121,855 research outputs found
Ocular manifestations in the mucopolysaccharidoses - a review
No full textP>Ocular manifestations are very common in all types of mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) and often lead to visual impairment. They arise as a result of the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans deposits in ocular tissues or secondary to increased intracranial pressure. Typical ocular features in MPS include corneal clouding, retinopathy, glaucoma, optic disc swelling, optic atrophy, and ocular motility and refractive error problems. This paper reviews the ocular features in patients with MPS, discusses the diagnosis of these ocular features and the diagnostic problems that may arise in patients (children) with MPS, and highlights the central role ophthalmologists may play in the diagnosis and follow-up of these patients
Natural history of Niemann-Pick disease type C in a multicentre observational retrospective cohort study
No full textNiemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a devastating genetic disorder characterised by progressive neurological deterioration. However, data on the progression of neurological manifestations, particularly across different patient age-of-disease onsets, are limited. This is an observational retrospective cohort study designed to assess the progression of neurological disease in patients with NP-C. Physicians were asked to retrospectively complete a web-based questionnaire for each patient, at diagnosis and at up to three follow-up visits. An NP-C-specific disability scale was used to measure disease progression. The scale comprised four key parameters of neurological disease progression; ambulation, manipulation, language and swallowing. Disease progression was evaluated based on the annual rate of change in each parameter and the composite score using a linear mixed model analysis, and by classifying patients according to the number of worsened parameters during the observation period. Data were collected from 57 patients. The rate of deterioration was similar across the four individual parameters of the disability scale. The mean (95% CI) annual disease progression was +0.12 (0.09, 0.15) units. Among patients with a time interval of at least 1 year between diagnosis and last visit (n=49), 42 (86%) patients had progressed disease and 7 (14%) patients had stable disease. Disease progression was consistently more rapid in patients diagnosed in early childhood, compared with those diagnosed in late childhood, or with juvenile or adult presentation. In conclusion, our findings showed a progression in all four parameters of the disability scale, representing a continuous, unbroken progression of neurological manifestations
Long-term follow-up of endurance and safety outcomes during enzyme replacement therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis VI: Final results of three clinical studies of recombinant human N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfatase
No full textCopyright © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.UnlabelledThe objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term clinical benefits and safety of recombinant human arylsulfatase B (rhASB) treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis type VI (MPS VI: Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome), a lysosomal storage disease. Fifty-six patients derived from 3 clinical studies were followed in open-label extension studies for a total period of 97-260 Weeks. All patients received weekly infusions of rhASB at 1 mg/kg. Efficacy was evaluated by (1) distance walked in a 12-minute walk test (12MWT) or 6-minute walk test (6MWT), (2) stairs climbed in the 3-minute stair climb (3MSC), and (3) reduction in urinary glycosaminoglycans (GAG). Safety was evaluated by compliance, adverse event (AE) reporting and adherence to treatment.ResultsA significant reduction in urinary GAG (71-79%) was sustained. For the 12MWT, subjects in Phase 2 showed improvement of 255+/-191 m (mean+/-SD) at Week 144; those in Phase 3 Extension demonstrated improvement from study baseline of 183+/-26 m (mean+/- SE) in the rhASB/rhASB group at Week 96 and from treatment baseline (Week 24) of 117+/-25 m in the placebo/rhASB group. The Phase 1/2 6MWT and the 3MSC from Phase 2 and 3 also showed sustained improvements through the final study measurements. Compliance was 98% overall. Only 560 of 4121 reported AEs (14%) were related to treatment with only 10 of 560 (2%) described as severe.ConclusionrhASB treatment up to 5 years results in sustained improvements in endurance and has an acceptable safety profile.Paul Harmatz, Roberto Giugliani, Ida Vanessa D. Schwartz, Nathalie Guffon, Elisa Leão Teles, M. Clara Sá Miranda, J. Edmond Wraith, Michael Beck, Laila Arash, Maurizio Scarpa, David Ketteridge, John J. Hopwood, Barbara Plecko, Robert Steiner, Chester B. Whitley, Paige Kaplan, Zi-Fan Yu, Stuart J. Swiedler, Celeste Decker and for the MPS VI Study Grouphttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622920/description#descriptio
Home treatment with intravenous enzyme replacement therapy with idursulfase for mucopolysaccharidosis type II - data from the Hunter Outcome Survey
No full textTo use our experience with patients in the observational database HOS - the Hunter Outcome Survey - to evaluate the feasibility of home infusions of idursulfase for patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II)
A Multi-Language Comparison of Influences on Author Verification using Character N-Grams
No full textWe create a new multi-language corpus for author verification based on Wikipedia talkpages, and evaluate the influence that differences in topic and time have on character n-gram author profiles. Topic alignment between two texts is found to increase author verification precision, and an authors writing style is found to change over time, but not more significantly after 3 years than after 1 year.Information ArchitectureWISElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
The vanishing author in computer-generated works: a critical analysis of recent Australian case law
No full textAbstract
The use of software is ubiquitous in the creation of many copyright works, yet the requirement in copyright law that every work have a human author who engages in independent intellectual effort means that its use may prevent copyright subsistence. Several recent Australian cases have refocused attention on authorship as an essential criterion of copyright subsistence, and these cases suggest that much computer-produced output may be authorless and thus lack copyright protection. This article, the first in a two-part series, analyses how each case deals with the question of authorship of computer-produced works and why the use of software diminishes copyright protection for a significant number of computer-generated works. The article critiques the application of conventional notions of human authorship developed in the pre-computer age to modern productions and suggests alternative approaches to authorship that satisfy both the major objectives of copyright policy and the need to adapt to the computer age. The article argues that, without a broader judicial approach to authorship of computer-generated works, Parliament must remedy the lacuna in protection for these ‘authorless’ works. Possible solutions for reform are suggested. In a forthcoming article, the author comprehensively examines those reform proposals
Diffusive author(s), cohesive author: Analysis of S/N (1994)
No full textThis study indicates the ways in which various aspects of the author(s) are brought forth in Dumb type’s performance art, the S/N production. Previous research has suggested a non-hierarchical organization of Dumb type and the absence of a “privileged author” in Dumb type’s collaborative work, S/N. However, the results that I have investigated from member’s interviews on the creative process of S/N along with my analysis of the recorded images of S/N, indicate a different aspect of the author(s). First, S/N was created through, so to speak, the collective ideas of the members of Dumb type. Further, S/N has at least nine quotations from previous performances, installations, and printed writings, besides the work-in-progress technique. Explicating one of the “author functions” as given by Michel Foucault, each text has plural subjects of the author. However, it has been revealed from members’ interviews that Teiji Furuhashi had a decision-making role in selecting the members’ ideas within the performance. Since then, S/N has had plural subjects of creation; however, Furuhashi is one of the subjects of creation along with the “privileged author.” S/N has plural authors (diffusive authors) yet at the same time, it has a “privileged author,” Teiji Furuhashi (cohesive author)
Ocular manifestations in the mucopolysaccharidoses - a review
No full textAbstract: P>Ocular manifestations are very common in all types of mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) and often lead to visual impairment. They arise as a result of the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans deposits in ocular tissues or secondary to increased intracranial pressure. Typical ocular features in MPS include corneal clouding, retinopathy, glaucoma, optic disc swelling, optic atrophy, and ocular motility and refractive error problems. This paper reviews the ocular features in patients with MPS, discusses the diagnosis of these ocular features and the diagnostic problems that may arise in patients (children) with MPS, and highlights the central role ophthalmologists may play in the diagnosis and follow-up of these patients
Enzyme replacement therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis VI: Growth and pubertal development in patients treated with recombinant human N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfatase
No full textBackground and Methods: Growth failure is characteristic of untreated mucopolysaccharidosis type VI (MPS VI: Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome). Growth was studied in fifty-six MPS VI patients (5 to 29 years old) prior to and for up to 240 weeks of weekly infusions of recombinant human arylsulfatase B (rhASB) at 1 mg/kg during Phase 1/2, Phase 2, Phase 3 or Phase 3 Extension clinical trials. Height, weight, and Tanner stage data were collected. Pooled data were analyzed to determine mean height increase by treatment week, growth impacts of pubertal status, baseline urinary GAG, and age at treatment initiation. Growth rate for approximately 2 years prior to and following treatment initiation was analyzed using longitudinal modeling. Results: Mean height increased by 2.9 cm after 48 weeks and 4.3 cm after 96 weeks on enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). Growth on ERT was not correlated with baseline urinary GAG. Patients under 16~years of age showed greatest increases in height on treatment. Model results based on pooled data showed significant improvement in growth rate during 96~weeks of ERT when compared to the equivalent pretreatment time period. Delayed pubertal onset or progression was noted in 10 patients entering the clinical trials; all of whom showed progression of at least one Tanner stage during 2 years on ERT, and 6 of whom (60%) completed puberty. Conclusion: Analysis of mean height by treatment week and longitudinal modeling demonstrate significant increase in height and growth rate in MPS VI patients receiving long-term ERT. This impact was greatest in patients aged below 16 years. Height increase may result from bone growth and/or reduction in joint contractures. Bone growth and resolution of delayed puberty may be related to improvements in general health, bone cell health, nutrition, endocrine gland function and reduced inflammation.Celeste Decker, Zi-Fan Yu, Roberto Giugliani, Ida Vanessa D. Schwartz, Nathalie Guffon, Elisa Leão Teles, M. Clara Sá Miranda, J. Edmond Wraith, Michael Beck, Laila Arash, Maurizio Scarpa, David Ketteridge, John J. Hopwood, Barbara Plecko, Robert Steiner, Chester B. Whitley, Paige Kaplan, Stuart J. Swiedler, Susan Conrad, Paul Harmatz for the MPS VI Study Grou
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