Automatic recognition of personality profiles using EEG functional connectivity during emotional processing

Personality is the characteristic set of an individual’s behavioral and emotional patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors. The recognition of personality profiles is crucial in making human−computer interaction (HCI) applications realistic, more focused, and user friendly. The ability to recognize personality using neuroscientific data underpins the neurobiological basis of personality. This paper aims to automatically recognize personality, combining scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) and machine learning techniques. As the resting state EEG has not so far been proven efficient for predicting personality, we used EEG recordings elicited during emotion processing. This study was based on data from the AMIGOS dataset reflecting the response of 37 healthy participants. Brain networks and graph theoretical parameters were extracted from cleaned EEG signals, while each trait score was dichotomized into low- and high-level using the k-means algorithm. A feature selection algorithm was used afterwards to reduce the feature-set size to the best 10 features to describe each trait separately. Support vector machines (SVM) were finally employed to classify each instance. Our method achieved a classification accuracy of 83.8% for extraversion, 86.5% for agreeableness, 83.8% for conscientiousness, 83.8% for neuroticism, and 73% for openness

Enantioselective voltammetry in chiral ionic liquid media

Enantioselective voltammetry in chiral ionic liquid media P. R. Mussini1*, S. Arnaboldi1, M. Longhi1, I.F. Buzzi1, S. Grecchi1, F. Sannicol\uf21, Simona Rizzo2, Voichita Michali1, E. Licandro1, S. Cauteruccio1, T. Bellini3, G. Zanchetta3, A. Gennaro,4 A.A. Isse4, C. Chiappe5, L. Guazzelli5 1 Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Milano, Dip. di Chimica, Via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy 2 Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari, CNR, via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy 3 Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Milano, Dip. di Biotecnologie Mediche e Medicina Traslazionale, Via Fratelli Cervi 93, 20090 Segrate (MI), Italy 4 Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Padova, Dip.di Scienze Chimiche, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy 5 Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Pisa, Dip. di Farmacia, via Bonanno 33, 56126 Pisa, Italy. *[email protected] Chiral media enabling enantiorecognition of chiral probes on achiral electrodes (in terms of significantly different peak potentials for the two probe enantiomers) represent an attractive target in voltammetry. Concerning possible ad hoc strategies, (a) on one hand, transmission of the chiral information should be more and more efficient with increasing structural order at the chiral medium| charged electrode interphase, and it has been recently shown that ionic liquid|electrode interphases are extremely well organized for many layers [1]; (b) on the other hand, outstanding enantioselection performances have been recently observed on electrode surfaces consisting in "inherently chiral" oligomer films, in which chirality originates from the whole main molecular backbone (also determining the material electroactivity), on account of a tailored torsion with high racemization barrier [2-6]. Combining both approaches, we recently developed two "inherently chiral" ionic liquids, consisting of dialkylated bicollidinium salts, with an atropisomeric bipyridinium cation featuring at least one octyl chain and bistrifilimidate counteranions.[7] They show high enantioselectivity in terms of wide potential differences for the enantiomers of a chiral probe when tested even as low concentration additives in commercial achiral ionic liquids. Importantly, similar ability (increasing with additive concentration) was also shown by other selectors of the same family, having shorter alkyl chains and/or different counteranions, and thus solid at room temperature but easier to synthesize [7]. Using such chiral selectors as additives in an achiral ionic liquid rather than as bulk media is even more attractive, since only a small quantity of the enantiopure selector is needed and a low melting point is no more required, but only sufficient solubility in the achiral ionic liquid. For instance, this allowed us to successfully exploit as additives for chiral voltammetry in ionic liquids other inherently chiral selectors based on different stereogenic elements, i.e., a bibenzimidazole atropisomeric scaffold [8,9] and a helicene one. The study provides further evidence of the general validity of the "inherent chirality" strategy, since large potential differences are observed on achiral electrodes for the enantiomers of chiral probes even of very different structure and electroactivity (like in our parallel research on inherently chiral electrodes), and possibly even in experiments with more than one chiral probe. Work is also in progress to better elucidate the process, including evaluation of the twisting power of our selectors as well as comparison with a family of ionic liquids and additives having cations derived from the natural pool, in which chirality originates from one or more stereocentres. References [1] Langmuir 2016, 32, 9507-9512. [2] Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 2623 [3] Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 15298. [4] Chem. Sci. 2015, 6,1706. [5] Chem. Eur. J. 2016 , 22,10839. [6] Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2016, 408, 7243. [7] Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 2079. [8] Electrochim. Acta 2015, 179, 250-262. [9] Electrochem. Comm. 2018, accepted. Acknowledgment. The support of Fondazione Cariplo/Regione Lombardia "Avviso congiunto per l\u2019incremento dell\u2019attrattivit\ue0 del sistema di ricerca lombardo e della competitivit\ue0 dei ricercatori candidati su strumenti ERC - edizione 2016\u201d (Project 2016-0923) to our chiral electrochemistry and electroanalysis research is gratefully acknowledged

Chiral electroanalysis on achiral electrodes in "inherently chiral" ionic liquid media

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Renal failure in multiple myeloma: Incidence, correlations, and prognostic significance

Renal failure (RF) is a common and severe complication of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). The purpose of our study was to assess the incidence of RF in a contemporary series of newly diagnosed patients with MM, its association with specific clinical and laboratory features, and its impact on patients' outcome. Over the last decade, 756 newly diagnosed symptomatic patients with MM were included in our database. Renal failure, defined as a serum creatinine ≥mg/dl at the time of diagnosis, was seen in 21% of patients. Multiple parameters were associated with RF, but logistic regression analysis showed that RF was independently associated only with International Staging System and Bence Jones proteinuria. The presence of RF was associated with a trend for higher early death rate but with a similar response to primary therapy. The median survival of patients with RF was 19.5 months versus 40.4 months for patients without RF (p < 0.001). Several variables were associated with impaired survival by univariate analysis. When multivariate analysis was performed the independent variables were poor performance status, thrombocytopenia, advanced age, high LDH and elevated serum β2 microglobulin but not high creatinine. When corrected for stage, renal failure had no impact on survival

Trisomy 8 in a patient who responded to therapy with all-trans-retinoic acid and developed paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria

Trisomy 8 is the most common numerical chromosomal abnormality in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) is an aquired haemolytic anaemia, clonal in nature, due to somatic mutation. PNH may evolve to aplastic anaemia, to MDS or to acute myeloid leukaemia. We present a patient who had trisomy 8 mosaicism at disease presentation who received therapy with all-trans-retinoic acid, responded to therapy, and developed PNH in the course of the disease. Cytogenetics at the time of PNH diagnosis showed a normal karyotype

Prognostication in young and old patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia: Importance of the international prognostic scoring system and of serum lactate dehydrogenase

We analyzed 232 patients with previously untreated, symptomatic WM, of whom 10% were 50 years of age and 21% were > 75 years of age. Disease features and response to treatment were similar among age groups. Patients > 75 years of age had significantly shorter survival (OS; 53 months vs. 113 months for those > 50-75 years vs. not reached for patients 50 years of age; P < .001). Despite the fact that 33% of elderly patients died of causes unrelated to WM, disease-specific survival (DSS) was 72 months for patients > 75 years, 120 months for those > 50-75 years and not reached for patients 50 years (P = .001). International Prognostic Scoring System for WM (IPSSWM) could discriminate 3 risk groups with significantly different OS or DSS. The addition of elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase in the IPSS improved the ability of IPSS to identify a group of patients with a significantly worse outcome (median survival, 55 months)