Abstract Background Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is an inherited, autosomal, and rare neurodegenerative disease. Serum/plasma biomarkers or functional magnetic resonance imaging used to assess progression, except for neurological examinations, is either inconvenient or expensive. Handgrip strength (HGS) may be considered as a biomarker to predict the progress of SCA3 and align with the alteration of plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) and Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA). Methods Patients with SCA3 and healthy subjects were recruited from Changhua Christian Hospital. SARA, body mass index (BMI), and NfL were obtained for both groups. HGS was measured using a Jamar Plus + hand dynamometer. Results This study recruited 31 patients and 36 controls. HGS in the SCA3 group revealed a profound decrease ( P < 0.001) compared with normal subjects. HGS also had a negative correlation with SARA (r = − 0.548, P = 0.001), NfL (r = − 0.359, P = 0.048), and a positive correlation with BMI (r = 0.680, P < 0.001). Moreover, HGS/BMI ratio correlated with SARA (r = − 0.441, P = 0.013). Controlling for gender and age, HGS still correlated with the above clinical items. The initial hypothesis was also proved in SCA3 84Q transgenic mice, showing grip strength weakness compared to normal mice. Conclusions HGS can be an alternative tool to assess the clinical severity of SCA3. Further research is needed to investigate the underlying mechanisms.
Pharmacogenomics holds promise as a critical component of precision medicine. Yet, the use of pharmacogenomics in routine clinical care is minimal, partly due to the lack of efficient and effective use of existing evidence. This paper describes the design, development, implementation and evaluation of a knowledge-based system that fulfills three critical features: a) providing clinically relevant evidence, b) applying an evidence-based approach, and c) using semantically computable formalism, to facilitate efficient evidence assessment to support timely decisions on adoption of pharmacogenomics in clinical care. To illustrate functionality, the system was piloted in the context of clopidogrel and warfarin pharmacogenomics. In contrast to existing pharmacogenomics knowledge bases, the developed system is the first to exploit the expressivity and reasoning power of logic-based representation formalism to enable unambiguous expression and automatic retrieval of pharmacogenomics evidence to support systematic review with meta-analysis.
This study investigates the volatility and co-movement of gold prices across Tokyo, London, and New York gold markets. Using a dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) model, the authors estimate the cross-correlation and volatility of gold in each pair among three markets over the period from 1993 to 2012. Both the time-varying correlations and realized distributions are explored. After estimating the DCC as well as the corresponding distributions of the DCC among the three markets, the results suggest that: (i) the DCC probability distribution of London and New York shows a higher volatility associated with a higher DCC value; (ii) the DCC probability distribution between London and New York as well as between Tokyo and London both express the similar and overlapping pattern, implying that these markets are almost equal, and neither dominates; and (iii) New York exhibits a spillover effect of Tokyo’s variance, while the latter does not influence New York’s variance. The shapes of the distributions show that the distribution of high DCC is wider than that of low DCC, meaning that risk increases with the dynamic correlation. The implications of these gold DCC probability distributions encourage investors to diversify their global portfolios and manage latent risks in different gold markets effectively. Besides, the volatility-threshold DCC model suggests that the correlations are more sensitive to extreme volatility thresholds in London and New York markets, whereas the correlation is significantly affected by all levels of volatility at 50%, 75%, 90%, and 95% thresholds in Tokyo and London markets. Investors may not be able to diversify portfolio risk by choosing London and New York at the same time once gold becomes volatile as a high correlation is observed in the extreme thresholds.
Using the probability distribution approach, this study explores the weekday effects among Tokyo, London, and New York gold markets. Friday shows positive and significant higher returns, whereas Tuesday shows negative and significant lower returns than other weekdays. The weekend effects still exist, while Monday effects disappear. On average, London was found to have the highest returns, followed by New York and Tokyo. The peak and width estimations show that Tokyo has the highest volatility, while London and New York have similar volatility distributions, implying a similar preference behavior of investors. It also implies that arbitrage opportunities between London and New York could be trivial. After estimating the distribution from Monday to Friday across the three markets, we found that the distribution of return shows a leftward shifting in London and New York, meaning that the weekend effect is starting earlier from Wednesday and Thursday in London and New York. Some strategy implications are valuable to traders or hedgers Vol. 11, Iss: 2, pp.33-44.
Abstract Background Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is an inherited, autosomal, and rare neurodegenerative disease. Serum/plasma biomarkers or functional magnetic resonance imaging used to assess progression, except for neurological examinations, is either inconvenient or expensive. Handgrip strength (HGS) may be considered as a biomarker to predict the progress of SCA3 and align with the alteration of plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) and Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA). Methods Patients with SCA3 and healthy subjects were recruited from Changhua Christian Hospital. SARA, body mass index (BMI), and NfL were obtained for both groups. HGS was measured using a Jamar Plus + hand dynamometer. Results This study recruited 31 patients and 36 controls. HGS in the SCA3 group revealed a profound decrease ( P < 0.001) compared with normal subjects. HGS also had a negative correlation with SARA (r = − 0.548, P = 0.001), NfL (r = − 0.359, P = 0.048), and a positive correlation with BMI (r = 0.680, P < 0.001). Moreover, HGS/BMI ratio correlated with SARA (r = − 0.441, P = 0.013). Controlling for gender and age, HGS still correlated with the above clinical items. The initial hypothesis was also proved in SCA3 84Q transgenic mice, showing grip strength weakness compared to normal mice. Conclusions HGS can be an alternative tool to assess the clinical severity of SCA3. Further research is needed to investigate the underlying mechanisms.
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