Does BERT understand sentiment? Leveraging comparisons between contextual and non-contextual embeddings to improve aspect-based sentiment models

When performing Polarity Detection for different words in a sentence, we need to look at the words around to understand the sentiment. Massively pretrained language models like BERT can encode not only just the words in a document but also the context around the words along with them. This begs the questions, "Does a pretrain language model also automatically encode sentiment information about each word?" and "Can it be used to infer polarity towards different aspects?". In this work we try to answer this question by showing that training a comparison of a contextual embedding from BERT and a generic word embedding can be used to infer sentiment. We also show that if we finetune a subset of weights the model built on comparison of BERT and generic word embedding, it can get state of the art results for Polarity Detection in Aspect Based Sentiment Classification datasets

Does BERT Understand Sentiment? Leveraging Comparisons Between Contextual and Non-Contextual Embeddings to Improve Aspect-Based Sentiment Models

When performing Polarity Detection for different words in a sentence, we need to look at the words around to understand the sentiment. Massively pretrained language models like BERT can encode not only just the words in a document but also the context around the words along with them. This begs the questions, "Does a pretrain language model also automatically encode sentiment information about each word?" and "Can it be used to infer polarity towards different aspects?". In this work we try to answer this question by showing that training a comparison of a contextual embedding from BERT and a generic word embedding can be used to infer sentiment. We also show that if we finetune a subset of weights the model built on comparison of BERT and generic word embedding, it can get state of the art results for Polarity Detection in Aspect Based Sentiment Classification datasets

Fixation of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Avulsion Fractures by Stapels - A Case Report

Anterior cruciate ligament avulsion fracture is commonly associated with knee injuries more commonly in high energy injuries in active productive adults and its treatment is controversial ranging from conservative treatment to arthroscopic fixation. There are many methods of arthroscopic fixation of which we tried to fix the avulsed fragment by stapels which in our view is better than the other alternatives in the ease of application and the clinical outcomes

Rhizoctonia bataticola lectin (RBL) induces caspase-8-mediated apoptosis in human T-cell leukemia cell lines but not in normal CD3 and CD34 positive cells.

We have previously demonstrated immunostimulatory activity of a fungal lectin, Rhizoctonia bataticola lectin (RBL), towards normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The present study aimed to explore the anticancer activities of RBL using human leukemic T-cell lines, Molt-4, Jurkat and HuT-78. RBL exhibited significant binding (>90%) to the cell membrane that was effectively inhibited by complex glycoproteins such as mucin (97% inhibition) and asialofetuin (94% inhibition) but not simple sugars such as N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, glucose and sucrose. RBL induced a dose and time dependent inhibition of proliferation and induced cytotoxicity in the cell lines. The percentage of apoptotic cells, as determined by hypodiploidy, was 33% and 42% in Molt-4 and Jurkat cells, respectively, compared to 3.11% and 2.92% in controls. This effect was associated with a concomitant decrease in the G0/G1 population. Though initiator caspase-8 and -9 were activated upon exposure to RBL, inhibition of caspase-8 but not caspase-9 rescued cells from RBL-induced apoptosis. Mechanistic studies revealed that RBL induced cleavage of Bid, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and activation of caspase-3. The expression of the anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-X was down regulated without altering the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins--Bad and Bax. In contrast to leukemic cells, RBL did not induce apoptosis in normal PBMC, isolated CD3+ve cells and undifferentiated CD34+ve hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). The findings highlight the differential effects of RBL on transformed and normal hematopoietic cells and suggest that RBL may be explored for therapeutic applications in leukemia

Effect of RBL on different phases of cell cycle.

<p>(A) Molt -4 and Jurkat cells, treated with RBL, were stained with PI and acquired on FL2-A channel of flow cytometer equipped with 488nm laser. The X-axis represents the DNA content of the cells and the Y-axis represents the cell number. The graph depicts the percentage of Molt-4 (B) and Jurkat (C) cells in different phases of cell cycle. The data is mean ±SE of three independent experiments. *p<0.05 significant difference between untreated and RBL treated cells.</p

Effect of caspase-8 inhibition on RBL-induced apoptosis.

<p>Molt-4 (A) and Jurkat cells (B) were treated with RBL(5 µg/ml) for 12 h in the presence or absence of caspase inhibitors(40 µM) zVAD-FMK (pan caspase inhibitor), zIETD-FMK (caspase-8 inhibitor), or zLEHD-FMK (caspase-9 inhibitor) and viability was assessed by MTT assay. The graphs depict mean±SE values from three independent experiments. *p value <0.05 in comparison with untreated controls. Molt-4 (C) and Jurkat (D) cells were treated with RBL (5 µg/ml) for 12 h in the presence or absence of caspase-8 inhibitor (zIETD-FMK) and caspase-3 activation was assessed using flow cytometry. The overlay depicts profile of untreated cells (black line), cells pretreated with caspase-3 inhibitor followed by RBL exposure (red line) and cells treated with RBL alone (blue line).</p

RBL induces apoptosis of Molt-4 and Jurkat cells.

<p>(A) Molt-4 cells were treated with RBL (5 µg/ml) for 6, 12 and 24 h followed by Annexin- V-FITC and PI staining. The X-axis depicts Annexin-V positive cells and Y- axis depicts PI positive cells. The numbers in each quadrant represent percent positive cells. Dot plots are representative of three similar experiments. (B) The graph represents % apoptosis (Annexin-V-positive cells) mean±SE of three independent experiments. *p<0.05 indicates significant difference between treated and untreated cells. (C) Whole cell lysates of Molt-4 and Jurkat cells were exposed to RBL (1.25 to 5 µg/ml) for 24 h and probed with anti-PARP antibody. The blot shows total and cleaved PARP. The data is representative of two similar experiments.</p

Effect of RBL on proliferation and viability of leukemic cell lines-.

<p>Molt-4 (A) and Jurkat (B) cells were exposed to serial concentrations of RBL for 72 h and proliferation was determined by tritiated thymidine incorporation assay. The percentage cell proliferation was calculated by considering the counts per minute of untreated control cells as 100. Molt-4(C) and Jurkat (D) cell lines were exposed to serial concentrations of RBL for different time periods and cell viability was assessed by MTT assay. The absorbance value of untreated cells was considered as 100 to calculate percent viable cell number. The values presented in the graph are mean±SE of three independent experiments done in triplicates. *p<0.05 difference compared to untreated cells.</p

Effect of RBL on HUT-78 cells.

<p>(A) HUT-78 cells were exposed to RBL (5 µg/ml) and cell viability was assessed by MTT assay. The absorbance of untreated cells was considered as 100 to calculate percent viable cell number. The values presented in the graph are mean±SE of three independent experiments done in triplicates. *p<0.05 difference compared to untreated cells. (B) Cells treated with RBL were stained with PI and cell cycle analysis was done with data acquired on FL2-A channel. The X-axis represents the DNA content of the cells and the Y-axis represents the cell number. (C) The graph depicts the percentage of cells in different phases of cell cycle. The graph represents mean ±SE of three independent experiments. *p<0.05 significant difference between untreated and RBL-treated cells.</p

Effect of RBL on activation of caspases.

<p>Molt-4 cells were treated with 5 µg/ml RBL for different time periods and activities of caspase-8 (A) and caspase-9 (B) were assessed by colorimetric assay using specific substrates Ac-IETD-pNa and Ac-LEHD-pNa respectively. The graph depicts fold increase in caspase activity with respect to 0 h controls (activity at 0 h was considered as 1). The data is mean±SE values from three independent experiments. *p value <0.05 in comparison with 0 h controls. (C) Molt-4 cells were treated with RBL (5 µg/ml) for 12 h and activity of caspase-3 was determined by flow cytometry analysis using FITC tagged caspase–3 inhibitor (blue line). Cells pretreated with caspase-3 inhibitor ZVAD-FMK (red line) and untreated cells (green line) were used as controls. The histoplot is representative of three similar experiments.</p