Impact of Secondhand Smoke Exposure on Smoking Cessation in Cardiac Patients

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Second-hand smoke exposure and health-related quality of life in never smokers: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Family Project

Conference Theme: Tobacco and Non-Communicable DiseasesOral Presentation - 08. Smoke-Free Environments: no. OP-243-20BACKGROUND: Despite the mounted evidence on the adverse health effects of secondhand smoke (SHS), the evidence is limited on the relation between SHS exposure and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). METHODS: SHS exposure was self-reported by a probability sample of adult never smokers aged 18 or above from the 2010, 2012 and 2013 waves of The Hong Kong Family and Health Information Trends Survey (FHinTs) of FAMILY Project (www.family.org.hk). HRQoL was measured using the validated Cantonese version of Short Form 12 …published_or_final_versio

Effectiveness of additional follow-up telephone counseling in a smoking cessation clinic in Beijing and predictors of quitting among Chinese male smokers

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Transmission of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus in the long term care facilities in Hong Kong

Background The relative contribution of long term care facilities (LTCFs) and hospitals in the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is unknown. Methods Concurrent MRSA screening and spa type analysis was performed in LTCFs and their network hospitals to estimate the rate of MRSA acquisition among residents during their stay in LTCFs and hospitals, by colonization pressure and MRSA transmission calculations. Results In 40 LTCFs, 436 (21.6%) of 2020 residents were identified as ‘MRSA-positive’. The incidence of MRSA transmission per 1000-colonization-days among the residents during their stay in LTCFs and hospitals were 309 and 113 respectively, while the colonization pressure in LTCFs and hospitals were 210 and 185 per 1000-patient-days respectively. MRSA spa type t1081 was the most commonly isolated linage in both LTCF residents (76/121, 62.8%) and hospitalized patients (51/87, 58.6%), while type t4677 was significantly associated with LTCF residents (24/121, 19.8%) compared with hospitalized patients (3/87, 3.4%) (p < 0.001). This suggested continuous transmission of MRSA t4677 among LTCF residents. Also, an inverse linear relationship between MRSA prevalence in LTCFs and the average living area per LTCF resident was observed (Pearson correlation −0.443, p = 0.004), with the odds of patients acquiring MRSA reduced by a factor of 0.90 for each 10 square feet increase in living area. Conclusions Our data suggest that MRSA transmission was more serious in LTCFs than in hospitals. Infection control should be focused on LTCFs in order to reduce the burden of MRSA carriers in healthcare settings.published_or_final_versio

Systematic Identification of Spontaneous Preterm Birth-Associated RNA Transcripts in Maternal Plasma

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Spontaneous preterm birth (SPB, before 37 gestational weeks) is a major cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity, but its pathogenesis remains unclear. Studies on SPB have been hampered by the limited availability of markers for SPB in predelivery clinical samples that can be easily compared with gestational age-matched normal controls. We hypothesize that SPB involves aberrant placental RNA expression, and that such RNA transcripts can be detected in predelivery maternal plasma samples, which can be compared with gestational age-matched controls.</p> <h3>Principal Findings</h3><p>Using gene expression microarray to profile essentially all human genes, we observed that 426 probe signals were changed by >2.9-fold in the SPB placentas, compared with the spontaneous term birth (STB) placentas. Among the genes represented by those probes, we observed an over-representation of functions in RNA stabilization, extracellular matrix binding, and acute inflammatory response. Using RT-quantitative PCR, we observed differences in the RNA concentrations of certain genes only between the SPB and STB placentas, but not between the STB and term elective cesarean delivery placentas. Notably, 36 RNA transcripts were observed at placental microarray signals higher than a threshold, which indicated the possibility of their detection in maternal plasma. Among them, the <em>IL1RL1</em> mRNA was tested in plasma samples taken from 37 women. It was detected in 6 of 10 (60%) plasma samples collected during the presentation of preterm labor (≤32.9 weeks) in women eventually giving SPB, but was detected in only 1 of 27 (4%) samples collected during matched gestational weeks from women with no preterm labor (Fisher exact test, p = 0.00056).</p> <h3>Conclusion</h3><p>We have identified 36 SPB-associated RNA transcripts, which are possibly detectable in maternal plasma. We have illustrated that the <em>IL1RL1</em> mRNA was more frequently detected in predelivery maternal plasma samples collected from women resulting in SPB than the gestational-age matched controls.</p> </div

Comparison of CRISPR/Cas endonucleases for in vivo retinal gene editing

CRISPR/Cas has opened the prospect of direct gene correction therapy for someinherited retinal diseases. Previous work has demonstrated the utility of adenoassociatedvirus (AAV) mediated delivery to retinal cells in vivo; however, with theexpanding repertoire of CRISPR/Cas endonucleases, it is not clear which of theseare most efficacious for retinal editing in vivo. We sought to compare CRISPR/Casendonuclease activity using both single and dual AAV delivery strategies for gene editingin retinal cells. Plasmids of a dual vector system with SpCas9, SaCas9, Cas12a, CjCas9and a sgRNA targeting YFP, as well as a single vector system with SaCas9/YFP sgRNAwere generated and validated in YFP-expressing HEK293A cell by flow cytometry andthe T7E1 assay. Paired CRISPR/Cas endonuclease and its best performing sgRNA wasthen packaged into an AAV2 capsid derivative, AAV7m8, and injected intravitreally intoCMV-Cre:Rosa26-YFP mice. SpCas9 and Cas12a achieved better knockout efficiencythan SaCas9 and CjCas9. Moreover, no significant difference in YFP gene editingwas found between single and dual CRISPR/SaCas9 vector systems. With a markedreduction of YFP-positive retinal cells, AAV7m8 delivered SpCas9 was found to havethe highest knockout efficacy among all investigated endonucleases. We demonstratethat the AAV7m8-mediated delivery of CRISPR/SpCas9 construct achieves the mostefficient gene modification in neurosensory retinal cells in vivo