Using Dose-Effect Relationship for Optimising Systemic Corticosteroid Dosage in Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Aim. Estimation of an optimal corticosteroid (CS, prednisone) dosage for the remission induction in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) based on the construction of a dose-effect relationship during the first and second courses of therapy.Materials and methods. The study included 86 patients with moderate to severe active disease (61 with UC and 25 with CD) aged 18 to 65 years. To induce remission, all patients had the first course of prednisone at a starting dose of 30 to 60 mg/day, with a subsequent reduction. Prednisone was continued in a repeat course in 28 patients. The effect was evaluated past two weeks and at a time of complete withdrawal of prednisone using the generally accepted clinical response and remission criteria. The dose-effect relationship for prednisone was constructed using an original method. The method realises an adequate statistical transformation of primary clinical data in form of a quantitative expression of factual doses and registered alternative responses established with endpoint criteria into a visual efficacy function graph suitable for downstream analyses. The mean at each point was estimated with the regression kernel scoring method. The mean confidence intervals and significance values were estimated with the Student’s t-test.Results. The dose-effect relationship constructed upon completion of the first prednisone course is a graph showing the plateau point of the efficacy function as a statistical measure of character saturation and a clinical measure of the highest expected drug effect. This graph is referred to as the optimal clinically effective dose (OCED). The first induction prednisone course had the OCED estimates of 50.70 ± 0.65 (49.41÷51.98) mg (p = 0.05). A highest expected effect for this dose was obtained in the interval of 82.21 ± 8.23 (66.08÷98.33)% (p = 0.05). The repeat prednisone course had OCED values of 51.43 ± 1.55 (48.24÷54.61) mg (p = 0.05), with the expected effect of 40.02 ± 12.86 (13.59÷66.45)% (p = 0.05).Conclusion. In medium to severe UC and CD patients, the first induction prednisone course had OCED estimates of 50.70 ± 0.65 mg/day prescribed at the onset of therapy. The highest effect at this dose was 82%, and 18% of the patients did not respond to the prednisone treatment, accordingly. The repeat CS treatment had the same OCED values of 51.43 ± 1.55 mg/day, but a 42% lower expected effect compared to the first course. The effect did not exceed 40% suggesting its inadequacy in repeat CS treatments in this category of patients.

Modeling the Strategies for Improved Efficacy and Crosslink Depth of Photo-Initiated Polymerization and Phototherapy

Optimal conditions for maximum efficacy of photoinitiated polymerization are theoretically presented. Analytic formulas are shown for the crosslink time, crosslink depth and efficacy function. The roles of photoinitiator (PI) concentration, diffusion depth and light intensity on the polymerization spatial and temporal profiles, for both uniform and non-uniform cases, are presented. For optimal efficacy, a strategy via controlled PI concentration is proposed, where re-supply of PI in high light intensity may achieve a combined-efficacy similar to low light intensity, but has a much faster procedure. A new criterion of efficacy based on the polymerization (crosslink) [strength] and [depth] is introduced. Experimental data are analyzed for the role of PI concentration and light intensity on the gelation time and efficacy.

Modeling the Kinetics, Dynamic Profiles and Strategies for Optimal Efficacy of Photo-Polymerization in Thick Polymers

The kinetics and optimal efficacy conditions of photoinitiated polymerization are theoretically presented. Analytic formulas are derived for the crosslink time, crosslink depth and efficacy function. The roles of photosensitizer (PS) concentration, diffusion depth and light intensity on the polymerization spatial and temporal profiles, for both uniform and non-uniform cases, are presented . For optimal efficacy, a strategy via controlled PS concentration is proposed, where re-supply of PS in high light intensity may achieve a combined-efficacy similar to low light intensity, but has a much faster procedure. A new criterion of efficacy based on the polymerization (crosslink) [strength] and [depth] is introduced.

Coupling Mechanism and Coupling Degree Measurement Model of Shipbuilding Industry Cluster

This article was aimed to analyse the working condition of the coupling mechanism in Chinese shipbuilding industry cluster. Literature review was conducted to unveil the coupling mechanism of shipbuilding industry cluster, providing analysis of the present development of shipbuilding industry. A theoretical model was proposed by using the efficacy function and the capacity of the coupling coefficient while measuring the coupling of the shipbuilding industry cluster. Four coupling characteristics were found including relevant, systemic, diversity, and collaborative in the shipbuilding industry cluster. The shipbuilding industry cluster has two levels of coupling mechanism including the core layer coupling mechanism and the support layer coupling mechanism respectively. The improvement through coupling the core layer, support layer, and the coupling between two levels, is an effective way to achieve long-term stable development in Chinese shipbuilding industry cluster.

A drug pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics based approach towards stabilization of HIV infection dynamics

In our study we developed a computational algorithm for finding optimal dosages of antiretroviral drug administration for the stabilization of HIV load at low levels. The novelty is that the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the antiretroviral drugs were taken into account. A standard closed-loop control of HIV dynamics was constructed that stabilizes the viral load and the optimal drug administration mode was formulated. We analyze the appropriateness of the ‘drug efficacy’ based control and its relationship to a realistic drug dosage and kinetic models in the human body. The translation of the efficacy function into drug concentration is implemented via the pharmacodynamics model of the drug effect. Optimal approximation of the idealized concentration functions is based on the orthogonal projection on linear subspace of drug pharmacokinetics functions.

The Evaluation of the Level of Mineral Recourses' Sustainable Development Based on Efficacy Function

This paper based on efficacy function to get a general assessment about the mineral resources in China on sustainable development level in five major categories: existence, development, society, environment and human resource. Meanwhile, the OLS method is also utilized to make a regressive analysis. The sustainable development of mineral resources in china is fairly well in development and human resource while show trend of continuous growth. The increase of sustainable development in society is slowing down and turning to be tranquil. However, sustainable development level is severe in existence and environment hence illustrate a exasperate trend.