Exploring Image Virality in Google Plus

Reactions to posts in an online social network show different dynamics depending on several textual features of the corresponding content. Do similar dynamics exist when images are posted? Exploiting a novel dataset of posts, gathered from the most popular Google+ users, we try to give an answer to such a question. We describe several virality phenomena that emerge when taking into account visual characteristics of images (such as orientation, mean saturation, etc.). We also provide hypotheses and potential explanations for the dynamics behind them, and include cases for which common-sense expectations do not hold true in our experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. IEEE/ASE SocialCom 201

Large-scale quality assessment of prokaryotic genomes with metashot/prok-quality

2openInternationalMetagenomic sequencing allows large-scale identification and genomic characterization. Binning is the process of recovering genomes from complex mixtures of sequence fragments (metagenome contigs) of unknown bacteria and archaeal species. Assessing the quality of genomes recovered from metagenomes requires the use of complex pipelines involving many independent steps, often difficult to reproduce and maintain. A comprehensive, automated and easy-to-use computational workflow for the quality assessment of draft prokaryotic genomes, based on container technology, would greatly improve reproducibility and reusability of published results. We present metashot/prok-quality, a container-enabled Nextflow pipeline for quality assessment and genome dereplication. The metashot/prok-quality tool produces genome quality reports that are compliant with the Minimum Information about a Metagenome-Assembled Genome (MIMAG) standard, and can run out-of-the-box on any platform that supports Nextflow, Docker or Singularity, including computing clusters or batch infrastructures in the cloud. metashot/prok-quality is part of the metashot collection of analysis pipelines. Workflow and documentation are available under GPL3 licence on GitHub.openAlbanese, Davide; Donati, ClaudioAlbanese, D.; Donati, C

TOFwave: reproducibility in biomarker discovery from time-of-flight mass spectrometry data

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Metagenomes in the Borderline Ecosystems of the Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Communities.

Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities are microbial ecosystems dwelling inside rocks of the Antarctic desert. We present the first 18 shotgun metagenomes from these communities to further characterize their composition, biodiversity, functionality, and adaptation. Future studies will integrate taxonomic and functional annotations to examine the pathways necessary for life to evolve in the extremes

Integrating gene expression profiling and clinical data

AbstractWe propose a combination of machine learning techniques to integrate predictive profiling from gene expression with clinical and epidemiological data. Starting from BioDCV, a complete software setup for predictive classification and feature ranking without selection bias, we apply semisupervised profiling for detecting outliers and deriving informative subtypes of patients. During the profiling process, sampletracking curves are extracted, and then clustered according to a distance derived from dynamic time warping. Sampletracking allows also the identification of outlier cases, whose removal is shown to improve predictive accuracy and stability of derived gene profiles. Here we propose to employ clinical features to validate the semisupervising procedure. The procedure is demonstrated in the analysis of a liver cancer dataset of 213 samples described by 1993 genes and by pathological features

Phenols content and 2-D electrophoresis protein pattern: a promising tool to monitor Posidonia meadows health state

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The endemic seagrass <it>Posidonia oceanica </it>(L.) Delile colonizes soft bottoms producing highly productive meadows that play a crucial role in coastal ecosystems dynamics. Human activities and natural events are responsible for a widespread meadows regression; to date the identification of "diagnostic" tools to monitor conservation status is a critical issue. In this study the feasibility of a novel tool to evaluate ecological impacts on <it>Posidonia </it>meadows has been tested. Quantification of a putative stress indicator, <it>i.e</it>. phenols content, has been coupled to 2-D electrophoretic protein analysis of rhizome samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall expression pattern from <it>Posidonia </it>rhizome was determined using a preliminary proteomic approach, 437 protein spots were characterized by p<it>I </it>and molecular weight. We found that protein expression differs in samples belonging to sites with high or low phenols: 22 unique protein spots are peculiar of "low phenols" and 27 other spots characterize "high phenols" samples.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>Posidonia </it>showed phenols variations within the meadow, that probably reflect the heterogeneity of environmental pressures. In addition, comparison of the 2-D electrophoresis patterns allowed to highlight qualitative protein expression differences in response to these pressures. These differences may account for changes in metabolic/physiological pathways as adaptation to stress. A combined approach, based on phenols content determination and 2-D electrophoresis protein pattern, seems a promising tool to monitor <it>Posidonia </it>meadows health state.</p

Genome sequencing provides new insights on the distribution of Erwinia amylovora lineages in northern Italy

Erwinia amylovora is a Gram-negative bacterium that colonizes a wide variety of plant species causing recurrent local outbreaks of fire blight in crops of the Rosaceae family. Recent genomic surveys have documented the limited genomic diversity of this species, possibly related to a recent evolutionary bottleneck and a strong correlation between geography and phylogenetic structure of the species. Despite its economic importance, little is known about the genetic variability of co-circulating strains during local outbreaks. Here, we report the genome sequences of 82 isolates of E. amylovora, collected from different host plants in a period of 16 years in Trentino, a small region in the Northeastern Italian Alps that has been characterized by recurrent outbreaks of fire blight in apple orchards. While the genome isolated before 2018 are closely related to other strains already present in Europe, we found a novel subclade composed only by isolates that were sampled starting from 2018 and demonstrate that the endemic population of this pathogen can be composed by mixture of strain

Aesthetic Dentistry, How You Say and How You See: A 500-People Survey on Digital Preview and Color Perception

Purpose: Digital technologies have improved ways to perform aesthetic dentistry in the last few years. The aims of this survey were to investigate the most preferred way to preview the result of an aesthetic dental rehabilitation among a population of dental professionals and laypeople and to compare aesthetic standards of the general population and dentists in terms of the color of teeth for aesthetic dental rehabilitations. Patients and Methods: A questionnaire was sent to the subjects (dentists and laypeople) during a 1-year period and, together with their demographic data, different ways to preview the result of an aesthetic rehabilitation were submitted, such as digital smile design, dental wax-up and oral explanation. Furthermore, an additional section of the questionnaire inves-tigated the most suitable color for an aesthetic rehabilitation based on the colors of the VITA Scale. Results were statistically analyzed (with Chi-square of independence and Mann\u2013 Whitney U-test) highlighting differences of answers based on age groups, educational attainment, gender, and belonging or not to the dental field. Results: Findings showed that digital smile design (digital preview) is a high-appreciated method for previewing and communicating with patients both by dental professionals and laypeople. Furthermore, lighter colors were found to be more valued by laypeople and significant differences were highlighted between the two populations assessed. Conclusion: It seems to be viable to use digital preview for dentists and laypeople to improve previewing and communicating ways. It might be advisable to better motivate patients in recognizing aesthetical features and to raise their awareness in preferring more mimetic aesthetic results. Great opportunities are opened up by digital smile design in teaching, learning, and routine practic

Geology and elevation shape bacterial assembly in Antarctic endolithic communities

Ice free areas of continental Antarctica are among the coldest and driest environments on Earth, and yet, they support surprisingly diverse and highly adapted microbial communities. Endolithic growth is one of the key adaptations to such extreme environments and often represents the dominant life-form. Despite growing scientific interest, little is known of the mechanisms that influence the assembly of endolithic microbiomes across these harsh environments. Here, we used metagenomics to examine the diversity and assembly of endolithic bacterial communities across Antarctica within different rock types and over a large elevation range. While granite supported richer and more heterogeneous communities than sandstone, elevation had no apparent effect on taxonomic richness, regardless of rock type. Conversely, elevation was clearly associated with turnover in community composition, with the deterministic process of variable selection driving microbial assembly along the elevation gradient. The turnover associated with elevation was modulated by geology, whereby for a given elevation difference, turnover was consistently larger between communities inhabiting different rock types. Overall, selection imposed by elevation and geology appeared stronger than turnover related to other spatially-structured environmental drivers. Our findings indicate that at the cold-arid limit of life on Earth, geology and elevation are key determinants of endolithic bacterial heterogeneity. This also suggests that warming temperatures may threaten the persistence of such extreme-adapted organism