Domain Agnostic Real-Valued Specificity Prediction

Sentence specificity quantifies the level of detail in a sentence, characterizing the organization of information in discourse. While this information is useful for many downstream applications, specificity prediction systems predict very coarse labels (binary or ternary) and are trained on and tailored toward specific domains (e.g., news). The goal of this work is to generalize specificity prediction to domains where no labeled data is available and output more nuanced real-valued specificity ratings. We present an unsupervised domain adaptation system for sentence specificity prediction, specifically designed to output real-valued estimates from binary training labels. To calibrate the values of these predictions appropriately, we regularize the posterior distribution of the labels towards a reference distribution. We show that our framework generalizes well to three different domains with 50%~68% mean absolute error reduction than the current state-of-the-art system trained for news sentence specificity. We also demonstrate the potential of our work in improving the quality and informativeness of dialogue generation systems.Comment: AAAI 2019 camera read

Clinical Application of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound in Rheumatic Diseases

Since the development of the ultrasound machine, musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) has become widely used in rheumatology practice. This tool allows important information to be obtained for several diseases, such as the early detection of synovial proliferation, effusion, and bone erosion in rheumatoid arthritis, the recognition of enthesitis or dactylitis in spondyloarthropathies, and visual guidance for invasive procedures, such as biopsies, injections, or aspirations. In addition, the use of MSUS in research has increased steadily over the past decade. In this review, we provide a brief introduction and an overview of the clinical application of MSUS in rheumatic diseases

Prediction of corporate financial distress : an application of the composite rule induction system

The economic consequence of corporate failure is enormous, especially for the stakeholders of public-held companies. Prior to a corporate failure, the firm’s financial status is frequently in distress. Consequently, finding a method to identify corporate financial distress as early as possible is clearly a matter of considerable interest to investors, creditors, auditors and other stakeholders. This paper uses a composite rule induction system (CRIS; Liang 1992) to derive rules for predicting corporate financial distress in Taiwan. In addition, this paper compares the prediction performance of cris, neural computing and the logit model. The empirical results indicate that both CRIS and neural computing outperform the logit model in predicting financial distress. Although both CRIS and neural computing perform rather well, CRIS has the advantage that the derived rules are easier to understand and interpret.La consecuencia económica de un fracaso corporativo es enorme, especialmente para los actores clave de las compañías públicas. En las fases previas a un fracaso corporativo, es común que el estatus financiero de la firma se encuentre normalmente en apuros. Consecuentemente, encontrar un método para identificar peligros financieros en una corporación tan pronto como sea posible es claramente un asunto con gran interés para los inversores, acreedores, auditores y otros actores clave. Este artículo usa un sistema de reglas inductivas compuestas (CRIS; Liang 1992) para elaborar reglas y patrones que ayuden a predecir problemas económicos en Taiwan. Además, este artículo compara el rendimiento y predicciones de CRIS, la informática neuronal y el modelo logístico. Los resultados empíricos indican que tanto CRIS como la informática neuronal funcionan generalmente bien a la hora de predecir los problemas financieros. Aunque ambos funcionan correctamente, CRIS tiene la ventaja de que sus reglas son más sencillas de entender e interpretar

2-(2-Meth­oxy-5-methyl­phen­yl)-2H-benzotriazole

In the title mol­ecule, C14H13N3O, the dihedral angle between the mean planes of the benzotriazole ring system and the benzene ring is 57.8 (2)°

Deranged Bioenergetics and Defective Redox Capacity in T Lymphocytes and Neutrophils Are Related to Cellular Dysfunction and Increased Oxidative Stress in Patients with Active Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Urinary excretion of N-benzoyl-glycyl-Nε-(hexanonyl)lysine, a biomarker of oxidative stress, was higher in 26 patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) than in 11 non-SLE patients with connective tissue diseases and in 14 healthy volunteers. We hypothesized that increased oxidative stress in active SLE might be attributable to deranged bioenergetics, defective reduction-oxidation (redox) capacity, or other factors. We demonstrated that, compared to normal cells, T lymphocytes (T) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) of active SLE showed defective expression of facilitative glucose transporters GLUT-3 and GLUT-6, which led to increased intracellular basal lactate and decreased ATP production. In addition, the redox capacity, including intracellular GSH levels and the enzyme activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and γ-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT), was decreased in SLE-T. Compared to normal cells, SLE-PMN showed decreased intracellular GSH levels, and GGT enzyme activity was found in SLE-PMN and enhanced expression of CD53, a coprecipitating molecule for GGT. We conclude that deranged cellular bioenergetics and defective redox capacity in T and PMN are responsible for cellular immune dysfunction and are related to increased oxidative stress in active SLE patients

Urinary Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin Is a Potential Biomarker for Renal Damage in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) has been demonstrated to be a novel biomarker in acute and chronic kidney disease. We hypothesized that 24-hour urinary NGAL excretion may be a predictor for renal damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Thirty-four SLE patients with renal involvement (SLE-renal group), 8 SLE patients without renal involvement (SLE-nonrenal group), 14 patients with non-SLE autoimmune diseases (disease control or DC group), and 12 healthy volunteers (normal control or NC group) were compared for 24-hour urinary excretion of NGAL and different cytokines. We found that the 24-hour urinary NGAL excretion in the SLE-renal group was higher than that in the SLE-non-renal, DC, and NC groups. However, the excretion of interleukin-10, transforming growth factor-β1, and tumor necrosis factor-α was not different between the SLE-renal and SLE-non-renal groups. Furthermore, NGAL excretion in the SLE-renal group was correlated with serum creatinine levels and creatinine clearance, but not with the SLE Disease Activity Index score. Multivariate logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that 24-hour urinary NGAL excretion is a potential biomarker for renal damage in SLE patients, with higher sensitivity and specificity than anti-dsDNA antibody titers

Melioidosis Outbreak after Typhoon, Southern Taiwan

From July through September 2005, shortly after a typhoon, 40 cases of Burkholderia pseudomallei infection (melioidosis) were identified in southern Taiwan. Two genotypes that had been present in 2000 were identified by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Such a case cluster confirms that melioidosis is endemic to Taiwan

Genetic Elimination of Connective Tissue Growth Factor in the Forebrain Affects Subplate Neurons in the Cortex and Oligodendrocytes in the Underlying White Matter

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is a secreted extracellular matrix-associated protein, which play a role in regulating various cellular functions. Although the expression of CTGF has been reported in the cortical subplate, its function is still not clear. Thus, to explore the significance of CTGF in the brain, we created a forebrain-specific Ctgf knockout (FbCtgf KO) mouse model. By crossing Ctgffl/fl mice with Emx1-Cre transgenic mice, in which the expression of Cre is prenatally initiated, the full length Ctgf is removed in the forebrain structures. In young adult (2–3 months old) FbCtgf KO mice, subplate markers such as Nurr1 and Cplx3 are still expressed in the cortical layer VIb; however, the density of the subplate neurons is increased. Interestingly, in these mutants, we found a reduced structural complexity in the subplate neurons. The distribution patterns of neurons and glial cells, examined by immunohistochemistry, are comparable between genotypes in the somatosensory cortex. However, increased densities of mature oligodendrocytes, but not immature ones, were noticed in the external capsule underneath the cortical layer VIb in young adult FbCtgf KO mice. The features of myelinated axons in the external capsule were then examined using electron microscopy. Unexpectedly, the thickness of the myelin sheath was reduced in middle-aged (>12 months old), but not young adult FbCtgf KO mice. Our results suggest a secretory function of the subplate neurons, through the release of CTGF, which regulates the density and dendritic branching of subplate neurons as well as the maturation and function of nearby oligodendrocytes in the white matter