Not only Online Review but also its Helpfulness is Manipulated: Evidence from Peer to Peer Lending Forum

Online reviews have become proposed as useful information for consumers to make decision. Meanwhile, review manipulation will weaken the credibility of online reviews. Except manipulating the review text and rating, we propose that review helpfulness, an important signal for consumer to filter the reviews, could also be manipulated. This study thus explores the existence of review helpfulness manipulation and the relationship between firm quality and review manipulation. Based on a dataset from a review forum in www.wdzj.com which is the leading and largest portal of peer to peer lending industry in China, we get the following interesting results. First, due to the manipulation of review helpfulness, a manipulated positive review is more likely to receive higher helpfulness, while a manipulated negative is more likely to get lower helpfulness. Second, a manipulated review tends to be lower quality in terms of readability and word count, which are found as positive predictors for review helpfulness. Third, high quality firms tend to manipulate more positive reviews, and at the same time high quality firms will receive more negative manipulated reviews. This study extends current understanding about online review manipulation, thereby providing theoretical and practice implications

The Value of Backers’ Word-of-Mouth in Screening Crowdfunding Projects: An Empirical Investigation

Reward-based crowdfunding is an emerging financing channel for entrepreneurs to raise money for their innovative projects. How to screen the crowdfunding projects is critical for crowdfunding platform, project founder, and potential backers. This study aims to investigate whether backers’ word-of-mouth (WOM) is a valuable input to generate collective intelligence for project screening. Specially, we answer three questions. First, is backers’ WOM an effective signal for implementation performance of crowdfunding projects? Second, how do the WOM help screen projects during the fund-raising process? Third, which kind of comments (positive or negative) is more effective in screening crowdfunding projects? Research hypotheses were developed based on theories of collective intelligence and WOM communication. Using a cross section dataset and a panel dataset, we get the following findings. First, backers’ negative WOM can effectively predict project implementation performance, however positive WOM does not have that prediction power. The prediction power of positive and negative WOM differs significantly. One possible reason is that negative WOM does contain more information of project quality. Second, project with more accumulative negative WOM tend to attract fewer subsequent backers. However, accumulative positive WOM is not helpful for attracting more potential backers. We conclude that negative WOM is useful for project screening project, because it is a signal of project quality, and meanwhile it could prevent backers make subsequent investments

HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC is associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes: an updated meta-analysis

Background: High-mobility group A1 (HMGA1) polymorphism has been suspected as a gene variant associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, conflicting outcomes have been reported. Objective: This meta-analysis aimed to predict the association between the HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC and T2D. Methods: Statistical analyses were performed using Stata/SE 12.0 software. Results: A total of 11 case-control studies in 6 articles were included. Results suggested that the HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC was associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance (OR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.66, P < 0.0001), T2D (OR = 0.67, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.73, P < 0.0001), particularly for Caucasians with increased risks of T2D (OR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.65, P < 0.0001) compared with wild-type subjects. Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicated that the HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC can be a risk factor of T2D development, particularly among Caucasians. Significant risks were also found (Asian: OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63 to 0.86, P < 0.0001, Hispanic-American: OR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.65 to 1.01, P < 0.0001) in non-Caucasian population. However, ethnical studies should be conducted to reveal whether the HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC is associated with an increased risk of T2D.Keywords: HMGA1, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, variant, meta-analysis

Association between genetically predicted rheumatoid arthritis and alopecia areata: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

BackgroundAlthough numerous observational studies have indicated a potential association between autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and alopecia areata (AA), the research reports lack a clear causal relationship. In this study, our objective is to utilize the Mendelian randomization (MR) design to examine the potential causal association between RA and AA.MethodsTo investigate the causal relationship between RA and AA, we utilized large-scale gene aggregation data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), including RA (n=58,284) and AA (n=361,822) based on previous observational studies. In our analysis, we mainly employed the inverse variance-weighted (IVW) method of the random effects model, supplemented by the weighted median (WM) method and the MR Egger method.ResultsThe findings from the IVW methods revealed a significant association between genetically predicted RA and an increased likelihood of AA, as evidenced by an odds ratio of 1.21 (95%CI = 1.11-1.32; P < 0.001. Both the WM method and MR-Egger regression consistently showed significant directional outcomes (Both P < 0.05), indicating a robust association between RA and AA. Additionally, both the funnel plot and the MR-Egger intercepts provided evidence of the absence of directional pleiotropy, suggesting that the observed association is not influenced by other common genetic factors.ConclusionsThe results of the study suggest a possible link between genetically predicted RA and AA. This finding highlights the importance for individuals diagnosed with RA to remain vigilant and aware of the potential development of AA. Regular monitoring and early detection can be crucial in managing and addressing this potential complication

Related-Key Almost Universal Hash Functions: Definitions, Constructions and Applications

Universal hash functions (UHFs) have been extensively used in the design of cryptographic schemes. If we consider the related-key attack (RKA) against these UHF-based schemes, some of them may not be secure, especially those using the key of UHF as a part of the whole key of scheme, due to the weakness of UHF in the RKA setting. In order to solve the issue, we propose a new concept of related-key almost universal hash function, which is a natural extension to almost universal hash function in the RKA setting. We define related-key almost universal (RKA-AU) hash function and related-key almost XOR universal (RKA-AXU) hash function. However almost all the existing UHFs do not satisfy the new definitions. We construct one fixed-input-length universal hash functions named RH1 and two variable-input-length universal hash functions named RH2, RH3. We show that RH1 and RH2 are both RKA-AXU, and RH3 is RKA-AU for the RKD set $\Phi^\oplus$. Furthermore, RH1, RH2 and RH3 are nearly as efficient as previous similar constructions. RKA-AU (RKA-AXU) hash functions can be used as components in the related-key secure cryptographic schemes. If we replace the universal hash functions in the schemes with our corresponding constructions, the problems about related-key attack can be solved for some RKD sets. More specifically, we give four concrete applications of RKA-AU and RKA-AXU in related-key secure message authentication codes and tweakable block ciphers

Efficacy, safety, and survival of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy in operable non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundNeoadjuvant immunochemotherapy may benefit patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but its impact requires further investigation.MethodsA meta-analysis was conducted. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched. The study was registered in PROSPERO (registration no. CRD42022360893).Results60 studies of 3,632 patients were included. Comparing with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy showed higher pCR (RR: 4.71, 95% CI: 3.69, 6.02), MPR (RR, 3.20, 95% CI: 2.75, 3.74), and ORR (RR, 1.46, 95% CI: 1.21, 1.77), fewer surgical complications (RR: 0.67, 95%CI: 0.48, 0.94), higher R0 resection rate (RR: 1.06, 95%CI: 1.03, 1.10, I2 = 52%), and longer 1-year and 2-year OS, without affecting TRAEs. For neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy in NSCLC, the pooled pCR rate was 0.35 (95% CI: 0.31, 0.39), MPR was 0.59 (95% CI: 0.54, 0.63), and ORR was 0.71 (95% CI: 0.66, 0.76). The pooled incidence of all grade TRAEs was 0.70 (95% CI: 0.60, 0.81), and that of >= grade 3 TRAEs was 0.24 (95% CI: 0.16, 0.32). The surgical complications rate was 0.13 (95% CI: 0.07, 0.18) and R0 resection rate was 0.98 (95% CI: 0.96, 0.99). The pooled 1-year OS was 0.97 (95%CI: 0.96, 0.99), and 2-year OS was 0.89 (95%CI: 0.83, 0.94). Patients with squamous cell carcinoma, stage III or higher PD-L1 performed better. Notably, no significant differences were observed in pCR, MPR, and ORR between 2 or more treatment cycles. Pembrolizumab-, or toripalimab-based neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy demonstrated superior efficacy and tolerable toxicity.ConclusionAccording to our analysis, reliable efficacy, safety, and survival of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy for operable NSCLC were demonstrated.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022360893, identifier CRD42022360893

HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC is associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes: an updated meta-analysis

Background: High-mobility group A1 (HMGA1) polymorphism has been suspected as a gene variant associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, conflicting outcomes have been reported. Objective: This meta-analysis aimed to predict the association between the HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC and T2D. Methods: Statistical analyses were performed using Stata/SE 12.0 software. Results: A total of 11 case-control studies in 6 articles were included. Results suggested that the HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC was associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance (OR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.66, P < 0.0001), T2D (OR = 0.67, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.73, P < 0.0001), particularly for Caucasians with increased risks of T2D (OR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.65, P < 0.0001) compared with wild-type subjects. Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicated that the HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC can be a risk factor of T2D development, particularly among Caucasians. Significant risks were also found (Asian: OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63 to 0.86, P < 0.0001, Hispanic-American: OR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.65 to 1.01, P < 0.0001) in non-Caucasian population. However, ethnical studies should be conducted to reveal whether the HMGA1 variant IVS5-13insC is associated with an increased risk of T2D

LOL: A Highly Flexible Framework for Designing Stream Ciphers

In this paper, we propose LOL, a general framework for designing blockwise stream ciphers, to achieve ultrafast software implementations for the ubiquitous virtual networks in 5G/6G environments and high-security level for post-quantum cryptography. The LOL framework is structurally strong, and all its components as well as the LOL framework itself enjoy high flexibility with various extensions. Following the LOL framework, we propose new stream cipher designs named LOL-MINI and LOL-DOUBLE with the support of the AES-NI and SIMD instructions: the former applies the basic LOL single mode while the latter uses the extended parallel-dual mode. Both LOL-MINI and LOL-DOUBLE support 256-bit key length and, according to our thorough evaluations, have 256-bit security margins against all existing cryptanalysis methods including differential, linear, integral, etc. The software performances of LOL-MINI and LOL-DOUBLE can reach 89 Gbps and 135 Gbps. In addition to pure encryptions, the LOL-MINI and LOL-DOUBLE stream ciphers can also be applied in a stream-cipher-then-MAC strategy to make an AEAD scheme