The anatomy of a scientific rumor De Domenico, M; Lima, A; Mougel, P ...
Scientific reports,
10/2013, Volume:
3, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The announcement of the discovery of a Higgs boson-like particle at CERN will be remembered as one of the milestones of the scientific endeavor of the 21(st) century. In this paper we present a study ...of information spreading processes on Twitter before, during and after the announcement of the discovery of a new particle with the features of the elusive Higgs boson on 4(th) July 2012. We report evidence for non-trivial spatio-temporal patterns in user activities at individual and global level, such as tweeting, re-tweeting and replying to existing tweets. We provide a possible explanation for the observed time-varying dynamics of user activities during the spreading of this scientific "rumor". We model the information spreading in the corresponding network of individuals who posted a tweet related to the Higgs boson discovery. Finally, we show that we are able to reproduce the global behavior of about 500,000 individuals with remarkable accuracy.
Human mobility and social structure are at the basis of disease spreading. Disease containment strategies are usually devised from coarse-grained assumptions about human mobility. Cellular networks ...data, however, provides finer-grained information, not only about how people move, but also about how they communicate. In this paper we analyze the behavior of a large number of individuals in Ivory Coast using cellular network data. We model mobility and communication between individuals by means of an interconnected multiplex structure where each node represents the population in a geographic area (i.e., a sous-préfecture, a third-level administrative region). We present a model that describes how diseases circulate around the country as people move between regions. We extend the model with a concurrent process of relevant information spreading. This process corresponds to people disseminating disease prevention information, e.g., hygiene practices, vaccination campaign notices and other, within their social network. Thus, this process interferes with the epidemic. We then evaluate how restricting the mobility or using preventive information spreading process affects the epidemic. We find that restricting mobility does not delay the occurrence of an endemic state and that an information campaign might be an effective countermeasure.
In humans, coronaviruses can cause infections of the respiratory system, with damage of varying severity depending on the virus examined: ranging from mild-to-moderate upper respiratory tract ...diseases, such as the common cold, pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death. Human coronaviruses known to date, common throughout the world, are seven. The most common—and least harmful—ones were discovered in the 1960s and cause a common cold. Others, more dangerous, identified in the early 2000s and cause more severe respiratory tract infections. Among these the SARS-CoV, isolated in 2003 and responsible for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (the so-called SARS), which appeared in China in November 2002, the coronavirus 2012 (2012-nCoV) cause of the Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS) from coronavirus, which exploded in June 2012 in Saudi Arabia, and actually SARS-CoV-2. On December 31, 2019, a new coronavirus strain was reported in Wuhan, China, identified as a new coronavirus beta strain ß-CoV from group 2B, with a genetic similarity of approximately 70% to SARS-CoV, the virus responsible of SARS. In the first half of February, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), in charge of the designation and naming of the viruses (i.e., species, genus, family, etc.), thus definitively named the new coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2. This article highlights the main knowledge we have about the biomolecular and pathophysiologic mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2.
The prognosis of the oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients remains very poor, mainly due to their high propensity to invade and metastasize. E-cadherin reduced expression occurs in the primary ...step of oral tumour progression and gene methylation is a mode by which the expression of this protein is regulated in cancers. In this perspective, we investigated E-cadherin gene (CDH1) promoter methylation status in OSCC and its correlation with Ecadherin protein expression, clinicopathological characteristics and patient outcome.
Histologically proven OSCC and paired normal mucosa were analyzed for CDH1 promoter methylation status and E-cadherin protein expression by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. Colocalization of E-cadherin with epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR) was evidenced by confocal microscopy and by immunoprecipitation analyses.
This study indicated E-cadherin protein down-regulation in OSCC associated with protein delocalization from membrane to cytoplasm. Low E-cadherin expression correlated to aggressive, poorly differentiated, high grade carcinomas and low patient survival. Moreover, protein down-regulation appeared to be due to E-cadherin mRNA downregulation and CDH1 promoter hypermethylation. In an in vitro model of OSCC the treatment with EGF caused internalization and co-localization of E-cadherin with EGFR and the addition of demethylating agents increased E-cadherin expression.
Low E-Cadherin expression is a negative prognostic factor of OSCC and is likely due to the hypermethylation of CDH1 promoter. The delocalization of E-cadherin from membrane to cytoplasm could be also due to the increased expression of EGFR in OSCC and the consequent increase of E-cadherin co-internalization with EGFR.
Abstract
In the last two decades, network science has proven to be an invaluable tool for the analysis of empirical systems across a wide spectrum of disciplines, with applications to data structures ...admitting a representation in terms of complex networks. On the one hand, especially in the last decade, an increasing number of applications based on geometric deep learning have been developed to exploit, at the same time, the rich information content of a complex network and the learning power of deep architectures, highlighting the potential of techniques at the edge between applied math and computer science. On the other hand, studies at the edge of network science and quantum physics are gaining increasing attention, e.g., because of the potential applications to quantum networks for communications, such as the quantum Internet. In this work, we briefly review a novel framework grounded on statistical physics and techniques inspired by quantum statistical mechanics which have been successfully used for the analysis of a variety of complex systems. The advantage of this framework is that it allows one to define a set of information-theoretic tools which find widely used counterparts in machine learning and quantum information science, while providing a grounded physical interpretation in terms of a statistical field theory of information dynamics. We discuss the most salient theoretical features of this framework and selected applications to protein–protein interaction networks, neuronal systems, social and transportation networks, as well as potential novel applications for quantum network science and machine learning.
Venous ulcers are common, with an overall prevalence of up to 2% in the general population of western countries, and have significant socioeconomic impact. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are ...involved in the alteration of extracellular matrix that could lead to venous ulceration. Sixty‐four patients with venous ulcers were recruited in a 22‐month period. All patients were subjected to the most appropriate treatment considering also the patient's wishes (compression therapy followed or not by vein surgery). Patients were randomised into two groups of 32 persons in each (groups A and B). Patients of group A in addition to the basic treatment, described above, received the administration of oral low doses of doxycycline 20 mg b.i.d. for 3 months, whereas patients of group B received basic treatment only. Healing was assessed by means of direct ulcer tracing with computerised planimetry. Group A showed a higher healing rate compared with group B. In group B, the lower healing rate was related to higher levels of MMP‐9; neutrophil gelatinase‐associated lipocalin and vascular endothelial growth factor, documented in plasma; wound fluid and biopsies executed and compared between both groups. Pharmacological treatments, as doxycycline administration, which by means of its immunomodulatory and anti‐inflammatory actions, through the inhibition of MMP, could improve extracellular matrix functioning and represent a possible solution to support wound healing.
The advent of therapeutic approaches for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) has highlighted the need to identify reliable outcome measures for young boys with DMD. The aim of this study was to develop ...a revised version of the North Star Ambulatory Assessment (NSAA) suitable for boys between the age of 3 and 5 years by identifying age appropriate items and revising the scoring system accordingly. Using the scale in 171 controls between the age of 2.9 and 4.8 years, we identified items that were appropriate at different age points. An item was defined as age appropriate if it was completed, achieving a full score, by at least 85% of the typically developing boys at that age. At 3 years (±3months) there were only 8 items that were age appropriate, at 3 years and 6 months there were 13 items while by the age of 4 years all 17 items were appropriate. A revised version of the scale was developed with items ordered according to the age when they could be reliably performed. The application of the revised version of the scale to data collected in young DMD boys showed that very few of the DMD boys were able to complete with a full score all the age appropriate items. In conclusion, our study suggests that a revised version of the NSAA can be used in boys from the age of 3 years to obtain information on how young DMD boys acquire new abilities and how this correlates with their peers.
Abstract
Vulcano is one of the seven volcanic islands composing the Aeolian Islands archipelago (Southern Italy), which also includes three other active volcanoes. The island was originally a ...stratovolcano like Stromboli; afterwards, its shape turned towards a complex structure composed of several volcanic landforms of different sizes. This is due to the great variability of the tectonic and volcanic phenomena, presently showing a volcano made by two calderas, a lava dome complex and two small active cones. The largest of them is the tuff cone of La Fossa, hosted in the middle of a 3‐km‐wide caldera structure (La Fossa caldera), whose borders are visible on the southern and western sides of the island. Its last eruption occurred in 1888–1890. At present, Vulcano is characterized by weak shallow seismicity and intense fumarolic activity mainly concentrated within the crater of the La Fossa cone and along its rims during a recent unrest phase started in 2021, and measured with a multiparametric monitoring network.
Abstract Background The Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) was originally validated on a sample of healthy children aged 6–16 years, investigating the occurrence of sleep disorders during ...the previous 6 months. Aims The aim of this new study was to assess the psychometric properties of the SDSC in an Italian population of preschool children. Methods The SDSC was distributed to the primary caregivers of children recruited via nurseries. Letters describing the study design and requesting the co-operation of the caregivers (parents) and co-signed by the investigators and by the head teacher were distributed with the questionnaire and collected by the teachers. Reliability analysis for evaluating internal consistency and item-total correlation coefficients, and factor analysis were performed. Results During a 12-months study period, 601 questionnaires from healthy preschool age children (range 3–6 years) were collected. SDSC in preschool children showed a good level of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.83) and six factors were derived from the factor analysis by using the principal component method of extraction and rotated with the varimax method: Parasomnias, Difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep, Sleep disordered breathing, Disorders of excessive somnolence, Sleep hyperhydrosis and Non-restorative Sleep. Conclusions The statistical analysis, the internal consistency and the factor analysis support the use of SDSC as an evaluation tool even at preschool age. A different factorial structure from the original SDSC was found due to a different prevalence of the sleep disturbances in younger children, but with similar cut-off total SDSC score.
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