Archive for the 'SciLit' Category

The Evolution of Trichromatic Color Vision by Opsin Gene Duplication in New World and Old World Primates

April 26, 2020

https://genome.cshlp.org/content/9/7/629.full

Alu implicated in duplication related to 3-color vision

Reawakening Retrocyclins: Ancestral Human Defensins Active Against HIV-1

April 25, 2020

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000095
reawakened pseudogenes useful against HIV

A radiative cooling structural material | Science

April 19, 2020

QT:{{”

A stronger, cooler wood

One good way to reduce the amount of cooling a building needs is to make sure it reflects away infrared radiation. Passive radiative cooling materials are engineered to do this extremely well. Li et al. engineered a wood through delignification and re-pressing to create a mechanically strong material that also cools passively. They modeled the cooling savings of their wood for 16 different U.S. cities, which suggested savings between 20 and 50%. Cooling wood would be of particular value in hot and dry climates.
“}}

interesting material for anti-insulation

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6442/760.full
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6442/760.editor-summary

Video-based AI for beat-to-beat assessment of cardiac function | Nature

April 17, 2020

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2145-8

Dissecting racial bias in an algorithm used to manage the health of populations | Science

April 17, 2020

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6464/447.full

data access issues

The Two Settings of Kind and Wicked Learning Environments

April 17, 2020

There’s a paper on this topic that introduced the idea of “kind and wicked learning environments”:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5c5d/33b858eaf38f6a14b3f042202f1f44e04326.pdf

…in wicked environments it is difficult to do inference based on data. One solution seems to be to break down the problem in such a way that you can observe sub-problems in a kind environment.

The Two Settings of Kind and Wicked Learning Environments

Robin M. Hogarth1, Tomás Lejarraga2, and Emre Soyer3

Abstract
QT:{{” Inference involves two settings: In the first, information is acquired (learning); in the second, it is applied (predictions or choices). Kind learning environments involve close matches between the informational elements in the two settings and are a necessary condition for accurate inferences. Wicked learning environments involve mismatches. This conceptual framework facilitates identifying sources of inferential errors and can be used, among other things, to suggest how to target corrective procedures. For example, structuring learning environments to be kind improves probabilistic judgments. Potentially, it could also enable economic agents to exhibit maximizing behavior.
“}}

Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 transmission suggests epidemic control with digital contact tracing | Science

April 15, 2020

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/03/30/science.abb6936

Great idea for #covid19… However, digital contact tracing has serious #privacy issues that have to be considered and perhaps ameliorated.

Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 transmission suggests epidemic control with digital contact tracing

Luca Ferretti1,*, Chris Wymant1,*, Michelle Kendall1, Lele Zhao1, Anel Nurtay1, Lucie Abeler-Dörner1, Michael Parker2, David Bonsall1,3,†, Christophe Fraser1,4,†,‡

Science 31 Mar 2020: eabb6936
DOI: 10.1126/science.abb6936

Fig 2 shows the breakdown of infections into four types:
pre-symptomatic, symptomatic, environmental, and asymptomatic, and they contribute 0.9, 0.8., 0.2, and 0.1 each to the basic reproduction number of 2. To stop the spread of infections, you need to take measures to get the area under the curve to below 1. The paper then shows that when you do quarantining and contact tracing, you can’t get the reproduction number below 1. However, if you improve the speed of quarantining and contact tracing with a digital app/centralized system, then you can get it below 1.

Somatic evolution and global expansion of an ancient transmissible cancer lineage | Science

April 14, 2020

Adrian Baez-Ortega1, Kevin Gori1,*, Andrea Strakova1,*, Janice L. Allen2, Karen M. Allum3, Leontine Bansse-Issa4, …. Michael R. Stratton62, Ludmil B. Alexandrov63, Iñigo Martincorena62, Elizabeth P. Murchison1,†

Science 02 Aug 2019:
Vol. 365, Issue 6452, eaau9923
DOI: 10.1126/science.aau9923

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6452/eaau9923

Single cell estimation from bulk data

April 12, 2020

Accurate estimation of cell composition in bulk expression through robust integration of single-cell information

Brandon Jew, Marcus Alvarez, Elior Rahmani, Zong Miao, Arthur Ko, Jae Hoon Sul, Kirsi H. Pietiläinen, Päivi Pajukanta, Eran Halperin doi:

https://doi.org/10.1101/669911

Comparing tads across samples

April 6, 2020

newly published tool

TADsplimer reveals splits and mergers of topologically associating domains for epigenetic regulation of transcription

Guangyu Wang, Qingshu Meng, Bo Xia, Shuo Zhang, Jie Lv, Dongyu Zhao, Yanqiang Li, Xin Wang, Lili Zhang, John P. Cooke, Qi Cao & Kaifu Chen

https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-020-01992-7