scholarly journals Pipeline for retrieval of COVID-19 immune signatures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J H Newton ◽  
David Chartash ◽  
Steven H Kleinstein ◽  
Robert A McDougal

Objective: The accelerating pace of biomedical publication has made retrieving papers and extracting specific comprehensive scientific information a key challenge. A timely example of such a challenge is to retrieve the subset of papers that report on immune signatures (coherent sets of biomarkers) to understand the immune response mechanisms which drive differential SARS-CoV-2 infection outcomes. A systematic and scalable approach is needed to identify and extract COVID-19 immune signatures in a structured and machine-readable format. Materials and Methods: We used SPECTER embeddings with SVM classifiers to automatically identify papers containing immune signatures. A generic web platform was used to manually screen papers and allow anonymous submission. Results: We demonstrate a classifier that retrieves papers with human COVID-19 immune signatures with a positive predictive value of 86%. Semi-automated queries to the corresponding authors of these publications requesting signature information achieved a 31% response rate. This demonstrates the efficacy of using a SVM classifier with document embeddings of the abstract and title, to retrieve papers with scientifically salient information, even when that information is rarely present in the abstract. Additionally, classification based on the embeddings identified the type of immune signature (e.g., gene expression vs. other types of profiling) with a positive predictive value of 74%. Conclusions: Coupling a classifier based on document embeddings with direct author engagement offers a promising pathway to build a semi-structured representation of scientifically relevant information. Through this approach, partially automated literature mining can help rapidly create semi-structured knowledge repositories for automatic analysis of emerging health threats.

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
A. T. Ahuja ◽  
W. T. Yang ◽  
W. King ◽  
C. Metreweli

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether High Resolution Ultrasound (US) along with Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) can provide the surgeon with adequate preoperative information for masses in the submandibular triangle.Subjects and methods: Eighty-two consecutive patients with suspected masses of the submandibular triangle had US with guided FNAC (49 patients) and final histological correlation (47 patients).Results: Compared to final histology, US had a sensitivity of 97%, specificity 83%, positive predictive value 91% and a negative predictive value of 95% while FNAC had sensitivity of 100%, specificity 90%, positive predictive value 94% and negative predictive value of 100%.Conclusion: US combined with a FNAC is an ideal initial investigation for evaluating masses in submandibular area.  It is quick, inexpensive, easily available, and provides the surgeon with relevant information preoperatively obviating the need for further expensive imaging.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongqiang Li ◽  
Sai Zhang ◽  
Shasha Zuo ◽  
Zhen Zhang ◽  
Binhua Wang ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Driven by the increasing demand for potential patients to monitor their own heart health, wearable technology is increasingly helping people to better monitor their heart health status at a medical level. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to develop a flexible and non-contact wearable electrocardiogram system, which can achieve real-time monitoring and primary diagnosis. METHODS A flexible electrocardiogram (ECG) acquisition device (wearable ECG) is designed based on flexible front-end circuit and textile capacitive electrodes, which are based on a conductive textile instead of rigid metal plates. The multi-domain feature space consists of time-domain features and frequency-domain statistical features, which can be used for classification via a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) and a support vector machine (SVM), both of which are optimized using a genetic algorithm. RESULTS The BPNN classifier exhibits good performance, with an accuracy of 98.33%, a sensitivity of 98.33%, a specificity of 99.63% and a positive predictive value of 97.85%. The SVM classifier achieves a higher classification accuracy of 98.89% and also performs better than the BPNN classifier in terms of the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value, achieving values of 98.89%, 99.81% and 98.89%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The experimental results reveal that there is a better classification effect of SVM when classifying normal heart rhythms and 8 types of arrhythmia. The proposed wearable ECG monitoring can aid in the primary diagnosis of certain heart diseases.


2013 ◽  
Vol 154 (44) ◽  
pp. 1743-1746
Author(s):  
Gergely Hofgárt ◽  
Rita Szepesi ◽  
Bertalan Vámosi ◽  
László Csiba

Introduction: During the past decades there has been a great progress in neuroimaging methods. Cranial computed tomography is part of the daily routine now and its use allows a fast diagnosis of parenchymal hemorrhage. However, before the availability of computed tomography the differentiation between ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke was based on patient history, physical examination, percutan angiography and cerebrospinal fluid sampling, and the clinical utility could be evaluated by autopsy of deceased patients. Aim: The authors explored the diagnostic performance of cerebrospinal fluid examination for the diagnosis of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Method: Data of 200 deceased stroke patients were retrospectively evaluated. All patients had liquor sampling at admission and all of them had brain autopsy. Results: Bloody or yellowish cerebrospinal fluid at admission had a positive predictive value of 87.5% for hemorrhagic stroke confirmed by autopsy, while clear cerebrospinal fluid had positive predictive value of 90.7% for ischemic stroke. Patients who had clear liquor, but autopsy revealed hemorrhagic stroke had higher protein level in the cerebrospinal fluid, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.09). Conclusions: The results confirm the importance of pathological evaluation of the brain in cases deceased from cerebral stroke. With this article the authors wanted to salute for those who contributed to the development of the Hungarian neuropathology. In this year we remember the 110th anniversary of the birth, and the 60th anniversary of the death of professor Kálmán Sántha. Professor László Molnár would be 90 years old in 2013. Orv. Hetil., 154 (44), 1743–1746.


2019 ◽  
pp. 96-100
Author(s):  
Thi Ngoc Suong Le ◽  
Pham Chi Tran ◽  
Van Huy Tran

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an acute inflammation of the pancreas, usually occurs suddenly with a variety of clinical symptoms, complications of multiple organ failure and high mortality rates. Objectives: To determine the value of combination of HAP score and BISAP score in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis of the Atlanta 2012 Classification. Patients and Methods: 75 patients of acute pancreatitis hospitalized at Hue Central Hospital between March 2017 and July 2018; HAP and BISHAP score is calculated within the first 24 hours. The severity of AP was classified by the revised Atlanta criteria 2012. Results: When combining the HAP and BISAP scores in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis, the area under the ROC curve was 0,923 with sensitivity value was 66.7%, specificity value was 97.1%; positive predictive value was 66.7%, negative predictive value was 97.1%. Conclusion: The combination of HAP and BISAP scores increased the sensitivity, predictive value, and prognostic value in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis of the revised Atlanta 2012 classification in compare to each single scores. Key words: HAPscore, BiSAP score, acute pancreatitis, predicting severity


2010 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. CMC.S3864 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Wehrschuetz ◽  
E. Wehrschuetz ◽  
H. Schuchlenz ◽  
G. Schaffler

Improvements in multislice computed tomography (MSCT) angiography of the coronary vessels have enabled the minimally invasive detection of coronary artery stenoses, while quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) is the accepted reference standard for evaluation thereof. Sixteen-slice MSCT showed promising diagnostic accuracy in detecting coronary artery stenoses haemodynamically and the subsequent introduction of 64-slice scanners promised excellent and fast results for coronary artery studies. This prompted us to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and the negative und positive predictive value of 64-slice MSCT in the detection of haemodynamically significant coronary artery stenoses. Thirty-seven consecutive subjects with suspected coronary artery disease were evaluated with MSCT angiography and the results compared with QCA. All vessels were considered for the assessment of significant coronary artery stenosis (diameter reduction ≥ 50%). Thirteen patients (35%) were identified as having significant coronary artery stenoses on QCA with 6.3% (35/555) affected segments. None of the coronary segments were excluded from analysis. Overall sensitivity for classifying stenoses of 64-slice MSCT was 69%, specificity was 92%, positive predictive value was 38% and negative predictive value was 98%. The interobserver variability for detection of significant lesions had a κ-value of 0.43. Sixty-four-slice MSCT offers the diagnostic potential to detect coronary artery disease, to quantify haemodynamically significant coronary artery stenoses and to avoid unnecessary invasive coronary artery examinations.


Author(s):  
Youssriah Yahia Sabri ◽  
Ikram Hamed Mahmoud ◽  
Lamis Tarek El-Gendy ◽  
Mohamed Raafat Abd El-Mageed ◽  
Sally Fouad Tadros

Abstract Background There are many causes of pleural disease including variable benign and malignant etiologies. DWI is a non-enhanced functional MRI technique that allows qualitative and quantitative characterization of tissues based on their water molecules diffusivity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of DWI-MRI in detection and characterization of pleural diseases and its capability in differentiating benign from malignant pleural lesions. Results Conventional MRI was able to discriminate benign from malignant lesions by using morphological features (contour and thickness) with sensitivity 89.29%, specificity 76%, positive predictive value 89%, negative predictive value 76.92%, and accuracy 85.37%. ADC value as a quantitative parameter of DWI found that ADC values of malignant pleural diseases were significantly lower than that of benign lesions (P < 0.001). Hence, we discovered that using ADC mean value of 1.68 × 10-3 mm2/s as a cutoff value can differentiate malignant from benign pleural diseases with sensitivity 89.3%, specificity 100%, positive predictive value 100%, negative predictive value 81.2%, and accuracy 92.68% (P < 0.001). Conclusion Although DWI-MRI is unable to differentiate between malignant and benign pleural effusion, its combined morphological and functional information provide valid non-invasive method to accurately characterize pleural soft tissue diseases differentiating benign from malignant lesions with higher specificity and accuracy than conventional MRI.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Macalli ◽  
Marie Navarro ◽  
Massimiliano Orri ◽  
Marie Tournier ◽  
Rodolphe Thiébaut ◽  
...  

AbstractSuicidal thoughts and behaviours are prevalent among college students. Yet little is known about screening tools to identify students at higher risk. We aimed to develop a risk algorithm to identify the main predictors of suicidal thoughts and behaviours among college students within one-year of baseline assessment. We used data collected in 2013–2019 from the French i-Share cohort, a longitudinal population-based study including 5066 volunteer students. To predict suicidal thoughts and behaviours at follow-up, we used random forests models with 70 potential predictors measured at baseline, including sociodemographic and familial characteristics, mental health and substance use. Model performance was measured using the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC), sensitivity, and positive predictive value. At follow-up, 17.4% of girls and 16.8% of boys reported suicidal thoughts and behaviours. The models achieved good predictive performance: AUC, 0.8; sensitivity, 79% for girls, 81% for boys; and positive predictive value, 40% for girls and 36% for boys. Among the 70 potential predictors, four showed the highest predictive power: 12-month suicidal thoughts, trait anxiety, depression symptoms, and self-esteem. We identified a parsimonious set of mental health indicators that accurately predicted one-year suicidal thoughts and behaviours in a community sample of college students.


BMJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. n214
Author(s):  
Weedon MN ◽  
Jackson L ◽  
Harrison JW ◽  
Ruth KS ◽  
Tyrrell J ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective To determine whether the sensitivity and specificity of SNP chips are adequate for detecting rare pathogenic variants in a clinically unselected population. Design Retrospective, population based diagnostic evaluation. Participants 49 908 people recruited to the UK Biobank with SNP chip and next generation sequencing data, and an additional 21 people who purchased consumer genetic tests and shared their data online via the Personal Genome Project. Main outcome measures Genotyping (that is, identification of the correct DNA base at a specific genomic location) using SNP chips versus sequencing, with results split by frequency of that genotype in the population. Rare pathogenic variants in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes were selected as an exemplar for detailed analysis of clinically actionable variants in the UK Biobank, and BRCA related cancers (breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic) were assessed in participants through use of cancer registry data. Results Overall, genotyping using SNP chips performed well compared with sequencing; sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were all above 99% for 108 574 common variants directly genotyped on the SNP chips and sequenced in the UK Biobank. However, the likelihood of a true positive result decreased dramatically with decreasing variant frequency; for variants that are very rare in the population, with a frequency below 0.001% in UK Biobank, the positive predictive value was very low and only 16% of 4757 heterozygous genotypes from the SNP chips were confirmed with sequencing data. Results were similar for SNP chip data from the Personal Genome Project, and 20/21 individuals analysed had at least one false positive rare pathogenic variant that had been incorrectly genotyped. For pathogenic variants in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are individually very rare, the overall performance metrics for the SNP chips versus sequencing in the UK Biobank were: sensitivity 34.6%, specificity 98.3%, positive predictive value 4.2%, and negative predictive value 99.9%. Rates of BRCA related cancers in UK Biobank participants with a positive SNP chip result were similar to those for age matched controls (odds ratio 1.31, 95% confidence interval 0.99 to 1.71) because the vast majority of variants were false positives, whereas sequence positive participants had a significantly increased risk (odds ratio 4.05, 2.72 to 6.03). Conclusions SNP chips are extremely unreliable for genotyping very rare pathogenic variants and should not be used to guide health decisions without validation.


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