CIR at the NTCIR-17 ULTRE-2 Task

The Chinese academy of sciences Information Retrieval team (CIR) has participated in the NTCIR-17 ULTRE-2 task. This paper describes our approaches and reports our results on the ULTRE-2 task. We recognize the issue of false negatives in the Baidu search data in this competition is very severe, much more severe than position bias. Hence, we adopt the Dual Learning Algorithm (DLA) to address the position bias and use it as an auxiliary model to study how to alleviate the false negative issue. We approach the problem from two perspectives: 1) correcting the labels for non-clicked items by a relevance judgment model trained from DLA, and learn a new ranker that is initialized from DLA; 2) including random documents as true negatives and documents that have partial matching as hard negatives. Both methods can enhance the model performance and our best method has achieved nDCG@10 of 0.5355, which is 2.66% better than the best score from the organizer.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, NTCIR-1

Feature-Enhanced Network with Hybrid Debiasing Strategies for Unbiased Learning to Rank

Unbiased learning to rank (ULTR) aims to mitigate various biases existing in user clicks, such as position bias, trust bias, presentation bias, and learn an effective ranker. In this paper, we introduce our winning approach for the "Unbiased Learning to Rank" task in WSDM Cup 2023. We find that the provided data is severely biased so neural models trained directly with the top 10 results with click information are unsatisfactory. So we extract multiple heuristic-based features for multi-fields of the results, adjust the click labels, add true negatives, and re-weight the samples during model training. Since the propensities learned by existing ULTR methods are not decreasing w.r.t. positions, we also calibrate the propensities according to the click ratios and ensemble the models trained in two different ways. Our method won the 3rd prize with a DCG@10 score of 9.80, which is 1.1% worse than the 2nd and 25.3% higher than the 4th.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, WSDM Cup 202

Bioequivalence and Population Pharmacokinetic Modeling of Two Forms of Antibiotic, Cefuroxime Lysine and Cefuroxime Sodium, after Intravenous Infusion in Beagle Dogs

To investigate the bioequivalence and the population pharmacokinetics of cefuroxime lysine and cefuroxime sodium in healthy beagle dogs. A randomized 2-period crossover design in 18 healthy beagle dogs after receiving 20, 40, and 80 mg/kg of cefuroxime lysine or cefuroxime sodium was conducted. A 3-compartment open model was used as the basic model for the population pharmacokinetic study. Both of the antibiotics exhibited dose-proportional pharmacokinetics over the dose range of 20–80 mg/kg. The mean relative bioavailability of cefuroxime lysine versus cefuroxime sodium was 1.05 (range, 0.71 to 1.42), with a significant difference between males and females. The estimates of population pharmacokinetic of CL, V1, Q2, V2, Q3, V3 were 3.74 mL/h, 1.70 mL, 29.5 mL/min, 3.58 mL, 0.31 mL/min, and 158 mL for cefuroxime lysine and 4.10 mL/h, 1.00 mL, 38.5 mL/min, 4.19 mL, 0.06 mL/min, and 13.6 mL for cefuroxime sodium, respectively. The inter-individual variability was determined to be less than 29.1%. A linear pharmacokinetic was revealed for cefuroxime lysine and cefuroxime sodium in dogs after intravenous infusion, and the bioequivalence of these forms of the antibiotic was observed with the significant gender-related differences in mean relative bioavailability of cefuroxime lysine versus cefuroxime sodium

A novel method for purifying bluetongue virus with high purity by co-immunoprecipitation with agarose protein A

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an icosahedral non-enveloped virus within the genus <it>Orbivirus </it>of <it>Reoviridae </it>and exists as 24 distinct serotypes. BTV can infect all ruminant species and causes severe sickness in sheep. Recently, it was reported that BTV can infect some human cancer cells selectively. Because of the important oncolysis of this virus, we developed a novel purifying method for large-scale production. The purifying logic is simple, which is picking out all the components unwanted and the left is what we want. The process can be summarized in 4 steps: centrifugation, pulling down cell debrises and soluble proteins by co-immunoprecipitation with agarose Protein A, dialysis and filtration sterilization after concentration.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The result of transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation showed that the sample of purified virus has a very clear background and the virions still kept intact. The result of 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID₅₀) assay showed that the bioactivity of purified virus is relatively high.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This method can purify BTV-10 with high quality and high biological activity on large-scale production. It also can be used for purifying other BTV serotypes.</p

OR-024 Changes of mitochondrial autophagy - related genes and autophagosome after skeletal muscle blunt trauma

Objective Objective: To study the changes of mitochondrial autophagy-related genes and autophagosome after skeletal muscle blunt trauma, to reveal the changes of mitochondrial adaptive repair process after skeletal muscle blunt trauma, and to elucidate the mechanism of blunt trauma repair process. Methods Methods: Sixty - four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group and blunt trauma group三 (divided into 12h group, 2d group, 5d group, 7d group, 10d group, 15d group and 30d group) according to the time of extraction. The expression of HIF-1α, AMPKα2, BNIP3 and NIX protein in skeletal muscle hypoxia and autophagy-related factors were measured by Western-Blot. QRT-PCR was performed to analyze the expression levels of HIF-1α, AMPKα2, BNIP3 and NIX. The ultrastructure and autophagic formation at different time points were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results Results: The expression of HIF-1α and AMPKα2 protein reached the peak at 12h and 2d, and the expression of HIF-1α was significantly higher than that of the control group (P &lt;0.05). The expression of AMPKα2 was significantly higher at 5 days after injury (P &lt;0.05), and reached the normal level at 10 days. BNIP3 began to decline after 5 days, but still higher than normal at 10 days after treatment. NIX expression peak appeared at 12h and 2d after injury, with high-express to 7d. The expression of HIF-1α and AMPKα2 mRNA was significantly higher than that of the control group (P &lt;0.01), but decreased until 5d (P &lt;0.05), then decreased to normal level. The mRNA expression of BNIP3 and NIX was basically the same as their protein performance. A number of autophagosomes were observed at 12 h after injury, and the number of autophagosomes increased gradually at 2-7 d. After 10 days, the number of autophagosomes decreased compared with that of 12 h-7 d after blunt. And after 15 days, the number of autophagosites decreased gradually. Conclusions Conclusion: The changes of early stage metabolic regulator AMPKα2 and hypoxia-sensitive factor HIF-1αafter skeletal muscle blunt trauma indicated that&nbsp; an energy crisis occurred in the skeletal muscle after injury, and the hypoxic environment was formed. The mitochondrial autophagy, the expression of BNIP3 and NIX showed that mitochondrial autophagy was activated and hypoxia induced mitochondrial autophagy at early skeletal muscle contusion peroid. Hypoxia-induced mitochondrial autophagy could remove the damaged mitochondria, maintain mitochondrial quality and provide raw materials for new mitochondria generation, facilitate the rapid recovery of damaged skeletal muscle, which may be a compensatory mechanism of the body response to injury

Exposure to arsenic during pregnancy and newborn mitochondrial DNA copy number: A birth cohort study in Wuhan, China

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Chemosphere on 11/11/2019, available online: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045653519325755?via%3Dihub The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Background: Arsenic (As) is a widely distributed environmental chemical with potentially different toxicities. However, little is known about the impact of maternal As exposure on newborn mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn), which may lie on the pathway linking As exposure to adverse health impacts. Objectives: We aimed to explore whether maternal As exposure was associated with newborn mtDNAcn. Methods: We conducted a birth cohort study of 762 mother-infant pairs in Wuhan, China, 2013-2015. Cord blood mtDNAcn was determined using qPCR. Maternal urinary As levels in each trimester were quantified by ICP-MS. Multiple informant models were used to examine the associations of repeated urinary As levels with cord blood mtDNAcn. Results: The median urinary As levels in the first, second, and third trimesters were 17.2 g/L, 16.0 g/L and 17.0 g/L respectively. In the multivariate model, each doubling increase in the first-trimester urinary As level was associated with a 6.6% (95% CI: -12.4%, -0.5%) decrease in cord blood mtDNAcn. The highest versus lowest quintile of first-trimester urinary As level was related to a 19.0% (95% CI: -32.9%, -2.2%) lower cord blood mtDNAcn. There was significant association of urinary As levels in the second and third trimesters with cord blood mtDNAcn. The inverse relationship between first-trimester urinary As level and cord blood mtDNAcn was more pronounced among female infants. Conclusions: First-trimester As exposure was associated with decreased cord blood mtDNAcn. The potential health impacts of decreased mtDNAcn in early life need to be further clarified

Modification effect of changes in cardiometabolic traits in association between kidney stones and cardiovascular events

BackgroundsWhether longitudinal changes in metabolic status influence the effect of kidney stones on cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains unclarified. We investigated the modification effect of status changes in metabolic syndrome (MetS) in the association of kidney stones with risk of incident CVD events.MethodsWe performed a prospective association and interaction study in a nationwide cohort including 129,172 participants aged ≥ 40 years without CVDs at baseline and followed up for an average of 3.8 years. Kidney stones information was collected by using a questionnaire and validated by medical records. The repeated biochemical measurements were performed to ascertain the metabolic status at both baseline and follow-up.Results4,017 incident total CVDs, 1,413 coronary heart diseases (CHDs) and 2,682 strokes were documented and ascertained during follow-up. Kidney stones presence was significantly associated with 44%, 70% and 31% higher risk of CVDs, CHDs and stroke, respectively. The stratified analysis showed significant associations were found in the incident and sustained MetS patients, while no significant associations were found in the non-MetS at both baseline and follow-up subjects or the MetS remission ones, especially in women. For the change status of each single component of the MetS, though the trends were not always the same, the associations with CVD were consistently significant in those with sustained metabolic disorders, except for the sustained high blood glucose group, while the associations were consistently significant in those with incident metabolic disorders except for the incident blood pressure group. We also found a significant association of kidney stone and CVD or CHD risk in the remain normal glucose or triglycerides groups; while the associations were consistently significant in those with incident metabolic disorders except for the incident blood pressure group. We also found a significant association of kidney stone and CVD or CHD risk in the remain normal glucose or triglycerides groups.ConclusionsA history of kidney stones in women with newly developed MetS or long-standing MetS associated with increased risk of CVD. The mechanisms link kidney stones and CVD risk in the metabolic and non-metabolic pathways were warranted for further studies

The Relative Body Weight Gain From Early to Middle Life Adulthood Associated With Later Life Risk of Diabetes: A Nationwide Cohort Study

AimTo determine the effect of decade-based body weight gain from 20 to 50 years of age on later life diabetes risk.Methods35,611 non-diabetic participants aged ≥ 50 years from a well-defined nationwide cohort were followed up for average of 3.6 years, with cardiovascular diseases and cancers at baseline were excluded. Body weight at 20, 30, 40, and 50 years was reported. The overall 30 years and each 10-year weight gain were calculated from the early and middle life. Cox regression models were used to estimate risks of incident diabetes.ResultsAfter 127,745.26 person-years of follow-up, 2,789 incident diabetes were identified (incidence rate, 2.18%) in 25,289 women (mean weight gain 20-50 years, 7.60 kg) and 10,322 men (7.93 kg). Each 10-kg weight gain over the 30 years was significantly associated with a 39.7% increased risk of incident diabetes (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-1.47); weight gain from 20-30 years showed a more prominent effect on the risk of developing diabetes before 60 years than that of after 60 years (Hazard ratio, HR = 1.084, 95% CI [1.049-1.121], P &lt;0.0001 vs. 1.015 [0.975-1.056], P = 0.4643; PInteraction=0.0293). It showed a stable effect of the three 10-year intervals weight gain on risk of diabetes after 60 years (HR=1.055, 1.038, 1.043, respectively, all P &lt; 0.0036).ConclusionsThe early life weight gain showed a more prominent effect on developing diabetes before 60 years than after 60 years; however, each-decade weight gain from 20 to 50 years showed a similar effect on risk developing diabetes after 60 years

Association between triglyceride glucose index and breast cancer in 142,184 Chinese adults: findings from the REACTION study

BackgroundThe triglyceride glucose (TyG) index has been associated with an increased risk in breast cancer. However, this association remains unclear among the Chinese population. This study aimed to investigate whether the TyG index is associated with the risk of prevalent breast cancer in Chinese women.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 142,184 women from the REACTION (Risk Evaluation of Cancers in Chinese Diabetic Individuals: A Longitudinal) Study, which recruited adults aged 40 years or older from 25 centers across mainland China between 2011 and 2012. The TyG index was calculated according to the formula: Ln (fasting triglycerides [mg/dL] × fasting glucose [mg/dL]/2). Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models were used to evaluate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) regarding the associations between the TyG index and breast cancer.ResultsMultivariable-adjusted logistic regression analysis showed that compared with the lowest quartile of the TyG index, the highest quartile of the TyG index was significantly associated with an increased risk of prevalent breast cancer, with an OR (95% CI) of 1.61 (1.19–2.17). In the stratified analysis, the association of each 1 SD increase in the TyG index with risk of prevalent breast cancer was more dominant in individuals with menarche at age 13–17, those who were postmenopausal, those with a history of breastfeeding, and those who had two to four children, with the ORs (95% CIs) of 1.35 (1.09–1.68), 1.27 (1.05–1.54), 1.26 (1.05–1.52), and 1.32 (1.08–1.62), respectively. Moreover, among those without discernible insulin resistance (homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance [HOMA-IR] ≥2.5), hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, each 1 SD increase in the TyG index was associated with a 1.36-fold increase in breast cancer risk, with an OR (95% CI) of 2.36 (1.44–3.87).ConclusionThe TyG index is significantly associated with the prevalent breast cancer risk among middle-aged and elderly Chinese women