Investigating sentence weighting components for automatic summarisation

The work described here initially formed part of a triangulation exercise to establish the effectiveness of the Query Term Order algorithm. The methodology produced subsequently proved to be a reliable indicator of quality for summarising English web documents. We utilised the human summaries from the Document Understanding Conference data, and generated queries automatically for testing the QTO algorithm. Six sentence weighting schemes that made use of Query Term Frequency and QTO were constructed to produce system summaries, and this paper explains the process of combining and balancing the weighting components. We also examined the five automatically generated query terms in their different permutations to check if the automatic generation of query terms resulting bias. The summaries produced were evaluated by the ROUGE-1 metric, and the results showed that using QTO in a weighting combination resulted in the best performance. We also found that using a combination of more weighting components always produced improved performance compared to any single weighting component

Associations between exhaust and non-exhaust particulate matter and stroke incidence by stroke subtype in South London

Background: Airborne particulate matter (PM) consists of particles from diverse sources, including vehicle exhausts. Associations between short-term PM changes and stroke incidence have been shown. Cumulative exposures over several months, or years, are less well studied; few studies examined ischaemic subtypes or PM source. Aims: This study combines a high resolution urban air quality model with a population-based stroke register to explore associations between long-term exposure to PM and stroke incidence. Method: Data from the South London Stroke Register from 2005–2012 were included. Poisson regression explored association between stroke incidence and long-term (averaged across the study period) exposure to PM2.5(PM b 2.5 μm diameter) and PM10(PM b 10 μm), nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides and ozone, at the output area level (average population=309). Estimates were standardised for age and sex and adjusted for socio-economic deprivation. Models were stratified for ischaemic and haemorrhagic strokes and further broken down by Oxford Community Stroke Project classification and Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) classification. Results: 1800 strokes were recorded (incidence= 42.6/100,000 person-years). No associations were observed between PM and overall ischaemic or haemorrhagic incidence. For an interquartile range increase in PM2.5, there was a 23% increase in incidence (Incidence rate ratio=1.23 (95%CI: 1.03–1.44)) of total anterior circulation infarcts (TACI) and 20% increase for PM2.5 from exhausts (1.20(1.01–1.41)). Therewere similar associations with PM10, overall (1.21(1.01–1.44)) and from exhausts (1.20(1.01–1.41)). TACI incidence was not associated with non-exhaust sources. There were no associations with other stroke subtypes or pollutants. Conclusion: Outdoor air pollution, particularly that arising from vehicle exhausts, may increase risk of TACI but not other stroke subtypes

経直腸的99mTc-MIBI[ヘキサキス(2-メトキシイソブチルイソニトリル)]投与による門脈圧亢進症の診断及び評価(英語)

中華人民共和国正常対照では肝画像は投与後5分以内に現れ,経時的により明瞭となったのに対し,他の臓器の画像は微かであった.門脈-体循環短絡随伴肝硬変例では肝画像はそう明らかに描出されないのに対し,他の臓器,特に心臓や脾の放射能は明らかになった.心臓,肝,脾,及び右肺にROI(関心領域)を置き,その面積を正常化し,各正常化ROIの時間-放射能曲線を得た.心臓/肝比,心臓/心臓+肝比,及び心臓+脾+肺/心臓+脾+肺+肝比は正常対照及び急性・慢性肝炎例に比し肝硬変例では有意に高かった.これらの値はインドシアニングリーン試験成績,及び術中測定門脈圧値と良い相関を示した原著論

The genetic load for hereditary hearing impairment in Chinese population and its clinical implication

AbstractObjectiveTo understand the genetic load in the Chinese population for improvement in diagnosis, prevention and rehabilitation of deafness.MethodsDNA samples, immortalized cell lines as well as detailed clinical and audiometric data were collected through a national genetic resources collecting network. Two conventional genetic approaches were used in the studies. Linkage analysis in X chromosome and autosomes with microsatellite markers were performed in large families for gene mapping and positional cloning of novel genes. Candidate gene approach was used for screening themtDNA 12SrRNA, GJB2andSLC26A4mutations in population–based samples.ResultsA total of 2, 572 Chinese hearing loss families or sporadic cases were characterized in the reported studies, including seven X–linked, one Y–linked, 28 large and multiplex autosomal dominant hearing loss families, 607 simplex autosomal recessive hereditary hearing loss families, 100 mitochondrial inheritance families, 147GJB2induced hearing loss cases, 230 cases with enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA) syndrome, 169 sporadic cases with auditory neuropathy, and 1, 283 sporadic sensorineural hearing loss cases. Through linkage analysis or sequence analysis, two X–linked families were found transmitting two novel mutations in thePOU3F4gene, while another X–linked family was mapped onto a novel locus, nominated asAUNX1(auditory neuropathy, X–linked locus 1). The only Y–linked family was mapped onto theDFNY1locus (Y–linked locus 1,DFNY1). Eight of the 28 autosomal dominant families were linked to various autosomal loci. In population genetics studies, 2, 567 familial cases and sporadic patients were subjected to mutation screening for three common hearing loss genes:mtDNA 12S rRNA 1555G, GJB2andSLC26A4.The auditory neuropathy cases in our samples were screened forOTOFgene mutations.ConclusionsThese data show that the Chinese population has a genetic load on hereditary hearing loss. Establishing personalized surveillance and prevention models for hearing loss based on genetic research will provide the opportunity to decrease the prevalence of deafness in the Chinese population

Look, the World is Watching How We Treat Migrants! The Making of the Anti-Trafficking Legislation during the Ma Administration

Employing the spiral model, this research analyses how anti-human trafficking legislation was promulgated during the Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu) presidency. This research found that the gov- ernment of Taiwan was just as accountable for the violation of mi- grants’ human rights as the exploitive placement agencies and abusive employers. This research argues that, given its reliance on the United States for political and security support, Taiwan has made great ef- forts to improve its human rights records and meet US standards for protecting human rights. The reform was a result of multilevel inputs, including US pressure and collaboration between transnational and domestic advocacy groups. A major contribution of this research is to challenge the belief that human rights protection is intrinsic to dem- ocracy. In the same light, this research also cautions against Taiwan’s subscription to US norms since the reform was achieved at the cost of stereotyping trafficking victimhood, legitimising state surveillance, and further marginalising sex workers

Self-Assembled 3D Flower-Like Hierarchical β-Ni(OH)2Hollow Architectures and their In Situ Thermal Conversion to NiO

Three-dimensional (3D) flower-like hierarchicalβ-Ni(OH)2hollow architectures were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal route. The as-obtained products were well characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM (HRTEM), SAED, and DSC-TGA. It was shown that the 3D flower-like hierarchicalβ-Ni(OH)2hollow architectures with a diameter of several micrometers are assembled from nanosheets with a thickness of 10–20 nm and a width of 0.5–2.5 μm. A rational mechanism of formation was proposed on the basis of a range of contrasting experiments. 3D flower-like hierarchical NiO hollow architectures with porous structure were obtained after thermal decomposition at appropriate temperatures. UV–Vis spectra reveal that the band gap of the as-synthesized NiO samples was about 3.57 eV, exhibiting obviously red shift compared with the bulk counterpart

A new prognostic histopathologic classification of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background: The current World Health Organization (WHO) classification of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) conveys little prognostic information. This study aimed to propose an NPC histopathologic classification that can potentially be used to predict prognosis and treatment response. Methods: We initially developed a histopathologic classification based on the morphologic traits and cell differentiation of tumors of 2716 NPC patients who were identified at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC) (training cohort). Then, the proposed classification was applied to 1702 patients (retrospective validation cohort) from hospitals outside SYSUCC and 1613 patients (prospective validation cohort) from SYSUCC. The efficacy of radiochemotherapy and radiotherapy modalities was compared between the proposed subtypes. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for overall survival (OS). Results: The 5-year OS rates for all NPC patients who were diagnosed with epithelial carcinoma (EC; 3708 patients), mixed sarcomatoid-epithelial carcinoma (MSEC; 1247 patients), sarcomatoid carcinoma (SC; 823 patients), and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC; 253 patients) were 79.4%, 70.5%, 59.6%, and 42.6%, respectively (P < 0.001). In multivariate models, patients with MSEC had a shorter OS than patients with EC (HR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.27–1.62), SC (HR = 2.00, 95% CI = 1.76–2.28), or SCC (HR = 4.23, 95% CI = 3.34–5.38). Radiochemotherapy significantly improved survival compared with radiotherapy alone for patients with EC (HR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.56–0.80), MSEC (HR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.49–0.75), and possibly for those with SCC (HR = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.40–0.98), but not for patients with SC (HR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.74–1.28). Conclusions: The proposed classification offers more information for the prediction of NPC prognosis compared with the WHO classification and might be a valuable tool to guide treatment decisions for subtypes that are associated with a poor prognosis