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A person's preference to select or reject certain meals is influenced by several aspects, including colour. In this paper, we study the relevance of food colour for such preferences. To this end, a set of images of meals is processed by an automatic method that associates mood adjectives that capture such meal preferences. These adjectives are obtained by analyzing the colour palettes in the image, using a method based in Kobayashi's model of harmonic colour combinations. The paper also validates that the colour palettes calculated for each image are harmonic by developing a rating model to predict how much a user would like the colour palettes obtained. This rating is computed using a regression model based on the COLOURlovers dataset implemented to learn users' preferences. Finally, the adjectives associated automatically with images of dishes are validated by a survey which was responded by 178 people and demonstrates that the labels are adequate. The results obtained in this paper have applications in tourism marketing, to help in the design of marketing multimedia material, especially for promoting restaurants and gastronomic destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Patients with recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) have a poor prognosis, with survival ranging from 25 to 40 weeks. Antiangiogenic agents are widely used, showing a variable response. In this study, we explored the efficacy of carmustine plus bevacizumab (BCNU/Bev) for treating rGBM. Methods/patients: In this study, we assessed 59 adult patients with histologically confirmed rGBM who were treated with BCNU/Bev as second-line regimen. The response rate (RR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated according to their molecular expression profile, including CD133 mRNA expression, MGMT methylation (pMGMT), PDGFR amplification, YKL40 mRNA expression, IDH1/2 condition, p53 and EGFRvIII mutation status. Results: Median follow-up was 18.6 months, overall RR to the combination was 56.3%, and median PFS was 9.0 months (95% CI 8.0–9.9). OS from time of diagnosis was 21.0 months (95% CI 13.2–28.7) and from starting BCNU/Bev it was 10.7 months (95% CI 9.5–11.8). IDH1/2 mutations were found in 30.5% of the patients, pMGMT in 55.9% and high CD133 mRNA expression in 57.6%. Factors which positively affected PFS included performance status (p = 0.015), IDH+ (p = 0.05), CD133 mRNA expression (p = 0.009) and pMGMT+ (p = 0.007). OS was positively affected by pMGMT+ (p = 0.05). Meanwhile, YKL40 negatively affected PFS (p = 0.01) and OS (p = 0.0001). Grade ≥ 3 toxicities included hypertension (22%) and fatigue (12%). Conclusions: BCNU/Bev is a safe and tolerable treatment for rGBM. Patients with MGMT+/IDH+ derive the greatest benefit from the treatment combination in the second-line setting. Nonetheless, high YKL40 expression discourages the use of antiangiogenic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge on the reproductive biology of cassava, relevant to breeders and molecular geneticists, is still limited. Therefore, different studies were carried out to determine the duration of stigma receptivity and the rate of pollen tube growth. Inflorescences were covered for up to 3 days after the first opening of the bracts (e.g. anthesis day) to prevent open pollination. Results indicate that fruit and seed set are drastically reduced when flowers were covered for 2 or 3 days. However, fruits and seeds were obtained even from flowers that had been covered for 3 days after anthesis, although at low frequency. The rate of pollen tube growth was assessed in many combinations of female and male progenitors crossed through controlled pollinations and collecting the pistils at varying hours after pollination (HAP). Pollen tube growth is fast during the first 6 HAP reaching the tip of the nucellar beak. The growth slows down thereafter, taking 10 additional hours to reach the end of the beak. The growth of pollen tubes slows down even further until they enter the embryo sac. Only 10% of samples showed pollen tubes entering the embryo sac between 48 and 66 HAP. Although several tubes may reach the nucellar beak, only one was observed entering the embryo sac. Results, across the different experiments, were highly variable suggesting that the timeline of fertilization is influenced both by genotypic and environmental factors as well as the manual manipulation of inflorescences and cyathia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]