375 research outputs found

    Erratum to: Instagram photos reveal predictive markers of depression (EPJ Data Science, (2017), 6, 1, (15), 10.1140/epjds/s13688-017-0110-z)

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    Upon publication of the original article [1], it was noticed that Figure 2 contained an error. The horizontal bars for the likes row were incorrectly shown as blue. The horizontal bars for the ‘likes’ row should be orange. This has now been acknowledged and corrected in this erratum. The correct Figure 2 is shown below. In the section Method, subsection Improving data quality, the sentence ‘We also excluded participants with CES-D scores of 22 or higher. should read as We also excluded participants with CES-D scores of 21 or lower. This has now been acknowledged and corrected in this erratum. (Figure presented.)

    Instagram photos reveal predictive markers of depression

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    Using Instagram data from 166 individuals, we applied machine learning tools to successfully identify markers of depression. Statistical features were computationally extracted from 43,950 participant Instagram photos, using color analysis, metadata components, and algorithmic face detection. Resulting models outperformed general practitioners’ average unassisted diagnostic success rate for depression. These results held even when the analysis was restricted to posts made before depressed individuals were first diagnosed. Human ratings of photo attributes (happy, sad, etc.) were weaker predictors of depression, and were uncorrelated with computationally-generated features. These results suggest new avenues for early screening and detection of mental illness

    Forecasting the onset and course of mental illness with Twitter data

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    We developed computational models to predict the emergence of depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Twitter users. Twitter data and details of depression history were collected from 204 individuals (105 depressed, 99 healthy). We extracted predictive features measuring affect, linguistic style, and context from participant tweets (N = 279,951) and built models using these features with supervised learning algorithms. Resulting models successfully discriminated between depressed and healthy content, and compared favorably to general practitioners\u27 average success rates in diagnosing depression, albeit in a separate population. Results held even when the analysis was restricted to content posted before first depression diagnosis. State-space temporal analysis suggests that onset of depression may be detectable from Twitter data several months prior to diagnosis. Predictive results were replicated with a separate sample of individuals diagnosed with PTSD (Nusers = 174, Ntweets = 243,775). A state-space time series model revealed indicators of PTSD almost immediately post-trauma, often many months prior to clinical diagnosis. These methods suggest a data-driven, predictive approach for early screening and detection of mental illness

    Virulence, drug sensitivity and transmission success in the rodent malaria, Plasmodium chabaudi.

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    Here, we test the hypothesis that virulent malaria parasites are less susceptible to drug treatment than less virulent parasites. If true, drug treatment might promote the evolution of more virulent parasites (defined here as those doing more harm to hosts). Drug-resistance mechanisms that protect parasites through interactions with drug molecules at the sub-cellular level are well known. However, parasite phenotypes associated with virulence might also help parasites survive in the presence of drugs. For example, rapidly replicating parasites might be better able to recover in the host if drug treatment fails to eliminate parasites. We quantified the effects of drug treatment on the in-host survival and between-host transmission of rodent malaria (Plasmodium chabaudi) parasites which differed in virulence and had never been previously exposed to drugs. In all our treatment regimens and in single- and mixed-genotype infections, virulent parasites were less sensitive to pyrimethamine and artemisinin, the two antimalarial drugs we tested. Virulent parasites also achieved disproportionately greater transmission when exposed to pyrimethamine. Overall, our data suggest that drug treatment can select for more virulent parasites. Drugs targeting transmission stages (such as artemisinin) may minimize the evolutionary advantage of virulence in drug-treated infections

    Risk Factors for CIED Infection After Secondary Procedures

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    OBJECTIVES This study aimed to identify risk factors for infection after secondary cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) procedures. BACKGROUND Risk factors for CIED infection are not well defined and techniques to minimize infection lack supportive evidence. WRAP-IT (World-wide Randomized Antibiotic Envelope Infection Prevention trial), a large study that assessed the safety and efficacy of an antibacterial envelope for CIED infection reduction, offers insight into procedural details and infection prevention strategies. METHODS This analysis included 2,803 control patients from the WRAP-IT trial who received standard preoperative antibiotics but not the envelope (44 patients with major infections through all follow-up). A multivariate least absolute shrinkage and selection operator machine learning model, controlling for patient characteristics and procedural variables, was used for risk factor selection and identification. Risk factors consistently retaining predictive value in the model (appeared >10 times) across 100 iterations of imputed data were deemed significant. RESULTS Of the 81 variables screened, 17 were identified as risk factors with 6 being patient/device-related (nonmodifiable) and 11 begin procedure-related (potentially modifiable). Patient/device-related factors included higher number of previous CIED procedures, history of atrial arrhythmia, geography (outside North America and Europe), device type, and lower body mass index. Procedural factors associated with increased risk included longer procedure time, implant location (non-left pectoral subcutaneous), perioperative glycopeptide antibiotic versus nonglycopeptide, anticoagulant, and/or antiplatelet use, and capsulectomy. Factors associated with decreased risk of infection included chlorhexidine skin preparation and antibiotic pocket wash. CONCLUSIONS In WRAP-IT patients, we observed that several procedural risk factors correlated with infection risk. These results can help guide infection prevention strategies to minimize infections associated with secondary CIED procedures. (J Am Coll Cardiol EP 2022;8:101-111) (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

    3-dimensional patient-derived lung cancer assays reveal resistance to standards-of-care promoted by stromal cells but sensitivity to histone deacetylase inhibitors

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    There is a growing recognition that current preclinical models do not reflect the tumor microenvironment in cellular, biological, and biophysical content and this may have a profound effect on drug efficacy testing, especially in the era of molecular-targeted agents. Here, we describe a method to directly embed low-passage patient tumor–derived tissue into basement membrane extract, ensuring a low proportion of cell death to anoikis and growth complementation by coculture with patient-derived cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF). A range of solid tumors proved amenable to growth and pharmacologic testing in this 3D assay. A study of 30 early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) specimens revealed high levels of de novo resistance to a large range of standard-of-care agents, while histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors and their combination with antineoplastic drugs displayed high levels of efficacy. Increased resistance was seen in the presence of patient-derived CAFs for many agents, highlighting the utility of the assay for tumor microenvironment-educated drug testing. Standard-of-care agents showed similar responses in the 3D ex vivo and patient-matched in vivo models validating the 3D-Tumor Growth Assay (3D-TGA) as a high-throughput screen for close-to-patient tumors using significantly reduced animal numbers. Mol Cancer Ther; 15(4); 753–63. ©2016 AACR

    Determining Supersymmetric Parameters With Dark Matter Experiments

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    In this article, we explore the ability of direct and indirect dark matter experiments to not only detect neutralino dark matter, but to constrain and measure the parameters of supersymmetry. In particular, we explore the relationship between the phenomenological quantities relevant to dark matter experiments, such as the neutralino annihilation and elastic scattering cross sections, and the underlying characteristics of the supersymmetric model, such as the values of mu (and the composition of the lightest neutralino), m_A and tan beta. We explore a broad range of supersymmetric models and then focus on a smaller set of benchmark models. We find that by combining astrophysical observations with collider measurements, mu can often be constrained far more tightly than it can be from LHC data alone. In models in the A-funnel region of parameter space, we find that dark matter experiments can potentially determine m_A to roughly +/-100 GeV, even when heavy neutral MSSM Higgs bosons (A, H_1) cannot be observed at the LHC. The information provided by astrophysical experiments is often highly complementary to the information most easily ascertained at colliders.Comment: 46 pages, 76 figure

    Phase 2 study of dovitinib in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma with or without t(4;14) translocation

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    Objectives: Approximately 15% of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) exhibit a t(4;14) translocation, which often results in constitutive activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3). This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of dovitinib, an RTK inhibitor with in vitro inhibitory activity against FGFR, in patients with r
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