Document Archiving, Replication and Migration Container for Mobile Web Users

With the increasing use of mobile workstations for a wide variety of tasks and associated information needs, and with many variations of available networks, access to data becomes a prime consideration. This paper discusses issues of workstation mobility and proposes a solution wherein the data structures are accessed in an encapsulated form - through the Portable File System (PFS) wrapper. The paper discusses an implementation of the Portable File System, highlighting the architecture and commenting upon performance of an experimental system. Although investigations have been focused upon mobile access of WWW documents, this technique could be applied to any mobile data access situation.Comment: 5 page

A simple neural agent communicating through sets

Networked agents of the simplest kind offer the power of cooperative problem solving through parallel operation along with tight packaging potential. Such agents are self-contained analog machines capable of only a few primitive intelligent operations. In this thesis, a design will be developed for a simple agent capable of sending, receiving, and processing information in a environment where agents are coupled together. This environment imposes unorchestrated simultaneous input while expecting a useful timely response. Successful collaboration in these conditions is accomplished through sets encoded within pulse ensembles. The simplicity of the set definition is an inviting candidate for message communication and processing. Although its use is restricted to spatial pattern recognition, a predicted side effect of set communication in a multilayer network configuration is the ability to reintroduce the output back into the input layers for further processing

Effect of nitrous oxide on cisatracurium infusion demands: a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent studies have questioned our previous understanding on the effect of nitrous oxide on muscle relaxants, since nitrous oxide has been shown to potentiate the action of bolus doses of mivacurium, rocuronium and vecuronium. This study was aimed to investigate the possible effect of nitrous oxide on the infusion requirements of cisatracurium.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>70 ASA physical status I-III patients aged 18-75 years were enrolled in this randomized trial. The patients were undergoing elective surgery requiring general anesthesia with a duration of at least 90 minutes. Patients were randomized to receive propofol and remifentanil by target controlled infusion in combination with either a mixture of oxygen and nitrous oxide (Nitrous oxide/TIVA group) or oxygen in air (Air/TIVA group). A 0.1 mg/kg initial bolus of cisatracurium was administered before tracheal intubation, followed by a closed-loop computer controlled infusion of cisatracurium to produce and maintain a 90% neuromuscular block. Cumulative dose requirements of cisatracurium during the 90-min study period after bolus administration were measured and the asymptotic steady state rate of infusion to produce a constant 90% block was determined by applying nonlinear curve fitting to the data on the cumulative dose requirement during the study period.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Controller performance, i.e. the ability of the controller to maintain neuromuscular block constant at the setpoint and patient characteristics were similar in both groups. The administration of nitrous oxide did not affect cisatracurium infusion requirements. The mean steady-state rates of infusion were 0.072 +/- 0.018 and 0.066 +/- 0.017 mg * kg-1 * h-1 in Air/TIVA and Nitrous oxide/TIVA groups, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Nitrous oxide does not affect the infusion requirements of cisatracurium.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01152905; European Clinical Trials Database at <url>http://eudract.emea.eu.int/2006-006037-41</url>.</p

Current issues relating to drug safety especially with regard to the use of biomarkers: A meeting report and progress update

An expert group met in Leiden to review the state-of-the-art in detecting drug-related safety problems and to review the role of biomarkers and modelling techniques. It was clear that new drugs are not necessarily safer than old drugs, despite much larger clinical trial programs. Larger or longer clinical trials may be unfeasible and postmarketing surveillance is not being undertaken systematically enough to ensure safety. Biomarkers could improve drug safety by detecting drug-related signals early but determining whether the biomarker is on the causal pathway to toxicity is difficult. The maturity and utility of safety-related biomarkers varies among target organ systems. A consortium approach to assimilate a large amount of biomarker-related safety signals incorporating this information into mechanism-based models may provide a useful way forward. However no techniques will ensure that drugs are perfectly safe and communication with the public is required to achieve mutual understanding of benefit risk/balance assessments.Paul Rolan, Meindert Danhof, Donald Stanski and Carl Pec