93 research outputs found
An exploratory study of pet raising and health of the elderly people in Hong Kong
Introduction:
Pets such as dogs, cats and fish were popular in many other countries (Marx et al., 1988; Gammonley, 1991; Brodie & Biley, 1999; PIAS, 2002). In Hong Kong, pet owners increased to 0.26 million (Census and Statistics Department, 2006). Dating back to 1980s, a research study reported the association between pet ownerships and health benefits for humans (McNicholas et al., 2005). According to the report, domesticated pets brought a sense of companionship and provided pet owners with pleasure. These pets could be tools for enhancing human social relationship and could also provide their owners with emotional comfort. Recent studies also revealed that the influence of the complex and rich relationship between pets and owners might far surpass daily pleasure in terms of improving physical, psychological and mental health of the elderly (Serpell, 1991; Garrity et al., 1989; Murrell et al., 1983). 1.2.
Objectives :
Not many studies in the literature were to investigate the positive impacts of pet raising on health of the elderly in Hong Kong. If pet raising had a positive impact on older people’s health, there would be important implications to the health services in Hong Kong, with regard to further studies on an in-depth understanding of this issue and policy recommendations for the Hong Kong government to improve the health services of the elderly population. In light of the above rationale, the present study was designed to explore the qualitative impacts of pet raising on well-being of the elderly people in Hong Kong. The specific aims of the study were: To explore the value of pet raising as perceived by the elderly people in Hong Kong; To explore the impacts of pet raising on the physical, psychological and overall life satisfaction of the elderly people in Hong Kong; To identify the critical factors influencing the physical, psychological and overall life satisfaction of the elderly people in Hong Kong; and To make suggestions to policy makers regarding effective health services for the elderly people in Hong Kong
The Strengths Model in Hong Kong
Mental health practice involves the continuous process of learning and refinement, especially when practitioners focus on the strengths and aspirations of individuals who are coping with serious mental illnesses (Tse et al., 2016). Cross-cultural considerations include beliefs, language, the role of social support, and the distinctive characteristics of specific communities that require localization in designing and offering mental health services. In this chapter, we describe the experience of adopting the Strengths Model in Hong Kong, starting with an introduction to the mental health system in the city. We then illustrate the development and implementation of the Strengths Model for the Chinese population in Hong Kong. We also briefly review research studies focusing on the Strengths Model in mental health practice in this cultural context (Tsoi et al., 2018; Tsoi, Tse, Canda, & Lo, 2019; Tse et al., 2019). The process of localization described in this chapter required the building of complex relationships among Strengths Model founders, scholars, organizations, caseworkers, and people facing mental health challenges
Association of Genetic Variants Related to Combined Exposure to Higher Body Mass Index and Waist-to-Hip Ratio on Lifelong Cardiovascular Risk in UK Biobank
OBJECTIVE: This study examines the individual and combined association of body mass index (BMI) and 7 waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) risk using genetic scores of the 8 obesity measurements as proxies. DESIGN: A 2×2 factorial analysis approach was applied, with participants divided into four groups of lifetime exposure to low BMI and WHR, high BMI, high WHR, and high BMI and WHR based on weighted genetic risk scores. The difference in CVD risk across groups was evaluated using multivariable logistic regression. SETTING: Cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 408,003 participants were included from the prospective observational UK Biobank study. RESULTS: A total of 58,429 of CVD events were recorded. Compared to the low BMI and WHR genetic scores group, higher BMI or higher WHR genetic scores were associated with an increase in CVD risk (high BMI: odds ratio (OR), 1.07; 95%CI, 1.04-1.10; high WHR: OR, 1.12; 95%CI, 1.09-1.16). A weak additive effect on CVD risk was found between BMI and WHR (high BMI and WHR: OR, 1.16; 95%CI, 1.12-1.19). Subgroup analysis showed similar patterns between different sex, age (<65, ≥65 years old), smoking status, Townsend deprivation index, fasting glucose level and medication uses, but lower systolic blood pressure was associated with higher CVD risk in obese participants. CONCLUSIONS: High BMI or WHR were associated with increased CVD risk, and their effects are weakly additive. Even though there were overlapping of effect, both BMI and WHR are important in assessing the CVD risk in the general population
The efficacy and safety of Yupingfeng Powder with variation in the treatment of allergic rhinitis: Study protocol for a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is an upper airways chronic inflammatory disease mediated by IgE, which affects 10%–20% of the population. The mainstay for allergic rhinitis nowadays include steroids and antihistamines, but their effects are less than ideal. Many patients therefore seek Chinese medicine for treatment and Yupingfeng Powder is one of the most common formulae prescribed. In this study, we aim to investigate the efficacy and safety of Yupingfeng Powder with variation for the treatment of allergic rhinitis.Study design: This is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. A 2-week screening period will be implemented, and then eligible subjects with allergic rhinitis will receive interventions of either “Yupingfeng Powder with variation” granules or placebo granules for 8 weeks, followed by post treatment visits at weeks 12 and 16. The change in the Total Nasal Symptom Score (TNSS) will be used as the primary outcome.Discussion: This trail will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Yupingfeng Powder in treating allergic rhinitis. The study may provide the solid evidence of Yupingfeng Powder with variation can produce better clinical efficacy than the placebo granules.Trial registration:ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT04976023
Vinyl sulfone-based ferrocenylation reagents: applications in conjugation and bioconjugation
The easy vinyl sulfone derivatization of ferrocene allows the preparation of some effective, versatile and valuable ferrocenylation reagents. The applicability of such compounds in conjugation and bioconjugation of amine and/or thiol containing molecules and biomolecules through Michael-type addition under mild conditions that preserve the biological function of the latter is described. The feasibility of the methodology is demonstrated by the preparation of a variety of conjugates and bioconjugates (ferrocenyl terminated dendrimers and ferrocene–sugar, ferrocene–cyclodextrin, ferrocene–peptide and ferrocene–protein conjugates).Financial support was provided by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (CTQ2011-29299-CO2-01)
Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data
Tolerating latency in software distributed shared memory systems through multithreading
grantor:
University of TorontoLarge communication latency is a key obstacle to achieving higher performance on software distributed shared memory (DSM) systems, which provide a shared memory abstraction on message passing hardware. Multithreading is one of the techniques that can tolerate the communication latency on software DSM. It tolerates the latency by overlapping communication and computation with multiple threads on each processor. We investigate the performance of multithreading on software DSMs empirically. Our results demonstrate that multithreading can improve the speedups of the applications by 3% to 84%, and we can further improve the performance of some applications by modifying the source codes or making threads switch context on synchronization only. This thesis also compares the performance of multithreading with that of prefetching and investigates their combined effects. The best overall approach to hiding latency depends on the predictability of memory access patterns and the extent to which lock stalls dominate synchronization time.M.Sc
Luminescent Rhenium(I) and Iridium(III) Polypyridine Complexes as Biological Probes, Imaging Reagents, and Photocytotoxic Agents
ConspectusAlthough the interactions of transition metal complexes with biological
molecules have been extensively studied, the use of luminescent transition
metal complexes as intracellular sensors and bioimaging reagents has
not been a focus of research until recently. The main advantages of
luminescent transition metal complexes are their high photostability,
long-lived phosphorescence that allows time-resolved detection, and
large Stokes shifts that can minimize the possible self-quenching
effect. Also, by the use of transition metal complexes, the degree
of cellular uptake can be readily determined using inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometry. For more than a decade, we have been interested
in the development of luminescent transition metal complexes as covalent
labels and noncovalent probes for biological molecules. We argue that
many transition metal polypyridine complexes display triplet charge
transfer (<sup>3</sup>CT) emission that is highly sensitive to the
local environment of the complexes. Hence, the biological labeling
and binding interactions can be readily reflected by changes in the
photophysical properties of the complexes. In this laboratory, we
have modified luminescent tricarbonylrheniumÂ(I) and bis-cyclometalated
iridiumÂ(III) polypyridine complexes of general formula [ReÂ(bpy-R<sup>1</sup>)Â(CO)<sub>3</sub>(py-R<sup>2</sup>)]<sup>+</sup> and [IrÂ(ppy-R<sup>3</sup>)<sub>2</sub>(bpy-R<sup>4</sup>)]<sup>+</sup>, respectively,
with reactive functional groups and used them to label the amine and
sulfhydryl groups of biomolecules such as oligonucleotides, amino
acids, peptides, and proteins. Additionally, using a range of biological
substrates such as biotin, estradiol, and indole, we have designed
luminescent rheniumÂ(I) and iridiumÂ(III) polypyridine complexes as
noncovalent probes for biological receptors. The interesting results
generated from these studies have prompted us to investigate the possible
applications of luminescent transition metal complexes in intracellular
systems. Thus, in the past few years, we have developed an interest
in the cytotoxic activity, cellular uptake, and bioimaging applications
of these complexes. Additionally, we and other research groups have
demonstrated that many transition metal complexes have facile cellular
uptake and organelle-localization properties and that their cytotoxic
activity can be readily controlled. For example, complexes that can
target the nucleus, nucleolus, mitochondria, lysosomes, endoplasmic
reticulum, and Golgi apparatus have been identified. We anticipate
that this selective localization property can be utilized in the development
of intracellular sensors and bioimaging reagents. Thus, we have functionalized
luminescent rheniumÂ(I) and iridiumÂ(III) polypyridine complexes with
various pendants, including molecule-binding moieties, sugar molecules,
bioorthogonal functional groups, and polymeric chains such as polyÂ(ethylene
glycol) and polyethylenimine, and examined their potentials as biological
reagents. This Account describes our design of luminescent rheniumÂ(I)
and iridiumÂ(III) polypyridine complexes and explains how they can
serve as a new generation of biological reagents for diagnostic and
therapeutic applications
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