-
Journal of Ambient Intelligence and... 2023The success of deep learning over the traditional machine learning techniques in handling artificial intelligence application tasks such as image processing, computer...
UNLABELLED
The success of deep learning over the traditional machine learning techniques in handling artificial intelligence application tasks such as image processing, computer vision, object detection, speech recognition, medical imaging and so on, has made deep learning the buzz word that dominates Artificial Intelligence applications. From the last decade, the applications of deep learning in physiological signals such as electrocardiogram (ECG) have attracted a good number of research. However, previous surveys have not been able to provide a systematic comprehensive review including biometric ECG based systems of the applications of deep learning in ECG with respect to domain of applications. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review on the applications of deep learning in ECG including biometric ECG based systems. The study analyzed systematically, 150 primary studies with evidence of the application of deep learning in ECG. The study shows that the applications of deep learning in ECG have been applied in different domains. We presented a new taxonomy of the domains of application of the deep learning in ECG. The paper also presented discussions on biometric ECG based systems and meta-data analysis of the studies based on the domain, area, task, deep learning models, dataset sources and preprocessing methods. Challenges and potential research opportunities were highlighted to enable novel research. We believe that this study will be useful to both new researchers and expert researchers who are seeking to add knowledge to the already existing body of knowledge in ECG signal processing using deep learning algorithm.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12652-022-03868-z.
PubMed: 35821879
DOI: 10.1007/s12652-022-03868-z -
A systematic review with meta-analysis of Yoga's contributions to neuropsychiatric aspects of aging.Behavioural Brain Research Oct 2023Yoga is one of the most common Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) for mind-body approaches to psychological and stress-related conditions in aging. Such wide... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
UNLABELLED
Yoga is one of the most common Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) for mind-body approaches to psychological and stress-related conditions in aging. Such wide usage demands the review and systematization of the scientific literature, searching for accumulated evidence of its effectiveness. We reviewed the literature to assess whether Yoga would offer significant improvements to neuropsychiatric aspects of the elderly: anxiety, depression, stress, memory and executive functions.
METHODS
This systematic review with meta-analyses organized the results from all analyzed articles, comparing them between the experimental and either the control or waiting groups, calculating the effect size (Cohen-d) and the p-value of a two-tailed T-test. We presented the transformed metadata in forest graphs.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Given the heterogeneity of methods, results, and effect sizes of each study and due to the number of articles found, this meta-analysis indicates that it is not possible to state that Yoga reduces anxiety and stress in the elderly or improves cognition. However, this meta-analysis found significant results of Yoga in reducing depression with small to medium effect sizes.
CONCLUSION
According to the currently available literature on Yoga and aspects of aging, we concluded that yoga was effective in most studies on reducing depression.
Topics: Aged; Humans; Yoga; Aging; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Cognition
PubMed: 37598905
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114636 -
MBio Dec 2021High-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing has allowed the characterization of helminth-uninfected (HU) and helminth-infected (HI) gut microbiomes, revealing distinct profiles.... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
High-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing has allowed the characterization of helminth-uninfected (HU) and helminth-infected (HI) gut microbiomes, revealing distinct profiles. However, there have been no qualitative or quantitative syntheses of these studies, which show marked variation in participant age, diet, pathogen of interest, and study location. A predefined minimally biased search strategy identified 23 studies in humans. For each of these studies, we qualitatively addressed the effects of helminth infection on within-individual (alpha) and between-individual (beta) fecal microbiome diversity, infection-associated microbial taxa, the effect of helminth clearance on microbiome composition, microbiome composition as a predictor of infection status or treatment outcome, and treatment-specific effects on the fecal microbiome. Concomitantly, we performed a meta-analysis on a subset of 7 of these studies containing raw, paired-end 16S reads and individual-level metadata, comprising 424 pretreatment or untreated HI individuals and 497 HU controls. After reducing the batch effect and adjusting for age, our data demonstrated that intestinal helminth parasites can alter the host gut microbiome by increasing alpha diversity and promoting taxonomic reassortment and gradient collapse. Most strongly influencing the microbiome composition were the helminths found in the large intestine, Enterobius vermicularis and Trichuris trichiura, suggesting that this influence appears to be specific to soil-transmitted helminths (STH) species and host anatomical niche. In summary, using a large and diverse sample set captured in the meta-analysis, we were able to evaluate the influence of individual helminth species as well as species-species interactions, each of which explained a significant portion of the variation in the microbiome. The gut microbiome has established importance in regulating many aspects of human health, including nutrition and immunity. While many internal and environmental factors are known to influence the microbiome, less is known about the effects of intestinal helminth parasites (worms), which together affect one-sixth of the world's population. Through a comprehensive qualitative systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis of existing literature, we provide strong evidence that helminth infection dynamically shifts the intestinal microbiome structure. Moreover, we demonstrated that such influence seems to be specific to helminth species and host anatomical niche. Our findings suggest that the gut microbiome may underlie some of the pathology associated with intestinal worm infection and support future work to understand the precise nature of the helminth-microbiome relationship.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Animals; Bacteria; Child; Child, Preschool; Dysbiosis; Feces; Female; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Helminthiasis; Helminths; Humans; Infant; Male; Middle Aged; Phylogeny; Young Adult
PubMed: 34933444
DOI: 10.1128/mBio.02890-21 -
PloS One 2016Research on perennial staple crops has increased in the past ten years due to their potential to improve ecosystem services in agricultural systems. However, multiple... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study Review
Research on perennial staple crops has increased in the past ten years due to their potential to improve ecosystem services in agricultural systems. However, multiple past breeding efforts as well as research on traditional ratoon systems mean there is already a broad body of literature on perennial crops. In this review, we compare the development of research on perennial staple crops, including wheat, rice, rye, sorghum, and pigeon pea. We utilized the advanced search capabilities of Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Agricola to gather a library of 914 articles published from 1930 to the present. We analyzed the metadata in the entire library and in collections of literature on each crop to understand trends in research and publishing. In addition, we applied topic modeling to the article abstracts, a type of text analysis that identifies frequently co-occurring terms and latent topics. We found: 1.) Research on perennials is increasing overall, but individual crops have each seen periods of heightened interest and research activity; 2.) Specialist journals play an important role in supporting early research efforts. Research often begins within communities of specialists or breeders for the individual crop before transitioning to a more general scientific audience; 3.) Existing perennial agricultural systems and their domesticated crop material, such as ratoon rice systems, can provide a useful foundation for breeding efforts, accelerating the development of truly perennial crops and farming systems; 4.) Primary research is lacking for crops that are produced on a smaller scale globally, such as pigeon pea and sorghum, and on the ecosystem service benefits of perennial agricultural systems.
Topics: Bibliometrics; Cajanus; Crops, Agricultural; Databases, Bibliographic; Models, Theoretical; Oryza; Secale; Sorghum; Triticum
PubMed: 27213283
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155788 -
Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy Jun 2022Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) represent a group of lesions with increased risk for malignant transformation. The management of such injuries is based on... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) represent a group of lesions with increased risk for malignant transformation. The management of such injuries is based on surgical treatment or detailed follow-up throughout the patient's lifetime. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated and critically evaluated the use of autofluorescence and fluorescent probes as potential techniques for the early detection of OPMD. A comprehensive search was performed on Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and LIVIVO databases. The gray literature was also consulted and included Google Scholar, Proquest and Open gray databases. 2715 articles were retrieved, and after the different stages of critical evaluation, were reduced to 25 articles that fully met the inclusion criteria. VELscope® was the most used equipment for autofluorescence, while aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) was the main representative of the probes. The meta-analysis performed included 10 articles that used VELscope® as a method to detect oral disorders. A 95% confidence interval (CI) with a p value significance <0.05 was considered as a criterion for the statistical analysis. The combined sensitivity was 74% (CI95 60-76%, p = 0.0001) and the specificity was 57% (CI95 52-60%, p = 0.0000). The inclusion of these adjunct methods in clinical practice is very promising, since they are able to help both the clinician and the specialist in the early detection of potentially malignant oral disorders, favoring a better prognosis. However, it is still necessary to carry out further studies, with the aim of establishing a protocol for use and qualification of results.
Topics: Data Analysis; Early Detection of Cancer; Fluorescent Dyes; Humans; Mouth Diseases; Mouth Neoplasms; Photochemotherapy; Precancerous Conditions
PubMed: 35192945
DOI: 10.1016/j.pdpdt.2022.102764 -
PeerJ 2023The emerging field of environmental DNA (eDNA) research lacks universal guidelines for ensuring data produced are FAIR-findable, accessible, interoperable, and...
The emerging field of environmental DNA (eDNA) research lacks universal guidelines for ensuring data produced are FAIR-findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable-despite growing awareness of the importance of such practices. In order to better understand these data usability challenges, we systematically reviewed 60 peer reviewed articles conducting a specific subset of eDNA research: metabarcoding studies in marine environments. For each article, we characterized approximately 90 features across several categories: general article attributes and topics, methodological choices, types of metadata included, and availability and storage of sequence data. Analyzing these characteristics, we identified several barriers to data accessibility, including a lack of common context and vocabulary across the articles, missing metadata, supplementary information limitations, and a concentration of both sample collection and analysis in the United States. While some of these barriers require significant effort to address, we also found many instances where small choices made by authors and journals could have an outsized influence on the discoverability and reusability of data. Promisingly, articles also showed consistency and creativity in data storage choices as well as a strong trend toward open access publishing. Our analysis underscores the need to think critically about data accessibility and usability as marine eDNA metabarcoding studies, and eDNA projects more broadly, continue to proliferate.
Topics: DNA, Environmental; Biodiversity; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic
PubMed: 36992947
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14993 -
Translational Vision Science &... Feb 2024Retinal images contain rich biomarker information for neurodegenerative disease. Recently, deep learning models have been used for automated neurodegenerative disease...
PURPOSE
Retinal images contain rich biomarker information for neurodegenerative disease. Recently, deep learning models have been used for automated neurodegenerative disease diagnosis and risk prediction using retinal images with good results.
METHODS
In this review, we systematically report studies with datasets of retinal images from patients with neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and others. We also review and characterize the models in the current literature which have been used for classification, regression, or segmentation problems using retinal images in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
RESULTS
Our review found several existing datasets and models with various imaging modalities primarily in patients with Alzheimer's disease, with most datasets on the order of tens to a few hundred images. We found limited data available for the other neurodegenerative diseases. Although cross-sectional imaging data for Alzheimer's disease is becoming more abundant, datasets with longitudinal imaging of any disease are lacking.
CONCLUSIONS
The use of bilateral and multimodal imaging together with metadata seems to improve model performance, thus multimodal bilateral image datasets with patient metadata are needed. We identified several deep learning tools that have been useful in this context including feature extraction algorithms specifically for retinal images, retinal image preprocessing techniques, transfer learning, feature fusion, and attention mapping. Importantly, we also consider the limitations common to these models in real-world clinical applications.
TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE
This systematic review evaluates the deep learning models and retinal features relevant in the evaluation of retinal images of patients with neurodegenerative disease.
Topics: Humans; Algorithms; Alzheimer Disease; Deep Learning; Machine Learning; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Datasets as Topic; Retina
PubMed: 38381447
DOI: 10.1167/tvst.13.2.16 -
Heliyon Aug 2023This study aims to comprehensively review the literature on human resource outsourcing (HRO) published from 2001 to 2021. The study begins with metadata analysis on 69... (Review)
Review
This study aims to comprehensively review the literature on human resource outsourcing (HRO) published from 2001 to 2021. The study begins with metadata analysis on 69 papers and presents insights into 32 papers on HRO identified from the Scopus and ISI Web of Science databases. The literature is classified based on content analysis, which comprises conceptual understanding, drivers and barriers, functions outsourced, and firm performance. The study reveals that cost advantage, organisational learning, and the opportunity to concentrate on core business functions motivate the organisation to practice HRO. However, the lack of psychological contact among current employees, the risk of opportunism in the freelancing organisation, lack of management legislation, and prior experience are the common barriers to HRO adoption. Despite thesedrawbacks and barriers, recruitment, payroll processing, and technology-centric human resource (HR) activities are standard HR functions outsourced by organisations. The contributions of this study are to offer an integrated and conclusive definition of HRO and provide a simple, easy-to-understand, yet comprehensive framework for understanding HRO practices in any organisation. Researchers and academicians can utilize this paper to explore future research directions while gaining a thorough understanding of the HRO concept.
PubMed: 37600375
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19018 -
Veterinary Research Communications Sep 2021We explored different aspects of buffalo spermatozoa during cryopreservation. The meta-data comprised of 285 studies, published from January 2008 to March 2020. A free... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
We explored different aspects of buffalo spermatozoa during cryopreservation. The meta-data comprised of 285 studies, published from January 2008 to March 2020. A free web tool CADIMA as well as PRISMA 2009 Flow Diagram were used for carrying out this study. The inter-reviewer agreement among studies allocated was satisfactory for criteria A (selection bias), B (performance bias), C (detection bias) and D (attrition bias), respectively. India led the percent (%) research ladder with 34.4, followed by Pakistan (29.5), Egypt (12.3), Iran (7.7), Italy (5.6), Indonesia (3.2), China (2.1), Brazil (1.4), Thailand (1.1), Philippines and Bulgaria (0.7 each), Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Vietnam, and USA (0.4 each). Among four categories of studies, Group-1 evaluated only supplements/additives/media in the freezing semen extender (n = 191/285; 67.02%); Group-2 conducted in vivo fertilization (n = 62/285; 21.75%) and Group-3 conducted in vitro fertilization/ cleavage rate/penetration rate/ blastocyst yields (n = 28/285; 9.82%) with their specific cryodiluents/media, respectively. Group-4 conducted different experimental supplements/additives/media and carried out both in vitro and in vivo fertilization simultaneously (n = 4/285; 1.40%). Conventional spermatozoa cryopreservation was reported by 51.9% studies followed by programmable fast freezing by 20.7% studies. A few leading extender types included BioXcell (3.9%); Soyamilk-skim (3.5%); and Andromed (2.1%). The study also describes French straws for semen filling, cooling temperatures, extension time, equilibration time, cryopreservation stages, thawing temperatures, seasons, thawing time, and stains used during semen evaluation assays. The study concludes that the research on spermatozoa cryopreservation of buffalo is largely conducted at quality level and a need of applying these findings for evaluation of fertility potential (in vivo and in vitro) is indispensable for effective genetic improvement.
Topics: Animal Husbandry; Animals; Buffaloes; Cryopreservation; Fertility; Male; Semen Preservation; Spermatozoa
PubMed: 33929679
DOI: 10.1007/s11259-021-09789-0 -
Systematic Reviews Oct 2016Overviews of methods are potentially useful means to increase clarity and enhance collective understanding of specific methods topics that may be characterized by... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Overviews of methods are potentially useful means to increase clarity and enhance collective understanding of specific methods topics that may be characterized by ambiguity, inconsistency, or a lack of comprehensiveness. This type of review represents a distinct literature synthesis method, although to date, its methodology remains relatively undeveloped despite several aspects that demand unique review procedures. The purpose of this paper is to initiate discussion about what a rigorous systematic approach to reviews of methods, referred to here as systematic methods overviews, might look like by providing tentative suggestions for approaching specific challenges likely to be encountered. The guidance offered here was derived from experience conducting a systematic methods overview on the topic of sampling in qualitative research.
RESULTS
The guidance is organized into several principles that highlight specific objectives for this type of review given the common challenges that must be overcome to achieve them. Optional strategies for achieving each principle are also proposed, along with discussion of how they were successfully implemented in the overview on sampling. We describe seven paired principles and strategies that address the following aspects: delimiting the initial set of publications to consider, searching beyond standard bibliographic databases, searching without the availability of relevant metadata, selecting publications on purposeful conceptual grounds, defining concepts and other information to abstract iteratively, accounting for inconsistent terminology used to describe specific methods topics, and generating rigorous verifiable analytic interpretations. Since a broad aim in systematic methods overviews is to describe and interpret the relevant literature in qualitative terms, we suggest that iterative decision making at various stages of the review process, and a rigorous qualitative approach to analysis are necessary features of this review type.
CONCLUSIONS
We believe that the principles and strategies provided here will be useful to anyone choosing to undertake a systematic methods overview. This paper represents an initial effort to promote high quality critical evaluations of the literature regarding problematic methods topics, which have the potential to promote clearer, shared understandings, and accelerate advances in research methods. Further work is warranted to develop more definitive guidance.
Topics: Databases, Bibliographic; Decision Making; Evidence-Based Medicine; Humans; Publications; Qualitative Research; Research Design
PubMed: 27729071
DOI: 10.1186/s13643-016-0343-0