Ethical Challenges in Data-Driven Dialogue Systems

The use of dialogue systems as a medium for human-machine interaction is an increasingly prevalent paradigm. A growing number of dialogue systems use conversation strategies that are learned from large datasets. There are well documented instances where interactions with these system have resulted in biased or even offensive conversations due to the data-driven training process. Here, we highlight potential ethical issues that arise in dialogue systems research, including: implicit biases in data-driven systems, the rise of adversarial examples, potential sources of privacy violations, safety concerns, special considerations for reinforcement learning systems, and reproducibility concerns. We also suggest areas stemming from these issues that deserve further investigation. Through this initial survey, we hope to spur research leading to robust, safe, and ethically sound dialogue systems.Comment: In Submission to the AAAI/ACM conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Societ

Retail market prices of fonio reveal the demand for quality characteristics in Bamako, Mali.

African consumers' expectations concerning quality of food products are great. In spite of constrained budgets, we showed that market retailed prices revealed quality preferences of the consumers and not only production costs. In very poor countries like Mali, food innovation is limited by the very low purchasing power of the population. However, technological food product or process innovations are possible and sometimes valuable. Demand driven innovation may lead to open new markets, opportunities for small and medium scale enterprises and to improve consumers' welfare. Based on this assumption, technical research was done to provide new food products. In this paper, using both sensory test and a hedonic price approach, we estimated consumer demand for different characteristics of fonio, a West African cereal, and showed that poor consumers do have quality requirements and actually pay for it. We showed that the shadow or hedonic price paid for quality characteristics is small but significant. A comparison of sensory test and market study showed a convergence between what people say they prefer and what they really pay for. Results were consistent and showed directions for technological improvement of the product and its production process. The Partial Least Square method was used to estimate hedonic prices of the different modalities of fonio quality traits.Demand and Price Analysis,

A Spherical Shells Model of Atmospheric Absorption for Instrument Calibration

We present a model for atmospheric absorption of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The initial motivation for this work is to predict this effect and correct it in Sounding Rocket (SR) experiments. In particular, the Full-sun Ultraviolet Rocket Spectrograph (FURST) is anticipated to launch in mid-2023. FURST has the potential to observe UV absorption while imaging solar spectra between 120-181 nm, at a resolution of R > 2x10$^4$ ($\Delta$ V < $\pm$ 15 km/s), and at altitudes of between 110-255 km. This model uses estimates for density and temperature, as well as laboratory measurements of the absorption cross-section, to predict the UV absorption of solar radiation at high altitudes. Refraction correction is discussed and partially implemented but is negligible for the results presented. Absorption by molecular Oxygen is the primary driver within the UV spectral range of our interest. The model is built with a wide range of applications in mind. The primary result is a method for inversion of the absorption cross-section from images obtained during an instrument flight, even if atmospheric observations were not initially intended. The potential to obtain measurements of atmospheric properties is an exciting prospect, especially since sounding rockets are the only method currently available for probing this altitude in situ. Simulation of noisy spectral images along the FURST flight profile is performed using data from the High-Resolution Telescope and Spectrograph (HRTS) SR and the FISM2 model for comparison. Analysis of these simulated signals allows us to capture the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of FURST and the capability to measure atmospheric absorption properties as a function of altitude. Based on the prevalence of distinct spectral features, our calculations demonstrate that atmospheric absorption may be used to perform wavelength calibration from in-flight data.Comment: To be Published in JPCS. Submitted December 2022. Accepted February 202

Lactobacillus paracasei Reduces Intestinal Inflammation in Adoptive Transfer Mouse Model of Experimental Colitis

Studies showed that specific probiotics provide therapeutic benefits in inflammatory bowel disease. In vitro evidence suggested that Lactobacillus paracasei also called ST11 (CNCM I-2116) is a potent strain with immune modulation properties. However, little is known about its capacity to alleviate inflammatory symptoms in vivo In this context, the main objective of this study was to investigate the role of ST11 on intestinal inflammation using the adoptive transfer mouse model of experimental colitis. Rag2−/− recipient mice were fed with ST11 (109 CFU/day)a month prior toinduce colitis by adoptive transfer of naive T cells. One month later, in clear contrast to nonfed mice, weight loss was significantly reduced by 50% in ST11-fed mice. Further analysis of colon specimens revealed a significant reduction neutrophil infiltration and mucosal expression of IL1β, IL-6, and IL12 proinflammatory cytokines, whereas no consistent differences in expression of antibacterial peptides or tight junction proteins were observed between PBS and ST11-fed mice. All together, our results demonstrate that oral administration of ST11 was safe and had a significant preventive effect on colitis. We conclude that probiotics such as Lactobacillus paracasei harbor worthwhile in vivo immunomodulatory properties to prevent intestinal inflammation by nutritional approaches

Social Media and Cardiovascular Disease

Personality subtypes and systolic blood pressure (SBP) at night are recognized predictors of cardiovascular disease among social media users. Healthy individuals (n=88, 77% female, 31% African American) were surveyed using the Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale (MTUAS). Demographics, 24-hours SBP, and personality types (e.g., introvert, extravert, and blended) were used. Personality (B= 5.37, t= 2.86, p=.005) significantly predicted elevated SBP in social media users (r2= .157, F(4, 72)=3.37, p=.014). There was a significant gradient increase in nighttime SBP by personality [introvert (M=100, SD=2.1), extrovert (M=102, SD=1.7), and blended (M=111, SD=4.4); all ps.&lt;0.05]. Negative attitudes toward using technology (B= -5.093, t= -2.390, p= .019) also significantly predicted elevated overnight SBP. Higher anxiety/dependence with mobile phones (B=.400, t= 2.49, p=.019) significantly predicted elevated nighttime SBP [r2 = 0.342 F(4, 27) = 3.505, p=.020]. Our findings indicate that a blended personality type and anxiety due to separation from or dependence on a mobile phone or internet use elevate SBP at night, increasing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease

Mycotoxin Exposure and Renal Cell Carcinoma Risk: An Association Study in the EPIC European Cohort

Background: Mycotoxins have been suggested to contribute to a spectrum of adverse health effects in humans, including at low concentrations. The recognition of these food contaminants being carcinogenic, as co-occurring rather than as singularly present, has emerged from recent research. The aim of this study was to assess the potential associations of single and multiple mycotoxin exposures with renal cell carcinoma risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Methods: Food questionnaire data from the EPIC cohort were matched to mycotoxin food occurrence data compiled by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) from European Member States to assess long-term dietary mycotoxin exposures, and to associate these with the risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC, n = 911 cases) in 450,112 EPIC participants. Potential confounding factors were taken into account. Analyses were conducted using Cox's proportional hazards regression models to compute hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) with mycotoxin exposures expressed as mu g/kg body weight/day. Results: Demographic characteristics differed between the RCC cases and non-cases for body mass index, age, alcohol intake at recruitment, and other dietary factors. In addition, the mycotoxin exposure distributions showed that a large proportion of the EPIC population was exposed to some of the main mycotoxins present in European foods such as deoxynivalenol (DON) and derivatives, fumonisins, Fusarium toxins, Alternaria toxins, and total mycotoxins. Nevertheless, no statistically significant associations were observed between the studied mycotoxins and mycotoxin groups, and the risk of RCC development. Conclusions: These results show an absence of statistically significant associations between long-term dietary mycotoxin exposures and RCC risk. However, these results need to be validated in other cohorts and preferably using repeated dietary exposure measurements. In addition, more occurrence data of, e.g., citrinin and fumonisins in different food commodities and countries in the EFSA database are a prerequisite to establish a greater degree of certainty

Mapping Obscured Star Formation in the Host Galaxy of FRB 20201124A

We present high-resolution 1.5--6 GHz Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and $\textit{Hubble Space Telescope}$ ($\textit{HST}$) optical and infrared observations of the extremely active repeating fast radio burst (FRB) FRB$\,$20201124A and its barred spiral host galaxy. We constrain the location and morphology of star formation in the host and search for a persistent radio source (PRS) coincident with FRB$\,$20201124A. We resolve the morphology of the radio emission across all frequency bands and measure a star formation rate SFR $\approx 8.9\,M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, a factor of $\approx 4-6$ larger than optically-inferred SFRs, demonstrating dust-obscured star formation throughout the host. Compared to a sample of all known FRB hosts with radio emission, the host of FRB$\,$20201124A has the most significant obscured star formation. While ${\it HST}$ observations show the FRB to be offset from the bar or spiral arms, the radio emission extends to the FRB location. We propose that the FRB progenitor could have formed $\textit{in situ}$ (e.g., a magnetar central engine born from the explosion of a massive star). It is still plausible, although less likely, that the progenitor of FRB$\,$20201124A migrated from the central bar of the host, e.g., via a runaway massive star. We further place a limit on the luminosity of a putative PRS at the FRB position of $L_{\rm 6.0 \ GHz}$$\lesssim$2.6$\times$$10^{27}$erg s$^{-1}$Hz$^{-1}$, two orders of magnitude below any PRS known to date. However, this limit is still broadly consistent with both magnetar nebulae and hypernebulae models assuming a constant energy injection rate of the magnetar and an age of$\gtrsim 10^{5}$ yr in each model, respectively.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, Submitte

results from the prospective EPIC cohort study

Funding Information: This work was supported by Cancer Research UK (C33493/A29678), World Cancer Research Fund International (IIG_FULL_2020_033), and the Institut National du Cancer (INCa number 2021–138). The coordination of EPIC is financially supported by the IARC and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, which has additional infrastructure support provided by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre. The national cohorts are supported by the Danish Cancer Society (Denmark); Ligue Contre le Cancer, Institut Gustave Roussy, Mutuelle Générale de l'Education Nationale, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM; France); German Cancer Aid, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; Germany); Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC–Italy, Compagnia di SanPaolo and National Research Council (Italy); Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS), Netherlands Cancer Registry (NKR), LK Research Funds, Dutch Prevention Funds, Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland), World Cancer Research Fund, Statistics Netherlands (Netherlands); Health Research Fund (FIS)—Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Regional Governments of Andalucía, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia and Navarra, and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO; Spain); Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Research Council and County Councils of Skåne and Västerbotten (Sweden); and Cancer Research UK (14136 to EPIC–Norfolk; C8221/A29017 to EPIC–Oxford) and Medical Research Council (1000143 to EPIC–Norfolk; MR/M012190/1 to EPIC–Oxford; UK). Where authors are identified as personnel of the International Agency for Research on Cancer or WHO, they are responsible for the views expressed in this Article and they do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy, or views of the International Agency for Research on Cancer or WHO. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 World Health Organization UPDATE NOTICE Correction to Lancet Planet Health 2023; 7: e219–32. The Lancet Planetary Health. 2023;7(5):e357. Scopus ID: 85158098931Background: Food processing has been hypothesised to play a role in cancer development; however, data from large-scale epidemiological studies are scarce. This study investigated the association between dietary intake according to amount of food processing and risk of cancer at 25 anatomical sites using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Methods: This study used data from the prospective EPIC cohort study, which recruited participants between March 18, 1991, and July 2, 2001, from 23 centres in ten European countries. Participant eligibility within each cohort was based on geographical or administrative boundaries. Participants were excluded if they had a cancer diagnosis before recruitment, had missing information for the NOVA food processing classification, or were within the top and bottom 1% for ratio of energy intake to energy requirement. Validated dietary questionnaires were used to obtain information on food and drink consumption. Participants with cancer were identified using cancer registries or during follow-up from a combination of sources, including cancer and pathology centres, health insurance records, and active follow-up of participants. We performed a substitution analysis to assess the effect of replacing 10% of processed foods and ultra-processed foods with 10% of minimally processed foods on cancer risk at 25 anatomical sites using Cox proportional hazard models. Findings: 521 324 participants were recruited into EPIC, and 450 111 were included in this analysis (318 686 [70·8%] participants were female individuals and 131 425 [29·2%] were male individuals). In a multivariate model adjusted for sex, smoking, education, physical activity, height, and diabetes, a substitution of 10% of processed foods with an equal amount of minimally processed foods was associated with reduced risk of overall cancer (hazard ratio 0·96, 95% CI 0·95–0·97), head and neck cancers (0·80, 0·75–0·85), oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (0·57, 0·51–0·64), colon cancer (0·88, 0·85–0·92), rectal cancer (0·90, 0·85–0·94), hepatocellular carcinoma (0·77, 0·68–0·87), and postmenopausal breast cancer (0·93, 0·90–0·97). The substitution of 10% of ultra-processed foods with 10% of minimally processed foods was associated with a reduced risk of head and neck cancers (0·80, 0·74–0·88), colon cancer (0·93, 0·89–0·97), and hepatocellular carcinoma (0·73, 0·62–0·86). Most of these associations remained significant when models were additionally adjusted for BMI, alcohol and dietary intake, and quality. Interpretation: This study suggests that the replacement of processed and ultra-processed foods and drinks with an equal amount of minimally processed foods might reduce the risk of various cancer types. Funding: Cancer Research UK, l'Institut National du Cancer, and World Cancer Research Fund International.publishersversionpublishersversionpublishe

Genetic landscape of a large cohort of Primary Ovarian Insufficiency : New genes and pathways and implications for personalized medicine

Background Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI), a public health problem, affects 1-3.7% of women under 40 yield-ing infertility and a shorter lifespan. Most causes are unknown. Recently, genetic causes were identified, mostly in single families. We studied an unprecedented large cohort of POI to unravel its molecular pathophysiology.Methods 375 patients with 70 families were studied using targeted (88 genes) or whole exome sequencing with pathogenic/likely-pathogenic variant selection. Mitomycin-induced chromosome breakages were studied in patients' lymphocytes if necessary. Findings A high-yield of 29.3% supports a clinical genetic diagnosis of POI. In addition, we found strong evidence of pathogenicity for nine genes not previously related to a Mendelian phenotype or POI: ELAVL2, NLRP11, CENPE, SPATA33, CCDC150, CCDC185, including DNA repair genes: C17orf53(HROB), HELQ, SWI5 yielding high chromo-somal fragility. We confirmed the causal role of BRCA2, FANCM, BNC1, ERCC6, MSH4, BMPR1A, BMPR1B, BMPR2, ESR2, CAV1, SPIDR, RCBTB1 and ATG7 previously reported in isolated patients/families. In 8.5% of cases, POI is the only symptom of a multi-organ genetic disease. New pathways were identified: NF-kB, post-translational regulation, and mitophagy (mitochondrial autophagy), providing future therapeutic targets. Three new genes have been shown to affect the age of natural menopause supporting a genetic link.Interpretation We have developed high-performance genetic diagnostic of POI, dissecting the molecular pathogene-sis of POI and enabling personalized medicine to i) prevent/cure comorbidities for tumour/cancer susceptibility genes that could affect life-expectancy (37.4% of cases), or for genetically-revealed syndromic POI (8.5% of cases), ii) predict residual ovarian reserve (60.5% of cases). Genetic diagnosis could help to identify patients who may benefit from the promising in vitro activation-IVA technique in the near future, greatly improving its success in treating infertility.Funding Universite? Paris Saclay, Agence Nationale de Biome?decine.Copyright (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Peer reviewe