IntentDial: An Intent Graph based Multi-Turn Dialogue System with Reasoning Path Visualization

Intent detection and identification from multi-turn dialogue has become a widely explored technique in conversational agents, for example, voice assistants and intelligent customer services. The conventional approaches typically cast the intent mining process as a classification task. Although neural classifiers have proven adept at such classification tasks, the issue of neural network models often impedes their practical deployment in real-world settings. We present a novel graph-based multi-turn dialogue system called , which identifies a user's intent by identifying intent elements and a standard query from a dynamically constructed and extensible intent graph using reinforcement learning. In addition, we provide visualization components to monitor the immediate reasoning path for each turn of a dialogue, which greatly facilitates further improvement of the system.Comment: 4pages, 5 figure

Fat-Specific Protein 27/CIDEC Promotes Development of Alcoholic Steatohepatitis in Mice and Humans

Alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) is the progressive form of alcoholic liver disease and may lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. We studied mouse models and human tissues to identify molecules associated with ASH progression, and focused on mouse fat-specific protein 27 (FSP-27)/human cell death-inducing DFF45-like effector C (CIDEC) protein, which is expressed in white adipose tissues and promotes formation of fat droplets

Prognostic Value of the Average Lung CT Number in Patients with Acute Paraquat Poisoning

Objective. The chest computed tomography (CT) examination is an important clinical examination in the diagnosis and monitoring of paraquat- (PQ-) induced lung injury. The aim of this study was to explore the prognostic value of the average lung CT number acquired by quantitative CT techniques in patients with acute paraquat poisoning in the early stages of the disease. Methods. 46 patients who suffered from acute PQ poisoning in the emergency department of the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from January 2015 to June 2020 were enrolled in the present study. The patients were divided into survival group (n = 21) and nonsurvival group (n = 25). Clinical data were collected from subjects who met the inclusion criteria, including general information, personal disease history, and laboratory test indicators. The average lung CT numbers of each patient were obtained by quantitative CT techniques. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted to assess the prognostic value of average lung CT number in patients with acute paraquat poisoning. Results. The average CT numbers of the middle-lung, lower-lung, and whole lung fields in the nonsurvival group were significantly higher than those of the survival group (p<0.0001). However, the upper-lung field was not significantly different between the two groups (p=0.7765). The AUCs of different levels ranged from 0.554 to 0.977, among which the lower-lung field presented the largest AUC of 0.977 (95% CI: 0.943∼1; cut-off value: −702Hu; sensitivity 96%; specificity, 90.5%; YI: 0.865), followed by the whole lung field 0.914 (95% CI: 0.830∼0.999; cut-off value: −727Hu; sensitivity 76%; specificity, 95.2%; YI: 0.712) and the middle-lung field 0.87 (95% CI: 0.768∼0.971; cut-off value: −779Hu; sensitivity 80%; specificity, 85.7%; YI: 0.657). Conclusion. The present study indicated that the average lung CT number could be used to evaluate the relationship between the severity of PQ-induced lung injury and prognosis, especially in the lower-lung field. However, further research is needed to draw a clear conclusion

Isolation and Characterization of a Biosurfactant Producing Strain Planococcus sp. XW-1 from the Cold Marine Environment

One cold-adapted strain, named Planococcus sp. XW-1, was isolated from the Yellow Sea. The strain can produce biosurfactant with petroleum as sole source of carbon at low temperature (4 &deg;C). The biosurfactant was identified as glycolipid-type biosurfactant species by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). It reduced the surface tension of water to 26.8 mN/m with a critical micelle concentration measurement of 60 mg/L. The produced biosurfactant possesses high surface activity at wide ranges of temperature (&minus;18&ndash;105 &deg;C), pH values (2&ndash;12), and salt concentrations (1&ndash;18%). The biosurfactant exhibited higher surface activity and higher growth rate of cells with hexadecane and diesel as carbon source. The strain Planococcus sp. XW-1 was also effective in degrading crude oil, after 21 days of growth at 4 &deg;C in medium with 1% crude oil and 1% (v/v) bacteria broth, 54% of crude oil was degraded. The results suggest that Planococcus sp. XW-1 is a promising candidate for use in the bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated seawater in the Yellow Sea during winter. This study reported for the first time that Planococcus isolated from the Yellow Sea can produce biosurfactant using petroleum as the sole carbon source at low temperature (4 &deg;C), showing its ecological role in the remediation of marine petroleum pollution

Fat-Specific Protein 27/CIDEC Promotes Development of Alcoholic Steatohepatitis in Mice and Humans

BACKGROUND &amp; AIMS: Alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) is the progressive form of alcoholic liver disease and may lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. We studied mouse models and human tissues to identify molecules associated with ASH progression and focused on the mouse fat-specific protein 27 (FSP-27)/human cell death-inducing DFF45-like effector C (CIDEC) protein, which is expressed in white adipose tissues and promotes formation of fat droplets. METHODS: C57BL/6N mice or mice with hepatocyte-specific disruption of Fsp27 (Fsp27(Hep-/-) mice) were fed the Lieber-Decarli ethanol liquid diet (5% ethanol) for 10 days to 12 weeks, followed by 1 or multiple binges of ethanol (5 or 6 g/kg) during the chronic feeding. Some mice were given an inhibitor (GW9662) of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG). Adenoviral vectors were used to express transgenes or small hairpin (sh) RNAs in cultured hepatocytes and in mice. Liver tissue samples were collected from ethanolfed mice or from 31 patients with alcoholic hepatitis (AH) with biopsy-proved ASH and analyzed histologically and immunohistochemically and by transcriptome, immunoblotting, and real-time PCR analyses. RESULTS: Chronic-plus-binge ethanol feeding of mice, which mimics the drinking pattern of patients with AH, produced severe ASH and mild fibrosis. Microarray analyses revealed similar alterations in expression of many hepatic genes in ethanol-fed mice and humans with ASH, including up-regulation of mouse Fsp27 (also called Cidec) and human CIDEC. Fsp27(Hep-/-) mice and mice given injections of adenovirus-Fsp27shRNA had markedly reduced ASH following chronic-plus-binge ethanol feeding. Inhibition of PPARG and cyclic AMP-responsive element binding protein H (CREBH) prevented the increases in Fsp27 alpha and FSP27 beta mRNAs, respectively, and reduced liver injury in this chronic-plusbinge ethanol feeding model. Overexpression of FSP27 and ethanol exposure had synergistic effects in inducing production of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and damage to hepatocytes in mice. Hepatic CIDEC mRNA expression was increased in patients with AH and correlated with the degree of hepatic steatosis and disease severity including mortality. CONCLUSIONS: In mice, chronic-plus-binge ethanol feeding induces ASH that mimics some histological and molecular features observed in patients with AH. Hepatic expression of FSP27/CIDEC is highly up-regulated in mice following chronic-plus-binge ethanol feeding and in patients with AH; this up-regulation contributes to alcohol-induced liver damage.Intramural NIH HHS [Z01 AA000369-06, Z99 AA999999]; NIAAA NIH HHS [1U01AA021908-01, U01 AA020821, U01 AA021908]SCI(E)[email protected]