Hong Kong's Mandatory Provident Fund system : a study of the evolution of governance and policy tools

published_or_final_versionPolitics and Public AdministrationMasterMaster of Public Administratio

Age composition and survival of public housing stock in Hong Kong

Emerging notably in more developed regions, building stock ageing which is characterised by shrinking new completions and falling “mortality” has been posing challenges to various stakeholders in built environment. To find way out of this transition, we need to know how long buildings will last these days and the factors leading to their “mortality”. By using data from 1950s till to date, a comprehensive investigation is conducted to analyse the age composition and life expectancy of public housing stock in Hong Kong. What comes after are survival analysis and empirical analysis of those demolished to identify the key factors leading to demolition. Presented in this paper are the preliminary findings as well as the research agenda on the theme to model age composition and survival of both private and public building stocks in Hong Kong and other similar cities in Asia Pacific Rim such as Adelaide and Singapore, together with research activities to formulate policies for sustainable urban management

Unveiling unique clinical phenotypes of hip fracture patients and the temporal association with cardiovascular events

Cardiovascular events are the leading cause of death among hip fracture patients. This study aims to identify subphenotypes of hip fracture patients and investigate their association with incident cardiovascular events, all-cause mortality, and health service utilisation in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom populations. By the latent class analysis, we show three distinct clusters in the Hong Kong cohort (n = 78,417): Cluster 1 has cerebrovascular and hypertensive diseases, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes; Cluster 2 has congestive heart failure; Cluster 3 consists of relatively healthy patients. Compared to Cluster 3, higher risks of major adverse cardiovascular events are observed in Cluster 1 (hazard ratio 1.97, 95% CI 1.83 to 2.12) and Cluster 2 (hazard ratio 4.06, 95% CI 3.78 to 4.35). Clusters 1 and 2 are also associated with a higher risk of mortality, more unplanned accident and emergency visits and longer hospital stays. Self-controlled case series analysis shows a significantly elevated risk of major adverse cardiovascular events within 60 days post-hip fracture. Similar associations are observed in the United Kingdom cohort (n = 27,948). Pre-existing heart failure is identified as a unique subphenotype associated with poor prognosis after hip fractures

Comparing hybrid and regular COVID-19 vaccine-induced immunity against the Omicron epidemic

Evidence on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines among people who recovered from a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection is warranted to inform vaccination recommendations. Using the territory-wide public healthcare and vaccination records of over 2.5 million individuals in Hong Kong, we examined the potentially differential risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization, and mortality between those receiving two homologous doses of BNT162b2 or CoronaVac versus those with a previous infection receiving only one dose amid the Omicron epidemic. Results show a single dose after a SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with a lower risk of infection (BNT162b2: adjusted incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 0.475, 95% CI: 0.410–0.550; CoronaVac: adjusted IRR = 0.397, 95% CI: 0.309–0.511) and no significant difference was detected in the risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization or mortality compared with a two-dose vaccination regimen. Findings support clinical recommendations that those with a previous infection could receive a single dose to gain at least similar protection as those who received two doses without a previous infection

Carboxyl-terminal truncated HBx regulates a distinct microRNA transcription program in Hepatocellular carcinoma development

Background: The biological pathways and functional properties by which misexpressed microRNAs (miRNAs) contribute to liver carcinogenesis have been intensively investigated. However, little is known about the upstream mechanisms that deregulate miRNA expressions in this process. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), hepatitis B virus (HBV) X protein (HBx), a transcriptional trans-activator, is frequently expressed in truncated form without carboxyl-terminus but its role in miRNA expression and HCC development is unclear. Methods: Human non-tumorigenic hepatocytes were infected with lentivirus-expressing full-length and carboxyl-terminal truncated HBx (Ct-HBx) for cell growth assay and miRNA profiling. Chromatin immunoprecipitation microarray was performed to identify the miRNA promoters directly associated with HBx. Direct transcriptional control was verified by luciferase reporter assay. The differential miRNA expressions were further validated in a cohort of HBV-associated HCC tissues using real-time PCR. Results: Hepatocytes expressing Ct-HBx grew significantly faster than the full-length HBx counterparts. Ct-HBx decreased while full-length HBx increased the expression of a set of miRNAs with growth-suppressive functions. Interestingly, Ct-HBx bound to and inhibited the transcriptional activity of some of these miRNA promoters. Notably, some of the examined repressed-miRNAs (miR-26a, -29c, -146a and -190) were also significantly down-regulated in a subset of HCC tissues with carboxyl-terminal HBx truncation compared to their matching non-tumor tissues, highlighting the clinical relevance of our data. Conclusion: Our results suggest that Ct-HBx directly regulates miRNA transcription and in turn promotes hepatocellular proliferation, thus revealing a viral contribution of miRNA deregulation during hepatocarcinogenesis. © 2011 Yip et al.published_or_final_versio

Meta-analysis Followed by Replication Identifies Loci in or near CDKN1B, TET3, CD80, DRAM1, and ARID5B as Associated with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Asians

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototype autoimmune disease with a strong genetic involvement and ethnic differences. Susceptibility genes identified so far only explain a small portion of the genetic heritability of SLE, suggesting that many more loci are yet to be uncovered for this disease. In this study, we performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on SLE in Chinese Han populations and followed up the findings by replication in four additional Asian cohorts with a total of 5,365 cases and 10,054 corresponding controls. We identified genetic variants in or near CDKN1B, TET3, CD80, DRAM1, and ARID5B as associated with the disease. These findings point to potential roles of cell-cycle regulation, autophagy, and DNA demethylation in SLE pathogenesis. For the region involving TET3 and that involving CDKN1B, multiple independent SNPs were identified, highlighting a phenomenon that might partially explain the missing heritability of complex diseases

Understanding mental distress in young people from a migrant background in Australia through photo-interviewing

© 2017 Dr Kelvin Wing-Kei LauYoung people from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background in Australia are reluctant to engage with formal support services when they experience mental health problems, and are under-represented amongst the users of such services. These discrepancies in service engagement may be the result of differences in how they identify and explain mental distress experiences in comparison with the prevailing perspectives within the Australian health system. Kleinman described this conceptually as a conflict between “the cultural construction of clinical realities”. I had the following aims for this research project: to discover how young people from a CALD migrant background identified and described their experiences of mental distress, to identify the explanatory models and belief systems they utilised to understand these experiences, and to explore how their responses to these experiences – including any interactions with formal mental health services – were influenced by these understandings. Knowledge of these explanatory models and belief systems can inform the enhancement of existing mental health services, as well as provide fresh opportunities for the development of new services and programs with greater appeal and perceived relevance for this population. Fifteen participants between 18-25 years of age from a CALD migrant background and residing in Melbourne, Australia engaged with ‘photo-interviewing’ to express personal mental distress narratives. They each created up to 20 photographs that represented their mental health and distress experiences, and discussed the meaning of these photographs within the setting of an open qualitative interview. This method encouraged rich descriptions, reflective interpretation, and a storied expression of their lived experiences. The interview transcripts were analysed for themes that were relevant to how they identified, explained, and responded to these mental distress experiences. A variety of colloquial and psychological terms were used interchangeably to identify mental distress, as well as temporally situated accounts that did not utilise signifying terminology. Mental distress was explained as the result of disruptions to self-identity, social identity, and established social connections. ‘Self-identity’ referred to idealised concepts of the self that participants had either lost, aspired to attain, or sought to escape; whilst ‘social identity’ referred to their value and status amongst peers, family, and the broader community. These notions of identity were influenced by archetypal social roles and values embedded within their cultural background, and were subject to challenges from their interactions with Australian society. Separation from trusted social connections due to their migration journey resulted in disruptions to their informal support networks and their established social identities. The participants favoured self-directed actions and receiving informal social support over the engagement of formal support services. These actions were directed towards the restoration of a spoiled identity and a sense of social belonging. These findings suggest that young people from a CALD migrant background would benefit from multidisciplinary support interventions that address concerns related to disrupted identities, promote post-migration social inclusion, and build upon the capacity of informal social supports to facilitate their engagement with formal mental health services

Comparison of Ni/Au, ITO, and ATO-based current spreading layers for near-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, optical transmittance, and light output power measurements were performed to investigate different contact schemes including Ni (5 nm)/Au (5 nm), Ag (0.5 nm)/ITO (100 nm), and Ag (0.5 nm)/ITO (5 nm)/ATO (150 nm) for near-ultraviolet (∼400 nm) III-nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Ag/ITO contacts show the highest transmittance of 98.73 % at 406 nm when annealed at a temperature of 700 °C for 5 minutes in air. The lowest forward voltage of LEDs with Ag/ITO contacts is 3.29 V at 20 mA compared to 3.16 V of Ni/Au contacts annealed at 570 °C for 5 minutes in air. E-beam evaporated Ag/ITO/ATO contacts, on the other hand, give somewhat higher forward voltage at 3.36 V after annealing, but high transmittance of ATO-based contacts at short wavelength regions shows its potential applicability to very short wavelength UV LEDs. © 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA