This study investigates the genetic relationship of the Mazu peoples on the east coast of China in the Taiwan Strait. Using partial and complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences, we compare Mazu with surrounding East Asia populations. Mazu shows no exclusive affinities with either Southeast or Northeast Asia. High genetic diversity and a very high number of exclusive haplogroups of various Asian origins suggest that Mazu resulted from a process of continuous resettlement that started when it first became an archipelago at the end of the last glacial maximum and that continued till the last century. As a result, genetic drift did not contribute to an exclusive Mazu profile. The structure of haplogroups that show signatures of the Neolithic era (N9a10a), or influx from Island Southeast Asia (F1a4a) suggest recent gene flows and Mazu relationship with it's pre-Neolithic era (presence of pre-E1a or R9/pre-F from Liangdao man) was not seen.

The genetic profile of Negritos of the Philippines differs from the non-Negrito groups with mitochondrial DNA haplogroups B4b1a2, B5, D6a, M, M52a, and N11b. Although Negritos are not seen in Taiwan, the strong genetic affinity between the Philippines and Taiwan Mountain Tribe Aborigines (TwMtA), and Folks tales of TwMtA, Saisiyat and Atayal recounting past contacts with Negritos, warrant the search for a Negrito signature in Taiwan. Material and Method: Discriminant Analysis of Principal Component (DAPC) was used to determine the genetic relationship between TwMtA, Filipino and non-TwMtA groups. Results: The deep coalescence of B4b1a2 in the Philippine Negritos, Saisiyat, Atayal, Island Southeast Asia, and SEA (Southeast Asia) suggested a deeply rooted common ancestry, but could not support a past Negrito presence in Taiwan. Conversely, the sharing of cultural components and mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) haplogroup D6a2 in Saisiyat, Atayal and Philippine Negritos may characterize a Negrito signature in Taiwan. Although the molecular variation of D6a2 determines its presence in Taiwan back to middle Neolithic, other markers, Y-SNP haplogroups C-M146 and K-M9, warrant further analysis. Conclusion: Most likely, the physical characteristics, languages, and the genetic makeup of the Negritos in Taiwan have been diluted as the result of heavy migration from the mainland in the last 400 years.

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem inflammatory disease predominantly occurring in females of childbearing age. Late onset SLE patients are uncommon and have different clinical and laboratory characteristics compared with younger patients.Methods: For further investigation of this subgroup, we retrospectively reviewed and analyzed 19 SLE patients with disease onset at age 60 years or older (Group A) collected from 1998 to 2008 in the computerized database of outpatients and inpatients of our hospital. For comparison, 50 SLE patients with disease onset between 15 and 40 years (Group B) were also selected using a simple random sampling method during the same period from the same database.Results: When compared with Group B, Group A had: (1) a decreased ratio of female to male; (2) a longer lag time from disease onset to diagnosis; (3) higher rates of renal insufficiency and mortality; and (4) lower immunologic disorder rates, including anti-double-stranded DNA antibody, anti-ribonucleoprotein antibody and hypocomplementemia. The main cause of death in both groups was septic shock.Conclusion: The clinical and laboratory features were found to be different between Groups A and B. Late onset SLE patients had a more insidious onset, a longer lag time from disease onset to diagnosis and, therefore, a higher mortality rate. Thus, this particular subgroup of SLE patients should be afforded greater attention to avoid delays in diagnosis or misdiagnosis. [international journal of Gerontology 2009; 3(2): 108-113]

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system is widely used as a strategy in the search for the etiology of infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders. During the Taiwan epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), many health care workers were infected. In an effort to establish a screening program for high risk personal, the distribution of HLA class I and II alleles in case and control groups was examined for the presence of an association to a genetic susceptibly or resistance to SARS coronavirus infection.

A rich diversity of ancient sea urchin lineages survives to the present. These include several advanced orders as well as the cidaroids, which represent the group ancestral to all other sea urchins. Here we show that all advanced groups of sea urchins examined possess in their eggs a class of maternal messenger RNA (mRNA) encoded by the evolutionarily highly conserved alpha-subtype histone genes. The maternal histone mRNAs are unique in their time of accumulation in oogenesis, their localization in the egg nucleus and their delayed timing of translation after fertilization. Cidaroid sea urchins as well as other echinoderm classes, such as starfish and sea cucumbers, possess the genes but do not have maternal alpha-subtype histone mRNAs in their eggs. Thus, although all the echinoderms examined transcribe alpha-subtype histone genes during embryogenesis, the expression of these genes as maternal mRNAs is confined to advanced sea urchins. The fossil record allows us to pinpoint the evolution of this mode of expression of alpha-histone genes to the time of the splitting of advanced sea urchin lineages from the ancestral cidaroids in a radiation which occurred in a relatively brief interval of time approximately 190-200 Myr ago. The origin of a unique gene regulatory mechanism can thus be correlated with a set of macroevolutionary events.