Novel machine learning method allerStat identifies statistically significant allergen-specific patterns in protein sequences.

Cutting-edge technologies such as genome editing and synthetic biology allow us to produce novel foods and functional proteins. However, their toxicity and allergenicity must be accurately evaluated. It is known that specific amino acid sequences in proteins make some proteins allergic, but many of these sequences remain uncharacterized. In this study, we introduce a data-driven approach and a machine-learning method to find undiscovered allergen-specific patterns (ASPs) among amino acid sequences. The proposed method enables an exhaustive search for amino acid subsequences whose frequencies are statistically significantly higher in allergenic proteins. As a proof-of-concept, we created a database containing 21,154 proteins of which the presence or absence of allergic reactions are already known and applied the proposed method to the database. The detected ASPs in this proof-of-concept study were consistent with known biological findings, and the allergenicity prediction performance using the detected ASPs was higher than extant approaches, indicating this method may be useful in evaluating the utility of synthetic foods and proteins.

An association between subcutaneous fat mass accumulation and hypertension.

Evidence to assess relationships between subcutaneous fat area (SFA) and lifestyle-related diseases, including hypertension, remains limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between SFA and hypertension. This study was a single-institution, cross-sectional study of 1,899 eligible Japanese participants who underwent health checkups between December 2016 and December 2018. All patients were measured for SFA and visceral fat area (VFA) by abdominal computed tomography (CT). SFA was divided into quartiles by gender, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate associations between SFA quartiles (Q) and hypertension. Mean age and SFA were 60.9 9 (standard devastation [SD]:12.0) years and 123.0 (56.9) cm2 in men, and 60.6 (12.8) years and 146.6 (79.0) cm2 in women, respectively. Risk of hypertension from multivariate regression modeling compared with the lowest quartile (Q) in both sexes was as follows: for men Q2 [odds ratio (OR), 1; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.55-1.51 ], Q3 (OR, 1.73; 95%CI, 1.17-2.56), and Q4 (OR, 1.96; 95%CI, 1.31-2.94); for women Q2 (OR, 0.87; 95%CI, 0.48-1.58), Q3 (OR, 1.73; 95%CI, 1.02-2.95), and Q4 (OR, 2.54; 95%CI, 1.51-4.28). The optimal SFA cutoff value at risk of hypertension was 114.7 cm2 in men and 169.3 cm2 in women. The prevalence of hypertension was positively associated with SFA quartiles in both genders. The present results may indicate the necessity of considering not only VFA, but also SFA for the primary and secondary prevention of hypertension.

An association between visceral or subcutaneous fat accumulation and diabetes mellitus among Japanese subjects.

BACKGROUND: The impact of subcutaneous fat accumulation remains controversial. This study assessed the association between visceral or subcutaneous fat area (VFA and SFA, respectively) and diabetes mellitus (DM) among Japanese subjects. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study involving 1907 eligible participants (men, 1050; women, 857) who participated in a voluntary health check-up conducted at Juntendo University Hospital from January 2017 to December 2018, in Tokyo, Japan. Associations between VFA or SFA quartiles and DM were identified using adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusted for confounders. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess appropriate cut-off values of VFA or SFA. RESULTS: Multivariate analyses showed that Q4 (≥ 125 cm2) of VFA was significantly positively associated with DM compared to Q1 (< 65 cm2) (AOR = 1.94, 95% CI 1.02-3.71), whereas there was no association between SFA and DM in men. Among women, Q4 (≥ 85 cm2) of VFA was significantly positively associated with DM compared to Q1 (< 30 cm2) (Q4, AOR = 6.15, 95% CI 1.65-22.99). Also, Q3 and Q4 (≥ 135 cm2) of SFA were significantly positively associated with DM compared to Q1 (< 90 cm2) (Q3, AOR = 5.64, 95% CI 1.21-26.25; Q4, AOR = 7.81, 95% CI 1.71-35.65). The appropriate cut-off value of VFA in men was 101.5 cm2. Those of VFA and SFA in women were 72.5 cm2 and 165.3 cm2, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest the importance of considering SFA as well as VFA, especially in women, for primary and secondary prevention of DM.