Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
W2E: A Worldwide-Event Benchmark Dataset for Topic Detection and Tracking

Topic detection and tracking in document streams is a critical task in many important applications, hence has been attracting research interest in recent decades. With the large size of data streams, there have been a number of works from different approaches that propose automatic methods for the task. However, there is only a few small benchmark datasets that are publicly available for evaluating the proposed methods. The lack of large datasets with fine-grained groundtruth implicitly restrains the development of more advanced methods. In this work, we address this issue by collecting and publishing W2E - a large dataset consisting of news articles from more than 50 prominent mass media channels worldwide. The articles cover a large set of popular events within a full year. W2E is more than 15 times larger than TREC's TDT2 dataset, which is widely used in prior work. We further conduct exploratory analysis to examine the dynamics and diversity of W2E and propose potential uses of the dataset in other research.
Screening mammography use in older women according to health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background The extent to which screening mammography (SM) recommendations in older women incorporate life expectancy factors is not well established. Objective The objective of this review was to evaluate evidence on SM utilization in older women by life expectancy factors. Data sources We searched Medline, Embase and Web of Science from January 1991 to March 2016. Study selection We included studies examining SM utilization in women ages ≥65 years that measured life expectancy using comorbidity, functional limitations or health or prognostic status. Data extraction and synthesis ORs and 95% CIs were extracted and grouped by life expectancy category. Findings were aggregated into pooled ORs and 95% CIs and meta-analyzed by life expectancy category. Main outcomes and measures The primary outcome was SM utilization within the last 5 years. Life expectancy factors included number of comorbidities, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, self-reported health status and 5-year prognostic indices. Results Of 2,606 potential titles, we identified 25 meeting the inclusion criteria (comorbidity: eight studies, functional status: 11 studies and health/prognostic status: 13 studies). Women with higher CCI scores had decreased SM utilization (pooled OR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.67–0.85), but increased absolute number of comorbidities were weakly associated with increased SM utilization (pooled OR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.00–1.36). Women with more functional limitations had lower SM use odds than women with no limitations (pooled OR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.62–0.83). Screening utilization odds were lower among women with poor vs excellent health (pooled OR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.74–0.96). Conclusion Greater CCI score, functional limitations and lower perceived health were associated with decreased SM use, whereas higher absolute number of comorbidities was associated with increased SM use. SM guidelines should consider these factors to improve assessments of potential benefits and harms in older women.
Modeling and Analysis of Demand for Personalized Portal

E-commerce1 has experienced great growth during the past two decades, which changes the consumption mode of consumers significantly. All researchers from institutions and enterprises want to identify and satisfy the personalized demand intelligently and conveniently by every possible means. In this paper, we proposed smart demand strategy based on holographic demand and model of transaction subject, which is applicable for the decentralized, disintermediated, intelligent e-commerce platform. User demands are classified from two aspects, which will improve the accuracy of demand obtaining. In addition, from standardized description of demand and full life cycle tracking of demand, the user demand will be identified comprehensively. Meanwhile, models of the user, including physical, preference, knowledge, digital label, and social attributes, are built based on his standard description and fragmented description from his interactive objects, which results in a holographic demander. Then, smart demand strategy, i.e. demand forecast and recommendation are proposed. Based on trigger point and demand attributes, the user demand will be updated in real time, which ensures the accuracy of demand accusation and recommendation. The relationship and help degree, based on the interactions within the cyberspace, are important references in filtering the recommendation.
Five-year China Hospital Invasive Fungal Surveillance Net (CHIF-NET) study of invasive fungal infections caused by noncandidal yeasts: species distribution and azole susceptibility

Purpose In this study, we report results from a 5-year surveillance for noncandidal yeast species causing invasive infections from 65 hospitals in China. Materials and methods Species identification was carried out by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) supplemented by rDNA sequencing, and fluconazole and voriconazole susceptibilities of yeasts were determined by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) disk diffusion methods. Results Overall, 884 noncandidal isolates belonging to 38 species were collected. Cryptococcus neoformans was the most common (75.6%), which also comprised 96.5% of the isolates from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and 62.6% from blood, followed by Trichosporon asahii (6.9%) and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (5.1%). Fluconazole susceptibility and resistant rates were 74.1% and 9.7% for C. neoformans and 81.0% and 5.2% for T. asahii. Voriconazole exhibited good activity in comparison to these two species (99.5% and 98.3% of the isolates, were susceptible). However, 100% of the R. mucilaginosa isolates were resistant to both azoles. Other noncandidal yeast species showed reduced susceptibility to fluconazole (53.3%) but most were susceptible to voriconazole (94.3%). Over the 5 years, a decrease in the proportion of fluconazole-susceptible isolates was observed for C. neoformans (90%–67%, P<0.001) and other noncandidal yeast species (91%–66%, P<0.001). Moreover, the prevalence of azole-resistant R. mucilaginosa increased from 1% to 7% (P<0.001). Conclusion The shift in azole susceptibilities in mainland China calls for continued surveillance for noncandidal yeasts.
The double stranded RNA analog poly-IC elicits both robust IFN-λ production and oncolytic activity in human gastrointestinal cancer cells

Purpose Type III IFN (IFN-λ) is the dominant frontline response over type I IFN in human normal intestinal epithelial cells upon viral infection, this response being mimicked by the dsRNA analog poly-IC. Poly-IC also induces cell death in murine intestinal crypts ex vivo. Here we examined whether these innate defense functions of normal intestinal epithelial cells are recapitulated in gastrointestinal carcinoma cells so that they could be harnessed to exert both immunoadjuvant and oncolytic functions, an unknown issue yet. Experimental design Four human gastrointestinal carcinoma cell lines versus the Jurkat lymphoma cell line were used to assess the effects of intracellular poly-IC on i) IFN-λ secretion and cell proliferation and ii) role of NFκB signaling using the NFκB inhibitory peptide SN50 as a screening probe and a siRNA approach. Results Poly-IC induced in all cell lines except Jurkat both a robust IFN-λ secretion and a cytoreductive effect on adherent cells, restricted to proliferating cells and associated with cellular shedding and reduced clonogenicity of the shed cells. Collectively these findings demonstrate the oncolytic activity of poly-IC. Inhibiting NFκB in T84 cells using a siRNA approach decreased IFN-λ production without protecting the cells from the poly-IC oncolytic effects. In line with these findings IFN-λ, that upregulated the anti-viral protein MxA, was unable per se to alter T84 cell proliferation. Conclusion Our demonstration that poly-IC-induced concomitant recapitulation of two innate functions of normal intestine, i.e. IFN-λ production and cell death, by human gastrointestinal cancer cells opens new perspectives in gastrointestinal cancer treatment.
The Influence of Emotional Words on Character Building Based on Subjective Text

In1 this paper, the object of the study is to locate the emotional words. The purpose of this study is to analyze the content of the text and to quantify the polarity and the rough polarity of the emotional words in the text, and see how the emotional words used by the characters have an influence on the character's character shaping. Because "malice" is a reasoning novel, the emotional words used in the text will change with the development of the plot, which is very beneficial to the realization of the text research goal. At the same time, for the purpose of this article, it is necessary to study the development and change of the plot and the change of the use of emotional words, so it is more valuable to study the characters of the characters in this article.
Working in Pairs: Understanding the Effects of Worker Interactions in Crowdwork

Crowdsourcing has gained popularity as a tool to harness human brain power to help solve problems that are difficult for computers. Previous work in crowdsourcing often assumes that workers complete crowdwork independently. In this paper, we relax the independent property of crowdwork and explore how introducing direct, synchronous, and free-style interactions between workers would affect crowdwork. In particular, motivated by the concept of peer instruction in educational settings, we study the effects of peer communication in crowdsourcing environments. In the crowdsourcing setting with peer communication, pairs of workers are asked to complete the same task together by first generating their initial answers to the task independently and then freely discussing the tasks with each other and updating their answers after the discussion. We experimentally examine the effects of peer communication in crowdwork on various common types of tasks on crowdsourcing platforms, including image labeling, optical character recognition (OCR), audio transcription, and nutrition analysis. Our experiment results show that the work quality is significantly improved in tasks with peer communication compared to tasks where workers complete the work independently. However, participating in tasks with peer communication has limited effects on influencing worker's independent performance in tasks of the same type in the future.
Lon Protease Has Multifaceted Biological Functions in Acinetobacter baumannii

Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen and is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. A. baumannii is difficult to eradicate and to manage, because this bacterium is known to robustly survive desiccation and to quickly gain antibiotic resistance. We sought to investigate biofilm formation in A. baumannii, since much remains unknown about biofilm formation in this bacterium. Biofilms, which are multicellular communities of bacteria, are surface attached and difficult to eliminate from hospital equipment and implanted devices. Our research identifies multifaceted physiological roles for the conserved bacterial protease Lon in A. baumannii. These roles include biofilm formation, motility, and viability. This work broadly affects and expands understanding of the biology of A. baumannii, which will permit us to find effective ways to eliminate the bacterium. ABSTRACT Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that is known to survive harsh environmental conditions and is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. Specifically, multicellular communities (known as biofilms) of A. baumannii can withstand desiccation and survive on hospital surfaces and equipment. Biofilms are bacteria embedded in a self-produced extracellular matrix composed of proteins, sugars, and/or DNA. Bacteria in a biofilm are protected from environmental stresses, including antibiotics, which provides the bacteria with selective advantage for survival. Although some gene products are known to play roles in this developmental process in A. baumannii, mechanisms and signaling remain mostly unknown. Here, we find that Lon protease in A. baumannii affects biofilm development and has other important physiological roles, including motility and the cell envelope. Lon proteases are found in all domains of life, participating in regulatory processes and maintaining cellular homeostasis. These data reveal the importance of Lon protease in influencing key A. baumannii processes to survive stress and to maintain viability. IMPORTANCE Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen and is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. A. baumannii is difficult to eradicate and to manage, because this bacterium is known to robustly survive desiccation and to quickly gain antibiotic resistance. We sought to investigate biofilm formation in A. baumannii, since much remains unknown about biofilm formation in this bacterium. Biofilms, which are multicellular communities of bacteria, are surface attached and difficult to eliminate from hospital equipment and implanted devices. Our research identifies multifaceted physiological roles for the conserved bacterial protease Lon in A. baumannii. These roles include biofilm formation, motility, and viability. This work broadly affects and expands understanding of the biology of A. baumannii, which will permit us to find effective ways to eliminate the bacterium.
Unregularized Auto-Encoder with Generative Adversarial Networks for Image Generation

With the development of deep neural networks, recent years have witnessed the increasing research interest on generative models. Specificly, Variational Auto-Encoders (VAE) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have achieved impressive results in various generative tasks. VAE is well established and theoretically elegant, but tends to generate blurry samples. In contrast, GAN has shown the advantage in visual quality of generated images, but suffers the difficulty in translating a random vector into a desired high-dimensional sample. As a result, the training dynamics in GAN are often unstable and the generated samples could collapse to limited modes. In this paper, we propose a new Auto-Encoder Generative Adversarial Networks (AEGAN), which takes advantages of both VAE and GAN. In our approach, instead of matching the encoded distribution of training samples to the prior Pz as in VAE, we map the random vector into the encoded latent space by adversarial training based on GAN. Besides, we also match the decoded distribution of training samples with that from random vectors. To evaluate our approach, we make comparison with other encoder-decoder based generative models on three public datasets. The experiments with both qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate the superiority of our algorithm over the comparison generative models.
CBCT in orthodontics: a systematic review on justification of CBCT in a paediatric population prior to orthodontic treatment

Summary Background Taking into account radiation doses, safety, and protection, we highlighted the features in which cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) can offer an advantage compared to the conventional two-dimensional imaging in paediatric dentistry before orthodontic treatment. Objective The aim of this article was to conduct a systematic review to assess the diagnostic efficacy of CBCT in the paediatric population at a pre-orthodontic phase. Search methods MEDLINE via PubMed was searched to identify all peer-reviewed articles potentially relevant to the review until 1 July 2018. Relevant publications were selected by two reviewers independently. Selection criteria The literature selection for this systematic review was carried out according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement and was based on predetermined inclusion criteria. Data collection and analysis Data were collected on overall study characteristics and examination characteristics of the selected studies. Methodological quality of the selected studies was evaluated. Original studies were assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) tool. Thereafter, levels of evidence were obtained according to Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation criteria. Results As a result of the QUADAS assessment, a total of 37 articles were included in the protocol. Following a proper protocol, CBCT was regarded as a reliable tool for assessment and management of impacted canine and root fracture. It provided a better evaluation of normal and pathological condylar shape and volume. CBCT was a superior choice for pre-surgical diagnostic applications in cleft lip and/or palate over a medical computed tomography based on its lower radiation exposure, shorter investigation time, and low purchase costs. Conclusions CBCT is justified only in those cases where conventional radiography fails to provide a correct diagnosis of pathology. Therefore, it cannot be regarded as a standard method of diagnosis. CBCT imaging may also be justified when it positively affects treatment options or provides treatment optimization. Registration None. Conflict of interest None to declare.
The surgical management of traumatic neuromas

Following injury to a peripheral nerve, a neuroma may form and cause severe debilitating neuropathic pain. End neuromas are the result of an amputation or are found at the proximal stump in a complete nerve transection or rupture. Neuromas-in-continuity follows traction or compression injury and may complicate repair of a nerve transection or rupture. Symptomatic neuromas should be assessed and treated by a peripheral nerve surgeon working within a multi-professional team. The objectives of the initial treatment should encompass pain management, psychological support and physical therapies with the aim of restoration of normal nerve response thresholds to afferent stimuli and optimisation of the perineuroma environment. Surgical intervention should be reserved for non-responders and in cases where reconstruction of nerve function is deemed essential for useful functional recovery and pain resolution.
Mechanisms Underlying the Environmentally Induced Plasticity of Leaf Morphology

The primary function of leaves is to provide an interface between plants and their environment for gas exchange, light exposure and thermoregulation. Leaves have, therefore a central contribution to plant fitness by allowing an efficient absorption of sunlight energy through photosynthesis to ensure an optimal growth. Their final geometry will result from a balance between the need to maximize energy uptake while minimizing the damage caused by environmental stresses. This intimate relationship between leaf and its surroundings has led to an enormous diversification in leaf forms. Leaf shape varies between species, populations, individuals or even within identical genotypes when those are subjected to different environmental conditions. For instance, the extent of leaf margin dissection has, for long, been found to inversely correlate with the mean annual temperature, such that Paleobotanists have used models based on leaf shape to predict the paleoclimate from fossil flora. Leaf growth is not only dependent on temperature but is also regulated by many other environmental factors such as light quality and intensity or ambient humidity. This raises the question of how the different signals can be integrated at the molecular level and converted into clear developmental decisions. Several recent studies have started to shed the light on the molecular mechanisms that connect the environmental sensing with organ-growth and patterning. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge on the influence of different environmental signals on leaf size and shape, their integration as well as their importance for plant adaptation.
Genetic and epigenetic contribution to astrocytic gliomas pathogenesis

Astrocytic gliomas are the most common and lethal form of intracranial tumors. These tumors are characterized by a significant heterogeneity in terms of cytopathological, transcriptional, and (epi)genomic features. This heterogeneity has made these cancers one of the most challenging types of cancers to study and treat. To uncover these complexities and to have better understanding of the disease initiation and progression, identification, and characterization of underlying cellular and molecular pathways related to (epi)genetics of astrocytic gliomas is crucial. Here, we discuss and summarize molecular and (epi)genetic mechanisms that provide clues as to the pathogenesis of astrocytic gliomas.
Forced oscillation technique for early detection of the effects of smoking and COPD: contribution of fractional-order modeling

Purpose The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of the forced oscillation technique (FOT) for the early diagnosis of the effects of smoking and COPD. The contributions of the integer-order (InOr) and fractional-order (FrOr) models were also evaluated. Patients and methods In total, 120 subjects were analyzed: 40 controls, 40 smokers (20.3±9.3 pack-years) and 40 patients with mild COPD. Results Initially, it was observed that traditional FOT parameters and the InOr and FrOr models provided a consistent description of the COPD pathophysiology. Mild COPD introduced significant increases in the FrOr inertance, damping factor and hysteresivity (P<0.0001). These parameters were significantly correlated with the spirometric parameters of central and small airway obstruction (P<0.0001). The diagnostic accuracy analyses indicated that FOT parameters and InOr modeling may adequately identify these changes (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve – AUC >0.8). The use of FrOr modeling significantly improved this process (P<0.05), allowing the early diagnosis of smokers and patients with mild COPD with high accuracy (AUC >0.9). Conclusion FrOr modeling improves our knowledge of modifications that occur in the early stages of COPD. Additionally, the findings of the present study provide evidence that these models may play an important role in the early diagnosis of COPD, which is crucial for improving the clinical management of the disease.
Mathematical approach to unpinning of spiral waves anchored to an obstacle with high-frequency pacing

Spiral waves are observed in wide variety of reaction-diffusion systems. Those observed in cardiac tissues are important since they are related to serious disease that threatens human lives, such as atrial or ventricular fibrillation. We consider the unpinning of spiral waves anchored to a circular obstacle on excitable media using high-frequency pacing. Here, we consider two types of the obstacle; i.e., that without any diffusive interaction with the environment, and that with diffusive interaction. We found that the threshold frequency for success in unpinning is lower for the obstacle with diffusive interaction than for the one without it. We discuss the threshold frequency based on the angular velocity of a chemical wave anchoring the obstacle.