Evaluation of deformity and hand function in cerebral palsy patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was performed to describe the upper limb deformity and function in cerebral palsy patients and to determine the correlation of deformity, spasticity, motor control, and sensation to hand function in the said population.</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>Thirty patients satisfying our inclusion criteria underwent physical, sensory, and functional assessment using a standard protocol. Physical assessment included documentation of the degree of spasticity, deformity and muscle control. Sensation was tested using static two-point discrimination test and stereognosis test. Melbourne Assessment of the Unilateral Upper Limb Function Test (MAULF), Functional Hand Grip Test (FHGT), and Functional Independence Measure for children (WeeFIM) were used to evaluate hand function. Deformity, spasticity, motor control, and sensation were analyzed for correlation with hand function using Pearson Correlation analysis. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Functional deficits of the hand increased with increasing severity of deformity and spasticity. Tetraplegics were most affected by spasticity, deformity, poor motor control, sensory and functional deficits. Triplegics, followed by diplegics had more functional upper limbs in terms of the MAULF and FHGT scores. Unilaterally affected patients (triplegics and hemiplegics) scored better in performance of activities of daily living. The MAULF and FHGT had a stronger correlation to deformity, spasticity and motor control compared to the WeeFIM.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The degree of deformity, spasticity, sensory deficit, and motor control affected the hand function of a cerebral palsy patient significantly. The MAULF and FHGT more accurately represents hand function deficit in cerebral palsy patients.</p

The predictive value of G8 and the Cancer and aging research group chemotherapy toxicity tool in treatment-related toxicity in older Chinese patients with cancer

Introduction: Older patients experience a higher risk of treatment-related toxicity (TRT). The G8 screening tool was developed to separate cancer older patients fit to receive standard treatment from those who are frail and experiencing functional decline due to reduced organ function and multiple comorbidities. The Cancer and Aging Research Group chemotherapy toxicity tool (CARG-tt) questionnaire was developed to predict chemotherapy toxicity in geriatric patients. This prospective observational study evaluated the performance of G8 and CARG-tt in predicting severe TRT in older Chinese cancer patients. Methods: Chinese patients aged ≥65 with a diagnosis of solid malignancy and scheduled to receive anti-cancer treatment (chemotherapy or targeted therapy) were enrolled from March 2016 to July 2017 at the Department of Clinical Oncology at Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong. All patients completed the G8 and CARG-tt screening and pre-treatment assessments before starting treatment. Patients were monitored for any severe TRT, which was defined by grades 3–5 using the National Cancer Institute's Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.03, treatment discontinuation, or unexpected hospitalization from starting to 30 days after treatment. Results: A total of 259 patients (male: 154, 59.5%; median age: 73.4, age range: 65–93) were enrolled in the study. Two hundred and ten (81.1%) patients received chemotherapy while the rest (n = 49, 18.9%) received targeted therapy. Overall, 146 patients (56.8%) experienced severe TRT. The mean G8 score was 12.4 (SD: 2.8). The G8 score had a significant association with unexpected admission (cutoff: 14, 41.3% vs. 26.5%, p = 0.03) but not significant in other types of TRTs. The mean CARG-tt score was 7.67 (SD: 3.7); it was not associated with severe TRTs. Conclusions: The G8 and CARG-tt demonstrated a weak prediction of severe TRT in older Chinese cancer patients. Future studies need to develop predictive tools for TRT in patients receiving novel antineoplastic therapies, with a focus on subgroup analysis for different populations

Antibody stabilization for thermally accelerated deep immunostaining

Antibodies have diverse applications due to their high reaction specificities but are sensitive to denaturation when a higher working temperature is required. We have developed a simple, highly scalable and generalizable chemical approach for stabilizing off-the-shelf antibodies against thermal and chemical denaturation. We demonstrate that the stabilized antibodies (termed SPEARs) can withstand up to 4 weeks of continuous heating at 55 °C and harsh denaturants, and apply our method to 33 tested antibodies. SPEARs enable flexible applications of thermocycling and denaturants to dynamically modulate their binding kinetics, reaction equilibrium, macromolecular diffusivity and aggregation propensity. In particular, we show that SPEARs permit the use of a thermally facilitated three-dimensional immunolabeling strategy (termed ThICK staining), achieving whole mouse brain immunolabeling within 72 h, as well as nearly fourfold deeper penetration with threefold less antibodies in human brain tissue. With faster deep-tissue immunolabeling and broad compatibility with tissue processing and clearing methods without the need for any specialized equipment, we anticipate the wide applicability of ThICK staining with SPEARs for deep immunostaining

A study of the concerns and practices of the heads of geography departments in the implementation of environmental education insecondary schools of Hong Kong

published_or_final_versionEducationMasterMaster of Educatio

An enhanced compact waffle MOSFET with low drain capacitance from a standard submicron CMOS technology

A compact waffle MOSFET using an enhanced waffle-layout strategy is presented together with the comparison with the traditional waffle design. The enhanced compact waffle MOSFET's have been fabricated using a 0.35-mum standard CMOS process. The true compactness of the enhanced compact waffle design is verified by the experimental results which show a reduction of about 25\% in drain diffusion capacitance per unit transistor width but without any performance compromise in driving current, transconductance and subthreshold characteristics of the waffle MOSFET. With its compactness, the enhanced waffle layout uses about 35\% less active device area compared with the multifinger counterpart. All these benefits are obtained without any extra processing cost. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Neovascular glaucoma developing after uncomplicated cataract surgery for heavily irradiated eyes

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of cataract surgery and postoperative panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) on the development of neovascular glaucoma (NVG) in heavily irradiated eyes. Patients and Methods: The authors performed a retrospective study on the incidence of NVG in 90 eyes that had received megavoltage external beam irradiation at a retinal dose of 56 to 80 Gy and that had at least 48 months of follow-up. These eyes were categorized into different groups depending on whether cataract surgery or PRP was performed. Rates and proportions of NVG occurring in these groups were compared and analyzed with one-tailed Fisher's exact test. Results: The incidence of NVG was significantly higher in patients who underwent cataract surgery without postoperative PRP (P < 0.01). Neovascular glaucoma did not develop in any patient who underwent cataract surgery and PRP. Conclusions: Cataract surgery may accelerate the development of NVG in heavily irradiated eyes. Photoablation of ischemic retina is recommended before cataract surgery or soon thereafter if cataract density precludes laser treatment.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Adverse lifestyle leads to an annual excess of 2 million deaths in china

BACKGROUND: Adverse lifestyle factors have been associated with increased mortality, but data are lacking on their combined effect in developing populations, which we address in the present study. METHODS: In a death registry-based, case-control study among Hong Kong Chinese aged 30+y, proxy-reported lifestyle factors 10 y ago were collected for 21,363 cases (81% of all deaths) and 12,048 living controls. Risks associated with poor diet, inactivity, heavy alcohol intake, and smoking for all-cause and cause-specific mortality, adjusting for potential confounders, were determined, and excess deaths for the Chinese population were calculated. RESULTS: Adjusted odds ratios for all-cause mortality were 1.15 (95% CI 1.09, 1.23), 1.34 (1.27, 1.43), 1.36 (1.21, 1.52), and 1.58 (1.46, 1.70) for poor diet, inactivity, heavy alcohol intake and smoking, respectively. Increasing numbers of adverse lifestyle factors were associated with a dose-dependent increase in adjusted odds ratios of 1.30 (1.20, 1.40), 1.67 (1.54, 1.81), 2.32 (2.08, 2.60), and 3.85 (3.12, 4.75) for 1, 2, 3, and 4 risk factors relative to those with none. The population attributable fraction for all-cause, all-CVD and all-cancer mortality were 26.6%, 15.0%, and 32.1%, resulting in an excess of 2,017,541; 489,884; and 607,517 deaths annually, respectively. Although smoking was associated with the greatest excess loss of life (867,530), heavy drinking (680,466), and physical inactivity (678,317) were similarly important. CONCLUSION: Adverse lifestyle factors contribute to one quarter of all deaths in China. Improving lifestyle practices, particularly focussing on moderating alcohol intake and increasing activity, and smoking cessation are critical to reducing the lifestyle-associated health burden