Fine-Grained Detection of Hate Speech Using BERToxic

This thesis describes our approach towards the fine-grained detection of hate speech using deep learning. We leverage the transformer encoder architecture to propose BERToxic, a system that fine-tunes a pre-trained BERT model to locate toxic text spans in a given text and utilizes additional post-processing steps to refine the prediction boundaries. The post-processing steps involve (1) labeling character offsets between consecutive toxic tokens as toxic and (2) assigning a toxic label to words that have at least one token labeled as toxic. Through experiments, we show that these two post-processing steps improve the performance of our model by 4.16% on the test set. We further examined the effect of ensemble models for hate speech detection. The ensemble neural architectures we studied include late fusion where predictions from token and sequence classification models are aggregated in the prediction phase and multi-task learning where the two aforementioned models are trained jointly. Finally, given the scarcity and costs of obtaining labeled data, we explored data augmentation strategies such as appending hate speech-related external datasets and token modification techniques to generate synthetic training examples. Our system significantly outperformed the baseline models and achieved an F1-score of 0.683, placing our model in 17th place out of 91 teams in a hate speech detection competition. Our code is made available at https://github.com/Yakoob-Khan/Toxic-Spans-Detectio

Nadia Yakoob on Best Practices for Social Work with Refugees and Immigrants by Miriam Potocky-Tripodi. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. 538 pp.

A review of: Best Practices for Social Work with Refugees and Immigrants by Miriam Potocky-Tripodi. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. 538 pp

Influence of the Anti-HIV drug Elvitegravir on Chlamydial Development and the Characterization of Chlamydial Polymorphic Membrane Protein Expression in Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)/C. trachomatis Co-infected Cells

Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common bacterial agent of sexually transmitted infections worldwide and a common co-infection in AIDS patients. Chlamydial genital tract infections are often asymptomatic; therefore many infections go untreated and result in complications like chronic inflammation, ectopic pregnancy, and pelvic inflammatory disease. Chlamydia share a unique developmental cycle and under stress, can enter a state known as persistence, in which the bacteria are noninfectious but still viable. Removal of the stressor allows the chlamydiae to re-enter and complete the developmental cycle. Exposure to low-dose quinolones can cause the chlamydiae to enter persistence and halt the developmental cycle. Notably, 1 in 20 people living with HIV/AIDS also suffers from chlamydial infections. Since the anti-HIV drug Elvitegravir (EVG) is a quinolone derivative, we hypothesized that EVG exposure would inhibit chlamydial development. To ascertain whether EVG affects chlamydial development, HeLa cells were infected with C. trachomatis or C. muridarum and then either mock treated or treated with EVG. The percent infectivity and production of infectious progeny were determined by immunofluorescence assay and chlamydial titer assay, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to examine chlamydial morphology and determine whether EVG caused Chlamydia to become persistent. Though percent infectivity and chlamydial morphology were similar between treated and untreated Chlamydia-infected cells, the production of infectious progeny was significantly decreased in EVG-exposed Chlamydia-infected cells. These data indicate that EVG is not a persistence-inducer, but does inhibit chlamydial development in vitro. In other studies, we tested chlamydial polymorphic membrane protein (PMP) expression in chlamydia/HSV co-infected cells by immunofluorescence staining. Since penicillin-induced persistence decreases the expression of some chlamydial PMPs, we hypothesized that expression of PMP-A and PMP-B would be decreased by HSV-induced persistence. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in expression of PMP-A or PMP-B in co-infected versus C. trachomatis singly-infected cells. These data suggest that PMP expression is not a good indicator of chlamydial persistence when induced by HSV

Maxillofacial Radiology 204

Below are four patients that presented to our facility for dental treatment. In all four patients, Taurodontism of varying degrees was noted as incidental findings

Applying the sustainable development orientations in a municipality programme in South-West of France

This paper discusses how a sustainable development programme could be applied to a village in respecting to the, European, French and Regional regulations. Léguevin is a small village in the South-West of France near Toulouse. The environment problems are one of the major concerns of the community as well as to the politicians. For the new municipality council elected in 2008, a proposed environmental and sustainable development programme taken part in their new municipality engagement. A Plan Communal Environment has been adopted and taken into consideration of the orientations to preserve the environment. Several axes have been chosen and some of these are to reduce the communal buildings power consumption, transportation and water consumption, preserve water resources, eco purchase, population information and environmental education. Several measures have been taken such as significant reduction of power and water consumption, and increased the use of renewable resources. Also, encouraging eco purchase grouping, utilizing recycling papers, E-mail and others means. It could be concluded that even for a small village with a limited financial resources, the application of the sustainable development orientation could be achieved at local level

MAXILLOFACIAL RADIOLOGY Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome

An 18-year-old male patient presented at our dental clinic in 2009 for a dental assessment. A panoramic radiograph was taken to evaluate dental crowning (Figure 1). An incidental finding was noted in the right maxilla, presenting as a well-demarcated, round, unilocular, radiolucent lesion with a corticated rim extending from the right maxillary tuberosity area to distal of the 16 causing. impaction of the 18. A biopsy was taken and diagnosed as an odontogenic keratocyst (OKC) that was subsequently enucleated. In 2021 the patient returned, and another panoramic radiograph (Figure 2) and a Waters view was taken where calcification of the falx cerebri was seen (Figure 3). On the panoramic radiograph an additional mandibular lesion was visible that presented as a well-demarcated, round, unilocular, radiolucent lesion with a corticated rim extending from distal of the 46 into the missing 47, 48 area. A CBCT was then. taken to further analyse the lesions (Figure 4). A biopsy was taken in the right posterior mandible and diagnosed as an OKC. In 2023 the patient returned and a CBCT was taken. The right maxilla showed increased bone density adjacent to the enucleated lesion (Figure 5)

Focal dermal hypoplasia - a radiographic case report

Focal dermal hypoplasia (FDH) is an unusual X-linked dominant disorder that affects ectoderm and mesoderm derived tissues with females affected in 90% of cases. A case report ofa12 year old female diagnosed with FDH is presented. The dental significance of these patients are multifactorial and dental management should be focused on prevention and regular monitory visits.Restoration of functionality should be addressed by a combination of orthodontic, basic restorative and pros-thodontic disciplines. Due to the multisystem involvement and the dental complexities of patients suffering from FDH a multidisciplinary approach is required for optimal patient care

Maxillofacial Radiology 199

Both patients presented with extensive sclerosis limited to the tooth-bearing regions of the jaws. The areas affected by secondary osteomyelitis show radiolucent zones surrounding the radiopaque lesions (Figure 1). The first patient presented with a jaw fracture following a failed extraction attempt (Figure 1- arrow). Due to the extensive bony sclerosis, associated impacted teeth are common (Figure 2)