TempLe: Learning Template of Transitions for Sample Efficient Multi-task RL

Transferring knowledge among various environments is important to efficiently learn multiple tasks online. Most existing methods directly use the previously learned models or previously learned optimal policies to learn new tasks. However, these methods may be inefficient when the underlying models or optimal policies are substantially different across tasks. In this paper, we propose Template Learning (TempLe), the first PAC-MDP method for multi-task reinforcement learning that could be applied to tasks with varying state/action space. TempLe generates transition dynamics templates, abstractions of the transition dynamics across tasks, to gain sample efficiency by extracting similarities between tasks even when their underlying models or optimal policies have limited commonalities. We present two algorithms for an "online" and a "finite-model" setting respectively. We prove that our proposed TempLe algorithms achieve much lower sample complexity than single-task learners or state-of-the-art multi-task methods. We show via systematically designed experiments that our TempLe method universally outperforms the state-of-the-art multi-task methods (PAC-MDP or not) in various settings and regimes

Pulmonary DWCNT Exposure Causes Sustained Local and Low-Level Systemic Inflammatory Changes in Mice

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) represent promising vectors to facilitate cellular drug delivery and to overcome biological barriers, but some types may also elicit persistent pulmonary inflammation based on their fibre characteristics. Here, we show the pulmonary response to aqueous suspensions of block copolymer dispersed, double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNT, length 1–10 lm) in mice by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) analysis, and BAL and blood cytokine and lung antioxidant profiling. The intratracheally instilled dose of 50 lg DWCNT caused significant pulmonary inflammation that was not resolved during a 7- day observation period. Light microscopy investigation of the uptake of DWCNT agglomerates revealed no particle ingestion for granulocytes, but only for macrophages. Accumulating macrophage, multinucleated macrophage and lymphocyte numbers in the alveolar region further indicated ineffective resolution with chronification of the inflammation. The local inflammatory impairment of the lung was accompanied by pulmonary antioxidant depletion and haematological signs of systemic inflammation. While the observed inflammation during its acute phase was dominated by neutrophils and neutrophil recruiting cytokines, the contribution of macrophages and lymphocytes with related cytokines became more significant after day 3 of exposure. This study confirms that acute pulmonary toxicity can occur on exposure of high doses of DWCNT agglomerates and offers further insight for improved nanotube design parameters to avoid potential long-term toxicity

Neutrino mixing matrix in the 3-3-1 model with heavy leptons and A4A_4 symmetry

We study the lepton sector in the model based on the local gauge group $SU(3)_c\otimes SU(3)_L\otimes U(1)_X$ which do not contain particles with exotic electric charges. The seesaw mechanism and discrete $A_4$ symmetry are introduced into the model to understand why neutrinos are especially light and the observed pattern of neutrino mixing. The model provides a method for obtaining the tri-bimaximal mixing matrix in the leading order. A non-zero mixing angle $V_{e3}$ presents in the modified mixing matrix.Comment: 10 page

CD133: a potential indicator for differentiation and prognosis of human cholangiocarcinoma.

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: CD133 is known to be a cancer stem cell (CSC) marker. However, recent studies have revealed that CD133 is not restricted to CSC but to be expressed not only in human normal tissues but also in some cancers and could serve as a prognostic factor for the patients. Nevertheless, the expression of CD133 in human cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is rare and our study is to detect the expression and explore the potential functions of CD133 in human CC. METHODS: Fifty-nine cases, comprised of 5 normal liver tissues and 54 consecutive CC specimens (21 well-differentiated, 12 moderately-differentiated and 21 poorly-differentiated), were included in the study. Immunohistochemical stainning with CD133 protein was carried out, and statistical analyses were performed. RESULTS: CD133 was found to express in all 5 normal livers and 40 out of 54 (74%) CC tissues with different subcellular localization. In the well, moderately and poorly differentiated cases, the numbers of CD133 positive cases were 19 (19 of 21, 90%), 10 (10 of 12, 83%) and 11 (11 of 21, 52%) respectively. Further statistical analyses indicated that the expression and different subcellular localization of CD133 were significantly correlated with the differentiation status of tumors (P = 0.004, P = 0.009). Among 23 patients followed up for survival, the median survival was 4 months for fourteen CD133 negative patients but 14 months for nine CD133 positive ones. In univariate survival analysis, CD133 negative expression correlated with poor prognosis while CD133 positive expression predicted a favorable outcome of CC patients (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that CD133 expression correlates with the differentiation of CC and indicates that CD133 is a potential indicator for differentiation and prognosis of human CC.Published versio

The rare top quark decays t→cVt\to cV in the topcolor-assisted technicolor model

We consider the rare top quark decays in the framework of topcolor-assisted technicolor (TC2) model. We find that the contributions of top-pions and top-Higgs predicted by the TC2 model can enhance the SM branching ratios by as much as 6-9 orders of magnitude. i.e., in the most case, the orders of magnitude of branching ratios are $Br(t\to c g)\sim 10^{-5}$, $Br(t\to c Z)\sim 10^{-5}$, $Br(t\to c \gamma)\sim 10^{-7}$. With the reasonable values of the parameters in TC2 model, such rare top quark decays may be testable in the future experiments. So, rare top quark decays provide us a unique way to test TC2 model.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Influence of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase alteration during different pathophysiologic conditions: A 45 years bibliometrics analysis

Background: Lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) is an important enzyme responsible for free cholesterol (FC) esterification, which is critical for high density lipoprotein (HDL) maturation and the completion of the reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) process. Plasma LCAT activity and concentration showed various patterns under different physiological and pathological conditions. Research on LCAT has grown rapidly over the past 50 years, but there are no bibliometric studies summarizing this field as a whole. This study aimed to use the bibliometric analysis to demonstrate the trends in LCAT publications, thus offering a brief perspective with regard to future developments in this field.Methods: We used the Web of Science Core Collection to retrieve LCAT-related studies published from 1975 to 2020. The data were further analyzed in the number of studies, the journal which published the most LCAT-related studies, co-authorship network, co-country network, co-institute network, co-reference and the keywords burst by CiteSpace V 5.7.Results: 2584 publications contained 55,311 references were used to analyzed. The number of included articles fluctuated in each year. We found that Journal of lipid research published the most LCAT-related studies. Among all the authors who work on LCAT, they tend to collaborate with a relatively stable group of collaborators to generate several major authors clusters which Albers, J. published the most studies (n = 53). The United States of America contributed the greatest proportion (n = 1036) of LCAT-related studies. The LCAT-related studies have been focused on the vascular disease, lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase reaction, phospholipid, cholesterol efflux, chronic kidney disease, milk fever, nephrotic syndrome, platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase, reconstituted lpa-i, reverse cholesterol transport. Four main research frontiers in terms of burst strength for LCAT-related studies including “transgenic mice”, “oxidative stress”, “risk”, and “cholesterol metabolism “need more attention.Conclusion: This is the first study that demonstrated the trends and future development in LCAT publications. Further studies should focus on the accurate metabolic process of LCAT dependent or independent of RCT using metabolic marker tracking techniques. It was also well worth to further studying the possibility that LCAT may qualify as a biomarker for risk prediction and clinical treatment

Genome sequences reveal global dispersal routes and suggest convergent genetic adaptations in seahorse evolution

Seahorses have a circum-global distribution in tropical to temperate coastal waters. Yet, seahorses show many adaptations for a sedentary, cryptic lifestyle: they require specific habitats, such as seagrass, kelp or coral reefs, lack pelvic and caudal fins, and give birth to directly developed offspring without pronounced pelagic larval stage, rendering long-range dispersal by conventional means inefficient. Here we investigate seahorses’ worldwide dispersal and biogeographic patterns based on a de novo genome assembly of Hippocampus erectus as well as 358 re-sequenced genomes from 21 species. Seahorses evolved in the late Oligocene and subsequent circum-global colonization routes are identified and linked to changing dynamics in ocean currents and paleo-temporal seaway openings. Furthermore, the genetic basis of the recurring “bony spines” adaptive phenotype is linked to independent substitutions in a key developmental gene. Analyses thus suggest that rafting via ocean currents compensates for poor dispersal and rapid adaptation facilitates colonizing new habitats.Fil: Chunyan, Li. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory; China. Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology; China. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Olave, Melisa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina. University of Konstanz; AlemaniaFil: Hou, Yali. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Geng, Qi. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory; ChinaFil: Schneider, Ralf. University Of Konstanz; Alemania. Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kie; AlemaniaFil: Zeixa, Gao. Huazhong Agricultural University; ChinaFil: Xiaolong, Tu. Allwegene Technologies ; ChinaFil: Xin, Wang. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Furong, Qi. China National Center for Bioinformation; China. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; ChinaFil: Nater, Alexander. University of Konstanz; AlemaniaFil: Kautt, Andreas F.. University of Konstanz; Alemania. Harvard University; Estados UnidosFil: Wan, Shiming. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Yanhong, Zhang. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Yali, Liu. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Huixian, Zhang. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Bo, Zhang. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Hao, Zhang. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Meng, Qu ,. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Shuaishuai, Liu. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Zeyu, Chen. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; ChinaFil: Zhong, Jia. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Zhang, He. BGI-Shenzhen; ChinaFil: Meng, Lingfeng. BGI-Shenzhen; ChinaFil: Wang, Kai. Ludong University; ChinaFil: Yin, Jianping. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Huang, Liangmin. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; ChinaFil: Venkatesh, Byrappa. Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology; SingapurFil: Meyer, Axel. University of Konstanz; AlemaniaFil: Lu, Xuemei. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Lin, Qiang. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory; China. Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology; China. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Chin

Molecular Characterization of a Fus3/Kss1 Type MAPK from Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, PsMAPK1

Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is an obligate biotrophic fungus that causes the destructive wheat stripe rust disease worldwide. Due to the lack of reliable transformation and gene disruption method, knowledge about the function of Pst genes involved in pathogenesis is limited. Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) genes have been shown in a number of plant pathogenic fungi to play critical roles in regulating various infection processes. In the present study, we identified and characterized the first MAPK gene PsMAPK1 in Pst. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that PsMAPK1 is a YERK1 MAP kinase belonging to the Fus3/Kss1 class. Single nucleotide polymerphisms (SNPs) and insertion/deletion were detected in the coding region of PsMAPK1 among six Pst isolates. Real-time RT-PCR analyses revealed that PsMAPK1 expression was induced at early infection stages and peaked during haustorium formation. When expressed in Fusarium graminearum, PsMAPK1 partially rescued the map1 mutant in vegetative growth and pathogenicity. It also partially complemented the defects of the Magnaporthe oryzae pmk1 mutant in appressorium formation and plant infection. These results suggest that F. graminearum and M. oryzae can be used as surrogate systems for functional analysis of well-conserved Pst genes and PsMAPK1 may play a role in the regulation of plant penetration and infectious growth in Pst