Investigating online trust of multi-channel retailers: The social relations and networks perspective

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Psychological health of women who have conceived using assisted reproductive technology in Taiwan: findings from a longitudinal study

Background: Despite the increasing use of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and the significant physical and emotional commitments that these treatments and procedures involve, only limited evidence exists regarding the psychological health of women who undergo ART. This study investigated the changes over time in the psychological health of women who have conceived using ART during the first, second, and third trimesters of pregnancy and during the postpartum period in Taiwan. Methods: A quantitative longitudinal study was conducted at a fertility centre in Taiwan. 158 pregnant women who had conceived using ART completed a web-based questionnaire that included the following instruments: State Anxiety Inventory, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Modified Maternal Foetal Attachment Scale, Pregnancy Stress Rating Scale, Maternity Social Support Scale, Intimate Bond Measure, and Parenting Stress Index. The data were collected the first (9–12 weeks), second (19–22 weeks), third (28–31 weeks) trimesters of pregnancy and at 7–10 weeks postpartum. Results: Levels of anxiety and depression, which are both key indicators of psychological health, were highest during the first trimester, with scores of 42.30 ± 11.11 and 8.43 ± 4.44, respectively. After the first trimester, anxiety scores decreased and remained stable through the remainder of pregnancy, with scores of 38.03 ± 10.58 in the second and 38.39 ± 10.36 in the third trimester, but increased at two-months postpartum, attaining a score of 41.18 ± 11.68. Further, depression scores showed a similar pattern, declining to a mean of 7.21 ± 4.23 in the second and 6.99 ± 4.11 in the third trimester and then increasing to 8.39 ± 5.25 at two-months postpartum. Pregnancy stress and social support were found to be the most important predictors of change in psychological health during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Conclusion: Psychological health was found to be poorest during the first trimester and at two-months postpartum. Moreover, pregnancy stress and social support were identified as key predictors of change in psychological health. The findings indicate a need for increased sensitivity among healthcare professionals to the psychological vulnerability of women who have conceived using ART as well as a need to introduce tailored interventions to provide appropriate psychological support to these women

IsoDOT Detects Differential RNA-isoform Expression/Usage with respect to a Categorical or Continuous Covariate with High Sensitivity and Specificity

We have developed a statistical method named IsoDOT to assess differential isoform expression (DIE) and differential isoform usage (DIU) using RNA-seq data. Here isoform usage refers to relative isoform expression given the total expression of the corresponding gene. IsoDOT performs two tasks that cannot be accomplished by existing methods: to test DIE/DIU with respect to a continuous covariate, and to test DIE/DIU for one case versus one control. The latter task is not an uncommon situation in practice, e.g., comparing paternal and maternal allele of one individual or comparing tumor and normal sample of one cancer patient. Simulation studies demonstrate the high sensitivity and specificity of IsoDOT. We apply IsoDOT to study the effects of haloperidol treatment on mouse transcriptome and identify a group of genes whose isoform usages respond to haloperidol treatment

Emerged HA and NA Mutants of the Pandemic Influenza H1N1 Viruses with Increasing Epidemiological Significance in Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2009–10

The 2009 influenza pandemic provided an opportunity to observe dynamic changes of the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) of pH1N1 strains that spread in two metropolitan areas -Taipei and Kaohsiung. We observed cumulative increases of amino acid substitutions of both HA and NA that were higher in the post–peak than in the pre-peak period of the epidemic. About 14.94% and 3.44% of 174 isolates had one and two amino acids changes, respective, in the four antigenic sites. One unique adaptive mutation of HA2 (E374K) was first detected three weeks before the epidemic peak. This mutation evolved through the epidemic, and finally emerged as the major circulated strain, with significantly higher frequency in the post-peak period than in the pre-peak (64.65% vs 9.28%, p<0.0001). E374K persisted until ten months post-nationwide vaccination without further antigenic changes (e.g. prior to the highest selective pressure). In public health measures, the epidemic peaked at seven weeks after oseltamivir treatment was initiated. The emerging E374K mutants spread before the first peak of school class suspension, extended their survival in high-density population areas before vaccination, dominated in the second wave of class suspension, and were fixed as herd immunity developed. The tempo-spatial spreading of E374K mutants was more concentrated during the post–peak (p = 0.000004) in seven districts with higher spatial clusters (p<0.001). This is the first study examining viral changes during the naïve phase of a pandemic of influenza through integrated virological/serological/clinical surveillance, tempo-spatial analysis, and intervention policies. The vaccination increased the percentage of E374K mutants (22.86% vs 72.34%, p<0.001) and significantly elevated the frequency of mutations in Sa antigenic site (2.36% vs 23.40%, p<0.001). Future pre-vaccination public health efforts should monitor amino acids of HA and NA of pandemic influenza viruses isolated at exponential and peak phases in areas with high cluster cases

Detection of the inferred interaction network in hepatocellular carcinoma from EHCO (Encyclopedia of Hepatocellular Carcinoma genes Online)

BACKGROUND: The significant advances in microarray and proteomics analyses have resulted in an exponential increase in potential new targets and have promised to shed light on the identification of disease markers and cellular pathways. We aim to collect and decipher the HCC-related genes at the systems level. RESULTS: Here, we build an integrative platform, the Encyclopedia of Hepatocellular Carcinoma genes Online, dubbed EHCO , to systematically collect, organize and compare the pileup of unsorted HCC-related studies by using natural language processing and softbots. Among the eight gene set collections, ranging across PubMed, SAGE, microarray, and proteomics data, there are 2,906 genes in total; however, more than 77% genes are only included once, suggesting that tremendous efforts need to be exerted to characterize the relationship between HCC and these genes. Of these HCC inventories, protein binding represents the largest proportion (~25%) from Gene Ontology analysis. In fact, many differentially expressed gene sets in EHCO could form interaction networks (e.g. HBV-associated HCC network) by using available human protein-protein interaction datasets. To further highlight the potential new targets in the inferred network from EHCO, we combine comparative genomics and interactomics approaches to analyze 120 evolutionary conserved and overexpressed genes in HCC. 47 out of 120 queries can form a highly interactive network with 18 queries serving as hubs. CONCLUSION: This architectural map may represent the first step toward the attempt to decipher the hepatocarcinogenesis at the systems level. Targeting hubs and/or disruption of the network formation might reveal novel strategy for HCC treatment

Functional characterization of cellulases identified from the cow rumen fungus Neocallimastix patriciarum W5 by transcriptomic and secretomic analyses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Neocallimastix patriciarum</it> is one of the common anaerobic fungi in the digestive tracts of ruminants that can actively digest cellulosic materials, and its cellulases have great potential for hydrolyzing cellulosic feedstocks. Due to the difficulty in culture and lack of a genome database, it is not easy to gain a global understanding of the glycosyl hydrolases (<it>GHs</it>) produced by this anaerobic fungus.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed an efficient platform that uses a combination of transcriptomic and proteomic approaches to <it>N. patriciarum </it>to accelerate gene identification, enzyme classification and application in rice straw degradation. By conducting complementary studies of transcriptome (Roche 454 GS and Illumina GA IIx) and secretome (ESI-Trap LC-MS/MS), we identified 219 putative <it>GH </it>contigs and classified them into 25 <it>GH</it> families. The secretome analysis identified four major enzymes involved in rice straw degradation: β-glucosidase, endo-1,4-β-xylanase, xylanase B and Cel48A exoglucanase. From the sequences of assembled contigs, we cloned 19 putative cellulase genes, including the <it>GH1</it>, <it>GH3</it>, <it>GH5</it>, <it>GH6</it>, <it>GH9</it>, <it>GH18</it>, <it>GH43 </it>and <it>GH48 </it>gene families, which were highly expressed in <it>N. patriciarum </it>cultures grown on different feedstocks.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These <it>GH </it>genes were expressed in Pichia pastoris and/or Saccharomyces cerevisiae for functional characterization. At least five novel cellulases displayed cellulytic activity for glucose production. One β-glucosidase (W5-16143) and one exocellulase (W5-CAT26) showed strong activities and could potentially be developed into commercial enzymes.</p

Electromagnetic Wave Theory and Applications

Contains table of contents for Section 3, reports on three research projects and a list of publications.California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Contract 959548National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NAGW-1617National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant Contract 958461U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1616U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-4098Digital Equipment Corporation AGMT DTD 11/16/93Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-92-C-0001Joint Services Electronics Program Grant DAAH04-95-1-0038MIT Lincoln Laboratory P.O. No. BX-5424U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-90-J-1002U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-89-J-1019DEMACO Agreement 11/15/93Federal Aviation Administration Grant 94-G-007U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Contract DACA89-93-K-000

Epstein–Barr Virus DNase (BGLF5) induces genomic instability in human epithelial cells

Epstein–Barr Virus (EBV) DNase (BGLF5) is an alkaline nuclease and has been suggested to be important in the viral life cycle. However, its effect on host cells remains unknown. Serological and histopathological studies implied that EBV DNase seems to be correlated with carcinogenesis. Therefore, we investigate the effect of EBV DNase on epithelial cells. Here, we report that expression of EBV DNase induces increased formation of micronucleus, an indicator of genomic instability, in human epithelial cells. We also demonstrate, using γH2AX formation and comet assay, that EBV DNase induces DNA damage. Furthermore, using host cell reactivation assay, we find that EBV DNase expression repressed damaged DNA repair in various epithelial cells. Western blot and quantitative PCR analyses reveal that expression of repair-related genes is reduced significantly in cells expressing EBV DNase. Host shut-off mutants eliminate shut-off expression of repair genes and repress damaged DNA repair, suggesting that shut-off function of BGLF5 contributes to repression of DNA repair. In addition, EBV DNase caused chromosomal aberrations and increased the microsatellite instability (MSI) and frequency of genetic mutation in human epithelial cells. Together, we propose that EBV DNase induces genomic instability in epithelial cells, which may be through induction of DNA damage and also repression of DNA repair, subsequently increases MSI and genetic mutations, and may contribute consequently to the carcinogenesis of human epithelial cells