Biomedical subjects

Shih-Kai Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Shih-Kai Liu.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

A single nucleotide polymorphism fine mapping study of chromosome 1q42.1 reveals the vulnerability genes for schizophrenia, GNPAT and DISC1: Association with impairment of sustained attention.

BACKGROUND: The marker D1S251 of chromosome 1q42.1 showed significant association with schizophrenia in a Taiwanese sample. We used single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) fine mapping to search for the vulnerability genes of schizophrenia. METHODS: We selected 120 SNPs covering 1 Mb around D1S251 from the public database. These selected SNPs were initially validated if allele frequency was >10%. Forty-seven validated SNPs were genotyped in 102 families with at least 2 siblings affected with schizophrenia. RESULTS: Two SNP blocks showed significant association with schizophrenia. Block 1 (five-SNP), located between intron 2 and intron 13 of the glyceronephosphate O-acyltransferase (GNPAT) gene, showed the most significant associations using single-locus TDT (z = -2.07, p = .038, df = 1) and haplotype association analyses (z = -1.99, p = .046, df = 1). Block 2 (two-SNP), located between intron 4 and intron 5 of the disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene, also showed the most significant results in both the single-locus (z = -3.22, p = .0013, df = 1) and haplotype association analyses (z = 3.35, p = .0008, df = 1). The association of the DISC1 gene with schizophrenia was mainly in the patient group with sustained attention deficits as assessed by the Continuous Performance Test. CONCLUSIONS: Chromosome 1q42.1 harbors GNPAT and DISC1 as candidate genes for schizophrenia, and DISC1 is associated with sustained attention deficits.

Acyltransferases↗

PubMed2006

No association of G72 and D-amino acid oxidase genes with schizophrenia.

The genes of D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) activator (DAOA or G72; 13q34) and DAAO (12q24) have been suggested as candidate genes and involved in the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor regulation pathway for schizophrenia. In order to evaluate the potential association of these two genes with schizophrenia in a Taiwanese sample, three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for DAAO (rs2111902, rs3918346, rs3741775) and eleven SNPs for G72 (rs3916965, rs3916966, rs3916967, rs2391191, rs3916968, rs947267, rs778294, rs3916970, rs3916971, rs778293, rs3918342) were genotyped by the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry method in 218 families (864 individuals) containing at least two siblings affected with schizophrenia. In SNP-based single locus association analyses, neither G72 nor DAAO showed significant association with schizophrenia. Additionally, a three-SNP haplotype in DAAO, and a four-SNP as well as a two-SNP haplotype in G72, showed no significant associations with schizophrenia. These results suggest that the DAAO and G72 genes are not susceptibility genes for schizophrenia in a Taiwanese sample.

Carrier Proteins↗

PubMed2006

Evaluation of RGS4 as a candidate gene for schizophrenia.

Several studies have suggested that the regulator of G-protein signaling 4 (RGS4) may be a positional and functional candidate gene for schizophrenia. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) located at the promoter region (SNP4 and SNP7) and the intron 1 (SNP18) of RGS4 have been verified in different ethnic groups. Positive results have been reported in these SNPs with different numbers of SNP combinatory haplotypes. In this study, these three SNP markers were genotyped in 218 schizophrenia pedigrees of Taiwan (864 individuals) for association analysis. Among these three SNPs, neither SNP4, SNP7, SNP18 has shown significant association with schizophrenia in single locus association analysis, nor any compositions of the three SNP haplotypes has shown significantly associations with the DSM-IV diagnosed schizophrenia. Our results fail to support the RGS4 as a candidate gene for schizophrenia when evaluated from these three SNP markers.

Alleles↗

PubMed2006

Absence of significant associations between four AKT1 SNP markers and schizophrenia in the Taiwanese population.

AKT1 (V-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1) is a protein kinase isoform of AKT. Five single-nucleotide polymorphisms, rs3803300, rs1130214, rs3730358, rs2498799 and rs2494732, at the genomic region of AKT1 have been reported to be significantly associated with schizophrenia. We tested for the presence of these five single-nucleotide polymorphisms in a Taiwanese population by genotyping 218 co-affected schizophrenia families. Both single locus and haplotypes analyses showed no association of these single-nucleotide polymorphisms with schizophrenia. These findings fail to support AKT1 as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia in the Taiwanese population.

Genetic Markers↗

PubMed2006

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. Each proband underwent a diagnostic screen with supplemental medical records and a semistructured interview. Following this screen, the authors administered the Mandarin Chinese version of the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies. Best-estimate final diagnoses were made by two board-certified psychiatrists. The genotyping was conducted by the Center for Inherited Disease Research, with 386 markers spaced at an average of 9-centimorgan (cM) intervals. Empirical simulations were generated to determine genome-wide significance. RESULTS: The authors found five regions with nonparametric linkage z scores 2.0 or greater. These were the following: 2.08 was reached for D1S551 (113.7) cM at 1p31.1 and 2.31 for D2S410 (125.2 cM) at 2q14.1; 2.00 was reached for D4S2361 (93.5 cM) at 4q21.23, and 2.07 for D15S1012 (36 cM) at 15q14, the largest nonparametric linkage z score was 2.88 for D10S2327 (100.92 cM) at 10q22.3. CONCLUSIONS: Our 10q22.3 finding at 100.9 cM is consistent with a previously reported nonparametric linkage score of 4.27 at 107.2 cM on chromosome 10, although it did not attain genome-wide significance in this study.

Asian People↗

PubMed2006

Management of postdural puncture headache by epidural saline delivered with a patient-controlled pump--a case report.

Unintentional dural puncture is the most frequent cause of postdural puncture headache (PDPH) in epidural anesthesia and analgesia. Conservative treatments of PDPH include bed rest, oral analgesics, and hydration. When conservative measures fail, epidural blood patch is an effective substitute. However, epidural blood patch carries some risks, such as subdural hematoma, pneumocephalus, exacerbation of PDPH and new dural puncture. Many patients may refuse the procedure due to the risks involved. We describe a female patient who had her PDPH successfully treated with epidural saline delivered by a patient-controlled analgesia device (Abbott Pain Management-APM) without molestation of her daily activities.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

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 17.6 millions of Taiwanese Chinese, age over 15, was the sample population, and 78 psychiatric hospitals or health centers participated in this TSLS program. Before data collection started, every study subject signed the informed consent. The ascertainment protocol for data collection included blood sample, structured Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS), Structured Interview for Schizotypy (SIS), scales for assessment of positive and negative symptoms (SAPS, SANS), and continuous performance test (CPT), Wisconsin card sort test (WCST) of neuropsychological functions. We have contacted 831 families for this study and 607 families, comprised 2,490 subjects, were successfully recruited. The recruitment rate was 38.4% from the estimated total of 1,582 families with at least two affected siblings. These collected family samples were fairly evenly distributed all over Taiwan. Those 2,490 study subjects (1,283 male, 1,117 female) comprised 1,568 siblings (mean age 35.7 years old) and 922 parents (mean age 63.6 years old). Of these 1,568 siblings, 1,258 (80.2%) were affected (male 795, female 463), and the mean age of onset was 22.6 years old. Among 922 parents, 65 were affected (male 14, female 51) and the age of onset was 33.1 years old. This TSLS demonstrated a successful establishment of an efficient research infrastructure to collect a large nation-wise sample of schizophrenic family for genetic linkage study.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

DAT polymorphism and diverse clinical manifestations in methamphetamine abusers.

The clinical outcome for methamphetamine (MAP) abusers is variable. MAP exerts its biological activity through rapid conversion to amphetamine (AP) and MAP itself. The dopamine transporter (DAT) is the main modulator of MAP/AP-induced dopamine release and dopamine neurotoxicity, and is also the major regulator of dopamine level in the brain. We tested for an association between a DAT-gene polymorphism and clinical variations in MAP abusers. A total of 146 MAP abusers were enrolled in the study and classified into three clinically distinct groups: MAP dependence (n = 30), MAP psychosis (n = 88) and chronic MAP psychosis (n = 28). Patients with schizophrenia (n = 79) and healthy controls (n = 72) were also recruited for the study. The 40 base pair variable number tandem repeat polymorphism in the 3'-untranslated region of the DAT was the focus of the investigation. The subjects were all Chinese residents of Taiwan. The respective allelic frequencies for DAT repeats 11, 10 and 9 were 0.067, 0.833 and 0.083 for the MAP-dependence group, 0.006, 0.864 and 0.119 for the MAP psychosis group, 0.018, 0.893 and 0.089 for the chronic MAP psychosis group, 0.019, 0.911 and 0.07 for the schizophrenic controls, and 0.021, 0.889 and 0.083 for the healthy controls. No significant associations were demonstrated between this DAT polymorphism in genotype and allele frequency and the clinical outcome of MAP abusers. The biological relevance of the variable number tandem repeat polymorphism in the 3'-untranslated region of DAT in MAP abusers was not demonstrated in this study.

3' Untranslated Regions↗