Scallop: A Language for Neurosymbolic Programming

We present Scallop, a language which combines the benefits of deep learning and logical reasoning. Scallop enables users to write a wide range of neurosymbolic applications and train them in a data- and compute-efficient manner. It achieves these goals through three key features: 1) a flexible symbolic representation that is based on the relational data model; 2) a declarative logic programming language that is based on Datalog and supports recursion, aggregation, and negation; and 3) a framework for automatic and efficient differentiable reasoning that is based on the theory of provenance semirings. We evaluate Scallop on a suite of eight neurosymbolic applications from the literature. Our evaluation demonstrates that Scallop is capable of expressing algorithmic reasoning in diverse and challenging AI tasks, provides a succinct interface for machine learning programmers to integrate logical domain knowledge, and yields solutions that are comparable or superior to state-of-the-art models in terms of accuracy. Furthermore, Scallop's solutions outperform these models in aspects such as runtime and data efficiency, interpretability, and generalizability

LASER: A Neuro-Symbolic Framework for Learning Spatial-Temporal Scene Graphs with Weak Supervision

We propose LASER, a neuro-symbolic approach to learn semantic video representations that capture rich spatial and temporal properties in video data by leveraging high-level logic specifications. In particular, we formulate the problem in terms of alignment between raw videos and spatio-temporal logic specifications. The alignment algorithm leverages a differentiable symbolic reasoner and a combination of contrastive, temporal, and semantics losses. It effectively and efficiently trains low-level perception models to extract fine-grained video representation in the form of a spatio-temporal scene graph that conforms to the desired high-level specification. In doing so, we explore a novel methodology that weakly supervises the learning of video semantic representations through logic specifications. We evaluate our method on two datasets with rich spatial and temporal specifications: 20BN-Something-Something and MUGEN. We demonstrate that our method learns better fine-grained video semantics than existing baselines

How Does Adult Attachment Affect Human Recognition of Love-related and Sex-related Stimuli: An ERP Study

Journal articleThis paper reports the descriptive analysis of a large sample of safety climate survey data (n = 110,014) collected over 10 years from U.S. Naval aircrew using the Command Safety Assessment Survey (CSAS)

Different Response Mechanisms of Rhizosphere Microbial Communities in Two Species of Amorphophallus to Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum Infection

Soft rot is a widespread, catastrophic disease caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum (Pcc) that severely damages the production of Amorphophallus spp. This study evaluated the rhizosphere bacterial and fungal communities in Pcc-infected and uninfected plants of two species of Amorphophallus, A. muelleri and A. konjac. Principal component analysis showed that the samples formed different clusters according to the Pcc infection status, indicating that Pcc infection can cause a large number of changes in the bacterial and fungal communities in the Amorphophallus spp. rhizosphere soil. However, the response mechanisms of A. muelleri and A. konjac are different. There was little difference in the overall microbial species composition among the four treatments, but the relative abundances of core microbiome members were significantly different. The relative abundances of Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacillus, and Lysobacter were lower in infected A. konjac plants than in healthy plants; in contrast, those of infected A. muelleri plants were higher than those in healthy plants. For fungi, the relative abundances of Ascomycota and Fusarium in the rhizosphere of infected A. konjac plants were significantly higher than those of healthy plants, but those of infected A. muelleri plants were lower than those of healthy plants. The relative abundance of beneficial Penicillium fungi was lower in infected A. konjac plants than in healthy plants, and that of infected A. muelleri plants was higher than that of healthy plants. These findings can provide theoretical references for further functional research and utilization of Amorphophallus spp. rhizosphere microbial communities in the future

Current status and influencing factors of early mobilization of patients undergoing laparoscopic radical resection of colorectal cancer

Objective·To investigate the status of early mobilization and influencing factors of the patients undergoing laparoscopic radical resection of colorectal cancer (CRC).Methods·The convenience sampling method was used to select patients undergoing laparoscopic radical resection of CRC in the Department of Colorectal Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January to December, 2022. The patients′ general information, disease-, surgery- and postoperation-related information, and the situation of postoperative early mobilization were collected by bedside interview and electronic medical record system at 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after surgery. The influencing factors were analyzed by univariate analyses and binary Logistic regression.Results·A total of 277 patients were included. Within 24 h after surgery, 47 patients got out of bed with the early mobilization rate of 16.97%. The walking distance of these patients was 55.46 (18.28, 145.60) m within 24 h after surgery, with a minimum of 2.60 m and a maximum of 803.68 m. The average scores of Brown rating of mobility within 24 h, >24－48 h, and >48－72 h after surgery were 2 (0, 4) points, 8 (0, 10) points, and 8 (8, 10) points, which respectively belonged to the low level, moderate level, and moderate level. There were statistical differences in age, preoperative hemoglobin level, anesthesia duration, and the number of indwelling catheters between the early mobilization group and the non-early mobilization group (all P<0.05). Initial exhaust time, initial defecation time and postoperative length of stay of the early mobilization group were significantly shorter than those of the non-early mobilization group (all P<0.05). There were no postoperative complications in the early mobilization group, while the postoperative complications occurred in 11 patients in the non-early mobilization group with the incidence of complications of 4.78%. Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that age≥70 years old, low preoperative hemoglobin level and long anesthesia duration had significant influence on postoperative early mobilization (all P<0.05).Conclusion·Early mobilization of patients after laparoscopic radical resection of CRC can significantly accelerate postoperative rehabilitation, but the current status of early mobilization needs to be improved. Age, preoperative hemoglobin level and anesthesia duration are influencing factors of early mobilization

Case Report: A rare synchronous multiple gastric carcinoma achieved progression-free disease through NGS-guided serial treatment

Synchronous multiple gastric carcinoma (SMGC) is a rare condition characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of two or more primary malignant tumors in the stomach, each with its own distinct pathological morphology. SMGC differs from gastric metastases, which originate from primary gastric or non-gastric tumors. At present, the incidence of SMGC is low in China, with no established guidelines for standard treatment. Here, we report a rare case of advanced SMGC that achieved long-lasting clinical benefits through a treatment strategy informed by next-generation sequencing (NGS). Dynamically monitoring of the tumor and/or circulating cell-free DNA guided the patient’s treatment sequentially. The patient received anti-HER2 therapy, followed by immunotherapy, pembrolizumab in combination with trastuzumab and chemotherapy, and ultimately underwent successful total gastrectomy. This case highlights a novel approach of utilizing liquid biopsy-based NGS to gain insights into disease progression and molecular response to NGS-guided treatment in SMGC patients

Liver lobe-based magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging using multiple b values in patients with hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis: association with the liver disease severity according to the Child-Pugh class

OBJECTIVE: To determine the associations of liver lobe-based magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging findings using multiple b values with the presence and Child-Pugh class of cirrhosis in patients with hepatitis B. METHODS: Seventy-four cirrhotic patients with hepatitis B and 25 healthy volunteers underwent diffusion-weighted imaging using b values of 0, 500, 800 and 1000 sec/mm2. The apparent diffusion coefficients of individual liver lobes for b(0,500), b(0,800) and b(0,1000) were derived from the signal intensity averaged across images obtained using b values of 0 and 500 sec/mm2, 0 and 800 sec/mm2, or 0 and 1000 sec/mm2, respectively, and were statistically analyzed to evaluate cirrhosis. RESULTS: The apparent diffusion coefficients for b(0,500), b(0,800) and b(0,1000) inversely correlated with the Child-Pugh class in the left lateral liver lobe, the left medial liver lobe, the right liver lobe and the caudate lobe (r=-0.35 to -0.60, all p;0.05). Among these parameters, the apparent diffusion coefficient for b(0,500) in the left lateral liver lobe best differentiated normal from cirrhotic liver, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.989. The apparent diffusion coefficient for b(0,800) in the right liver lobe best distinguished Child-Pugh class A from B-C and A-B from C, with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.732 and 0.747, respectively. CONCLUSION: Liver lobe-based apparent diffusion coefficients for b(0,500) and b(0,800) appear to be associated with the presence and Child-Pugh class of liver cirrhosis

Amorphophallus muelleri activates ferulic acid and phenylpropane biosynthesis pathways to defend against Fusarium solani infection

Amorphophallus sp. is an economically important crop for rural revitalization in southwest China. However, Fusarium solani often infects Amorphophallus sp. corms during storage, damaging the corm quality and affecting leaf elongation and flowering in the subsequent crop. In this study, the mechanism of resistance to F. solani was investigated in the leaf bud and flower bud corms of Amorphophallus muelleri through transcriptome and metabolome analyses. A total of 42.52 Gb clean reads and 1,525 metabolites were detected in a total of 12 samples including 3 samples each of disease-free leaf bud corms (LC), leaf bud corms inoculated with F. solani for three days (LD), disease-free flower bud corms (FC), and flower bud corms inoculated with F. solani for three days (FD). Transcriptome, metabolome, and conjoint analyses showed that ‘MAPK signal transduction’, ‘plant-pathogen interaction’, ‘plant hormone signal transduction’, and other secondary metabolite biosynthesis pathways, including ‘phenylpropane biosynthesis’, ‘arachidonic acid metabolism’, ‘stilbene, diarylheptane and gingerolin biosynthesis’, and ‘isoquinoline alkaloids biosynthesis’, among others, were involved in the defense response of A. muelleri to F. solani. Ultimately, the expression of six genes of interest (AmCDPK20, AmRBOH, AmWRKY33, Am4CL, Am POD and AmCYP73A1) was validated by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and the results indicated that these genes were involved in the response of A. muelleri to F. solani. Ferulic acid inhibited the growth of F. solani, reducing the harm caused by F. solani to A. muelleri corms to a certain extent. Overall, this study lays a strong foundation for further investigation of the interaction between A. muelleri and F. solani, and provides a list of genes for the future breeding of F. solani-resistant A. muelleri cultivars