Characterization of Epstein-Barr Virus miRNAome in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma by Deep Sequencing

Virus-encoded microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to regulate a variety of biological processes involved in viral infection and viral-associated pathogenesis. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a herpesvirus implicated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and other human malignancies. EBV-encoded miRNAs were among the first group of viral miRNAs identified. To understand the roles of EBV miRNAs in the pathogenesis of NPC, we utilized deep sequencing technology to characterize the EBV miRNA transcriptome in clinical NPC tissues. We obtained more than 110,000 sequence reads in NPC samples and identified 44 EBV BART miRNAs, including four new mature miRNAs derived from previously identified BART miRNA precursor hairpins. Further analysis revealed extensive sequence variations (isomiRs) of EBV miRNAs, including terminal isomiRs at both the 5′ and 3′ ends and nucleotide variants. Analysis of EBV genomic sequences indicated that the majority of EBV miRNA nucleotide variants resulted from post-transcriptional modifications. Read counts of individual EBV miRNA in NPC tissue spanned from a few reads to approximately 18,000 reads, confirming the wide expression range of EBV miRNAs. Several EBV miRNAs were expressed at levels similar to highly abundant human miRNAs. Sequence analysis revealed that most of the highly abundant EBV miRNAs share their seed sequences (nucleotides 2–7) with human miRNAs, suggesting that seed sequence content may be an important factor underlying the differential accumulation of BART miRNAs. Interestingly, many of these human miRNAs have been found to be dysregulated in human malignancies, including NPC. These observations not only provide a potential linkage between EBV miRNAs and human malignancy but also suggest a highly coordinated mechanism through which EBV miRNAs may mimic or compete with human miRNAs to affect cellular functions

Modeling the adoption of personal health record (PHR) among individual: the effect of health-care technology self-efficacy and gender concern

Background: With the development of information technology (IT) and medical technology, medical information has been developed from traditional paper-based records into up-to-date medical information exchange system called personal health record (PHR). Empowering PHR provides health awareness and intention for health promotion. Objective: The purpose of this study was to present a research framework to examine individuals’ intention to PHR use. Methods: This cross-sectional study used the questionnaire to collect data from the individual in Taiwan. Individual’s intention to use PHR has been examined by a framework based on extended technology acceptance model (TAM), with gender and health-care technology self-efficacy (HTSE) as external variables. Additionally, gender differences were explored in perceptions and relationships among factors influencing an individual’s intention to PHR use. The research framework was evaluated by structural equation modeling (SEM) and represented by Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS). Results: A total of 234 valid responses were used for analysis. The results suggest that the extended TAM model explains 40.6% of the variance of intention to PHR use (R2 = 0.406). The findings also supported that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward using PHR significantly influenced individual’s intention to PHR use. Additionally, results also indicated that women were more strongly influenced by perceptions of HTSE. Conclusions: The extended TAM model contributes reasonable explanation for interprets and anticipates of individuals’ intention to use and adopt PHR. Moreover, the results have provided support for HTSE and gender as significant variables in TAM. However, the study identified three relevant factors directly and one factor indirectly influencing on individuals’ intention to PHR use. Thus, health care providers and hospital authorities must take these factors and gender difference into consideration in the development and validation of the theories regarding the acceptance of PHR. Based on the findings, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Significant Association of HLA-DQ5 with Autoimmune Hepatitis in Taiwan

Genetic predisposition is known to be an important etiopathogenic factor of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). HLA antigens associated with AIH have been well studied in Western countries and Japan, but there is no HLA typing data of AIH patients in Taiwan. We therefore investigated HLA phenotypes and their association with AIH patients and compared the results with those of normal subjects and patients with chronic liver disease. Group 1 consisted of 22 AIH patients. All were born in Taiwan with no history of blood transfusion. Group 2 consisted of 19 chronic liver disease patients. Group 3 consisted of 81 unrelated healthy subjects who were normal blood donors. All three groups were tested for HLA phenotypes (HLAA, B, C, DR, DQ) using the polymerase chain reaction—sequence specific probe method. The statistical method used was Fisher's exact test. We found that HLA-DQ5 was significantly more frequent in the AIH group compared to the control group (RR, 2.03; p = 0.034). Low frequency of A1 (n = 2/22), B8 (n = 1/22) and DR3 (n = 0/22) were noted compared to results from the West; only HLA-DR4 showed a higher rate in our AIH patients (n = 8/22). This is a preliminary report of our study of HLA antigens in AIH patients. Further investigation to characterize AIH patients into HLA allelic subgroups is being done

Exploring critical factors influencing nurses’ intention to use tablet PC in Patients’ care using an integrated theoretical model

The use of health information technology (HIT) is expected to deliver benefits for patients, nurses, physicians, and organizations, but the benefits of HIT can only be attained if nurses accept and intend to use it as they are the leading user-group. The use of the tablet is becoming commonplace in healthcare organizations to improve patient care. The current study incorporates Technology Acceptance Model2 (TAM2) with two antecedents, facilitating condition and personal, to identify and understand the factors that influence nurses’ intention to use the Tablet PC. The survey methodology was used to collect data from the nurses working in a regional healthcare center in Taiwan. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was employed to analyze the research framework. A total of 110 valid responses for analysis. The results suggest that the modified proposed research framework explains about 41.7% of the variance of nurses’ behavioral intention. The partial least squares (PLS) regression indicated that perceived usefulness, subjective norm, and personal a positive and significant influence on nurses’ intention to use the Tablet PC. But concerning the perceived ease of use, the insignificant path coefficient was reported. The finding also indicated that personal on the research model is much stronger than the subjective norm on Tablet PC performance. The proposed research framework contributes to the conclusive explanation for understanding nurses’ intention to use. The current study brings perspectives from the technological and attitudinal differences that have largely been missing in the existing literature of the nurses’ intention to use HIT. Thus, health care providers must take these factors into consideration as the findings of the current study advance theory and contribute to the basis for future study intended for enhancing our understanding of nurses’ adoption behavior regarding HIT

Age and Geochemical Features of Dredged Basalts from Offshore SW Taiwan: The Coincidence of Intra-Plate Magmatism with the Spreading South China Sea

This study reports age and geochemical analyses of basaltic rocks dredged from volcanic seamounts offshore SW Taiwan. 40Ar/39Ar dating results of these rocks show them to be of the early Miocene age of ~22 - 21 Ma. They are evolved alkali basalts that show OIB-type geochemical features similar to post-spreading seamount basalts (14 - 3.5 Ma) in the South China Sea (SCS) and Miocene intraplate basalts on the Penghu Islands (16 - 8 Ma) and NW Taiwan (23 - 9 Ma). Their Sr-Nd-Pb isotope data plot within the range of the SCS seamount basalts that show an EM2-like component in the mantle source. The age and overall geochemical characteristics of the dredged basalts are comparable to those of the Kungkuan basalts, NW Taiwan and Baolai basalts, SW Taiwan, suggesting an extensive alkali basaltic volcanism along the southeastern Eurasian continental margin during the early Miocene that resulted from regional lithospheric extension in association with seafloor spreading in the South China Sea

A three-variable mediation model.

<p>Adiponectin levels as a mediator of the association between the <i>CDH13</i> genotype and the metabolic syndrome and metabolic syndrome-related phenotypes. Linear or binary regression models were used to assess the following path associations: in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0122664#pone.0122664.g001" target="_blank">Fig 1</a> (F): (α) relationship between the <i>CDH13</i> genotype and adiponectin, (β) relationship between adiponectin and metabolic syndrome, (αβ + γ’) relationship between the <i>CDH13</i> genotype and metabolic syndrome, and (γ’) relationship between the <i>CDH13</i> genotype and metabolic syndrome after adjustment for adiponectin levels. Each estimate along the path represents the unstandardized β coefficient from the regression model. The results indicate that after adjustment for adiponectin levels, the CDH13 genotype exhibited a stronger association with the metabolic syndrome. The direct effects (γ’) of the <i>CDH13</i> genotype on the metabolic syndrome (−1.136) were greater than the total effects (αβ + γ’) (−0.492) and revealed similar magnitudes and opposite signs than those of the mediation effects (αβ) (0.541), suggesting significant mediation (suppression) by the adiponectin levels. All of the models were adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and current smoking status. °P < 0.05. In addition, the other metabolic syndrome-related phenotypes exhibited similar suppression effects (B, C, D, and E). ^#<i>CDH13</i> genotypes: dominant inheritance model was used (<i>GG vs</i>. <i>GT + TT</i> for rs12051272).</p

<i>CDH13</i> genotypes and adiponectin levels.

<p>N: number of subjects; P value, Unadjusted;</p><p>P<i>°</i>value, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, and current smoking status.</p><p><i>CDH13</i> genotypes and adiponectin levels.</p