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Despite recent advances in modern machine learning algorithms, the opaqueness of their underlying mechanisms continues to be an obstacle in adoption. To instill confidence and trust in artificial intelligence (AI) systems, explainable AI (XAI) has emerged as a response to improve modern machine learning algorithms' explainability. Inductive logic programming (ILP), a subfield of symbolic AI, plays a promising role in generating interpretable explanations because of its intuitive logic-driven framework. ILP effectively leverages abductive reasoning to generate explainable first-order clausal theories from examples and background knowledge. However, several challenges in developing methods inspired by ILP need to be addressed for their successful application in practice. For example, the existing ILP systems often have a vast solution space, and the induced solutions are very sensitive to noises and disturbances. This survey paper summarizes the recent advances in ILP and a discussion of statistical relational learning (SRL) and neural-symbolic algorithms, which offer synergistic views to ILP. Following a critical review of the recent advances, we delineate observed challenges and highlight potential avenues of further ILP-motivated research toward developing self-explanatory AI systems.

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has replaced axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) for assessing axillary lymph node status in clinically node-negative breast cancer patients. However, the approach to axillary surgery after neoadjuvant treatment is still controversial. In the present study, our objective was to predict the pathological nodal stage based on SLNB results and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients who initially presented with clinical N1 positivity but whose disease status was converted to clinical N0 after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC)., Materials and Methods: After NAC, 150 clinically node-negative patients were included. The relationships between clinicopathologic parameters and the number of positive lymph nodes in SLNBs and ALNDs were assessed through binary/multivariate logistic regression analysis., Results: Among 150 patients, 78 patients had negative SLNBs, and 72 patients had positive SLNBs. According to the ALND data of 21 patients with SLNB1+, there was no additional node involvement (80.8%), 1-2 lymph nodes were positive in 5 patients (19.2%), and no patient had ≥ 3 lymph nodes involved. Following the detection of SLNB1 + positivity, the rate of negative non-sentinel nodes were 75% in the luminal A/B subgroup, 100% in the HER-2-positive subgroup, and 100% in the triple-negative subgroup. Patients with a lower T stage (T1-3 vs. T4), fewer than 4 clinical nodes before NAC (< 4 vs. ≥4), and a decreased postoperative Ki-67 index (< 10% vs. stable/increase) were included. According to both univariate and multivariate analyses, being in the triple-negative or HER2-positive subgroup, compared to the luminal A/B subgroup (luminal A/B vs. HER2-positive/triple-negative), was found to be predictive of complete lymph node response., Conclusion: The number of SLNB-positive nodes, tumor-related parameters, and response to treatment may predict no additional nodes to be positive at ALND., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The developmental origin of blood-forming hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is a longstanding question. Here, our non-invasive genetic lineage tracing in mouse embryos pinpoints that artery endothelial cells generate HSCs. Arteries are transiently competent to generate HSCs for 2.5 days (∼E8.5-E11) but subsequently cease, delimiting a narrow time frame for HSC formation in vivo. Guided by the arterial origins of blood, we efficiently and rapidly differentiate human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into posterior primitive streak, lateral mesoderm, artery endothelium, hemogenic endothelium, and >90% pure hematopoietic progenitors within 10 days. hPSC-derived hematopoietic progenitors generate T, B, NK, erythroid, and myeloid cells in vitro and, critically, express hallmark HSC transcription factors HLF and HOXA5-HOXA10, which were previously challenging to upregulate. We differentiated hPSCs into highly enriched HLF+ HOXA+ hematopoietic progenitors with near-stoichiometric efficiency by blocking formation of unwanted lineages at each differentiation step. hPSC-derived HLF+ HOXA+ hematopoietic progenitors could avail both basic research and cellular therapies., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests Stanford University has filed patent applications related to blood and immune cell differentiation. J.L.F. is presently at Walking Fish Therapeutics, A.C. is presently at Orca Bio, and T.N. is presently at Century Therapeutics, but J.L.F., A.C., and T.N. contributed to this work while they were at Stanford University; none of these companies were involved in the present work., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Accurate staging of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), a subtype of breast cancer, is vital for effective clinical management. Although 18 F-FDG PET/CT is a commonly used tool, its efficacy varies across different histologic subtypes. To mitigate this challenge, our investigation delves into the potential utility of 68 Ga-fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) PET/CT as an alternative for staging ILC, aiming to address a significant research gap using a more expansive patient cohort than the smaller samples commonly found in the existing literature. Methods: In this retrospective analysis, women diagnosed with primary ILC of the breast underwent both 18 F-FDG PET/CT and 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT. Both modalities were compared across all lesion locations with the used reference standard. The interval between scans was 1 wk, without any intervening treatments. Lesions were categorized visually, and tracer activity was analyzed using SUV max , tumor-to-background uptake ratio, and uptake ratios. Both modalities were compared across various parameters, and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0. A P value of less than 0.05 was chosen to determine statistical significance. Results: The study included 23 female ILC patients (mean age, 51 y) with hormone-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2-negative tumors. Most (65%) had the luminal A subtype. 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT outperformed 18 F-FDG PET/CT, with higher tumoral activity and tumor-to-background uptake ratios ( P < 0.001). Primary tumors showed significantly increased uptake with 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT ( P < 0.001), detecting additional foci, including multicentric cancer. Axillary lymph node metastases were more frequent and had higher uptake values with 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT ( P = 0.012). Moreover, 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT identified more lesions, including bone and liver metastases. Pathologic features did not significantly correlate with imaging modalities, but a positive correlation was observed between peritumoral lymphocyte ratio and 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT-to- 18 F-FDG PET/CT uptake ratios ( P = 0.026). Conclusion: This study underscores 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT's superiority over 18 F-FDG PET/CT for ILC. 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT excels in detecting primary breast masses, axillary lymph nodes, and distant metastases; can complement 18 F-FDG PET/CT in ILC; and holds potential as an alternative imaging method in future studies., (© 2024 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.)

Background: External biliary fistula, where the residual cyst is associated with the biliary tree, is one of the most common complications after liver hydatid cyst surgery. Surgical procedures become a consideration for patients in whom the biliary fistula persists despite all endoscopic procedures. However, reoperation for biliary fistula after hydatid cyst surgery leads to additional complications and increases morbidity and mortality., Aim: This study aims to treat persistent biliary fistulas that develop after liver hydatid cyst surgery using a simple noninvasive technique., Materials and Methods: External drainage surgery was performed on 295 patients with liver hydatid cysts. Endoscopic treatment methods were used in patients who developed biliary fistula after surgery. Despite all endoscopic treatment methods, 14 patients developed persistent biliary fistulas. These patients were subsequently treated using the drain clamping technique., Findings: All persistent fistulas occluded in 11.86 days (with a range of 8-20 days). No complications were observed in the one-year follow-up visits., Conclusion: Drain clamping, a novel approach to the treatment of persistent biliary fistulas developed despite all available endoscopic methods, can be safely used. This technique resulted in a complete recovery in patients without the need for surgical procedures., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Metabolism is controlled to ensure organismal development and homeostasis. Several mechanisms regulate metabolism, including allosteric control and transcriptional regulation of metabolic enzymes and transporters. So far, metabolism regulation has mostly been described for individual genes and pathways, and the extent of transcriptional regulation of the entire metabolic network remains largely unknown. Here, we find that three‐quarters of all metabolic genes are transcriptionally regulated in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We find that many annotated metabolic pathways are coexpressed, and we use gene expression data and the iCEL1314 metabolic network model to define coregulated subpathways in an unbiased manner. Using a large gene expression compendium, we determine the conditions where subpathways exhibit strong coexpression. Finally, we develop "WormClust," a web application that enables a gene‐by‐gene query of genes to view their association with metabolic (sub)‐pathways. Overall, this study sheds light on the ubiquity of transcriptional regulation of metabolism and provides a blueprint for similar studies in other organisms, including humans. Synopsis: Systems‐level analyses in C. elegans show widespread transcriptional regulation of metabolic genes, coexpression of metabolic (sub)‐pathways, and activation/repression conditions of (sub)‐pathways.Metabolic genes are transcriptionally regulated at a similar proportion as non‐metabolic genes.Metabolic genes exhibit more transcriptional regulation in tissues than during development.Metabolic pathways are frequently coexpressed.A web application tool, WormClust http://wormflux.umassmed.edu/WormClust/wormclust.php, helps researchers find metabolic genes that are co‐expressed with a query gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine accurately the localization of the adenoma with the imaging methods in the patients, who are planned to be operated on with prediagnosis of parathyroid adenoma., Method: In our study, the files of the patients who were considered to have parathyroid adenoma and underwent operation between 2012 and 2020 with the methods such as Tc99m-MIBI SPECT/CT, 18F-fluorocholine PET/CT, and ultrasound, and biochemical examinations were examined retrospectively., Results: In this study, 31 (18.2%) male and 139 (81.8%) female adult patients were included. The sensitivities of localization methods were 82.6% for ultrasound and 78.4% for scintigraphy. Adenoma was localised in the right place in 14 of 15 (93.3%) patients with the 18F-fluorocholine PET/CT method. A statistically significant correlation was found between the sensitivity of scintigraphy, the gland weights (p: 0.002), and phosphor values (p: 0.039). A statistically significant improvement was observed in the intact PTH value (p: 0.001) 15 min after the removal of adenoma. A statistically significant improvement was observed in the serum PTH value (p: 0.001), the serum phosphorus value (p: 0.001), and the serum calcium (p: 0.001) in the first 3 months after the operation., Conclusion: Determining localization accurately for the patients enables performing operations with minimally invasive surgery successfully in a shorter time. Also, fewer complications and faster recovery are seen in the patients. It was concluded that studying intraoperative intact PTH and using 18F-fluorocholine PET/CT method for localization give more accurate results for localization and allow having more successful operation outcomes., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.)

In humans, mutations in D-2-hydroxyglutarate (D-2HG) dehydrogenase (D2HGDH) result in D-2HG accumulation, delayed development, seizures, and ataxia. While the mechanisms of 2HG-associated diseases have been studied extensively, the endogenous metabolism of D-2HG remains unclear in any organism. Here, we find that, in Caenorhabditis elegans, D-2HG is produced in the propionate shunt, which is transcriptionally activated when flux through the canonical, vitamin B12-dependent propionate breakdown pathway is perturbed. Loss of the D2HGDH ortholog, dhgd-1, results in embryonic lethality, mitochondrial defects, and the up-regulation of ketone body metabolism genes. Viability can be rescued by RNAi of hphd-1, which encodes the enzyme that produces D-2HG or by supplementing either vitamin B12 or the ketone bodies 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) and acetoacetate (AA). Altogether, our findings support a model in which C. elegans relies on ketone bodies for energy when vitamin B12 levels are low and in which a loss of dhgd-1 causes lethality by limiting ketone body production. In humans, mutations in D-2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase (D2HGDH) cause delayed development, seizures and ataxia. This study shows that in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, D2HGDH sustains ketone body production to support embryonic viability; its loss results in mitochondrial defects and embryonic lethality, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how non-cognitive skills relate to the relative labour market performance of immigrants. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and the Five-Factor Model of personality as a proxy for the non-cognitive skills, we show that these skills matter for the labour market integration of immigrants in the host country. We use two comparison benchmarks. Compared to an average native, immigrants' non-cognitive skills, e.g., extroversion or emotional stability, can lead to 5-15 percentage points lower lifetime employment probability disadvantage implying a better overall integration. Comparing immigrants and natives with the same type and level of non-cognitive skills suggests that returns of extroversion and openness to experience are higher among immigrants, leading to 3-5 percentage points lower lifetime employment probability disadvantage. These results are robust with respect to self-selection, non-random returns to the home country, stability of personality, and estimators. Our detailed analysis suggests that non-cognitive skills (especially extroversion) are substitutes for the standard human capital measures (e.g., formal education and training) among low educated immigrants, while there is no significant relative return of non-cognitive skills among highly educated immigrants., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Akay, Yilmaz. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Most of the frameworks or assistance systems for experiment specification do not provide a process explicitly based on formally specified hypotheses. This deficiency leads to inaccurate or insufficient record of an experiment, decreasing the trustworthiness and reproducibility of the experiment. Moreover, the wide variety of models, metamodels, tools, and data for experimentation requires Global Model Management (GMM) that is utilizing Model-Driven Engineering techniques, facilitates documentation, sharing, reusability, and replicability of simulation experiments. In this study, we strive to illustrate how to support simulation experimentation with hypotheses as a scientific workflow through GMM with an extension to the Simulation Experiment Description Mark-up Language (SED-ML). In particular, we present a megamodel built to serve as a repository to manage the artefacts employed in a simulation experiment. Based on the SED-ML, and enriched with hypothesis handling, our megamodel attempts to address all the phases of a simulation experiment, including specification, input data generation, execution, and output data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs) are the most common cancer of endocrine cancers. The primary treatment is surgery, and the prognosis is mostly well. In spite of many methods for the early diagnosis, the simpler and noninvasive methods are being sought. The aim of this study is to find out whether the value of thyroglobulin (Tg) is related with PTC., Materials and Methods: Prospectively; we measured the preoperative Tg value of 203 (159 females and 44 males) patients who underwent a total thyroidectomy with various indications in General Surgery Department of Gaziantep University. Tg values of 61 patients with benign lesions and 142 patients with PTC were compared., Results: In the patients with PTC, the mean preoperative Tg value was 105.05 ng/ml and 76.80 ng/ml in the benign patients. According to receiver operating characteristic analysis, the cutoff point was determined 102 ng/ml. There was a statistically significant difference in preoperative Tg values between benign group and PTC (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: Patients with a preoperative Tg values above 102 ng/mL may more likely to have PTC. It is thought that Tg levels may be accepted as a criterion for distinguish malignant/benign situations that should be supported with new studies., Competing Interests: None

Managing production level after the launch of a new product is a challenging problem and is critical to the overall profit of manufacturing firms. The problem involves concepts from different fields including production planning, manufacturing flexibility, forecasting, and marketing. In this paper, the gaps in the existing literature are first illustrated. With the goal of addressing the identified research gaps, agent-based modeling and simulation is employed to analyze the performance of different production planning strategies under various levels of volume flexibility and consumer social network structures. The key distinguishing feature of the developed model is the capability of the manufacturing firm to adjust its production level by forecasting the future demand. The analysis of the simulation outputs yields substantial results by challenging some intuitive and traditional understandings of manufacturing systems. The paper also provides a discussion on managerial implications of the results in order to provide the managers with guidelines on the implementation of the model in real-world diffusion environments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: In order for nurses to provide the desired/expected care during the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal protective equipment (PPE) they use should not cause additional damage., Objective: The current study examined the effect of nurses' use of PPE on their vital signs during the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: The present study was executed in a public hospital located in Turkey between October 2020 and December 2020 with a total of 112 nurses, 54 of them were serving in COVID-19 clinics, and 58 of them were working in other clinics. The data of the study was collected by using the introductory information form, the vital signs measurement, and the Visual Analogue Scale. The numbers, percentages, means, standard deviation, Chi-square, ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests were used to analyze the data., Results: The mean scores of SpO2, respiratory rate, body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure measurements of the nurses in the experimental group were compared before and after putting on the PPE. It was found that the difference between the two averages was statistically significant (p < 0.05)., Conclusion: It was found that the use of PPE for a long time causes a decrease in SpO2, increase in respiratory rate, pulse and blood pressure, as well as the aches in face, ear, nose and head.

Purpose: We compared the ability of 68 Ga-FAPI PET//CT with 18 FDG PET/CT imaging techniques to detect additional lesions in breast cancer patients that may affect further chemotherapy options., Methods: A total of 48 patients with breast cancer underwent concurrent 68 Ga-FAPI-04 and 18 FDG PET/CT regardless of whether they had received chemotherapy or not in the last month before imaging. Both modalities were compared according to various parameters: clinical/pathological features, number of lesions detected, activity uptake (SUV max ), and the effect on the evaluation of response to treatment in the post-chemotherapy group., Results: This retrospective study included 48 patients with breast cancer (mean age 53.3 ± 11.7 years; IDC 89.6%; ILC 10.4%). In the comparison of both modalities, no statistical significance was obtained in terms of the pathological characteristics of the patients. More lesions were demonstrated in all categorized regions in 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT imaging with higher uptake values compared to 18 FDG PET/CT in this study. In the treatment response evaluation of the post-chemotherapy group, 12 cases (12/24) who were evaluated as PMR, CMR, or SD according to 18 FDG PET/CT results were later accepted as PD due to newly detected lesions in complementary 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT imaging and treatment of patients was managed accordingly by clinicians., Conclusion: It was determined that 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT was superior to 18 FDG PET/CT in terms of accuracy and it was thought that 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT could be utilized as an additional complementary imaging to 18 FDG PET/CT. Moreover, 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT, with its significant theranostic potential, could become a key element in predicting the pathological response of breast cancer patients in further researches., (© 2021. The Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine.)

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the natural flotation process in reducing pollution with reasonable investment and operating costs of an industrial effluent of refining vegetable oils. Flotation tests were carried out in separating funnels and in drums of 30 l. The results obtained have shown that the volume of sludge produced during flotation is related to the pollutant load of the wastewater studied (process wastewater and acidic wastewater). The sludge volume is respectively 600, 12, and 120 ml/l for heavy, light, and medium loads respectively. Therefore, it is essential to find an effective way to remove oils and greases from polluted waters. Natural flotation eliminates on average 88% of COD for acid wastewater and 50% for process wastewater. However, the reduction of BOD5 showed 28 and 43% respectively for acid wastewater and process wastewater. In addition, the yield of fats and oils, TSS, and turbidity varies around 85%, 45%, and 88% respectively for acidic wastewater, while for process wastewater, elimination yields vary around 58%, 46%, and 46% respectively for the grease and oil parameters, the MES, and the turbidity. Flotation allows the elimination of 10659 Kg/day of greases and oils for process wastewater while it eliminates 5765 Kg/day for acidic wastewater. This reduces the cost of treatment related to chemicals and energy. Reducing pollution of wastewater by natural flotation could therefore help reduce the costs of treating wastewater, and recycling would then be more attractive for this purpose for the company., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.)

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A novel approach was developed, based on fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) experiments and the theory of thermodynamics to measure the number of 16S rRNA copies required to detect the cells of a bacterial probe-targeted population. The method was applied to Escherichia coli cells to determine and compare the sensitivities of conventional FISH and catalyzed reporter deposition (CARD)-FISH with oligonucleotide probes in mixed pure cultures and in activated sludge.

A model of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) based on the thermodynamics of nucleic acid hybridization is developed. The efficiency of hybridization between the DNA probe and the rRNA is related to the accessibility of the rRNA in FISH when ribosome content and cell permeability are not limiting.