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Multiple Agents (multiple + agent)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences44%

Selected Abstracts

Paediatric poisonings treated in one Finnish main university hospital between 2002 and 2006

ACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 6 2008
Juho E Kivistö
Abstract Aim: Acute poisonings are a major cause of morbidity among children. This study aims to describe the incidence and nature of emergency visits for acute paediatric poisoning among Finnish children. Methods: All patients younger than 16 years admitted to the Tampere University Hospital's emergency department with a diagnosis of poisoning during 2002,2006 were identified from the Hospital Information System using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Results: Altogether 369 emergency visits were diagnosed with poisoning, the overall incidence being 8.1 per 10 000 person,years (95% CI 7.3,9.0). A majority of patients were adolescents aged 10,15 years (48%) and children under 5 years (45%). Boys represented 55% of the cases. Nonpharmaceutical agents were suspected to be the cause in 60.4% and pharmaceuticals in 30.6% of the intoxications. Multiple agents were involved in 8.4% of the cases. Ethanol was the agent in 30.9% of the poisonings. Most patients (78.9%) were hospitalized (median length of stay 1 day). Overall mortality was 0.3%. Conclusion: Acute paediatric poisonings represent a relatively frequent problem in Finland, and remain a life-threatening problem. The high proportion of alcohol poisonings highlights the necessity to develop more effective primary prevention programs. [source]

Distributed parallel compilation of MSBNs

CONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 12 2009
Xiangdong An
Abstract Multiply sectioned Bayesian networks (MSBNs) support multiagent probabilistic inference in distributed large problem domains. Inference with MSBNs can be performed using their compiled representations. The compilation involves moralization and triangulation of a set of local graphical structures. Privacy of agents may prevent us from compiling MSBNs at a central location. In earlier work, agents performed compilation sequentially via a depth-first traversal of the hypertree that organizes local subnets, where communication failure between any two agents would crush the whole work. In this paper, we present an asynchronous compilation method by which multiple agents compile MSBNs in full parallel. Compared with the traversal compilation, the asynchronous one is robust, self-adaptive, and fault-tolerant. Experiments show that both methods provide similar quality compilation to simple MSBNs, but the asynchronous one provides much higher quality compilation to complex MSBNs. Empirical study also indicates that the asynchronous one is consistently faster than the traversal one. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Attenuating CV risk factors in patients with diabetes: clinical evidence to clinical practice

DIABETES OBESITY & METABOLISM, Issue 2002
Alan J. Garber
Abstract Individuals with diabetes are at high risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease, a risk that is significantly greater in the presence of traditional CV risk factors (hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, prothrombotic state). Glucose control and management of these risk factors decreases but does not eliminate CV events, reflecting the complexity of atherosclerosis. Novel risk factors (C-reactive protein, lipoprotein a, homocysteine, and endothelial dysfunction) have been proposed and are potentially modifiable. However, clinical trials data are not yet available to guide therapy. At this time, no single agent can achieve adequate risk reduction in patients with diabetes. Even with the use of multiple agents and classes of agents to manage CV risk, 75% of patients with diabetes are expected to die from CV causes. Despite the recent advances in primary and secondary prevention of CV events, new approaches are needed. Data from the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) trial demonstrated that CV risk can be further reduced by the addition of the ACE inhibitor ramipril to the existing treatment regimen of high-risk patients with diabetes. [source]

Action control of autonomous agents in continuous valued space using RFCN

ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATIONS IN JAPAN, Issue 2 2008
Shinichi Shirakawa
Abstract Researchers on action control of autonomous agents and multiple agents have attracted increasing attention in recent years. The general methods using action control of agents are neural network, genetic programming, and reinforcement learning. In this study, we use neural network for action control of autonomous agents. Our method determines the structure and parameter of neural network in evolution. We proposed Flexibly Connected Neural Network (FCN) previously as a method of constructing arbitrary neural networks with optimized structures and parameters to solve unknown problems. FCN was applied to action control of an autonomous agent and showed experimentally that it is effective for perceptual aliasing problems. All of the experiments of FCN, however, are only in grid space. In this paper, we propose a new method based on FCN which can decide correction action in real and continuous valued space. The proposed method, called Real-valued FCN (RFCN), optimizes input,output functions of each unit, parameters of the input,output functions and speed of each unit. In order to examine its effectiveness, we applied the proposed method to action control of an autonomous agent to solve continuous-valued maze problems. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 91(2): 31,39, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.10032 [source]

Programmable Drug Delivery: Core-Sheath Nanofibers Containing Colloidal Arrays in the Core for Programmable Multi-Agent Delivery (Adv. Mater.

ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 9 2009
9/2009)
Eun Chul Cho, Unyong Jeong, and co-workers demonstrate on p. 968 the programmable release of multiple agents by using polymeric core-sheath nanofibers consisting of arrays of colloids in the core and polymeric sheath. The fibers were produced by one-step single nozzle electrospinning. Loading different species of active agents in each colloid can provide independent control over the release of each agent. [source]

Core-Sheath Nanofibers Containing Colloidal Arrays in the Core for Programmable Multi-Agent Delivery

ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 9 2009
Eunmin Jo
Polymeric core-sheath nanofibers consisting of polymeric sheath and arrays of colloids in the core are produced by one-step single-nozzle electrospinning. Loading different species of active agents in each colloid provides control over the release of each of the agents independently, which enables a programmed release pattern for multiple agents. [source]

Secondary Hypertension: Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL HYPERTENSION, Issue 7 2008
Gregory M. Singer MD
The epidemic of obesity in the United States and around the world is intensifying in severity and scope and has been implicated as an underlying mechanism in systemic hypertension. Obese hypertensive individuals characteristically exhibit volume congestion, relative elevation in heart rate, and high cardiac output with concomitant activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. When the metabolic syndrome is present, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia may contribute to hypertension through diverse mechanisms. Blood pressure can be lowered when weight control measures are successful, using, for example, caloric restriction, aerobic exercise, weight loss drugs, or bariatric surgery. A major clinical challenge resides in converting short-term weight reduction into a sustained benefit. Pharmacotherapy for the obese hypertensive patient may require multiple agents, with an optimal regimen consisting of inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, thiazide diuretics, ,-blockers, and calcium channel blockers if needed to attain contemporary blood pressure treatment goals. [source]

Adherence to Oral Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes: Opportunities for Enhancing Glycemic Control

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NURSE PRACTITIONERS, Issue 1 2004
CDEArticle first published online: 24 MAY 200, David Bartels PharmD
Purpose Although diet and exercise are important parts of type 2 diabetes treatment, most patients require pharmacological intervention with multiple agents to maintain adequate glycemic control. This article addresses the numerous patient-related, disease-related, and demographic variables affecting medication adherence in this patient population. Data Sources Extensive review of scientific literature, clinical practice guidelines, and Internet sources. Conclusions Studies have demonstrated that treatments including multiple medications or frequent dosing had a negative impact on adherence. Practitioners have used several approaches in an effort to improve adherence to oral antidiabetic medical therapy, including increased communication between health care providers and patients, implementation of multidisciplinary programs, and use of treatment regimens with easier dosing (i.e., reduced number of drugs or doses taken per day). Implications for Practice Options for type 2 diabetes treatments that combine effective medications into a simpler oral-dosage form may motivate and improve patient adherence. Ultimately, simplifying dosing may lead to better glycemic control, thereby reducing the risks associated with long-term consequences of the disease. [source]

Language Is a Complex Adaptive System: Position Paper

LANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2009
The "Five Graces Group"
Language has a fundamentally social function. Processes of human interaction along with domain-general cognitive processes shape the structure and knowledge of language. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that patterns of use strongly affect how language is acquired, is used, and changes. These processes are not independent of one another but are facets of the same,complex adaptive system,(CAS). Language as a CAS involves the following key features: The system consists of multiple agents (the speakers in the speech community) interacting with one another. The system is adaptive; that is, speakers' behavior is based on their past interactions, and current and past interactions together feed forward into future behavior. A speaker's behavior is the consequence of competing factors ranging from perceptual constraints to social motivations. The structures of language emerge from interrelated patterns of experience, social interaction, and cognitive mechanisms. The CAS approach reveals commonalities in many areas of language research, including first and second language acquisition, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, language evolution, and computational modeling. [source]