Effects of oridonin nanosuspension on cell proliferation and apoptosis of human prostatic carcinoma PC-3 cell line

This study aims to investigate the inhibitory effects of oridonin nanosuspension on human prostatic carcinoma PC-3 cell line in vitro. The PC-3 cells were incubated with increasing concentrations of oridonin solution and nanosuspensions for 12 hours, 24 hours, and 36 hours. MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay was performed to measure cellular viability and investigate the effect of oridonin on cell growth of PC-3. Annexin V-FITC/PI staining method was used to determine the effect of oridonin by fluorescence microscope and flow cytometry, respectively. Nanosuspension on early apoptosis of PC-3 cells was also evaluated. Oridonin significantly inhibited the growth of PC-3 cells after 12 hours, 24 hours, and 36 hours of treatment in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05). Compared with the same concentration of oridonin solution, oridonin nanosuspension enhanced the inhibition ratio of proliferation. The observation of propidium iodide fluorescence staining confirmed the MTT assay results. The cell proportion of PC-3 at the G2/M phase in the nanosuspension treatment group was upregulated compared with that of the control and oridonin solution groups. Both oridonin solution and nanosuspension promoted the early apoptosis of PC-3 cells. Furthermore, while improving the ratio of early apoptosis, oridonin nanosuspensions also enhanced growth suppression, and induced apoptosis of PC-3 cells. This shows great potential in the treatment of androgen-independent carcinoma of prostate by oridonin nanosuspensions

MOELoRA: An MOE-based Parameter Efficient Fine-Tuning Method for Multi-task Medical Applications

The recent surge in the field of Large Language Models (LLMs) has gained significant attention in numerous domains. In order to tailor an LLM to a specific domain such as a web-based healthcare system, fine-tuning with domain knowledge is necessary. However, two issues arise during fine-tuning LLMs for medical applications. The first is the problem of task variety, where there are numerous distinct tasks in real-world medical scenarios. This diversity often results in suboptimal fine-tuning due to data imbalance and seesawing problems. Additionally, the high cost of fine-tuning can be prohibitive, impeding the application of LLMs. The large number of parameters in LLMs results in enormous time and computational consumption during fine-tuning, which is difficult to justify. To address these two issues simultaneously, we propose a novel parameter-efficient fine-tuning framework for multi-task medical applications called MOELoRA. The framework aims to capitalize on the benefits of both MOE for multi-task learning and LoRA for parameter-efficient fine-tuning. To unify MOE and LoRA, we devise multiple experts as the trainable parameters, where each expert consists of a pair of low-rank matrices to maintain a small number of trainable parameters. Additionally, we propose a task-motivated gate function for all MOELoRA layers that can regulate the contributions of each expert and generate distinct parameters for various tasks. To validate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed method, we conducted comprehensive experiments on a public multi-task Chinese medical dataset. The experimental results demonstrate that MOELoRA outperforms existing parameter-efficient fine-tuning methods. The implementation is available online for convenient reproduction of our experiments

Large Language Model based Long-tail Query Rewriting in Taobao Search

In the realm of e-commerce search, the significance of semantic matching cannot be overstated, as it directly impacts both user experience and company revenue. Along this line, query rewriting, serving as an important technique to bridge the semantic gaps inherent in the semantic matching process, has attached wide attention from the industry and academia. However, existing query rewriting methods often struggle to effectively optimize long-tail queries and alleviate the phenomenon of "few-recall" caused by semantic gap. In this paper, we present BEQUE, a comprehensive framework that Bridges the sEmantic gap for long-tail QUEries. In detail, BEQUE comprises three stages: multi-instruction supervised fine tuning (SFT), offline feedback, and objective alignment. We first construct a rewriting dataset based on rejection sampling and auxiliary tasks mixing to fine-tune our large language model (LLM) in a supervised fashion. Subsequently, with the well-trained LLM, we employ beam search to generate multiple candidate rewrites, and feed them into Taobao offline system to obtain the partial order. Leveraging the partial order of rewrites, we introduce a contrastive learning method to highlight the distinctions between rewrites, and align the model with the Taobao online objectives. Offline experiments prove the effectiveness of our method in bridging semantic gap. Online A/B tests reveal that our method can significantly boost gross merchandise volume (GMV), number of transaction (#Trans) and unique visitor (UV) for long-tail queries. BEQUE has been deployed on Taobao, one of most popular online shopping platforms in China, since October 2023.Comment: WWW Industry Under Revie

Fully endoscopic transforaminal discectomy for thoracolumbar junction disc herniation with or without calcification under general anesthesia: Technical notes and preliminary outcomes

ObjectiveTo evaluate the feasibility, safety, and outcomes of percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal discectomy (PETD) for thoracolumbar junction disc herniation (TLDH) with or without calcification.MethodsThis study included 12 patients diagnosed with TLDH with or without calcification who met the inclusion criteria and underwent surgery for PETD from January 2019 to December 2021. The mean patient age, operation time, hospitalization time, time in bed, and complications were recorded. Patients were followed up for at least 9 months. Visual analog scale (VAS) scores for low-back and leg or thoracic radicular pain and modified Japanese Orthopedic Association score (m-JOA) scores were preoperatively evaluated, at 1 day and 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively or at last follow-up. The modified MacNab criteria were used to evaluate clinical efficacy at 12 months postoperatively or at last follow-up.ResultsThe mean patient age, operation time, hospitalization time, and time in bed were 53 ± 13.9 years, 101.3 ± 9.2 min, 4.5 ± 1.3 days, and 18.0 ± 7.0 h, respectively. The mean VAS scores of low-back and leg or thoracic radicular pain improved from 5.8 ± 1.5 and 6.5 ± 1.4 to 2.0 ± 0.9 and 1.3 ± 0.5, respectively (P &lt; 0.05). The m-JOA score improved from 7.5 ± 1.2 to 10.0 ± 0.7 (P &lt; 0.05). The overall excellent–good rate of the modified MacNab criteria was 83.3%. No severe complications occurred.ConclusionFully endoscopic transforaminal discectomy and ventral decompression under general anesthesia is a safe, feasible, effective, and minimally invasive method for treating herniated discs with or without calcification at thoracolumbar junction zone

Prevalence and Determinants of Metabolic Syndrome among Women in Chinese Rural Areas

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is prevalent in recent years but few data is reported in the rural areas in China. The aim of this study was to examine MS prevalence and its risk factors among women in rural China. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Nantong Metabolic Syndrome Study (NMSS), a population based cross-sectional study, was conducted during 2007-2008 in Nantong, China. In person interviews, blood glucose and lipid measurements were completed for 13,505 female participants aged 18-74 years. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the US Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program, the Adult Treatment Panel (ATPIII) and modified ATPIII for Asian population has determined three criteria of MS. These criteria for MS were used and compared in this study. The prevalence of MS was 22.0%, 16.9% and 23.3% according to IDF, ATPIII and ATPIII-modified criteria, respectively. Levels of agreement of these criteria for MS were above 0.75. We found that vigorous-intensity of occupational physical activity was associated with a low prevalence of MS with OR of 0.76 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.63-0.91). Rice wine drinkers (alcohol >12.8 g/day) had about 34% low risks of developing MS with OR of 0.66 (95% CI: 0.48-0.91), compared with non-drinkers. Odds ratio of MS was 1.81 (95% CI: 1.15-2.84) in women who smoked more than 20 pack-years, compared to non-smokers. Odds ratio of MS was 1.56 (95% CI: 1.25-1.95) in women who had familial history of diseases, including hypertension, diabetes and stroke, compared to women without familial history of those diseases. CONCLUSION: MS is highly prevalent among women in rural China. Both physical activity and rice wine consumption play a protective role, while family history and smoking are risk factors in MS development. Educational programs should be established for promoting healthy lifestyles and appropriate interventions in rural China

Combined effects of Crab Dispersion and Momentum Dispersion in Colliders with Local Crab Crossing Scheme

In this paper, we present the effects of linear transverse-longitudinal coupling on beam size at Interaction Point (IP) of a collider with local crab crossing scheme, when time dependent transverse deflection (crab kicks) and dispersive orbit intertwine near IP. The analytic propagation formula and the closed orbit form of the crab dispersion and momentum dispersion are derived. The non-zero momentum dispersion at crab cavities and the non-ideal phase from crab cavities to IP are detailed with the derived propagation formula to predict the beam size distortion at IP with or without the beam-beam interaction. The linear results are compared with nonlinear simulation using the weak-strong beam-beam code.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

Combined effects of crab dispersion and momentum dispersion in colliders with local crab crossing scheme

In this paper, we present the effects of linear transverse-longitudinal coupling on beam size at the interaction point (IP) of a collider with a local crab crossing scheme, when time-dependent transverse deflection (crab kicks) and dispersive orbit intertwine near IP. The analytic propagation formula and the closed orbit form of the crab dispersion and momentum dispersion are derived. The nonzero momentum dispersion at crab cavities and the nonideal phase from crab cavities to IP are detailed with the derived propagation formula to predict the beam size distortion at IP with or without the beam-beam interaction. The linear results are compared with nonlinear simulation using the weak-strong beam-beam code

Radial Growth Response of Abies georgei to Climate at the Upper Timberlines in Central Hengduan Mountains, Southwestern China

Climate change has an inevitable impact on tree radial growth, particularly at mountain timeberlines. To understand climate effects on conifer radial growth in the central Hengduan Mountains, and the potential impacts of future climate change on conifer forests, we studied the growth responses to climate variables in Abies georgei, the major tree species of conifer forest in the Hengduan Mountains. We collected tree ring samples from four sites near the timberlines and analyzed the relationship between principle components (PC#1) of four chronologies and climatic variables (monthly mean temperature and monthly total precipitation) by using response function analysis (RFA), redundancy analysis (RDA), and moving interval analysis (MIA). A. georgei growth was affected by both temperature (positive effects) and precipitation (negative effects). Specifically, the radial growth of A. georgei was significantly and positively correlated with current July (by 6.1%) and previous November temperature (by 17.3%) (detected by both RFA and RDA), while precipitation of current June (by 6.6%) and September (by 11.7%) inhibited tree growth (detected by RDA). More rapid warming in the most recent 20 years (1990&ndash;2010) clearly enhanced growth responses to July and November temperature, whereas the relationship was weakened for June and September precipitation, according to MIA. Under the climate trend of the study area, if the increasing temperature could offset the negative effects of excessive precipitation, A. georgei radial growth would likely benefit from warming