The Perceptions of Macao Undergraduates Regarding Help Websites for Problem Gambling

This study conducted a web-surfing exercise and a questionnaire survey among a group of Macao undergraduate students regarding the websites that offered help with problem gambling. The results of this study found that most help websites in Macao and Hong Kong provided basic information-sharing service. The students indicated that they would choose their preferred help organization based on factors such as trust, familiarity, and the characteristics of the websites. They also gave comments/suggestions related to the publicity, design, contents, and focus of the websites. This study discussed the results and their implications for future research and practice

Chiral microstructures (spirals) fabrication by holographic lithography

We present an optical interference model to create chiral microstructures (spirals) and its realization in photoresist using holographic lithography. The model is based on the interference of six equally-spaced circumpolar linear polarized side beams and a circular polarized central beam. The pitch and separation of the spirals can be varied by changing the angle between the side beams and the central beam. The realization of the model is carried out using the 325 nm line of a He-Cd laser and spirals of sub-micron size are fabricated in photoresist.Comment: 6 page

Maintenance therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: A prime-time for change?

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地方性江神 : 楚地湘夫人

水是萬物生長的泉源，它時而化成堅冰，時而又演化為滔滔的猛烈洪水，而由於水變動不居的特性和強大的破壞力，先民相信它有精有靈，於是便產生對河川神祇的崇拜。水神的最初的形象多為獸形或人面怪獸。如《山海經‧海外東經》的水伯天呈，就有「八首八面，八足八尾」的外形。此外，水神的形象還有人面魚身、馬首龍身、蛇身等說法。1在眾多河神中，黃河和長江的神祇是比較重要的水神崇拜對象

How students cope with part-time study

This study provides a qualitative test and illustration of a model of how students cope with the demands of part-time study. The model shows that students who are successful in finding the time to complete the requirements of part-time courses do so by adopting three mechanisms; sacrifice, support and the negotiation of arrangements. All three mechanisms operate in four domains, namely work, family, social lives and the self. The mechanisms and domains were related together in a three by four matrix. Data to verify and illuminate the model were gathered by the researchers through an on-line forum discussion on the topic of coping with part-time study. The researchers themselves were studying part-time in a course called Adult Education and Professional Development. Analysis of the data showed that the work domain was very important but little adaptation was possible. The family was seen as the most important domain and all three mechanisms were used. Time was commonly found for part-time study by sacrificing social lives. The self-domain was interpreted as important in establishing motivation and self-determination

Is 'oil pulling' a 'snake oil'? : a clinical trial

The traditional Ayurveda practice of ‘oil pulling’ has become a recent phenomenon and concerns about its efficacy have been raised. Objectives: (1) to determine awareness about the practice of ‘oil pulling’ among a group of young adults, and to determine variations in awareness with respect to socio-demographic factors, oral health behaviours (oral hygiene and dental attendance) and use of natural health products; (2) to determine the effectiveness of ‘oil pulling’ and conventional oral hygiene practice compared to the use of conventional oral hygiene practice alone in terms of oral hygiene and (3) to determine the effectiveness of ‘oil pulling’ and conventional oral hygiene practice compared to the use of conventional oral hygiene practice alone in terms of gingival health. Methods: Group members recruited seventy-four young adults to participate in a clinical trial over a two-month period comparing the effectiveness of (a) ‘oil pulling’ and conventional oral hygiene methods (toothbrush and toothpaste) versus (b) conventional oral hygiene methods alone. Oral hygiene was assessed using the Plaque Index - PI (Silness and Löe, 1964) and the proportion of sites with visible plaque (PVP). Gingival health was assessed using the Gingival Index – GI (Silness and Löe,1963) and the proportion of sites with gingival bleeding (PGB). Participants were block randomized in groups of four to a cross over clinical trial and assessments were conducted at one-month and two-months. Results: Approximately a quarter (28.4%, 21) of participants was aware of the practice of ‘oil pulling’. Awareness of the practice was associated with reported use of natural dental/oral health products (p0.05). There were observed significant differences in gingival health among both the test and control groups from baseline to one-month (p0.05). No significant differences were observed in oral health parameters from one-month to two-month among neither the test nor control groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: Awareness of the practice of ‘oil pulling’ is relatively common and is associated with use of natural dental/oral health products. Findings from the clinical trial failed to support the adjunct use of ‘oil pulling’ in addition to conventional oral hygiene practices.published_or_final_versio

Synthesis, structure and dioxygen reactivity of a bis(µ-iodo)dicopper(I) complex supported by the [N-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxybenzyl)-N,N-di-(2-pyridylmethyl)]amine ligand

The air-sensitive bis(µ-iodo)dicopper(I) complex 1 supported by [N-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxybenzyl)-N,N-di-(2-pyridylmethyl)]amine (L) has been prepared by treating copper(I) iodide with L in anhydrous THF. Compound 1 crystallizes as a dimer in space group C2/c. Each copper(I) center has distorted tetrahedral N2I2 coordination geometry with Cu–N(pyridyl) distances 2.061(3) and 2.063(3) Å, Cu–I distances 2.6162(5) and 2.7817(5) and a CuCu distance of 2.9086(8) Å. Complex 1 is rapidly oxidized by dioxygen in CH2Cl2 with a 1 : 1 stoichiometry giving the bis(µ-iodo)peroxodicopper(II) complex [Cu(L)(µ-I)]2O2 (2). The reaction of 1 with dioxygen has been characterized by UV-vis, mass spectrometry, EPR and Cu K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy at low temperature (193 K) and above. The mass spectrometry and low temperature EPR measurements suggested an equilibrium between the bis(µ-iodo)peroxodicopper(II) complex 2 and its dimer, namely, the tetranuclear (peroxodicopper(II))2 complex [Cu(L)(µ-I)]4O4 (2). Complex 2 undergoes an effective oxo-transfer reaction converting PPh3 into OPPh3 under anaerobic conditions. At sufficiently high concentration of PPh3, the oxygen atom transfer from 2 to PPh3 was followed by the formation of [Cu(PPh3)3I]. The dioxygen reactivity of 1 was compared with that known for other halo(amine)copper(I) dimers

Risk of diabetes mellitus among users of immune checkpoint inhibitors: A population‐based cohort study

Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are increasingly established cancer therapeutics, but they are associated with new-onset diabetes mellitus (DM). Such risks have not been adequately quantified, and between-class and -sex differences remain unexplored. Methods This was a prospective cohort study of cancer patients receiving any ICI in Hong Kong between 2013 and 2021. Patients with known DM were excluded. Due to few patients using other ICIs, only programmed cell death 1 inhibitors (PD-1i) and programmed death ligand 1 inhibitors (PD-L1i) were compared, alongside between-sex comparison. When comparing PD-1i against PD-L1i, patients with the use of other ICIs or both PD-1i and PD-L1 were further excluded. Inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to minimize between-group covariate imbalances. Results Altogether, 3375 patients were analyzed (65.2% males, median age 62.2 [interquartile range 53.8–69.5] years old). Over a median follow-up of 1.0 [0.4–2.4] years, new-onset DM occurred in 457 patients (13.5%), with a 3-year risk of 14.5% [95% confidence interval 13.3%, 15.8%]. IPTW achieve acceptable covariate balance between sexes, and between PD-1i (N = 622) and PD-L1i (N = 2426) users. Males had significantly higher risk of new-onset DM (hazard ratio 1.35 [1.09, 1.67], p = 0.006), while PD-1i and PD-L1i users did not have significantly different risks (hazard ratio vs PD-L1i 0.81 [0.59, 1.11], p = 0.182). These were consistent in those with at least 1 year of follow-up, and on competing risk regression. Conclusion Users of ICI may have a substantial risk of new-onset DM, which may be higher in males but did not differ between PD-1i and PD-L1i

Social Europe. No 2/87

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation is an important type of epigenetic modification involved in gene regulation. Although strong DNA methylation at promoters is widely recognized to be associated with transcriptional repression, many aspects of DNA methylation remain not fully understood, including the quantitative relationships between DNA methylation and expression levels, and the individual roles of promoter and gene body methylation. RESULTS: Here we present an integrated analysis of whole-genome bisulfite sequencing and RNA sequencing data from human samples and cell lines. We find that while promoter methylation inversely correlates with gene expression as generally observed, the repressive effect is clear only on genes with a very high DNA methylation level. By means of statistical modeling, we find that DNA methylation is indicative of the expression class of a gene in general, but gene body methylation is a better indicator than promoter methylation. These findings are general in that a model constructed from a sample or cell line could accurately fit the unseen data from another. We further find that promoter and gene body methylation have minimal redundancy, and either one is sufficient to signify low expression. Finally, we obtain increased modeling power by integrating histone modification data with the DNA methylation data, showing that neither type of information fully subsumes the other. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that DNA methylation outside promoters also plays critical roles in gene regulation. Future studies on gene regulatory mechanisms and disease-associated differential methylation should pay more attention to DNA methylation at gene bodies and other non-promoter regions. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-014-0408-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users