Service Virtualisation of Internet-of-Things Devices: Techniques and Challenges

Service virtualization is an approach that uses virtualized environments to automatically test enterprise services in production-like conditions. Many techniques have been proposed to provide such a realistic environment for enterprise services. The Internet-of-Things (IoT) is an emerging field which connects a diverse set of devices over different transport layers, using a variety of protocols. Provisioning a virtual testbed of IoT devices can accelerate IoT application development by enabling automated testing without requiring a continuous connection to the physical devices. One solution is to expand existing enterprise service virtualization to IoT environments. There are various structural differences between the two environments that should be considered to implement appropriate service virtualization for IoT. This paper examines the structural differences between various IoT protocols and enterprise protocols and identifies key technical challenges that need to be addressed to implement service virtualization in IoT environments.Comment: 4 page

Epigenetic Regulation of the Dlk1-Meg3 Imprinted Locus in Human Islets

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex metabolic disease characterized by inadequate insulin secretion by the pancreatic β-cell in response to increased blood glucose levels. Despite compelling evidence that T2DM has a high rate of familial aggregation, known genetic risk variants account for less than 10% of the observed heritability. Consequently, post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression, including microRNAs and other noncoding RNAs, have been implicated in the etiology of T2DM, in part due to their ability to simultaneously regulate the expression of hundreds of targets. To determine if microRNAs are involved in the pathogenesis of human T2DM, I sequenced the small RNAs of human islets from diabetic and non-diabetic organ donors. From this screen, I identified the maternally-expressed genes in the imprinted DLK1-MEG3 locus as highly- and specifically-expressed in human β-cells, but repressed in T2DM islets. Repression of this noncoding transcript was strongly correlated with hyper-methylation of the promoter that drives transcription of all the maternal noncoding RNAs including the long noncoding RNA MEG3, several microRNAs and snoRNAs. Additionally, I identified disease-relevant targets of DLK1-MEG3 microRNAs in vivo using HITS-CLIP, a technique to detect targets of RNA binding proteins. My results provide strong evidence for a role of microRNAs and epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, in the pathogenesis of T2DM. In addition, my data set catalogs human islet microRNAs relevant to human T2DM pathogenesis and characterizes their target transcriptomes. Despite being associated with T2DM and several other diseases, very little is known about the regulation of imprinting of the MEG3-DLK1 locus. Hence, I interrogated a newly described enhancer in this locus, as enhancers are known mediators of mono-allelic expression at other imprinted loci. I discovered allele-specific binding of this enhancer by critical islet transcription factors, including FOXA2 in human islets. In addition, I mapped long-range interactions of this enhancer in human islets using 4C-Seq. Overall, my findings provide novel insights into the regulation of an imprinted locus critical to β-cell health and function

Evaluating the Use of Engineered Nervous Tissue Constructs in the Repair of Peripheral Nerve Lesions and Amputations

Severe trauma to the limbs can often result in the lesioning, or even amputation, of the underlying peripheral nerves. In these cases, endogenous neural repair mechanisms are compromised and a path to the end target may be lost, resulting in the need for surgical intervention. Current repair strategies are incapable of maintaining this regenerative pathway, or providing a bridge to a surrogate end target, often resulting in incomplete repair. This thesis describes the development and evaluation of a novel method of addressing peripheral nerve lesions and amputations that utilizes living tissue-engineered neural grafts. These grafts are created by the controlled mechanical separation of axons spanning integrated neuron populations in vitro, resulting in axon tracts spanning several centimeters in length. Techniques were developed to encapsulate and transplant these tracts, with the goal of providing structural and nutrient support, while minimizing macrophage infiltration. The efficacy of these constructs in the treatment of lesions and amputations was then assessed using a rat sciatic nerve transection model. In the first study, the ability of neural constructs to (a) encourage host regeneration from the proximal stump, while also (b) attenuating distal pathway degeneration, was evaluated. At the 4-week time point, the axonal constructs were observed to promote more robust host axonal and tissue regeneration across the graft when compared to unstretched grafts. A measurement of nerve conduction velocities also revealed a statistically significant improvement in the stretch-grown group, correlating with the observed increased fiber regeneration. At the distal pathway, neural constructs were observed to prevent the atrophy of the support cells, and maintain the alignment of the Schwann cell columns for up to 4 months. These results suggest that the use of neural grafts may expand the time window within which successful nerve regeneration can occur. The axon grafts were then shown to support and maintain regenerating host axon fibers for up to 4 weeks in the absence of a distal end target. Finally, axon grafts pre-attached to an implantable electrode substrate were shown to encourage host ingrowth to the vicinity of the substrate, showing promise for the development of a chronic brain-machine interface

Evaluation of the effects of Prunus dulcis on mice models of depression

Background: Prunus dulcis (almond) contains high amounts of Inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) which has proven antidepressant effects. Hence this study was done to evaluate the effects of Prunus dulcis on mice models of depression.Methods: Tails suspension test (TST) and forced swim test (FST) are usually used to assess the antidepressant activity in animal models. They were employed to analyse the effectiveness of Prunus dulcis before and after two weeks of the study period and the results were compared. The animals were divided into 4 groups of 6 mice each.group-1 (Normal control); group-2 was given fluoxetine 10 mg/kg; group- 3 and group- 4 were given 600 mg/kg and 1200 mg/kg of Prunus dulcis extract respectively. All the animals were on standard chow diet the entire duration of the study.Results: Prunus dulcis (almond) is found to be effective in treating depression, by significantly reducing the immobility period on test group 1 in forced swim test (p<0.05) and test group 2 in tail suspension test (p<0.05).Conclusions: The results clearly indicate the beneficial effects Prunus dulcis (almond) on mice models of depression. Further studies are required to prove its effectiveness in humans

Logic-Based Outer Approximation for the Design of Discrete-Continuous Dynamic Systems with Implicit Discontinuities

We address the optimization of discrete-continuous dynamic optimization problems using a disjunctive multistage modeling framework, with implicit discontinuities, which increases the problem complexity since the number of continuous phases and discrete events is not known a-priori. After setting a fixed alternative sequence of modes, we convert the infinite-dimensional continuous mixed-logic dynamic (MLDO) problem into a finite dimensional discretized GDP problem by orthogonal collocation on finite elements. We use the Logic-based Outer Approximation algorithm to fully exploit the structure of the GDP representation of the problem. This modelling framework is illustrated with an optimization problem with implicit discontinuities (diver problem).The authors acknowledge financial support from «Estancias de movilidad en el extranjero "Jose Castillejo" (JC2011-0054)» of the Spanish “Ministerio de Educación”, and from the Spanish “Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion” (CTQ2012-37039-C02-02)

A Retrospective Clinical Audit of Outcomes of Cochlear Implantation in Children with Multiple Disabilities in Comparison with Normal Implantees : A South Indian Experience

Open Access via Springer Compact Agreement We would like to thank the team and the Auditory Verbal Habilitationists at Madras ENT Research Foundation (MERF), Chennai for all their support during the course of this project. Special thanks to the Medical Statistics Team at the University of Aberdeen for additional advice on the data analysis.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL DRUG INTERACTIONS AMONG HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS AT THE CARDIAC AND PULMONARY DEPARTMENTS IN TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the potential drug interactions among hospitalized patients in cardiac and pulmonary wards in three tertiary care hospitals.Methods: A prospective, observational study was carried out for 12 months. A sample of 1150 patients were assessed for potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) using Micromedex®- 2.7 and Drugs.com.Results: A total of 1150 patients were analyzed, and it was found that 685 were cardiac and 465 were pulmonary patients. The study identified 524 (76.49%) cardiac patients and 345 (74.19%) pulmonary patients, with pDDIs higher in male cardiac (298 [56.87%]) and male pulmonary (199 [57.68%]) patients, compared to females. Incidences of pDDIs were found to be higher in the age group of 60–70 years in cardiac (193 [36.83%]) and pulmonary (146 [42.31%]) patients and incidences of interactions based on duration of 4–6 days' hospital stays in cardiac were 380 (72.53%) and 215 (62.31%) in pulmonary patients, respectively. Moreover, 51.90% of cardiac patients and 56.52% of pulmonary patients were found to be prescribed with more number of drugs (cardiac 7 drugs and pulmonary 5–6 drugs) causing higher incidences of pDDIs. Some of the most common drug interacting pair was aspirin and clopidogrel combination observed in 245 cardiac patients, whereas in the pulmonary department, it was ranitidine-theophylline combination with a frequency of 195 pDDIs. Drug-food interactions were found with atorvastatin–citrus fruits in cardiac and theophylline–caffeine in pulmonary patients. The most common drug-disease interaction was found to be isosorbide dinitrate–myocardial infarction in cardiac and diazepam–COPD in pulmonary, respectively.Conclusion: Pharmacists must take responsibility in the monitoring of drug interactions and notifying the physician and patient about potential problems. With their detailed knowledge of drugs, pharmacists have the ability to relate unexpected symptoms experienced by patients to possible adverse effects of their drug therapy

AN ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL DRUG-DRUG INTERACTIONS IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: To an assessment of potential drug-drug interactions in hypertensive patients in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A prospective, observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital, Erode for a period of 8 mo. A sample of 480 patients was assessed for PDDIs using drug checker in Micromedex®-2.7. Results: A total of 430 patients were analyzed and it was found to be 396 (82.50%) hypertensive patients had PDDIs, and a sum total of 1160 PDDIs were observed. Potential drug-drug interactions (PDDIs) higher in female hypertensive patients [255 (64.39%)] compared to males. Incidences of PDDIs were found to be higher in the age group of 60-70 y were [177 (44.69%)] and incidences of interactions based on the duration of (4-6 d) hospital stays were 272 (68.68%). Moreover, 49.24% of patients were found to be prescribed with more than 7 drugs, with higher incidences of PDDIs. Some of the most common drug interacting pair was between aspirin and clopidogrel combination observed in 325 PDDIs in the major, with pharmacodynamics in nature. Conclusion: Clinical pharmacist ought to have the role of regular monitoring of drug therapy in identifying and preventing the medications that have the potential to cause drug-drug interactions, thereby minimizing the undesirable outcomes in drug medical care and improving the quality of care

PHARMACIST INTERVENTION ON IDENTIFICATION OF DRUG INTERACTIONS IN TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the potential drug interactions (pDIs) among hospitalized patients in cardiac and neurology wards in 3 tertiary care hospitals.Methods: A prospective, observational study was carried out for a period of 12 mo. A sample of 1330 patients was assessed for pDDIs using Micromedex®-2.7and drugs.com and www.dugs.com.Results: A total of 1330 patients were analyzed and it was found that 685 were cardiac and 645 were neurology patients. The study identified 524 (76.49%) cardiac patients and 425 (65.89%) neurology patients, with potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) higher in male cardiac [298 (56.87%)] and male neurology [235 (55.29%)] patients, compared to females. Incidences of pDDIs were found to be higher in the age group of 60-70 y in cardiac [193 (36.83%)] and neurology [165 (38.84%)] patients and incidences of interactions based on duration of (4-6 d) hospital stays in cardiac were 380 (72.53%) and 275 (64.70%) in neurology patients respectively. Moreover, 51.90% cardiac patients and 57.41% neurology patients were found to be prescribed with more number of drugs in cardiac and neurology (7 drugs) patients, were found to have developed higher incidences of pDDIs. The most common drug interacting pair was between aspirin and clopidogrel combination, observed in 245 cardiac and 316 in neurology patients. Drug-food interactions (DFIs) were found with between atorvastatin-citrus fruits in cardiac and phenytoin-protein rich foods in neurology patients. The most common drug-disease interaction (D-DIs) was found to between isosorbide dinitrate–myocardial infarction in cardiac and carbamazepine-seizuresin neurology respectively.Conclusion: It is recommended that physicians should be aware of the interactions among those drugs while prescribing, and careful monitoring is also required

Assessment and evaluation of drug information services provided by drug information centre at a multispecialty hospital in Erode, Tamil Nadu, India

Background: To evaluate the performance of Drug Information Centre (DIC) in providing quality drug information services to the health care professionals.Methods: It was a prospective study carried out for a period of six months (June-November 2017). The drug information services provided by the pharmacist at the DIC during ward rounds, direct access, telephone and mail were documented in the drug information request and documentation forms. The quality of drug information provided was assessed with the help of feedback questionnaire which was filled by receivers.Results: A total of 283 queries were received, with a maximum from ward rounds 140(49.47%). On evaluation, it was found that most of the queries were from physicians 207 (73.14%) followed by nurses 33(11.66%), pharmacists 26 (9.18%), patients 17 (6.07%). Among that 178 (62.89%) queries were received from department of general medicine. Most of the queries were intended to update knowledge 110 (38.86%) and for the purpose of better patient care 90 (31.81%). The time frame for an authentic reply ranged from minutes to 24 hours, where a maximum of 110 (38.86%) queries had sent a 24 hours deadline. The majority of the queries were for adverse drug reactions [ADR-60 (21.20%)] and most preferred resources were primary 188 (66.43%).Conclusions: The DIC has always presented and offered itself to be an impressive resource, which is used routinely as an information source by all levels of professionals involved in the health system, in addition to the patients themselves