97 research outputs found
Learning Purified Feature Representations from Task-irrelevant Labels
Learning an empirically effective model with generalization using limited
data is a challenging task for deep neural networks. In this paper, we propose
a novel learning framework called PurifiedLearning to exploit task-irrelevant
features extracted from task-irrelevant labels when training models on
small-scale datasets. Particularly, we purify feature representations by using
the expression of task-irrelevant information, thus facilitating the learning
process of classification. Our work is built on solid theoretical analysis and
extensive experiments, which demonstrate the effectiveness of PurifiedLearning.
According to the theory we proved, PurifiedLearning is model-agnostic and
doesn't have any restrictions on the model needed, so it can be combined with
any existing deep neural networks with ease to achieve better performance. The
source code of this paper will be available in the future for reproducibility.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2011.0847
Contextual Similarity is More Valuable than Character Similarity: Curriculum Learning for Chinese Spell Checking
Chinese Spell Checking (CSC) task aims to detect and correct Chinese spelling
errors. In recent years, related researches focus on introducing the character
similarity from confusion set to enhance the CSC models, ignoring the context
of characters that contain richer information. To make better use of contextual
similarity, we propose a simple yet effective curriculum learning framework for
the CSC task. With the help of our designed model-agnostic framework, existing
CSC models will be trained from easy to difficult as humans learn Chinese
characters and achieve further performance improvements. Extensive experiments
and detailed analyses on widely used SIGHAN datasets show that our method
outperforms previous state-of-the-art methods
Towards All-around Knowledge Transferring: Learning From Task-irrelevant Labels
Deep neural models have hitherto achieved significant performances on
numerous classification tasks, but meanwhile require sufficient manually
annotated data. Since it is extremely time-consuming and expensive to annotate
adequate data for each classification task, learning an empirically effective
model with generalization on small dataset has received increased attention.
Existing efforts mainly focus on transferring task-relevant knowledge from
other similar data to tackle the issue. These approaches have yielded
remarkable improvements, yet neglecting the fact that the task-irrelevant
features could bring out massive negative transfer effects. To date, no
large-scale studies have been performed to investigate the impact of
task-irrelevant features, let alone the utilization of this kind of features.
In this paper, we firstly propose Task-Irrelevant Transfer Learning (TIRTL) to
exploit task-irrelevant features, which mainly are extracted from
task-irrelevant labels. Particularly, we suppress the expression of
task-irrelevant information and facilitate the learning process of
classification. We also provide a theoretical explanation of our method. In
addition, TIRTL does not conflict with those that have previously exploited
task-relevant knowledge and can be well combined to enable the simultaneous
utilization of task-relevant and task-irrelevant features for the first time.
In order to verify the effectiveness of our theory and method, we conduct
extensive experiments on facial expression recognition and digit recognition
tasks. Our source code will be also available in the future for
reproducibility
Accelerating Primal Solution Findings for Mixed Integer Programs Based on Solution Prediction
Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) is one of the most widely used modeling
techniques for combinatorial optimization problems. In many applications, a
similar MIP model is solved on a regular basis, maintaining remarkable
similarities in model structures and solution appearances but differing in
formulation coefficients. This offers the opportunity for machine learning
methods to explore the correlations between model structures and the resulting
solution values. To address this issue, we propose to represent an MIP instance
using a tripartite graph, based on which a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) is
constructed to predict solution values for binary variables. The predicted
solutions are used to generate a local branching type cut which can be either
treated as a global (invalid) inequality in the formulation resulting in a
heuristic approach to solve the MIP, or as a root branching rule resulting in
an exact approach. Computational evaluations on 8 distinct types of MIP
problems show that the proposed framework improves the primal solution finding
performance significantly on a state-of-the-art open-source MIP solver
Original Article Neuroprotective effect of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes on spinal cord injury in rats
Abstract: Traumatic injuries to the brain and spinal cord affect a large percentage of the world's population. However, there are currently no effective treatments for these central nervous system (CNS) injuries. In our study, we evaluated the neuroprotective role of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) carrying brain derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF), nogo-66 receptor (NgR) and Ras homolog gene family member A (RhoA) in spinal cord injury (SCI). Our results showed that transfection into rat cortical neurons with BDNF-DNA significantly elevated the expression of BDNF both in vitro and in vivo. Meanwhile, transfection with NgR-siRNA and RhoA-siRNA resulted in an obvious down-regulation of NgR and RhoA in neuron cells and in injured spinal cords. In addition, the functionalized MWCNTs carrying BDNF-DNA, NgR-siRNA and RhoA-siRNA exhibited remarkable therapeutic effects on injured spinal cord. Taken together, our study demonstrates that functionalized MWCNTs have a potential therapeutic application on repair and regeneration of the CNS
Screening and evaluating of long noncoding RNAs in the puberty of goats
GO analysis of predicted targets of lncRNAs in trans. (XLS 1551 kb
Dose-sparing effect of lapatinib co-administered with a high-fat enteral nutrition emulsion: preclinical pharmacokinetic study
Background Lapatinib is an oral small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor indicated for advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. In order to reduce the treatment cost, a high-fat enteral nutrition emulsion TPF-T was selected as a dose-sparing agent for lapatinib-based therapies. This study aimed to investigate the effect of TPF-T on lapatinib pharmacokinetics. Methods First, a simple and rapid liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method was developed to quantitatively evaluate lapatinib in rabbit plasma. The method was fully validated according to the China Pharmacopoeia 2020 guidance. Rabbits and rats were chosen as the animal models due to their low and high bile flows, respectively. The proposed LC–MS/MS method was applied to pharmacokinetic studies of lapatinib, with or without TPF-T, in rabbit and rat plasma. Results The LC–MS/MS method revealed high sensitivity and excellent efficiency. In the rabbit model, co-administration with TPF-T resulted in a 32.2% increase in lapatinib exposure. In the rat model, TPF-T had minimal influence on the lapatinib exposure. In both models, TPF-T was observed to significantly elevate lapatinib concentration in the absorption phase. Conclusion Co-administration with TPF-T had a moderate effect on increasing exposure to lapatinib. Dose sparing using a high-fat liquid diet is potentially feasible for lapatinib-based therapies
Molecular Characterization of a Fus3/Kss1 Type MAPK from Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, PsMAPK1
Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is an obligate biotrophic fungus that causes the destructive wheat stripe rust disease worldwide. Due to the lack of reliable transformation and gene disruption method, knowledge about the function of Pst genes involved in pathogenesis is limited. Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) genes have been shown in a number of plant pathogenic fungi to play critical roles in regulating various infection processes. In the present study, we identified and characterized the first MAPK gene PsMAPK1 in Pst. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that PsMAPK1 is a YERK1 MAP kinase belonging to the Fus3/Kss1 class. Single nucleotide polymerphisms (SNPs) and insertion/deletion were detected in the coding region of PsMAPK1 among six Pst isolates. Real-time RT-PCR analyses revealed that PsMAPK1 expression was induced at early infection stages and peaked during haustorium formation. When expressed in Fusarium graminearum, PsMAPK1 partially rescued the map1 mutant in vegetative growth and pathogenicity. It also partially complemented the defects of the Magnaporthe oryzae pmk1 mutant in appressorium formation and plant infection. These results suggest that F. graminearum and M. oryzae can be used as surrogate systems for functional analysis of well-conserved Pst genes and PsMAPK1 may play a role in the regulation of plant penetration and infectious growth in Pst
Etiologic Diagnosis of Lower Respiratory Tract Bacterial Infections Using Sputum Samples and Quantitative Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification
Etiologic diagnoses of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) have been relying primarily on bacterial cultures that often fail to return useful results in time. Although DNA-based assays are more sensitive than bacterial cultures in detecting pathogens, the molecular results are often inconsistent and challenged by doubts on false positives, such as those due to system- and environment-derived contaminations. Here we report a nationwide cohort study on 2986 suspected LRTI patients across P. R. China. We compared the performance of a DNA-based assay qLAMP (quantitative Loop-mediated isothermal AMPlification) with that of standard bacterial cultures in detecting a panel of eight common respiratory bacterial pathogens from sputum samples. Our qLAMP assay detects the panel of pathogens in 1047(69.28%) patients from 1533 qualified patients at the end. We found that the bacterial titer quantified based on qLAMP is a predictor of probability that the bacterium in the sample can be detected in culture assay. The relatedness of the two assays fits a logistic regression curve. We used a piecewise linear function to define breakpoints where latent pathogen abruptly change its competitive relationship with others in the panel. These breakpoints, where pathogens start to propagate abnormally, are used as cutoffs to eliminate the influence of contaminations from normal flora. With help of the cutoffs derived from statistical analysis, we are able to identify causative pathogens in 750 (48.92%) patients from qualified patients. In conclusion, qLAMP is a reliable method in quantifying bacterial titer. Despite the fact that there are always latent bacteria contaminated in sputum samples, we can identify causative pathogens based on cutoffs derived from statistical analysis of competitive relationship
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