Radiomic Application for Head and Neck Squamocellular Tumor: Systematic Review

Abstract

Radiomics represents the convergence of artificial intelligence and radiological data analysis, primarily applied in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In the head and neck region, squamous cell carcinoma is the most prevalent type of tumor. Recent radiomics research has revealed that specific bio-imaging characteristics correlate with various molecular features of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC), particularly Human Papillomavirus (HPV). These tumors typically present a unique phenotype, often affecting younger patients, and show a favorable response to radiation therapy. This study provides a systematic review of the literature, summarizing the application of radiomics in the head and neck region. It offers a comprehensive analysis of radiomics-based studies on HNSCC, evaluating its potential for tumor evaluation, risk stratification, and outcome prediction in head and neck cancer treatment.

Vibrational properties of graphdiynes as 2D carbon materials beyond graphene

Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid sp–sp² carbon systems are an appealing subject for science and technology. For these materials, topology and structure significantly affect electronic and vibrational properties. We investigate here by periodic density-functional theory (DFT) calculations the Raman and IR spectra of 2D carbon crystals belonging to the family of graphdiynes (GDYs) and having different structures and topologies. By joining DFT calculations with symmetry analysis, we assign the IR and Raman modes in the spectra of all the investigated systems. On this basis, we discuss how the modulation of the Raman and IR active bands depends on the different interactions between sp and sp² domains. The symmetry-based classification allows identifying the marker bands sensitive to the different peculiar topologies. These results show the effectiveness of vibrational spectroscopy for the characterization of new nanostructures, deepening the knowledge of the subtle interactions that take place in these 2D materials.

Raman and IR spectra investigation of 2D carbon crystals belonging to the family of graphdiynes (GDYs) and having different structures is performed in this paper, focusing on how these spectra are affected by different topological features.

Lie to Me: Shield Your Emotions from Prying Software

Deep learning approaches for facial Emotion Recognition (ER) obtain high accuracy on basic models, e.g., Ekman’s models, in the specific domain of facial emotional expressions. Thus, facial tracking of users’ emotions could be easily used against the right to privacy or for manipulative purposes. As recent studies have shown that deep learning models are susceptible to adversarial examples (images intentionally modified to fool a machine learning classifier) we propose to use them to preserve users’ privacy against ER. In this paper, we present a technique for generating Emotion Adversarial Attacks (EAAs). EAAs are performed applying well-known image filters inspired from Instagram, and a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is used to determine the per-image best filters attacking combination. Experimental results on the well-known AffectNet dataset of facial expressions show that our approach successfully attacks emotion classifiers to protect user privacy. On the other hand, the quality of the images from the human perception point of view is maintained. Several experiments with different sequences of filters are run and show that the Attack Success Rate is very high, above 90% for every test.

The central role of Italy in the spatial spread of USUTU virus in Europe

USUTU virus (USUV) is an arbovirus maintained in the environment through a bird-mosquito enzootic cycle. Previous surveillance plans highlighted the endemicity of USUV in North-eastern Italy. In this work, we sequenced 138 new USUV full genomes from mosquito pools (Culex pipiens) and wild birds collected in North-eastern Italy and we investigated the evolutionary processes (phylogenetic analysis, selection pressure and evolutionary time-scale analysis) and spatial spread of USUV strains circulating in the European context and in Italy, with a particular focus on North-eastern Italy. Our results confirmed the circulation of viruses belonging to four different lineages in Italy (EU1, EU2, EU3 and EU4), with the newly sequenced viruses from the North-eastern regions, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, belonging to the EU2 lineage and clustering into two different sub-lineages, EU2-A and EU2-B. Specific mutations characterize each European lineage and geographic location seem to have shaped their phylogenetic structure. By investigating the spatial spread in Europe, we were able to show that Italy acted mainly as donor of USUV to neighbouring countries. At a national level, we identified two geographical clusters mainly circulating in Northern and North-western Italy, spreading both northward and southward. Our analyses provide important information on the spatial and evolutionary dynamics of USUTU virus that can help to improve surveillance plans and control strategies for this virus of increasing concern for human health.

Can we predict continued pessary use as primary treatment in women with symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP)? A prospective cohort study

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS

The objective of this study was creating a prediction model for continued pessary use in patients with symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and evaluating the percentage of continued pessary use after 12 months.

METHODS

We performed a prospective cohort study in patients with symptomatic POP stage ≥ 2. All patients received a pessary as primary treatment. Factors for continuation were identified from baseline characteristics and data from validated disease-specific quality of life (DSQOL) questionnaires. Univariate and multivariate analyses for predictors were performed and a prediction model was made. Improvement of POP was measured using the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) and DSQOL at 12 months' follow-up. Primary outcome was factors related to continued use. Secondary outcomes were the percentage continued pessary use after 12 months, improvement of complaints and DSQOL.

RESULTS

Two hundred ninety-one patients were included; 184 (63%) patients continued pessary use after 12 months. Factors related to continuation following the univariate analysis were age, sexual activity, POP-Q point c ≥ 0 and obstructive micturition. GH < 4 was not significant but added significantly to the prediction model. After multivariate analysis, age, point c ≥ 0 and GH < 4 cm remained predictors for continuation. The ROC showed an AUC of 0.65 (95% CI 0.58-0.71). PGI-I showed 83% perceived their prolapse complaints much or very much improved.

CONCLUSIONS

Continued pessary use was found in 63%. Main predictors for continued pessary use were higher age, more prominent apical compartment prolapse (c ≥ 0) and a GH < 4 cm.

Emotional sounds of crowds: spectrogram-based analysis using deep learning

Crowds express emotions as a collective individual, which is evident from the sounds that a crowd produces in particular events, e.g., collective booing, laughing or cheering in sports matches, movies, theaters, concerts, political demonstrations, and riots. A critical question concerning the innovative concept of crowd emotions is whether the emotional content of crowd sounds can be characterized by frequency-amplitude features, using analysis techniques similar to those applied on individual voices, where deep learning classification is applied to spectrogram images derived by sound transformations. In this work, we present a technique based on the generation of sound spectrograms from fragments of fixed length, extracted from original audio clips recorded in high-attendance events, where the crowd acts as a collective individual. Transfer learning techniques are used on a convolutional neural network, pre-trained on low-level features using the well-known ImageNet extensive dataset of visual knowledge. The original sound clips are filtered and normalized in amplitude for a correct spectrogram generation, on which we fine-tune the domain-specific features. Experiments held on the finally trained Convolutional Neural Network show promising performances of the proposed model to classify the emotions of the crowd.

Author Correction: Unrevealed genetic diversity of GII Norovirus in the swine population of North East Italy

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Unrevealed genetic diversity of GII Norovirus in the swine population of North East Italy

Noroviruses (NoVs) are one of the major causative agents of non-bacterial gastroenteritis in humans worldwide. NoVs, belonging to Caliciviridae, are classified into ten genogroups (G) and eight P-groups based on major capsid protein (VP1) and of the RNA-dependent-RNA-polymerase (RdRp), respectively. In swine, the main genogroup and P-group identified are GII and GII.P; which can infect humans too. To date, only one case of GIIP.11 have been identified in swine in Italy while the circulation of other P-types is currently unknown. In the present study, 225 swine faecal samples were collected from 74 swine herds in Veneto region through on-farm monitoring. NoV circulation was particularly high in older pigs. The phylogenetic analysis showed the co-circulation of NoVs belonging to two different P-types: GII.P11 and GII.P18, here described for the first time in Italy, presenting an extensive genetic diversity, never described before worldwide. Distinct NoV genetic subgroups and unique amino acid mutations were identified for each P-type for the first time. This study demonstrated the co-circulation of diverse swine NoVs subgroups in Italy, raising questions on the origin of such diversity and suggesting that continuous monitoring of swine NoVs is needed to track the emergence of potentially zoonotic viruses by recombination events.

A28 Spatial spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N8) virus in Italy, 2017–8

In winter 2016–7 the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, H5N8 subtype, clade 2.3.4.4 group B, circulated extensively both in wild and domestic birds in Europe. Northern Italy was hit by three epidemic waves: the first in January–May 2017, the second in July–December 2017, and the latest in March 2018. To genetically characterize the viruses circulating in Italy we used the Illumina MiSeq platform to sequence the complete genome of representative viruses from each infected farm, for a total of 86 cases in poultry and 17 in wild birds. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses performed using PhyML version 3.1 identified multiple viral introductions of distinct genotypes of HPAI H5N8 viruses in Italy at the beginning of the epidemic (January–February 2017). During the second epidemic wave a single genetic group originating from the virus A/wild duck/Poland/82A/2016 seemed to have been selected, further evolving into two different clusters, namely Italy-A and Italy-B. We identified four clusters of secondary outbreaks, the largest being the epidemic in the province of Brescia between October 2017 and March 2018, which had affected 26 farms. Evolutionary and phylogeographic analyses performed with the BEAST v1.8.4 package (applying a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo approach, using a constant size coalescent tree prior and a SRD06 model of nucleotide substitution) indicated that different viral introductions had probably occurred through migratory birds from West Russia, Siberia, Central and East Europe. The discrete and continuous phylogeographic analyses showed that group Italy-A had probably emerged between February and April 2017 in the province of Mantua and had then spread eastwards, circulating in the Veneto region and eastern Lombardy; on the contrary, Italy-B had arisen between March and July 2017 in the central part of Lombardy and had spread westwards, circulating in the western part of Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, and Piedmont regions. This study was instrumental to reconstruct the virus dissemination routes and indicated that wild and domestic birds from Lombardy most likely represented the key source for the re-emergence and spread of the HPAI virus during the second and the third epidemic waves. This key spatial information will help to define appropriate disease control strategies.

A27 Whole genome characterization of influenza D viruses detected in cattle herds in northern Italy between 2015 and 2017

Influenza D virus (IDV) is a new viral genus identified within the Orthomyxoviridae family, showing 50 per cent amino acid identity with human influenza C virus. Similar to human influenza viruses of the C genus, IDV also harbors 7 genomic segments and uses 9-O-acetylated sialic acids as cell receptors. This newly emerged virus exhibits a broad host range and is capable of infecting swine, cattle, sheep, goats, ferrets, and guinea pigs. In Italy, IDV was first detected in archived samples collected between 2014 and 2015 from cattle and swine in the Po Valley area. Here, we report the genetic characterization of IDV viruses detected in an extensive area of northern Italy, namely Veneto, Lombardy, and Piedmont, through passive surveillance between September 2015 and October 2017. A total of 482 samples, including nasal swabs, lungs, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, collected from 309 cattle farms were tested. Thirty cattle herds turned out to be positive, for a total of 40 samples positive by Real Time RT-PCR targeting the PB2 gene. Representative IDV positive swabs were sequenced on an Illumina Miseq platform, and phylogenetic analyses were performed for each genome segment. The analyses of the seven gene segments demonstrated that the viruses identified in the north of Italy clearly grouped within a genetic cluster of IDV sequences previously described in Italy and in the USA, thus suggesting a common origin for these viruses. Interestingly, the IDVs identified in Italy presented a low similarity (96.1% to 98.8% for the seven gene segments) to the French IDVs, which is the only other European country where this pathogen has been identified and characterized so far. The wide IDV host range and the ability of this virus to reassort are a matter of concern. Results of this study indicate that IDV is extensively circulating among bovine herds in Northern Italy and suggest a potential role of IDV in the bovine respiratory disease complex, highlighting the need to perform surveillance on an ongoing basis to track its spread and evolution.

Identification of a zoonotic genotype 3 hepatitis E subtype in wildlife in north-eastern Italy

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an emerging zoonosis caused by a positive RNA single stranded virus of the Hepeviridae family. In developed countries, pigs and wild boars are the main reservoir for zoonotic genotypes 3 and 4. In spring 2017, for the first time HEV was detected in wild boars captured in the Regional Park of the Euganean Hills, in north-eastern Italy. Phylogenetic analysis of two complete viral genomes and seven partial ORF1 and ORF2 sequences of HEV viruses, selected from twelve positive animals, showed that the viruses grouped together within genotype 3 but clustered separately from previously identified subtypes, thus suggesting the identification of a novel genotype 3 subtype. The phylogenetic analysis of nine partial ORF2 sequences showed the closest similarity with wild boar/human viruses identified in central-northern Italy in 2012. The circulation of HEVs in this area, characterized by a vast man-made environment, an overpopulation of wild boars and >150 swine farms, should be considered in a public health perspective. Further investigations at the wild/domestic species and human interface are therefore necessary to gain a deeper understanding of HEV dynamics.

Pulse Flour Characteristics from a Wheat Flour Miller's Perspective: A Comprehensive Review

Pulses (grain legumes) are increasingly of interest to the food industry as product formulators and consumers seek to exploit their fiber-rich and protein-rich reputation in the development of nutritionally attractive new products, particularly in the bakery, gluten-free, snack, pasta, and noodle categories. The processing of pulses into consistent high-quality ingredients starts with a well-defined and controlled milling process. However, in contrast to the extensive body of knowledge on wheat flour milling, the peer-reviewed literature on pulse flour milling is not as well defined, except for the dehulling process. This review synthesizes information on milling of leguminous commodities such as chickpea (kabuli and desi), lentil (green and red), pea, and bean (adzuki, black, cowpea, kidney, navy, pinto, and mung) from the perspective of a wheat miller to explore the extent to which pulse milling studies have addressed the objectives of wheat flour milling. These objectives are to reduce particle size (so as to facilitate ingredient miscibility), to separate components (so as to improve value and/or functionality), and to effect mechanochemical transformations (for example, to cause starch damage). Current international standards on pulse quality are examined from the perspective of their relationship to the millability of pulses (that is, grain legume properties at mill receival). The effect of pulse flour on the quality of the products they are incorporated in is examined solely from the perspective of flour quality not quantity. Finally, we identify research gaps where critical questions should be answered if pulse milling science and technology are to be established on par with their wheat flour milling counterparts.

Analysis of tweets to find the basis of popularity based on events semantic similarity

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose and experiment a framework for analysing the tweets to find the basis of popularity of a person and extract the reasons supporting the popularity. Although the problem of analysing tweets to detect popular events and trends has recently attracted extensive research efforts, not much emphasis has been given to find out the reasons behind the popularity of a person based on tweets.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the authors introduce a framework to find out the reasons behind the popularity of a person based on the analysis of events and the evaluation of a Web-based semantic set similarity measure applied to tweets. The methodology uses the semantic similarity measure to group similar tweets in events. Although the tweets cannot contain identical hashtags, they can refer to a unique topic with equivalent or related terminology. A special data structure maintains event information, related keywords and statistics to extract the reasons supporting popularity.

Findings

An implementation of the algorithms has been experimented on a data set of 218,490 tweets from five different countries for popularity detection and reasons extraction. The experimental results are quite encouraging and consistent in determining the reasons behind popularity. The use of Web-based semantic similarity measure is based on statistics extracted from search engines, it allows to dynamically adapt the similarity values to the variation on the correlation of words depending on current social trends.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the proposed method for finding the reason of popularity in short messages is original. The semantic set similarity presented in the paper is an original asymmetric variant of a similarity scheme developed in the context of semantic image recognition.

Basal-Cell Tumors of the Lumbar Skin after Radiotherapy for Arthrosis

Twenty-three cases of basal-cell tumor of the skin arising in the lumbar-sacral region after repeated irradiations in anti-inflammatory doses for arthrosis are discussed. The involved cutaneous region had been submitted to a number of roentgenotherapy cycles, varying from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 10. The total dose absorbed at skin level varied between 14.4 and 72.0 Gy, administered over 2 to 6 years. Thirteen to 30 years (median, 19) had elapsed since the end of the irradiations. This observation compels a critical re-evaluation to be made concerning certain radiotheraphy indications. The treatment of these lesions involves some problems: radiotherapy is made difficult by the coexistence of often serious dystrophic lesions on the surrounding skin, and surgery is often unsuccessful. The topic application of a 5-fluorouracil ointment seems to achieve good results.

Growth Rate of Soft Tissue Sarcomas: A Quantitative Study of 44 Local Recurrences

Local recurrences of soft tissue sarcomas in 44 patients were studied to quantify their growth rate. The geometric mean of the doubling time of 32 cases previously treated with surgery only (14.8 days) was similar to that of 10 cases treated with surgery plus radiotherapy (14.1 days), and was less than that of most malignant human tumors. There was no significant difference in doubling times of first and successive recurrences. From the study it appears that the site of the primary and the age of the patient may affect the behavior of the tumor.

Present Status of Treatment for Invasive Cervical Carcinoma

The results are presented of a retrospective clinical study carried out on 341 patients affected with cancer of the uterine cervix, with lymphography in the pretreatment diagnostic work-up, treated in our Institute from January 1961 to December 1976. The clinical classification of the patients studied was: 157 cases in Stage I (46.0%), 95 cases in Stage II (27.9%), and 89 cases in Stages III and IV (26.1%). During the period considered, the therapeutic approach for carcinoma of the cervix was practically constant and in line with the therapeutic policy most frequently followed for these neoplasms. For the early stages (9/341 patients or 27.6%) preference was given to a radical surgery and postoperative radiotherapy combination; for borderline cases and « bulky » and « barrel-shaped » lesions, radiotherapy usually preceded surgical treatment to enlarge its indications and improve its results (36/341 patients or 10.5%). The cases that were more developed locally or that presented contraindications to surgery received radiological treatment alone (211/341 patients or 61.9%). Radiotherapy treatment consisted of radium therapy performed with a single application of 226Ra conventional sources, followed by percutaneous irradiation with 60Co-teletherapy in the more developed cases and/or in the presence of lymph node metastases. All the patients were submitted to diagnostic lymphography at the onset of the treatment and 92 (26.9%) had lymph node metastases. In the framework of this clinical review, the 5-year disease-free survival from onset of the treatment varied from 88.2% for the cases at Stage Ib occult, 72.5% for the cases at Stage Ib, 63.8% for the Stage II cases, to 40.5% for the cases at Stages III and IV. The presence of a pathologic report at lymphography makes a considerable difference in terms of disease-free, long-term survival after treatment.

Delivery of HIV-1 Nef linked to heat shock protein 27 using a cationic polymer is more effective than cationic lipid in mammalian cells

BACKGROUND

Different adjuvants and delivery systems have been used to enhance the potency of DNA vaccines against viral diseases. Among them, heat shock proteins (HSPs) are stress proteins that have multiple roles such as chaperon activity and anti-apoptotic and adjuvant properties. The goal of this study was to compare the expression of HIV-1 Nef, Hsp27 and Hsp27-Nef genes transfected in HEK-293T mammalian cells by TurboFect and Lipofectamine as a cationic polymer and lipid, respectively.

METHODS

At first, the pEGFP eukaryotic vectors encoding HIV-1 Nef, Hsp27 and Hsp27-Nef genes were generated and transfected in HEK-293T using TurboFect and Lipofectamine delivery systems. Then, the expression of proteins was evaluated and compared using fluorescent microscopy, flow cytometry and western blotting 48 hr after transfection.

RESULTS

The accuracy of the DNA constructs was confirmed on agarose gel electrophoresis to be ~ 720 bp, ~ 648 bp, and ~ 1368 bp bands for Hsp27, Nef, and Hsp-Nef, respectively. The expression analysis in the transfected cells showed that the delivery of genes using TurboFect was significantly higher than that using Lipofectamine. Furthermore, transfection of Hsp27 gene was more effective than that of Nef gene using both delivery systems. Hsp27 linked to Nef could also increase its delivery and expression in HEK-293T cells.

CONCLUSION

Generally, Hsp27 can be used as a suitable carrier in DNA vaccine design against HIV-1 infections (Fig. 5, Ref. 28).

Suitable reference genes for accurate gene expression analysis in Papaver rhoeas under 2,4-D herbicide stress

Resistance to 2,4-D (2,4-diclorophenoxyacetic acid) herbicide is increasing in various dicotyledonous weed species, including Papaver rhoeas, a weed infesting Southern European wheat crops. Non-target-site resistance to this herbicide is governed by a range of genes involved in herbicide stress response. To enable reliable measurement of gene expression levels in herbicide-resistant and susceptible plants it is necessary to normalize qPCR data using internal control genes with stable expression. In an attempt to find the best reference genes, the stability of seven candidate reference genes was assessed in plants resistant and susceptible to 2,4-D, subjected or not to herbicide stress. Using three statistical algorithms (geNorm, BestKeeper and NormFinder), the overall results revealed that glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, actin and ubiquitin were the most stable reference genes. The normalization expression levels of GH3 (indole-3-acetic acid amido synthetase) and GST3 (glutathione S-transferase) which are two genes up-regulated following 2,4-D treatment, were determined to verify the stability of these selected reference genes. A sudden increase in GH3 and GST3 expression was already detected 5h after herbicide application, confirming their involvement in plant response to 2,4-D. The validation results confirmed the applicability and accuracy of these reference genes. This study identified and validated reference genes in the non-model weed species P. rhoeas and these will facilitate gene expression analysis studies aimed at identifying functional genes associated with non-target-site resistance.

Social Cooperation in Autonomous Agents to Avoid the Tragedy of the Commons

In this paper, we address the “Tragedy of the Commons” (TOC) problem for shared-resource systems by considering different types of behaviors of agents. On one extreme are self-interested agents while on the other one, agents are concerned about the welfare of the society. Algorithms to capture the different behaviors of the agents with and without interaction among the agents are proposed. An extensive experimental analysis for the different cases has been carried out as well as comparisons of our algorithms with an existing approach. Our study shows that if the agents are willing to sacrifice for some period of time, the sustainability of the society increases considerably.

A Multistrain Bacterial Diffusion Model for Link Prediction

Topological link prediction is the task of assessing the likelihood of new future links based on topological properties of entities in a network at a given time. In this paper, we introduce a multistrain bacterial diffusion model for link prediction, where the ranking of candidate links is based on the mutual transfer of bacteria strains via physical social contact. The model incorporates parameters like efficiency of the receiver surface, reproduction rate and number of social contacts. The basic idea is that entities continuously infect their neighborhood with their own bacteria strains, and such infections are iteratively propagated on the social network over time. The probability of transmission can be evaluated in terms of strains, reproduction, previous transfer, surface transfer efficiency, number of direct social contacts i.e. neighbors, multiple paths between entities. The value of the mutual strains of infection between a pair of entities is used to rank the potential arcs joining the entity nodes. The proposed multistrain diffusion model and mutual-strain infection ranking technique have been implemented and tested on widely accepted social network data sets. Experiments show that the MSDM-LP and mutual-strain diffusion ranking technique outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms for neighbor-based ranking.

Improved Survival from Ovarian Cancer in Patients Treated in Phase III Trial Active Cancer Centres in the UK

AIMS

Ovarian cancer is the principal cause of gynaecological cancer death in developed countries, yet overall survival in the UK has been reported as being inferior to that in some Western countries. As there is a range of survival across the UK we hypothesised that in major regional centres, outcomes are equivalent to the best internationally.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data from patients treated in multicentre international and UK-based trials were obtained from three regional cancer centres in the UK; Manchester, University College London and Leeds (MUL). The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival were calculated for each trial and compared with the published trial data. Normalised median survival values and the respective 95% confidence intervals (ratio of pooled MUL data to trial median survival) were calculated to allow inter-trial survival comparisons. This strategy then allowed a comparison of median survival across the UK, in three regional UK centres and in international centres.

RESULTS

The analysis showed that the trial-reported PFS was the same in the UK, in the MUL centres and in international centres for each of the trials included in the study. Overall survival was, however, 45% better in major regional centre-treated patients (95% confidence interval 9-73%) than the median overall survival reported in UK trials, whereas the median overall survival in MUL centres equated with that achieved in international centres.

CONCLUSION

The data suggest that international survival statistics are achieved in UK regional cancer centres.

Pathologic Findings of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus A/Duck/Vietnam/12/05 (H5N1) in Experimentally Infected Pekin Ducks, Based on Immunohistochemistry and In Situ Hybridization

The ongoing H5N1 Asian epidemic is currently affecting a number of avian species including ducks. These birds are an important part of the poultry industry in the affected countries, and it is likely that they are acting as a reservoir of infection. Ten Pekin ducks were challenged with 100 μl containing 107 50% egg infective dose of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) A/Duck/Vietnam/12/05 (H5N1), administered by an intra-nasal and oral route. Clinical symptoms were recorded twice a day up to 14 days postinfection (dpi). Clinical signs were first noted at 2 dpi, with conjunctivitis and slight depression, and progressed over a period of 1–3 days to severe neurologic signs consisting of torticollis, incoordination, tremors, and seizures. Survival times varied from 3 to 7 dpi. On postmortem examination, hemorrhages were observed in the duodenum, ceca, proventriculus, ventriculus, trachea, pancreas, and brain. Histologic lesions, as well as immunohistochemistry positivity, were recorded in the pancreas and brain. In situ hybridization revealed viral antigen associated with acinar pancreatic cells, bronchial epithelial cells, and with cells of the central nervous system as well as neurons of the submucosal plexus of the duodenum. Our experimental findings agree with those previously observed in ducks naturally infected with HPAIV H5N1 viruses, confirming the acquired viral neurotropism and pancreatotropism, as previously noted in other avian species, as well as in humans.

Carbon-atom wires: 1-D systems with tunable properties

This review provides a discussion of the current state of research on linear carbon structures and related materials based on sp-hybridization of carbon atoms (polyynes and cumulenes). We show that such systems have widely tunable properties and thus represent an intriguing and mostly unexplored field for both fundamental and applied sciences. We discuss the rich interplay between the structural, vibrational, and electronic properties focusing on recent advances and the future perspectives of carbon-atom wires and novel hybrid sp-sp(2)-carbon architectures.

Secondary cytoreductive surgery, hyperthermic intraperitoneal intraoperative chemotherapy, and chemotherapy alone: a retrospective comparison of alternative approaches in relapsed platinum sensitive ovarian cancer

INTRODUCTION

The best treatment for relapsed platinum sensitive epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is controversial. The aim of the study was to compare progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in platinum-sensitive EOC patients treated with chemotherapy alone (CTA), secondary cytoreductive surgery (SCR) or SCR plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal intraoperative chemotherapy (HIPEC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Retrospective analysis of the clinical outcome of 46 EOC patients with at least 30 months of follow-up.

RESULTS

Median follow-up time was 32 months for the CTA group, 30 months for the SCR group, and 45 months for the SCR + HIPEC group. Fifteen recurrences were observed in the CTA group, seven in the SCR group, and 16 in the SCR + HIPEC group. The median time elapsed between first and second recurrence (PFI-2) was significantly higher among patients treated with SCR + HIPEC, in comparison with patients treated with CTA (p = 0.012 andp = 0.017, respectively). On the contrary, PFI-2 did not significantly differ between the SCR and SCR + HIPEC groups (p = 0.877). A statistically significant difference in OS favouring SCR + HIPEC in comparison with CTA (p = 0.04) was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

SCR HIPEC compared with CTA improves PFI-2 in patients with platinum-sensitive EOC recurrence. SCR + HIPEC might also improve OS in comparison with CTA. No improvement in favor of SCR + HIPEC vs SCR was observed,. These results further support the need of a randomized trial comparing chemotherapy with SCR ± HIPEC in this setting.

Emotional States Associated with Music

We present several interrelated technical and empirical contributions to the problem of emotion-based music recommendation and show how they can be applied in a possible usage scenario. The contributions are (1) a new three-dimensional resonance-arousal-valence model for the representation of emotion expressed in music, together with methods for automatically classifying a piece of music in terms of this model, using robust regression methods applied to musical/acoustic features; (2) methods for predicting a listener’s emotional state on the assumption that the emotional state has been determined entirely by a sequence of pieces of music recently listened to, using conditional random fields and taking into account the decay of emotion intensity over time; and (3) a method for selecting a ranked list of pieces of music that match a particular emotional state, using a minimization iteration method. A series of experiments yield information about the validity of our operationalizations of these contributions. Throughout the article, we refer to an illustrative usage scenario in which all of these contributions can be exploited, where it is assumed that (1) a listener’s emotional state is being determined entirely by the music that he or she has been listening to and (2) the listener wants to hear additional music that matches his or her current emotional state. The contributions are intended to be useful in a variety of other scenarios as well.

Metastatic breast cancer subtypes and central nervous system metastases

BACKGROUND

Breast cancer (BC) subtypes have different survival and response to therapy. We studied predictors of central nervous system metastases (CNS-M) and outcome after CNS-M diagnosis according to tumor subtype.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

488 patients with diagnosis of metastatic BC were retrospectively evaluated. According to the combination of hormone receptors (HR) and HER2 status, tumors were grouped in: Luminal (Lum), Luminal/HER2+, pure HER2-positive (pHER2+) and triple negative (TN). Time to CNS progression, CNS-M free interval and Overall Survival (OS) after CNS-M occurrence were compared by the log-rank test. Cox-proportional hazard models were used to study predictor factors associated with CNS progression, including tumor subtype and all potentially clinical relevant variables.

RESULTS

115 patients (pts) developed CNS-M with a median time to CNS progression of 31 months. The rate of CNS-M by subtype was: Lum 14%, Lum/HER2+ 35%, pHER2+ 49%, TN 22% (p < 0.001). Compared with Lum tumors, Lum/HER2+ (HR 2.514, p < 0.001), pHER2+ (HR 6.799, p < 0.0001) and TN (HR = 3.179, p < 0.001) subtypes were at higher risk of CNS-M. Median OS in months after CNS-M was: Lum 7.4, Lum/HER2+ 19.2, pHER2+ 7, TN 4.9 (p < 0.002). Belonging to the Lum/HER2+ subtype (HR 0.48, p < 0.037) and having isolated CNS (HR 0.37, p < 0.004) predicted significantly reduced risk of death.

CONCLUSIONS

After CNS-M, the Lum/HER2+ subtype appears associated with the longest OS. Prospective clinical trials would be required for evaluating the potential role of screening for asymptomatic CNS lesions and of more aggressive CNS-M treatment in Lum/HER2+ subtype.

Heuristic semantic walk for concept chaining in collaborative networks

Purpose

– In this work, a new general framework is proposed to guide navigation over a collaborative concept network, in order to discover paths between concepts. Finding semantic chains between concepts over a semantic network is an issue of great interest for many applications, such as explanation generation and query expansion. Collaborative concept networks over the web tend to have features such as large dimensions, high connectivity degree, dynamically evolution over the time, which represent special challenges for efficient graph search methods, since they result in huge memory requirements, high branching factors, unknown dimensions and high cost for accessing nodes. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– The proposed framework is based on the novel notion of heuristic semantic walk (HSW). In the HSW framework, a semantic proximity measure among concepts, reflecting the collective knowledge embedded in search engines or other statistical sources, is used as a heuristic in order to guide the search in the collaborative network. Different search strategies, information sources and proximity measures, can be used to adapt HSW to the collaborative semantic network under consideration.

Findings

– Experiments held on the Wikipedia network and Bing search engine on a range of different semantic measures show that the proposed HSW approach with weighted randomized walk strategy outperforms state-of-the-art search methods.

Originality/value

– To the best of the authors' knowledge, the proposed HSW model is the first approach which uses search engine-based proximity measures as heuristic for semantic search.