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Practice of breastfeeding and factors that affect breastfeeding in Hong Kong

Objectives. To describe the patterns of and factors affecting breastfeeding and to find out any significant relationship between breastfeeding and health of the child. Design. Cohort study. Setting. Postnatal ward of the Prince of Wales Hospital. Participants. A total of 243 infants born in 1998 to 2001 at the hospital. Each infant was followed up for 3 years. Home visits were carried out at 3, 15, 24, and 36 months of age by medical students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. A questionnaire was completed at each visit. Independent sample t-tests and Pearson Chi squared tests were used. Results. Of the 243 subjects, 213 provided data on the method of infant feeding. There were 66.7% of mothers initiating breastfeeding, with a median duration of 1 month. Only 13.4% met the World Health Organization's recommendations on breastfeeding. Breastfeeding was found to have a statistically significant relationship with (i) the infant's birth order and (ii) the mother's and father's education level. During follow-up, 44.6% of the infants were hospitalised but there was no significant relationship between breastfeeding and number of hospitalisations. Conclusions. The current breastfeeding rate in Hong Kong falls below expectations when compared with other developed nations. To raise this rate, more support is needed for families with parents having a lower education level or more than two children, as they are the least likely to breastfeed. This might be achieved by encouraging antenatal class attendance, counselling of husbands, and more support for breastfeeding from doctors.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

A small molecule inhibitor of NF-κB, dehydroxymethylepoxyquinomicin (DHMEQ), suppresses growth and invasion of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells

Despite the demonstrated constitutive activation of NF-κB in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), the therapeutic potential of targeting this pathway has not been investigated. Here, we employed a small molecule inhibitor of NF-κB, DHMEQ (which mainly blocks nuclear translocation of activated NF-κB) and demonstrated significant inhibition of NPC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, as well as anchorage-independent growth. These antitumor effects were associated with induction of G 2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and downregulation of NF-κB target genes (EGFR, cyclin D1 and survivin). This first demonstration of therapeutic benefits of NF-κB targeting in NPC implicates the importance of targeting this pathway in NPC. © 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Reverse phase protein array identifies novel anti-invasion mechanisms of YC-1

YC-1 has recently been demonstrated to have potent anti-invasion and anti-metastatic activity in several cancer models, in addition to its anti-proliferation activity. However, the mechanism underlying its anti-invasion/anti-metastatic activity is largely unknown. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a highly metastatic head and neck cancer in Southeast Asia. Here, we demonstrated that YC-1 inhibited invasiveness and proliferation of NPC cells, with the latter being accompanied by PARP cleavage, S-phase arrest and activation of Chk1/Chk2. We aimed at identifying novel anti-invasion mechanisms of YC-1 in NPC by a functional proteomic platform, the reverse phase protein array (RPPA). Our study revealed for the first time that multiple invasion-related signaling proteins (β-catenin, caveolin, Src and EGFR), as well as several growth-related proteins (AMPKα, phospho-acetyl-CoA carboxylase (p-ACC), HER-2 and mTOR), which were previously un-described signaling proteins altered by YC-1, were found to be down-modulated by YC-1 in NPC cells. We hypothesized that YC-1-mediated downregulation of these invasion proteins contributed to its anti-invasion activity in NPC cells. Overexpression of EGFR, activated Src or caveolin, but not β-catenin reversed the inhibitory effects of YC-1 on NPC cell invasion, with EGFR and activated Src having additional effects on rescuing NPC cells from YC-1-mediated growth inhibition. In summary, we have identified several novel anti-invasion mechanisms of YC-1 that could impact NPC, and possibly other cancers as well. © 2009.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Inhibition of c-Met downregulates TIGAR expression and reduces NADPH production leading to cell death

c-Met represents an important emerging therapeutic target in cancer. In this study, we demonstrate the mechanism by which c-Met tyrosine kinase inhibition inhibits tumor growth in a highly invasive Asian-prevalent head and neck cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). c-Met tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs; AM7 and c-Met TKI tool compound SU11274) downregulated c-Met phosphorylation, resulting in marked inhibition of NPC cell growth and invasion. Strikingly, inhibition of c-Met resulted in significant downregulation of TP53-induced Glycolysis and Apoptosis Regulator (TIGAR) and subsequent depletion of intracellular NADPH. Importantly, overexpression of TIGAR ameliorated the effects of c-Met kinase inhibition, confirming the importance of TIGAR downregulation in the growth inhibitory activity of c-Met TKI. The effects of c-Met inhibition on TIGAR and NADPH levels were observed with two different c-Met TKIs (AM7 and SU11274) and with multiple cell lines. As NADPH provides a crucial reducing power required for cell survival and proliferation, our findings reveal a novel mechanistic action of c-Met TKI, which may represent a key effect of c-Met kinase inhibition. Our data provide the first evidence linking c-Met, TIGAR and NADPH regulation in human cancer cells suggesting that inhibition of a tyrosine kinase/TIGAR/NADPH cascade may have therapeutic applicability in human cancers. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

A computer-aided design system for foot-feature-based shoe last customization

There has been a growing trend among shoe manufacturers to introduce customized shoes to satisfy varying customer style, fit, and comfort needs, thus to increase the product's added value. This study presents a computer-aided design (CAD) system for designing a customized shoe last based on the chosen shoe style and customer's foot features. The CAD system first automatically extracts 18 important foot features from a laser-scanned customer's foot. Then, it applies a global grading with a local deformation approach that can deform the base shoe last with the customer's chosen style to the customized shoe last based on the extracted foot features while maintaining the customer's chosen style. Finally, the system evaluates the final foot shoe last fit and represents the fit in a contoured figure. The experimental results show that the proposed CAD system can be adopted by shoe manufacturers to make customized shoes with the customer's chosen style and foot size and shape.close121