A diarylamine derived from anthranilic acid inhibits ZIKV replication

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted Flavivirus, originally identified in Uganda in 1947 and recently associated with a large outbreak in South America. Despite extensive efforts there are currently no approved antiviral compounds for treatment of ZIKV infection. Here we describe the antiviral activity of diarylamines derived from anthranilic acid (FAMs) against ZIKV. A synthetic FAM (E3) demonstrated anti-ZIKV potential by reducing viral replication up to 86%. We analyzed the possible mechanisms of action of FAM E3 by evaluating the intercalation of this compound into the viral dsRNA and its interaction with the RNA polymerase of bacteriophage SP6. However, FAM E3 did not act by these mechanisms. In silico results predicted that FAM E3 might bind to the ZIKV NS3 helicase suggesting that this protein could be one possible target of this compound. To test this, the thermal stability and the ATPase activity of the ZIKV NS3 helicase domain (NS3Hel) were investigated in vitro and we demonstrated that FAM E3 could indeed bind to and stabilize NS3Hel

Spatial navigation deficits — overlooked cognitive marker for preclinical Alzheimer disease?

Detection of incipient Alzheimer disease (AD) pathophysiology is critical to identify preclinical individuals and target potentially disease-modifying therapies towards them. Current neuroimaging and biomarker research is strongly focused in this direction, with the aim of establishing AD fingerprints to identify individuals at high risk of developing this disease. By contrast, cognitive fingerprints for incipient AD are virtually non-existent as diagnostics and outcomes measures are still focused on episodic memory deficits as the gold standard for AD, despite their low sensitivity and specificity for identifying at-risk individuals. This Review highlights a novel feature of cognitive evaluation for incipient AD by focusing on spatial navigation and orientation deficits, which are increasingly shown to be present in at-risk individuals. Importantly, the navigation system in the brain overlaps substantially with the regions affected by AD in both animal models and humans. Notably, spatial navigation has fewer verbal, cultural and educational biases than current cognitive tests and could enable a more uniform, global approach towards cognitive fingerprints of AD and better cognitive treatment outcome measures in future multicentre trials. The current Review appraises the available evidence for spatial navigation and/or orientation deficits in preclinical, prodromal and confirmed AD and identifies research gaps and future research priorities

Health Education And Lifestyle In Hong Kong Young People

A healthy lifestyle determines a person's long-term health more than any other behaviour. A lifetime of health education should begin during childhood and carry on throughout adolescence. In Hong Kong, however, health education for young people in secondary schools is limited to biology and physical education lesson. As a result of less attention paid to lifestyle and health consciousness, serious health problems can ensue. This study will investigate the experience of Hong Kong young people (N=150) with regard to health education, their actual lifestyles and attempt to identify the predictors of health behaviour. The data and results obtained will be crucial for designing an effective health promotion programme for young people in the future

Self-mutilation in Hong Kong adolescents

Abstrac

Relation of early sexual maturation to body image disturbance and depressive symptoms in Hong Kong Chinese girls and boys: A prospective study

Most of the large variety of non-destructive methods and their associated measurement instruments for flow, multilayer and crack detection are based on two physical principles: eddy-current monitoring and ultrasonic pulse- echo measurement. Application of the first one is limited by low spatial resolution and is useful for the study of magnetic metal samples. A well developed ultrasonic pulse-echo detection technique is free of such limitations, and can be used for quality control and material testing. Almost all commercially available ultrasonic NDT devices work at ultrasonic frequencies of 0.1 to 20 MHz and thus have spatial resolutions worse than 0.3–0.5 mm. Only simple evaluations of pulse-echo characteristics are usually made, such as determinations of transit time and maximum echo amplitude. As a result, ultrasonic inspection is used only to determine whether or not a test piece is free of discontinuities, and for thickness measurements