Grammar-based compression approach to extraction of common rules among multiple trees of glycans and RNAs.

BACKGROUND: Many tree structures are found in nature and organisms. Such trees are believed to be constructed on the basis of certain rules. We have previously developed grammar-based compression methods for ordered and unordered single trees, based on bisection-type tree grammars. Here, these methods find construction rules for one single tree. On the other hand, specified construction rules can be utilized to generate multiple similar trees. RESULTS: Therefore, in this paper, we develop novel methods to discover common rules for the construction of multiple distinct trees, by improving and extending the previous methods using integer programming. We apply our proposed methods to several sets of glycans and RNA secondary structures, which play important roles in cellular systems, and can be regarded as tree structures. The results suggest that our method can be successfully applied to determining the minimum grammar and several common rules among glycans and RNAs. CONCLUSIONS: We propose integer programming-based methods MinSEOTGMul and MinSEUTGMul for the determination of the minimum grammars constructing multiple ordered and unordered trees, respectively. The proposed methods can provide clues for the determination of hierarchical structures contained in tree-structured biological data, beyond the extraction of frequent patterns.

Development and Validation of a Scale for Interaction between Parents and Coaches of Middle and High School Golf Players.

The purpose of this study was to develop a measurement tool for the interaction between parents and coaches of middle and high school golfers, and to verify its validity. A total of 563 parents participated in the study. Based on the results of preliminary item production, item analysis, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, identification factor analysis, job uniformity analysis, and potential mean comparison analysis, the initial 70 items were constructed according to the conceptualization of parent-coach interactions. The first and second item reduction processes and preliminary surveys were conducted through expert meetings to produce the final 40 items of parent-coach interactions. After eliminating 20 items through question analysis, reliability analysis, and exploratory factor analysis, the final three factors of parent-coach interaction were extracted, and the conformity index for the middle and high school golfers' parent-to-coach interaction tool was checked. Then, to ensure the external validity of the developed parent-coach interaction measurement tool, a construct equivalence analysis was conducted to demonstrate that the tool can be applied equally to parents and coaches. In summary, the tools for measuring the interaction between the middle and high school golfers' parents and coaches were developed in 20 questions, three factors for communication, qualification, and support, and it was confirmed that the developed measuring tools could all be applied equally through a latent mean analysis. Parents and coaches are key variables that can affect a player's performance; thus parents and coaches' interaction measuring tools can be provide positive information not only for golfers but also for players of various other sports.

Lack of association between DISC1 polymorphisms and risk of schizophrenia in a Korean population.

The DISC1 gene is considered to be a strong candidate gene for the development of schizophrenia. This study examines the association of DISC1 polymorphisms with schizophrenia in a Korean population. Although we fail to discover convincing evidence that DISC1 affects schizophrenia development, our findings may be useful for further genetic studies.

Genetic association analysis of ERBB4 polymorphisms with the risk of schizophrenia and SPEM abnormality in a Korean population.

The human receptor tyrosine-protein kinase erbB-4 (ERBB4) gene mediates neuregulin 1 (NRG1) signaling, and is involved in neuronal migration and differentiation. Despite the potential significance of ERBB4 in the development of schizophrenia, relatively few genetic studies for the association of ERBB4 with schizophrenia were performed in the populations including Ashkenazi Jews, Americans including Caucasians and African Americans, and Han Chinese. In this study, differences in ERBB4 variations were investigated to determine association with schizophrenia and smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM) abnormality in a Korean population. Seven polymorphisms in ERBB4 gene were genotyped in 435 schizophrenia cases and 390 unrelated healthy controls. In order to investigate the relationship between ERBB4 and the risk of schizophrenia and SPEM abnormality, differences in SNP and haplotype distribution were analyzed using logistic and multiple regression analyses. However, we failed to replicate the associations reported by previous studies in other populations. Although statistically not significant, the tendency towards associations between ERBB4 polymorphisms and the risk of schizophrenia and SPEM abnormality in this study from a Korean population would be helpful for further genetic etiology studies in schizophrenia.