Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a frequent cause of nosocomial and community infections, in some cases severe and difficult to treat. In addition, there are strains of MRSA that ...are specifically associated with food-producing animals. For this reason, in recent years special attention has been paid to the role played by foodstuffs of animal origin in infections by this microorganism. With the aim of gaining knowledge on the prevalence and types of MRSA in meat and meat products, a review was undertaken of work published on this topic since 2001, a total of 259 publications, 185 relating to meat samples from retail outlets and 74 to samples of animal origin collected in farms, slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities. Strains of MRSA were detected in 84.3% reports (156 out of 185) from retail outlets and 86.5% reports (64 out of 74) from farms, slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities, although in most of the research this microorganism was detected in under 20% of samples from retail outlets, and under 10% in those from farms, slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities. The meat and meat products most often contaminated with MRSA were pork and chicken. In addition to the mecA gene, it is crucial to take into consideration the mecB and mecC genes, so as to avoid misidentification of strains as MSSA (methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus). The great variety of methods used for the determination of MRSA highlights the need to develop a standardized protocol for the study of this microorganism in foods.
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•A total of 259 research reports into MRSA in meat and meat products were reviewed.•MRSA was detected in 84.3% (retail outlets) and 86.5% (abattoirs) of the researches.•Prevalence was <20% in foods from retail outlets and <10% in those from abattoirs.•The highest prevalence of MRSA was observed in pork and chicken samples.•It is essential to study the mecB and mecC genes in addition to the mecA gene.
New symmetric equivalent circuits are suggested for 90° and 270° transmission-line sections, with which compact coupled-line ring and branch-line hybrids can be designed and fabricated. For this ...purpose, firstly stepped-impedance transmission-line (SITL) sections, being equivalent to a uniform transmission-line section with arbitrary electrical lengths, are synthesized, and design formulas for the SITL sections are derived. Secondly, three types of equivalent circuits are introduced by combining the SITL sections with coupled-line Π-, modified Π-, or T -type, and are called stepped-impedance coupled-line Π-type (SCΠ ), stepped-impedance modified T -type (SMT), and stepped-impedance modified Π-type (SMΠ). The SCΠs are for 270° transmission-line sections, while both SMTs and SMΠs are for 90° transmission-line sections. Based on the suggested equivalent circuits, compact coupled-line ring and branch-line hybrids designed at 1 GHz are fabricated, and the measured bandwidth of the ring hybrid is 50% with 15-dB return loss. The measured results may be considered as excellent, reflecting their total transmission-line lengths of 183° and 111° for the ring and branch-line hybrids, respectively.
Context-Free Session Type Inference Padovani, Luca
ACM transactions on programming languages and systems,
06/2019, Volume:
41, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Some interesting communication protocols can be precisely described only by context-free session types, an extension of conventional session types supporting a general form of sequential composition. ...The complex metatheory of context-free session types, however, hinders the definition of corresponding checking and inference algorithms. In this work, we study a new syntax-directed type system for context-free session types that is easy to embed into a host programming language. We also detail 2 OCaml embeddings that allow us to piggyback on OCaml’s type system to check and infer context-free session types.
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Angioedema (AE) manifests with intermittent, localized, self-limiting swelling of the subcutaneous and/or submucosal tissue. AE is heterogeneous, can be hereditary or acquired, may ...occur only once or be recurrent, may exhibit wheals or not, and may be due to mast cell mediators, bradykinin, or other mechanisms. Several different taxonomic systems are currently used, making it difficult to compare the results of studies, develop multicenter collaboration, and harmonize AE treatment.
We developed a consensus on the definition, acronyms, nomenclature, and classification of AE (DANCE).
The initiative involved 91 experts from 35 countries and was endorsed by 53 scientific and medical societies, and patient organizations. A consensus was reached by online discussion and voting using the Delphi process over a period of 16 months (June 2021 to November 2022).
The DANCE initiative resulted in an international consensus on the definition, classification, and terminology of AE. The new consensus classification features 5 types and endotypes of AE and a harmonized vocabulary of abbreviations/acronyms.
The DANCE classification complements current clinical guidelines and expert consensus recommendations on the diagnostic assessment and treatment of AE. DANCE does not replace current clinical guidelines, and expert consensus algorithms and should not be misconstrued in a way that affects reimbursement of medicines prescribed by physicians using sound clinical judgment. We anticipate that this new AE taxonomy and nomenclature will harmonize and facilitate AE research and clinical studies, thereby improving patient care.
Background
The consensus documents published to date on hereditary angioedema with C1 inhibitor deficiency (C1‐INH‐HAE) have focused on adult patients. Many of the previous recommendations have not ...been adapted to pediatric patients. We intended to produce consensus recommendations for the diagnosis and management of pediatric patients with C1‐INH‐HAE.
Methods
During an expert panel meeting that took place during the 9th C1 Inhibitor Deficiency Workshop in Budapest, 2015 (www.haenet.hu), pediatric data were presented and discussed and a consensus was developed by voting.
Results
The symptoms of C1‐INH‐HAE often present in childhood. Differential diagnosis can be difficult as abdominal pain is common in pediatric C1‐INH‐HAE, but also commonly occurs in the general pediatric population. The early onset of symptoms may predict a more severe subsequent course of the disease. Before the age of 1 year, C1‐INH levels may be lower than in adults; therefore, it is advisable to confirm the diagnosis after the age of one year. All neonates/infants with an affected C1‐INH‐HAE family member should be screened for C1‐INH deficiency. Pediatric patients should always carry a C1‐INH‐HAE information card and medicine for emergency use. The regulatory approval status of the drugs for prophylaxis and for acute treatment is different in each country. Plasma‐derived C1‐INH, recombinant C1‐INH, and ecallantide are the only agents licensed for the acute treatment of pediatric patients. Clinical trials are underway with additional drugs. It is recommended to follow up patients in an HAE comprehensive care center.
Conclusions
The pediatric‐focused international consensus for the diagnosis and management of C1‐INH‐HAE patients was created.
Background There are a limited number of publications on the management of gynecologic/obstetric events in female patients with hereditary angioedema caused by C1 inhibitor deficiency (HAE-C1-INH). ...Objective We sought to elaborate guidelines for optimizing the management of gynecologic/obstetric events in female patients with HAE-C1-INH. Methods A roundtable discussion took place at the 6th C1 Inhibitor Deficiency Workshop (May 2009, Budapest, Hungary). A review of related literature in English was performed. Results Contraception : Estrogens should be avoided. Barrier methods, intrauterine devices, and progestins can be used. Pregnancy : Attenuated androgens are contraindicated and should be discontinued before attempting conception. Plasma-derived human C1 inhibitor concentrate (pdhC1INH) is preferred for acute treatment, short-term prophylaxis, or long-term prophylaxis. Tranexamic acid or virally inactivated fresh frozen plasma can be used for long-term prophylaxis if human plasma-derived C1-INH is not available. No safety data are available on icatibant, ecallantide, or recombinant human C1-INH (rhC1INH). Parturition : Complications during vaginal delivery are rare. Prophylaxis before labor and delivery might not be clinically indicated, but pdhC1INH therapeutic doses (20 U/kg) should be available. Nevertheless, each case should be treated based on HAE-C1-INH symptoms during pregnancy and previous labors. pdhC1INH prophylaxis is advised before forceps or vacuum extraction or cesarean section. Regional anesthesia is preferred to endotracheal intubation. Breast cancer : Attenuated androgens should be avoided. Antiestrogens can worsen angioedema symptoms. In these cases anastrozole might be an alternative. Other issues addressed include special features of HAE-C1-INH treatment in female patients, genetic counseling, infertility, abortion, lactation, menopause treatment, and endometrial cancer. Conclusions A consensus for the management of female patients with HAE-C1-INH is presented.
Session types revisited Dardha, Ornela; Giachino, Elena; Sangiorgi, Davide
Information and computation,
October 2017, 2017-10-00, 2017-10, Volume:
256
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Session types are a formalism used to model structured communication-based programming. A binary session type describes communication by specifying the type and direction of data exchanged between ...two parties. When session types and session processes are added to the syntax of standard π-calculus they give rise to additional separate syntactic categories. As a consequence, when new type features are added, there is duplication of effort in the theory: the proofs of properties must be checked both on standard types and on session types. We show that session types are encodable into standard π-types, relying on linear and variant types. Besides being an expressivity result, the encoding (i) removes the above redundancies in the syntax, and (ii) the properties of session types are derived as straightforward corollaries, exploiting the corresponding properties of standard π-types. The robustness of the encoding is tested on a few extensions of session types, including subtyping, polymorphism and higher-order communications.
We present an extension of polymorphic context-free session types that allows passing channels on channels, commonly known as higher-order session types. The mixture of functional types and session ...types has proven to be a challenge for type equivalence formulation: whereas functional type equivalence is often inductive and presented as a system of derivation rules, session type equivalence is often coinductive and usually presented as a bisimulation. We propose a unifying approach that handles the equivalence of functional and higher-order context-free session types together in the form of a system of rules generating a coinductively defined relation. Decidability of type equivalence is obtained via reduction to bisimulation for simple grammars, for which practical algorithms are known. To bridge the gap between types and simple grammars, we introduce a language of types with canonical names instead of bindings (which we call c-types), and propose a notion of canonical renaming to translate types to c-types.
Parameterized Algebraic Protocols Mordido, Andreia; Spaderna, Janek; Thiemann, Peter ...
Proceedings of ACM on programming languages,
06/2023, Volume:
7, Issue:
PLDI
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We propose algebraic protocols that enable the definition of protocol templates and session types analogous to the definition of domain-specific types with algebraic datatypes. Parameterized ...algebraic protocols subsume all regular as well as most context-free and nested session types and, at the same time, replace the expensive superlinear algorithms for type checking by a nominal check that runs in linear time. Algebraic protocols in combination with polymorphism increase expressiveness and modularity by facilitating new ways of parameterizing and composing session types.
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