The Contribution of Ageing to Hospitalisation Days in Hong Kong: A Decomposition Analysis

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Hedgehog/notch-induced premature gliogenesis represents a new disease mechanism for Hirschsprung disease in mice and humans

Hirschsprung (HSCR) disease is a complex genetic disorder attributed to a failure of the enteric neural crest cells (ENCCs) to form ganglia in the hindgut. Hedgehog and Notch are implicated in mediating proliferation and differentiation of ENCCs. Nevertheless, how these signaling molecules may interact to mediate gut colonization by ENCCs and contribute to a primary etiology for HSCR are not known. Here, we report our pathway- based epistasis analysis of data generated by a genome-wide association study on HSCR disease, which indicates that specific genotype constellations of Patched (PTCH1) (which encodes a receptor for Hedgehog) and delta-like 3 (DLL3) (which encodes a receptor for Notch) SNPs confer higher risk to HSCR. Importantly, deletion of Ptch1 in mouse ENCCs induced robust Dll1 expression and activation of the Notch pathway, leading to premature gliogenesis and reduction of ENCC progenitors in mutant bowels. Dll1 integrated Hedgehog and Notch pathways to coordinate neuronal and glial cell differentiation during enteric nervous system development. In addition, Hedgehog-mediated gliogenesis was found to be highly conserved, such that Hedgehog was consistently able to promote gliogenesis of human neural crest-related precursors. Collectively, we defined PTCH1 and DLL3 as HSCR susceptibility genes and suggest that Hedgehog/Notch-induced premature gliogenesis may represent a new disease mechanism for HSCR.published_or_final_versio

Characteristics of early help-seekers for suspected dementia

This journal suppl. entitled: 2014 GSA Annual Scientific Meeting AbstractsConference Theme: Making Connections: From Cells to SocietiesSession 685 (Symposium)Delays in seeking professional help are common in people with dementia. Identifying characteristics of early help-seekers would inform public awareness strategies. Methods: Casenote review of people seeking help from a low-barrier, territory-wide professional assessment service available since 2006 in Hong Kong. Findings: A total of 497 casenote records were reviewed (67% female; age 75.5 ± 8.8 years). People waited on average 18.4 months (median, 14 months; range, 1-84 months) since first notice of symptoms before seeking assessment. Among help-seekers who were assessed as having probable dementia, a multiple regression model (R2=.39, F(15,87)=3.77, p<.01) showed that earlier help-seekers had more symptoms observed by caregiver (p=.03), higher MMSE score (p<.01), were older (p<.01), and had better IADL (p=.02); subjective complaints of the person were unrelated (p=.56); severity on different clinical domains predicted delays differentially. Implications: The number of symptoms observed by caregivers predicted earlier help-seeking, which is associated with milder disease.link_to_OA_fulltex

Development of a co-operative distributed process mining system for quality assurance

In this paper, a co-operative distributed process mining system (CDPMS) is developed to streamline the workflow along the supply chain in order to offer shorter delivery times, more flexibility and higher customer satisfaction with learning ability. The proposed system is equipped with the ‘distributed process mining’ feature which is used to discover the hidden relationships among each working decision in distributed manner. This method incorporates the concept of data mining and knowledge refinement into decision making process for ensuring ‘doing the right things’ within the workflow. An example of implementation is given, based on the case of slider manufacturer.Department of Industrial and Systems Engineerin

Self-reported and caregiver-observed signs of cognitive impairments in help-seekers

Session 685 (Symposium): Help-Seeking and Early Detection of Cognitive Impairments in the CommunityMeeting Theme: Making Connections: From Cells to SocietiesThis free journal suppl. entitled: 2014 GSA Annual Scientific Meeting AbstractsIncongruity between subjective complaints and informant observation of cognitive impairments poses barriers to help-seeking. Methods: Casenote review of 266 dyads seeking assessment for suspected dementia between 2006 and 2013. Chi-square and Kappa coefficient were calculated between self-reported and caregiver-observed warning signs. Findings: Caregivers on average reported 1.2 (S.D. 1.6) more signs than the person with suspected dementia. The most common complaints made by both parties were: memory loss (72.9%), misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps (10.2%), and confusion over time or place (3.4%). Agreement was in general very low in all types of complaints (all k<.02). Disagreement was significant regarding complaints of confusion over time or place (χ2=6.5, p=.02), withdrawal from work or social activities (χ2=27.8, p<.01), and somatic complaints (χ2=7.0, p=.04). Implications: People with suspected dementia and their caregivers tend not to agree on cognitive complaints, which may be due to decreased insight or fear.link_to_OA_fulltex

A Review of RFID in Supply Chain Management: 2000–2015

This paper presents a systematic literature review of papers that were published in academic journals on the applications of radio frequency identification (RFID) in supply chain management between the years 2000 and 2015. As the literature on RFID is not confined to specific disciplines or repositories, this paper proposes a discipline-based framework for classifying RFID literature. Five main classification categories are used in this paper: technology, supply chain management, research methodology, application industries, and social aspects. The paper then focuses on the category of supply chain management and reviews 1187 articles that were published between 2000 and 2015 in rated journals. All the papers reviewed are further classified into eight subclasses under this category of supply chain management. The review yields useful insights into the anatomy of RFID literature in supply chain management, enhances evidence-based knowledge, and contributes to informing practice, policymaking and future research. The review reveals that even presently, despite technical and cost challenges, enormous potential exists for the application of RFID in several areas of supply chain management and the prospects are likely to grow into the future. Since RFID solutions have emerged primarily over only the past 20 years, significant research opportunities exist and would need to be addressed to continue to support the technology’s maturation, evaluation, adoption, implementation, and diffusion