Oral health of community dwelling elders in Hong Kong

Introduction: The world’s population is ageing and the elders are vulnerable to oral health problems. This project aimed to observe the oral health status of community dwelling elders in Hong Kong, investigate the oral health impact on their quality of life and nutritional status, and provide oral health education and preventive service. Methods: Community dwelling elders (65 or above) were recruited from five community centers. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was completed to collect information on their socio-demographic background and oral health perception/practice. Their oral health related quality of life (OHQoL) and nutritional status were measured by using the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) and Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA), respectively. Their tooth and periodontal status, oral hygiene and soft tissues were examined. Individualized advice, oral health education and scaling were provided. Results: A total of 195 elders participated. Despite their sound knowledge on dental caries, their awareness of the causes and risk factors of periodontal diseases was low. Several misconceptions of oral health were common and their expectation towards oral health was low. Although 81% brush their teeth at least twice a day, over 75% did not perform interdental cleaning mainly due to unawareness of the necessity (32%) and lack of skills (42%). Their dental visits were treatment-driven and mainly for pain-relieving and emergency care. Only 19% were regular dental attendees. The mean (SD) DMFT was 8.9 (7.8). Over 60% had periodontal pockets; 6% were edentulous and 38% had fewer than 20 teeth. The mean (SD) total GOHAI score was 56.4 (8.0); 60% reported negative impact of oral health on their quality of life. The mean (SD) MNA score was 25.2 (2.9); 30% had malnutrition or were at risk. Multivariate analysis showed that tooth loss and untreated decayed teeth (DT) were significant determinants of poor OHQoL; older age, higher education level, and poorer OHQoL were significantly associated with higher risk of malnutrition (all p<0.05). Conclusions: Oral health problems are common among community dwelling elders in Hong Kong. Their oral health awareness and practice are yet to be improved. Tooth loss and unmet treatment need for dental caries significantly compromise elders’ quality of life, which in turn increases their risk for malnutrition. Outreach oral health education and service are well received by the community.published_or_final_versio

A pilot study of common outcome measurement of service-learning in Hong Kong

Since the Office of Service-Learning (OSL) at Lingnan University was established in 2006 as the first independent office dedicated to promoting service-learning (S-L) in Lingnan and among the higher education institutes in Hong Kong. OSL undertakes an important role to develop of service-learning in Hong Kong higher education. The Higher Education Service-Learning Network (HESLN) in Hong Kong was first established in 2007 to provide a platform to discuss the local development and opportunities of S -L. Its members include Lingnan University, Hong Kong University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Science and Technology, City Univers ity of Hong Kong, the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, the Baptist University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong Shue Yan University and the Hong Kong College of Technology. As different higher education institutes implement S-L in their teaching and learning the common outcome measurement (COM) of S-L is necessary to investigate the student learning outcome across different institutes to demonstrate the knowledge transfer model. Two pilot tests of COM were conducted in 2011 and 2012 in order to develop the standardized measurement for assessing student learning outcome in terms of nine domains (e.g. self-understanding/confidence, communication skills, problem-solving skills, civic engagement, social responsibility and willingness to contribute, team skills, self-reflection, general knowledge application, caring for others, intercultural competences). 189 and 197 university students from 5 different institutes have completed the pilot questionnaire in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The reliability test was applied for the scale reduction from 78 items to 36 items. For the preliminary findings of the 2nd pilot study, eight domains -- except intercultural competences -- reported an acceptable Cronbach’s Alpha (from 0.87 to 0.75). Also, the significant improvement in the mentioned 9 domains was found. Further development of the intercultural competences domain and a greater comprehensive and large-scale scale validation are needed to develop the common outcome measurement in Hong Kong

Service-learning impact on community engagement : from the graduates\u27 perspectives

Service-Learning (S-L) is pedagogy that has been newly introduced into Hong Kong\u27s higher education institutes. Thus, most local, recent studies focus on implication and evaluation of the S-L program for the existing students. There is lack of study about the long-term impact of S-L, especially for graduate students. Lingnan University (LU) as the only liberal art university in Hong Kong, aims to equip LU students with whole person development skills, as well as the capability to serve the community in the future. The Office of Service-Learning (OSL) was established in 2006 to promote S-L in Lingnan, echoing the university\u27s motto Education for Service. A study was conducted in 2011 to investigate the long-term impact of S-L on graduates\u27 whole person development skills, community engagement and career exploration. In this paper, we will focus on investigating the long-term impact of S-L on graduates\u27 community engagement (measured by civic responsibility) in terms of three subdomains: connection to community, civic awareness and civic efficacy. The comparison result between 424 graduates with S-L experience and 345 graduates without S-L experience will be used in this paper. The most prominent finding shows that graduates with S-L experience had significant higher scores than graduates without S-L experience in civic responsibility (Mwith S-L experience=5.80, SD=1.20; Mwithout S-L experience=5.16, SD=1.47; t=6.57,

大時代的文化研究 : 馬照跑，舞照跳? = Will horse racing and dancing go on in the Great Era of Cultural Studies?

研討會分為二部分。第一部分的主題是「大時代的文化研究：馬照跑，舞照跳？」，以MCSian的論文為引旨，透過對話去思考在當前處境如何尋找出路，由鄧芝珊主持，分別由廖可兒主講〈從聯合國氣候變化大會到黃背心運動–反思「環境 vs 發展與生計」的二元對立〉，馮羚主講〈從台灣電音三太子看傳統文化的傳承與挑戰〉，譚家浚主講〈賽馬作為統治殖民手段 - 由被統治者的接受與反抗所演變成的香港賽馬文化〉，並由李小良評論及與講者進行討論

A student development pathway in service-learning model in Hong Kong

The 2-level students ‘development pathway is developed in 2014 to further develop LU students as a community leader. First, students will take one or more than one credit-bearing courses with Service-Learning elements to have the basic knowledge of S-L and develop their whole-person development skills. Students reported the significant improvement in 7 learning outcome domains in the result of the pretest and posttest. (e.g. subject-related knowledge, communication skills, social competence, organizational skills, problem-solving skills, research skills and civic orientation). After that, part of the students can continue their Service-Learning Journey in six theme-based leadership training programs (e.g. Mainland and International Service-Learning Program, Service-Learning Teaching Assistant Position (TAP), Service-Learning Project Trainee (PT) Scheme, Service-Leadership Summer Practicum, Young Scholars\u27 Community Research-Based Research Program and Service-Learning Students Association (SLSA)). According to the case study from the six theme-based leadership training programs, students developed their leadership skills through real experience and participation in service-Learning related leadership training programs

Hong Kong Renal Registry Report 2012

SummaryThis report examined the characteristics and trends of dialysis and renal transplant patients among the resident population of Hong Kong who were managed by hospitals or dialysis centers of the Hospital Authority, and accounted for approximately 95% of all patients receiving renal replacement therapies (RRTs) in the territory. Patients receiving RRTs solely in the private sector were not included in this report. Data trends from 1996 to 2011 are presented. In 2011, 1115 new patients were accepted into RRT programs, and the incident rate was 157 patients per million populations (pmp). An increasing trend was noted. The incident rate was 95.1 pmp at the commencement of the annual report in 1996. The point prevalence on December 31, 2012 was 8197 with a prevalence rate of 1152.5 pmp. Overall, there were 3573 patients (43.6%) on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and 1246 patients (15.2%) on hemodialysis (HD), and 3378 patients (41.2%) were living with a functioning renal transplant. The PD/HD ratio was 74.2:25.8. The “PD First” policy was continued. The overall mortality rate among RRT patients was 9.95 patients per 100 patient-years exposed. There was a decreasing trend in mortality among PD patients. Infection and cardiovascular complications were the most common causes of death. Renal transplant was the modality with the best survival rates. The 5 years cumulative patient survival rate for patients on transplant treatment was 89.6%, whereas the corresponding patient survival rates for PD and HD patients were 50.7% and 55.7%, respectively. More than 70% of RRT patients with reports on rehabilitation were active and had normal daily activities

Genome-Wide Association Study of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Southern Chinese Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

One of the most relevant risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development is chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, but only a fraction of chronic HBV carriers develop HCC, indicating that complex interactions among viral, environmental and genetic factors lead to HCC in HBV-infected patients. So far, host genetic factors have incompletely been characterized. Therefore, we performed a genome-wide association (GWA) study in a Southern Chinese cohort consisting of 95 HBV-infected HCC patients (cases) and 97 HBV-infected patients without HCC (controls) using the Illumina Human610-Quad BeadChips. The top single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were then validated in an independent cohort of 500 cases and 728 controls. 4 SNPs (rs12682266, rs7821974, rs2275959, rs1573266) at chromosome 8p12 showed consistent association in both the GWA and replication phases (ORcombined = 1.31–1.39; pcombined = 2.71×10−5–5.19×10−4; PARcombined = 26–31%). We found a 2.3-kb expressed sequence tag (EST) in the region using in-silico data mining and verified the existence of the full-length EST experimentally. The expression level of the EST was significantly reduced in human HCC tumors in comparison to the corresponding non-tumorous liver tissues (P<0.001). Results from sequence analysis and in-vitro protein translation study suggest that the transcript might function as a long non-coding RNA. In summary, our study suggests that variations at chromosome 8p12 may promote HCC in patients with HBV. Further functional studies of this region may help understand HBV-associated hepatocarcinogenesis

Physiological concentration of protocatechuic acid directly protects vascular endothelial function against inflammation in diabetes through Akt/eNOS pathway

BackgroundCardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have been the major cause of mortality in type 2 diabetes. However, new approaches are still warranted since current diabetic medications, which focus mainly on glycemic control, do not effectively lower cardiovascular mortality rate in diabetic patients. Protocatechuic acid (PCA) is a phenolic acid widely distributed in garlic, onion, cauliflower and other plant-based foods. Given the anti-oxidative effects of PCA in vitro, we hypothesized that PCA would also have direct beneficial effects on endothelial function in addition to the systemic effects on vascular health demonstrated by previous studies.Methods and resultsSince IL-1β is the major pathological contributor to endothelial dysfunction in diabetes, the anti-inflammatory effects of PCA specific on endothelial cells were further verified by the use of IL-1β-induced inflammation model. Direct incubation of db/db mouse aortas with physiological concentration of PCA significantly ameliorated endothelium-dependent relaxation impairment, as well as reactive oxygen species overproduction mediated by diabetes. In addition to the well-studied anti-oxidative activity, PCA demonstrated strong anti-inflammatory effects by suppressing the pro-inflammatory cytokines MCP1, VCAM1 and ICAM1, as well as increasing the phosphorylation of eNOS and Akt in the inflammatory endothelial cell model induced by the key player in diabetic endothelial dysfunction IL-1β. Upon blocking of Akt phosphorylation, p-eNOS/eNOS remained low and the inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines by PCA ceased.ConclusionPCA exerts protection on vascular endothelial function against inflammation through Akt/eNOS pathway, suggesting daily acquisition of PCA may be encouraged for diabetic patients

「環保先鋒」之關懷長者計劃成效報告書

本計劃期望透過一系列的環保活動，讓青少年（中學生／大學生）深入了解自然生態的轉變和將會帶來的後果，以及認識如何在日常生活中實踐環保，減少污染環境。為加強長者的環保意識，嶺大會邀請長者參與有關的活動。過程中，青少年不僅可以向長者傳遞環保訊息；同時，亦可以向有需要的長者表達關懷，加強兩代之間的溝通和了解。 本計劃的目的可歸納為以下五項： --向青少年闡析環境保護的重要性，從而提升他們的環保意識及加強他們對環保議題的關注 --利用實際例子，教導青少年如何締造綠色生活，並鼓勵他們身體力行以支持環保 --在活動的過程中，鼓勵青少年主動與長者溝通以加深對長者的了解，從而改善彼此的觀感 --透過邀請長者參與環保活動／探訪長者，向他們傳遞環保訊息 --將環保活動與現有課程結合，協助老師通過一個整合的模式來進行日常課堂和環保教