Dynamics of Instruction Tuning: Each Ability of Large Language Models Has Its Own Growth Pace

Instruction tuning is a burgeoning method to elicit the general intelligence of Large Language Models (LLMs). However, the creation of instruction data is still largely heuristic, leading to significant variation in quality and distribution across existing datasets. Experimental conclusions drawn from these datasets are also inconsistent, with some studies emphasizing the importance of scaling instruction numbers, while others argue that a limited number of samples suffice. To better understand data construction guidelines, we deepen our focus from the overall model performance to the growth of each underlying ability, such as creative writing, code generation, and logical reasoning. We systematically investigate the effects of data volume, parameter size, and data construction methods on the development of various abilities, using hundreds of model checkpoints (7b to 33b) fully instruction-tuned on a new collection of over 40k human-curated instruction data. This proposed dataset is stringently quality-controlled and categorized into ten distinct LLM abilities. Our study reveals three primary findings: (i) Despite data volume and parameter scale directly impacting models' overall performance, some abilities are more responsive to their increases and can be effectively trained using limited data, while some are highly resistant to these changes. (ii) Human-curated data strongly outperforms synthetic data from GPT-4 in efficiency and can constantly enhance model performance with volume increases, but is unachievable with synthetic data. (iii) Instruction data brings powerful cross-ability generalization, with evaluation results on out-of-domain data mirroring the first two observations. Furthermore, we demonstrate how these findings can guide more efficient data constructions, leading to practical performance improvements on public benchmarks

iCOPE A Multi-Level, Cluster Randomized, 36-Month, Parallel-Group Study to Assess the Efficacy of HIV Disclosure Intervention in HIV Parental Disclosure Among Parents Living With HIV in China

Objectives: Parents living with HIV who disclose their HIV status to their children could benefit from the parental HIV disclosure. However, it is also very challenging because of persistent stigma and discrimination against HIV. This report describes the study design and protocol of the “Interactive Communication with Openness, Passion, and Empowerment (iCOPE)” randomized controlled trial aimed at assisting parents living with HIV in conducting culturally and developmentally appropriate disclosure to their uninfected children in China through trainings among both parents living with HIV and healthcare providers. Methods: A total of 791 parents living with HIV with children aged between 6 and 15years and 357 healthcare providers were randomized into either the intervention group or control group. Intervention package for parents consisted of five 2-h sessions focusing on positive coping, disclosure decision making, developing a developmentally appropriate disclosure plan, and accessing social support and post-disclosure counseling. The intervention for healthcare providers was made up of two 45-min sessions organized around two primary themes: knowledge of child cognitive development and effective parent–child communication skills in the context of parental disclosure. The control group received nutritional education of either five 2-h sessions (parents) or two 45-min sessions (healthcare providers). The outcome assessments were conducted at baseline, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36months. Conclusion: The iCOPE study is among the first efforts to develop and evaluate a theory-based and multi-level intervention to promote culturally and developmentally appropriate parental HIV disclosure in China. It has implications for healthcare providers, social workers, and policy makers as it will provide efficacy data on how to enhance appropriate parental HIV disclosure and will shed light on developing a clinical guideline regarding parental HIV disclosure in China and other low- and middle-income countries

Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Practice, Occupational Stress and Work-Related Social Support Among Health Care Providers in China: A SEM Analysis

Individuals’ attitudes toward evidence-based practices (EBP) are critical in adopting, implementing and maintaining the EBP in clinical settings. Multiple empirical studies have examined how work context may shape perceptions and attitudes towards EBP. The current study aims to further explore how both work and family contexts, as assessed by three psychosocial indicators (i.e., occupational stress, work-related social support from coworkers, and work-related social support from family), may affect attitudes toward EBP among health care providers in HIV clinics in China. We analyzed cross-sectional survey data from 357 health care providers recruited from 40 HIV clinics across 16 cities/counties in Guangxi China. Structural equation model (SEM) was constructed to test the hypothesized relationships among key study variables. Occupational stress was negatively associated with work-related social support from coworkers (β = -.19, 95%CI = [-.31,-.12]), which in turn was positively associated with attitudes toward EBP (β = .17, 95%CI = [.04, .30]). Similarly, occupational stress was negatively related to work-related social support from family (β = -.34, 95%CI = [-.42,-.25]), which in turn was positively related to attitudes toward EBP (β = .23, 95%CI = [.12, .35]). Occupational stress was negatively associated with attitudes toward EBP, but the magnitude of association did not reach statistical significance at α = .05. Work-related social support from family partially mediated the association between occupational stress and attitudes toward EBP (Sobel’s z = 3.27, p \u3c .05). Our findings suggest the importance of integrating work and family contexts, especially family support into the strategies of facilitating the adoption and implementation of EBP. The current study also underscores the needs to reduce occupational stress and enhance work-related social support among health care providers who are in frequent contact with HIV patients. In addition, lack of work-related family support may be a main barrier preventing health care providers from developing a positive attitude toward EBP. Therefore, the interventions aiming for promoting adoption and utilization of EBP need to involve specific strategies to resolve work-family conflicts and improve family members’ understanding and support for health care providers in China, especially those who work in a stressful work context such as HIV care

Comparing Self-Reported Medication Adherence Measures With Hair Antiretroviral Concentration Among People Living With HIV in Guangxi, China

Background: Antiretroviral adherence is essential to HIV treatment efcacy. Various self-reported measures are commonly used for assessing antiretroviral adherence. Limited data are available regarding the validity of those selfreported measures in comparison with long-term objective biomarkers of adherence measures such as hair measures. Methods: Self-reported adherence (frequency, percentage, and visual analog scale [VAS]) and hair tenofovir concentration were evaluated at a single time point from 268 people living with HIV in China. The responses to each of three self-reported measures were converted into percentage and then dichotomized as “optimal” (100%) vs. “suboptimal” (less than 100%) adherence. Two composite adherence scores (CAS) were created from the three self-reported measures: (1) an overall adherence was the average percentage of the three self-reported measures; (2) responses were termed optimal adherence if participants reporting optimal adherence in all three self-reported measures, while were termed suboptimal adherence. Hair tenofovir concentration was also dichotomized as “optimal” (above the limit of quantitation, 36 pg/mg) vs. “suboptimal” adherence (blow 36 pg/mg). Spearman correlation, kappa statistics, and logistic regression analysis were used to calculate the correlations, agreements, and predictions of self-reported measures with hair measure, respectively. Results: Overall adherence, but any of the three self-reported adherence, was correlated with hair tenofovir concentration (r=0.13, p\u3c0.05). Self-reported optimal adherence in VAS and CAS measures were agreed with and predicted optimal adherence assessed by hair measure (Kappa=0.107, adjusted OR=1.88, 95% CI 1.03–3.45; Kappa=0.109, adjusted OR=1.80, 95% CI 1.02–3.18; all p\u3c0.05, respectively). Conclusion: VAS may be a good individual self-reported measure for antiretroviral adherence, and CAS may be a good composite self-reported measure for antiretroviral adherenc

Ethnicity, Stigma and Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) among People Living with HIV/AIDS in Guangxi, China

This study examines the impact of ethnicity and multiple types of HIV-related stigma on adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among 2,146 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Guangxi, China who had initiated ART. The results of multiple binary logistic regressions indicate that those who had experienced enacted stigma tended to report lower adherence, while better adherence was associated with older age, being women and having a job. Ethnicity had a moderator effect on the association between internalized stigma and adherence since better adherence was associated with lower internalized stigma among participants in ethnic minority groups other than Zhuang. Our findings indicate that PLWHA of other ethnic minority groups could benefit from internalized stigma reduction interventions; PLWHA, overall, could benefit most from increased employment opportunities and acquisition of coping skills to mitigate the negative effects of enacted stigma

Mindfulness, Psychological Distress, and Somatic Symptoms Among Women Engaged in Sex Work in China

Women engaged in sex work (WSW) in China encounter numerous disadvantages (e.g., exposure to violence) and have substantial risk for psychological distress and somatic symptoms. Intervention literature has attended to mindfulness, which is a protective factor for psychological outcomes, and its influences can further improve physical health. However, mindfulness has not been well studied in WSW. We aimed to examine the association among mindfulness, psychological distress, and somatic symptoms among Chinese WSW. Data were collected from 410 WSW in Guangxi, China, using an anonymous, self-administered survey evaluating demographics, mindfulness, psychological distress (i.e., depression, loneliness, and perceived stress), and somatic symptoms (i.e., pain, cardiopulmonary, and gastrointestinal/fatigue symptoms). Structural equation modeling was utilized for data analyses. Mindfulness was negatively associated with psychological distress and somatic symptoms. Psychological distress was positively associated with somatic symptoms. Psychological distress mediated the association between mindfulness and somatic symptoms. Mindfulness appears to be a protective factor for psychological distress among WSW, and such an effect is further influential to their somatic symptoms. Our findings add to the growing literature on mindfulness, suggesting that mindfulness based interventions could be beneficial for WSW. Future research should explore other cognitive factors underlying the psychosomatic mechanism of mindfulness

The Role of ICT in Antiretroviral Therapy-Related Knowledge Seeking Among Older Chinese Living With HIV

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) enables HIV patients to reduce disease progression. ART adherence is closely related to patients’ knowledge about the medical treatment. This study investigated the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in supporting ART-related knowledge seeking among older Chinese with HIV, using cross-sectional data collected from 2012 to 2013 in Guangxi, China. Of the 2987 HIV patients, 688 were 45 years or older and going through ART. We used an 11-item scale (α=0.69), which was developed based on existing literature, to assess ART-related knowledge to obtain a composite score (0-11). Less than 5% of the participants sought HIV-related information via computers. Patients with lower ART-related knowledge were more likely to consult medical professionals about the disease via cell phones than those with higher scores (8.28 vs. 9.45, p \u3c 0.001). The results suggest that future interventions should integrate cell phones to promote ART-related knowledge dissemination among older patients

Greater Pain Severity Is Associated With Higher Glucocorticoid Levels in Hair Among a Cohort of People Living With HIV

Background: Pain is a common occurrence and persistent symptom, which has an adverse impact on individual well-being and quality of life among people living with HIV (PLHIV). Alteration in the activity of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis resulting in abnormal glucocorticoid levels had been proposed to play important roles in those associations. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate whether pain severity was associated with hair glucocorticoid levels, a novel method of measuring long-term glucocorticoid exposure, among a large cohort of Chinese PLHIV. Methods: A measure of pain severity and hair samples were collected from 431 adults PLHIV in Guangxi, China. Glucocorticoid (cortisol and cortisone) in hair were quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The general linear model was used to test the associations of pain severity with hair glucocorticoid levels after adjusting for potential confounding factors. Results: Of the 431 PLHIV, 273 reported none pain, 87 reported mild pain, and 71 reported moderate-severe pain. Hair cortisone, but not hair cortisol, was found to differ significantly among the three pain severity groups (F=3.90, p=0.021). PLHIV reported moderate-severe pain had higher hair cortisone than those reported mild (p=0.070) or none pain (p=0.014), with no differences between the latter two pain severity groups. Conclusion: Greater pain severity is associated with higher hair cortisone levels among Chinese PLHIV. In order to reduce the long-term glucocorticoid levels, interventions managing pain should be considered for PLHIV with moderate-severe pain

A novel method for the preparation of poly (Acrylamide-co-Acrylonitrile) upper critical solution temperature thermosensitive hydrogel by the partial dehydration of acrylamide grafted polypropylene sheets

In an attempt to find a potential application of cell culture harvesting, a novel method for the preparation of an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) thermosensitive hydrogel was studied. An electron accelerator was used as the electron beam (EB) radiation source, and acrylamide (AAm) was first grafted onto the pre-irradiated polypropylene (PP) sheet. Then, the grafting layer of poly (acrylamide-co-acrylonitrile) (P (AAm-co-AN)) was obtained by the partial dehydration of the acylamino group into the cyano group in the solution mixture of sulfoxide chloride (SOCl2) and dimethyl formamide (DMF). The effects of the absorbed dose, AAm concentration, reaction time, and temperature on the degree of grafting were studied, respectively. The effect of the SOCl2 concentration on the conversion degree of the cyano group from the acylamino group was studied, followed by the temperature of the UCST. The UCST properties of the grafted samples with P (AAm-co-AN) were studied by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively. The cytotoxicities of the hydrogels against cells were verified by CCK-8 studies