132 research outputs found
Identifying the time of a step change with multivariate single control charts
No full textDOGU, ERALP/0000-0002-8256-7304WOS: 000349904400003Change point estimation procedures simplify the efforts to search for and identify special causes in multivariate statistical process monitoring. After a signal is generated by the simultaneously used control charts or a single control chart, add-on change point procedure estimates the time of the change. In this study, multivariate joint change point estimation performance for simultaneous monitoring of both location and dispersion is compared under the assumption that various single charts are used to monitor the process. The change detection performance for several structural changes for the mean vector and covariance matrix is also discussed. It is concluded that choice of the control chart to obtain a signal may affect the change point detection performance.Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK)Dogu's research was partially funded by the grants from the graduate scholarship program of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). The author thanks the editor, the associate editor, and the referee for careful reading and for their comments which greatly improved the paper. The author also thanks Dr Ipek Deveci Kocakoc for her support and guidance throughout the researc
X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA): Phenotype, diagnosis, and therapeutic challenges around the world
No full textBackground: X-linked agammaglobulinemia is an inherited immunodeficiency recognized since 1952. In spite of seven decades of experience, there is still a limited understanding of regional differences in presentation and complications. This study was designed by the Primary Immunodeficiencies Committee of the World Allergy Organization to better understand regional needs, challenges and unique patient features.
Methods: A survey instrument was designed by the Primary Immunodeficiencies Committee of the World Allergy Organization to collect both structured and semi-structured data on X-linked agammaglobulinemia. The survey was sent to 54 centers around the world chosen on the basis of World Allergy Organization participation and/or registration in the European Society for Immunodeficiencies. There were 40 centers that responded, comprising 32 countries.
Results: This study reports on 783 patients from 40 centers around the world. Problems with diagnosis are highlighted by the reported delays in diagnosis>24 months in 34% of patients and the lack of genetic studies in 39% of centers Two infections exhibited regional variation. Vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis was seen only in countries with live polio vaccination and two centers reported mycobacteria. High rates of morbidity were reported. Acute and chronic lung diseases accounted for 41% of the deaths. Unusual complications such as inflammatory bowel disease and large granular lymphocyte disease, among others were specifically enumerated, and while individually uncommon, they were collectively seen in 20.3% of patients. These data suggest that a broad range of both inflammatory, infectious, and autoimmune conditions can occur in patients. The breadth of complications and lack of data on management subsequently appeared as a significant challenge reported by centers. Survival above 20 years of age was lowest in Africa (22%) and reached above 70% in Australia, Europe and the Americas. Centers were asked to report their challenges and responses (n = 116) emphasized the difficulties in access to immunoglobulin products (16%) and reflected the ongoing need for education of both patients and referring physicians.
Conclusions: This is the largest study of patients with X-linked agammaglobulinemia and emphasizes the continued morbidity and mortality of XLA despite progress in diagnosis and treatment. It presents a world view of the successes and challenges for patients and physicians alike. A pivotal finding is the need for education of physicians regarding typical symptoms suggesting a possible diagnosis of X-linked agammaglobulinemia and sharing of best practices for the less common complications.Pubme
Disruption of an antimycobacterial circuit between dendritic and helper T cells in human SPPL2a deficiency
No full textHuman inborn errors of IFN-γ immunity underlie mycobacterial diseases. We describe patients with Mycobacterium bovis (BCG) disease who are homozygous for loss-of-function mutations of SPPL2A. This gene encodes a transmembrane protease that degrades the N-terminal fragment (NTF) of CD74 (HLA invariant chain) in antigen-presenting cells. The CD74 NTF therefore accumulates in the HLA class II+ myeloid and lymphoid cells of SPPL2a-deficient patients. This toxic fragment selectively depletes IL-12- and IL-23-producing CD1c+ conventional dendritic cells (cDC2s) and their circulating progenitors. Moreover, SPPL2a-deficient memory TH1* cells selectively fail to produce IFN-γ when stimulated with mycobacterial antigens in vitro. Finally, Sppl2a-/- mice lack cDC2s, have CD4+ T cells that produce small amounts of IFN-γ after BCG infection, and are highly susceptible to infection with BCG or Mycobacterium tuberculosis. These findings suggest that inherited SPPL2a deficiency in humans underlies mycobacterial disease by decreasing the numbers of cDC2s and impairing IFN-γ production by mycobacterium-specific memory TH1* cells
Human IFN-γ immunity to mycobacteria is governed by both IL-12 and IL-23
No full textHundreds of patients with autosomal recessive, complete IL-12p40 or IL-12Rβ1 deficiency have been diagnosed over the last 20 years. They typically suffer from invasive mycobacteriosis and, occasionally, from mucocutaneous candidiasis. Susceptibility to these infections is thought to be due to impairments of IL-12-dependent IFN-γ immunity and IL-23-dependent IL-17A/IL-17F immunity, respectively. We report here patients with autosomal recessive, complete IL-12Rβ2 or IL-23R deficiency, lacking responses to IL-12 or IL-23 only, all of whom, unexpectedly, display mycobacteriosis without candidiasis. We show that αβ T, γδ T, B, NK, ILC1, and ILC2 cells from healthy donors preferentially produce IFN-γ in response to IL-12, whereas NKT cells and MAIT cells preferentially produce IFN-γ in response to IL-23. We also show that the development of IFN-γ-producing CD4+ T cells, including, in particular, mycobacterium-specific TH1* cells (CD45RA-CCR6+), is dependent on both IL-12 and IL-23. Last, we show that IL12RB1, IL12RB2, and IL23R have similar frequencies of deleterious variants in the general population. The comparative rarity of symptomatic patients with IL-12Rβ2 or IL-23R deficiency, relative to IL-12Rβ1 deficiency, is, therefore, due to lower clinical penetrance. There are fewer symptomatic IL-23R- and IL-12Rβ2-deficient than IL-12Rβ1-deficient patients, not because these genetic disorders are rarer, but because the isolated absence of IL-12 or IL-23 is, in part, compensated by the other cytokine for the production of IFN-γ, thereby providing some protection against mycobacteria. These experiments of nature show that human IL-12 and IL-23 are both required for optimal IFN-γ-dependent immunity to mycobacteria, both individually and much more so cooperatively.Pubme
HPC Based Acceleration for Optimization of Predictive Models: Lithography Overlay Performance Modeling
No full textThis thesis project achieves designing and comparing two parallel implementations for exhaustive grid search along a large model space to find the optimum mapping model for overlay predictions used in ASML lithography machines. The search algorithm leads to an effectively intractable problem as long as sequential implementation is concerned, but a parallel implementation using the technologies pro-vided by ASML High Performance Cluster (HPC) pave the way to tackle the challenge. A number of parallel execu-tion concepts have been developed using different frame-works that are exposed to the ASML HPC developer com-munity by the platform maintainers. Among these con-cepts, the most promising ones with respect to a defined set of criteria have been chosen to carry on with the implemen-tation effort. It has been shown that a PBS based Lab im-plementation can scale on HPC with a parallel efficiency of 66%, with most of the efficiency loss stemming from scheduler overhead. A second, Spark based Fab implementa-tion has an increased efficiency of 82%, paving a way for speedup of almost 1700x for a Spark cluster with 2048cores. Moreover, It has been shown experimentally that perfor-mance scales linearly over the model space dimensions. Baseline sequential implementation is estimated to take, by extrapolation, 2590 hours to execute on a single core for a typical model space use case. Refactoring the sequential implementation to utilize multiple CPU cores through mul-tiprocessing can drive execution down to 115 hours on a 24-core machine. Fab parallel implementation executes the same use case in 1.6 hours, enabling exploratory and itera-tive approaches to modeling for data scientists and domain experts.Computer Engineerin
Anatomy, morphology, palynology and nutlet micromorphology of the rediscovered Turkish steno-endemic Stachys longiflora Boiss. and Bal. (Lamiaceae)
No full textStachys longiflora Boiss. & Bal, previously known only from the type gathering is a steno-endemic species from Turkey. The species was firstly collected by Balansa from Mersin-Guzeldere in 1855 and described by Boissier and Balansa in 1859. It was not collected again until 2011, when the author found it in Guzeldere (Mersin). Therefore, S. longiflora is treated under Data Deficient DD category in the Turkish Red Data Book. In this study, some anatomical and micromorphological characters, observations and measurements of S. longiflora are presented for the first time. The diagnostic morphological, anatomical, nutlet micromorphological and palynological characters of this steno-endemic species are discussed. Morphological characteristics of corollas, calyces, leaves, and stems are useful for specific delimitation in Stachys. Anatomical characters such as the shape of sclerenchymatic tissue and presence or absence of sclerenchymatic tissue in stems, mesophyll structures in leaves are of taxonomic significance. Moreover, the presence or absence of nutlets trichomes, shape and sculpturing pattern of nutlets are diagnostic characters. The emended and expanded description, ecology and phenology of this steno-endemic species are also presented along with its revised conservation status.Necmettin Erbakan University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit [131210001]The author is grateful to the curators of ANK, AEF, B, BM, E, G, GAZI, H, HUB, ISTE, ISTF, K and KNYA for permission to access their collections. I thank Dr. Muhittin Dinc for his support during the fieldwork. I am also grateful to both anonymous reviewers for their careful review of the manuscript. The author would like to thank the Necmettin Erbakan University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit under Grant No. 131210001 for the financial support
Comparative the Effectiveness of Occlusal Splint and TENS Treatments on Clinical Findings and Pain Threshold of Temporomandibular Disorders Secondary to Bruxism
No full textObjective: In the present study we compared the effectiveness of occlusal splint and TENS treatments with respect to clinical findings and pain threshold in patients with myofascial pain syndrome and temporomandibular disorders
A rare cause of forearm pain: Schwannoma of the posterior interosseous nerve
No full textA schwannoma, also known as a neurilemoma, is composed of Schwann cells, and is the most common benign tumor of the peripheral nerves. It commonly appears as a solitary lesion in the head and neck region. The diagnosis is based on ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging, and histopathological examination. This encapsulated tumor has a good prognosis with a low recurrence rate after surgical removal. This case report is a description of a forearm schwannoma that initially appeared to be a ganglion cyst
Comparison of body composition, nutritional status, functional status, and quality of life between osteoporotic and osteopenic postmenopausal women
No full textBackground and objective: Osteoporosis is a condition that affects body composition, physical activity, and psychological state. We aimed to examine the differences between osteoporotic and osteopenic postmenopausal women with respect to body composition, nutrition, functional status, and quality of life.
Materials and methods: A total of 102 osteopenic (Group 1) and 100 osteoporotic (Group 2) patients were enrolled in the study. Bone mineral density (BMD), fat tissue mass (FTM), lean tissue mass (LTM), and bone mineral content (BMC) were evaluated using dual-energy X-ray absorbtiometry. Nutritional status of the patients was assessed with the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), functional status with the Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living (NEADL) scale, and quality of life with the assessment of health-related quality of life in osteoporosis (ECOS-16).
Results: Group 2 had significantly lower FTM, LTM, and MNA scores than Group 1 (P 0.05). A significant correlation was found between MNA and FTM, LTM, BMC, and BMD (P 0.05).
Conclusions: We found lower FTM and LTM values and a poorer nutritional status in osteoporotic patients than in osteopenic ones. Nutritional status was correlated with body composition and BMD, and functional status was correlated with age and BMD
- …
