Microbiome Preprocessing Machine Learning Pipeline

Background16S sequencing results are often used for Machine Learning (ML) tasks. 16S gene sequences are represented as feature counts, which are associated with taxonomic representation. Raw feature counts may not be the optimal representation for ML.MethodsWe checked multiple preprocessing steps and tested the optimal combination for 16S sequencing-based classification tasks. We computed the contribution of each step to the accuracy as measured by the Area Under Curve (AUC) of the classification.ResultsWe show that the log of the feature counts is much more informative than the relative counts. We further show that merging features associated with the same taxonomy at a given level, through a dimension reduction step for each group of bacteria improves the AUC. Finally, we show that z-scoring has a very limited effect on the results.ConclusionsThe prepossessing of microbiome 16S data is crucial for optimal microbiome based Machine Learning. These preprocessing steps are integrated into the MIPMLP - Microbiome Preprocessing Machine Learning Pipeline, which is available as a stand-alone version at: https://github.com/louzounlab/microbiome/tree/master/Preprocess or as a service at http://mip-mlp.math.biu.ac.il/Home Both contain the code, and standard test sets

Os sefarditas em Israel: o sionismo do ponto de vista das vítimas judaicas

Este artigo pretende incorporar uma questão pouco mencionada no discurso crítico sobre Israel e o sionismo: a presença dos judeus árabes e orientais, os sefarditas, oriundos em grande parte de países árabes e muçulmanos. Uma análise mais completa deve incluir as conseqüências negativas do sionismo não apenas para o povo palestino, mas também para os judeus sefarditas. A rejeição sionista do Oriente palestino e árabe-muçulmano tem por ilação a rejeição dos mizrahim (os "orientais"), os quais, assim como os palestinos, também tiveram o direito de auto-representação extirpado.<br>This article aims to contemplate an issue seldom mentioned in alternative critical discourse concerning Israel and Zionism: the presence of Arab or Oriental Jews, the Sephardi Jews, coming largely from Arab and Moslem countries. A broader analysis must include negative consequences of Zionism not only to Palestinian people, but also to the Sephardi Jews. The Zionist denial of the Arab-Moslem and Palestinian East has as its corollary the denial of the mizrahim (the "Eastern Ones"), who, like the Palestinians, have also been stripped of the right of self-representation