An Overview of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Heterogeneity and Treatment Options

Since the documented observations of Kanner in1943, there has been great debate about the diagnoses, the sub-types, and the diagnostic threshold that relates to what is now known as autism spectrum disorder（ASD）.Re？ecting this complicated history, there has been continual re？nement from DSM-III with ‘Infantile Autism＇ to the current DSM-V diagnosis. The disorder is now widely accepted as a complex, pervasive, heterogeneous condition with multiple etiologies, sub-types, and developmental trajectories. Diagnosis remains based on observation of atypical behaviors, with criteria of persistent de？cits in social communication and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. This review provides a broad overview of the history, prevalence, etiology, clinical presentation, and heterogeneity of ASD. Factors contributing to heterogeneity, including genetic variability, comorbidity, and gender are reviewed. We then explore current evidencebased pharmacological and behavioral treatments for ASD and highlight the complexities of conducting clinical trials that evaluate therapeutic ef？cacy in ASD populations.Finally, we discuss the potential of a new wave of research examining objective biomarkers to facilitate the evaluation of sub-typing, diagnosis, and treatment response in ASD.

Personalised medicine with multiple treatments: a PhD thesis abstract

When there is substantial heterogeneity of treatment effectiveness for comparative treatmentselection, it is crucial to identify individualised treatment rules for patients who have heterogeneous responses to treatment. Existing approaches include directly modelling clinical outcomeby defining the optimal treatment rule according to the interactions between treatment andcovariates and outcome weighted approach that uses clinical outcome as weights to maximise atarget function whose value directly reflects correct treatment assignment. All existing articles ofestimating individualised treatment rules are all assuming just two treatment assignments. Herewe propose an outcome weighted learning approach that uses a vector hinge loss to extend estimating individualised treatment rules in multi-category treatments case. The consistency of theresulting estimator is shown. We also demonstrate the performance of our approach in simulationstudies and a real data analysis.

Roll profile electromagnetic control characteristics under roll heterogeneity

The electromagnetic control roll(ECR)and electromagnetic stick(ES)are the core elements and the main driving parts of roll profile electromagnetic control technology(RPECT).To prolong the service life,it is necessary to treat ECR and ES surfaces.According to the heterogeneous characteristics of surface treatments,the roll profile electromagnetic control characteristics were analyzed for different parameters.An electromagnetic-thermal-force coupled axisymmetric finite element model was built to explore the differences in performance as a result of several treatment strategies,and the model was verified by experimental results measured with a roll profile electromagnetic control experimental platform.This model was used to analyze the influence of the heterogeneity of ECR inner hole and ES on the roll crown,the roll profile,the average contact pressure,and the stress state during RPECT process.The results indicate that the heterogeneous layer at ECR inner hole has a restrictive effect on RPECT and that the heterogeneous layer of ES can enhance the profile control ability of RPECT.A reasonable configuration scheme between the heterogeneity of ECR inner hole and the ES can increase the life of ECR and maintain the control ability of RPECT.

Catalytic activities of ultra-small β-FeOOH nanorods in ozonation of 4-chlorophenol

We report the catalytic properties of ultra-small β-FeOOH nanorods in ozonation of4-chlorophenol（4-CP）. XRD, TEM, EDS, SAED, FTIR and BET were used to characterize the prepared material. Interaction between O3 and β-FeOOH was evident from the FTIR spectra.The removal efficiency of 4-CP was significantly enhanced in the presence of β-FeOOH compared to ozone alone. Removal efficiency of 99% and 67% was achieved after 40 min in the presence of combined ozone and catalyst and ozone only, respectively. Increasing catalyst load increased COD removal efficiency. Maximum COD removal of 97% was achieved using a catalyst load of 0.1 g/100 m L of 4-CP solution. Initial 4-CP concentration was not found to be rate limiting below 2 × 10^-3mol/L. The catalytic properties of the material during ozonation process were found to be pronounced at lower initial p H of 3.5.Two stage first order kinetics was applied to describe the kinetic behavior of the nanorods at low p H. The first stage of catalytic ozonation was attributed to the heterogeneous surface breakdown of O3 by β-FeOOH, while the second stage was attributed to homogeneous catalysis initiated by reductive dissolution of β-FeOOH at low p H.