Wiktionary and NLP: Improving synonymy networks

International audienceWiktionary, a satellite of the Wikipedia initiative, can be seen as a potential resource for Natural Language Processing. It requires however to be processed before being used efficiently as an NLP resource. After describing the relevant aspects Wiktionary for our purposes, we focus on its structural properties. Then, we describe how we extracted synonymy networks from this resource. We provide an in-depth study of these synonymy networks and compare them to those extracted from traditional resources. Finally, we describe two methods for semiautomatically improving this network by adding missing relations: (i) using a kind of semantic proximity measure; (ii) using translation relations of Wiktionary itself

Viral and host proteins involved in picornavirus life cycle

Picornaviruses cause several diseases, not only in humans but also in various animal hosts. For instance, human enteroviruses can cause hand-foot-and-mouth disease, herpangina, myocarditis, acute flaccid paralysis, acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, severe neurological complications, including brainstem encephalitis, meningitis and poliomyelitis, and even death. The interaction between the virus and the host is important for viral replication, virulence and pathogenicity. This article reviews studies of the functions of viral and host factors that are involved in the life cycle of picornavirus. The interactions of viral capsid proteins with host cell receptors is discussed first, and the mechanisms by which the viral and host cell factors are involved in viral replication, viral translation and the switch from translation to RNA replication are then addressed. Understanding how cellular proteins interact with viral RNA or viral proteins, as well as the roles of each in viral infection, will provide insights for the design of novel antiviral agents based on these interactions

A Cloud Information Platform for 3D Printing Rehabilitation Devices

Due to the problems of current population aging, occupational injuries and traffic accidents have led to an increasing number of elder people who are physically disabled in Taiwan. These persons, mostly seek medical treatment from medical institutions to help restore them to their premorbid level. Therefore the number of patients who go to medical institutions is gradually increasing and the splinting is largely applied in the medical cares. 3D printing technology has been widely used in the medical industry in recent years, especially in the development of rehabilitation devices. Up until now, to produce the customized splint requires either face to face communication or messaging software by relevant parties. Due to the complexity of the medical process, it is often time-consuming for occupational therapists to discuss the medical records with the splint design engineers via the above mentioned means. The other difficulty is that data management becomes a real problem. Medical communication and information management are thus the most urgent issues that need to be investigated. In this study, we applied the information technology and cloud-based technology to design a simple and user-friendly web-based interface for making 3D printing splint. This web-based interface utilizes cloud-based technology to provide an information platform for communication and co-management between the relevant stakeholders. The aim of this study is to make system management, retrieving patients’ information and browsing 3D graphics be more convenient for users, and thus to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of producing splints based on the proposed system

Relationships among Constitution, Stress, and Discomfort in the First Trimester

The purpose of this study was to explore correlations among constitution, stress, and discomfort symptoms during the first trimester of pregnancy. We adopted a descriptive and correlational research design and collected data from 261 pregnant women during their first trimester in southern Taiwan using structured questionnaires. Results showed that (1) stress was significantly and positively correlated with Yang-Xu, Yin-Xu, and Tan-Shi-Yu-Zhi constitutions, respectively; (2) Yin-Xu and Tan-Shi-Yu-Zhi constitutions had significant correlations with all symptoms of discomfort, while Yang-Xu had significant correlations with all symptoms of discomfort except for “running nose”; (3) Tan-Shi-Yu-Zhi constitution and stress were two indicators for “fatigue”; Tan-Shi-Yu-Zhi was the indicator for “nausea”; Yang-Xu and Yin-Xu were indicators for “frequent urination.” Our findings also indicate that stress level affects constitutional changes and that stress and constitutional change affect the incidence of discomfort. This research can help healthcare professionals observe these discomforts and provide individualized care for pregnant women, to nurture pregnant women into neutral-type constitution, minimize their levels of discomfort, and promote the health of the fetus and the mother

Sibling recurrence risk ratio analysis of the metabolic syndrome and its components over time

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to estimate both cross-sectional sibling recurrence risk ratio (λ(s)) and lifetime λ(s )for the metabolic syndrome and its individual components over time among sibships in the prospectively followed-up cohorts provided by the Genetic Analysis Workshop 13. Five measures included in the operational criteria of the metabolic syndrome by the Adult Treatment Panel III were examined. A method for estimating sibling recurrence risk with correction for complete ascertainment was used to estimate the numerator, and the prevalence in the whole cohort was used as the denominator of λ(s). RESULTS: Considerable variability in the λ(s )was found in terms of different time-points for the cross-sectional definition, the times of fulfilling the criterion for lifetime definition, and different components. Obesity and hyperglycemia had the highest cross-sectional λ(s )of the five components. Both components also had the largest slopes in the linear trend of the lifetime λ(s). However, the magnitudes of the lifetime λ(s )were similar to that of the mean cross-sectional λ(s), which were <2. The results of nonparametric linkage analysis showed only suggestive evidence of linkage between one marker and lifetime diagnosis of low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and metabolic syndrome, respectively. CONCLUSION: The λ(s )of the metabolic syndrome and its components varies substantially across time, and the λ(s )of lifetime diagnosis was not necessarily larger than that of a cross-sectional diagnosis. The magnitude of λ(s )does not predict well the maximum LOD score of linkage analysis

Earthquake Probability Assessment for the Active Faults in Central Taiwan: A Case Study

Frequent high seismic activities occur in Taiwan due to fast plate motions. According to the historical records the most destructive earthquakes in Taiwan were caused mainly by inland active faults. The Central Geological Survey (CGS) of Taiwan has published active fault maps in Taiwan since 1998. There are 33 active faults noted in the 2012 active fault map. After the Chi-Chi earthquake, CGS launched a series of projects to investigate the details to better understand each active fault in Taiwan. This article collected this data to develop active fault parameters and referred to certain experiences from Japan and the United States to establish a methodology for earthquake probability assessment via active faults. We consider the active faults in Central Taiwan as a good example to present the earthquake probability assessment process and results. The appropriate “probability model” was used to estimate the conditional probability where M ≥ 6.5 and M ≥ 7.0 earthquakes. Our result shows that the highest earthquake probability for M ≥ 6.5 earthquake occurring in 30, 50, and 100 years in Central Taiwan is the Tachia-Changhua fault system. Conversely, the lowest earthquake probability is the Chelungpu fault. The goal of our research is to calculate the earthquake probability of the 33 active faults in Taiwan. The active fault parameters are important information that can be applied in the following seismic hazard analysis and seismic simulation

Difference in imipenem, meropenem, sulbactam, and colistin nonsusceptibility trends among three phenotypically undifferentiated Acinetobacter baumannii complex in a medical center in Taiwan, 1997–2007

BackgroundTo determine whether the susceptibilities and the trends of nonsusceptibility of imipenem, meropenem, sulbactam, and colistin differed among Acinetobacter baumannii, Acinetobacter genomic species 3 (AGS 3), and Acinetobacter genomic species 13TU (AGS 13TU) over 11 years.MethodsA total of 1,039 nonduplicate blood isolates of A baumannii complex from bacteremic patients between 1997 and 2007 were collected at Taipei Veterans General Hospital and were identified to the species level using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction method and sequence analysis of 16S–23S intergenic spacer. The minimal inhibitory concentrations of antibiotics were determined by the agar dilution method.ResultsThe nonsusceptibility rates of carbepenems and sulbactam were highest in A baumannii, which also showed a trend toward increasing rate of carbapenems nonsusceptibility over the 11-year period of the study. AGS 13TU had the highest nonsusceptible rate to colistin, comparably increasing trend of carbapenem nonsusceptiblity as that of A baumannii, and is the only species with increasing sulbactam nonsusceptibility. AGS 3 had the lowest rate of nonsusceptibility to all four antimicrobial agents.ConclusionAlthough A baumannii had the highest nonsusceptibility rate to imipenem, meropenem, and sulbactam over the years, the higher rate of colistin nonsusceptibility and the emergence of nonsusceptibility of carbapenems and sulbactam in AGS 13TU suggested that this species might cause a great problem in the near future