To support multimedia applications in mobile environments, it will be necessary for applications to be aware of the underlying environmental conditions, and also to be able to adapt their behaviour and that of the underlying platform as such conditions change. Many existing distributed systems platforms support such adaptation only in a rather ad hoc manner. This paper presents a principled approach to supporting adaptation through the use of reflection. More specifically, the paper introduces a languageindependent, component-based reflective architecture featuring a per-component meta-space, the use of meta-models to structure meta-space, and a consistent use of component graphs to represent composite components. The paper also reports on a quality of service management framework, providing sophisticated support for monitoring and adaptation functions. Finally, the paper describes a prototype implementation of this architecture using the object-oriented programming language Python.

To investigate the frequency of Compositae sensitivity is one of the most important goals of current dermatology and allergology. We have patch tested 30 adult patients suffering from "extrinsic" atopic dermatitis with sesquiterpene lactone mix and Compositae mix including Compositae mix individual ingredients, extracts of arnica (Arnica montana), chamomile (Chamomilla recutita), tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), fever few (Tanacetum parthenium) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium) as well as with specific series for patients with atopic dermatitis. All allergens were purchased from Hermal-Trolab (Reinbek, Germany). There were 6 (20%) patients positive to Compositae mix only, and 3 (10%) patients positive to both Compositae mix and sesquiterpene lactone mix. Among 9 Compositae mix-sensitive patients 8 (88.8%) were positive to at least 1 of its individual ingredients: 5 (55.5%) to chamomile, 4 (44.4%) to arnica, 2 (22.2%) to tansy, and 2 (22.2%) to fever few. Among Compositae-sensitive patients 78.8% had other contact allergies, most often to nickel (33.3%). Since our study represents the first report on contact allergy to Compositae among patients with "extrinsic" type of atopic dermatitis, it substantiates the statement that atopy represents a risk factor for Compositae allergy. In conclusion, the overall prevalence of 30% Compositae-sensitive among patients with "extrinsic" atopic dermatitis detected in our study represents a basal sesquiterpene lactone mix detection rate of 10%, reinforced and safely supplemented by 20% by testing with the Compositae mix.

Several studies have shown a significant incidence of positive autoantibodies in children with vitiligo, compared to children without vitiligo. However, in our series, presence of ANA, ATA, APCA, SMA, ACA and AMA was not significantly increased in children with vitiligo, compared with children without vitiligo. Further studies are necessary in this area in order to draw more conclusions. In the previous studies, it has been established that children with vitiligo were generally healthy, whereas adults with vitiligo had an increased incidence of autoimmune and/or endocrine diseases. No studies have shown this association in children with vitiligo. Our results support findings of previous studies.

Our results show that segmental vitiligo and halo nevi occurred significantly more often in children than adults with vitiligo.

de investigación aplicada a la medicina popular del Caribe.