LLatrieval: LLM-Verified Retrieval for Verifiable Generation

Verifiable generation aims to let the large language model (LLM) generate text with corresponding supporting documents, which enables the user to flexibly verify the answer and makes it more trustworthy. Its evaluation not only measures the correctness of the answer, but also the answer's verifiability, i.e., how well the answer is supported by the corresponding documents. In typical, verifiable generation adopts the retrieval-read pipeline, which is divided into two stages: 1) retrieve relevant documents of the question. 2) according to the documents, generate the corresponding answer. Since the retrieved documents can supplement knowledge for the LLM to generate the answer and serve as evidence, the retrieval stage is essential for the correctness and verifiability of the answer. However, the widely used retrievers become the bottleneck of the entire pipeline and limit the overall performance. They often have fewer parameters than the large language model and have not been proven to scale well to the size of LLMs. Since the LLM passively receives the retrieval result, if the retriever does not correctly find the supporting documents, the LLM can not generate the correct and verifiable answer, which overshadows the LLM's remarkable abilities. In this paper, we propose LLatrieval (Large Language Model Verified Retrieval), where the LLM updates the retrieval result until it verifies that the retrieved documents can support answering the question. Thus, the LLM can iteratively provide feedback to retrieval and facilitate the retrieval result to sufficiently support verifiable generation. Experimental results show that our method significantly outperforms extensive baselines and achieves new state-of-the-art results

Meta-Analysis of the Clinical Value of Danshen Injection and Huangqi Injection in Liver Cirrhosis

Objective. To evaluate the clinical value of Danshen injection and Huangqi injection for the treatment of liver cirrhosis. Methods. The Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese Scientific Journals Full-Text Database (VIP), Wanfang Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), PubMed, and EMBASE database were searched to collect the literatures about the randomized controlled trials involving the treatment of liver cirrhosis with Danshen injection combined with Huangqi injection, and the data analyses were performed using RevMan 4.2 software. Results. A total of 11 studies involving 1086 patients (trials group: 554 cases, control group: 532 cases) were included in this study. Compared with those in control group, the meta-analysis showed-that the total effectiveness rate and the level of serum albumin increased, while serum total bilirubin, alanine transmninase, type III procollagen, hyaluronic acid, laminin, and type-IV collagen decreased in trials group. The Jadad score ranged from 1 to 2 and the funnel plot analysis suggests that publication bias may occur. Conclusions. Danshen injection combined with Huangqi injection may promote the curative efficacy of liver cirrhosis, which is a promising novel treatment approach. The exact outcome needs to perform rigorously designed, multicenter, and large randomized controlled trials

A Multi-Center Study to Evaluate the Performance of Phage Amplified Biologically Assay for Detecting TB in Sputum in the Pulmonary TB Patients

Objective: To evaluate the performance of phage amplified biologically assay (PhaB) for detecting tuberculosis (TB) in sputum in the pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients. Methods: Shanghai Tuberculosis Key Laboratory of Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital participated in the project in collaboration with the laboratories of six hospitals and a total of 1660 eligible participants (1351 PTB patients and 309 non-TB patients) were included in the study. The sputum samples from the participants were detected by smear microscopy, PhaB, and Löwenstein-Jensen (L-J) culture method, respectively. Results: The overall sensitivity of PhaB were higher than that of L-J culture and smear microscopy (p,0.05). The sensitivity of PhaB for detecting smear-negative specimens was obviously higher than that of L-J culture (p,0.05). Compared with L-J culture, the overall sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, ACC and Kappa value of PhaB were 98.4 (95 % Cl: 96.9–99.3), 71.6 (95% Cl: 68.4–74.6), 67.7, 98.7, 81.7 % and 0.643, respectively. The detection median time of PhaB only needed 48 hours, which was significantly less than that (31 days) of L-J culture method. Conclusion: PhaB method is a rapid and sensitive method for detecting TB in sputum in PTB patients; especially for th

Evaluation of a Novel Biphasic Culture Medium for Recovery of Mycobacteria: A Multi-Center Study

on L-J slants. Automated liquid culture systems are expensive. A low-cost culturing medium capable of rapidly indicating the presence of mycobacteria is needed. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a novel biphasic culture medium for the recovery of mycobacteria from clinical sputum specimens from suspected pulmonary tuberculosis patients.<0.001).

The Relationship between Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Human Papillomavirus: A Meta-Analysis of a Chinese Population (1994–2011)

Background: Previous studies indicated that oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) might be related to human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. However, up to now, there still lacks a large sample study to analyze the relationship between OSCC in a Chinese population and oral HPV infection. In the present study, we used a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship of OSCC with HPV infection in a Chinese population. Methods: The reports on HPV and OSCC in a Chinese population published between January, 1994, and September, 2011 were retrieved via CNKI/WANFANG/OVID/MEDLINE databases. According to the inclusion criteria, we selected 18 eligible case-control studies. After testing the heterogeneity of the studies by the Cochran Q test, the meta-analyses for HPV and HPV16 were performed using the fixed effects model. Results: The overall positive rates of HPV and HPV16 in OSCC were 58.0 % (354/610; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 54.1–61.9) and 47.47 % (169/356; 95 % CI: 42.3–52.7), respectively; which were significantly higher than those in normal controls 10.44% (26/249; 95 % CI: 7.2–14.7) and 7.1 % (13/182; 95 % CI: 4.2–11.8). Quantitative meta-analysis revealed that, compared with normal controls, the combined odds ratios of OSCC with HPV or HPV16 infection were 12.7 (95 % CI: 8.0–20.0) and 9.0 (95% CI: 5.1–15.6), respectively. Both Begg’s test and funnel plots revealed that no publication bias was found in this present study (P.0.05)

Spontaneous hepatic haemorrhage after caesarean section in a patient with uraemia and superimposed preeclampsia: a case report

Perinatal spontaneous hepatic haemorrhage is a very rare disease affecting pregnant women, particularly those on long-term dialysis, that has a high maternal and infant mortality rate. Most patients experience preeclampsia with haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets syndrome. Here, the case of a 35-year-old multigravida patient with known chronic kidney disease and chronic hypertension with uraemia, who developed spontaneous hepatic haemorrhage after caesarean section, is described. The patient experienced sudden massive circulatory failure, but hemodynamics were temporarily stabilized after emergency surgery. Following transfer to the intensive care unit for continued treatment, her blood pressure and haemoglobin level continued to drop. Selective hepatic artery embolization was performed on day 2 after delivery, and her vital signs gradually stabilized. On day 30 after delivery, the patient was discharged in a stable condition. The newborn recovered after therapy in neonatal intensive care for 2 months. The present case suggests that, for perinatal spontaneous hepatic haemorrhage, timely and accurate diagnosis, multidisciplinary management and determining the therapeutic approach according to clinical symptoms are essential

The Role of β-Catenin in Th1 Immune Response against Tuberculosis and Profiles of Expression in Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis

β-Catenin is a key molecule of canonical Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Its roles and expression profiles in T cells of tuberculosis (TB) remain unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the role of β-catenin in CD4+ T cells and its expression characteristics in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). In this study, CD4+ T cell-specific β-catenin conditional knockout mice (β-CAT-cKO mice) were aerosol infected with Mycobacteria tuberculosis (Mtb) H37RV with wild-type mice as controls. Four weeks after infection, the mRNA expression of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and TCF-7 in the lungs of mice was measured. CD4, CD8, β-catenin, IFN-γ, and TNF-α in mononuclear cells from the lungs and spleens were measured by flow cytometry, and the pathological changes of lungs were also observed. Patients with PTB were enrolled, with blood samples collected and PBMCs isolated. The expressions of β-catenin, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and PD-1 in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were measured by flow cytometry. Results showed a decreased frequency of and reduced IFN-γ/TNF-α mRNA expression and secretion by CD4+ T cells in the lungs of infected β-CAT-cKO mice compared with infected wild-type controls, and only slightly more inflammatory changes were observed in the lungs. β-catenin expressions in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were significantly decreased in blood cells of patients with severe PTB compared with those in mild PTB. The stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with lithium chloride (LiCl), a stimulant of β-catenin, resulted in the increase in CD4+ T cell frequency, as well as their secretion of IFN-γ and TNF-α. β-Catenin demonstrated a moderately positive correlation with PD-1 in CD4+ T cells. β-Catenin along with PD-1 and IFN-γ in CD4+ T cells had a high correlation with those in CD8+ T cells. In conclusion, β-catenin may be involved in the regulation of Th1 response and CD4+ T cell frequency in TB

Funnel plot of the included studies of oral squamous cell carcinoma risk in HPV infection.

<p>Funnel plot of the included studies of oral squamous cell carcinoma risk in HPV infection.</p

Forest plot of human papillomavirus prevalence in oral squamous cell carcinoma and control samples.

<p>OSCC: oral squamous cell carcinoma.</p