Scalable distributed event detection for Twitter

Social media streams, such as Twitter, have shown themselves to be useful sources of real-time information about what is happening in the world. Automatic detection and tracking of events identified in these streams have a variety of real-world applications, e.g. identifying and automatically reporting road accidents for emergency services. However, to be useful, events need to be identified within the stream with a very low latency. This is challenging due to the high volume of posts within these social streams. In this paper, we propose a novel event detection approach that can both effectively detect events within social streams like Twitter and can scale to thousands of posts every second. Through experimentation on a large Twitter dataset, we show that our approach can process the equivalent to the full Twitter Firehose stream, while maintaining event detection accuracy and outperforming an alternative distributed event detection system

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha as differential diagnostic marker for patients with fever of unknown origin

© 2019, University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science. All rights reserved. Febrile conditions of unidentified origin are still unknown in modern medicine despite the development of diagnostic procedures. There are various agents of long-term temperature encompassing numerous infectious or non-infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in the values of proinfl ammatory cytokines (IL-1, TNFa, IL-6) in patients who meet the criteria for febrile conditions of unidentified origin, between the group of infectious, malignant, rheumatic, “other” diseases and undiagnosed patients. The study was conducted in the Immunology laboratory of the Center for Molecular Medicine and Stem Cells Research of the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Kragujevac. Blood samples were taken from patients tested at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases, of the Clinical Center of Kragujevac, in the period from 2014 to 2016. The study included 70 patients. The measured values of the level of TNFa showed significantly higher values in a group of malignant diseases than in the group of infectious diseases, while the values of IL-1 and IL-6 did not show statistical significance. TNFa can improve diagnosing in case of patients with an unknown febrile condition, which can shorten the length of the hospital stay and reduce the volume of performance of diagnostic procedures

Dirofilariosis and Leishmaniasis in the Northern Region of Serbia

Research in the field of vector borne diseases and zoonozes became a topic of interest in Serbia, during the last decade. Climate changes as well as higher frequency of human and animal movement and travel, especially of dogs, is rising a threat of dirofilariosis and leismaniasis. The presence of native mosquito and sandfly vectors has already been confirmed in the country and some invasive/previously not detected were found. Dirofilariosis and leishmaniasis, which are found more or less often in dogs, cause clinical symptoms which are not obvious and therefore they represent a danger for public health with dogs acting as reservoirs of the infection

Wastewater-based epidemiology to assess human exposure to personal care and household products – A review of biomarkers, analytical methods, and applications

Humans are nowadays exposed to numerous chemicals in our day-to-day life, including parabens, UV filters, phosphorous flame retardants/plasticizers, bisphenols, phthalates and alternative plasticizers, which can have different adverse effects to human health. Estimating human's exposure to these potentially harmful substances is, therefore, of paramount importance. Human biomonitoring (HBM) is the existing approach to assess exposure to environmental contaminants, which relies on the analysis of specific human biomarkers (parent compounds and/or their metabolic products) in biological matrices from individuals. The main drawback is its implementation, which involves complex cohort studies. A novel approach, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), involves estimating exposure from the analysis of biomarkers in sewage (a pooled urine and feces sample of an entire population). One of the key challenges of WBE is the selection of biomarkers which are specific to human metabolism, excreted in sufficient amounts, and stable in sewage. So far, literature data on potential biomarkers for estimating exposure to these chemicals are scattered over numerous pharmacokinetic and HBM studies. Hence, this review provides a list of potential biomarkers of exposure to more than 30 widely used chemicals and report on their urinary excretion rates. Furthermore, the potential and challenges of WBE in this particular field is discussed through the review of pioneer WBE studies, which for the first time explored applicability of this novel approach to assess human exposure to environmental contaminants. In the future, WBE could be potentially applied as an "early warning system", which could promptly identify communities with the highest exposure to environmental contaminants

Applicability of an on-line solid-phase extraction liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry for the wastewater-based assessment of human exposure to chemicals from personal care and household products

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) can be a useful complementary approach to assess human exposure to potentially harmful chemicals, including those from personal care and household products. In this work, a fully automated multiresidue method, based on on-line solid-phase extraction liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry, was developed for the determination of 27 biomarkers of human exposure to selected chemicals from personal care and household products, including parabens, UV filters, phthalates and alternative plasticizers, phosphorous flame retardants/plasticizers (PFRs), and bisphenols. These biomarkers include both the parent compounds and their human metabolites. In addition, two oxidative stress biomarkers, 8-epi- prostaglandin F2α and 4-hydroxy nonenal mercapturic acid, were also considered in the study. The method was carefully optimized to tackle the challenges of analyzing compounds with different physico-chemical properties in a highly complex raw wastewater matrix, while model experiments were performed to investigate filtration losses and analyte stability. The applicability of the developed method was tested by analyzing raw wastewater from four European cities: Antwerp, Brussels (Belgium), Girona (Spain), and Zagreb (Croatia). Twenty-one biomarkers (10 parent compounds and 11 metabolites) were detected in all analyzed wastewater samples. The parent compounds with the highest mass loads were PFRs, parabens, and bisphenol S, while phthalate monoesters were the most prominent metabolites. The mass loads of most compounds were quite similar across cities, but geographic differences were observed for some biomarkers, such as metabolites of phthalates and alternative plasticizers. Exposure was then assessed for seven substances for which quantitative urinary excretion data are known. Our results indicate that safe reference values were exceeded for several contaminants, including butylated phthalates, bisphenol A, and tris(2- butoxyethyl) phosphate, particularly for toddlers. With this relatively simple method, which requires less sample manipulation, it is possible to promptly identify and monitor exposure to harmful chemicals at the population level using the WBE approach

Natalizumab affects T-cell phenotype in multiple sclerosis: implications for JCV reactivation

The anti-CD49d monoclonal antibody natalizumab is currently an effective therapy against the relapsing-remitting form of multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Natalizumab therapeutic efficacy is limited by the reactivation of the John Cunningham polyomavirus (JCV) and development of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). To correlate natalizumab-induced phenotypic modifications of peripheral blood T-lymphocytes with JCV reactivation, JCV-specific antibodies (serum), JCV-DNA (blood and urine), CD49d expression and relative abundance of peripheral blood T-lymphocyte subsets were longitudinally assessed in 26 natalizumab-treated RRMS patients. Statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism and R. Natalizumab treatment reduced CD49d expression on memory and effector subsets of peripheral blood T-lymphocytes. Moreover, accumulation of peripheral blood CD8+ memory and effector cells was observed after 12 and 24 months of treatment. CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte immune-activation was increased after 24 months of treatment. Higher percentages of CD8+ effectors were observed in subjects with detectable JCV-DNA. Natalizumab reduces CD49d expression on CD8+ T-lymphocyte memory and effector subsets, limiting their migration to the central nervous system and determining their accumulation in peripheral blood. Impairment of central nervous system immune surveillance and reactivation of latent JCV, can explain the increased risk of PML development in natalizumab-treated RRMS subjects

Contaminants of emerging concern in freshwater fish from four Spanish Rivers

This study investigated the occurrence of 135 contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) – pharmaceuticals, pesticides, a set of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) (parabens, bisphenols, hormones, triazoles, organophosphorus flame retardants and triclosan), UV-filters, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) – in 59 fish samples, collected in 2010 in 4 Spanish Rivers (Guadalquivir, Júcar, Ebro and Llobregat). Of the 135 CECs, 76 including 8 pharmaceuticals, 25 pesticides, 10 EDCs, 5 UV-filters, 15 PFASs and 13 HFRs were detected. Pharmaceuticals were the less frequently found and at lower concentrations. Pesticides, EDCs, UV-filters, PFASs and HFRs were detected more frequently (>50% of the samples). The maximum concentrations were 15 ng/g dry weight (dw) for pharmaceuticals (diclofenac), 840 ng/g dw for pesticides (chlorpyrifos), 224 ng/g dw for EDCs (bisphenol A), 242 ng/g dw for UV-filters (EHMC), 1738 ng/g dw for PFASs (PFHxA) and 64 ng/g dw for HFRs (Dec 602). The contaminants detected in fish are commonly detected also in sediments. In light of current knowledge, the risk assessment revealed that there was no risk for humans related to the exposure to CECs via freshwater fish consumption. However, results provide detailed information on the mixtures of CECs accumulated that would be very useful to identify their effects on aquatic biota.This research has been supported by the European Union 7th Framework Programme funding under Grant Agreement No. 603629-ENV-2013-6.2.1-Globaqua, by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Consolidated Research Groups 2017 SGR 1404 - Water and Soil Quality Unit) and by the Generalitat Valenciana (ANTROPOCEN@, PROMETEO/2018/155).Peer reviewe

Fungal and host protein persulfidation are functionally correlated and modulate both virulence and antifungal response

From PLOS via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2020-06-02, accepted 2021-04-27, collection 2021-06, epub 2021-06-01Publication status: PublishedFunder: Medical Research Council; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000265; Grant(s): MR/N008707/1Funder: National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000849; Grant(s): NC/P002390/1Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001871; Grant(s): SFRH/BPD/96176/201Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001871; Grant(s): IF/00735/2014Funder: deutsche forschungsgemeinschaft; Grant(s): CRC/TRR 124Funder: Fondation de l'Avenir pour la Recherche Médicale Appliquée; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007380Aspergillus fumigatus is a human fungal pathogen that can cause devastating pulmonary infections, termed “aspergilloses,” in individuals suffering immune imbalances or underlying lung conditions. As rapid adaptation to stress is crucial for the outcome of the host–pathogen interplay, here we investigated the role of the versatile posttranslational modification (PTM) persulfidation for both fungal virulence and antifungal host defense. We show that an A. fumigatus mutant with low persulfidation levels is more susceptible to host-mediated killing and displays reduced virulence in murine models of infection. Additionally, we found that a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the human gene encoding cystathionine γ-lyase (CTH) causes a reduction in cellular persulfidation and correlates with a predisposition of hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients to invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA), as correct levels of persulfidation are required for optimal antifungal activity of recipients’ lung resident host cells. Importantly, the levels of host persulfidation determine the levels of fungal persulfidation, ultimately reflecting a host–pathogen functional correlation and highlighting a potential new therapeutic target for the treatment of aspergillosis

The Molecular Genetic Architecture of Self-Employment

Economic variables such as income, education, and occupation are known to affect mortality and morbidity, such as cardiovascular disease, and have also been shown to be partly heritable. However, very little is known about which genes influence economic variables, although these genes may have both a direct and an indirect effect on health. We report results from the first large-scale collaboration that studies the molecular genetic architecture of an economic variable-entrepreneurship-that was operationalized using self-employment, a widely-available proxy. Our results suggest that common SNPs when considered jointly explain about half of the narrow-sense heritability of self-employment estimated in twin data (σg2/σP2= 25%, h2= 55%). However, a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies across sixteen studies comprising 50,627 participants did not identify genome-wide significant SNPs. 58 SNPs with p<10-5were tested in a replication sample (n = 3,271), but none replicated. Furthermore, a gene-based test shows that none of the genes that were previously suggested in the literature to influence entrepreneurship reveal significant associations. Finally, SNP-based genetic scores that use results from the meta-analysis capture less than 0.2% of the variance in self-employment in an independent sample (p≥0.039). Our results are consistent with a highly polygenic molecular genetic architecture of self-employment, with many genetic variants of small effect. Although self-employment is a multi-faceted, heavily environmentally influenced, and biologically distal trait, our results are similar to those for other genetically complex and biologically more proximate outcomes, such as height, intelligence, personality, and several diseases