Background: An early warning tool to predict attacks could enhance asthma management and reduce the likelihood of serious consequences. Electronic health records (EHRs) providing access to historical data about patients with asthma coupled with machine learning (ML) provide an opportunity to develop such a tool. Several studies have developed ML-based tools to predict asthma attacks. Objective: This study aims to critically evaluate ML-based models derived using EHRs for the prediction of asthma attacks. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed and Scopus (the search period was between January 1, 2012, and January 31, 2023) for papers meeting the following inclusion criteria: (1) used EHR data as the main data source, (2) used asthma attack as the outcome, and (3) compared ML-based prediction models’ performance. We excluded non-English papers and nonresearch papers, such as commentary and systematic review papers. In addition, we also excluded papers that did not provide any details about the respective ML approach and its result, including protocol papers. The selected studies were then summarized across multiple dimensions including data preprocessing methods, ML algorithms, model validation, model explainability, and model implementation. Results: Overall, 17 papers were included at the end of the selection process. There was considerable heterogeneity in how asthma attacks were defined. Of the 17 studies, 8 (47%) studies used routinely collected data both from primary care and secondary care practices together. Extreme imbalanced data was a notable issue in most studies (13/17, 76%), but only 38% (5/13) of them explicitly dealt with it in their data preprocessing pipeline. The gradient boosting–based method was the best ML method in 59% (10/17) of the studies. Of the 17 studies, 14 (82%) studies used a model explanation method to identify the most important predictors. None of the studies followed the standard reporting guidelines, and none were prospectively validated. Conclusions: Our review indicates that this research field is still underdeveloped, given the limited body of evidence, heterogeneity of methods, lack of external validation, and suboptimally reported models. We highlighted several technical challenges (class imbalance, external validation, model explanation, and adherence to reporting guidelines to aid reproducibility) that need to be addressed to make progress toward clinical adoption.

Recently, wearable device technology has gained more popularity in supporting a healthy lifestyle. Hence, researchers have begun to put significant efforts into studying the direct and indirect benefits of wearable devices for health and wellbeing. This paper summarizes recent studies on the use of consumer wearable devices to improve physical activity, mental health, and health consciousness. A thorough literature search was performed from several reputable databases, such as PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, arXiv, and bioRxiv mainly using "wearable device research" as a keyword, no earlier than 2018. As a result, 25 of the most recent and relevant papers included in this review cover several topics, such as previous literature reviews (9 papers), wearable device accuracy (3 papers), self-reported data collection tools (3 papers), and wearable device intervention (10 papers). All the chosen studies are discussed based on the wearable device used, complementary data, study design, and data processing method. All these previous studies indicate that wearable devices are used either to validate their benefits for general wellbeing or for more serious medical contexts, such as cardiovascular disorders and post-stroke treatment. Despite their huge potential for adoption in clinical settings, wearable device accuracy and validity remain the key challenge to be met. Some lessons learned and future projections, such as combining traditional study design with statistical and machine learning methods, are highlighted in this paper to provide a useful overview for other researchers carrying out similar research.

Colorectal cancer risk can be impacted by genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, including diet and obesity. Gene-environment interactions (G × E) can provide biological insights into the effects of obesity on colorectal cancer risk. Here, we assessed potential genome-wide G × E interactions between body mass index (BMI) and common SNPs for colorectal cancer risk using data from 36,415 colorectal cancer cases and 48,451 controls from three international colorectal cancer consortia (CCFR, CORECT, and GECCO). The G × E tests included the conventional logistic regression using multiplicative terms (one degree of freedom, 1DF test), the two-step EDGE method, and the joint 3DF test, each of which is powerful for detecting G × E interactions under specific conditions. BMI was associated with higher colorectal cancer risk. The two-step approach revealed a statistically significant G×BMI interaction located within the Formin 1/Gremlin 1 (FMN1/GREM1) gene region (rs58349661). This SNP was also identified by the 3DF test, with a suggestive statistical significance in the 1DF test. Among participants with the CC genotype of rs58349661, overweight and obesity categories were associated with higher colorectal cancer risk, whereas null associations were observed across BMI categories in those with the TT genotype. Using data from three large international consortia, this study discovered a locus in the FMN1/GREM1 gene region that interacts with BMI on the association with colorectal cancer risk. Further studies should examine the potential mechanisms through which this locus modifies the etiologic link between obesity and colorectal cancer. Significance: This gene-environment interaction analysis revealed a genetic locus in FMN1/GREM1 that interacts with body mass index in colorectal cancer risk, suggesting potential implications for precision prevention strategies.

High quality models of factors influencing rice crop yield are needed in countries where rice is a staple food. These models can help select optimal rice varieties for expected field conditions. Development of a system to help scientist track and make decisions using this data is challenging. It involves incorporation of complex data structures - genomic, phenotypic, and remote sensing - with computationally intensive statistical modeling. In this article, the authors present a web portal designed to help researchers to manage and analyze their datasets, apply machine learning to detect how factors taken together influence crop production, and summarize the results to help scientists make decisions based on the learned models. The authors developed the system to be easily accessed by the entire team including rice scientist, genetics, and farmers. As such, they developed a system on a server architecture comprised of a SQLite database, a web interface developed in Python, the Celery job scheduler, and statistical computing in R.

Channa striata or the striped snakehead fish is one of snakehead fish species which inhabits all types of freshwater bodies distributed across Asian countries. Because this fish is known to have higher albumin fraction (64.61%) of protein and other economic values, domestication, and cultivation of this fish has been done in many Asian countries such as Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and India. Environmental factors such as temperature, water pH, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, and turbidity are important parameters must be considered inbreeding and growing this type of fish. The aim of this paper is to propose an IoT solution to automatically monitor these environmental factors. It is designed with affordable and open-source electrical components to provide a cost-efficient solution for farmers. Five sensors are used to measure each parameter. A web application prototype is also presented as a companion application for the users to get useful information from the IoT device. It is developed using a Pythonframework. By accessing this web application, the users can immediately detect any abnormal conditions of the pond.