Suicide in Hong Kong: A case-control psychological autopsy study

Background. The relative contribution of psychosocial and clinical risk factors to suicide among Chinese populations is an important issue. In Hong Kong, this issue requires vigorous examination in light of a 50% increase in suicide rate between 1997 and 2003. Method. Using a case-control psychological autopsy method, 150 suicide deceased were compared with 150 living controls matched by age and gender. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the next-of-kin of the subjects. Data were collected on a wide range of potential risk and protective factors, including demographic, life event, clinical and psychological variables. The relative contribution of these factors towards suicide was examined in a multiple logistic regression model. Results. Six factors were found to significantly and independently contribute to suicide: unemployment, indebtedness, being single, social support, psychiatric illness, and history of past attempts. Conclusions. Both psychosocial and clinical factors are important in suicides in Hong Kong. They seem to have mediated suicide risk independently. In addition, socio-economic adversities seem to have played a relatively important role in the increasing suicide rate in Hong Kong. © 2006 Cambridge University Press.published_or_final_versio

Young Chinese medical students adapt well to problem-based learning

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Medical school culture: more positive than you think

Conference Theme: Inspire... and be inspiredFree e-bookSession 2BB - Posters: Career Choice/Education Environment: abstract 2BB13BACKGROUND: As students progress from junior to senior medical undergraduates, their development as doctors is influenced not only by the taught curriculum but also by the prevailing medical school culture which has been characterised in other studies as competitive, hierarchical and at times, abusive. This has implications on the development of the professional attitudes and behaviours expected of medical graduates. We aim to describe students’ perception of medical school culture in an Asian setting, conceptualised as the behaviours, attitudes, values and customs of the medical school and the people within it. SUMMARY OF WORK: This was a qualitative study of medical students in the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong. Between June 2010 to January 2011, students were identified through random and quota sampling and 31 participated in individual semi-structured interviews. A grounded theory approach was used to determine common themes in students’ perceptions. SUMMARY OF RESULTS: Medical school culture was categorized into peer-related, student-teacher-related, and institutional-related themes. Most of the subthemes were positive with 27% of these referring to positive peer interactions such as cooperative learning, willingness to help and provision of emotional support. CONCLUSIONS: Positive peer behaviour and attitude were perceived as the predominant features of medical school culture. TAKE-HOME MESSAGES: The role of peers in defining medical school culture is significant and may exert a powerful influence on the developing doctor.link_to_OA_fulltex

CHINA’S EXCHANGE RATE SYSTEM REFORM: TWO POTENTIAL MISTAKES AND THE RECOMMENDED LONG-TERM SYSTEM

Further to the author's recommended transitory and medium-term exchange rate system reforms that was implemented in China since July 2005, this paper explains that: (1) a long-term reform towards a floating exchange rate system with free capital mobility will cause huge damages to the Chinese economy. It then proposes a long-term exchange rate system that would probably benefit China the most; and (2) there is a serious mistake in China's latest exchange rate policy: The Chinese central bank has mistakenly allowed the renminbi exchange rate to rise with the strong rebound of the US dollar. This will cause not only a substantial drag in China's export and GDP growth, but will also eventually make China's financial and economic system vulnerable to a highly disruptive correction in the renminbi exchange rate

The impact of managerial networking intensity and market-based strategies on firm growth during institutional upheaval:a study of small and medium-sized enterprises in a transition economy

Varying institutional environments provide the foundation for a great deal of international business research, yet relatively little empirical work has examined the determinants of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth during institutional upheaval, although the importance of SME development for economic transition and growth is widely acknowledged. Our paper addresses this gap in the literature by examining how the competitive strategies of SMEs evolve during institutional transitions, and assessing the implications for firm growth. Using data collected from 135 SMEs in 1993, and 200 SMEs in 2001, we find that managerial networking intensity (i.e., developing and maintaining relationships that may be used for business purposes) declines markedly over time, whereas the importance of market-based strategies increases. Managerial networking intensity is strongly associated with firm growth early in the institutional transition process, but not later. Market-based strategies are not associated with firm growth in either time period. Drawing on convergent insights from multiple theoretical perspectives, we argue that changes in strategy are concurrently driven by socially constructed norms that legitimize new ways of competing and delegitimize old ones, and by knowledge acquisition and learning, which provide managers with a more diverse set of tools with which to exercise their strategic choices

Search for heavy neutral Higgs bosons in 2-doublet models

A search for pair production of neutral heavy Higgs bosons decaying into has been carried out in a study of hadronic decays of the Z boson into four jet final states using data taken by DELPHI in 1991 and 1992. The two production mechanisms present in the two Higgs doublets scheme, bremsstrahlung production of hZ* and associated production of hA, may lead to four beauty jets well recognizable using the precise microvertex detector measurements. No evidence for a signal was found, leading to limits on BR(Z -->, hA --> 4b) from 3.5 to 5.5 x 10(-4) at 95% confidence level, depending on the mass of the ligthest Higgs. When combined with the results of the recent DELPHI standard Higgs search, this result allows the kinematical limit to be reached for the masses of h and A in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) scheme. It also allows the tan beta less than or equal to 1 domain to be explored, and a region above the kinematic limit for direct hA production is constrained by considering virtual hA production. Results are also given in the general two-doublet scheme

Measurement of the partial decay width R(b)(0)=Gamma(b(b)over-bar)/Gamma(had) of the Z with the DELPHI detector at LEP

The partial decay width of the Z to quark pairs has been measured by the DELPHI detector at LEP. B-hadrons, containing b-quarks, were tagged by several methods using tracks with large impact parameters to the primary vertex complemented sometimes by event shape variables or using leptons with high transverse momentum relative to the hadron. In order to reduce the systematic uncertainties, in all methods the b-tagging efficiency has been extracted directly from the data. Combining all methods, the value: Gamma()/Gamma(had) = 0.2216 +/- 0.0016(stat.) +/- 0.0021(syst.) was found, where the production fraction was fixed to its Standard Model value

FIRST MEASUREMENT OF THE STRANGE QUARK ASYMMETRY AT THE Z(0) PEAK

A measurement of the strange quark forward-backward asymmetry at the Z(0) peak was performed using 718,000 multihadronic Z(0) decays collected by the DELPHI detector at LEP in 1992. The s-quark was tagged by the presence of high momentum charged kaons identified by the Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector and by Lambda(0)'s decaying into p pi(-). The s-quark purity obtained was estimated for the two hadrons to be 43%. The average s-quark asymmetry was found to be 0.131 +/- 0.035 (stat.) +/- 0.013 (syst.). The forward-backward asymmetry was measured for unresolved d- and s-quarks, tagged by the detection of a high energy neutron or neutral kaon in the Hadron Calorimeter. The combined d- and s-quark purity was 69% and their asymmetry was found to be 0.112 +/- 0.031 (stat.) +/- 0.054 (syst.)