Navigating sex and sex roles: deciphering sex-biased gene expression in a species with sex-role reversal (Syngnathus typhle).

Sexual dimorphism, the divergence in morphological traits between males and females of the same species, is often accompanied by sex-biased gene expression. However, the majority of research has focused on species with conventional sex roles, where females have the highest energy burden with both egg production and parental care, neglecting the diversity of reproductive roles found in nature. We investigated sex-biased gene expression in Syngnathus typhle, a sex-role reversed species with male pregnancy, allowing us to separate two female traits: egg production and parental care. Using RNA sequencing, we examined gene expression across organs (brain, head kidney and gonads) at various life stages, encompassing differences in age, sex and reproductive status. While some gene groups were more strongly associated with sex roles, such as stress resistance and immune defence, others were driven by biological sex, such as energy and lipid storage regulation in an organ- and age-specific manner. By investigating how genes regulate and are regulated by changing reproductive roles and resource allocation in a model system with an unconventional life-history strategy, we aim to better understand the importance of sex and sex role in regulating gene expression patterns, broadening the scope of this discussion to encompass a wide range of organisms.

Low-affinity insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 and its association with pulmonary arterial hypertension severity and survival.

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding proteins (IGFBPs) are a family of growth factor modifiers, some of which are known to be independently associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) survival. IGF factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) is a unique low-affinity IGFBP that, independent of IGF, stimulates prostacyclin production. This study proposed to establish associations between IGFBP7 and PAH severity and survival, using enrollment and longitudinal samples. Serum IGFBP7 levels were significantly elevated in patients with PAH compared to controls. After adjusting for age and sex, logarithmic increases in IGFBP7 were associated with a 20 m shorter six-minute walk distance (6MWD; p < 0.001), a 2-3 mmHg higher mean right atrial pressure (p < 0.001 and 0.02), and a higher likelihood of a greater REVEAL 2.0 risk category placement (p < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated significantly decreased survival with IGFBP7 above the median and Cox multivariable analysis adjusted for age and sex, demonstrated higher serum IGFBP7 was an independent predictor of survival. Though the exact mechanism is still unknown, given IGFBP7's role as a prostacyclin stimulant, it has potential use as a therapeutic target for disease modulation.

Insulin-like growth factor binding Protein-4: A novel indicator of pulmonary arterial hypertension severity and survival.

Proteomic analysis of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has demonstrated significant abnormalities in the insulin-like growth factor axis (IGF). This study proposed to establish associations between a specific binding protein, insulin-like growth factor binding protein 4 (IGFBP4), and PAH severity as well as survival across varying study cohorts. In all cohorts studied, serum IGFBP4 levels were significantly elevated in PAH compared to controls (p < 0.0001). IGFBP4 concentration was also highest in the connective tissue-associated PAH (CTD-PAH) and idiopathic PAH subtypes (876 and 784 ng/mL, median, respectively). After adjustment for age and sex, IGFBP4 was significantly associated with worse PAH severity as defined by a decreased 6-min walk distance (6MWD), New York heart association functional class (NYHA-FC), REVEAL 2.0 score and higher right atrial pressures. In longitudinal analysis provided by one of the study cohorts, IGFBP4 was prospectively significantly associated with a shorter 6MWD, worse NYHA-FC classification, and decreased survival. Cox multivariable analysis demonstrated higher serum IGFBP4 as an independent predictor of survival in the overall PAHB cohort. Therefore, this study established that higher circulating IGFBP4 levels were significantly associated with worse PAH severity, decreased survival and disease progression. Dysregulation of IGF metabolism/growth axis may play a significant role in PAH cardio-pulmonary pathobiology.

Current allele distribution of the human longevity gene APOE in Europe can mainly be explained by ancient admixture.

Variation in apolipoprotein E (APOE) has been shown to have the strongest genetic effect on human longevity. The aim of this study was to unravel the evolutionary history of the three major APOE alleles in Europe by analysing ancient samples up to 12,000 years old. We detected significant allele frequency shifts between populations and over time. Our analyses indicated that selection led to large frequency differences between the earliest European populations (i.e., hunter-gatherers vs. first farmers), possibly due to changes in diet/lifestyle. In contrast, the allele distributions in populations from ~4000 BCE onward can mainly be explained by admixture, suggesting that it also played an important role in shaping current APOE variation. In any case, the resulting allele frequencies strongly influence the predisposition for longevity today, likely as a consequence of past adaptations and demographic processes.

Trends in incidence rates of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas overall and by potential relatedness to human papillomavirus, Costa Rica 2006 to 2015.

In Costa Rica (CR), only one report on head and neck cancer (HNC) incidence trends (1985-2007) has been published and no investigations on the epidemiology of potentially human papillomavirus (HPV)-related and HPV-unrelated HNCs have been done. We examined the age-standardized incidence rates (IRs) and trends of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) and compared incidence trends of potentially HPV-related and HPV-unrelated HNSCCs. We obtained all available HNC cases for the period 2006-2015 from the Costa Rican National Cancer Registry of Tumors and the population estimates from the Costa Rican National Institute of Statistics and Census. The analysis was restricted to invasive HNSCCs (n = 1577). IRs and incidence rate ratios were calculated using SEER*Stat software and were age-standardized for the 2010 Costa Rican population. Joinpoint regression analysis program was used to calculate trends and annual percent changes (APCs) in rates. For all HNSCCs, the age-standardized IR was 34.0/million person-years; 95% CI 32.4, 35.8. There was a significant decline in the incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer (APC: -5.9% per year; 95% CI -10.8, -0.7) and laryngeal cancer (APC: -5.4% per year; -9.2, 1.5). The incidence trends for hypopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and oral cavity cancers each remained stable over time. HNSCCs were categorized by their potential relatedness to HPV infection. Though the APCs were not statistically significant, IRs of potentially HPV-related HNSCCs trended upward, while HPV-unrelated HNSCCs trended downward. HNSCCs are uncommon in CR and decreased over time. We observed a divergent pattern of decreasing HPV-unrelated with increasing HPV-related HNSCCs that should be further informed by HPV genotyping tumor samples.

A novel intelligent radiomic analysis of perfusion SPECT/CT images to optimize pulmonary embolism diagnosis in COVID-19 patients.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 infection, especially in cases with pneumonia, is associated with a high rate of pulmonary embolism (PE). In patients with contraindications for CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) or non-diagnostic CTPA, perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (Q-SPECT/CT) is a diagnostic alternative. The goal of this study is to develop a radiomic diagnostic system to detect PE based only on the analysis of Q-SPECT/CT scans. METHODS: This radiomic diagnostic system is based on a local analysis of Q-SPECT/CT volumes that includes both CT and Q-SPECT values for each volume point. We present a combined approach that uses radiomic features extracted from each scan as input into a fully connected classification neural network that optimizes a weighted cross-entropy loss trained to discriminate between three different types of image patterns (pixel sample level): healthy lungs (control group), PE and pneumonia. Four types of models using different configuration of parameters were tested. RESULTS: The proposed radiomic diagnostic system was trained on 20 patients (4,927 sets of samples of three types of image patterns) and validated in a group of 39 patients (4,410 sets of samples of three types of image patterns). In the training group, COVID-19 infection corresponded to 45% of the cases and 51.28% in the test group. In the test group, the best model for determining different types of image patterns with PE presented a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 75.1%, 98.2%, 88.9% and 95.4%, respectively. The best model for detecting pneumonia presented a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 94.1%, 93.6%, 85.2% and 97.6%, respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.92 for PE and 0.91 for pneumonia. When the results obtained at the pixel sample level are aggregated into regions of interest, the sensitivity of the PE increases to 85%, and all metrics improve for pneumonia. CONCLUSION: This radiomic diagnostic system was able to identify the different lung imaging patterns and is a first step toward a comprehensive intelligent radiomic system to optimize the diagnosis of PE by Q-SPECT/CT. HIGHLIGHTS: Artificial intelligence applied to Q-SPECT/CT is a diagnostic option in patients with contraindications to CTPA or a non-diagnostic test in times of COVID-19.

Long-Lived Individuals Show a Lower Burden of Variants Predisposing to Age-Related Diseases and a Higher Polygenic Longevity Score.

Longevity is a complex phenotype influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. The genetic contribution is estimated at about 25%. Despite extensive research efforts, only a few longevity genes have been validated across populations. Long-lived individuals (LLI) reach extreme ages with a relative low prevalence of chronic disability and major age-related diseases (ARDs). We tested whether the protection from ARDs in LLI can partly be attributed to genetic factors by calculating polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for seven common late-life diseases (Alzheimer's disease (AD), atrial fibrillation (AF), coronary artery disease (CAD), colorectal cancer (CRC), ischemic stroke (ISS), Parkinson's disease (PD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D)). The examined sample comprised 1351 German LLI (≥94 years, including 643 centenarians) and 4680 German younger controls. For all ARD-PRSs tested, the LLI had significantly lower scores than the younger control individuals (areas under the curve (AUCs): ISS = 0.59, p = 2.84 × 10-35; AD = 0.59, p = 3.16 × 10-25; AF = 0.57, p = 1.07 × 10-16; CAD = 0.56, p = 1.88 × 10-12; CRC = 0.52, p = 5.85 × 10-3; PD = 0.52, p = 1.91 × 10-3; T2D = 0.51, p = 2.61 × 10-3). We combined the individual ARD-PRSs into a meta-PRS (AUC = 0.64, p = 6.45 × 10-15). We also generated two genome-wide polygenic scores for longevity, one with and one without the TOMM40/APOE/APOC1 gene region (AUC (incl. TOMM40/APOE/APOC1) = 0.56, p = 1.45 × 10-5, seven variants; AUC (excl. TOMM40/APOE/APOC1) = 0.55, p = 9.85 × 10-3, 10,361 variants). Furthermore, the inclusion of nine markers from the excluded region (not in LD with each other) plus the APOE haplotype into the model raised the AUC from 0.55 to 0.61. Thus, our results highlight the importance of TOMM40/APOE/APOC1 as a longevity hub.

Understanding How CNNs Recognize Facial Expressions: A Case Study with LIME and CEM.

Recognizing facial expressions has been a persistent goal in the scientific community. Since the rise of artificial intelligence, convolutional neural networks (CNN) have become popular to recognize facial expressions, as images can be directly used as input. Current CNN models can achieve high recognition rates, but they give no clue about their reasoning process. Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) has been developed as a means to help to interpret the results obtained by machine learning models. When dealing with images, one of the most-used XAI techniques is LIME. LIME highlights the areas of the image that contribute to a classification. As an alternative to LIME, the CEM method appeared, providing explanations in a way that is natural for human classification: besides highlighting what is sufficient to justify a classification, it also identifies what should be absent to maintain it and to distinguish it from another classification. This study presents the results of comparing LIME and CEM applied over complex images such as facial expression images. While CEM could be used to explain the results on images described with a reduced number of features, LIME would be the method of choice when dealing with images described with a huge number of features.

"Come on! He Has Never Cooked in His Life!" New Alternative Masculinities Putting Everything in Its Place.

Communicative acts of some women are perpetuating the dominance that DTM (Dominant Traditional Masculinities) have over both women and OTM (Oppressed Traditional Masculinities). Some women use language in a disdainful manner to reprimand oppressed men's behavior in daily life situations, the same behavior that such women would not reproach to DTM. But NAM (New Alternative Masculinities) are reacting to this. This article analyzes the communicative acts employed in all these situations, both those produced by women and DTM, as well as NAM's communicative acts in response to those offenses. Data was collected using communicative daily life stories of give women and three men with diverse profiles and different levels of participation in women's and men's movements. Findings highlight, from the transformative dimension of the communicative methodology, that the use of language of desire in NAM's reactions is effective not only to make justice with men who have never executed violence on women, but also to undermine the attractiveness of both DTM's behavior and the comments of some women on such behavior. These findings complement previous research on preventive socialization of gender violence by broadening scientific knowledge on NAM's communicative acts that prevent and eradicate gender-based violence. Further research ought to broaden the evidence of how some women who defend feminist values sometimes do not support and even tease or reprimand men who practice these values; moreover, an important line could analyze the way people talk about men with NAM attitudes to hold back reprimands in comparison to how people talk about men who follow a DTM model.

Caso Clínico: Resolución quirúrgica de coartación de aorta en un paciente pediátrico / Case Report: Surgical resolution of aortic coarctation in pediatric patient

INTRODUCCIÓN: La coartación de aorta es una cardiopatía congénita con una incidencia de 4 por cada 10 000 nacidos vivos y puede asociarse o no a ductus arterioso persistente u otras malformaciones. Suele ser asintomático, normalmente se diagnostica mediante los signos clásicos; con gradiente de presión arterial entre extremidades, pulsos reducidos en extremidades inferiores, hipertensión arterial en miembros superiores o, en casos graves, fallo cardiaco izquierdo. Su resolución puede ser percutánea o quirúrgica, dependiendo de la edad y sus características. CASO CLÍNICO: Paciente masculino de 6 años, asintomático, con sospecha de coartación aórtica, por presentar una diferencia entre presiones arteriales de miembros superiores e inferiores, extremidades inferiores con pulsos reducidos y soplo sistólico en foco aórtico. Se solicitó ecocardiograma que informó válvula aórtica bicúspide con rafe, insuficiencia ligera y coartación de aorta; angiotomografía evidenció coartación de aorta yuxtaductal; cateterismo cardiaco objetivó casi nulo paso de contraste a través del defecto, por lo que se programó tratamiento quirúrgico. EVOLUCIÓN: La corrección quirúrgica se realizó mediante coartectomía con anastomosis termino-terminal más cierre del conducto arterioso. Posterior a la intervención se logró objetivar una mejora relevante en el gradiente de presión entre las extremidades. En el postquirúrgico el paciente presentó hipertensión que logró ser controlada, evolucionó favorablemente y recibió el alta a los 4 días sin tratamiento antihipertensivo ambulatorio. CONCLUSIÓN: La expectativa de vida en pacientes intervenidos para corregir su cardiopatía congénita es superior en relación a aquellos que no son intervenidos, por lo que el diagnóstico oportuno supone una herramienta importante para mejorar la calidad y esperanza de vida.

BACKGROUND: Coarctation of the aorta is a congenital heart disease with an incidence of 4 per 10 000 live births, it may or may not be associated with patent ductus arteriosus as well as other malformations. It is usually asymptomatic and diagnosed by its classic signs such as; arterial pressure gradient between extremities, reduced pulses in the lower extremities, arterial hypertension in the upper extremities or, in severe cases, left heart failure. Its resolution can be percutaneous or surgical, depending on the patient's age and the characteristics of the defect. CASE REPORTS: A 6-year-old male patient, asymptomatic, with suspected aortic coarctation, due to a difference between arterial pressures in the upper and lower limbs, lower limbs with reduced pulses, and a systolic murmur in the aortic focus. An echocardiogram was requested, which reported a bicuspid aortic valve with raphe, mild regurgitation, and coarctation of the aorta; CT angiography showed coarctation of the juxtaductal aorta; cardiac catheterization showed almost no passage of contrast through the defect, so surgical treatment was scheduled. EVOLUTION: Surgical correction was performed by coartectomy with end-to-end anastomosis and closure of the ductus arteriosus. After the intervention, a relevant improvement in the pressure gradient between the extremities was observed. In the postoperative period the patient presented hypertension, that we managed to control, the patient progressed favorably and was discharged after 4 days without antihypertensive treatment. CONCLUSION: Life expectancy in patients who underwent surgery to correct a congenital heart disease is higher than in those who don't, so timely diagnosis is an important tool to improve life quality and life expectancy.

Exome-Wide Association Study Identifies FN3KRP and PGP as New Candidate Longevity Genes.

Despite enormous research efforts, the genetic component of longevity has remained largely elusive. The investigation of common variants, mainly located in intronic or regulatory regions, has yielded only little new information on the heritability of the phenotype. Here, we performed a chip-based exome-wide association study investigating 62 488 common and rare coding variants in 1248 German long-lived individuals, including 599 centenarians and 6941 younger controls (age < 60 years). In a single-variant analysis, we observed an exome-wide significant association between rs1046896 in the gene fructosamine-3-kinase-related-protein (FN3KRP) and longevity. Noteworthy, we found the longevity allele C of rs1046896 to be associated with an increased FN3KRP expression in whole blood; a database look-up confirmed this effect for various other human tissues. A gene-based analysis, in which potential cumulative effects of common and rare variants were considered, yielded the gene phosphoglycolate phosphatase (PGP) as another potential longevity gene, though no single variant in PGP reached the discovery p-value (1 × 10E-04). Furthermore, we validated the previously reported longevity locus cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2B antisense RNA 1 (CDKN2B-AS1). Replication of our results in a French longevity cohort was only successful for rs1063192 in CDKN2B-AS1. In conclusion, we identified 2 new potential candidate longevity genes, FN3KRP and PGP which may influence the phenotype through their role in metabolic processes, that is, the reverse glycation of proteins (FN3KRP) and the control of glycerol-3-phosphate levels (PGP).

Rare genetic coding variants associated with human longevity and protection against age-related diseases.

Extreme longevity in humans has a strong genetic component, but whether this involves genetic variation in the same longevity pathways as found in model organisms is unclear. Using whole-exome sequences of a large cohort of Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians to examine enrichment for rare coding variants, we found most longevity-associated rare coding variants converge upon conserved insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling and AMP-activating protein kinase signaling pathways. Centenarians have a number of pathogenic rare coding variants similar to control individuals, suggesting that rare variants detected in the conserved longevity pathways are protective against age-related pathology. Indeed, we detected a pro-longevity effect of rare coding variants in the Wnt signaling pathway on individuals harboring the known common risk allele APOE4. The genetic component of extreme human longevity constitutes, at least in part, rare coding variants in pathways that protect against aging, including those that control longevity in model organisms.

DNA methylation QTL analysis identifies new regulators of human longevity.

Human longevity is a complex trait influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, whose interaction is mediated by epigenetic mechanisms like DNA methylation. Here, we generated genome-wide whole-blood methylome data from 267 individuals, of which 71 were long-lived (90-104 years), by applying reduced representation bisulfite sequencing. We followed a stringent two-stage analysis procedure using discovery and replication samples to detect differentially methylated sites (DMSs) between young and long-lived study participants. Additionally, we performed a DNA methylation quantitative trait loci analysis to identify DMSs that underlie the longevity phenotype. We combined the DMSs results with gene expression data as an indicator of functional relevance. This approach yielded 21 new candidate genes, the majority of which are involved in neurophysiological processes or cancer. Notably, two candidates (PVRL2, ERCC1) are located on chromosome 19q, in close proximity to the well-known longevity- and Alzheimer's disease-associated loci APOE and TOMM40. We propose this region as a longevity hub, operating on both a genetic (APOE, TOMM40) and an epigenetic (PVRL2, ERCC1) level. We hypothesize that the heritable methylation and associated gene expression changes reported here are overall advantageous for the LLI and may prevent/postpone age-related diseases and facilitate survival into very old age.

Estimación del sexo con metacarpos y metatarsos para población mexicana / Estimation of gender from metacarpals and metatarsals in a Mexican population

INTRODUCCIÓN: El objetivo de este estudio fue la obtención de funciones discriminantes para estimación del sexo a partir de mediciones directas en metacarpos y metatarsos para contribuir en la identificación de individuos desconocidos. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: Se analizaron métricamente los metacarpos y metatarsos de 112 esqueletos adultos contemporáneos (49 femeninos y 63 masculinos) de la Colección-UNAM del Laboratorio de Antropología Física, Facultad de Medicina, UNAM. Empleando un vernier digital se tomaron 5 medidas (longitud máxima y 4 anchuras) en cada uno de los huesos del metacarpo y del metatarso. RESULTADOS: Se desarrollaron 14 funciones discriminantes para los metacarpos, con porcentajes del 79,5% a 85,3% de asignación sexual correcta, siendo el segundo metacarpo el hueso más dimórfico de la muestra. Para el caso de los metatarsos se obtuvieron 5 funciones que van del 77,8% al 83,2% de certidumbre, siendo el primer metatarso el hueso más dimórfico. De manera general, las anchuras en ambas epífisis fueron las medidas más dimórficas. CONCLUSIONES: Las funciones discriminantes de metacarpos y metatarsos obtenidas presentan, de manera general, porcentajes por encima del 80%, lo cual concuerda con lo reportado para otras poblaciones; por lo tanto, pueden ser utilizadas en contextos forenses para la identificación humana, en restos completos o fragmentados, en el caso de no contar con otro elemento óseo, como la pelvis

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to obtain discriminant functions for estimating gender from direct measurements of the metacarpal and metatarsal bones for identification of unknown individuals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An analysis was performed on metacarpal and metatarsals bones of 112 adult contemporary skeletons (49 females and 63 males). The sample belongs to the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Collection from the Physical Anthropology Laboratory, UNAM Faculty of Medicine. Five measurements were taken (maximum length and four widths) of each metacarpal and metatarsal bones employing a digital calliper. RESULTS: Fourteen discriminant functions were developed for metacarpals with percentages from 79.5% to 85.3% of correct gender classification. The second metacarpal was the most dimorphic of the sample. For metatarsals, five discriminant functions were obtained, ranging from 77.8% to 83.2% of certainty. In this case the first metatarsal was the most dimorphic. In general terms, the widths of both epiphyses were the most dimorphic measurements. CONCLUSIONS: The discriminant functions of metacarpal and metatarsal bones obtained are generally above 80%, which is similar to reports from other populations. Therefore, it can be used in forensic contexts for human identification with complete or fragmented remains, in the cases where no other bone element is available, such as the pelvis

Boundary maintenance in the ancestral metazoan Hydra depends on histone acetylation.

Much of boundary formation during development remains to be understood, despite being a defining feature of many animal taxa. Axial patterning of Hydra, a member of the ancient phylum Cnidaria which diverged prior to the bilaterian radiation, involves a steady-state of production and loss of tissue, and is dependent on an organizer located in the upper part of the head. We show that the sharp boundary separating tissue in the body column from head and foot tissue depends on histone acetylation. Histone deacetylation disrupts the boundary by affecting numerous developmental genes including Wnt components and prevents stem cells from entering the position dependent differentiation program. Overall, our results suggest that reversible histone acetylation is an ancient regulatory mechanism for partitioning the body axis into domains with specific identity, which was present in the common ancestor of cnidarians and bilaterians, at least 600 million years ago.

Potential bacterial bioindicators of urban pollution in mangroves.

Despite their ecological and socioeconomic importance, mangroves are among the most threatened tropical environments in the world. In the past two decades, the world's mangrove degradation and loss were estimated to lie between an 35% and >80%. However, appropriate bioindicators for assessing the impact of external factors, and for differentiating polluted from unpolluted areas are still scarce. Here, we determine the physicochemical profiles of the soils of two mangroves, one exposed to and one not exposed to anthropogenic factors. By metagenomic analysis based on 16S rRNA, we generated the bacterial diversity profiles of the soils and estimated their functional profiles. Our results showed that the two examined mangrove forests differed significantly in the physicochemical properties of the soils, especially regarding organic carbon, phosphorus and metal content, as well as in their microbial communities, which was likely caused by anthropogenic pollution. The physicochemical differences between the soils explained 76% of the differential bacterial composition, and 64% depended solely on gradients of phosphorus, metal ions and potassium. We found two genera JL-ETNP-Z39 and TA06 exclusively in polluted and non-polluted mangroves, respectively. Additionally, the polluted mangrove was enriched in Gemmatimonadetes, Cyanobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, and Nitrospirae. A total of 77 genera were affected by anthropic contamination, of which we propose 33 as bioindicators; 26 enriched, and 7 depleted upon pollution.

Selection of Radiomics Features based on their Reproducibility.

Dimensionality reduction is key to alleviate machine learning artifacts in clinical applications with Small Sample Size (SSS) unbalanced datasets. Existing methods rely on either the probabilistic distribution of training data or the discriminant power of the reduced space, disregarding the impact of repeatability and uncertainty in features.In the present study is proposed the use of reproducibility of radiomics features to select features with high inter-class correlation coefficient (ICC). The reproducibility includes the variability introduced in the image acquisition, like medical scans acquisition parameters and convolution kernels, that affects intensity-based features and tumor annotations made by physicians, that influences morphological descriptors of the lesion.For the reproducibility of radiomics features three studies were conducted on cases collected at Vall Hebron Oncology Institute (VHIO) on responders to oncology treatment. The studies focused on the variability due to the convolution kernel, image acquisition parameters, and the inter-observer lesion identification. The features selected were those features with a ICC higher than 0.7 in the three studies.The selected features based on reproducibility were evaluated for lesion malignancy classification using a different database. Results show better performance compared to several state-of-the-art methods including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Kernel Discriminant Analysis via QR decomposition (KDAQR), LASSO, and an own built Convolutional Neural Network.

Publisher Correction: Identification and characterization of two functional variants in the human longevity gene FOXO3.

The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Robert Häsler, which was incorrectly given as Robert Häesler. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.