Highest Discriminative Value Research Articles

MiR-423 is differentially expressed in patients with stable and unstable coronary artery disease: A pilot study.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are the leading causes of death worldwide. Since only a subset of CAD patients develops myocardial infarction, it is likely that unique factors predispose to AMI. Circulating microRNAs represent diagnostic powerful biomarkers for detection of heart injuries and patients’ risk stratification. Using an array-based approach, the expression of 84 circulating miRNAs was analyzed in plasma of pooled stable CAD patients (CAD; n = 5) and unstable CAD patients (AMI_T0; n = 5) enrolled within 24 hours from an AMI event. The array experiments showed 27 miRNAs differentially expressed with a two-fold up- or down-regulation (10 up- and 17 down-regulated miRNAs). Among them, miR-423-5p dis-regulation was confirmed in a larger case study (n = 99). Circulating miR-423-5p resulted to be significantly down-regulated within 24 hours from the AMI event (FC = -2, p≤0.05). Interestingly, miR-423-5p expression resulted to be increased (FC = +2; p≤0.005) in a subgroup of the same AMI patients (AMI_T1; n = 11) analyzed after 6 months from the acute event. We extended miR-423-5p expression study on PBMCs (peripheral blood mononuclear cells), confirming also in this tissue its up-regulation at 6 months post-AMI. Receiver operating characteristic analyses (ROC) were performed to detect the power of miR-423-5p to discriminate stable and unstable CAD. In plasma, miR-423-5p expression accurately distinguishes stable and unstable CAD patients (AUC = 0.7143, p≤0.005). Interestingly, the highest discriminatory value (AUC = 0.8529 p≤0.0005) was identified in blood cells, where miR-423-5p expression is able to differentiate unstable CAD patients during an acute event (AMI_T0) from those at six months post-AMI (AMI_T1). Furthermore, cellular miR-423-5p may discriminate also stable CAD patients from unstable CAD patients after six months post-AMI (AUC = 0.7355 p≤0.05). The results of this pilot-study suggest that miR-423-5p expression level both in plasma and blood cells, could represent a new promising biomarker for risk stratification of CAD patients.

Pattern Recognition: Physical Exercises Modes During Motor Skills Development in Girls Aged 14

The study objective is to determine physical exercises modes when developing motor skills in girls aged 14.
 Materials and methods. The participants in the study were 40 girls aged 14. To achieve the objective set, the following research methods were used: study and analysis of scientific and methodological literature; pedagogical observation, timing of training tasks; pedagogical experiment, methods of mathematical statistics, methods of mathematical experiment planning, discriminant analysis. Results. The first canonical function explains 73.3% of the variation in results, the second function – 21.6%, which indicates their high informativity (r1=0.898; r2=0.743). The analysis of canonical functions highlights the statistical significance of the first and second canonical functions (λ1=.067; р1=0.001; λ2=0.346; р2=0.001). The first and second functions have a high discriminative ability and value of interpretation with respect to the general totality. The number of repetitions for mastering the first and fourth series of training tasks has the largest contribution to the first canonical function. This indicates that the exercises for developing motor abilities and teaching to control movement time and muscular effort influence the effectiveness of teaching a press headstand and handstand. The number of repetitions for mastering the second and third series of training tasks has the largest contribution to the second canonical function. This indicates that starting and ending positions, and actions without which the exercise performance is impossible influence the effectiveness of teaching a press headstand and handstand.
 Conclusions. The discriminant function structure coefficients show that the training program effectiveness is determined by selecting the series of training tasks and their performance modes. To choose the most rational mode of exercises of the series of tasks when teaching girls aged 14 a press headstand and handstand, the first discriminant function can be used with an emphasis on the most informative variables.

A Dual Layered Loop Array Antenna for Base Stations With Enhanced Cross-Polarization Discrimination

This paper presents a novel dual-loop array antenna targeted at current and future base station applications. The antenna has four rectangular loops and four trapezoidal loops printed on the front and back sides, respectively, of a substrate placed above a flat square reflector. All eight loop radiators are excited simultaneously with properly designed feed networks to achieve its ±45° polarization states. The trapezoidal loops act like folded (electric) dipoles; the rectangular loops act primarily as magnetic dipoles. The combination of these two loop arrays leads to a type of magnetoelectric loop antenna that has stable directivity patterns with high cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) values across a 45.5% operational fractional bandwidth from 1.7 to 2.7 GHz. A fabricated and measured prototype confirms the simulation results and demonstrates that the half-power beamwidths in the horizontal plane vary between 63° and 70°, the XPD values are >20 dB in the boresight direction, and are >10 dB within the entire cellular coverage angular range: $-60^\circ \leq \theta \leq 60^\circ $ .

The additive effects of OSA and nondipping status on early markers of subclinical atherosclerosis in normotensive patients: a cross-sectional study.

The additive effect of hypertension on carotid atherosclerosis in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is well-established; however, the effect of the nondipping pattern has not yet been evaluated. In this study, we aim to assess the effect of the nondipping pattern on carotid atherosclerosis, which is quantified as carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), and on the high-risk carotid profile in normotensive patients with OSA. We included 189 patients with OSA in this cross-sectional study. We followed a 2 × 2 factorial design to create groups according to the presence of OSA and nondipping pattern. All patients underwent carotid ultrasonography to quantify their CIMT and presence of plaques. Patients who had CIMT ≥ 0.9 mm and/or carotid plaques were classified as having a high-risk carotid profile. Patients in the OSA/nondipper group had a 26% higher CIMT and five times the prevalence of a high-risk carotid profile compared to patients in the non-OSA/dipper group. CIMT was correlated with age, the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), minimum oxygen saturation, and nighttime systolic blood pressure (SBP). Independent of age, diabetes, and AHI, a one mmHg increase in nighttime SBP was associated with a 0.22 mm increase in CIMT and a 4% increase in odds for the high-risk carotid profile. Similarly, independent of age and diabetes, being in the OSA/nondipper group was associated with 6.7 times increased odds for a high-risk carotid profile than being in the non-OSA/dipper group. Modeling with both the nondipping status and presence of OSA produced an 8% higher discriminative value than modeling with neither of these parameters. We found an additive effect of the nondipping pattern on carotid atherosclerosis in normotensive patients with OSA. Our findings suggested that in addition to having established hypertension, a nondipping pattern in normotensive patients with OSA may aggravate atherosclerosis.

A long-term conditional survival analysis for gastric cancer based on 7th and 8th TNM classification in Eastern and Western populations

BackgroundTo compare the power to predict the 5-year conditional disease-specific survival (CS5) between the 7th and 8th editions of the TNM for gastric cancer (GC) patients. MethodThis retrospective study recruited 20,548 patients who underwent GC surgery from the databases of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, End Results and a center in Asia. The CS5 was evaluated with the 7th and 8th TNM classification. ResultsA two-step model showed that at the 3-5th postoperative years, the 8th staging remained an independent risk factor, whereas there was no significant difference for 7th -edition staging. Further analysis of the ability to predict CS5 indicated that there were significant differences in the CS5 of 7th -edition stages IIb and IIIa at baseline and at the postoperative 1-4th years (all p < 0.05, Cohen's d > 0.5). However, the CS5 of the fifth year was similar between them (p = 0.307, Cohen's d = 0.35). Meanwhile, the results indicated that the 8th -edition staging could effectively determine the CS5 among stages Ⅰa, Ⅰb, Ⅱa, Ⅱb, Ⅲa, and Ⅲb at baseline and at the postoperative 1-5th years (all p < 0.05). However, neither the 7th - nor the 8th -edition staging could predict the CS5 for stages Ⅲb and Ⅲc from the postoperative third to fifth years (all p > 0.05). ConclusionsFor patients with stages IIB and IIIA GC, the 8th TNM has a higher discriminatory value than the 7th edition for CS5 after the postoperative fourth year. However, a more detailed classification system is still needed to predict conditional survival for GC.

Biventricular assessment of light-chain amyloidosis using 3D speckle tracking echocardiography: Differentiation from other forms of myocardial hypertrophy

BackgroundGiven that in patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA), deposition of amyloid protein is not restricted to the left ventricular (LV) myocardium, it can be hypothesized that the diagnostic value of deformation mechanics would be enhanced by considering right ventricular (RV) strain measures. The aim of the present study was to examine the potential utility of left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) deformation and rotational parameters derived from three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiograph (3DSTE) to diagnose cardiac amyloidosis and differentiate this disease from other forms of myocardial hypertrophy. MethodsTwenty-three patients with biopsy-proven light-chain (AL) amyloidosis, 23 patients with systemic arterial hypertension (HTN), 23 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), 23 athletes and 23 normal controls were prospectively studied by conventional echocardiography and 3DSTE. LV longitudinal strain (LV LS), LV circumferential strain (LV CS), RV global longitudinal strain and RV free-wall longitudinal strain (RV FW LS) were obtained by 3DSTE, as well as LV rotation and rotational velocities. ResultsLV and RV longitudinal strains were reduced in cardiac amyloidosis (CA) patients compared to controls. By multivariate analysis, LV basal LS (p = 0.002), LV peak basal rotation (p = 0.003), and RV basal FW LS (p = 0.014) were independently associated with CA in the overall population. A significant improvement in global χ2 value was noted with RV 3D-strain parameters over only LV-3DSTE + conventional indices for detection of CA (p < 0.001). Comparison of ROC curves showed that the AUC using combined LV basal LS, LV basal rotation and RV basal FW LS had a higher discriminative value than the other echocardiographic parameters used for detecting CA (AUC 0.93, 95%CI 0.81–0.97). ConclusionsThree-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography reveals regional and global biventricular dysfunction in CA. Assessment of RV ventricular dysfunction has an additive value in differentiating CA from other causes of myocardial wall thickening.

A GC–MS untargeted metabolomics approach for the classification of chemical differences in grape juices based on fungal pathogen

Fungal bunch rot of grapes leads to production of detrimental flavour compounds, some of which are well characterised but others remain unidentified. The current study uses an untargeted metabolomics approach to classify volatile profiles of grape juices based on the presence of different fungal pathogens. Individual grape berries were inoculated with Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium expansum, Aspergillus niger or A. carbonarius. Grape bunches were inoculated and blended with healthy fruit, to provide 10% (w/w) infected juice. Juices from the above sample batches were analysed by GC/MS. PLS-DA of the normalised summed mass ions indicated sample classification according to pathogen. Compounds identified from those mass ion matrices that had high discriminative value for classification included 1,5-dimethylnaphthalene and several unidentified sesquiterpenes that were relatively higher in B. cinerea infected samples. A. niger and A. carbonarius samples were relatively higher in 2-(4-hexyl-2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydrofuran-3-yl)acetic acid, while P. expansum samples were higher in γ-nonalactone and m-cresol.

Caffeine use disorder: An item-response theory analysis of proposed DSM-5 criteria

IntroductionCaffeine is a common psychoactive substance with a documented addictive potential. Caffeine withdrawal has been included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), but caffeine use disorder (CUD) is considered to be a condition for further study. The aim of the current study is (1) to test the psychometric properties of the Caffeine Use Disorder Questionnaire (CUDQ) by using a confirmatory factor analysis and an item response theory (IRT) approach, (2) to compare IRT models with varying numbers of parameters and models with or without caffeine consumption criteria, and (3) to examine if the total daily caffeine consumption and the use of different caffeinated products can predict the magnitude of CUD symptomatology. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on an adult sample (N = 2259). Participants answered several questions regarding their caffeine consumption habits and completed the CUDQ, which incorporates the nine proposed criteria of the DSM-5 as well as one additional item regarding the suffering caused by the symptoms. ResultsFactor analyses demonstrated the unidimensionality of the CUDQ. The suffering criterion had the highest discriminative value at a higher degree of latent trait. The criterion of failure to fulfill obligations and social/interpersonal problems discriminate only at the higher value of CUD latent factor, while endorsement the consumption of more caffeine or longer than intended and craving criteria were discriminative at a lower level of CUD. Total daily caffeine intake was related to a higher level of CUD. Daily coffee, energy drink, and cola intake as dummy variables were associated with the presence of more CUD symptoms, while daily tea consumption as a dummy variable was related to less CUD symptoms. Regular smoking was associated with more CUD symptoms, which was explained by a larger caffeine consumption. ConclusionsThe IRT approach helped to determine which CUD symptoms indicate more severity and have a greater discriminative value. The level of CUD is influenced by the type and quantity of caffeine consumption.

The Influence of Particle Size of Ground Roasted Coffee in Discrimination of Decaffeinated Coffee Using Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy and PLS-DA Method

This present research is an application of UV-VIS spectroscopy and SIMCA method to distinguish robusta ground roasted coffee from Sumatera and Java. Spectral data measurement of the filtered and diluted aqueous coffee samples was performed using a UV-VIS spectrometer (Genesys ™ 10S UV-Vis, Thermo Scientific, USA). SIMCA model was constructed for each class, SIMCA model of Sumatera robusta coffee and SIMCA model of Java robusta coffee. Prediction results show that all predictive samples are successfully grouped correctly according to their classes using the developed SIMCA model, except for S14aPA sample that fail to be classified as robusta coffee of Sumatra. Based on the results of the discriminant power plot analysis, it is concluded that in general the contribution of wavelengths between 200-350 nm is higher than that of the wavelength between 350-600 nm. Several wavelengths with very high contribution (high discriminant power value) and seen as peaks on the plot are 245 nm, 253 nm, 264 nm, 316 nm and 327 nm.

Predictive Value of Lexical-Semantic Processing in the Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease - A Case Report

The cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) compromises virtually all mental functions of the individual, however, the cognitive abilities that are most affected since the onset of the disease are memory and language. The following article presents a case of a 72-year-old man with incipient AD traces, who was evaluated using a cognitive performance protocol, a daily-activity scale, and a severity rating scale for dementia. The objective of the evaluation was to characterize performance in lexical-semantic abilities of the patient that allows to visualize clinically the predictive value of these linguistic functions. The results obtained from the evaluation allow to estimate the high discriminative value of linguistic domains such as verbal fluency and denomination in early stages of AD.

Evaluation of Sofosbuvir (\u03b2-D-2\u2032-deoxy-2\u2032-\u03b1-fluoro-2\u2032-\u03b2-C-methyluridine) as an inhibitor of Dengue virus replication#

We evaluated Sofosbuvir (SOF), the anti-hepatitis C virus prodrug of β-d-2′-deoxy-2′-α-fluoro-2′-β-C-methyluridine-5′-monophosphate, for potential inhibitory activity against DENV replication. Both cell-based and biochemical assays, based on use of purified DENV full-length NS5 enzyme, were studied. Cytopathic effect protection and virus yield reduction assays confirmed that SOF possessed anti-DENV activity in cell culture with a 50% effective concentration (EC50) of 4.9 µM and 1.4 µM respectively. Real-time RT-PCR verified that SOF inhibits generation of viral RNA with an EC50 of 9.9 µM. Purified DENV NS5 incorporated the active triphosphate form (SOF-TP) into nascent RNA, causing chain-termination. Relative to the natural UTP, the incorporation efficiency of SOF-TP was low (discrimination value = 327.5). In a primer extension assay, SOF-TP was active against DENV NS5 wild-type polymerase activity with an IC50 of 14.7 ± 2.5 µM. The S600T substitution in the B Motif of DENV polymerase conferred 4.3-fold resistance to SOF-TP; this was due to decreased incorporation efficiency rather than enhanced excision of the incorporated SOF nucleotide. SOF has antiviral activity against DENV replication. The high discrimination value in favor of UTP in enzyme assays may not necessarily preclude antiviral activity in cells. SOF may be worthy of evaluation against severe DENV infections in humans.

Metabolomics allows the discrimination of the pathophysiological relevance of hyperinsulinism in obese prepubertal children.

Insulin resistance (IR) is the cornerstone of the obesity-associated metabolic derangements observed in obese children. Targeted metabolomics was employed to explore the pathophysiological relevance of hyperinsulinemia in childhood obesity in order to identify biomarkers of IR with potential clinical application. One hundred prepubertal obese children (50 girls/50 boys, 50% IR and 50% non-IR in each group), underwent an oral glucose tolerance test for usual carbohydrate and lipid metabolism determinations. Fasting serum leptin, total and high molecular weight-adiponectin and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured and the metabolites showing significant differences between IR and non-IR groups in a previous metabolomics study were quantified. Enrichment of metabolic pathways (quantitative enrichment analysis) and the correlations between lipid and carbohydrate metabolism parameters, adipokines and serum metabolites were investigated, with their discriminatory capacity being evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Twenty-three metabolite sets were enriched in the serum metabolome of IR obese children (P<0.05, false discovery rate (FDR)<5%). The urea cycle, alanine metabolism and glucose-alanine cycle were the most significantly enriched pathways (PFDR<0.00005). The high correlation between metabolites related to fatty acid oxidation and amino acids (mainly branched chain and aromatic amino acids) pointed to the possible contribution of mitochondrial dysfunction in IR. The degree of body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) excess did not correlate with any of the metabolomic components studied. In the ROC analysis, the combination of leptin and alanine showed a high IR discrimination value in the whole cohort (area under curve, AUCALL=0.87), as well as in boys (AUCM=0.84) and girls (AUCF=0.91) when considered separately. However, the specific metabolite/adipokine combinations with highest sensitivity were different between the sexes. Combined sets of metabolic, adipokine and metabolomic parameters can identify pathophysiological relevant IR in a single fasting sample, suggesting a potential application of metabolomic analysis in clinical practice to better identify children at risk without using invasive protocols.

Classification of White Cultivar Wines by Origin using Volatile Aroma Components

Stepwise discriminant analysis was applied to gas chromatographic data of some volatile compounds obtmiieabjiTreonextracliOii"of dry white table wines. By means of this statistical method, successful classifications according to origin of Colombar wines from two regions, and Chenin blanc wines from three regions, were obtained. The components with the highest discriminatory value were i-amyl acetate, hexyl acetate and i-butanol, in the case of the Colombar wines and hexanol and 2-phenyl ethanol in the case of the Chenin blanc wines.

The Vancouver Lung Cancer Risk Prediction Model: Assessment by Using a Subset of the National Lung Screening Trial Cohort.

Purpose To assess the likelihood of malignancy among a subset of nodules in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) by using a risk calculator based on nodule and patient characteristics. Materials and Methods All authors received approval for use of NLST data. An institutional review board exemption and a waiver for informed consent were granted to the author with an academic appointment. Nodule characteristics and patient attributes with regard to benign and malignant nodules in the NLST were applied to a nodule risk calculator from a group in Vancouver, Canada. Patient populations and their nodule characteristics were compared between the NLST and Vancouver cohorts. Multiple thresholds were tested to distinguish benign nodules from malignant nodules. An optimized threshold value was used to determine positive and negative predictive values, and a full logistic regression model was applied to the NLST data set. Results Sufficient data were available for 4431 nodules (4315 benign nodules and 116 malignant nodules) from the NLST data set. The NLST and Vancouver data sets differed in that the former included fewer nodules per study, fewer nonsolid nodules, and more nodule spiculation and emphysema. A composite risk score threshold of 10% was determined to be optimal, demonstrating sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 85.3%, 93.9%, 27.4%, and 99.6%, respectively. The receiver operating characteristic curve for the full regression model applied to the NLST database demonstrated an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.963 (95% confidence interval: 0.945, 0.974). Conclusion Application of an NLST data subset to the Vancouver risk calculator yielded a high discriminant value, which supports the use of a risk calculator method as a valuable approach to distinguish between benign and malignant nodules. © RSNA, 2016 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Usefulness of mean platelet volume as a marker for clinical outcomes after out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest: a retrospective cohort study

Background Whole-body ischemia followed by reperfusion during cardiac arrest and after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) triggers systemic sterile inflammatory responses, inducing a sepsis-like state during post-cardiac arrest syndrome. Activated platelets are enlarged, and contain vasoactive and prothrombic factors that aggravate systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. Objectives To investigate whether mean platelet volume (MPV) is useful as a marker for early mortality and neurologic outcomes in patients who achieve ROSC after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Methods OHCA records from the Emergency Department Cardiac Arrest Registry were retrospectively analyzed. Patients who survived for > 24 h after ROSC were included. We evaluated mortality and cerebral performance category scores after 30 days. Results We analyzed records from 184 patients with OHCA. Increased 30-day mortality among patients who achieved ROSC after OHCA was associated with MPV at admission (hazard ratio [HR] 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.75). An elevated MPV at admission was also associated with poor neurologic outcomes (HR 1.28; 95% CI 1.06-1.55). Conclusions An elevated MPV was independently associated with increased 30-day mortality, with the highest discriminative value being obtained upon admission after OHCA. An elevated MPV on admission was associated with poor neurologic outcomes. High MPVs are helpful for estimating 30-day mortality and neurologic outcomes among patients who achieve ROSC after OHCA.

Şişman© Instructional Leadership Behaviors Scale: Validity, Reliability and Norm Study

The purpose of this study is to determine norm values of Sisman © Instructional Leadership Behaviors Scale which measure teachers’ perception of school principals’ instructional leadership behaviors by testing validity and reliability of the scale. In the study which was conducted with 4.574 pre-schools, primary school and high school teachers, item discrimination, construct validity (explorative and confirmative factor analyses), internal consistency and norm values were investigated. The results showed that the scale consisted of five factors (i) defining and sharing school aims, (ii) managing educational program and instructional process, (iii) evaluation of instructional process and students, (iv) teacher support and development, (v) creating proper teaching-learning environment and climate, and high measurement validity and reliability values. The results also showed strong evidence to use Sisman © Instructional Leadership Behaviors Scale to measure teachers’ perception of school principals’ instructional leadership.

Risk factors and a clinical prediction model for low maternal thyroid function during early pregnancy: two population-based prospective cohort studies.

Low maternal thyroid function during early pregnancy is associated with various adverse outcomes including impaired neurocognitive development of the offspring, premature delivery and abnormal birthweight. To aid doctors in the risk assessment of thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy, we set out to investigate clinical risk factors and derive a prediction model based on easily obtainable clinical variables. In total, 9767 women during early pregnancy (≤18 week) were selected from two population-based prospective cohorts: the Generation R Study (N = 5985) and the ABCD study (N = 3782). We aimed to investigate the association of easily obtainable clinical subject characteristics such as maternal age, BMI, smoking status, ethnicity, parity and gestational age at blood sampling with the risk of low free thyroxine (FT4) and elevated thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), determined according to the 2·5th-97·5th reference range in TPOAb negative women. BMI, nonsmoking and ethnicity were risk factors for elevated TSH levels; however, the discriminative ability was poor (range c-statistic of 0·57-0·60). Sensitivity analysis showed that addition of TPOAbs to the model yielded a c-statistic of 0·73-0·75. Maternal age, BMI, smoking, parity and gestational age at blood sampling were risk factors for low FT4, which taken together provided adequate discrimination (range c-statistic of 0·72-0·76). Elevated TSH levels depend predominantly on TPOAb levels, and prediction of elevated TSH levels is not possible with clinical characteristics only. In contrast, the validated clinical prediction model for FT4 had high discriminative value to assess the likelihood of low FT4 levels.

Circulating miR-221-3p as a novel marker for early prediction of acute myocardial infarction

Recent studies have reported circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) as novel biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases including acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, diabetes mellitus, stroke, and acute pulmonary embolism. The aims of this study were 1) to compare the plasma expression levels of miRNAs in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and control subjects and in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-STEMI 2) to evaluate miRNAs potential to be used as novel diagnostic biomarkers for ACS.Twenty seven consecutive patients, admitted to emergency department of a training and research hospital between January–December 2013 with acute chest pain and/or dyspnea and diagnosed with ACS, and 16 non-ACS control subjects were included in this study. miRNA profiling was performed by using real time polymerase chain reaction. Functions of dysregulated miRNAs were evaluated by computerized-pathways analysis.miR-221-3p was one of the two most dysregulated miRNAs with a fold regulation of 3.89. It was significantly positively correlated with both Troponin and GRACE and Synthax Score. Moreover, miR221-3p was found to be significantly inversely correlated with left ventricular ejection fraction. miR-221-3p was the most prominent biomarker candidate with an area under curve (AUC) level of 0.881 (95% confidence interval: 0.774–0.987; p=0.002). The present study is the first to report an increased expression levels of miR-221-3p in AMI. Since miR-221-3p has a high discriminative value and significant relations with Troponin, GRACE and Synthax score and left ventricular systolic function, it may be a potential biomarker for early prediction of AMI.

Validation of the new glioma WHO classification in the french POLA network: Analysis of 1041 cases.

2015 Background: The upcoming WHO classification of gliomas will be refined taking into account the robust molecular alterations of gliomagenesis: the 1p19q codeletion and IDH1/2mutations. Methods: All cases of high-grade oligodendroglial tumors sent for central pathological review and included into the French nation-wide POLA network were reclassified according the upgrading of the 4th WHO classification that integrates pathological features and molecular data. Immunohistochemical expression of IDH1R132H, and ATRX, 1p19q codeletion, chromosome 7p gain and chromosome 10q loss by genomic-array and IDH1/2and histone K27M mutational statuses by sequencing were evaluated. Results: 1041 patients were included with a median age at diagnosis of 50.4 years (range, 17.1-84.4). Based on the new histo-molecular classification, diagnoses were: anaplastic oligodendroglioma with 1p19q codeletion (32.5%), anaplastic astrocytoma IDH mutated (IDHmt) (11.0%), anaplastic astrocytoma IDHwild-type (IDHwt) (5.3%), glioblastoma IDHmt (17.1%) and glioblastoma IDHwt (33.2%). Ten patients presented a midline tumor with the histone H3-K27M mutation. Both new and oldest WHO classifications were predictive for Progression-Free Survival (PFS) and Overall Survival (OS) but the new histo-molecular classification was more discriminant with higher hazard ratio for PFS (1.603, 1.848, 5.025 and 6.135 versus 1.495, 2.705, 2.799 and 4.933) and for OS (3.588, 3.493, 11.020 and 14.708 versus 2.259, 4.340, 4.214 and 7.534). Grading (III versus IV) was not prognostic for IDHmt non 1p19q codeleted gliomas in univariate analyses (PFS, p=0.5; OS, p=0.8) and multivariate analysis (adjusted by age, type of surgery and first line treatment: PFS, p=0.13; OS, p=0.38). Among anaplastic astrocytoma IDHwt, cases presenting with 7p gain and 10q loss (55%) had a worse prognosis that the others for PFS (p=0.027), suggesting that all anaplastic astrocytoma IDHwt should not be considered as glioblastoma IDHwt. Conclusions: WHO histo-molecular classification of gliomas presented with high predictive and discriminative value, allowing the validation of three main molecular subgroups for the future neuro-oncological trials.

Influences of aspect and tillage on two winegrape cultivars on Mount Etna

ABSTRACTThe effect of minimum tillage on two autochthonous Vitis vinifera L. varieties, namely Nerello mascalese and Carricante, established on the eastern and northern aspect slopes of the volcano Mount Etna in Sicily, was evaluated over two seasons. The objective was to determine whether conventional tillage and minimum tillage affect the vegetative growth, bud fertility, total leaf area, leaf nutritional status and fruit yield components. The ratio of bunches/retained buds was strongly influenced by aspect. Yield per vine was significantly different within cultivars and seasons depending on cultivar, tillage treatment and aspect. Due to its natural plasticity in marginal conditions, yields were consistently higher in Nerello mascalese. The yield reduction with minimal tillage was excessive in Carricante. As a consequence of the yield reduction in the second season, total soluble solids in particular were increased in Nerello mascalese. Linear discriminant analysis revealed the highest discrimination values for cultivar and the lowest ones for tillage.