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Piotr Merks,1,2,* Damian Świeczkowski,3,* Marcin Balcerzak,4 Ewelina Drelich,4 Katarzyna Białoszewska,5 Natalia Cwalina,3 Jerzy Krysinski,1 Miłosz Jaguszewski,3 Annie Pouliot,6 Regis Vaillancourt6 1Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus University in Torun, Bydgoszcz-Torun, Poland; 2Piktorex Sp. z.o.o., Warsaw, Poland; 3First Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland; 4Farenta Polska, Warsaw, Poland; 5Department of Medical Psychology, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland; 6Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, ON, Canada *These authors contributed equally to this work Introduction: The search for new ways to optimize the use of medications by patients has led the pharmaceutical community to promote the idea of introducing pictograms into routine practice. The main intention of pictograms is to ease patient adherence and to reduce potential risks or errors associated with the use of medications. Purpose: To evaluate a series of pharmaceutical pictograms for patient comprehension. Patients and methods: The study was conducted in community pharmacies within a European Union country that belongs to the professional research network. Structured interviews were used to evaluate the pictograms for patient comprehension. This consisted of an assessment of the following: the transparency and translucency of the pictograms, health literacy, and pictogram recall. Participants were also given the opportunity to provide feedback on how to improve the pictograms. The primary endpoint was pictogram comprehension. Secondary outcomes included recall of the pictograms and pictogram translucency. Results: The study included 68 patients with whom face-to-face interviews were performed. Low transparency results (≤25%) and extensive patient feedback in initial interviews led to the withdrawal of certain pictograms (n=15) from the evaluation. Among the pictograms included in the final stage of our research, 22 pictograms (62.8%) obtained an acceptable transparency level ≥66%. All pictograms passed the short-term recall test with positive results. Conclusion: A majority of the designed and modified pictograms reached satisfactory guessability scores. Feedback from patients enabled modification of the pictograms and proved that patients have an important voice in the discussion regarding the design of additional pictograms. Keywords: pharmaceutical pictograms, elderly population, health literacy, community pharmacy, Poland

In this paper, we generalize the classical windowed Fourier transform (WFT) to quaternion- valued signals, called the quaternionic windowed Fourier transform (QWFT). Using the spectral representation of the quaternionic Fourier transform (QFT), we derive several important properties such as reconstruction formula, reproducing kernel, isometry, and orthogonality relation. Taking the Gaussian function as window function we obtain quaternionic Gabor filters which play the role of coefficient functions when decomposing the signal in the quaternionic Gabor basis. We apply the QWFT properties and the (right-sided) QFT to establish a Heisenberg type uncertainty principle for the QWFT. Finally, we briefly introduce an application of the QWFT to a linear time-varying system.

The nonlinear Schrodinger equation with attractive quintic nonlinearity in periodic potential in 1D, modelling a dilute gas Bose – Einstein condensate in a lattice potential, is considered and one family of exact stationary solutions is discussed. Some of these solutions have neither an analog in the linear Schrodinger equation nor in the integrable nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Their stability is examined analytically and numerically. Розглянуто нелiнiйне рiвняння Шредiнгера з притягуючою нелiнiйнiстю п’ятого порядку в одновимiрному перiодичному потенцiалi, яке моделює розряджений газовий конденсат Бозе – Ейнштейна в решiтчатому потенцiалi, а також деяку сiм’ю точних стацiонарних розв’язкiв. Деякi з цих розв’язкiв не мають аналогiв серед розв’язкiв нi лiнiйного рiвняння Шредiнгера, нi iнтегровного нелiнiйного рiвняння Шредiнгера. Дослiджено стабiльнiсть таких розв’язкiв аналiтичними та чисельними методами.

The ODE solver HBT(11)9 is expanded into a differential algebraic equation (DAE) solver, called HBT(11)9DAE, for nonstiff and moderately stiff systems of fully implicit DAEs. Pryce’s structural pre-analysis and automatic differentiation for DAEs is adapted to the new solver. The stepsize is controlled by a local error estimator. HBT(11)9DAE uses only the first five derivatives of y as opposed to 11 with the Taylor series method of order 11. HBT(11)9DAE is applied to electric circuit problems, and, on the basis of the CPU time and the maximum global error, it is superior to Dormand – Prince’s DP(8,7)13M adapted to solve DAEs.

The envelope modulation of a monoinductance transmission line is reduced to generalized coupled Ginzburg – Landau equations from which is deduced a single cubic-quintic Ginzburg – Landau equation containing derivatives with respect to the spatial variable in the cubic terms. We investigate the modulational instability of the spatial wave solutions of both the system and the single equation. For the generalized coupled Ginzburg – Landau system we consider only the zero wavenumbers of the perturbations whose modulational instability conditions depend only on the system’s coefficients and the wavenumbers of the carriers. In this case, a modulational instability criterion is established which depends both on the perturbation wavenumbers and the carrier. We also study the coherent structures of the generalized coupled Ginzburg – Landau system and present some numerical studies. Огортуючу модуляцiю моноiндуктивної лiнiї передач зведено до узагальнених пов’язаних мiж собою рiвнянь Гiнзбурга – Ландау, звiдки отримано одне рiвняння Гiнзбурга – Ландау третього – п’ятого порядку, яке мiстить похiднi вiдносно просторової змiнної в кубiчних членах. Для системи та рiвняння дослiджено модуляцiйну нестiйкiсть розв’язкiв у формi просторової хвилi. Для системи Гiнзбурга – Ландау розглянуто лише збурення з нульовими хвильовими числами, для яких умови модуляцiйної нестiйкостi залежать тiльки вiд коефiцiєнтiв системи та хвильових чисел носiїв. У цьому випадку отримано критерiй для модуляцiйної нестiйкостi, який залежить як вiд хвильових чисел збурень, так i вiд носiя. Також вивчаються когерентнi структури системи Гiнзбурга – Ландау та проведено деякий числовий аналiз.

Skeletal disorders and neural tube closure defects represent clinically significant human malformations. The signaling networks regulating normal skeletal patterning and neurulation are largely unknown. Targeted mutation of the active site lysine of MEK kinase 4 (MEKK4) produces a kinase-inactive MEKK4 protein (MEKK4K1361R). Embryos homozygous for this mutation die at birth as a result of skeletal malformations and neural tube defects. Hindbrains of exencephalic MEKK4K1361R embryos show a striking increase in neuroepithelial cell apoptosis and a dramatic loss of phosphorylation of MKK3 and -6, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (MKKs) regulated by MEKK4 in the p38 pathway. Phosphorylation of MAPK-activated protein kinase 2, a p38 substrate, is also inhibited, demonstrating a loss of p38 activity in MEKK4K1361R embryos. In contrast, the MEK1/2-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 (ERK1)/ERK2 and MKK4-Jun N-terminal protein kinase pathways were unaffected. The p38 pathway has been shown to regulate the phosphorylation and expression of the small heat shock protein HSP27. Compared to the wild type, MEKK4K1361R fibroblasts showed significantly reduced phosphorylation of p38 and HSP27, with a corresponding heat shock-induced instability of the actin cytoskeleton. Together, these data demonstrate MEKK4 regulation of p38 and that substrates downstream of p38 control cellular homeostasis. The findings are the first demonstration that MEKK4-regulated p38 activity is critical for neurulation.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Current models of ADR surveillance have repeatedly demonstrated little pragmatic value to practicing clinicians. ADR reporting rates in the US and Canada suggest that only 5% of ADRs are reported. The Genotypic Approaches to Therapy in Children (GATC) network was established to identify and solve drug safety problems in paediatrics. We hypothesized that genetic polymorphisms underlie a significant portion of concentration-dependent ADRs in children. Our objective was to establish an ADR active surveillance network in paediatric hospitals across Canada. Surveillance clinicians evaluate clinical information from ADR cases and drug-matched controls, and collected DNA samples from all patients. The surveillance network will enable the identification of predictive genomic-markers for ADRs. With this knowledge, children at risk can be identified before therapy is initiated and enable personalized adjustments to therapy based on genetic make-up.