University of Illinois at Chicago

About: University of Illinois at Chicago is a education organization based out in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 57071 authors who have published 110536 publications receiving 4264936 citations.

Efficacy of olanzapine in acute bipolar mania: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Abstract: Background We compared the efficacy and safety of olanzapine vs placebo for the treatment of acute bipolar mania Methods Four-week, randomized, double-blind, parallel study A total of 115 patients with aDSM-IVdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, manic or mixed, were randomized to olanzapine, 5 to 20 mg/d (n = 55), or placebo (n = 60) The primary efficacy measure was the Young–Mania Rating Scale (Y-MRS) total score Response and euthymia were defined, a priori, as at least a 50% improvement from baseline to end point and as a score of no less than 12 at end point in the Y-MRS total score, respectively Safety was assessed using adverse events, Extrapyramidal Symptom (EPS) rating scales, laboratory values, electrocardiograms, vital signs, and weight change Results Olanzapine-treated patients demonstrated a statistically significant greater mean (± SD) improvement in Y-MRS total score than placebo-treated patients (−148 ± 125 and −81 ± 127, respectively;P Conclusion Olanzapine demonstrated greater efficacy than placebo in the treatment of acute bipolar mania and was generally well tolerated

Taking aim at the extracellular matrix: CCN proteins as emerging therapeutic targets

Abstract: Members of the CCN family of matricellular proteins are crucial for embryonic development and have important roles in inflammation, wound healing and injury repair in adulthood. Deregulation of CCN protein expression or activities contributes to the pathobiology of various diseases — many of which may arise when inflammation or tissue injury becomes chronic — including fibrosis, atherosclerosis, arthritis and cancer, as well as diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy. Emerging studies indicate that targeting CCN protein expression or signalling pathways holds promise in the development of diagnostics and therapeutics for such diseases. This Review summarizes the biology of CCN proteins, their roles in various pathologies and their potential as therapeutic targets.

Automatic and effortful processing in depression.

Abstract: Automatic processes require few attentional resources, but effortful processes use attentional capacity. Research on cognitive processing by depressed individuals is reviewed and the following is concluded: (a) Depression interferes with effortful processing. The degree of interference is determined by the degree of effortfulness of the task, the severity of depression, and the valence of the stimulus material to be processed. (b) Depression interferes only minimally with automatic processes. Hypothetical causal mechanisms for interference in effortful processes by depression, whether interference in effortful processing is unique to depression or characteristic of psychopathology in general, and whether negative automatic thoughts are associated with current depression or depression proneness are also addressed. The effortful-automatic perspective has implications for understanding depressive clinical features, treating depression, and conducting future research.

Lifelong Machine Learning

Abstract: Lifelong Machine Learning (or Lifelong Learning) is an advanced machine learning paradigm that learns continuously, accumulates the knowledge learned in previous tasks, and uses it to help future learning. In the process, the learner becomes more and more knowledgeable and effective at learning. This learning ability is one of the hallmarks of human intelligence. However, the current dominant machine learning paradigm learns in isolation: given a training dataset, it runs a machine learning algorithm on the dataset to produce a model. It makes no attempt to retain the learned knowledge and use it in future learning. Although this isolated learning paradigm has been very successful, it requires a large number of training examples, and is only suitable for well-defined and narrow tasks. In comparison, we humans can learn effectively with a few examples because we have accumulated so much knowledge in the past which enables us to learn with little data or effort. Lifelong learning aims to achieve this capability. As statistical machine learning matures, it is time to make a major effort to break the isolated learning tradition and to study lifelong learning to bring machine learning to new heights. Applications such as intelligent assistants, chatbots, and physical robots that interact with humans and systems in real-life environments are also calling for such lifelong learning capabilities. Without the ability to accumulate the learned knowledge and use it to learn more knowledge incrementally, a system will probably never be truly intelligent. This book serves as an introductory text and survey to lifelong learning.

Insights into the mechanism and catalysis of the native chemical ligation reaction.

Abstract: Native chemical ligation of unprotected peptide segments involves reaction between a peptide-α-thioester and a cysteine-peptide, to yield a product with a native amide bond at the ligation site. Peptide-α-thioalkyl esters are commonly used because of their ease of preparation. These thioalkyl esters are rather unreactive so the ligation reaction is catalyzed by in situ transthioesterification with thiol additives. The most common thiol catalysts used to date have been either a mixture of thiophenol/benzyl mercaptan, or the alkanethiol MESNA. Despite the use of these thiol catalysts, ligation reactions typically take 24−48 h. To gain insight into the mechanism of native chemical ligaton and in order to find a better catalyst, we investigated the use of a number of thiol compounds. Substituted thiophenols with pKa > 6 were found to best combine the ability to exchange rapidly and completely with thioalkyl esters, and to then act as effective leaving groups in reaction of the peptide-thioester with the thiol...