JUDICIOUS: Evaluating Robustness of Large Language Models in the Legal Realm

In recent years, the remarkable performance of large language models (LLMs) in tasks such as legal judgment prediction (LJP) has garnered widespread attention. An increasing number of LLMs have been successfully implemented to assist judges in performing various legal tasks. However, their robustness and reliability in complex judicial scenarios remain a subject of debate, particularly when confronted with real-world legal cases. Existing research often overlooks the systematic evaluation of these LLMs in terms of judicial fairness, robustness and other ethical considerations. To fill this gap, we propose a novel benchmark that integrates authentic legal cases to evaluate the robustness of LLMs in the legal judgment prediction (LJP) task. Our work establishes foundational safety standards for applying LLMs in the legal domain

Genetic polymorphisms of antioxidant enzymes (GSTP1/CAT/HMOX1/EPHX1) and childhood asthma risk in Fuzhou

ObjectiveDiscuss the correlation between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the Glutathione s-transferase Pi-1 (GSTP1), Catalase (CAT), Heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1), and Homo sapiens epoxide hydrolase 1 (EPHX1) genes and the risk of childhood asthma in Fuzhou.MethodsNext generation sequencing (NGS) was employed to conduct whole-exome sequencing (WES) on 50 asthmatic children and 50 healthy children. Genetic models for the GSTP1 gene rs1695, rs4891, HMOX1 gene rs2071747, rs17878790, CAT gene rs7943316, rs1049982, rs769217, and EPHX1 gene rs2234922, rs41266231, rs1051740 sites were constructed. Binary logistic regression, linkage disequilibrium analysis, haplotype analysis, and interaction analysis were used to study the correlation between the 10 SNPs of GSTP1, CAT, HMOX1, and EPHX1 genes and the risk of asthma in children in the Fuzhou region.ResultsThe rs1695 A>G variant increased the risk of asthma in the heterozygous, dominant, and allele models. The rs4891 T>C variant increased the risk of asthma in the heterozygous, dominant, and allele models. The rs7943316 A>T variant increased the risk of asthma in the homozygous, recessive, and allele models. The rs769217 C>T variant decreased the risk of asthma in the homozygous, recessive, and allele models. Strong linkage disequilibrium between the GSTP1 gene rs1695 and rs4891, and the CAT gene rs7943316, rs1049982, and rs769217. The GC haplotype composed of GSTP1 gene rs1695 and rs4891 may pose a risk for childhood asthma [P = 0.025, OR = 2.12 (1.09–4.10)], while the AT haplotype may be protective [P = 0.025, OR = 0.47 (0.24–0.92)]. The ATT haplotype composed of CAT gene rs7943316, rs1049982, and rs769217 may be protective against childhood asthma [P = 0.006, OR = 0.45 (0.25–0.79)]. Potential synergistic interaction between the GSTP1 gene rs1695, CAT gene rs7943316, and EPHX1 gene rs41266231. The combination of GSTP1 gene rs1695 and CAT gene rs7943316 formed the best predictive model for assessing the risk of childhood asthma in the Fuzhou region.ConclusionThe genotype GC, composed of GSTP1 gene rs1695 and rs4891, may represent a risk genotype for childhood asthma, whereas genotype AT may represent a protective genotype for childhood asthma. The genotype ATT, composed of CAT gene rs7943316, rs1049982, and rs769217, may represent a protective genotype for childhood asthma. The combination of GSTP1 gene rs1695 and CAT gene rs7943316 constitutes the optimal model for predicting the risk of childhood asthma in the Fuzhou region

Altered lumbo-pelvic-hip complex muscle morphometry and contraction change in postpartum pelvic girdle pain and asymptomatic subjects: a cross-sectional study

ObjectiveLumbo-pelvic-hip complex muscle training is considered a crucial component of exercise rehabilitation for postpartum women with pelvic girdle pain (PGP). However, there is a paucity of research evidence regarding the morphological changes and contraction function of these muscles in postpartum women with PGP. Understanding the alterations in lumbo-pelvic-hip complex muscles function associated with PGP, is crucial for tailoring effective rehabilitation strategies and promoting optimal postpartum recovery. Therefore, this study aims to compare the differences in muscle thickness and contraction function of lumbo-pelvic-hip complex muscle between postpartum women with PGP and asymptomatic controls using ultrasound imaging.MethodsOne hundred and fifty postpartum women with PGP and fifty age-matched asymptomatic postpartum women were recruited in this study. Real-time musculoskeletal ultrasound was utilized to measure the resting muscle thickness of nine lumbo-pelvic-hip complex muscles, including the erector spinalis (ES), latissimus dorsi (LD), quadratus lumbalis (QL), gluteus maximus (GMax), gluteus medius (GMed), piriformis (PF), iliacus muscle (IM), rectus femoris (RF), and biceps femoris (BF). The thickness of the GMax, GMed, RF, and BF muscles were measured at maximum contraction to calculate a contraction: rest ratio.ResultsCompared to the asymptomatic women, those with PGP exhibited reduced resting thickness of the ES and GMax muscles bilaterally, as well as increased resting thickness of the right LD and IM muscles. Furthermore, the PGP group demonstrated decreased thickness of the left GMed and right RF muscles at maximum contraction. The contraction ratio was also diminished for the GMax muscles bilaterally, left GMed, and right RF in women with postpartum PGP. Conclusion: Postpartum women with PGP demonstrated reduced thickness, asymmetry, and diminished contractility of the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex muscles. Exercise prescriptions for postpartum women with PGP should incorporate targeted strengthening of the ES, GMax, GMed, and RF muscles.ConclusionPostpartum women with PGP demonstrated reduced thickness, asymmetry, and diminished contractility of the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex muscle. Exercise prescriptions for postpartum women with PGP should incorporate targeted strengthening of the ES, GMax, GMed, and RF muscles

Studying trabecular bone samples demonstrates a power law relation between deteriorated structure and mechanical properties - a study combining 3D printing with the finite element method

IntroductionThe bone volume fraction (BV/TV) significantly contributes to the mechanical properties of trabecular bone. However, when studies compare normal trabeculae against osteoporotic trabeculae (in terms of BV/TV decrease), only an “average” mechanical result has been determined because of the limitation that no two trabecular structures are the same and that each unique trabecular structure can be mechanically tested only once. The mathematic relation between individual structural deterioration and mechanical properties during aging or the osteoporosis process has yet to be further clarified. Three-dimensional (3D) printing and micro-CT-based finite element method (μFEM) can assist in overcoming this issue.MethodsIn this study, we 3D printed structural-identical but BV/TV value-attenuated trabecular bones (scaled up ×20) from the distal femur of healthy and ovariectomized rats and performed compression mechanical tests. Corresponding μFEM models were also established for simulations. The tissue modulus and strength of 3D printed trabecular bones as well as the effective tissue modulus (denoted as Ez) derived from μFEM models were finally corrected by the side-artifact correction factor.ResultsThe results showed that the tissue modulus corrected, strength corrected and Ez corrected exhibited a significant power law function of BV/TV in structural-identical but BV/TV value-attenuated trabecular samples. DiscussionUsing 3D printed bones, this study confirms the long-known relationship measured in trabecular tissue with varying volume fractions. In the future, 3D printing may help us attain better bone strength evaluations and even personal fracture risk assessments for patients who suffer from osteoporosis

Increased KIF15 Expression Predicts a Poor Prognosis in Patients with Lung Adenocarcinoma

Background/Aims: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The outcome of patients with non-small cell lung cancer remains poor; the 5-year survival rate for stage IV non-small cell lung cancer is only 1.0%. KIF15 is a tetrameric kinesin spindle motor that has been investigated for its regulation of mitosis. While the roles of kinesin motor proteins in the regulation of mitosis and their potentials as therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer have been described previously, the role of KIF15 in lung cancer development remains unknown. Methods: Paired lung carcinoma specimens and matched adjacent normal tissues were used for protein analysis. Clinical data were obtained from medical records. We first examined KIF15 messenger RNA expression in The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and then determined KIF15 protein levels using immunohistochemistry and western blotting. Differences between the groups were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. Overall survival was analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method. Cell-cycle and proliferation assays were conducted using A549, NCI-H1299, and NCI-H226 cells. Results: KIF15 was significantly upregulated at both the messenger RNA and protein levels in human lung tumor tissues. In patients with lung adenocarcinoma, KIF15 expression was positively associated with disease stages; high KIF15 expression predicted a poor prognosis. KIF15 knockdown using short hairpin RNA in two human lung adenocarcinoma cell lines induced G1/S phase cell cycle arrest and inhibited cell growth, but there was no effect in human lung squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusion: Our findings show that KIF15 is involved in lung cancer carcinogenesis. KIF15 could therefore serve as a specific prognostic marker for patients with lung adenocarcinoma

KD_ConvNeXt: knowledge distillation-based image classification of lung tumor surgical specimen sections

Introduction: Lung cancer is currently among the most prevalent and lethal cancers in the world in terms of incidence and fatality rates. In clinical practice, identifying the specific subtypes of lung cancer is essential in diagnosing and treating lung lesions.Methods: This paper aims to collect histopathological section images of lung tumor surgical specimens to construct a clinical dataset for researching and addressing the classification problem of specific subtypes of lung tumors. Our method proposes a teacher-student network architecture based on a knowledge distillation mechanism for the specific subtype classification of lung tumor histopathological section images to assist clinical applications, namely KD_ConvNeXt. The proposed approach enables the student network (ConvNeXt) to extract knowledge from the intermediate feature layers of the teacher network (Swin Transformer), improving the feature extraction and fitting capabilities of ConvNeXt. Meanwhile, Swin Transformer provides soft labels containing information about the distribution of images in various categories, making the model focused more on the information carried by types with smaller sample sizes while training.Results: This work has designed many experiments on a clinical lung tumor image dataset, and the KD_ConvNeXt achieved a superior classification accuracy of 85.64% and an F1-score of 0.7717 compared with other advanced image classification method

Updated overall survival data and predictive biomarkers of autologous NK cells plus Sintilimab as second-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer

PurposeCombination strategies involving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been a prominent focus of research in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Our prior findings demonstrated that the combination of autologous NK cells with the PD-1 antibody (Sintilimab), offered promising efficacy in NSCLC patients who failed the first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. Here, we present updated overall survival (OS) data from the final analysis, aiming to identify patient subgroups that derive maximal benefit from this therapeutic approach.MethodsTwenty NSCLC patients without driver gene mutations were enrolled and treated with a combination of autologous NK cells and Sintilimab every three weeks. Multicolor immunofluorescence staining was applied to evaluate static markers within the tumor microenvironment. Concurrently, dynamic assessments were conducted using next-generation sequencing and monitoring of PD-1/PD-L1 expression on NK cells to identify patient populations with favorable prognoses.ResultsThe median OS was 27.3 months (95% CI, 0.76 to 53.8), with six patients still alive at the follow-up cutoff. A significant correlation was observed between the CD56+PD-L1+ cellular phenotype and extended survival. Clearance of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and an increased percentage of PD-L1+ NK cells following treatment was associated with significantly better survival outcomes. Notably, prolonged treatment exposure did not lead to increased toxicity.ConclusionThe combination of autologous NK cells with Sintilimab significantly enhances long-term survival in NSCLC patients without exacerbating adverse effects, presenting a promising strategy for future combination immunotherapy approaches in NSCLC treatment.Clinical trial registrationhttps://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03958097, identifier NCT03958097

Robust passive sampling of airborne environmental DNA to monitor plants and animals

Abstract Airborne environmental DNA (eDNA) is a rich resource for understanding biodiversity, but its wider application is hindered by its complex collection methods and unknown sampling time effects. To develop a passive sampling scheme that is effective and convenient, we systematically compared the performance of an array of materials, namely common filter membranes, electrostatic dust cloth [EDC] and coated microscope slides, for collecting airborne eDNA under a natural setting in two seasons. Metabarcoding analysis of the captured eDNA revealed a rich diversity of plants (485 taxa) and vertebrates (132 taxa), but different samplers varied significantly in detecting that taxonomic richness, with EDC strongly outperforming the other materials. Our investigation of sampling time effects showed a rapid, daily compositional turnover of plant assemblages uncovered by airborne eDNA. Using EDC, prolonged sampling was negatively correlated with the detected plant richness but positively so with animal richness. Overall, we provide empirical evidence for a very simple and economical passive sampler of airborne eDNA that can effectively detect considerable biodiversity in natural environments. Our findings also support the use of airborne eDNA for monitoring plant and fungal phenology and community shifts at a high temporal resolution