The Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences

published_or_final_versio

Public knowledge of how to use an automatic external defibrillator in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Hong Kong

published_or_final_versio

Navigating peer relationships: What do friendships look like for children whose parents have mental illnesses?

Peer support programmes among children whose parents have mental illnesses have rarely focused on how these children relate with peers in the general population. Therefore, this phenomenological study in Ghana involved interviews with 13 children (ages 10 to 17) living with parental mental illness to learn about their peer relationships. Data were analysed to identify the phenomenon's essential features and constituents. The study finds that peer relations entail secrecy, peer victimisation and abuse. To these children, keeping secrets about parental mental illness ensures they have ‘normal’ peer relationships like others, as troubled peer relationships can develop when peers are informed about the parents' mental illness. Name-calling, teasing and withdrawal persists when peers are aware of one's parental mental illness. Although the children perceive that they may find comfort in children who are in a similar situation, the pros and cons of developing peer support out of these in-groups have to be verified rather than assumed. It is recommended that helping professionals educate school children and address myths they have about mental illness and its impact on their relationships

Constructing the the school paradox in the lives of children living with parental mental illness

Children living with parental mental illness are referred to as an invisible population because mental health services rarely target them, as the focus is often on the parent who is ill mentally. The same situation occurs even in school where they are unnoticed. This study conducted in Ghana creates awareness about what these children think about their interactions at school in the context of parental mental illness. Data was collected through interviews and diaries with 13 children living with parental mental illness and analysed to attain the essential features through Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology. The children find the school as a happy space where they do not have to be worried about the parent’s mental illness. Ultimately, though, even at school, most of the children become concerned about the mental wellbeing of the parent due to their loyalty towards them. This results in the school paradox where the children are torn between having their own time at school and being worried about the parent’s condition back home, wanting to be there for the parent. The school paradox is an unhealthy cycle that could be addressed with coordinated efforts from mental health professionals, social workers, psychologists and teachers

Sharp Global Bounds for the Hessian on Pseudo-Hermitian Manifolds

We find sharp bounds for the norm inequality on a Pseudo-hermitian manifold, where the L^2 norm of all second derivatives of the function involving horizontal derivatives is controlled by the L^2 norm of the sub-Laplacian. Perturbation allows us to get a-priori bounds for solutions to sub-elliptic PDE in non-divergence form with bounded measurable coefficients. The method of proof is through a Bochner technique. The Heisenberg group is seen to be en extremal manifold for our inequality in the class of manifolds whose Ricci curvature is non-negative.Comment: 13 page

Comparable fitness and transmissibility between oseltamivir-resistant pandemic 2009 and seasonal H1N1 influenza viruses with the H275Y neuraminidase mutation

Limited antiviral compounds are available for the control of influenza, and the emergence of resistant variants would further narrow the options for defense. The H275Y neuraminidase (NA) mutation, which confers resistance to oseltamivir carboxylate, has been identified among the seasonal H1N1 and 2009 pandemic influenza viruses; however, those H275Y resistant variants demonstrated distinct epidemiological outcomes in humans. Specifically, dominance of the H275Y variant over the oseltamivir-sensitive viruses was only reported for a seasonal H1N1 variant during 2008-2009. Here, we systematically analyze the effect of the H275Y NA mutation on viral fitness and transmissibility of A(H1N1)pdm09 and seasonal H1N1 influenza viruses. The NA genes from A(H1N1)pdm09 A/California/04/09 (CA04), seasonal H1N1 A/New Caledonia/20/1999 (NewCal), and A/Brisbane/59/2007 (Brisbane) were individually introduced into the genetic background of CA04. The H275Y mutation led to reduced NA enzyme activity, an increased K(m) for 3'-sialylactose or 6'-sialylactose, and decreased infectivity in mucin-secreting human airway epithelial cells compared to the oseltamivir-sensitive wild-type counterparts. Attenuated pathogenicity in both RG-CA04(NA-H275Y) and RG-CA04 x Brisbane(NA-H275Y) viruses was observed in ferrets compared to RG-CA04 virus, although the transmissibility was minimally affected. In parallel experiments using recombinant Brisbane viruses differing by hemagglutinin and NA, comparable direct contact and respiratory droplet transmissibilities were observed among RG-NewCal(HA,NA), RG-NewCal(HA,NA-H275Y), RG-Brisbane(HA,NA-H275Y), and RG-NewCal(HA) x Brisbane(NA-H275Y) viruses. Our results demonstrate that, despite the H275Y mutation leading to a minor reduction in viral fitness, the transmission potentials of three different antigenic strains carrying this mutation were comparable in the naive ferret model.published_or_final_versio

Comparable fitness and transmissibility between Oseltamivir-Resistant Pandemic 2009 and seasonal H1N1 Influenza Viruses with the H275Y Neuraminidase Mutation

Conference Theme: Translating Health Research into Policy and Practice for Health of the PopulationPoster Presentations - Emerging / Infectious Diseases: no. P65-Ab0010INTRODUCTION: Neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors are one of the limited options for the control of influenza. The H275Y NA mutation, which confers resistance to oseltamivir carboxylate, was initially considered to be of little clinical consequence due to limited detection of this mutation in field isolates prior to 2007-2008, when a globally spreading H275Y variant emerged. Oseltamivir-resistant A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses with the H275Y NA mutation has been reported since 2009 but have not replaced the …published_or_final_versio

Frequency Shift of Carbon-Nanotube-Based Mass Sensor Using Nonlocal Elasticity Theory

The frequency equation of carbon-nanotube-based cantilever sensor with an attached mass is derived analytically using nonlocal elasticity theory. According to the equation, the relationship between the frequency shift of the sensor and the attached mass can be obtained. When the nonlocal effect is not taken into account, the variation of frequency shift with the attached mass on the sensor is compared with the previous study. According to this study, the result shows that the frequency shift of the sensor increases with increasing the attached mass. When the attached mass is small compared with that of the sensor, the nonlocal effect is obvious and increasing nonlocal parameter decreases the frequency shift of the sensor. In addition, when the location of the attached mass is closer to the free end, the frequency shift is more significant and that makes the sensor reveal more sensitive. When the attached mass is small, a high sensitivity is obtained

Household secondhand smoke exposure of elementary schoolchildren in Southern Taiwan and factors associated with their confidence in avoiding exposure: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Exposure to household Secondhand Smoke (SHS) poses a major health threat to children after an indoor smoking ban was imposed in Taiwan. This study aimed to assess the household SHS exposure in elementary school children in southern Taiwan and the factors associated with their avoidance of SHS exposure before and after the implementation of Taiwan's new Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act in 2009.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this cross-sectional school-based study, data on household SHS exposure, avoidance of SHS and related variables was obtained from the 2008 and 2009 Control of School-aged Children Smoking Study Survey. A random sample of 52 elementary schools was included. A total of 4450 3-6 graders (aged 8-13) completed the questionnaire. Regression models analyzed factors of children's self-confidence to avoid household SHS exposure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Over 50% of children were found to have lived with a family member who smoked in front of them after the new law enacted, and 35% of them were exposed to household SHS more than 4 days a week. Having a positive attitude toward smoking (β = -0.05 to -0.06) and high household SHS exposure (β = -0.34 to -0.47) were significantly associated with a lower avoidance of SHS exposure. Comparing to girls, boys had lower scores in their knowledge of tobacco hazards; and this factor was significantly related to their SHS avoidance (β = 0.13-0.14).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The intervention program should enhance school children do actively avoid exposure to SHS in home settings, and more importantly, provide tobacco hazard knowledge to male students to avoid exposure to household SHS for themselves. The results also provide further evidence that Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act should perhaps be extended to the family environment in order to protect children from the hazards of household SHS exposure.</p

Saffold virus is able to productively infect primate and rodent cell lines and induces apoptosis in these cells

10.1038/emi.2014.15Emerging Microbes and Infections3