Community knowledge graph abstraction for enhanced link prediction: A study on PubMed knowledge graph.

OBJECTIVE: As new knowledge is produced at a rapid pace in the biomedical field, existing biomedical Knowledge Graphs (KGs) cannot be manually updated in a timely manner. Previous work in Natural Language Processing (NLP) has leveraged link prediction to infer the missing knowledge in general-purpose KGs. Inspired by this, we propose to apply link prediction to existing biomedical KGs to infer missing knowledge. Although Knowledge Graph Embedding (KGE) methods are effective in link prediction tasks, they are less capable of capturing relations between communities of entities with specific attributes (Fanourakis et al., 2023). METHODS: To address this challenge, we proposed an entity distance-based method for abstracting a Community Knowledge Graph (CKG) from a simplified version of the pre-existing PubMed Knowledge Graph (PKG) (Xu et al., 2020). For link prediction on the abstracted CKG, we proposed an extension approach for the existing KGE models by linking the information in the PKG to the abstracted CKG. The applicability of this extension was proved by employing six well-known KGE models: TransE, TransH, DistMult, ComplEx, SimplE, and RotatE. Evaluation metrics including Mean Rank (MR), Mean Reciprocal Rank (MRR), and Hits@k were used to assess the link prediction performance. In addition, we presented a backtracking process that traces the results of CKG link prediction back to the PKG scale for further comparison. RESULTS: Six different CKGs were abstracted from the PKG by using embeddings of the six KGE methods. The results of link prediction in these abstracted CKGs indicate that our proposed extension can improve the existing KGE methods, achieving a top-10 accuracy of 0.69 compared to 0.5 for TransE, 0.7 compared to 0.54 for TransH, 0.67 compared to 0.6 for DistMult, 0.73 compared to 0.57 for ComplEx, 0.73 compared to 0.63 for SimplE, and 0.85 compared to 0.76 for RotatE on their CKGs, respectively. These improved performances also highlight the wide applicability of the extension approach. CONCLUSION: This study proposed novel insights into abstracting CKGs from the PKG. The extension approach indicated enhanced performance of the existing KGE methods and has applicability. As an interesting future extension, we plan to conduct link prediction for entities that are newly introduced to the PKG.

Thermodynamically Stable o-Quinodimethane: Synthesis, Structure, and Reactivity.

Thermal isomerization of cyclobutaphenanthrene to o-quinodimethane was investigated. Sterically congested substituents or electron-donating substituents on the four-membered ring promoted the ring-opening, affording o-quinodimethane in a relatively stable form. Isolation of the newly prepared o-quinodimethane allowed its structural elucidation and investigation of its potential reactivities. Dual [4+2] cycloaddition of an aryne and o-quinodimethane afforded tetrabenzopentacene, demonstrating the synthetic application of the isolated compound.

Treatment of in-stent restenosis with excimer laser coronary angioplasty: benefits over scoring balloon angioplasty alone.

Treatment of in-stent restenosis (ISR) is associated with a high incidence of recurrence. This study evaluated the clinical safety and 6-month efficacy of excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) before scoring balloon dilatation for the treatment of ISR. Twenty-three patients with ISR were included and treatment strategy of ISR was dependent on each operator. Twelve patients among those were treated with ELCA before scoring balloon dilatation (ELCA group) and 11 patients were treated with scoring balloon alone (non-ELCA group). Acute procedural results were evaluated by quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) and frequency domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT). Follow-up angiography was performed in all patients and the incidence of recurrent ISR and target lesion revascularization (TLR) was determined at 6 months after initial ISR treatment. Procedural success was achieved in all patients. Baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics were similar between groups. Maximum dilatation pressure of scoring balloon was significantly lower in the ELCA group than in the non-ELCA group (9.0 ± 3.1 vs. 14.9 ± 4.3 atm, p = 0.001). In follow-up angiography, the occurrence of TLR was similar between groups (16.7 vs. 45.5 %, p = 0.09), but the late luminal loss was significantly lower in the ELCA group (0.7 ± 0.6 vs. 1.3 ± 0.7 mm, p = 0.03). ELCA is a safe and feasible technique for the treatment of ISR and associated with a relatively low recurrent restenosis in comparison with scoring balloon dilatation alone.

Intraoperative adjustment of eyelid level in aponeurotic blepharoptosis surgery.

There have been numerous reports on the use of aponeurotic surgery to correct involutional blepharoptosis. However, it is still difficult to determine optimal eyelid level during operation. Here we present our new method to adjust eyelid level intraoperatively. After the aponeurosis was temporally sutured to the tarsus, while still in the supine position, the patient was asked to look up, and the position of the eyelid margin was confirmed. The margin should be located above the pupil but within the cornea while the patient gazes up. And it is ideal if the eyelid position is located in the upper half of this range. Although 3 of 29 patients were reoperated on in the follow-up period, only 1 patient required readjustment in the perioperative period. Our method is simple, easy and reduces operative time, because it is not necessary to change patient position during the operation.

Comparison of ultrasonography-assisted closed reduction with conventional closed reduction for the treatment of acute nasal fractures.

Ultrasonography has often been reported to be a useful tool in cases of nasal fracture, not only for diagnosing such fractures but also for intraoperatively assessing surgical outcomes. In this study, we examined the utility of ultrasonography for intraoperatively assessing the results of surgery for acute nasal fractures. In the conventional group, the outcome of each fracture reduction procedure was intraoperatively confirmed by visual inspection and palpation. In the ultrasound group, intraoperative ultrasonography was used to assess the condition of the fracture before and after closed reduction. The outcomes of the reduction procedures and the reoperation rate were compared between the two groups. According to computed tomography-based evaluations, there were no significant differences in the outcomes of the reduction procedures between the two groups (p > 0.05). As for the reoperation rate, two patients (2.8%) in the conventional group underwent reoperations, but no patient (0%) required reoperations in the ultrasound group. However, the difference in the reoperation rate between the two groups was not significant (p > 0.05). These results indicate that visual inspection and palpation are as reliable as ultrasonography for intraoperatively assessing the outcomes of surgery for acute nasal fractures. Surgeons should not depend on ultrasonography alone, but rather should use it in addition to visual inspection and palpation.

Treatment of acute temporomandibular joint dislocation using manipulation technique for disk displacement.

Temporomandibular joint dislocation is not frequently encountered, but it is often difficult to reduce the dislocation with conventional methods described in textbooks. The key points to success of reduction depend on the patient's position, route of approach, and timing of reducing each side. We apply a manipulation technique for disk displacement to the reduction that corresponds to these key points. Using our method, temporomandibular joint dislocation can be easily reduced, without using sedative or analgesics. This method is simple, convenient, and worth trying in place of the conventional method.

Preauricular transparotid approach to mandibular condylar fractures without dissecting facial nerves.

Preauricular transparotid approach without dissecting the facial nerve was used for surgical treatment of 15 condylar fractures in 14 patients. The parotid fascia was opened just above the fracture site, and by dissecting the parotid gland and masseter muscle, the fracture was directly exposed. The facial nerve itself was not dissected expressly. All fractures could be reduced accurately and fixed firmly with miniplates. A direct approach just above the fracture site provided good vision of the fracture, avoiding facial nerve palsy caused by strong retraction. Moreover, by not dissecting the facial nerve, the operation time was shortened. This approach was useful for surgical treatment of both condylar neck and subcondylar fractures.

Comparison of pediatric and adult nasal fractures.

Nasal fractures are the most common facial fracture in children and adults. Generally, it is believed that reduction of pediatric nasal fracture is more difficult and should be performed earlier compared with that of adult nasal fracture. However, there has been no article to prove this theory. We investigated 423 patients with acute nasal fractures requiring surgery and divided them into the following 2 groups: patients 12 years and younger (pediatric group) and patients 13 years and older (adult group). We then compared these patients in various aspects. There were no significant differences in the cause of fracture or postoperative conditions. Only the type of fracture and the anesthesia were different between these 2 groups. In the pediatric group, the interval between injury and surgery was arbitrarily divided into 2 groups, but there was no significant difference between these groups in the postoperative conditions. Some reports recommended that pediatric nasal fractures should be reduced within 3 to 5 days, but it cannot be proven. In conclusion, it is not necessary to distinguish treatment of pediatric nasal fracture from that of adult nasal fracture.

Treatment of fingertip amputation: comparison of results between microsurgical replantation and pocket principle.

In this article, a comparison of replantation using microsurgical replantation (replantation) and the Brent method and its modification (pocket principle) in the treatment of fingertip amputation is reported. As a classification of amputation level, we used Ishikawa's subzone classification of fingertip amputation, and the cases of amputations only in subzone 2 were included in this study. Between these two groups, there was no statistical difference in survival rate, postoperative atrophy, or postoperative range of motion. In terms of sensory recovery, some records were lost and exact study was difficult. But there was no obvious difference between these cases. In our comparison of microsurgical replantation versus the pocket principle in treatment of subzone 2 fingertip amputation, there was no difference in postoperative results. Each method has pros and cons, and the surgeon should choose which technique to use based on his or her understanding of the characteristics of both methods.

Reduction of nasal fracture using an airway tube as a pivot.

When repairing nasal fracture by closed reduction, an airway tube is useful for the pivot of the forceps. By placing the tube on the upper white lip and using it as a pivot, the fracture is reduced with Walsham forceps or Langenbeck elevator. This method is useful for all nasal fractures that are too firm to reduce by conventional closed reduction.