Perspectives of Chinese couples on their experience of assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment

The aim of this study is to explore the way in which Chinese couples experience and make sense of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment. An understanding of how infertile couples experience their infertility and ART treatment is essential if the development of supportive infertility care is to be effective. Experiential accounts of infertile Hong Kong Chinese couples have received little attention in the literature. This study is a phenomenological one, using the Husserlian philosophical approach. A purposive sample of 15 Hong Kong Chinese couples was selected for interview. Each of the participant couples were followed through one treatment cycle and interviewed separately on one, and jointly on two occasions; a total of 60 interviews were obtained. Data was generated from taped interviews and the researcher's field notes. Data was analyzed by using a modified Colaizzi (1978) method. By using a couple-centred approach, rich experiential data was obtained.Five mega themes emerged from the data: uncertainty posed by infertility, ART as a means to achieve biological parenthood, normalising the ART treatment process, dealing with the treatment outcome and making sense of ART treatment. The data demonstrated that infertility posed uncertainty for the couples and that their intentions for parenthood were shaped by personal, social and cultural factors. The ART process revealed the stressful nature of the treatment and how the couples attempted to normalise this by engaging in cognitive, affective and behavioural strategies to deal with the process. When the treatment failed, the couples used selective disclosure and spiritual faith to help them to process and accept their sense of loss. They developed a greater emotional awareness during the course of the treatment and afterwards, found they had gained a better sense of understanding of its complexities and its impact on them. Consequently, the couples began to reffame their lives and reproductive goals. The findings of this thesis will add to existing knowledge of Hong Kong Chinese couples' experiences of infertility and the ART treatment process. The implications for clinical practice, nursing education and research are discussed

Development of single-locus DNA microsatellite markers using 50anchored ISSR-PCR method for the mangrove horseshoe crab, Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda (Latreille, 1802) in Peninsular Malaysia

Horseshoe crabs are said to be declining worldwide. However, there is still no published report on the status of horseshoe crabs in Malaysia. Thus, we report here eight informative microsatellite markers that were developed using the 50-anchored ISSR-PCR enrichment procedure to diagnose the population genetic structure of the mangrove horseshoe crab, Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda from Peninsular Malaysia. This set of markers was tested on 127 samples and showed polymorphism in this species. Hence they should be useful in future essential population genetic studies of these living fossils in the Southeast Asian region

Association of social isolation with health status among community-dwelling Chinese older adults living with homecare services: a cross-sectional survey in Hong Kong

BackgroundDefined as having few social relationships or infrequent social contact with family, friends, and the community, social isolation is a public health crisis. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of social isolation and explore the association between social isolation and health status among community-dwelling Chinese Older Adults living with homecare services.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional survey with a structured questionnaire conducted among older adults aged ≥60 in the Central Kowloon District of Hong Kong during 2017–2018. Social isolation was assessed by the Lubben Social Network Scale-6 and a score less than 12 was defined as socially isolated. Six aspects of health status including fall risk, cognitive function, depression, activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and functional mobility were measured by standardized instruments. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was applied to estimate an index to represent the overall health status of the respondents. Multivariate logistic/linear regression models were applied to examine the associations between social isolation and health status after adjusting the sociodemographic characteristics.ResultsAmong the 1,616 participants included in this analysis, the mean age was 80.9 years, 66.3% were female and 41.4% were identified as socially isolated. Compared with the non-isolated group, the socially isolated group had higher proportions of males, divorced or unmarried, ever smoking and drinking, living alone, and living in public housing without religion. After adjusting for confounders, the odds ratios (OR) comparing the socially isolated vs. non-isolated groups were 2.52 (95%CI: 1.79, 3.56) for high fall risk, 1.51 (1.17, 1.94) for cognitive impairment, and 1.78 (1.31, 2.43) for depression. The socially isolated group increased the odds of abnormal ADL, IADL, and functional mobility by 105–150%, and decreased the overall health score by 5.30 (3.42, 7.18).ConclusionWe demonstrated the association of social isolation with poorer physical function and mental health and overall health status among the community-dwelling Chinese older adults living with homecare services. These findings provided new knowledge about the association of social isolation with both physical and mental function for daily living even for those receiving an integrated homecare service in the community. It implies that an unmet healthcare need existed when comparing the service scope of the current homecare services in the community. It also highlighted the need for targeted prevention and intervention initiatives among community-dwelling old adults to alleviate social isolation for better health and good functioning in the community

Shared Mycobacterium avium Genotypes Observed among Unlinked Clinical and Environmental Isolates

Our understanding of the sources of Mycobacterium avium infection is partially based on genotypic matching of pathogen isolates from cases and environmental sources. These approaches assume that genotypic identity is rare in isolates from unlinked cases or sources. To test this assumption, a high-resolution PCR-based genotyping approach, large-sequence polymorphism (LSP)-mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit–variable-number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR), was selected and used to analyze clinical and environmental isolates of M. avium from geographically diverse sources. Among 127 clinical isolates from seven locations in North America, South America, and Europe, 42 genotypes were observed. Among 12 of these genotypes, matches were seen in isolates from apparently unlinked patients in two or more geographic locations. Six of the 12 were also observed in environmental isolates. A subset of these isolates was further analyzed by alternative strain genotyping methods, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and MIRU-VNTR, which confirmed the existence of geographically dispersed strain genotypes. These results suggest that caution should be exercised in interpreting high-resolution genotypic matches as evidence for an acquisition event

Digital health promotion: promise and peril

The World Health Organization defines health promotion as process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health. As the world transitions into the information age, incorporating digital technologies into health promotion is becoming commonplace. This article discusses current applications of digital health promotion (DHP) and addresses its potential benefits, challenges, as well as how differences in cultures, governance models and digital readiness across the globe will shape the implementation of DHP differently in each society. The benefits include expanding access to health information and health promoting services, lowering scaling up costs, personalizing health advice and real-time ‘nudging’ toward healthier options. Key challenges would involve privacy control, appropriate use of data including secondary usage beyond the original intention, defining the limits of ‘nudging’ and the right of free choice, and ensuring widespread accessibility and affordability to minimize the exacerbation of social inequities. Finally, we discuss the enabling factors for successful DHP implementation, suggesting measures that should be taken at both individual and system levels. At the individual level, we explore the factors necessary to access and benefit from DHP meaningfully; at the system level, we examine the infrastructure required to provide wide access, establish trust among users and enable sustainability of behavioral changes.http://heapro.oxfordjournals.orghj2022Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog

The State of Homelessness in Nevada, 2020

This fact sheet examines data on homelessness in Nevada between 2007 and 2020. The original report, “State of Homelessness,” by the National Alliance to End Homelessness includes the number of homeless individuals that slept outside on any given night, how many beds in shelters went empty, and the number of homeless individuals per 10,000 individuals in each continuum of care in Nevada