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Developing Children's Oral Health Assessment Toolkits Using Machine Learning Algorithm.
ObjectivesEvaluating children's oral health status and treatment needs is challenging. We aim to build oral health assessment toolkits to predict Children's Oral Health Status Index (COHSI) score and referral for treatment needs (RFTN) of oral health. Parent and Child toolkits consist of short-form survey items (12 for children and 8 for parents) with and without children's demographic information (7 questions) to predict the child's oral health status and need for treatment.MethodsData were collected from 12 dental practices in Los Angeles County from 2015 to 2016. We predicted COHSI score and RFTN using random Bootstrap samples with manually introduced Gaussian noise together with machine learning algorithms, such as Extreme Gradient Boosting and Naive Bayesian algorithms (using R). The toolkits predicted the probability of treatment needs and the COHSI score with percentile (ranking). The performance of the toolkits was evaluated internally and externally by residual mean square error (RMSE), correlation, sensitivity and specificity.ResultsThe toolkits were developed based on survey responses from 545 families with children aged 2 to 17 y. The sensitivity and specificity for predicting RFTN were 93% and 49% respectively with the external data. The correlation(s) between predicted and clinically determined COHSI was 0.88 (and 0.91 for its percentile). The RMSEs of the COHSI toolkit were 4.2 for COHSI (and 1.3 for its percentile).ConclusionsSurvey responses from children and their parents/guardians are predictive for clinical outcomes. The toolkits can be used by oral health programs at baseline among school populations. The toolkits can also be used to quantify differences between pre- and post-dental care program implementation. The toolkits' predicted oral health scores can be used to stratify samples in oral health research.Knowledge transfer statementThis study creates the oral health toolkits that combine self- and proxy- reported short forms with children's demographic characteristics to predict children's oral health and treatment needs using Machine Learning algorithms. The toolkits can be used by oral health programs at baseline among school populations to quantify differences between pre and post dental care program implementation. The toolkits can also be used to stratify samples according to the treatment needs and oral health status
Two Cases of Small Cell Carcinoma of the Gallbladder
Small cell carcinoma of the gallbladder is a rare disease process with approximately 40 cases reported in the literature. It is most often found in elderly female population and is associated with cholelithiasis and cigarette smoking. A multidisciplinary approach to treatment with wide surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy is the current standard of care. Notwithstanding prompt medical intervention, it is a disease with a poor prognosis. The pathology is characterized by early metastases and extensive local invasion. Herein, we report two cases of small cell carcinoma addressed at our institution. In both cases, a radical resection was performed with subsequent referral to oncology for additional therapy
Association between the c.*229C>T polymorphism of the topoisomerase IIb binding protein 1 (TopBP1) gene and breast cancer
Topoisomerase IIb binding protein 1 (TopBP1)
is involved in cell survival, DNA replication, DNA damage
repair and cell cycle checkpoint control. The biological
function of TopBP1 and its close relation with BRCA1
prompted us to investigate whether alterations in the
TopBP1 gene can influence the risk of breast cancer.
The aim of this study was to examine the association
between five polymorphisms (rs185903567, rs116645643,
rs115160714, rs116195487, and rs112843513) located in
the 30UTR region of the TopBP1 gene and breast cancer
risk as well as allele-specific gene expression. Five hundred
thirty-four breast cancer patients and 556 population controls
were genotyped for these SNPs. Allele-specific Top-
BP1 mRNA and protein expressions were determined by
using real time PCR and western blotting methods,
respectively. Only one SNP (rs115160714) showed an
association with breast cancer. Compared to homozygous
common allele carriers, heterozygous and homozygous for
the T variant had significantly increased risk of breast
cancer (adjusted odds ratio = 3.81, 95 % confidence
interval: 1.63–8.34, p = 0.001). Mean TopBP1 mRNA and
protein expression were higher in the individuals with the
CT or TT genotype. There was a significant association
between the rs115160714 and tumor grade and stage. Most
carriers of minor allele had a high grade (G3) tumors
classified as T2-T4N1M0. Our study raises a possibility
that a genetic variation of TopBP1 may be implicated in
the etiology of breast cancer
Interacting Open Wilson Lines in Noncommutative Field Theories
In noncommutative field theories, it was known that one-loop effective action
describes propagation of non-interacting open Wilson lines, obeying the flying
dipole's relation. We show that two-loop effective action describes cubic
interaction among `closed string' states created by open Wilson lines. Taking
d-dimensional noncommutative [\Phi^3] theory as the simplest setup, we compute
nonplanar contribution at low-energy and large noncommutativity limit. We find
that the contribution is expressible in a remarkably simple cubic interaction
involving scalar open Wilson lines only and nothing else. We show that the
interaction is purely geometrical and noncommutative in nature, depending only
on sizes of each open Wilson line.Comment: v1: 27 pages, Latex, 7 .eps figures v2: minor wording change +
reference adde
What limits supercurrents in high temperature superconductors? A microscopic model of cuprate grain boundaries
The interface properties of high-temperature cuprate superconductors have
been of interest for many years, and play an essential role in Josephson
junctions, superconducting cables, and microwave electronics. In particular,
the maximum critical current achievable in high-Tc wires and tapes is well
known to be limited by the presence of grain boundaries, regions of mismatch
between crystallites with misoriented crystalline axes. In studies of single,
artificially fabricated grain boundaries the striking observation has been made
that the critical current Jc of a grain boundary junction depends exponentially
on the misorientation angle. Until now microscopic understanding of this
apparently universal behavior has been lacking. We present here the results of
a microscopic evaluation based on a construction of fully 3D YBCO grain
boundaries by molecular dynamics. With these structures, we calculate an
effective tight-binding Hamiltonian for the d-wave superconductor with a grain
boundary. The critical current is then shown to follow an exponential
suppression with grain boundary angle. We identify the buildup of charge
inhomogeneities as the dominant mechanism for the suppression of the
supercurrent.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figure
BLM and RMI1 alleviate RPA inhibition of topoIIIα decatenase activity
RPA is a single-stranded DNA binding protein that physically associates with the BLM complex. RPA stimulates BLM helicase activity as well as the double Holliday junction dissolution activity of the BLM-topoisomerase IIIα complex. We investigated the effect of RPA on the ssDNA decatenase activity of topoisomerase IIIα. We found that RPA and other ssDNA binding proteins inhibit decatenation by topoisomerase IIIα. Complex formation between BLM, TopoIIIα, and RMI1 ablates inhibition of decatenation by ssDNA binding proteins. Together, these data indicate that inhibition by RPA does not involve species-specific interactions between RPA and BLM-TopoIIIα-RMI1, which contrasts with RPA modulation of double Holliday junction dissolution. We propose that topoisomerase IIIα and RPA compete to bind to single-stranded regions of catenanes. Interactions with BLM and RMI1 enhance toposiomerase IIIα activity, promoting decatenation in the presence of RPA
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