In limited resources settings, Health Technology Management (HTM) presents specific challenges, which significantly differ from those faced in higher income settings. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), HTM requires holistic approaches based on reliable information on medical devices operationalized in local medical locations, which may differ significantly from the USA or European ones. Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) tools offer unprecedented opportunities to optimize medical device organization and management in SSA. Nonetheless, CMMS for SSA should be designed to meet real local needs and facing local economic and organizational constraints. This paper describes the results of a project aimed to design and deploy a context-driven CMMS tool, called “GMaint-KM Benin”, which was designed, developed, tested, validated and deployed in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique d’Abomey-Calavi, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin. The methods followed to design the CMMS, was inspired by closed-loop control theory. It is based on the idea that an effective CMMS could have been designed using as reference international standards and best practices, while controlling and optimizing CMMS inputs and outputs basing upon information and data measured in Beninese medical locations, following a closed-loop feedback control strategy. The tool is currently fully functional in three Beninese hospitals. The successful method used to design this tool represents a best-practice of optimal co-design for Sub-Saharan Africa, which could be adapted and reused in similar projects aiming to design and deploy health technologies for low-income settings. In perspective, the project aims to enhance “GMaint-KM Benin” and scale it up at the national level. The adoption of such a tool could represent an effective base for comparative studies among African countries.

Auditory attention identification methods attempt to identify the sound source of a listener's interest by analyzing measurements of electrophysiological data. We present a tutorial on the numerous techniques that have been developed in recent decades, and we present an overview of current trends in multivariate correlation-based and model-based learning frameworks. The focus is on the use of linear relations between electrophysiological and audio data. The way in which these relations are computed differs. For example, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) finds a linear subset of electrophysiological data that best correlates to audio data and a similar subset of audio data that best correlates to electrophysiological data. Model-based (encoding and decoding) approaches focus on either of these two sets. We investigate the similarities and differences between these linear model philosophies. We focus on (1) correlation-based approaches (CCA), (2) encoding/decoding models based on dense estimation, and (3) (adaptive) encoding/decoding models based on sparse estimation. The specific focus is on sparsity-driven adaptive encoding models and comparing the methodology in state-of-the-art models found in the auditory literature. Furthermore, we outline the main signal processing pipeline for how to identify the attended sound source in a cocktail party environment from the raw electrophysiological data with all the necessary steps, complemented with the necessary MATLAB code and the relevant references for each step. Our main aim is to compare the methodology of the available methods, and provide numerical illustrations to some of them to get a feeling for their potential. A thorough performance comparison is outside the scope of this tutorial.

We study, from theoretical and phenomenological angles, the Higgs boson oblique parameter Ĥ, as the hallmark of off-shell Higgs physics. Ĥ is defined as the Wilson coefficient of the sole dimension-6 operator that modifies the Higgs boson propagator, within a Universal EFT. Theoretically, we describe self-consistency conditions on Wilson coefficients, derived from the Källén-Lehmann representation. Phenomenologically, we demonstrate that the process gg → h∗ → V V is insensitive to propagator corrections from Ĥ, and instead advertise four-top production as an effective high-energy probe of off-shell Higgs behaviour, crucial to break flat directions in the EFT.

1Opća bolnica “Prim. dr. Abdulah Nakaš”, Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina 2Netlight Consulting GmbH, München, Njemačka 3Univerzitski klinički centar Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosna i Hercegovina 4Klinički centar Univerziteta u Sarajevu, Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina 5Medicinski fakultet Univerziteta u Tuzli, Tuzla, Bosna i Hercegovina 1General Hospital «Prim. dr. Abdulah Nakaš», Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2Netlight Consulting GmbH, Munich, Germany 3University Clinical Center Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina 4Clinical Center University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 5Faculty of Medicine, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Javor negundovac (Acer negundo L.) je listopadno drvo iz Sjeverne Amerike, a u Hrvatsku je uvezen početkom 20. stoljeća. Cijenjen je u pčelarstvu, šumarstvu, krajobraznom uređenju te je vrlo invazivna vrsta. Najrasprostranjeniji je u kontinentalnom i submediteranskom dijelu Hrvatske. Javor negundovac (Acer negundo L.) slabo je zastupljena dendrološka vrsta na javnim gradskim krajobraznim površinama Knina, kao soliter, u drvoredu ili u skupinama. Metodom promatranja je uočeno da je u pogledu održavanja i njege stabala negundovca (A. negundo) na krajobraznim površinama nužno posvetiti više pažnje. Nisu uočena njegova stabla izvan gradskih krajobraznih površina. Temeljem anketnog istraživanja ispitanici su dodijelili vrlo dobre ocjene ukrasnim karakteristikama i ugodnosti javora negundovca (A. negundo) na krajobraznim površinama Knina. Ponešto su lošije ocijenili njegovu ulogu u pčelarstvu, šumskim melioracijama i urbanom šumarstvu. Veći broj ispitanika ne zna da je javor negundovac (A. negundo) vrlo invazivna vrsta.

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in transcranial electric motor-evoked potentials – TceMEP on upper limbs and the incidences of postoperative brachial plexopathy between patients with kyphotic and scoliotic trunk shapes. Methods In the period of January 2011–January 2017, 61 consecutive patients (mean age: 18.4 years ± 4.4 years (range: 10–32)) with pediatric spinal deformity underwent surgery in our Department. Eight of them had a kyphotic trunk deformity (Scheuermann kyphosis, neurofibromatosis, posterior thoracic hemivertebra), and the rest of the 53 patients had a scoliotic trunk deformity (mostly adolescent idiopathic scoliosis – AIS, lateral hemivertebra). The TceMEP recordings in all four limbs were analyzed every 30 min, or upon the surgeon's command. Upper limb TceMEP recordings were used as a control of systemic and anesthetic related changes, and as the indicator of positioning brachial plexopathy. Results Four out of 8 patients (50.0%) from the kyphotic group experienced noteworthy decreases in TceMEP amplitude (≥65%) in one or both arms, and only 2 out of 53 patients (3.8%) from the scoliotic group, confirming significant statistical difference (Chi-square 16.75, p < 0.05). Two out of 8 patients with decreases in TceMEP amplitude suffered from transitory postoperative brachial plexopathy, and both of them were from the kyphotic group. Conclusion It seems that kyphotic trunks have a higher risk for positioning-related brachial plexopathy, probably due to distribution of trunk's weight onto only four points (two iliac bones and two shoulders), compared to the scoliotic trunks that have wider weight-bearing areas. We emphasize the importance of proper patient positioning and close intraoperative neuro-monitoring of all four limbs in more than one channel per limb. Level of Evidence Level IV Therapeutic Study.

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) emerged as major factors driving the tumor progression due to numerous immunosuppressive mechanisms they possess. Prostaglandin (PG)E2 is shown critical for the induction of MDSC and their suppressive functions in vivo, but it is poorly understood how it affects the capacity of MDSC to induce different subsets of regulatory T cells (Treg). By using a novel protocol for the generation of mononuclear (M)-MDSC, we showed that PGE2 potentiates the GM-CSF/IL-6-dependent induction of CD33+CD11b+HLA-DR−CD14+ M-MDSC in vitro. PGE2 diminished the capacity of GM-CSF/IL-6 M-MDSC to produce proinflammatory cytokines upon activation and augmented their capacity to produce IL-27, IL-33, and TGF-β. These results correlated with an increased potential of GM-CSF/IL-6/PGE2 M-MDSC to suppress T cell proliferation, expand alloreactive Th2 cells, and reduce the development of alloreactive Th17 and cytotoxic T cells. Interestingly, GM-CSF/IL-6/PGE2 M-MDSC displayed a lower capacity to induce TGF-β-producing FoxP3+ regulatory Treg compared to GM-CSF/IL-6 M-MDSC, as a consequence of reduced IDO-1 expression. In contrast, GM-CSF/IL-6/PGE2 M-MDSC potentiated IL-10 production by CD8+T, Th2, and particularly CD4+FoxP3− type 1 Treg, the latter of which depended on ILT3 and ILT4 expression. Cumulatively, PGE2 potentiated the suppressive phenotype and functions of GM-CSF/IL-6-induced M-MDSC and changed the mechanisms involved in Treg induction, which could be important for investigating new therapeutic strategies focused on MDSC-related effects in tumors and autoimmune diseases.

As we publish our first issue of 2019

Modern computer vision algorithms have brought significant advancement to 3D geometry reconstruction. However, illumination and material reconstruction remain less studied, with current approaches assuming very simplified models for materials and illumination. We introduce Inverse Path Tracing, a novel approach to jointly estimate the material properties of objects and light sources in indoor scenes by using an invertible light transport simulation. We assume a coarse geometry scan, along with corresponding images and camera poses. The key contribution of this work is an accurate and simultaneous retrieval of light sources and physically based material properties (e.g., diffuse reflectance, specular reflectance, roughness, etc.) for the purpose of editing and re-rendering the scene under new conditions. To this end, we introduce a novel optimization method using a differentiable Monte Carlo renderer that computes derivatives with respect to the estimated unknown illumination and material properties. This enables joint optimization for physically correct light transport and material models using a tailored stochastic gradient descent.

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to human health expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminologyconcerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. Thechemiosmotic theoryestablishes the mechanism of energy transformationandcoupling in oxidative phosphorylation. Theunifying concept of the protonmotive force providestheframeworkfordeveloping a consistent theoretical foundation ofmitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics.We followguidelines of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry(IUPAC)onterminology inphysical chemistry, extended by considerationsofopen systems and thermodynamicsof irreversible processes.Theconcept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and alignsconcepts and symbols withthe nomenclature of classicalbioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view ofmitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes.Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimatelycontribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thussupport the development of databases of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells.Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery.