Event-Centric Query Expansion in Web Search

In search engines, query expansion (QE) is a crucial technique to improve search experience. Previous studies often rely on long-term search log mining, which leads to slow updates and is sub-optimal for time-sensitive news searches. In this work, we present Event-Centric Query Expansion (EQE), a novel QE system that addresses these issues by mining the best expansion from a significant amount of potential events rapidly and accurately. This system consists of four stages, i.e., event collection, event reformulation, semantic retrieval and online ranking. Specifically, we first collect and filter news headlines from websites. Then we propose a generation model that incorporates contrastive learning and prompt-tuning techniques to reformulate these headlines to concise candidates. Additionally, we fine-tune a dual-tower semantic model to function as an encoder for event retrieval and explore a two-stage contrastive training approach to enhance the accuracy of event retrieval. Finally, we rank the retrieved events and select the optimal one as QE, which is then used to improve the retrieval of event-related documents. Through offline analysis and online A/B testing, we observe that the EQE system significantly improves many metrics compared to the baseline. The system has been deployed in Tencent QQ Browser Search and served hundreds of millions of users. The dataset and baseline codes are available at https://open-event-hub.github.io/eqe .Comment: ACL 2023 Industry Trac

A pattern-based algorithm with fuzzy logic bin selector for online bin packing problem

The online bin packing problem is a well-known optimization challenge that finds application in a wide range of real-world scenarios. In the paper, we propose a novel algorithm called FuzzyPatternPack(FPP), which leverages fuzzy inference and pattern-based predictions of the distribution of item sizes in online bin packing. In comparison to traditional heuristics like BestFit(BF) and FirstFit(FF), as well as the more recent PatternPack(PaP) and ProfilePacking(PrP) algorithm based on online predictions, FPP demonstrates competitive and superior performance in solving various benchmark problems. Particularly, it excels in addressing problems with evolving distributions, making it a promising solution for real-world applications where the item sizes may change over time. This research unveils the promising potential of employing fuzzy logic to effectively address uncertainty in scheduling and planning problems

Efficacy of modified thoraco-laparoscopic Ivor-Lewis versus traditional thoraco-laparoscopic Ivor-Lewis for esophageal cancer: Propensity score-matched analysis

ObjectiveTo compare the clinical results of the modified Ivor-Lewis procedure, which preserves the azygous vein, thoracic duct and surrounding tissues, with the traditional Ivor-Lewis procedure, which removes these tissues, for treating esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and evaluating whether the azygous vein, thoracic duct and surrounding tissues are required to be removed for the surgery of esophageal cancer.MethodsTo retrospectively analyze the clinical data of patients suffering from esophageal cancer treated by thoracic-laparoscopic Ivor-Lewis procedure admitted to the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital from September 2017 to September 2019. According to the surgical method, they were divided into the modified thoracolaparoscopic Ivor-Lewis (modified group) and the traditional thoracolaparoscopic Ivor-Lewis (traditional group). Propensity score matching analysis (PSM) was applied to reduce the selection bias of confounding factors.ResultsA total of 245 patients who suffered from esophageal cancer and underwent thoracic-laparoscopic Ivor-Lewis were enrolled in the study. There were 124 cases in the modified group and 121 cases in the traditional group. The discrepancies in the age and T-stage among patients in the traditional and modified groups were statistically significant. After PSM, the above-mentioned factors became statistically insignificant. There were 86 patients in each group after PSM. Compared with the traditional group, the modified group has shorter operative time (p=0.007), less intraoperative bleeding (p=0.003) and less postoperative 3 days chest drainage(p=0.001), with a statistically significant difference. No significant difference in local recurrence (p=0.721) and distant metastasis (p=0.742) after surgery were found in the two groups, and the difference was not statistically significant. There was also no statistically significant difference in the 3-year postoperative survival rate (44.2% vs. 41.9%, p=0.605) between the modified and traditional groups.ConclusionThe modified Ivor-Lewis procedure, which preserves the azygous vein, thoracic duct, and surrounding tissue, reduces surgical trauma in esophageal cancer, has not increased postoperative recurrent metastases, while achieved the same long-term outcomes as expanded surgery

Knockdown of c-Myc expression by RNAi inhibits MCF-7 breast tumor cells growth in vitro and in vivo

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Elevated expression of c-Myc is a frequent genetic abnormality seen in this malignancy. For a better understanding of its role in maintaining the malignant phenotype, we used RNA interference (RNAi) directed against c-Myc in our study. RNAi provides a new, reliable method to investigate gene function and has the potential for gene therapy. The aim of the study was to examine the anti-tumor effects elicited by a decrease in the protein level of c-Myc by RNAi and its possible mechanism of effects in MCF-7 cells. METHOD: A plasmid-based polymerase III promoter system was used to deliver and express short interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting c-myc to reduce its expression in MCF-7 cells. Western blot analysis was used to measure the protein level of c-Myc. We assessed the effects of c-Myc silencing on tumor growth by a growth curve, by soft agar assay and by nude mice experiments in vivo. Standard fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis and TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labelling assay were used to determine apoptosis of the cells. RESULTS: Our data showed that plasmids expressing siRNA against c-myc markedly and durably reduced its expression in MCF-7 cells by up to 80%, decreased the growth rate of MCF-7 cells, inhibited colony formation in soft agar and significantly reduced tumor growth in nude mice. We also found that depletion of c-Myc in this manner promoted apoptosis of MCF-7 cells upon serum withdrawal. CONCLUSION: c-Myc has a pivotal function in the development of breast cancer. Our data show that decreasing the c-Myc protein level in MCF-7 cells by RNAi could significantly inhibit tumor growth both in vitro and in vivo, and imply the therapeutic potential of RNAi on the treatment of breast cancer by targeting overexpression oncogenes such as c-myc, and c-myc might be a potential therapeutic target for human breast cancer

MicroRNA-483 amelioration of experimental pulmonary hypertension.

Endothelial dysfunction is critically involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and that exogenously administered microRNA may be of therapeutic benefit. Lower levels of miR-483 were found in serum from patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH), particularly those with more severe disease. RNA-seq and bioinformatics analyses showed that miR-483 targets several PAH-related genes, including transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), TGF-β receptor 2 (TGFBR2), β-catenin, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and endothelin-1 (ET-1). Overexpression of miR-483 in ECs inhibited inflammatory and fibrogenic responses, revealed by the decreased expression of TGF-β, TGFBR2, β-catenin, CTGF, IL-1β, and ET-1. In contrast, inhibition of miR-483 increased these genes in ECs. Rats with EC-specific miR-483 overexpression exhibited ameliorated pulmonary hypertension (PH) and reduced right ventricular hypertrophy on challenge with monocrotaline (MCT) or Sugen + hypoxia. A reversal effect was observed in rats that received MCT with inhaled lentivirus overexpressing miR-483. These results indicate that PAH is associated with a reduced level of miR-483 and that miR-483 might reduce experimental PH by inhibition of multiple adverse responses

Search for Invisible Decays of η\eta and η′\eta^\prime in J/ψ→ϕηJ/\psi \to \phi\eta and ϕη′\phi \eta^\prime

Using a data sample of $58\times 10^6$ $J/\psi$ decays collected with the BES II detector at the BEPC, searches for invisible decays of $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime$ in $J/\psi$ to $\phi\eta$ and $\phi\eta^\prime$ are performed. The $\phi$ signals, which are reconstructed in $K^+K^-$ final states, are used to tag the $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime$ decays. No signals are found for the invisible decays of either $\eta$ or $\eta^\prime$, and upper limits at the 90% confidence level are determined to be $1.65 \times 10^{-3}$ for the ratio $\frac{B(\eta\to \text{invisible})}{B(\eta\to\gamma\gamma)}$ and $6.69\times 10^{-2}$ for $\frac{B(\eta^\prime\to \text{invisible})}{B(\eta^\prime\to\gamma\gamma)}$. These are the first searches for $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime$ decays into invisible final states.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; Added references, Corrected typo

Deubiquitinating Enzymes Orchestrate the Cancer Stem Cell-Immunosuppressive Niche Dialogue: New Perspectives and Therapeutic Potential

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are sparks for igniting tumor recurrence and the instigators of low response to immunotherapy and drug resistance. As one of the important components of tumor microenvironment, the tumor associated immune microenvironment (TAIM) is driving force for the heterogeneity, plasticity and evolution of CSCs. CSCs create the inhibitory TAIM (ITAIM) mainly through four stemness-related signals (SRSs), including Notch-nuclear factor-κB axis, Hedgehog, Wnt and signal transducer and activator of transcription. Ubiquitination and deubiquitination in proteins related to the specific stemness of the CSCs have a profound impact on the regulation of ITAIM. In regulating the balance between ubiquitination and deubiquitination, it is crucial for deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) to cleave ubiquitin chains from substrates. Ubiquitin-specific peptidases (USPs) comprise the largest family of DUBs. Growing evidence suggests that they play novel functions in contribution of ITAIM, including regulating tumor immunogenicity, activating stem cell factors, upregulating the SRSs, stabilizing anti-inflammatory receptors, and regulating anti-inflammatory cytokines. These overactive or abnormal signaling may dampen antitumor immune responses. The inhibition of USPs could play a regulatory role in SRSs and reversing ITAIM, and also have great potential in improving immune killing ability against tumor cells, including CSCs. In this review, we focus on the USPs involved in CSCs signaling pathways and regulating ITAIM, which are promising therapeutic targets in antitumor therapy