Model design and exponential state estimation for discrete-time delayed memristive spiking neural P systems.

This paper investigates the exponential state estimation of the discrete-time memristive spiking neural P system (MSNPS). The spiking neural P system (SNPS) offers algorithmic support for neural morphology computation and AI chips, boasting advantages such as high performance and efficiency. As a new type of information device, memristors have efficient computing characteristics that integrate memory and computation, and can serve as synapses in SNPS.

Cost analysis of patiromer vs sodium zirconium cyclosilicate for the treatment of hyperkalemia in Spain and the UK.

Background: Hyperkalemia is an electrolyte abnormality with potentially life-threatening consequences. Published data have shown that potassium-binding polymer patiromer (Veltassa) is associated with reduced rates of severe edema and hospitalization for heart failure compared with sodium zirconium cyclosilicate (SZC, Lokelma) when treating hyperkalemia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible costs associated with these interventions in the Spanish and UK settings.

Hyperkalemia in chronic kidney disease patients with and without heart failure: an Italian economic modelling study.

Background: Hyperkalemia (HK) is frequently present in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Risk factors for HK among CKD patients include comorbidities and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitor (RAASi) treatment. Current standard of care (SoC) often necessitates RAASi down-titration or discontinuation, resulting in poorer cardiorenal outcomes, hospitalization and mortality.

Multitask Adversarial Networks Based on Extensive Nonlinear Spiking Neuron Models.

Deep learning technology has been successfully used in Chest X-ray (CXR) images of COVID-19 patients. However, due to the characteristics of COVID-19 pneumonia and X-ray imaging, the deep learning methods still face many challenges, such as lower imaging quality, fewer training samples, complex radiological features and irregular shapes. To address these challenges, this study first introduces an extensive NSNP-like neuron model, and then proposes a multitask adversarial network architecture based on ENSNP-like neurons for chest X-ray images of COVID-19, called MAE-Net.

Bridges Between Spiking Neural Membrane Systems and Virus Machines.

Spiking Neural P Systems (SNP) are well-established computing models that take inspiration from spikes between biological neurons; these models have been widely used for both theoretical studies and practical applications. Virus machines (VMs) are an emerging computing paradigm inspired by viral transmission and replication. In this work, a novel extension of VMs inspired by SNPs is presented, called Virus Machines with Host Excitation (VMHEs).

Key considerations for modelling the long-term costs and benefits of treatments for ANCA-associated vasculitis.

Objectives: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a group of severe and chronic autoimmune diseases. Patients undergo two treatment phases: inducing remission and maintaining remission to prevent organ damage. Immunosuppressants, including glucocorticoids (GCs) are used as first-line treatment, but long-term GC use is associated with toxic effects.

A Parallel Convolutional Network Based on Spiking Neural Systems.

Deep convolutional neural networks have shown advanced performance in accurately segmenting images. In this paper, an SNP-like convolutional neuron structure is introduced, abstracted from the nonlinear mechanism in nonlinear spiking neural P (NSNP) systems. Then, a U-shaped convolutional neural network named SNP-like parallel-convolutional network, or SPC-Net, is constructed for segmentation tasks.

A projected cost-utility analysis of avacopan for the treatment of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis in Spain.

Background: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV) are rare autoimmune diseases characterized by inflammation of blood vessels. This study aimed to assess the cost-utility of avacopan in combination with rituximab (RTX) or cyclophosphamide (CYC) compared with glucocorticoids (GC) for the treatment of severe, active AAV in Spain.

Methods: A 9-state Markov model was designed to reflect the induction of remission and sustained remission of AAV over a lifetime horizon.

Attacking cryptosystems by means of virus machines.

The security that resides in the public-key cryptosystems relies on the presumed computational hardness of mathematical problems behind the systems themselves (e.g. the semiprime factorization problem in the RSA cryptosystem), that is because there is not known any polynomial time (classical) algorithm to solve them.

Profile, Healthcare Resource Consumption and Related Costs in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis Patients: A Real-World Analysis in Italy.

Introduction: Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAV) are rare autoimmune diseases triggering inflammation of small vessels. This real-world analysis was focused on the most common AAV forms, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), to describe patients' demographic and clinical characteristics, therapeutic management, disease progression, and the related economic burden.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on administrative databases of a representative sample of Italian healthcare entities, covering approximately 12 million residents.

Using Virus Machines to Compute Pairing Functions.

Virus machines are computational devices inspired by the movement of viruses between hosts and their capacity to replicate using the resources of the hosts. This behavior is controlled by an external graph of instructions that opens different channels of the system to make viruses capable of moving. This model of computation has been demonstrated to be as powerful as turing machines by different methods: by generating Diophantine sets, by computing partial recursive functions and by simulating register machines.

A cost-effectiveness analysis of patiromer in the UK: evaluation of hyperkalaemia treatment and lifelong RAASi maintenance in chronic kidney disease patients with and without heart failure.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with and without heart failure (HF) often present with hyperkalaemia (HK) leading to increased risk of hospitalisations, cardiovascular related events and cardiovascular-related mortality. Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitor (RAASi) therapy, the mainstay treatment in CKD management, provides significant cardiovascular and renal protection. Nevertheless, its use in the clinic is often suboptimal and treatment is frequently discontinued due to its association with HK.

Patiromer utilization in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease under nephrology care in Germany.

Background: Hyperkalemia (HK) is a frequent condition in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) that is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Patiromer has recently been introduced as a potassium binder. Data on patiromer use in patients with CKD in the real-world setting in Europe are lacking.

Impact of ferric carboxymaltose for iron deficiency at discharge after heart failure hospitalization: a European multinational economic evaluation.

Aims: Iron deficiency (ID) is comorbid in up to 50% patients with heart failure (HF) and exacerbates disease burden. Ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) reduced HF hospitalizations and improved quality of life when used to treat ID at discharge in patients hospitalized for acute HF with left ventricular ejection fraction <50% in the AFFIRM-AHF trial. We quantified the effect of FCM on burden of disease and the wider pharmacoeconomic implications in France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

Clinical and economic impact of ferric carboxymaltose treatment for iron deficiency in patients stabilized following acute heart failure: a multinational study.

Objective: To estimate clinical events and evaluate the financial implications of introducing ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) to treat iron deficiency (ID) at discharge in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure (AHF) with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <50% in the UK, Switzerland and Italy.

Methods: A decision analytic cost-offset model was developed to evaluate the costs associated with introducing FCM for all eligible patients in three countries compared to a world without FCM, over a five-year time horizon. Data from AFFIRM-AHF clinical trial were used to model clinical outcomes, using an established cohort state-transition Markov model.

The Cost Effectiveness of Patiromer for the Treatment of Hyperkalaemia in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease with and without Heart Failure in Ireland.

Background And Objective: Hyperkalaemia can be a life-threatening condition, particularly in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease with and without heart failure. Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitor therapy offers cardiorenal protection in chronic kidney disease and heart failure; however, it may also cause hyperkalaemia subsequently resulting in down-titration or discontinuation of treatment. Hence, there is an unmet need for hyperkalaemia treatment in patients with chronic kidney disease with and without heart failure to enable renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitor use in this patient population.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of ferric carboxymaltose iron sucrose for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia in patients with inflammatory bowel disease in Spain.

Background: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a common complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and can result in reduced quality of life and increased healthcare costs. IDA is treated with iron supplementation, commonly with intravenous iron formulations, such as ferric carboxymaltose (FCM), and iron sucrose (IS).

Methods: This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of FCM compared with IS, in terms of additional cost per additional responder in patients with IDA subsequent to IBD in the Spanish setting.

Incidence, Treatment and Clinical Impact of Iron Deficiency in Chronic Heart Failure: A Longitudinal Analysis.

In patients with heart failure (HF), iron deficiency (ID) is a well-recognized therapeutic target; information about its incidence, patterns of iron repletion, and clinical impact is scarce. This single-centre longitudinal cohort study assessed the rates of ID testing and diagnosis in patients with stable HF, patterns of treatment with intravenous iron, and clinical impact of intravenous iron on HF rehospitalization risk. We included 711 consecutive outpatients (4400 visits) with stable chronic HF from 2014 to 2019 (median [interquartile range] visits per patient: 2 [2−7].

A cost-effectiveness analysis of patiromer for the treatment of hyperkalemia in chronic kidney disease patients with and without heart failure in Spain.

Aims: Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors (RAASi) therapy is commonly used to reduce the risk of death and to slow down disease progression in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), heart failure (HF) and hypertension. However, the cardio-renal benefits of RAASi therapy are also associated with an increased risk of hyperkalemia (HK), which may lead to dose reduction or discontinuation of therapy. Patiromer has demonstrated to reduce the risk of HK, which enables to maintain optimal doses of RAASi therapy.

Estimating hospital inpatient cost-savings with sucroferric oxyhydroxide in patients on chronic hemodialysis in five European countries: a cost analysis.

Aims: Hyperphosphatemia is common among patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) undergoing dialysis. The iron-based phosphate binder (PB), sucroferric oxyhydroxide (SO), has a low daily pill burden and is indicated for the control of serum phosphorus in these patients. In a retrospective database study, hemodialysis patients switched to long-term SO therapy had fewer hospitalizations compared with patients switched to other PB therapies.

Ferric carboxymaltose for the treatment of iron deficiency in heart failure: a multinational cost-effectiveness analysis utilising AFFIRM-AHF.

Aims: Iron deficiency is common in patients with heart failure (HF). In AFFIRM-AHF, ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) reduced the risk of hospitalisations for HF (HHF) and improved quality of life vs. placebo in iron-deficient patients with a recent episode of acute HF.

Evaluation of the Cost-Effectiveness of Iron Formulations for the Treatment of Iron Deficiency Anaemia in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in the UK.

Introduction: In patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) can impair quality of life and increase healthcare costs. Treatment options for IDA-associated IBD include oral iron and intravenous iron formulations (such as ferric carboxymaltose [FCM], ferric derisomaltose [FD, previously known as iron isomaltoside 1000], and iron sucrose [IS]). The present analysis compared the cost-effectiveness of FCM versus FD, IS, and oral iron sulfate in terms of additional cost per additional responder in the UK setting.

Iron Formulations for the Treatment of Iron Deficiency Anemia in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Switzerland.

Introduction: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a common complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and can result in reduced quality of life and increased healthcare costs. IDA is treated with iron supplementation, either with oral iron therapy (OI) or intravenous iron formulations, including ferric carboxymaltose (FCM), iron isomaltoside 1000 (IIM), and iron sucrose (IS). This analysis compared the cost-effectiveness of FCM versus IIM, IS, and OI in terms of additional cost per additional responder in Switzerland.