Reorganizing the Local Boy Scouts Associations in the Northern Province of the Gold Coast Colony

Imperialist Robert Baden-Powell’s Boy Scouts Association started in the Gold Coast Colony during the First World War and schooled boys for nationality during the 1920s.This paper uses archival documents to discuss how Chief Scout Governor Gordon Guggisberg,who was brigadier general during the First World War,reorganized the Boy Scouts Association in the Northern Province of the Northern Territories Protectorate.The scout officers at the Local Boy Scouts Associations had the power to fashion desire but were not supposed to have consequences on political power.As government officers and scout officers they had warrants to work at the government schools at Gambaga,Wa,and Lawra to attain money locally for kits to instruct and invent the identity,customs and nationalist categories of schoolboys performing the British Empire.

Association of ABO blood group and Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Dore Bafeno Area,Southern Ethiopia

Objective:To assess the distribution of ABO blood group and their relationship with Plasmodium falciparum(P.falciparum) malaria among febrile outpatients who sought medical attention at Dore Bafeno Health Center,Southern Ethiopia.Methods:A total of 269 febrile outpatients who visited Dore Bafeno Health Center,Southern Ethiopia,were examined for malaria and also tested for ABO blood groups in January 2010.The blood specimens were collected by finger pricking,stained with Geimsa,and examined microscopically.Positive cases of the parasitemia were counted.CareStart^(TM) Malaria PflPv Combo was also used to test the blood specimens for malaria.ABO blood groups were determined by agglutination test using ERYCLONE antisera.Data on socio-demographic characteristics and treatment status of the participants were also collected.Chi-square and ANOVA tests were used to assess the difference between frequencies and means,respectively.Results:Out of a total of 269 participants,178(66.2%) febrile patients were found to be infected with Plasmodium parasites,among which 146(54.3%),28(10.4%),and 4(1.5%) belonged to P.falciparum,P.vivax,and mixed infections,respectively.All febrile patients were also tested for ABO blood groups and 51.3%,23.5%,21.9%and 3.3%were found to be blood types of 0,A,B and AB,respectively.Both total malaria infection and P.falciparum infection showed significant association with blood types(P<0.05).The proportion of A or B but not 0 phenotypes was higher(P<0.05) in individuals with P.falciparum as compared with non-infected individuals.The chance of having P.falciparum infection in patients with blood groups A,B and AB was 2.5,2.5 and 3.3times more than individuals showing blood 0 phenotypes,respectively.The mean P.falciparum malaria parasitemia for blood groups A,B,AB,and 0 were 3 744/μ L,1 805/ μ L,5 331/μ L,and1 515/μ L,respectively(P<0.01).Conclusions:The present findings indicate that individuals of blood groups A,B and AB are more susceptible to P.falciparum infection as compared with individuals of blood group O.Nevertheless,further in depth studies are required to clearly establish the role that ABO blood group plays in P.falciparum malaria.

Association Mapping for Drought Tolerance of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) at Vegetative Stage

[Objective] This study aimed to identify possible quantitative trait loci (QTL) for vegetative drought tolerance traits of rice (Oryza sativa L.). [Method] A total of 184 rice genotypes were field screened and 156 SSR markers randomly distributed at each 3 Mb bin were used through genome-wide scanning method and association analysis to detect QTLs for vegetative drought tolerance traits leaf rolling (LER), leaf drying (LED) and drought recovery rate (DRR). [Result] The experimental rice genotypes showed varied response under vegetative drought, LER, LED and DRR were highly correlated. Population structure was detected at K=3 and K=7, certain extent of admixture existed in the experimental rice genotypes, relative kinship of the rice genotypes ranged from 0 to 0.924 5. Significant linkage disequilibrium among SSR markers was detected. Sixteen SSR markers have been detected to be associated with vegetative drought tolerance traits, four for LER, eight for LED and four for DDR. Most of the markers were associated with more than one trait, indicating a single mechanism might involve in expression of several related traits, i.e. osmotic adjustment. RM107 (Chr.9) was associated with all the three traits and fell exactly within or closely nearby to previous reported regions, was a major QTL for vegetative drought tolerance, RM477 (Chr.8) was significantly associated with DRR and extremely significantly associated with LER was probably another major QTL for vegetative drought tolerance. [Conclusion] Association mapping is a very effective method for describing complex traits like drought tolerance.

International collaboration to promote global health:The 2017 Belt and Road Initiative Global Health International Congress&2017 Chinese Preventive Medicine Association--Chinese Society on Global Health Annual Meeting

With the rapid development of new technologies and global trade and increasing collaboration am ong countries worldwide,public health has become a global issue.Global health,as a new discipline,has been drawing more attention from both academ ia and governments.The Belt and Road Initiative(BRI),proposed by China in 2013,aimed to prom ote trade and resource exchange,including education,research,and health issues,with over 60 countries in Asia,Africa,and Europe.The BRI provides good opportunities for involved countries to address health problems jointly as well.In response to the BRI and to promote international collaboration on global health issues,"The 2017 Belt and Road Initiative Global Health International Congress&2017 Chinese Preventive M edicine Association-Chinese Society on Global Health Annual Meeting"was held on Septem ber 24-27,2017 in Xi’an,China.Thus far,this is the largest high-quality international conference held in China that focused on the BRI global health issues.This article summarized the background,key sessions and topics covered during the congress,and important events,and highlights different perspectives of the BRI and global health by invited experts from China and abroad.The conference included 14 sessions(three keynote speech forums and ten scientific sessions and a research poster session)and about 100 speakers,around 40 of which were leading experts outside of China.All the major sessions were held in English.More than 40 leaders and experts of health sectors from 13 countries presented their work in the congress.Approximately 400 delegates from 29 countries attended the congress.Delegates had extensive discussions about global health related issues,future cooperation and development in global health.The congress fostered international exchange and collaboration.

Immediate effects of scalp acupuncture with twirling reinforcing manipulation on hemiplegia following acute ischemic stroke: a hidden association study

Data mining has the potential to provide information for improving clinical acupuncture strategies by uncovering hidden rules between acupuncture manipulation and therapeutic effects in a data set. In this study, we performed acupuncture on 30 patients with hemiplegia due to acute ischemic stroke. All participants were pre-screened to ensure that they exhibited immediate responses to acupuncture. We used a twirling reinforcing acupuncture manipulation at the specific lines between the bilateral Baihui（GV20） and Taiyang（EX-HN5）. We collected neurologic deficit score, simplified Fugl-Meyer assessment score, muscle strength of the proximal and distal hemiplegic limbs, ratio of the maximal H-reflex to the maximal M-wave（Hmax/Mmax）, muscle tension at baseline and immediately after treatment, and the syndromes of traditional Chinese medicine at baseline. We then conducted data mining using an association algorithm and an artificial neural network backpropagation algorithm. We found that the twirling reinforcing manipulation had no obvious therapeutic difference in traditional Chinese medicine syndromes of ＂Deficiency and Excess＂. The change in the muscle strength of the upper distal and lower proximal limbs was one of the main factors affecting the immediate change in Fugl-Meyer scores. Additionally, we found a positive correlation between the muscle tension change of the upper limb and Hmax/Mmax immediate change, and both positive and negative correlations existed between the muscle tension change of the lower limb and immediate Hmax/Mmax change. Additionally, when the difference value of muscle tension for the upper and lower limbs was 〉 0 or 〈 0, the difference value of Hmax/Mmax was correspondingly positive or negative, indicating the scalp acupuncture has a bidirectional effect on muscle tension in hemiplegic limbs. Therefore, acupuncture with twirling reinforcing manipulation has distinct effects on acute ischemic stroke patients with different symptoms or stages of disease. Improved muscle tension in the upper and lower limbs, reflected by the variation in the Hmax/Mmax ratio, is crucial for recovery of motor function from hemiplegia.

Critical assessment of the reported bidirectional associations between gallstone, non-alcoholic fatty liver, and kidney stone diseases

The recent article by Jiang et al published in World Journal of Gastroenterology reports substantial bidirectional associations between gallstone disease(GSD),non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD),and kidney stone disease(KSD),based on multicenter cross-sectional studies and a systematic review with meta-analysis.While the findings have the potential to significantly impact clinical and pre-ventive strategies,several methodological issues merit closer examination.This letter critiques key aspects of the study,including sample population hetero-geneity,potential confounding variables,and the reliance on cross-sectional data that may limit causal inferences.We also discuss the generalizability of these results to broader populations given the study's focus on the Chinese demogra-phic.By addressing these concerns,we suggest a more nuanced interpretation of the associations between GSD,NAFLD,and KSD,advocating for longitudinal studies to validate these findings and enhance their applicability in global health contexts.

Genome-Wide Association Study in Thai Tsunami Survivors Identified Risk Alleles for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder found in individuals afflicted by a traumatic event. Multiple environmental and genetic factors can contribute to PTSD susceptibility. Since it is rare to find members of the same family afflicted by the same catastrophic event, it is not practical to determine PTSD susceptibility genes by a gene linkage analysis. A natural disaster, such as the 2004 Tsunami, provided us with a rare chance for a genetic analysis of PTSD. To identify SNPs associated with PTSD susceptibility, we conducted a genome-association study (GWAS) in Thai-Tsunami survivors. Initial phase of the study with 396 chronic PTSD patients and 457 controls, we identified top ninety SNPs (P -4), which were further assessed in the second phase with 395 chronic PTSD patients and 798 controls. Two SNPs (rs267950 and rs954406), were identified in the second phase, and subjected to fine mapping using a data set from both phases. SNP rs267943 showed the strongest association with PTSD susceptibility and was in complete linkage disequilibrium with SNP rs267950 with P = 6.15 × 10-8, OR = 1.46 and 95% CI = 1.19 - 1.79, reaching genome-wide significance. SNP rs267943 is located on chromosome 5 in the intron of the death-associated protein 1 (DAP1) gene and, when linked to a synthetic promoter, could regulate transcription. To our knowledge, this is the first GWAS for PTSD susceptibility in an Asian population which could provide an important insight into the genetic contribution of PTSD and may lead to new treatment strategies for PTSD.

Lack of Association between Polymorphisms in rs2981582, rs2420946, rs17102287, rs1219648, rs2981578, and rs17542768 Sites of FGFR2 Gene with Breast Cancer in the Population of Kazakhstan

Worldwide, breast cancer (BC) is the most common invasive cancer in women. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) is a tyrosine kinase receptor that is a member of the family of individually distinct fibroblast growth factor receptors involved in tumorigenesis. FGFR2 gene is amplified and over expressed in breast cancer (1 - 3). The aim of the study was to determine whether polymorphisms in rs2981582, rs2420946, rs17102287, rs1219648, rs2981578, and rs17542768 in FGFR2 gene are associated with breast cancer susceptibility in the population of Kazakhstan. The statistically significant associations between SNPs analyzed and breast cancer risk according χ2 and p < 0.05 criterions were not evaluated. The information describing the association of SNPs in FGFR2 with BC risk in the world populations could not be unambiguously used for Kazakhstan population.

The Tamale Local Boy Scouts Association in the Northern Territories Protectorate in the 1920s

In 1907,military leader Robert Baden-Powell started the Boy Scouts Association in England as the British colonial government officers instituted Tamale village as the administrative centre of the Northern Territories Protectorate.Sam Yarney worked with Frank Collyer the European bank cashier and scoutmaster who started the Boy Scouts in the Gold Coast Colony in 1914,the year the First World War started.In 1922,Governor Gordon Guggisberg,who was brigadier general during the war was the chief scout.He reorganized the Local Boy Scouts Association in the Tamale Government School that received select boys from various schools in the Northern Territories Protectorate.The schoolboys excelled in the Standard VII and Civil Service Examinations to work with the government institutions and train as teachers and telegraphists.Arthur James Philbrick the chief scout commissioner of the Northern Territories employed Yarney as the assistant scout commissioner in the Southern Province to take on the staff of the reorganized Tamale Local Boy Scouts Association and register the 1st Tamale Troop.The scout officers subscribed to a Scout Fund to buy kit,for the schoolboys who passed the Tenderfoot Tests to buy uniforms and perform at events.

An Overview and Perspectives On Bidirectional Intelligence: Lmser Duality, Double IA Harmony,and Causal Computation

Advances on bidirectional intelligence are overviewed along three threads,with extensions and new perspectives.The first thread is about bidirectional learning architecture,exploring five dualities that enable Lmser six cognitive functions and provide new perspectives on which a lot of extensions and particularlly flexible Lmser are proposed.Interestingly,either or two of these dualities actually takes an important role in recent models such as U-net,ResNet,and Dense Net.The second thread is about bidirectional learning principles unified by best yIng-yAng(IA)harmony in BYY system.After getting insights on deep bidirectional learning from a bird-viewing on existing typical learning principles from one or both of the inward and outward directions,maximum likelihood,variational principle,and several other learning principles are summarised as exemplars of the BYY learning,with new perspectives on advanced topics.The third thread further proceeds to deep bidirectional intelligence,driven by long term dynamics(LTD)for parameter learning and short term dynamics(STD)for image thinking and rational thinking in harmony.Image thinking deals with information flow of continuously valued arrays and especially image sequence,as if thinking was displayed in the real world,exemplified by the flow from inward encoding/cognition to outward reconstruction/transformation performed in Lmser learning and BYY learning.In contrast,rational thinking handles symbolic strings or discretely valued vectors,performing uncertainty reasoning and problem solving.In particular,a general thesis is proposed for bidirectional intelligence,featured by BYY intelligence potential theory(BYY-IPT)and nine essential dualities in architecture,fundamentals,and implementation,respectively.Then,problems of combinatorial solving and uncertainty reasoning are investigated from this BYY IPT perspective.First,variants and extensions are suggested for AlphaGoZero like searching tasks,such as traveling salesman problem(TSP)and attributed graph matching(AGM)that are turned into Go like problems with help of a feature enrichment technique.Second,reasoning activities are summarized under guidance of BYY IPT from the aspects of constraint satisfaction,uncertainty propagation,and path or tree searching.Particularly,causal potential theory is proposed for discovering causal direction,with two roads developed for its implementation.

Variation in Expression of <i>Sub</i>1 Gene and Association with Submergence Stress Related Traits in Advance Rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i>L.) Genotypes as a Tool of Climate Change Adaptation

Floods have now become most detrimental natural catastrophe worldwide due to radical climatic fluxes. Therefore, there is a dire necessity to develop a high yielding rice lines to deal with this scenario. For this purpose, a large scale experiment was conducted including one hundred and fifteen (115) rice genotypes having SUB1 gene imported from International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Philippines, six local cultivars/approved varieties and three high yielding rice varieties i.e. Sabitri, IR6 and NSICRC222 being used as potential varieties in different countries of Asia as susceptible check and IR64-SUB1 as tolerant check. The genotypic screening was performed using two PCR-based DNA markers i.e. ART5 and SC3. Phenotypic screening was conducted in a natural pond to assess the interaction of SUB1 gene in natural stagnant flood water as well as the suitability of introgression of SUB1 gene into approved varieties and elite rice lines. The genotypes were assessed in terms of plant survival percentage, submergence tolerance index, physical condition, stem elongation, number of grains per panicle, thousand grain weight, grain yields and deviations in these traits after submergence stress. The PCR results suggested that both the primers ART5 and SC3 may be used as potential PCR-based markers for molecular screening of rice genotypes for SUB1 QTL. Furthermore, it confirmed the presence of SUB1 gene in all the lines imported from IRRI, while it was absent in all the local cultivars studied. All the genotypes with submergence tolerant gene (SUB1) showed significantly greater tolerance level in submergence stress of 14 days, as compared to other local cultivars/varieties, authenticating the effectiveness of SUB1QTL in conferring submergence tolerance. Significantly different performances of all the SUB1 genotypes in terms of all the studied traits indicate high Genotypic and Genotypic Environment Interaction (GEI) of SUB1QTL. Employment of SUB1 lines such as R105479:149-18, IR64-SUB1 and Rl05469:81-22-3 in breeding programs for developing flood tolerant rice varieties might further upsurge rice yields in flash flood areas. Correlation analysis revealed that plant survival percentage after submergence, reduced stem elongation during submergence and submergence tolerance index are very important traits for developing submergence tolerant lines.

MINING CYCLIC GENERALIZED ASSOCIATION RULES

Discovering cyclic generalized association rules from transaction datbases can reveal the relationship of differ-ent levels of the taxonomies and display cyclic variations over time.Information about such variations is great use of better identifying trends in associations and forecast-ing.Because cyclic rules are quite sensitive to a littlenoise,this paper uses the noise-ratio as the criterion of i-dentifing cydclic itemsets for dealing with the problem and utilizes the cycle-pruning technique to reduce the comput-ing time of the data mining process by exploiting the real-tionship between the cycle and generalized frequent item-sets.The paper gives the algorithm of mining cyclic gen-eralized itemsets(CGI).Experiment shows that the CGI algorithm can efficiently yield results.

A Clique-Based Approach to the Identification of Common Gene Association Sub-Networks

We developed a computational framework to identify common gene association sub-network. This framework combines graphical lasso model, graph product and a replicator equation based clique solver. We applied this method to find common stress responsive sub-networks from two related Deinococcus-Thermus bacterial species.

Genome-wide association with transcriptomics reveals a shade-tolerance gene network in soybean

Shade tolerance is essential for soybeans in inter/relay cropping systems.A genome-wide association study(GWAS)integrated with transcriptome sequencing was performed to identify genes and construct a genetic network governing the trait in a set of recombinant inbred lines derived from two soybean parents with contrasting shade tolerance.An improved GWAS procedure,restricted two-stage multi-locus genome-wide association study based on gene/allele sequence markers(GASM-RTM-GWAS),identified 140 genes and their alleles associated with shade-tolerance index(STI),146 with relative pith cell length(RCL),and nine with both.Annotation of these genes by biological categories allowed the construction of a protein–protein interaction network by 187 genes,of which half were differentially expressed under shading and non-shading conditions as well as at different growth stages.From the identified genes,three ones jointly identified for both traits by both GWAS and transcriptome and two genes with maximum links were chosen as beginners for entrance into the network.Altogether,both STI and RCL gene systems worked for shade-tolerance with genes interacted each other,this confirmed that shadetolerance is regulated by more than single group of interacted genes,involving multiple biological functions as a gene network.

Genome-wide association study for starch content and constitution in sorghum(Sorghum bicolor(L.) Moench)

Starch is the most important component in endosperm of sorghum grain.Usually,two types of starch are present:amylose(AM)and amylopectin(AP).The levels of AM and AP contents play a significant role in the appearance,structure,and quality of sorghum grains and in marketing applications.In the present study,a panel of 634 sorghum(Sorghum bicolor(L.)Moench)accessions were evaluated for starch,AM,and AP contents of grain,which included a mini core collection of 242 accessions from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT)in India,and 252 landraces and 140 cultivars from China.The average starch content was 67.64%and the average AM and AP contents were 20.19 and 79.81%,respectively.We developed a total of 260000 high-confidence single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)markers in the panel of 634 accessions of S.bicolor using specific locus amplified fragment sequencing(SLAF-seq).We performed genome-wide association studies(GWAS)of starch,AM,and AM/AP of grain and SNP markers based on a mixed linear model(MLM).In total,70 significant association signals were detected for starch,AM,and AM/AP ratio of grain with P<4.452×10^-7,of which 10 SNPs were identified with significant starch,51 SNPs were associated with AM,and nine SNPs were associated with the AM/AP ratio.The Gene Ontology(GO)analysis identified 12 candidate genes at five QTLs associated with starch metabolism within the 200-kb intervals,located on chromosomes 1,5,6,and 9.Of these genes,Sobic.006G036500.1 encodes peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans-isomerase CYP38 responsible for hexose monophosphate shunt(HMS)and Sobic.009G071800 encodes 6-phospho-fructokinase(PFK),which is involved in the embden-meyerhof pathway(EMP).Kompetitive allele specific PCR(KASP)markers were developed to validate the GWAS results.The C allele is correlated with a high starch content,while the T allele is linked with a low level of starch content,and provides reliable haplotypes for MAS in sorghum quality improvement.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor gene polymorphisms in inflammatory bowel disease: An association study in New Zealand Caucasians and meta-analysis

AIM:To investigate the association of macrophage migration inhibitory factor(MIF)promoter polymorphisms with inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)risk.METHODS:One thousand and six New Zealand Caucasian cases and 540 Caucasian controls were genotyped for the MIF SNP-173G>C(rs755622)and the repeat polymorphism CATT5-8(rs5844572)using a predesigned TaqMan SNP assay and capillary electrophoresis,respectively.Data were analysed for single site and haplotype association with IBD risk and phenotype.Meta-analysis was employed,to assess cumulative evidence of association of MIF-173G>C with IBD.All published genotype data for MIF-173G>C in IBD were identified using PubMed and subsequently searching the references of all PubMed-identified studies.Imputed genotypes for MIF-173G>C were generated from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium(and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases).Separate meta-analyses were performed on Caucasian Crohn’s disease(CD)(3863 patients,6031controls),Caucasian ulcerative colitis(UC)(1260 patients,1987 controls),and East Asian UC(416 patients and 789 controls)datasets using the Mantel-Haenszel method.The New Zealand dataset had 93%power,and the meta-analyses had 100%power to detect an effect size of OR=1.40 atα=0.05,respectively.RESULTS:In our New Zealand dataset,single-site analysis found no evidence of association of MIF polymorphisms with overall risk of CD,UC,and IBD or disease phenotype(all P values>0.05).Haplotype analysis found the CATT5/-173C haplotype occurred at a higher frequency in New Zealand controls compared to IBD patients(0.6 vs 0.01;P=0.03,OR=0.22;95%CI:0.05-0.99),but this association did not survive bonferroni correction.Meta-analysis of our New Zealand MIF-173G>C data with data from seven additional Caucasian datasets using a random effects model found no association of MIF polymorphisms with CD,UC,or overall IBD.Similarly,meta-analysis of all published MIF-173G>C data from East Asian datasets(416UC patients,789 controls)found no association of this promoter polymorphism with UC.

Genome-wide association of 10 horticultural traits with expressed sequence tag-derived SNP markers in a collection of lettuce lines

Genetic diversity, population structure, and genome-wide marker-trait association analyses were conducted on a special collection of 298 homozygous lettuce(Lactuca sativa L.) lines. Each of these lines was derived from a single plant that had been genotyped with 384 SNP markers using LSGermOPA. They included 122 butterhead, 53 romaine, 63 crisphead, 53 leaf and 7 stem types. Genetic diversity among these plants was assessed by pairwise comparison based on 322 high-quality SNP markers selected from 384 SNPs. Only 258 unique genotypes were identified among the 298 lines because 26 pairs or small groups(a total of 66 lines) shared identical genotypes. The average genetic similarity coefficient(GS) among these unique genotypes was 63.9% with a range of 40.6% to 99.8%. A phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the genotypic data. The most likely number of populations was estimated to be two or six. Association analysis between the 322 SNP markers and 10 phenotypic traits using the 258 homozygous lines was performed by three different methods: single factor analysis, general linear model analysis, and mixed linear model analysis. Nine significant marker-trait associations(SMTAs) were detected at P < 0.0001 with all three methods and also when considering kinship and/or population structure for this collection, with five SMTAs for seed coat color, one for leaf undulation, two for leaf anthocyanin, and one for stem anthocyanin. These markers will be useful in marker-assisted selection after further validation with segregating populations.

A multivariate partial least squares approach to joint association analysis for multiple correlated traits

Many complex traits are highly correlated rather than independent. By taking the correlation structure of multiple traits into account, joint association analyses can achieve both higher statistical power and more accurate estimation. To develop a statistical approach to joint association analysis that includes allele detection and genetic effect estimation, we combined multivariate partial least squares regression with variable selection strategies and selected the optimal model using the Bayesian Information Criterion(BIC). We then performed extensive simulations under varying heritabilities and sample sizes to compare the performance achieved using our method with those obtained by single-trait multilocus methods. Joint association analysis has measurable advantages over single-trait methods, as it exhibits superior gene detection power, especially for pleiotropic genes. Sample size, heritability,polymorphic information content(PIC), and magnitude of gene effects influence the statistical power, accuracy and precision of effect estimation by the joint association analysis.

Association between Ras association domain family 1A promoter methylation and hepatocellular carcinoma: A meta-analysis

AIM:To assess diagnostic accuracy of Ras association domain family 1A(RASSF1A)promoter methylation in body fluids(serum,plasma and whole blood)for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).METHODS:Relative information about study characteristics and incidence of RASSF1A methylation was collected.Quality of all included studies was evaluated by Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2.Sensitivity and specificity were pooled using a randomeffect model,and a summary receiver operating characteristic curve was used to demonstrate the overall diagnostic performance.Positive likelihood ratio(PLR),negative likelihood ratio(NLR),and diagnostic odds ratio(DOR)with 95%CI were also calculated.Meta-regression was applied to analyze observed heterogeneity,and Deeks’test was performed to detect publication bias.RESULTS:After a systematic literature review,seven studies with a total of 302 cases of HCC and 250 cases of chronic liver diseases were included in the analysis.The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.70(95%CI:0.49-0.85)and 0.72(95%CI:0.54-0.85),respectively.The PLR was 2.51(95%CI:1.64-3.86),NLR was 0.41(95%CI:0.25-0.68),and DOR was 6.13(95%CI:3.17-11.84).Theχ2values of sensitivity,specificity,PLR,NLR and DOR were 59.41(P<0.001),50.50(P<0.001),17.40(P=0.010),31.24(P<0.001)and80.51(P<0.001),respectively.The area under the curve was 0.77(95%CI:0.73-0.81).Three factors were analyzed by univariate meta-regression and none was significant to interpret the observed heterogeneity(P>0.05).No significant publication bias was detected by Deeks’test(P=0.346).CONCLUSION:We showed the potential diagnostic value of RASSF1A methylation in body fluids in HCC patients and it may improve diagnostic accuracy combined with theα-fetoprotein test.

Population Structure and Marker-Trait Association in Indigenous Aromatic Rice

Joha rice of Assam is a class of rice with aroma, good cooking qualities and excellent palatability, which are grown in different places of Assam with their adaptability to local situations. A total of 143 simple sequence repeat markers were used in this study to reveal sufficient genetic variations among the 40 Joha and 14 non-Joha rice genotypes. Polymorphism information content of these markers were from 0.17 to 0.88, where the average of 3.7 alleles were observed. The model-based population assignment and dendrogram analysis identified three distinct groups in the 54 rice accessions, which established a clear identity of Joha accessions from the Basmati accessions, indicating high diversity and strong population structure in Joha rice. Furthermore, a total of 29 significant marker-trait associations(P < 0.05) for 10 characters were detected. The QTLs related with yield and grain quality can be used effectively in crop improvement programs and for further fine mapping and validation of specific genes to develop gene-based perfect markers in rice breeding and for mining of better alleles of these genes in Joha rice collections.