Evaluation of Interpretability for Deep Learning algorithms in EEG Emotion Recognition: A case study in Autism

Current models on Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) have shown an evident and quantified lack of reliability for measuring feature-relevance when statistically entangled features are proposed for training deep classifiers. There has been an increase in the application of Deep Learning in clinical trials to predict early diagnosis of neuro-developmental disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, the inclusion of more reliable saliency-maps to obtain more trustworthy and interpretable metrics using neural activity features is still insufficiently mature for practical applications in diagnostics or clinical trials. Moreover, in ASD research the inclusion of deep classifiers that use neural measures to predict viewed facial emotions is relatively unexplored. Therefore, in this study we propose the evaluation of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for electroencephalography (EEG)-based facial emotion recognition decoding complemented with a novel RemOve-And-Retrain (ROAR) methodology to recover highly relevant features used in the classifier. Specifically, we compare well-known relevance maps such as Layer-Wise Relevance Propagation (LRP), PatternNet, Pattern-Attribution, and Smooth-Grad Squared. This study is the first to consolidate a more transparent feature-relevance calculation for a successful EEG-based facial emotion recognition using a within-subject-trained CNN in typically-developed and ASD individuals

Shallow whole-genome sequencing of Aedes japonicus and Aedes koreicus from Italy and an updated picture of their evolution based on mitogenomics and barcoding

Aedes japonicus and Aedes koreicus are two invasive mosquitoes native to East Asia that are quickly establishing in temperate regions of Europe. Both species are vectors of arboviruses, but we currently lack a clear understanding of their evolution. Here, we present new short-read, shallow genome sequencing of A. japonicus and A. koreicus individuals from northern Italy, which we used for downstream phylogenetic and barcode analyses. We explored associated microbial DNA and found high occurrences of Delftia bacteria in both samples, but neither Asaia nor Wolbachia. We then assembled complete mitogenomes and used these data to infer divergence times estimating the split of A. japonicus from A. koreicus in the Oligocene, which was more recent than that previously reported using mitochondrial markers. We recover a younger age for most other nodes within Aedini and other Culicidae. COI barcoding and phylogenetic analyses indicate that A. japonicus yaeyamensis, A. japonicus amamiensis, and the two A. koreicus sampled from Europe should be considered as separate species within a monophyletic species complex. Our studies further clarify the evolution of A. japonicus and A. koreicus, and indicate the need to obtain whole-genome data from putative species in order to disentangle their complex patterns of evolution

Features of Muon Arrival Time Distributions of High Energy EAS at Large Distances From the Shower Axis

In view of the current efforts to extend the KASCADE experiment (KASCADE-Grande) for observations of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) of primary energies up to 1 EeV, the features of muon arrival time distributions and their correlations with other observable EAS quantities have been scrutinised on basis of high-energy EAS, simulated with the Monte Carlo code CORSIKA and using in general the QGSJET model as generator. Methodically various correlations of adequately defined arrival time parameters with other EAS parameters have been investigated by invoking non-parametric methods for the analysis of multivariate distributions, studying the classification and misclassification probabilities of various observable sets. It turns out that adding the arrival time information and the multiplicity of muons spanning the observed time distributions has distinct effects improving the mass discrimination. A further outcome of the studies is the feature that for the considered ranges of primary energies and of distances from the shower axis the discrimination power of global arrival time distributions referring to the arrival time of the shower core is only marginally enhanced as compared to local distributions referring to the arrival of the locally first muon.Comment: 24 pages, Journal Physics G accepte

The JCMT Plane Survey: First complete data release - emission maps and compact source catalogue

We present the first data release of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) Plane Survey (JPS), the JPS Public Release 1 (JPSPR1). JPS is an 850-µm continuum survey of six fields in the northern inner Galactic Plane in a longitude range of ℓ = 7°–63°, made with the Sub-millimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2). This first data release consists of emission maps of the six JPS regions with an average pixel-to-pixel noise of 7.19 mJy beam−1, when smoothed over the beam, and a compact-source catalogue containing 7,813 sources. The 95 per cent completeness limits of the catalogue are estimated at 0.04 Jy beam−1 and 0.3 Jy for the peak and integrated flux densities, respectively. The emission contained in the compact-source catalogue is 42 ± 5 per cent of the total and, apart from the large-scale (greater than 8 arcmin) emission, there is excellent correspondence with features in the 500-µm Herschel maps. We find that, with two-dimensional matching, 98 ± 2 per cent of sources within the fields centred at ℓ = 20°, 30°, 40° and 50° are associated with molecular clouds, with 91 ± 3 per cent of the ℓ = 30° and 40° sources associated with dense molecular clumps. Matching the JPS catalogue to Herschel 70-µm sources, we find that 38 ± 1 per cent of sources show evidence of ongoing star formation. The images and catalogue will be a valuable resource for studies of star formation in the Galaxy and the role of environment and spiral arms in the star formation process

The JCMT Plane Survey: early results from the l = 30 degree field

We present early results from the JCMT Plane Survey (JPS), which has surveyed the northern inner Galactic plane between longitudes l=7 and l=63 degrees in the 850-{\mu}m continuum with SCUBA-2, as part of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope Legacy Survey programme. Data from the l=30 degree survey region, which contains the massive star-forming regions W43 and G29.96, are analysed after approximately 40% of the observations had been completed. The pixel-to-pixel noise is found to be 19 mJy/beam, after a smooth over the beam area, and the projected equivalent noise levels in the final survey are expected to be around 10 mJy/beam. An initial extraction of compact sources was performed using the FellWalker method resulting in the detection of 1029 sources above a 5-{\sigma} surface-brightness threshold. The completeness limits in these data are estimated to be around 0.2 Jy/beam (peak flux density) and 0.8 Jy (integrated flux density) and are therefore probably already dominated by source confusion in this relatively crowded section of the survey. The flux densities of extracted compact sources are consistent with those of matching detections in the shallower ATLASGAL survey. We analyse the virial and evolutionary state of the detected clumps in the W43 star-forming complex and find that they appear younger than the Galactic-plane average

Ustekinumab as Induction and Maintenance Therapy for Crohn’s Disease

BACKGROUND Ustekinumab, a monoclonal antibody to the p40 subunit of interleukin-12 and inter-leukin-23, was evaluated as an intravenous induction therapy in two populations with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease. Ustekinumab was also evaluated as subcutaneous maintenance therapy. METHODS We randomly assigned patients to receive a single intravenous dose of ustekinumab (either 130 mg or approximately 6 mg per kilogram of body weight) or placebo in two induction trials. The UNITI-1 trial included 741 patients who met the criteria for primary or secondary nonresponse to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists or had unacceptable side effects. The UNITI-2 trial included 628 patients in whom conventional therapy failed or unacceptable side effects occurred. Patients who completed these induction trials then participated in IM-UNITI, in which the 397 patients who had a response to ustekinumab were randomly assigned to receive subcutaneous maintenance injections of 90 mg of ustekinumab (either every 8 weeks or every 12 weeks) or placebo. The primary end point for the induction trials was a clinical response at week 6 (defined as a decrease from baseline in the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index [CDAI] score of ≥100 points or a CDAI score <150). The primary end point for the maintenance trial was remission at week 44 (CDAI score <150). RESULTS The rates of response at week 6 among patients receiving intravenous ustekinumab at a dose of either 130 mg or approximately 6 mg per kilogram were significantly higher than the rates among patients receiving placebo (in UNITI-1, 34.3%, 33.7%, and 21.5%, respectively, with P≤0.003 for both comparisons with placebo; in UNITI-2, 51.7%, 55.5%, and 28.7%, respectively, with P<0.001 for both doses). In the groups receiving maintenance doses of ustekinumab every 8 weeks or every 12 weeks, 53.1% and 48.8%, respectively, were in remission at week 44, as compared with 35.9% of those receiving placebo (P = 0.005 and P = 0.04, respectively). Within each trial, adverse-event rates were similar among treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease, those receiving intravenous ustekinumab had a significantly higher rate of response than did those receiving placebo. Subcutaneous ustekinumab maintained remission in patients who had a clinical response to induction therapy. (Funded by Janssen Research and Development; ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT01369329, NCT01369342, and NCT01369355.

Epstein-Barr Virus Stimulates Torque Teno Virus Replication: A Possible Relationship to Multiple Sclerosis

Viral infections have been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has frequently been investigated as a possible candidate and torque teno virus (TTV) has also been discussed in this context. Nevertheless, mechanistic aspects remain unresolved. We report viral replication, as measured by genome amplification, as well as quantitative PCR of two TTV-HD14 isolates isolated from multiple sclerosis brain in a series of EBV-positive and -negative lymphoblastoid and Burkitt's lymphoma cell lines. Our results demonstrate the replication of both transfected TTV genomes up to day 21 post transfection in all the evaluated cell lines. Quantitative amplification indicates statistically significant enhanced TTV replication in the EBV-positive cell lines, including the EBV-converted BJAB line, in comparison to the EBV-negative Burkitt's lymphoma cell line BJAB. This suggests a helper effect of EBV infections in the replication of TTV. The present study provides information on a possible interaction of EBV and TTV in the etiology and progression of multiple sclerosis