Co-Following on Twitter

We present an in-depth study of co-following on Twitter based on the observation that two Twitter users whose followers have similar friends are also similar, even though they might not share any direct links or a single mutual follower. We show how this observation contributes to (i) a better understanding of language-agnostic user classification on Twitter, (ii) eliciting opportunities for Computational Social Science, and (iii) improving online marketing by identifying cross-selling opportunities. We start with a machine learning problem of predicting a user's preference among two alternative choices of Twitter friends. We show that co-following information provides strong signals for diverse classification tasks and that these signals persist even when (i) the most discriminative features are removed and (ii) only relatively "sparse" users with fewer than 152 but more than 43 Twitter friends are considered. Going beyond mere classification performance optimization, we present applications of our methodology to Computational Social Science. Here we confirm stereotypes such as that the country singer Kenny Chesney (@kennychesney) is more popular among @GOP followers, whereas Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) enjoys more support from @TheDemocrats followers. In the domain of marketing we give evidence that celebrity endorsement is reflected in co-following and we demonstrate how our methodology can be used to reveal the audience similarities between Apple and Puma and, less obviously, between Nike and Coca-Cola. Concerning a user's popularity we find a statistically significant connection between having a more "average" followership and having more followers than direct rivals. Interestingly, a \emph{larger} audience also seems to be linked to a \emph{less diverse} audience in terms of their co-following.Comment: full version of a short paper at Hypertext 201

A Modified Bayesian Optimization based Hyper-Parameter Tuning Approach for Extreme Gradient Boosting

It is already reported in the literature that the performance of a machine learning algorithm is greatly impacted by performing proper Hyper-Parameter optimization. One of the ways to perform Hyper-Parameter optimization is by manual search but that is time consuming. Some of the common approaches for performing Hyper-Parameter optimization are Grid search Random search and Bayesian optimization using Hyperopt. In this paper, we propose a brand new approach for hyperparameter improvement i.e. Randomized-Hyperopt and then tune the hyperparameters of the XGBoost i.e. the Extreme Gradient Boosting algorithm on ten datasets by applying Random search, Randomized-Hyperopt, Hyperopt and Grid Search. The performances of each of these four techniques were compared by taking both the prediction accuracy and the execution time into consideration. We find that the Randomized-Hyperopt performs better than the other three conventional methods for hyper-paramter optimization of XGBoost.Comment: Pre-review version of the paper submitted to IEEE 2019 Fifteenth International Conference on Information Processing (ICINPRO). The paper is accepted for publicatio

Unusual complications of hypospadias repair: diagnosis and management

Background: Epidermal inclusion cyst, smegma stones and urethral calculi of the penis are rare and may result as a late complication of hypospadias repair. This study reported the presentation and management of these late complications.Methods: A prospective observational study included male patients aged more than 6 years of age, who had undergone hypospadias repair 3-15 years back and presented with slow growing, non-tender, mobile, firm to hard swelling. Histopathological and radiographic examination were done and surgery was used for management of epidermal inclusion cyst, urethral calculi and smegma stone. Patients were followed up for one year, postoperatively.Results: Out of 15 patients, two (13.3%), four (26.7%) and nine (60%) patients were diagnosed with smegma stones, epidermal inclusion cyst and urethral calculi, respectively. The median (range) age of patients was 17 (8-30) years. Patients were presented with slow growing, non-tender, mobile swelling measuring from 1 cm x 3 cm to 2 cm x 1.5 cm. The average size of epidermal inclusion cyst, and urethral calculi was 2 cm x 2.5 cm x 1.5 cm, and 2 cm x 3 cm, respectively. Treatment were complete excision of cyst and removal of smegma stones by surgery and urethral calculi by dorsal urethrotomy. All patients had an uneventful postoperative period and were asymptomatic up to one year of follow-up.Conclusion: Results suggest that these complications can be managed with complete excision and surgical removal and care must be taken while performing the hypospadias repair to avoid these unusual late complications in patients

Barriers to Sustainable Waste Management in Mountain Tourism: Evidence from India

Goal 15 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls for efforts to protect fragile mountain ecosystems. Waste generated due to mountain tourism leads to environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and poses a significant challenge to achieving this goal. Mountains which are characterized by uninhabitable terrain and remoteness, coupled with current tourism practices compound this challenge. The paper resolves this challenge by understanding barriers to sustainably manage waste using th Classical DEMATEL method. Based on data from 36 experts in India’s mountain tourism industry, barriers to sustainable management of non-biodegradable waste are analyzed. Results suggest that enforcement of regulations, waste collection infrastructure, and lack of transportation for waste transfer are the most prominent barriers that can be mitigated by collectively leveraging four tangible barriers: tourists’ motivation or achievement mentality, local government’s initiative, economic value of waste, and tourists’ lack of environmental awareness. Based on this, a policy intervention mandating certification standards for tourists is suggested before they embark on mountain tourism

Spectrum of pediatric urinary stone composition in North Western India: analysis at tertiary care center

Background: Pediatric urolithiasis results in significant morbidity in later life. Incidence as well as site and chemical composition of calculi varies according to the changes in socio-economic conditions over time and the subsequent changes in dietary habits leading to a marked variation in the spectrum of urinary stone composition. To evaluate the spectrum of urinary stone composition in pediatric population from North-western India.Methods: This was a prospective observational study conducted between October 2013 and February 2019 which included pediatric patients with urolithiasis. Demographic and epidemiological characteristics including age, sex, geography, religion, socio-economic status, dietary habits were recorded. The location and sizes of stones were documented. The data was collected, analyzed and presented using summary statistics.Results: A total of 163 patients with urolithiasis were enrolled, of which 86 (53%) aged between 6 and 10 years, 49 (30%) aged between 11 and 14 years and 28 (17%) were aged between 0 and 5 years. The majority of patients were male (n=134; 82.21%). The most common location of the stone was urinary bladder (n=106; 65.03%) followed by kidney (n=33; 20.25%), urethra (n=16; 9.82%) and ureter (n=8; 4.91%). The upper tract (kidney and ureter) to the lower tract (bladder and urethra) stone ratio was 1:4. Stones with mixed composition were more than pure stones (73.62% versus 26.38%). The most common composition was the mixed stone of calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate and uric acid (n=36; 22.09%) followed by mixed stone of calcium oxalate monohydrate and dihydrate with uric acid (n=29; 17.79%), calcium oxalate and uric acid (n=25, 15.34%), calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate (n=20; 12.27%). Calcium oxalate was present in 80% of the stones, followed by uric acid in 7%, struvite in 6%, cystine in 3% and calcium phosphate in 2%.Conclusions: These results suggest that the prevalence of mixed stones with calcium oxalate as the predominant chemical component in the urinary stones of pediatric patients studied

Missing heritability paradox in schizophrenia: hypothesis and plausible clues

Genetic research on schizophrenia, a common psychiatric disease with complex etiology and high (56-80%) heritability, has failed to identify causal genes, variants or causative mechanisms. Given the extensive effort and limited success to date, it is imperative to review potential reasons for this missing heritability. We argue that a successful elucidation of hereditary mechanisms in schizophrenia will likely involve; the identification of discrete endophenotypes; attention to the role of neurodevelopment and cell differentiation; consideration of the genome structure including temporal and spatial patterns, accommodation of environmental effects at the level of gene expression including any sex differences and pattern of mutations including de novo events and the use of analytic techniques that go beyond genome wide association studies. Identification of the heritable component of schizophrenia and sources of “missing heritability” is needed to understand the cause/s of the disorder and to facilitate the development of effective corrective and possibly preventive measures

A RARE INSTANCE OF LEVOSULPIRIDE–INDUCED GALACTORRHOEA

Antipsychotics are well known to affect prolactin secretion, resulting in hyperprolactinemia and its consequent manifestations like amenorrhoea, galactorrhoea, gynaecomastia, etc. Levosulpiride is a novel antipsychotic drug with additional antidepressant, antiemetic and antidyspeptic actions. The authors report a case of levosulpiride-induced hyperprolactinemia, presenting as galactorrhoea in a female patient with dyspepsia at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, in South India.Keywords: Hyperprolactinemia, Prolactin, Dyspepsia, Antipsychotic, Dopamin