Molecular detection of circulating thyroid specific transcripts (TSHR/Tg-mRNAs) in thyroid cancer patients: Their diagnostic significance

Thyroid cancer is the most prevalent endocrine malignancy. The preoperative diagnosis of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) that relies solely on fine-needle aspiration (FNAC) biopsy, sometimes possesses conflicting results. New molecular markers for thyroid cancer have been investigated with most of them based on the detection in thyroid nodules or tumor tissue specimens. Recently, it was possible to detect thyroid cancer cells in the circulation by measuring the mRNA of thyroid specific genes. Among these, thyroglobulin and more recently thyroid stimulating hormone receptor mRNAs, TSHR/Tg-mRNAs in peripheral blood might serve as cancer-specific markers. These have become promising new circulating markers for thyroid cancer. The purpose of this study is to assess TSHR/Tg-mRNAs as diagnostic molecular markers for thyroid cancer and if they can be used preoperatively in synergy with FNAC. This study was performed on 60 subjects; 20 healthy volunteers and 40 patients; including 16 patients with benign thyroid diseases, 24 patients with thyroid cancer; 18 patients with newly diagnosed (DTC) and 6 patients with recurrent thyroid cancer. Diagnosis of cancer was based on FNAC and histopathology of surgical specimens. All subjects had TSHR/Tg-mRNAs in peripheral blood measured by reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR. Based on cytology/pathology; 18 patients had newly diagnosed DTC and 11 had benign thyroid disease. Preoperative FNAC was performed on 29 of 40 patients; FNAC was diagnostic in 11/18 of malignant lesions (61.1%), in 8/11 of benign lesions (72.7%), while 10/29 (34.5%) were indeterminate. TSHR/Tg-mRNAs correctly diagnosed DTC in 20/24 and 19/24 (sensitivity 83.3% and 79.1%) and benign disease in 14/16 and 13/16 (specificity 87.5% and 81.3%), respectively. With indeterminate FNA, TSHR/Tg-mRNAs correctly diagnosed DTC (follicular type) in 5/7 and benign disease in 2/3 (combined sensitivity 71.4%; specificity 66.7%). There was high concordance between RT-PCR results for TSHR-mRNA and Tg-mRNA. Of the controls 19/20 (95%) and 16/20 (80%) were negative for both TSHR- and Tg-mRNAs. With the use of a carefully selected primer pair and qualitative RT-PCR; our results indicate that TSHR/Tg-mRNAs in peripheral blood are both equally sensitive and specific markers for detection of thyroid cancer cells. Combining TSHR/Tg-mRNAs and FNAC and ultrasound enhances the preoperative detection of cancer in patients with thyroid nodules, reducing unnecessary surgeries and correctly classified most follicular cancers and could have spared surgery in patients with benign disease.Keywords: Differentiated thyroid Cancer; TSHR/Tg-mRNAs; Fine-needle aspiration cytology; Thyroid nodules; Indeterminate lesions; Molecular marke

Cross-national differences in travelers’ continuance of knowledge sharing in online travel communities

This study aims to investigate factors motivating travellers to continue knowledge sharing across four countries and how these factors vary among answerers, lurkers, and askers. We utilised structural equation modelling to analyze the data gathered from a sample of 6,803 travelers in four countries. Findings indicated that the influence of subjective norm, reputation, shared language, satisfaction, and commitment on continuance of knowledge sharing was greater in developing economies compared with developed economies. The findings also indicated that shared language and reputation enhancement are positively related to attitude towards users behaviour to continue knowledge sharing for answerers, lurkers, and askers. Knowledge demand is positively related to attitude for only lurkers. Moreover, travellers are most apt to continue knowledge sharing regardless of their original intentions in emerging economies compared with developed markets. This study aids practitioners to carry out specific targeted measurements and develop new marketing strategies to meet the needs of each segment

Understanding the relationship between marketing analytics, customer agility, and customer satisfaction: a longitudinal perspective

Shifting towards a more data-driven culture is a key antecedent of business success in today's digital era. Previous research has paid attention to exploring the influence of marketing analytics on business performance, and rarely examined how the use of marketing analytics influences customer agility and satisfaction. According to the dynamic capabilities view and using previous studies, we developed a conceptual framework to explore the effect of marketing analytics use on customer agility and customer satisfaction. In Study 1, we utilised cross-sectional data collected from 468 managers from various industries. In study 2, we employed longitudinal data in a three-wave longitudinal utilising a cross-lagged panel model. Study 1 indicated that data acquisition and tool acquisition are key drivers in adopting marketing analytics. Marketing analytics use has stronger effect on customer agility when market turbulence is high. They also revealed that the influence of customer agility on customer satisfaction in such conditions is stronger. Study 2 revealed that marketing analytics use at time point T1 has a significant and positive influence on customer agility at time point T2, while customer agility at time point T2 has a significant and positive influence on customer satisfaction at time point T3. These findings indicate strong temporal effects between marketing analytics use, customer agility, and customer satisfaction. The findings suggest that researchers should look beyond direct effects of marketing analytics use and shift their attention on how a marketing analytics can be leveraged to enable and support dynamic capabilities and customer satisfaction