Benralizumab efficacy and safety in severe asthma: A randomized trial in Asia.

BACKGROUND: Benralizumab is indicated as add-on therapy in patients with uncontrolled, severe eosinophilic asthma; it has not yet been evaluated in a large Asian population with asthma in a clinical trial. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of benralizumab in patients with severe asthma in Asia. METHODS: MIRACLE (NCT03186209) was a randomized, Phase 3 study in China, South Korea, and the Philippines. Patients aged 12-75 years with severe asthma receiving medium-to-high-dose inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting ß2-agonists, stratified (2:1) by baseline blood eosinophil count (bEOS) (≥300/µL; <300/µL), were randomized (1:1) to benralizumab 30 mg or placebo. Endpoints included annual asthma exacerbation rate (AAER; primary endpoint), change from baseline at Week 48 in pre-bronchodilator (BD) forced expiratory volume in 1 second (pre-BD FEV1) and total asthma symptom score (TASS). Safety was evaluated ≤ Week 56. RESULTS: Of 695 patients randomized, 473 had baseline bEOS ≥300/µL (benralizumab n = 236; placebo n = 237). In this population, benralizumab significantly reduced AAER by 74% (rate ratio 0.26 [95% CI 0.19, 0.36], p < 0.0001) and significantly improved pre-BD FEV1 (least squares difference [LSD] 0.25 L [95% CI 0.17, 0.34], p < 0.0001) and TASS (LSD -0.25 [-0.45, -0.05], p = 0.0126) versus placebo. In patients with baseline bEOS <300/µL, there were numerical improvements in AAER, pre-BD FEV1, and TASS with benralizumab versus placebo. The frequency of adverse events was similar for benralizumab (76%) and placebo (80%) in the overall population. CONCLUSIONS: MIRACLE data reinforces the efficacy and safety of benralizumab for severe eosinophilic asthma in an Asian population, consistent with the global Phase 3 results.

Phased-ultrasonic receiving-planar array transducer for partial discharge location in transformer.

Partial discharge (PD) location in transformers is very important, and many methods that have been brought forward in past decades have a limitation theoretically, namely, they cannot locate multiple PDs in electrical equipment. In this paper, a new PD location method based on UHF and ultrasonic-phased arrays receiving theory has been presented, which has a possibility to locate multiple PDs. According to the method, a phased-ultrasonic receiving-planar array sensor that possesses 16 * 16 elements is designed; and, based on the phased-array theory, the characteristics of the plane sensor are studied. The laboratory experimental tests on the plane sensor element indicates that it has a good performance within the frequency band of the main ultrasonic energy produced by PD in transformer oil. Location tests are conducted on one or two piezoelectric ultrasonic sources in oil, which are both simulated as PD sources and triggered by an electrical pulse whose front is considered as a time benchmark in the locating algorithm. The test results show locations to one and two PDs can be realized in a single measurement, which lays a foundation for locating PDs in a power transformer in service.