Smoking & Tobacco

Synchronization-induced spike termination in networks of bistable neurons.

We observe and study a self-organized phenomenon whereby the activity in a network of spiking neurons spontaneously terminates. We consider different types of populations, consisting of bistable model neurons connected electrically by gap junctions, or by either excitatory or inhibitory synapses, in a scale-free connection topology. We find that strongly synchronized population spiking events lead...

Rapid Rule Out of Culture-Negative Bloodstream Infections by Use of a Novel Approach to Universal Detection of Bacteria and Fungi.

BACKGROUND: Currently it can take up to 5 days to rule out bloodstream infection. With the low yield of blood cultures (approximately 10%), a significant number of patients are potentially exposed to inappropriate therapy that can lead to adverse events. More rapid rule out can accelerate deescalation or cessation of antimicrobial therapy, improving patient outcomes.

Multiple Human-Behaviour Indicators for Predicting Lung Cancer Mortality with Support Vector Machine.

Lung cancer is still one of the most common causes of death around the world, while there is overwhelming evidence that the environment and lifestyle ...

Prenatal Exposure to Gestational Nicotine before Neurulation is Detrimental to Neurodevelopment of Wistar Rats' Offspring.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: This study aimed to determine the effect of gestational nicotine exposure before neurodevelopment on the morphology and histology ...

Identification of Novel Genes in Human Airway Epithelial Cells associated with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) using Machine-Based Learning Algorithms.

The aim of this project was to identify candidate novel therapeutic targets to facilitate the treatment of COPD using machine-based learning (ML) algo...

Identifying substance use risk based on deep neural networks and Instagram social media data.

Social media may provide new insight into our understanding of substance use and addiction. In this study, we developed a deep-learning method to auto...

Mining User-Generated Content in an Online Smoking Cessation Community to Identify Smoking Status: A Machine Learning Approach.

Online smoking cessation communities help hundreds of thousands of smokers quit smoking and stay abstinent each year. Content shared by users of such ...

Support Vector Machine Optimized by Genetic Algorithm for Data Analysis of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Sensors.

Near-infrared (NIR) spectral sensors deliver the spectral response of the light absorbed by materials for quantification, qualification or identificat...

Association of Reduced Nicotine Content Cigarettes With Smoking Behaviors and Biomarkers of Exposure Among Slow and Fast Nicotine Metabolizers: A Nonrandomized Clinical Trial.

IMPORTANCE: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its intention to reduce the nicotine content in combustible cigarettes but must ba...

Deep learning to predict the lab-of-origin of engineered DNA.

Genetic engineering projects are rapidly growing in scale and complexity, driven by new tools to design and construct DNA. There is increasing concern...

A Nasal Brush-based Classifier of Asthma Identified by Machine Learning Analysis of Nasal RNA Sequence Data.

Asthma is a common, under-diagnosed disease affecting all ages. We sought to identify a nasal brush-based classifier of mild/moderate asthma. 190 subj...

Survey of potential receptivity to robotic-assisted exercise coaching in a diverse sample of smokers and nonsmokers.

A prior project found that an intensive (12 weeks, thrice weekly sessions) in-person, supervised, exercise coaching intervention was effective for smo...

Capturing multi-stage fuzzy uncertainties in hybrid system dynamics and agent-based models for enhancing policy implementation in health systems research.

BACKGROUND: In practical research, it was found that most people made health-related decisions not based on numerical data but on perceptions. Example...

Prediction of cardiovascular risk factors from retinal fundus photographs via deep learning.

Traditionally, medical discoveries are made by observing associations, making hypotheses from them and then designing and running experiments to test ...

Biosignature Discovery for Substance Use Disorders Using Statistical Learning.

There are limited biomarkers for substance use disorders (SUDs). Traditional statistical approaches are identifying simple biomarkers in large samples...

Predicting non-melanoma skin cancer via a multi-parameterized artificial neural network.

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure and family history are major associated risk factors for the development of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). The ...

Nicotine is a risk factor for dental caries: An  study.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: is an important pathogen in the development of dental caries. Many studies have focused on the relationship between nicotine and ...

How Confounder Strength Can Affect Allocation of Resources in Electronic Health Records.

When electronic health record (EHR) data are used, multiple approaches may be available for measuring the same variable, introducing potentially confo...

Differences between Dual Users and Switchers Center around Vaping Behavior and Its Experiences Rather than Beliefs and Attitudes.

(1) Background: Many smokers completely switch to vaping (switchers), whereas others use e-cigarettes (e-cigs) alongside tobacco cigarettes (dual user...

Antiviral activity of aconite alkaloids from Debx.

Four diterpenoid alkaloids, namely, () hypaconitine, ) songorine, () mesaconitine and () aconitine, were isolated from the ethanol root extract of De...