TIME SERIES IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: APPLICATION IN THE STUDY OF COGNITIVE ACHIEVEMENT

The study proposes the utility of time series methodology in the study of processes in educational psychology. Conjointly, the study applies time series in the study of cognitive achievement. Thirteen students from seventh to ninth grades performed an inductive reasoning test. The performance was measured in 20 different occasions and the observations were aggregated to generate a times series of 260 observations (20 different occasions by each individual multiplied by 13 participants). Result shows that a seasonal ARIMA (0,0,1) (1,1,1) adequately fits the data through a model comparative approach. Concluding, despites the complexity, ARIMA methodology is capable to investigate process, reducing the object of the study without lost its fundamental properties and dynamical aspects.  Article visualizations

Moddicom: a Complete and Easily Accessible Library for Prognostic Evaluations Relying on Image Features

Decision Support Systems (DSSs) are increasingly exploited in the area of prognostic evaluations. For predicting the effect of therapies on patients, the trend is now to use image features, i.e. information that can be automatically computed by considering images resulting by analysis. The DSSs application as predictive tools is particularly suitable for cancer treatment, given the peculiarities of the disease –which is highly localised and lead to significant social costs– and the large number of images that are available for each patient. At the state of the art, there exists tools that allow to handle image features for prognostic evaluations, but they are not designed for medical experts. They require either a strong engineering or computer science background since they do not integrate all the required functions, such as image retrieval and storage. In this paper we fill this gap by proposing Moddicom, a user-friendly complete library specifically designed to be exploited by physicians. A preliminary experimental analysis, performed by a medical expert that used the tool, demonstrates the efficiency and the effectiveness of Moddicom

Autonomous Observations in Antarctica with AMICA

The Antarctic Multiband Infrared Camera (AMICA) is a double channel camera operating in the 2-28 micron infrared domain (KLMNQ bands) that will allow to characterize and exploit the exceptional advantages for Astronomy, expected from Dome C in Antarctica. The development of the camera control system is at its final stage. After the investigation of appropriate solutions against the critical environment, a reliable instrumentation has been developed. It is currently being integrated and tested to ensure the correct execution of automatic operations. Once it will be mounted on the International Robotic Antarctic Infrared Telescope (IRAIT), AMICA and its equipment will contribute to the accomplishment of a fully autonomous observatory.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, Advances in Astronomy Journal, Special Issue "Robotic Astronomy", Accepted 11 February 201

Cis-elements enrichment analysis on Prunus persica co-regulated genes during infection with Taphrina deformans

Peach Leaf Curl is a widely worldwide distributed disease that affects peach trees and generates millions of dollars losses each year. The causal agent is the dimorphic fungus Taphrina deformans. The disease is currently controlled by fungicides. Nevertheless, to reduce risks to health and the environment, the use of strategies based on genetically resistant materials is required. Here, to get insight into host responses against the pathogen, leaves of susceptible and resistant P. persica genotypes, DOFI-71.043.018 (DS) and DOFI-84.364.060 (DR), respectively, were inoculated with T. deformans. Samples were collected at 0, 12 and 96 hours post inoculation (hpi). RNAseq analysis was used to elucidate transcriptomic peach early responses to the infection with the pathogen. Comparisons between 0 and 12 hpi, and 0 and 96 hpi (DS12-DS0, DR12-DR0, DS96-DS0, DR96-DR0) were made in both genotypes and presented previously. Here, to identify transcription factors responsible for the expression behavior of responsive genes, as a first step, an analysis of their proximal regulatory regions was conducted. For this purpose, several clusters of co-regulated genes were generated. A 1500 bp of upstream sequence from the translational start site of each gene was downloaded from Phytozome database. A transcription factor binding sites enrichment analysis on the promoter regions of the different clusters was performed with cisAnalyzer. The statistical analysis was carried out both against a random control group and against the whole genome with the aid of Rstudio. By this approach, we selected 10 clusters that arranged 720 responsive genes. In each cluster, between 153 and 201 unique motifs related to abiotic and biotic stress, phyohormones, signaling, light and sugar response were identified. On one hand, 82% of the genes induced in all conditions presented JAI1/JIN1BS motif and a 70 % presented JARE motif in their promoters indicating that they may be regulated by jasmonic acid. On the other hand, only one motif, ABRE-RELATED was significantly enriched in the cluster of repressed genes in both genotypes and times. This cis element is known to respond to cold and dehydration stimuli. Moreover, 85% and 95% of up-regulated genes in DS presented motifs associated with auxins and cytokinins responses, respectively. In contrast, the majority of repressed genes showed in their sequence a PR-10ASEBFBS motif, related to biotic stress. In down-regulated DR genes, MYBC1BS (cold-stimulus related) and SRE (sugar-response element) were significantly enriched. In contrast, exclusively up-regulated genes in DR only displayed under-enriched cis-elements. Together, in both genotypes a general down regulation of abiotic stress responses and an induction of jasmonic responsive genes is observed when facing the pathogen. It is interesting the presence of auxin-responsive motifs in DS up-regulated genes since disease symptoms in infected leaves could be related to this hormone.Fil: Novello, María Angelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos; ArgentinaFil: Gismodi, Mauro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos; ArgentinaFil: Valentini, Gabriel Hugo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Pedro; ArgentinaFil: Drincovich, Maria Fabiana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos; ArgentinaFil: Lara, Maria Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos; ArgentinaLVI Annual Meeting Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; XV Annual Meeting Argentinean Society for General MicrobiologyCiudad Autónoma de Buenos AiresArgentinaSociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología MolecularSociedad Argentina de Microbiología Genera

Development and validation of a machine learning-based predictive model to improve the prediction of inguinal status of anal cancer patients: A preliminary report

Introduction: The role of prophylactic inguinal irradiation (PII) in the treatment of anal cancer patients is controversial. We developped an innovative algorithm based on the Machine Learning (ML) allowing the tailoring of the prescription of PII. Results: Once verified on the independent testing set, J48 showed the better performances, with specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy rates in predicting relapsing patients of 86.4%, 50.0% and 83.1% respectively (vs 36.5%, 90.4% and 80.25%, respectively, for LR). Methods: We classified 194 anal cancer patients with Logistic Regression (LR) and other 3 ML techniques based on decision trees (J48, Random Tree and Random Forest), using a large set of clinical and therapeutic variables. We tested obtained ML algorithms on an independent testing set of 65 anal cancer patients. TRIPOD (Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis or Diagnosis) methodology was used for the development, the Quality Assurance and the description of the experimental procedures. Conclusion: In an internationally approved quality assurance framework, ML seems promising in predicting the outcome of patients that would benefit or not of the PII. Once confirmed in larger and/or multi-centric databases, ML could support the physician in tailoring the treatment and in deciding if deliver or not the PII

naked eye fingerprinting of single nucleotide polymorphisms on psoriasis patients

We report a low-cost test, based on gold nanoparticles, for the colorimetric (naked-eye) fingerprinting of a panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), relevant for the personalized therapy of psoriasis. Such pharmacogenomic tests are not routinely performed on psoriasis patients, due to the high cost of standard technologies. We demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity of our colorimetric test by validating it on a cohort of 30 patients, through a double-blind comparison with two state-of-the-art instrumental techniques, namely reverse dot blotting and sequencing, finding 100% agreement. This test offers high parallelization capabilities and can be easily generalized to other SNPs of clinical relevance, finding broad utility in diagnostics and pharmacogenomics

Endoscopic lateral parathyroidectomy as surgical treatment for patients with primary hyperparathyroidism

Antecedentes La mayoría de los cirujanos han aceptado de una manera rápida, la realización de miniprocedimientos abiertos para el tratamiento del hiperparatiroidismo primario. Sin embargo, la utilización de la endoscopia cervical sigue siendo discutible por su dificultad técnica y la estricta selección de los pacientes. Material y métodos Entre los meses de abril del 2010 y del 2013, se incluyó a pacientes con hiperparatiroidismo primario esporádico (sPHPT), que además tenían un adenoma único tanto por ecografía y exploración con sestamibi, y que aceptaron participar en el estudio. Los pacientes fueron operados por cirujanos especialmente entrenados en este tipo de cirugía, utilizando la misma técnica quirúrgica en todos ellos. Se recogieron variables demográficas y características clínicas de los pacientes. Una vez finalizada la recolección de información se procedió al análisis descriptivo de las variables (mediana, desviación estándar y rango). Resultados Realizamos un total de 28 paratiroidectomías mediante el abordaje de paratiroidectomía lateral endoscópica. La edad media de los pacientes fue de 68 años (59-89). Todos los pacientes tuvieron un hiperparatiroidismo primario esporádico. No se detectaron complicaciones intraoperatorias. La morbilidad fue comparable con la que muestran series publicadas en técnica abierta. Tras una mediana de seguimiento de 22 (9-53) meses, hemos detectado que el éxito de la intervención ha sido de 27/28 (96%). Conclusiones El abordaje endoscópico del hiperparatiroidismo primario sPHPT resulta factible, reproducible y ofrece unos resultados comparables al abordaje clásico abierto, diversos factores hacen poco recomendable su realización fuera de hospitales con alto volumen de pacientes y unidades diferenciadas de Cirugía Endocrina

Vespa crabro immunotherapy versus Vespula-venom immunotherapy in Vespa crabro allergy: a comparison study in field re-stings

Background: In ascertained allergic sensitization to Vespa crabro (VC) venom, the European guidelines still consider venom immunotherapy (VIT) with Vespula (VE) venom sufficient to achieve an adequate protection against VC. However, antigen 5 immunoblotting studies showed that a genuine sensitization to VC venom may exist. In such cases, a specific VC venom would be preferable for VIT treatment. Since in the last few years, VC venom extracts became available for diagnosis and desensitization, we assessed the efficacy and safety of VIT with a VC-VIT, compared to VE extract. Methods: Patients stung by VC, and carefully diagnosed for specific sensitization and indication to VIT underwent a 5-year course of immunotherapy with either VE or VC extracts. The severity of reactions at the first sting (pre-VIT) and after field re-stings (during VIT) were compared. Results: Eighty-three patients, treated with VE extract and 130 patients treated with VC extract completed the 5-year course of VIT. Only a fraction of those patients (43,8%) were field-re-stung by VC: 64 patients on VC VIT and 69 on VE VIT. In the VC VIT group, reactions at re-sting were: 50 negative, 12 large local reactions, 4 systemic reactions (Muller grade I). In this group the VC VIT efficacy was 93,8%. In the VE VIT treated group the reactions at VC re-sting were: 51 negative, 10 large local reactions and 9 systemic reactions (5 Muller I, 3 Mueller III, 1 Muller IV). In this group the overall efficacy of VIT was 87,0%. The difference in efficacy between the two groups was not statistically significant, as previously reported in literature. Nonetheless, field sting systemic reactions Muller III and IV were recorded only in those patients receiving VE VIT. Conclusion: This observation suggests that in patients with ascertained VC-induced allergic reactions a specific VC VIT, where available, would be more adequate, at least concerning the safety profile

Operational challenges for astronomical instrumentation in Antarctica: results from five years of environmental monitoring of AMICA at Dome C

The Antarctic Plateau is one of the best observing sites on Earth, especially for infrared astronomy. The extremely low temperatures (down to -80°C), the low pressure (around 650 mbar) and the very dry atmosphere (PWV less than 1 mm) allow for a very clear and dark sky, as well as for a very low instrumental background. These unique properties, however, make it also very difficult to install and operate astronomical instrumentation. AMICA (Antarctic Multiband Infrared CAmera) is an instrument especially designed for Antarctic operation, whose installation at Dome C has been completed in 2013. Since then it has been continuously working over the last five years, monitoring and controlling in particular the environmental and operating conditions through a dedicated application, its Environmental Control System (ECS). The recorded behavior of AMICA highlighted a set of peculiar aspects of the site that are hard to consider a priori. Although mechanical and electronic COTS components can reliably work in thermally insulated and controlled boxes, simple insulation causes their overheating because of the air dryness and rarefaction which make the heat transfer extremely inefficient. Heat removal is also a real problem when managing heavy-duty devices like cryocoolers, whose excess power removal needs to be fast and efficient. Finally, the lack of an electrical ground generates a wide variety of transient electrical and electromagnetic phenomena which often make electronic instrumentation very unstable. A list of new recommendations is therefore presented, as a guideline for future astronomical instruments operating in Antarctica