A Pilot Study on the Effect of Outpatient Schroth Exercises on Thoracolumbar and Lumbar Curves in Adult Scoliosis Patients

Study design: This is a pilot prospective cohort study

Managing inter-agency co-ordination : an analysis of district level administration in Hong Kong

published_or_final_versionPolitics and Public AdministrationMasterMaster of Public Administratio

Exogenous Expression of Human apoA-I Enhances Cardiac Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells

The cardioprotective effects of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and apolipoprotein A1 (apoA-I) are well documented, but their effects in the direction of the cardiac differentiation of embryonic stem cells are unknown. We evaluated the effects of exogenous apoA-I expression on cardiac differentiation of ESCs and maturation of ESC-derived cardiomyocytes. We stably over-expressed full-length human apoA-I cDNA with lentivirus (LV)-mediated gene transfer in undifferentiated mouse ESCs and human induced pluripotent stem cells. Upon cardiac differentiation, we observed a significantly higher percentage of beating embryoid bodies, an increased number of cardiomyocytes as determined by flow cytometry, and expression of cardiac markers including α-myosin heavy chain, β-myosin heavy chain and myosin light chain 2 ventricular transcripts in LV-apoA-I transduced ESCs compared with control (LV-GFP). In the presence of noggin, a BMP4 antagonist, activation of BMP4-SMAD signaling cascade in apoA-I transduced ESCs completely abolished the apoA-I stimulated cardiac differentiation. Furthermore, co-application of recombinant apoA-I and BMP4 synergistically increased the percentage of beating EBs derived from untransduced D3 ESCs. These together suggests that that pro-cardiogenic apoA-I is mediated via the BMP4-SMAD signaling pathway. Functionally, cardiomyocytes derived from the apoA-I-transduced cells exhibited improved calcium handling properties in both non-caffeine and caffeine-induced calcium transient, suggesting that apoA-I plays a role in enhancing cardiac maturation. This increased cardiac differentiation and maturation has also been observed in human iPSCs, providing further evidence of the beneficial effects of apoA-I in promoting cardiac differentiation. In Conclusion, we present novel experimental evidence that apoA-I enhances cardiac differentiation of ESCs and iPSCs and promotes maturation of the calcium handling property of ESC-derived cardiomyocytes via the BMP4/SMAD signaling pathway

Promotion of knowledge and awareness of parents in HK about infant oral health care

Aim: To promote the knowledge and awareness of infant oral health (OH) care among Hong Kong parents with children aged 0 to 2 years through an interactive workshop and to evaluate its effectiveness. Methods: Parents were recruited from government-registered childcare centers and private playgroups. Interactive workshops consisted of a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation and 20 minutes of small-group activities, which included infant oral hygiene instruction with custom-made infant dentition models, diet analysis and question-and-answer session. Self-completed questionnaires used to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of parents were distributed before and after the workshops. Scores on general OH knowledge (range=0-18), infant OH knowledge (0-10) and parent’s attitude (0-4) were computed. Scores of at least 70% were considered proficient. Results: Among the 111 participants (aged 26 to 54 years, 64% mothers), 96% had a child aged 0 to 30 months. 30% had their children’s mouth cleaned at least twice a day. Only one participant had brought his/her child to see a dentist. Weaker aspects in parents’ OH knowledge and common misconceptions were identified in the pre-survey. Only 35% identified frequent meals as an increased caries risk; only 59% and 79% identified starchy food and formula milk as cariogenic food respectively. 58% did not know water fluoridation can prevent caries, while 33% of parents pointed out calcium supplement can prevent caries. Before the workshop, 41% had proficient general OH knowledge (mean=11.9) and 16% had proficient infant OH knowledge (mean=4.8). Over half of parents showed positive attitude (mean=3.4). Significant improvements in general OH knowledge (mean=15.6, p<0.001), infant OH knowledge (mean=8.8, p<0.001) and attitude (mean=3.9, p<0.001) were observed. Parents reflected the workshops were useful (94%) and they learned new practices to improve their infants’ OH (95%). Conclusion: Several deficiencies in oral health knowledge and behaviour are identified. The interactive workshops can effectively promote the knowledge and awareness of infant oral health care among parents with children aged 0 to 2 years. Large-scale infant oral health survey is needed. Interactive workshops with longer follow-up periods are recommended. More guidelines can be provided to parents and general dentists for prevention of caries.published_or_final_versio

Reactivation of Epstein–Barr virus by a dual-responsive fluorescent EBNA1-targeting agent with Zn2+-chelating function

EBNA1 is the only Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) latent protein responsible for viral genome maintenance and is expressed in all EBV-infected cells. Zn2+ is essential for oligomerization of the functional EBNA1. We constructed an EBNA1 binding peptide with a Zn2+ chelator to create an EBNA1-specific inhibitor (ZRL5P4). ZRL5P4 by itself is sufficient to reactivate EBV from its latent infection. ZRL5P4 is able to emit unique responsive fluorescent signals once it binds with EBNA1 and a Zn2+ ion. ZRL5P4 can selectively disrupt the EBNA1 oligomerization and cause nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tumor shrinkage, possibly due to EBV lytic induction. Dicer1 seems essential for this lytic reactivation. As can been seen, EBNA1 is likely to maintain NPC cell survival by suppressing viral reactivation

Calcium Homeostasis in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

Rationale: Cardiomyocytes generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are suggested as the most promising candidate to replenish cardiomyocyte loss in regenerative medicine. Little is known about their calcium homeostasis, the key process underlying excitation-contraction coupling. Objective: We investigated the calcium handling properties of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and compared with those from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Methods and Results: We differentiated cardiomyocytes from hiPSCs (IMR90 and KS1) and hESCs (H7 and HES3) with established protocols. Beating outgrowths from embryoid bodies were typically observed 2 weeks after induction. Cells in these outgrowths were stained positively for tropomyosin and sarcomeric alpha-actinin. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction studies demonstrated the expressions of cardiac-specific markers in both hiPSC- and hESC-derived cardiomyocytes. Calcium handling properties of 20-day-old hiPSC- and hESC-derived cardiomyocytes were investigated using fluorescence confocal microscopy. Compared with hESC-derived cardiomyocytes, spontaneous calcium transients from both lines of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes were of significantly smaller amplitude and with slower maximal upstroke velocity. Better caffeine-induced calcium handling kinetics in hESC-CMs indicates a higher sacroplasmic recticulum calcium store. Furthermore, in contrast with hESC-derived cardiomyocytes, ryanodine did not reduce the amplitudes, maximal upstroke and decay velocity of calcium transients of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. In addition, spatial inhomogeneity in temporal properties of calcium transients across the width of cardiomyocytes was more pronounced in hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes than their hESC counterpart as revealed line-scan calcium imaging. Expressions of the key calcium-handling proteins including ryanodine recptor-2 (RyR2), sacroplasmic recticulum calcium-ATPase (SERCA), junction (Jun) and triadin (TRDN), were significantly lower in hiPSC than in hESCs. Conclusions: The results indicate the calcium handling properties of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes are relatively immature to hESC counterparts. © 2011 The Author(s).published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

ICOS regulates the generation and function of human CD4+ Treg in a CTLA-4 dependent manner

Inducible co-stimulator (ICOS) is a member of CD28/Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte Antigen-4 (CTLA-4) family and broadly expressed in activated CD4+ T cells and induced regulatory CD4+ T cells (CD4+ iTreg). ICOS-related signal pathway could be activated by the interaction between ICOS and its ligand (ICOSL). In our previous work, we established a cost-effective system to generate a novel human allo-antigen specific CD4hi Treg by co-culturing their naïve precursors with allogeneic CD40-activated B cells in vitro. Here we investigate the role of ICOS in the generation and function of CD4hi Treg by interrupting ICOS-ICOSL interaction with ICOS-Ig. It is found that blockade of ICOS-ICOSL interaction impairs the induction and expansion of CD4hi Treg induced by allogeneic CD40-activated B cells. More importantly, CD4hi Treg induced with the addition of ICOS-Ig exhibits decreased suppressive capacity on alloantigen-specific responses. Dysfunction of CD4hi Treg induced with ICOS-Ig is accompanied with its decreased exocytosis and surface CTLA-4 expression. Through inhibiting endocytosis with E64 and pepstatin A, surface CTLA-4 expression and suppressive functions of induced CD4hi Treg could be partly reversed. Conclusively, our results demonstrate the beneficial role of ICOS-ICOSL signal pathway in the generation and function of CD4hi Treg and uncover a novel relationship between ICOS and CTLA-4. © 2013 zheng et al.published_or_final_versio

City of Hitchcock Comprehensive Plan 2020-2040

Hitchcock is a small town located in Galveston County (Figure 1.1), nestled up on the Texas Gulf Coast. It lies about 40 miles south-east of Houston. The boundaries of the city encloses an area of land of 60.46 sq. miles, an area of water of 31.64 sq. miles at an elevation just 16 feet above sea level. Hitchcock has more undeveloped land (~90% of total area) than the county combined. Its strategic location gives it a driving force of opportunities in the Houston-Galveston Region.The guiding principles for this planning process were Hitchcock’s vision statement and its corresponding goals, which were crafted by the task force. The goals focus on factors of growth and development including public participation, development considerations, transportation, community facilities, economic development, parks, and housing and social vulnerabilityTexas Target Communitie