Retrieval-augmented GPT-3.5-based Text-to-SQL Framework with Sample-aware Prompting and Dynamic Revision Chain

Text-to-SQL aims at generating SQL queries for the given natural language questions and thus helping users to query databases. Prompt learning with large language models (LLMs) has emerged as a recent approach, which designs prompts to lead LLMs to understand the input question and generate the corresponding SQL. However, it faces challenges with strict SQL syntax requirements. Existing work prompts the LLMs with a list of demonstration examples (i.e. question-SQL pairs) to generate SQL, but the fixed prompts can hardly handle the scenario where the semantic gap between the retrieved demonstration and the input question is large. In this paper, we propose a retrieval-augmented prompting method for a LLM-based Text-to-SQL framework, involving sample-aware prompting and a dynamic revision chain. Our approach incorporates sample-aware demonstrations, which include the composition of SQL operators and fine-grained information related to the given question. To retrieve questions sharing similar intents with input questions, we propose two strategies for assisting retrieval. Firstly, we leverage LLMs to simplify the original questions, unifying the syntax and thereby clarifying the users' intentions. To generate executable and accurate SQLs without human intervention, we design a dynamic revision chain which iteratively adapts fine-grained feedback from the previously generated SQL. Experimental results on three Text-to-SQL benchmarks demonstrate the superiority of our method over strong baseline models

Increased Numbers of NK Cells, NKT-Like Cells, and NK Inhibitory Receptors in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

T cells and B cells participate in the pathogenesis of COPD. Currently, NK cells and NKT cells have gained increasing attention. In the present study, 19 COPD patients and 12 healthy nonsmokers (HNS) were recruited, and their pulmonary function was assessed. The frequencies of CD3+ T, CD4+ T, CD8+ T, B, NK, and NKT-like cells were determined using flow cytometry. The frequencies of spontaneous and inducible IFN-γ+ or CD107a+ NK and NKT-like cells as well as activating or inhibitory receptors were also detected. The potential association of lymphocyte subsets with disease severity was further analyzed. Significantly decreased numbers of CD3+ and CD4+ T cells, and the CD4+/CD8+ ratio, but increased numbers of CD3−CD56+ NK and CD3+CD56+ NKT-like cells were observed in COPD patients compared to HNS. The frequencies of inducible IFN-γ-secreting NK and NKT-like cells were less in COPD patients. The frequencies of CD158a and CD158b on NK cells and CD158b on NKT-like cells were greater. The frequency of CD158b+ NK cells was negatively correlated with FEV1% prediction and FEV1/FVC. Our data indicate that COPD patients have immune dysfunction, and higher frequencies of inhibitory NK cells and NKT-like cells may participate in the pathogenesis of COPD

Preformed Pt nanoparticles supported on nanoshaped CeO2 for total propane oxidation

Pt-based catalysts have been widely used for the removal of short-chain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as propane. In this study, we synthesized Pt nanoparticles with a size of ca. 2.4 nm and loaded them on various fine-shaped CeO2 with different facets to investigate the effect of CeO2 morphology on the complete oxidation of propane. The Pt/CeO2-o catalyst with {111} facets exhibited superior catalytic activity compared to the Pt/CeO2-r catalyst with {110} and {100} facets. Specifically, the turnover frequency (TOF) value of Pt/CeO2-o was 1.8 times higher than that of Pt/CeO2-r. Moreover, Pt/CeO2-o showed outstanding long-term stability during 50 h. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) revealed that the excellent performance of Pt/CeO2-o is due to the prevalence of metallic Pt species, which promotes C–C bond cleavage and facilitates the rapid removal of surface formate species. In contrast, a stronger metal–support interaction in Pt/CeO2-r leads to easier oxidation of Pt species and the accumulation of intermediates, which is detrimental to the catalytic activity. Our work provides insight into the oxidation of propane on different nanoshaped Pt/CeO2 catalysts.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

miRò: a miRNA knowledge base

miRò is a web-based knowledge base that provides users with miRNA–phenotype associations in humans. It integrates data from various online sources, such as databases of miRNAs, ontologies, diseases and targets, into a unified database equipped with an intuitive and flexible query interface and data mining facilities. The main goal of miRò is the establishment of a knowledge base which allows non-trivial analysis through sophisticated mining techniques and the introduction of a new layer of associations between genes and phenotypes inferred based on miRNAs annotations. Furthermore, a specificity function applied to validated data highlights the most significant associations. The miRò web site is available at: http://ferrolab.dmi.unict.it/miro

Detection Methods and Clinical Applications of Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer

Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that split away from the primary tumor and appear in the circulatory system as singular units or clusters, which was first reported by Dr. Thomas Ashworth in 1869. CTCs migrate and implantation occurs at a new site, in a process commonly known as tumor metastasis. In the case of breast cancer, the tumor cells often migrate into locations such as the lungs, brain, and bones, even during the early stages, and this is a notable characteristic of breast cancer. Survival rates have increased significantly over the past few decades because of progress made in radiology and tissue biopsy, making early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer possible. However, liquid biopsy, particularly that involving the collection of CTCs, is a non-invasive method to detect tumor cells in the circulatory system, which can be easily isolated from human plasma, serum, and other body fluids. Compared to traditional tissue biopsies, fluid sample collection has the advantages of being readily available and more acceptable to the patient. It can also detect tumor cells in blood earlier and in smaller numbers, possibly allowing for diagnosis prior to any tumor detection using imaging methods. Because of the scarcity of CTCs circulating in blood vessels (only a few CTCs among billions of erythrocytes and leukocytes), thorough but accurate detection methods are particularly important for further clinical applications

Modulating electronic and geometric structure of transition metal compounds for efficient water splitting

Traditional fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, represent more than 85% of the global energy consumption. The excessive use of these traditional fossil fuels has brought environmental problems, such as air pollution and greenhouse effect. Hence, the search of sustainable and renewable energy is of significant importance. In view of the inexhaustible supply of water, hydrogen generation by water electrolysis is a promising strategy to provide sustainable energy source. One of the important factors that constrains the mass production of water electrolysis is lack of efficient and cost-effective catalysts. Thus, developing high efficiency, stable and low cost catalysts is highly desirable for the commercial H2 production from electrochemical/photoelectrochemical water splitting. In order to minimize the cost, non-noble metal based materials are substituting the costly and scarce noble metal materials. In this Thesis, we have investigated different types of transition metal based catalysts for water electrolysis/photoelectrolysis. The synthesis techniques, materials characterizations, and electrochemical/photoelectrochemical performance evaluation of the catalysts are presented in details. Four different catalysts are studied, which are (i) Co3S4 and Ni:Co3S4 nanowires, (ii) oxygen-deficient WO3 microplates, (iii) CoMo2S4 cross-linked porous nanoflakes, and (iv) hierarchical Cu(OH)2@Co(OH)2 nanotrees. We study the above catalysts from different aspects, from materials design, nanostructure engineering, to theoretic calculation. First, we start with transition metal oxide (Co3O4) nanowires and convert to Co3S4 for bifunctional electrocatalytic water splitting. Then we doped the nanowires with Ni elements to obtain Ni:Co3S4. In addition to systematic electrochemical characterization, DFT calculation is applied to determine the Gibbs free energy (ΔG) of the intermediates. It is found that the sulfur element reduces the ΔG of the intermediates and results in lower theoretic overpotential, leading to better HER and OER electrocatalytic performance of the sulfides as compared to the oxides. Additionally, doping Ni also improves the HER performance because of a better intrinsic electrocatalytic activity of Ni as compared to Co. Secondly, the oxygen-deficient WO3 plates are synthesized by a combining technique of hydrothermal treatment and two-step annealing treatment. The commercial tungsten foil acts as the starting material and converts to normal WO3 plates following a hydrothermal and a traditional annealing process. In order to increase the oxygen defects, the above WO3 plates are twice annealed at higher temperature. Oxygen deficiency in WO3 increases the donor density, leading to better charge carrier generation and separation, achieving enhanced the photoelectrochemical performance, such as higher photocurrent density and super stability. Furthermore, the CoMoO6 and CoMo2S4 cross-linked porous nanoflakes are investigated as bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water electrolysis. The CoMoO6 nanoflakes are synthesized and considered as the starting material. Subsequently, the CoMoO6 sample undergoes an ion exchange reaction in additional hydrothermal process to obtain CoMo2S4. The CoMo2S4 electrode shows a low OER/HER overpotential than that of CoMoO6 electrode. The two-electrode electrolyzer cell (CoMo2S4//CoMo2S4) exhibits efficient overall water electrocatalytic ability and stability. In addition, we present the hierarchical hybrid Cu(OH)2@Co(OH)2 nanotrees as efficient OER electrocatalyst. It is found that forming such core-branch hierarchical nanostructures out of both catalytic active materials is an effective strategy to increase the catalytic active sites, reaction kinetics, and charge transport. Specifically, leaves-like ultrathin Co(OH)2 nanoflakes are grown on the branch-like Cu(OH)2 nanowires via an combined synthesis of an anodization process and a electrodeposition process. This hierarchical Cu(OH)2@Co(OH)2 nanotree electrode shows a low OER overpotential and high stability with negligible degradation, taking advantages from the hierarchical hybrid nanotree structure. Therefore, our material and nanostructure design are effective in improving the catalytic capability of the catalysts. The well-separated hierarchical nanostructure promotes the reaction kinetics and charge transport, facilitates the contact of solid-electrolyte interface and the release of gaseous product. In addition, these catalyst materials are directly grown on conductive substrate support, such as Ni foam, W foil, and Cu foil. This not only enhances the contact surface areas (thus more active sites), but also eliminates the usage of binders. The research in this Thesis provides new possibility of materials design towards low-cost and efficient water electrolysis/photoelectrocatalysis.Doctor of Philosoph

Carbon coated hierarchical porous MoO2 nanoflowers as high-performance anodes in lithium-ion batteries

Carbon-coated hierarchical porous MoO2 nanoflowers are synthetized via a template-free solvothermal technique and investigated as anodes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Such hybrid porous materials possess high porosity and a conductive layer, which have superior lithium ion/electron transport. The voids inside the structure can accommodate huge volume expansion and relieve the stress. The relative MoO2 electrodes present a high reversible capacity of 784.7 mA h g −1 after 60 cycles (707.7 mA h g−1 after 120 cycles for 200 mA g−1) and high coulumbic efficiency (above 98% over 120 cycles). Our study can easily be extended to other materials with a similar hierarchical structure in view of their application in LIBs.MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore

Address Matching Based On Hierarchical Information

There is evidence that address matching plays a crucial role in many areas such as express delivery, online shopping and so on. Address has a hierarchical structure, in contrast to unstructured texts, which can contribute valuable information for address matching. Based on this idea, this paper proposes a novel method to leverage the hierarchical information in deep learning method that not only improves the ability of existing methods to handle irregular address, but also can pay closer attention to the special part of address. Experimental findings demonstrate that the proposed method improves the current approach by 3.2% points

Application of Long Noncoding RNAs in Osteosarcoma: Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone malignancy in children and adolescents. Although improvements in therapeutic strategies were achieved, the outcome remains poor for most patients with metastatic or recurrent osteosarcoma. Therefore, it is imperative to identify novel and effective prognostic biomarker and therapeutic targets for the disease. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a novel class of RNA molecules defined as transcripts >200 nucleotides that lack protein coding potential. Many lncRNAs are deregulated in cancer and are important regulators for malignancies. Nine lncRNAs (91H, BCAR4, FGFR3-AS1, HIF2PUT, HOTTIP, HULC, MALAT-1, TUG1, UCA1) are upregulated and considered oncogenic for osteosarcoma. Loc285194 and MEG3 are two lncRNAs downregulated and as tumor suppressor for the disease. Moreover, the expressions of LINC00161 and ODRUL are associated with chemo-resistance of osteosarcoma. The mechanisms for these lncRNAs in regulating development of osteosarcoma are diverse, e.g. ceRNA, Wnt/β-catenin pathway, etc. The lncRNAs identified may serve as potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets for osteosarcoma