Icteric flare of chronic hepatitis B in a 95-year old patient

A 95-year old gentleman developed fatal icteric flare of chronic hepatitis B despite lamivudine treatment. This article highlights the atypical presentations of chronic hepatitis B in elderly patient and the need to consider this possibility for acute fulminant hepatitis in endemic areas.published_or_final_versio

Viability of the health protection account in Hong Kong.

published_or_final_versio

Filtering of false positive microRNA candidates by a clustering-based approach

B M C BioinformaticsBackground: MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNA gene products that play diversified roles from species to species. The explosive growth of microRNA researches in recent years proves the importance of microRNAs in the biological system and it is believed that microRNAs have valuable therapeutic potentials in human diseases. Continual efforts are therefore required to locate and verify the unknown microRNAs in various genomes. As many miRNAs are found to be arranged in clusters, meaning that they are in close proximity with their neighboring miRNAs, we are interested in utilizing the concept of microRNA clustering and applying it in microRNA computational prediction. Results: We first validate the microRNA clustering phenomenon in the human, mouse and rat genomes. There are 45.45%, 51.86% and 48.67% of the total miRNAs that are clustered in the three genomes, respectively. We then conduct sequence and secondary structure similarity analyses among clustered miRNAs, non-clustered miRNAs, neighboring sequences of clustered miRNAs and random sequences, and find that clustered miRNAs are structurally more similar to one another, and the RNAdistance score can be used to assess the structural similarity between two sequences. We therefore design a clustering-based approach which utilizes this observation to filter false positives from a list of candidates generated by a selected microRNA prediction program, and successfully raise the positive predictive value by a considerable amount ranging from 15.23% to 23.19% in the human, mouse and rat genomes, while keeping a reasonably high sensitivity. Conclusion: Our clustering-based approach is able to increase the effectiveness of currently available microRNA prediction program by raising the positive predictive value while maintaining a high sensitivity, and hence can serve as a filtering step. We believe that it is worthwhile to carry out further experiments and tests with our approach using data from other genomes and other prediction software tools. Better results may be achieved with fine-tuning of parameters. © 2008 Leung et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.published_or_final_versio

Laser spectroscopy of LaS: Hyperfine structure in the B2Σ+-X2Σ+ (0,0) band

The B 2Σ +-X 2Σ + (0,0) band of LaS was studied using the technique of laser vaporization/reaction supersonic free jet expansion and laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy. The magnetic hyperfine structure caused by the 57 139La nucleus (I=7/2) was well resolved. Least-squares fit of the hyperfine transition line positions yielded a comprehensive set of rotational, spin, and hyperfine parameters for both the B 2Σ + and X 2Σ + states. The magnetic hyperfine parameters obtained were interpreted, which yielded information about the occupation of molecular orbitals giving rise to the states studied in this molecule.published_or_final_versio

Laser spectroscopy of NiI: Ground and low-lying electronic states

Rotationally resolved near-infrared and visible spectroscopic studies of the ground and low-lying electronic states of NiI were performed using the technique of laser vaporization/reaction with free jet expansion and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy. Two electronic transitions as well as isotopic molecules were analyzed. The electronic configurations that give rise to the X 2∏ 3/2 ground state for NiF, NiCl, and NiBr were determined.published_or_final_versio

The clinical course of polymyalgia rheumatica in Chinese

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is diagnosed based on clinical features that may overlap with other rheumatic conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Furthermore, a proportion of PMR patients may subsequently evolve into RA. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical characteristics of PMR patients in a Chinese cohort compared to a Caucasian series. Patients diagnosed to have PMR during 1997-2008 were reviewed for clinical features and compared to a reported Caucasian series. Rheumatoid factor (RF) and anticyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodies were determined by immunonephelometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. Forty-four patients of southern Chinese origin were diagnosed to have PMR according to specialist opinion. Seventy-five percent of patients (n = 33) were >65 years of age at diagnosis (mean ± standard deviation, 75.8 ± 9.6 years). The commonest feature at disease onset was elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate >40 mm/h (100% vs. 95.7%; p = 0.17) and bilateral shoulder pain or stiffness (95.5% vs. 90.8%; p = 0.31), comparable in frequency to the Caucasian cohort. However, Chinese patients had significantly longer duration of symptoms before diagnosis (p < 0.001) but less bilateral upper arm tenderness (p < 0.001) and generalized stiffness (p = 0.01). Twelve (27.3%) patients evolved into RA after a median duration of 2 months from onset of PMR. RF and anti-CCP antibodies were positive in 66.7% and 60% of these patients compared to 9.4% and 6.2%, respectively, among those who did not evolve into RA during the period observed. Chinese patients with PMR have modestly different clinical profile compared to the Caucasian counterpart. RF and anti-CCP antibodies were more likely to be present in those who subsequently developed into RA. © 2009 Clinical Rheumatology.postprin

Exposure to secondhand smoke from neighbours and respiratory symptoms in never-smoking adolescents in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional study

published_or_final_versio

Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in the Chinese population

Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism is a well-recognised major health problem in the West. There is a deep-rooted belief among clinicians that deep vein thrombosis is rare in Asians, particularly in the Chinese population. However, it appears that the incidence of venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism is increasing in Chinese patients. Prophylaxis reduces the incidence of venous thrombosis by 66% and of pulmonary embolism by 50%Ը? prophylaxis should therefore be considered for Chinese patients who have a high risk of developing postoperative deep vein thrombosis. This report reviews the current literature on this subject.published_or_final_versio

Aided smoking cessation and its association with smoking urge in the morning and smoking intention in Hong Kong adolescent ex-smokers

Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine Frontiers SeriesSession: Big Data and Precision Medicinee-Poster no. 21published_or_final_versio

Methods for estimating the case fatality ratio for a novel, emerging infectious disease.

During the course of an epidemic of a potentially fatal disease, it is important that the case fatality ratio be well estimated. The authors propose a novel method for doing so based on the Kaplan-Meier survival procedure, jointly considering two outcomes (death and recovery), and evaluate its performance by using data from the 2003 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong, People's Republic of China. They compare this estimate obtained at various points in the epidemic with the case fatality ratio eventually observed; with two commonly quoted, naïve estimates derived from cumulative incidence and mortality statistics at single time points; and with estimates in which a parametric mixture model is used. They demonstrate the importance of patient characteristics regarding outcome by analyzing subgroups defined by age at admission to the hospital