The aim of the study was to evaluate splenic glucose metabolism in macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), characterized by overwhelming systemic inflammation. Splenic F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake was compared in patients with MAS and sepsis using positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT).Clinical and FDG-PET/CT findings from patients with MAS and those with culture-proven se...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine the epidemiological and reporting characteristics as well as the methodological quality of meta-analyses (MAs) of observational studies published in Chinese journals. METHODS 5 Chinese databases were searched for MAs of observational studies published from January 1978 to May 2014. Data were extracted into Excel spreadsheets, and Meta-analysis of...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To compare the efficacy of a mandibular advancement splint (MAS) and a novel tongue stabilizing device (TSD) in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). DESIGN A randomized crossover design was used. PATIENTS Twenty-seven patients (20 male, 7 female), recruited from a tertiary hospital sleep clinic. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was reduce...

In software engineering community there is an increasing effort of design and development of multiagent systems (MAS). Among several issues emerging from this initiative, complexity, quality and uncertainty issues have not yet received much attention. The main factors affecting quality of MAS are complexity and knowledgeability. Complexity of MAS can be defined in terms of structural and algori...

Masev (MAs Software engineering EValuation framework) is an online application that allows analyzing and comparing methods, techniques and environments for developing MAS. Moreover, Masev allows the evaluation of how these methods and tools support the development of Organizational MAS and Service-oriented MAS. Finally, Masev provides a quantitative comparison based on a simple metric whose par...

The Mas protooncogene is a maternally imprinted gene encoding an orphan G protein-coupled receptor expressed mainly in forebrain and testis. Here, we provide evidence for a function of Mas in the central nervous system. Targeted disruption of the Mas protooncogene leads to an increased durability of long term potentiation in the dentate gyrus, without affecting hippocampal morphology, basal syn...

GEAMAS is a knowledge engineering environment for multi-agent simulation of complex systems. The basic architecture of GEAMAS is designed around three dimensions: MultiAgent Systems (MAS) software design, MAS knowledge abstraction and MAS services dimension. Each one of this third aspects, is implemented into several modular open software layers. First, the paper argues the benefits of a such a...

PURPOSE To investigate a technique for optimizing radiation dose and image quality for a computed radiography system. METHODS Entrance skin doses were measured for phantom models of the pelvis and lumbar spine imaged using the vendor's recommended exposure settings (ie, the reference doses) as well as doses above and below the vendor's recommended settings for both body parts. Images were ass...

This paper attempts to articulate the general role of infrastructure for multi-agent systems (MAS), and why infrastructure is a particularly critical issue if we are to increase the visibility and impact of multi-agent systems as a universal technology and solution. Second, it presents my current thinking on the socio-technical content of the needed infrastructure in four different corners of t...

Recently there has been growing evidence suggesting that beneficial effects of angiotensin-(1-7) [Ang-(1-7)] in the heart are mediated by its receptor Mas. However, the signaling pathways involved in these effects in cardiomyocytes are unknown. Here, we investigated the involvement of the Ang-(1-7)/Mas axis in NO generation and Ca(2+) handling in adult ventricular myocytes using a combination o...