In silico prediction of immune-escaping hot spots for future COVID-19 vaccine design.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a widespread impact on a global scale, and the evolution of considerable dominants has already taken place. Some variants contained certain key mutations located on the receptor binding domain (RBD) of spike protein, such as E484K and N501Y. It is increasingly worrying that these variants could impair the efficacy of current vaccines or therapies.

Globo H-KLH vaccine adagloxad simolenin (OBI-822)/OBI-821 in patients with metastatic breast cancer: phase II randomized, placebo-controlled study.

Purpose: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, phase II trial assessed the efficacy and safety of adagloxad simolenin (OBI-822; a Globo H epitope covalently linked to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH)) with adjuvant OBI-821 in metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Methods: At 40 sites in Taiwan, USA, Korea, India, and Hong Kong, patients with MBC of any molecular subtype and ≤2 prior progressive disease events with stable/responding disease after the last anticancer regimen were randomized (2:1) to adagloxad simolenin (AS/OBI-821) or placebo, subcutaneously for nine doses with low-dose cyclophosphamide. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS).

Schizotypy trait and striatal dopamine receptors in healthy volunteers.

Individuals with schizotypal features exhibit cognitive, perceptual and social deficits that are similar to but less prominent than those seen in patients with schizophrenia. Dopaminergic hyperactivity in the striatum has been related to the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, and brain-imaging studies of dopamine uptake in the striatum are thought to be linked to the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the increased availability of striatal dopamine (DA) D(2/3) receptors is related to elevated levels of schizotypal features in healthy individuals.

Genome scan of Han Chinese schizophrenia families from Taiwan: confirmation of linkage to 10q22.3.

Objective: Genome-wide linkage analyses of schizophrenia have identified several regions that may harbor schizophrenia susceptibility genes, but given the complex etiology of the disorder, it is unlikely that all susceptibility regions have been detected. To address this issue, the authors ascertained 606 Han Chinese families comprising 1,234 affected members.

Method: Probands with schizophrenia were recruited from six data collection field research centers in Taiwan.

Cytokines and serotonin transporter in patients with major depression.

Altered cytokine secretion as a mechanism in the etiology of depression is still obscure. The serotonin transporter (5-HTT) may play an important role in the termination of serotonergic neurotransmission by serotonin (5-HT) uptaking into presynaptic neurons and representing as an initial action site for selective 5-HTT reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). In our study, we evaluated whether cytokines and 5-HTT acted as biological markers for depression.

Taiwan schizophrenia linkage study: the field study.

One possible reason of the inconsistent results of linkage analyses of schizophrenia, a complex disorder, was mainly due to the small sample size of studies. This Taiwan Schizophrenia Linkage Study (TSLS) was designed to collect a large family sample with at least two affected siblings of a single ethnicity. The 17.

The psychological well-being and associated factors of caregivers of outpatients with schizophrenia in Taiwan.

The purpose of this study attempted to understand the psychological well-being of caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia and factors affecting the caregivers' psychological well-being. More specifically, quality of life and psychiatric morbidity were used to represent the psychological well-being. Personal interviews using questionnaires were administrated to 57 caregivers.

The adjustment to illness in patients with generalized anxiety disorder is poorer than that in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Although generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is associated with significant occupational disability, it has, however, received little attention with regard to adjustment to illness. Subjects included 102 chronic dialysis (CD) patients, 58 kidney transplant (KT) patients, and 42 GAD patients. The evaluations included the Psychosocial Adjustment to Physical Illness Scale (PAIS), the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D).

Correlation between fine motor activity and striatal dopamine D2 receptor density in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls.

Striatal dopamine D2 receptor density is an important indicator of many neuropsychiatric disorders and also of motor activity. This study examined the relationship between a fine motor task (finger tapping test, FTT) and striatal D2 dopamine receptor density by examining 20 healthy volunteers and 20 schizophrenic patients. Striatal D2 receptor density was determined with single photon emission computed tomography using [123I]IBZM (iodo-benzamide).

A double-blind, randomized, group-comparative study of the tolerability and efficacy of 6 weeks' treatment with mirtazapine or fluoxetine in depressed Chinese patients.

Aim: To compare the efficacy and tolerability of mirtazapine and fluoxetine treatment in a sample population consisting of Chinese patients suffering moderate-to-severe depression.

Method: 133 patients with a diagnosis of major depressive episode (DSM-IV) and scoring 15 or more on the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) were randomly assigned to receive 6 weeks of treatment with either mirtazapine (15-45 mg/day) or fluoxetine (20-40 mg/day). Efficacy was assessed using the HAM-D and Clinical Global Impressions scale, with analyses performed on the intent-to-treat sample using the last-observation-carried-forward method.

Psychiatric morbidity and posttraumatic symptoms among earthquake victims in primary care clinics.

Three months after the devastating Chi-Chi earthquake (magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale) struck the central area of Taiwan, 663 victims were screened for psychiatric morbidity at a local general hospital in a community mental health program. The rate of psychiatric morbidity as defined by the 12-item Chinese Health Questionnaire as greater than 4, was 24.

The association between psychological distress and musculoskeletal symptoms experienced by Chinese high school students.

Study Design: A cross-sectional nonexperimental study.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms during a 6-month period and explore the contributing factors associated with these symptoms in Chinese senior class high school students. We also explored the relationship between psychological distress and musculoskeletal symptoms in this population.

Association between regional cerebral blood flow and eye-tracking performance and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in schizophrenics: a single photon emission computed tomography study.

The objectives of this study were (1). to examine the changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) performance in two different eye-tracking groups; (2). to explore the relationship between eye-tracking movement and rCBF at rest; and (3).

Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire: psychometric properties and construct validity in Taiwanese adults.

Despite the wide use of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) in Western populations as a useful tool integrating both genetic and environmental influences on personality, some of its constructs remain questionable. In this study, we examined the psychometric properties of the TPQ and its relationship with aggression in Taiwanese adults. The subjects were 201 Taiwanese adults of wide ranges in age and educational level.