A Review of Reinforcement Learning for Natural Language Processing, and Applications in Healthcare

Reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as a powerful approach for tackling complex medical decision-making problems such as treatment planning, personalized medicine, and optimizing the scheduling of surgeries and appointments. It has gained significant attention in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) due to its ability to learn optimal strategies for tasks such as dialogue systems, machine translation, and question-answering. This paper presents a review of the RL techniques in NLP, highlighting key advancements, challenges, and applications in healthcare. The review begins by visualizing a roadmap of machine learning and its applications in healthcare. And then it explores the integration of RL with NLP tasks. We examined dialogue systems where RL enables the learning of conversational strategies, RL-based machine translation models, question-answering systems, text summarization, and information extraction. Additionally, ethical considerations and biases in RL-NLP systems are addressed

PaniniQA: Enhancing Patient Education Through Interactive Question Answering

Patient portal allows discharged patients to access their personalized discharge instructions in electronic health records (EHRs). However, many patients have difficulty understanding or memorizing their discharge instructions. In this paper, we present PaniniQA, a patient-centric interactive question answering system designed to help patients understand their discharge instructions. PaniniQA first identifies important clinical content from patients' discharge instructions and then formulates patient-specific educational questions. In addition, PaniniQA is also equipped with answer verification functionality to provide timely feedback to correct patients' misunderstandings. Our comprehensive automatic and human evaluation results demonstrate our PaniniQA is capable of improving patients' mastery of their medical instructions through effective interactionsComment: Accepted to TACL 2023. Equal contribution for the first two authors. This arXiv version is a pre-MIT Press publication versio

Inhibition of MicroRNA-96 Ameliorates Cognitive Impairment and Inactivation Autophagy Following Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion in the Rat

Background/Aims: Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) is a high-risk factor for vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Autophagy plays a critical role in the initiation and progression of CCH. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we identified the effect of a microRNA (miR) on autophagy under CCH. Methods: A CCH rat model was established by two-vessel occlusion (2VO). Learning and memory abilities were assessed by the Morris water maze. The protein levels of LC3, beclin-1, and mTOR were detected by western blotting and immunofluorescence assays, miR-96 expression was assessed by real-time PCR, luciferase assays were used to determine the effect of miR-96 on the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of mTOR, and the number of autophagosomes was examined by electron microscopy. Results: The level of miR-96 was significantly increased in 2VO rats, and inhibition of miR-96 ameliorated the cognitive impairment induced by 2VO. Furthermore, the number of LC3- and beclin-1-positive autophagosomes was increased in 2VO rats, and was decreased after miR-96 antagomir injection. However, the protein level of mTOR was reduced in 2VO rats, and it was down-regulated by miR-96 overexpression and up-regulated by miR-96 inhibition in 2VO rats and primary culture cells. Moreover, the luciferase activity of the 3′-UTR of mTOR was suppressed by miR-96, which was relieved by mutation of the miR-96 binding sites. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that miR-96 may play a key role in autophagy under CCH by regulating mTOR; therefore, miR-96 may represent a potential therapeutic target for CCH

Highly stable double crosslinked membrane based on poly(vinylbenzyl chloride) for anion exchange membrane fuel cell

Anion exchange membranes (AEMs) with high ionic conductivity and excellent stability are critical for long-life AEM fuel cells. In this paper, a novel double crosslinked AEM was prepared successfully based on polybenzimidazole (PBI) and poly(vinylbenzyl chloride) (PVBC) with N,N,N,N-tetramethyl-1,6-hexanediamine as a homogeneous quaternization reagent. As the mass ratios of PBI and PVBC increased from 1:1 to 3:1, the water uptake and swelling ratio of AEM decreased by half, while the ionic exchange capacity had a small reduction. Moreover, little change occurred in water uptake and swelling ratio under elevated temperature, as well as the ionic exchange capacity after soaking in KOH for 500h. When the mass ratios of PBI and PVBC was 1:1, the AEM showed the minimum tensile strength of 45.8MPa and highest conductivity of 31.5mScm(-1) at 20 degrees C and 68.8mScm(-1) at 80 degrees C. In addition, excellent alkali resistance and oxidative stability were reflected in durability studies and the maximum power density of an H-2/O-2 single fuel cell using the AEM reached 244.93mWcm(-2) at 0.54V

Insight into the correlation between biochar amendment and shift in bacterial community four years after a single incorporation in soybean/maize-planted soils in north-eastern China

To date, there have been comparatively few reports addressing the correlation between biochar treatments, crop species and microbiome shifts. In this study, the shifts in soil bacterial community were investigated four years after a single incorporation of biochar in soybean- and maize-planted soils. Clear changes in bacterial community composition and structure were detected in the soybean-planted soil amended with low-titer biochar (7.89 t/ha), whereas such changes in the maize-planted soil were not observed at the same biochar amendment rate, suggesting a more sensitive influence on bacterial community in the soybean-planted soil than that in the maize-planted soil. The bacterial abundance in the maize-planted soil was reduced significantly with the increasing biochar addition (15.78 t/ha and 47.34 t/ha), which was probably due to the substances inhibition originated from biochar. Both the bacterial community and biomarkers in soil under biochar amendment varied with planted crops, which mean different responses of bacterial community to biochar amendment. All these results suggested that biochar might influence bacterial community in maize- and soybean-growing soils under different mechanisms. Our findings should be valuable for in-depth understanding the potential mechanism of soil microbiome changes following biochar incorporation and for biochar application in agriculture.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Prevalence and risk factors for abnormal glucose metabolism in first-episode and drug-na?ve major depressive disorder outpatients with comorbid anxiety: A cross-sectional study from a large sample of the Chinese Han population

Background: Both abnormal glucose metabolism and anxiety have been reported to be common in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, few studies have explored glucose disturbances in first -episode and drugnaive (FEDN) MDD patients with anxiety. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and risk factors of glucose disturbance in FEND MDD patients comorbid with anxiety. Methods: 1718 FEDN MDD patients were included in this study. The positive subscale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) were used to measure psychotic, anxiety and depressive symptoms respectively. Sociodemographic and biochemical indicators were also collected. Results: The prevalence of glucose disorders in MDD patients combined with anxiety was 15.7 %, significantly higher than in MDD patients without anxiety symptoms (7.1 %). Glucose disturbances were associated with HAMD score, HAMA score, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), antithyroglobulin (TGAb), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), fasting blood glucose (FBG), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), suicide attempts, and psychotic symptoms. Further logistic regression showed that illness duration, TSH, TGAb, and TPOAb levels were correlates of glucose disturbances in MDD patients with anxiety. Limitations: No causal relationship could be drawn due to the cross-sectional design. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that TSH, TGAb and TPOAb may be promising biomarkers of glucose disturbances in MDD comorbid with anxiety, suggesting the importance of regular assessment of thyroid function parameters for abnormal glucose metabolism prevention.</p

Seven New Lobane Diterpenoids from the Soft Coral <i>Lobophytum catalai</i>

Seven new lobane diterpenoids, namely, lobocatalens A–G (1–7), were isolated from the Xisha soft coral Lobophytum catalai. Their structures, including their absolute configurations, were elucidated via spectroscopic analysis, comparison with the literature data, QM-MNR, and TDDFT-ECD calculations. Among them, lobocatalen A (1) is a new lobane diterpenoid with an unusual ether linkage between C-14 and C-18. In addition, compound 7 showed moderate anti-inflammatory activity in the zebrafish models and cytotoxic activity against the K562 human cancer cell line

Sorption of carbendazim on activated carbons derived from rape straw and its mechanism

Due to the production and widespread application of pesticides, pesticide pollution poses a potential danger to human health and the ecosystem. Herein, activated carbons employing rape straw as a precursor were produced using H3PO4 as an activating agent at various temperatures (300-600 degrees C). The activated carbons differed with respect to the physicochemical properties, which were derived from elemental analysis, N-2 sorption-desorption, FTIR, XPS, XRD, pH(pzc), Boehm titration and blocking of the oxygen-containing groups. The oxygen-containing functional groups and the pore structure of the activated carbons obtained from the different preparation conditions were quite different. The as-prepared samples were applied as sorbents to remove carbendazim (CBD). The results indicated that the sorption of CBD was mainly dominated by partitioning at low concentrations of CBD. Meanwhile, electrostatic attractions played a more important role than hydrophobic interactions at a low initial pH; in contrast, as the initial pH increased, the hydrophobic interaction was the predominant sorption mechanism. Therefore, the results can be used to design some efficient and environmentally friendly adsorbents to reduce the risk of organic pollutants, especially organic pesticides, in aqueous solutions

Edible Insects: A New Sustainable Nutritional Resource Worth Promoting

Edible insects are a highly nutritious source of protein and are enjoyed by people all over the world. Insects contain various other nutrients and beneficial compounds, such as lipids, vitamins and minerals, chitin, phenolic compounds, and antimicrobial peptides, which contribute to good health. The practice of insect farming is far more resource-efficient compared to traditional agriculture and animal husbandry, requiring less land, energy, and water, and resulting in a significantly lower carbon footprint. In fact, insects are 12 to 25 times more efficient than animals in converting low-protein feed into protein. When it comes to protein production per unit area, insect farming only requires about one-eighth of the land needed for beef production. Moreover, insect farming generates minimal waste, as insects can consume food and biomass that would otherwise go to waste, contributing to a circular economy that promotes resource recycling and reuse. Insects can be fed with agricultural waste, such as unused plant stems and food scraps. Additionally, the excrement produced by insects can be used as fertilizer for crops, completing the circular chain. Despite the undeniable sustainability and nutritional benefits of consuming insects, widespread acceptance of incorporating insects into our daily diets still has a long way to go. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the nutritional value of edible insects, the development of farming and processing technologies, and the problems faced in the marketing of edible insect products and insect foods to improve the reference for how people choose edible insects

Systematic identification and expression analysis of bHLH gene family reveal their relevance to abiotic stress response and anthocyanin biosynthesis in sweetpotato

Abstract Background bHLH transcription factors play significant roles in regulating plant growth and development, stress response, and anthocyanin biosynthesis. Sweetpotato is a pivotal food and industry crop, but little information is available on sweetpotato bHLH genes. Results Herein, 227 putative IbbHLH genes were defined on sweetpotato chromosomes, and fragment duplications were identified as the dominant driving force for IbbHLH expansion. These IbbHLHs were divided into 26 subfamilies through phylogenetic analysis, as supported by further analysis of exon-intron structure and conserved motif composition. The syntenic analysis between IbbHLHs and their orthologs from other plants depicted evolutionary relationships of IbbHLHs. Based on the transcriptome data under salt stress, the expression of 12 IbbHLHs was screened for validation by qRT-PCR, and differential and significant transcriptions under abiotic stress were detected. Moreover, IbbHLH123 and IbbHLH215, which were remarkably upregulated by stress treatments, had obvious transactivation activity in yeasts. Protein interaction detections and yeast two-hybrid assays suggested an intricate interaction correlation between IbbHLHs. Besides, transcriptome screening revealed that multiple IbbHLHs may be closely related to anthocyanin biosynthesis based on the phenotype (purple vs. white tissues), which was confirmed by subsequent qRT-PCR analysis. Conclusions These results shed light on the promising functions of sweetpotato IbbHLHs in abiotic stress response and anthocyanin biosynthesis