI patients.Wstęp i cel pracy Celem pracy było przetłumaczenie na język perski i walidacja irańskiej wersji skali Functional Assessment Measure (FAM) wśród pacjentów z urazowym uszkodzeniem rdzenia kręgowego. Materiał i metody W badaniu wzięło udział 200 pacjentów z urazowym uszkodzeniem rdzenia kręgowego stanowiących próbę uznaniową (convenience sampling). Skalę FAM przełożono na perski, a następnie dokonano przekładu zwrotnego na język angielski. Porównywalność wyników między badającymi oceniono za pomocą testu powtarzalności badania w odstępie 14 dni. Obliczono współczynnik korelacji wewnątrzklasowej (ICC), oceniono stopień zgodności wyników między badającymi i dla tego samego badającego. Wyniki Średnia wieku pacjentów wyniosła 35,7 roku (SD: 7,2 roku); 86% pacjentów stanowili mężczyźni. Współczynnik alfa Cronbacha dla obu badających wynosił > 0,70. Zgodność oceny tego samego badającego za pomocą irańskiej wersji skali FAM wahała się od zgodności dobrej do doskonałej. Największą zgodność (ICC = 0,93) obserwowano w odniesieniu do elementu Community mobility. Zgodność między badającymi w ocenie FAM była dobra do doskonałej. Na podstawie FAM było możliwe zróżnicowanie podgrup pacjentów w zależności od poziomu uszkodzenia, ale nie w zależności od czasu, który upłynął od urazu. Wnioski Na podstawie bieżącego badania autorzy stwierdzają, że irańska wersji FAM cechuje się dużą trafnością i rzetelnością w ocenie możliwości funkcjonowania pacjentów z urazowym uszkodzeniem rdzenia kręgowego. Autorzy sugerują zatem, aby uwzględnić tę skalę jako narzędzie oceny chorych po urazowym uszkodzeniu rdzenia kręgowego

Clinical Grade Human Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Banking

In this study, our aim was to produce a generation of GMP-grade adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells for clinical applications. According to our results, we fulfill to establish consistent and also reproducible current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) compliant adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells from five female donors. The isolated cells were cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and characterized by standard methods. Moreover, karyotyping was performed to evaluate chromosomal stability. Mean of donors’ age was 47.6 ± 8.29 year, mean of cell viability was 95.6 ± 1.51%, and cell count was between 9×106 and 14×106 per microliter with the mean of 12.2×106 ± 2863564.21 per microliter. The main aim of this project was demonstrating the feasibility of cGMP-compliant and clinical grade adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells preparation and banking for clinical cell transplantation trials