Influence of substrate heating on hole geometry and spatter area in femtosecond laser drilling of silicon

The objective of this research is to evaluate the effects of the hole geometry and the spatter area around the drilled hole by femtosecond laser deep drilling on silicon with various temperatures. Deep through holes were produced on single crystal silicon wafer femtosecond laser at elevated temperatures ranging from 300K to 873K in a step of 100K. The laser drilling efficiency is increased by 56% when the temperature is elevated from 300K to 873K. The spatter area is found to continuously decrease with increasing substrate temperature. The reason for such changes is discussed based on the enhanced laser energy absorption at the elevated temperature.open0

Development and characterization of poly-epsilon-caprolactone-based polymer electrolyte for lithium rechargeable battery development and characterization of poly-ε-caprolactone-based polymer electrolyte for lithium rechargeable battery

A biodegradable polymer electrolyte based on Poly-epsilon-caprolactone (PCL) with various level of concentrations of Lithium salt and plasticizer have been synthesized under both the ambient and vacuum environments. The ionic conductivity, morphology, topology and structural properties are examined using EIS, SEM and XRD respectively. Conductivity as high as 3.48E-(04) Scm(-1) and 4.99E(-04) Scm(-1) are obtained for the ambient and vacuum environment respectively. Ionic mobility is improved by increasing the amorphousity content of the polymer and degree of salt dissociation with plasticizer. Ionic conductivity is further enhanced with the addition Li salt to increase the free ions concentration. Ionic conductivity measurements are further supported by the XRD data which reveal that sample with higher amorphous content tends to show higher conductivity. The dielectric relaxation study in terms of characteristic of the structural molecular interaction and ionic transportation properties are also carried out. Both of the conductivity and XRD results are further verified by SEM images

Evaluating the health-related quality of life of the rare disease population in Hong Kong using EQ-5D 3-level

Objectives This study aimed to establish a normative profile of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of the rare disease (RD) population in Hong Kong (HK) and identify potential predictors. Methods Between March 2020 and October 2020, patients with RD and caregivers were recruited through Rare Disease Hong Kong, the largest RD patient group alliance in HK. HRQOL was derived using the EQ-5D 3-Level with reference to the established HK value set. Utility scores were stratified according to demographics and disease-related information. Multiple linear regression was performed to explore the associations between patient characteristics and HRQOL. Results A total of 286 patients, covering 107 unique RDs, reported a mean utility score of 0.53 (SD 0.36). Thirty patients (10.5%) reported negative utility scores, indicating worse-than-death health states. More problems were recorded in the “usual activities” and “self-care” dimensions. Univariate analyses revealed that neurologic diseases, high out-of-pocket expenditure, home modification, and living in public housing or subdivided flats/units were significantly associated with lower HRQOL. A total of 99 caregivers reported a mean utility score of 0.78 (SD 0.17), which was significantly associated with the utility score of patients they took care of (r = 0.32; P = .001). Conclusions The normative profile of the RD population was established, which revealed lower HRQOL in the RD population than other chronic disease groups and general population in HK. Findings were corroborated by evidence from other cohorts using EQ-5D, combined as part of a meta-analysis. Identifying predictors highlight areas that should be prioritized to improve HRQOL of RD population through clinical and psychosocial dimensions

Client Service Receipt Inventory as a standardised tool for measurement of socio-economic costs in the rare genetic disease population (CSRI-Ra)

The measurement of costs is fundamental in healthcare decision-making, but it is often challenging. In particular, standardised methods have not been developed in the rare genetic disease population. A reliable and valid tool is critical for research to be locally meaningful yet internationally comparable. Herein, we sought to develop, contextualise, translate, and validate the Client Service Receipt Inventory for the RAre disease population (CSRI-Ra) to be used in cost-of-illness studies and economic evaluations for healthcare planning. Through expert panel discussions and focus group meetings involving 17 rare disease patients, carers, and healthcare and social care professionals from Hong Kong, we have developed the CSRI-Ra. Rounds of forward and backward translations were performed by bilingual researchers, and face validity and semantic equivalence were achieved through interviews and telephone communications with focus group participants and an additional of 13 healthcare professional and university students. Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess criterion validity between CSRI-Ra and electronic patient record in a sample of 94 rare disease patients and carers, with overall ICC being 0.69 (95% CI 0.56–0.78), indicating moderate to good agreement. Following rounds of revision in the development, contextualisation, translation, and validation stages, the CSRI-Ra is ready for use in empirical research. The CSRI-Ra provides a sufficiently standardised yet adaptable method for collecting socio-economic data related to rare genetic diseases. This is important for near-term and long-term monitoring of the resource consequences of rare diseases, and it provides a tool for use in economic evaluations in the future, thereby helping to inform planning for efficient and effective healthcare. Adaptation of the CSRI-Ra to other populations would facilitate international research

The aminobisphosphonate pamidronate controls influenza pathogenesis by expanding a γδ T cell population in humanized mice

As shown in humanized mice, a population of Vγ9Vδ2 T cells can reduce the severity and mortality of disease caused by infection with human and avian influenza viruses

Health and social care service utilisation and associated expenditure among community-dwelling older adults with depressive symptoms

AIMS: Late-life depression has substantial impacts on individuals, families and society. Knowledge gaps remain in estimating the economic impacts associated with late-life depression by symptom severity, which has implications for resource prioritisation and research design (such as in modelling). This study examined the incremental health and social care expenditure of depressive symptoms by severity. METHODS: We analysed data collected from 2707 older adults aged 60 years and over in Hong Kong. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Client Service Receipt Inventory were used, respectively, to measure depressive symptoms and service utilisation as a basis for calculating care expenditure. Two-part models were used to estimate the incremental expenditure associated with symptom severity over 1 year. RESULTS: The average PHQ-9 score was 6.3 (standard deviation, s.d. = 4.0). The percentages of respondents with mild, moderate and moderately severe symptoms and non-depressed were 51.8%, 13.5%, 3.7% and 31.0%, respectively. Overall, the moderately severe group generated the largest average incremental expenditure (US$5886; 95$3849; 95% CI 2520-5177 or a 176% increase) and the moderate group (US$1843; 95$691; 95% CI 444-939), then gradually fell to negative between scores of 12 (US$- 35; 95$ -171; 95% CI - 417 to 76) and soared to positive and rebounded at the score of 23 (US$601; 95% CI -1652 to 2854). CONCLUSIONS: The association between depressive symptoms and care expenditure is stronger among older adults with mild and moderately severe symptoms. Older adults with the same symptom severity have different care utilisation and expenditure patterns. Non-psychiatric healthcare is the major cost element. These findings inform ways to optimise policy efforts to improve the financial sustainability of health and long-term care systems, including the involvement of primary care physicians and other geriatric healthcare providers in preventing and treating depression among older adults and related budgeting and accounting issues across services

Immunofluorescence Assay for Serologic Diagnosis of SARS

We evaluated a virus-infected cell-based indirect immunofluorescence assay for detecting anti–severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibody. All confirmed SARS cases demonstrated seroconversion or fourfold rise in IgG antibody titer; no control was positive. Sensitivity and specificity of this assay were both 100%. Immunofluorescence assay can ascertain the status of SARS-CoV infection

System identification of an enclosure with leakages using a probabilistic approach

This paper presents a model-based method for the system identification of a rectangular enclosure with an unknown number of air leakages subjected to uniform external noise, according to the probabilistic approach. The method aims to identify the number and corresponding locations and sizes of air leakages utilizing a set of measured, interior, sound pressure data in the frequency domain. System identification of an enclosure with an unknown number of air leakages is not trivial. Different classes of acoustic models are required to simulate an enclosure with different numbers of leakages. By following the traditional system of identification techniques, the "optimal" class of models is selected by minimizing the discrepancy between the measured and modeled interior sound pressure. By doing this, the most complicated model class (that is, the one with the highest number of uncertain parameters) will always be selected. Therefore, the traditional system identification techniques found in the literature to date cannot be employed to solve this problem. Our proposed system identification methodology relies on the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) to identify accurately the number of leakages in an enclosure. Unlike all deterministic system identification approaches, the proposed methodology aims to calculate the posterior (updated) probability density function (PDF) of leakage locations and sizes. Therefore, the uncertainties introduced by measurement noise and modeling error can be explicitly addressed. The coefficient of variable (COV) of uncertain parameters, which can be easily calculated from the PDF, provides valuable information about the reliability of the identification results. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.H. F. Lam, C. T. Ng, Y. Y. Lee and H. Y. Sunhttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622899/description#descriptio

Surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse in Hong Kong: Validation of an analytical tool

© 2015, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Press. All rights reserved. Objective: To validate a locally developed chromatography-based method to monitor emerging drugs of abuse whilst performing regular drug testing in abusers. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Eleven regional hospitals, seven social service units, and a tertiary level clinical toxicology laboratory in Hong Kong. Participants: A total of 972 drug abusers and high-risk individuals were recruited from acute, rehabilitation, and high-risk settings between 1 November 2011 and 31 July 2013. A subset of the participants was of South Asian ethnicity. In total, 2000 urine or hair specimens were collected. Main outcome measures: Proof of concept that surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse can be performed whilst conducting routine drug of abuse testing in patients. Results: The method was successfully applied to 2000 samples with three emerging drugs of abuse detected in five samples: PMMA (paramethoxymethamphetamine), TFMPP [1-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)piperazine], and methcathinone. The method also detected conventional drugs of abuse, with codeine, methadone, heroin, methamphetamine, and ketamine being the most frequently detected drugs. Other findings included the observation that South Asians had significantly higher rates of using opiates such as heroin, methadone, and codeine; and that ketamine and cocaine had significantly higher detection rates in acute subjects compared with the rehabilitation population. Conclusions: This locally developed analytical method is a valid tool for simultaneous surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse and routine drug monitoring of patients at minimal additional cost and effort. Continued, proactive surveillance and early identification of emerging drugs will facilitate prompt clinical, social, and legislative management.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex