BACKGROUND The utility of circulating Epstein‐Barr Virus (EBV) DNA as a tumor marker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) detection suggests that it might improve the diagnostic performance of anti‐EBV antibody markers in NPC screening. In this study, the authors evaluated whether circulating EBV DNA load is capable of distinguishing NPC patients from high‐risk individuals who have positive anti‐EBV antibodies. METHODS In a population‐based NPC screening trial in Sihui City and Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China, the authors previously identified 862 high‐risk participants with 2 screening markers, immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies to EBV capsid antigen (VCA/IgA) and nuclear antigen‐1 (EBNA1/IgA). In the current study, real‐time polymerase chain reaction was used to measure the baseline plasma EBV DNA load among 825 participants (97%). Follow‐up was extended to the end of 2011 to evaluate the diagnostic and predictive values of plasma EBV DNA load. RESULTS By using 0 copies/mL as the cutoff value, plasma EBV DNA had a sensitivity of 86.8% (33 of 38 patients) for NPC detected within the first year of follow‐up, yielding a positive predictive value of 30% (33 of 110 participants) and a negative predictive value of 99.3% (696 of 701 participants). The patients who had early stage NPC had lower sensitivity (81.5%; 22 of 27 patients) than those who had advanced NPC (100%; 11 of 11 patients). For the 14 patients who had NPC detected after 1 year of follow‐up, only 50% (7 of 14 patients) tested positive for EBV DNA at baseline. CONCLUSIONS The plasma EBV DNA load may improve the accuracy of diagnosing NPC in high‐risk individuals, but it appears to have limited value in screening patients who have early stage NPC and predicting NPC development. Cancer 2014;120:1353–1360. © 2014 American Cancer Society.

No abstract

Sustainable green technology innovation is essential in all the stages of the supply chain development. The members of the supply chain in each stage need to invest in sustainable green technology innovation research and development. However, whether the sustainable green technology innovation investments and profits for all the members are fairness concerned is a critical factor to motivate the supply chain members. Motivated by a real business investigation, in this study, a supply chain model with one supplier and one manufacturer is analyzed. We consider fairness concerns for the supplier and the manufacturer with sustainable green technology innovation development. We derive the optimal results in both with and without fairness concern. The results indicate that fairness concerns can promote and coordinate the supply chain members without advantage inequity averseness, to invest more on their sustainable green technology innovation development.

No abstract