Insights into Analogy Completion from the Biomedical Domain

Analogy completion has been a popular task in recent years for evaluating the semantic properties of word embeddings, but the standard methodology makes a number of assumptions about analogies that do not always hold, either in recent benchmark datasets or when expanding into other domains. Through an analysis of analogies in the biomedical domain, we identify three assumptions: that of a Single Answer for any given analogy, that the pairs involved describe the Same Relationship, and that each pair is Informative with respect to the other. We propose modifying the standard methodology to relax these assumptions by allowing for multiple correct answers, reporting MAP and MRR in addition to accuracy, and using multiple example pairs. We further present BMASS, a novel dataset for evaluating linguistic regularities in biomedical embeddings, and demonstrate that the relationships described in the dataset pose significant semantic challenges to current word embedding methods.Comment: Accepted to BioNLP 2017. (10 pages

Jointly Embedding Entities and Text with Distant Supervision

Learning representations for knowledge base entities and concepts is becoming increasingly important for NLP applications. However, recent entity embedding methods have relied on structured resources that are expensive to create for new domains and corpora. We present a distantly-supervised method for jointly learning embeddings of entities and text from an unnanotated corpus, using only a list of mappings between entities and surface forms. We learn embeddings from open-domain and biomedical corpora, and compare against prior methods that rely on human-annotated text or large knowledge graph structure. Our embeddings capture entity similarity and relatedness better than prior work, both in existing biomedical datasets and a new Wikipedia-based dataset that we release to the community. Results on analogy completion and entity sense disambiguation indicate that entities and words capture complementary information that can be effectively combined for downstream use.Comment: 12 pages; Accepted to 3rd Workshop on Representation Learning for NLP (Repl4NLP 2018). Code at https://github.com/OSU-slatelab/JE

Influence of Peer Pressure and Self-Efficacy for Alcohol Self-Regulation on Chinese University Physical Education Students’ Drinking Behaviors

This study examined peer group influence on university student drinking in China and the indirect effects of peer pressure and self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation. A total of 951 undergraduate university students (first, second and third year) from a university in central China completed questionnaires asking about perceived peer pressures, self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation, and drinking frequency. Analysis of their answers showed that the drinking frequency among physical education (PE) students was higher than among the comparison group (History students). The PE students perceived greater peer pressure, and had lower self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation, both of which contributed directly to drinking frequency. Path analysis indicated indirect effects of peer pressure and self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation on the association between peer group membership and drinking frequency. This suggested that skills training to increase self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation in culturally-specific settings have the potential to both directly and indirectly lower drinking rates in peer groups with high peer pressure and higher than normal drinking

Variability of in vivo reference point indentation in skeletally mature inbred rats.

Bone Biology Laboratory [LINK]http://www.iupui.edu/~bonelab[/LINK]Reference point indentation (RPI) has emerged as a novel tool to measure material-level biomechanical properties in vivo. Human studies have been able to differentiate fracture versus non-fracture patients while a dog study has shown the technique can differentiate drug treatment effects. The goal of this study was to extend this technology to the in vivo measurement of rats, one of the most common animal models used to study bone, with assessment of intra- and inter-animal variability. Seventy-two skeletally mature male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to in vivo RPI on the region between the tibial diaphysis and proximal metaphysis. RPI data were assessed using a custom MATLAB program to determine several outcome parameters, including first cycle indentation distance (ID-1st), indentation distance increase (IDI), total indentation distance (TID), first cycle unloading slope (US-1st), and first cycle energy dissipation (ED-1st). Intra-animal variability ranged from 13-21% with US-1st and Tot Ed 1st-L being the least variable properties and IDI the most highly variable. Inter-animal variability ranged from 16% (US-1st) to 25% (ED-1st 31 and IDI). Based on these data, group size estimates would need to range from 9-18/group to achieve sufficient power for detecting a 25% difference in a two-group experiment. Repeat tests on the contralateral limb of a small cohort of animals (n=17) showed non-significant differences over 28 days ranging from -6% to -18%. These results provide important data on RPI variability (intra- and inter-animal) in rats that can be used to properly power future experiments using this technique.Funding for this study was provided by NIH (AR 62002 and DK100093) and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute fellowship program. The authors would like to thank Joey Wallace and David Burr for helpful comments on early drafts of this manuscript

Early Action on HFCs Mitigates Future Atmospheric Change

As countries take action to mitigate global warming, both by ratifying the UNFCCC Paris Agreement and enacting the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to manage hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), it is important to consider the relative importance of the pertinent greenhouse gases (GHGs), the distinct structure of their atmospheric impacts, and how the timing of potential GHG regulations would affect future changes in atmospheric temperature and ozone. Chemistry-climate model simulations demonstrate that HFCs could contribute substantially to anthropogenic climate change by the mid-21st century, particularly in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere i.e., global average warming up to 0.19K at 80hPa. Three HFC mitigation scenarios demonstrate the benefits of taking early action in avoiding future atmospheric change: more than 90 of the climate change impacts of HFCs can be avoided if emissions stop by 2030

Transduction Efficiency of AAV 2/6, 2/8 and 2/9 Vectors for Delivering Genes in Human Corneal Fibroblasts

In the present study, cellular tropism and relative transduction efficiency of AAV2/6, AAV2/8 and AAV2/9 vectors have been tested for the cornea using primary cultures of human corneal fibroblasts. The AAV6, AAV8 and AAV9 serotypes having AAV2 ITR plasmid encoding for alkaline phosphatase (AP) gene were generated by transfecting HEK293 cell line with pHelper, pARAP4 and pRep/Cap plasmids. Primary cultures of human corneal fibroblasts were exposed to AAV infectious particles at two different doses (1×105 and 2×105 MOI). Cytochemistry and enzyme assays were used to measure delivered transgene expression in samples collected at 4 and 30 hours after AAV infection by counting AP-stained cells or quantifying AP enzyme activity. Cellular toxicity of AAVs was evaluated with TUNEL and trypan blue assays. All three AAV serotypes transduced human corneal fibroblasts. The order of transduction efficiency was AAV2/6\u3e\u3e\u3eAAV2/9\u3eAAV2/8. The transduction efficiency of AAV2/6 was 30-50 fold higher (p \u3c0.001) for the human corneal fibroblasts compared to the AAV2/8 or AAV2/9 at two tested doses. The level of transgene expression at 4 hrs was considerably low compared to 30 hrs suggesting that the transgene delivery did not reach its peak at 4 hrs. Cultures exposed to any of the three AAV serotypes showed more than 97% cellular viability and less than 5 TUNEL positive cells suggesting that tested AAV serotypes do not induce significant cell death and are safe for corneal gene therapy

Reconsidering "the love of art" : evaluating the potential of art museum outreach

Art museums have long been identified as bastions of social and cultural exclusion. This conclusion was best evidenced by the large-scale 1967 French study by Bourdieu and Darbel demonstrating the exclusionary nature of “The Love of Art.” However, in recent years there have been increasing efforts to reach out to a broader range of visitors beyond conventional audiences. The present study investigates the impacts of an outreach program at a UK art museum, which sought to engage socially excluded young mothers. This study employs ethnographic research methods on a longitudinal basis to develop qualitative insights about the program seeking to mitigate cultural exclusion. While the study’s findings uphold many longstanding critiques of art museums’ conventional approaches, the study also indicates that carefully designed outreach activities can overcome such limitations and enhance cultural engagement. Thus, art museums’ limited appeal is tied to problematic public engagement practices that can be changed

Compromised vertebral structural and mechanical properties associated with progressive kidney disease and the effects of traditional pharmacological interventions

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Patients with chronic kidney disease mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD) have a significantly higher vertebral and non-vertebral fracture risk than the general population. Several preclinical models have documented altered skeletal properties in long bones, but few data exist for vertebral bone. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of progressive CKD on vertebral bone structure and mechanics and to determine the effects of treatment with either bisphosphonates or anti-sclerostin antibody in groups of animals with high or low PTH. METHODS: Animals with progressive kidney disease were left untreated, treated with calcium to lower PTH, zoledronic acid to lower remodeling without affecting PTH, anti-sclerostin antibody, or anti-sclerostin antibody plus calcium. Non-diseased, untreated littermates served as controls. Vertebral bone morphology (trabecular and cortical) and mechanical properties (structural and material-level) were assessed at 35 weeks of age by microCT and mechanical testing, respectively. RESULTS: CKD with high PTH resulted in 6-fold higher bone formation rate, significant reductions in the amount of trabecular and cortical bone, and compromised whole bone mechanical properties in the vertebra compared to normal animals. Treatments that reduced bone remodeling were effective in normalizing vertebral structure and mechanical properties only if the treatment reduced serum PTH. Similarly, treatment with anti-sclerostin antibody was effective in enhancing bone mass and mechanical properties but only if combined with PTH-suppressive treatment. CONCLUSIONS: CKD significantly altered both cortical and trabecular bone properties in the vertebra resulting in compromised mechanical properties and these changes can be normalized by interventions that involve reductions in PTH levels