Knee kinematics of ACL-deficient patients: A development of a portable motion analysis system

This study is to compare the knee kinematic measurements between the novel portable skin marker-based motion analysis system (Opti-Knee®) and a conventional system (Vicon®). Nineteen subjects were recruited and asked to perform stair descent with lower limb placed with skin markers. Knee kinematic data was computed from the trajectories of the skin markers. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) were used to analyze the data. For the waveform, sagittal plane rotation is strongly positive correlated between systems, while for axial and coronal plane rotation, it was moderately to strongly positive correlated in both normal (ACLN) and ACL-deficient (ACLD) group. Substantial difference between two groups was found in correlation of abduction/adduction in both stance and swing phase, as well as in external/internal rotation in all selected regions of interest. Moreover, the RMSD was larger in ACLN than in ACLD in three planes of rotation. The capability of Opti-Knee® in tracking lower limb sagittal plane rotation was comparable to Vicon®. However, for coronal and axial plane rotation, although the correlation to Vicon® in kinematic waveforms was moderately high, their ROM and peak values substantially deviated from the values in Vicon®.This study is supported by the Innovation and Technology Support Program, Hong Kong (Ref. No.: ITS/289/14FX)

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Validity of the Brief Resilience Scale and Brief Resilient Coping Scale in a Chinese Sample

This study presents a cross-cultural examination of the psychometric properties of two commonly used brief self-report resilience scales, the 6-item Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and the 4-item Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS). Five hundred and eleven Chinese university undergraduate students were recruited for this cross-sectional research. Various psychometric evaluation tools were used to evaluate the internal consistency, criterion validity, factorial validity and construct validity of these resilience scales. The results showed that both scales had good criterion validity, with well-established measures of well-being, optimism, self-esteem, self-efficacy and mental health, as suggested in the resilience literature. The BRS (a = 0.71) showed better internal consistency than the BRCS (a = 0.59). The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results also indicated that the BRS, with a two-factor structure, had better construct validity than the BRCS. The CFA results for the BRS met all of the criteria for a good model fit. The BRS was found to have better psychometric properties than the BRCS in the Chinese context. The findings will help researchers to select an appropriate resilience measure when conducting epistemological surveys of Chinese university students or the Chinese diaspora in other contexts

Psychometric evaluation of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) with Chinese University Students

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to assess the validity of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) and the SWEMWBS, the shortened version of the WEMWBS, and conduct a preliminary evaluation of the metric properties of these scales by using a sample of university students in mainland China. Methods Nine-hundred and three students from a Chinese university participated in the cross-sectional study. The internal consistency, convergent validity, factorial validity and construct validity of the scales were examined. Results The Chinese versions of the WEMWBS and SWEMWBS showed high internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.930 and 0.884, respectively. The results of the exploratory factor analysis suggested that the 14-item WEMWBS and 7-item SWEMWBS were suitable for a single scale. The WEMWBS and SWEMWBS also showed significant moderate to strong correlations with the other major subjective hedonic and eudemonic scales. Both scales showed good model fit in the confirmatory factor analysis, after reorganising several types of error covariance between the items. However, some items in WEMWBS recorded low validity in the evaluation of internal consistency, convergent validity and factorial validity. Conclusions This study demonstrated that the SWEMWBS had high validity, internal consistency and psychometric properties when applied to the sample of Chinese students. Further studies should apply this promising scale to samples of other Chinese populations

Understanding and explaining deviant autocracies : the cases of Hong Kong and Singapore

The aim of this thesis is to understand and explain ‘deviant autocracies’, which are an overlooked and under-researched theme in the democratisation literature. Two major approaches, i.e. structural and process-driven explanations, have dominated the debate on and studies of democratisation. However, over the past few decades, there have been an increasing number of cases that have not made the transition to democracy. These cases, which I refer to as ‘deviant autocracies’, are the primary focus of this thesis. Deviant autocracies are countries that have a high level of economic development but are still governed by non-democratic regimes. Based on a large-N analysis of a dataset from 1960 to 2011, this thesis shows that since the 1970s, increasing numbers of high income countries have not made the transition to democracy. To understand the emergence and consolidation of deviant autocracies, an analytical framework, the neo actor-based approach, is developed. This approach synergies with the lens of existing actor-based approach, elite theory, models of the elite bargaining process and the elite-structure paradigm to examine the interactions of international actors, local elites and state capacity. Based on this analytical framework, two small-N case studies were conducted to examine the identified deviant autocracies, Singapore and Hong Kong, to understand why they have not made the transition to democracy. At the analytical level, this thesis aims to offer an explanation of the non-transition of deviant autocracies based on a middle-range theory that focuses on elite interactions during the transitional period. At the empirical level, it contributes to our empirical knowledge of why Hong Kong and Singapore have not made the transition to democracy despite favourable circumstances and structural factors. By focusing on understanding why these cases remain stable deviant autocracies, I hope to open up a new research agenda for scholars of democratisation

Development and evaluation of the psychometric properties of a brief parenting scale (PS-7) for the parents of adolescents.

This study aimed to develop a seven-item brief parenting scale (PS-7) based on the original parenting scale (PS) and various other shortened versions and with a better factor structure for the parents of adolescents. The scale was tested with a sample of 3,777 parents (2,205 mothers and 1,572 fathers). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the dimensionality of the different versions of the PS. Only the PS-7 with a two-factor structure, i.e., laxness (three items) and overreactivity (four items), showed a good model fit based on a representative sample of parents of junior secondary school students. Overall, the results suggest that PS-7 is comparable to the original PS and possesses good psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency, factorial validity, construct validity, criterion validity and discriminant validity. The abbreviated parenting scale also provides a reliable and cost-effective method for assessing parental practices for treatment and assessing treatment outcomes

Social Physique Anxiety Scale: Psychometric Evaluation and Development of a Chinese Adaptation

The Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS) is a popular measure of individual anxiety related to body image. This study assessed the psychometric properties of the 12-, 9-, 8- and 7-item versions of the SPAS. Two cross-sectional studies recruited 466 Chinese university students. Study 1 (n = 273) evaluated the construct validity and internal consistency of the SPAS. Study 2 (n = 193) further assessed the construct validity, factorial validity, internal consistency, convergent validity and divergent validity of the SPAS. The results indicated that none of the existing SPAS versions possess good psychometric properties suitable for the Chinese student population. In short, a new 7-item version of the SPAS that is more suitable for measuring social physique anxiety among Chinese university students. The implications of our results and future research directions are discussed

Development of the Cybercrime Rapid Identification Tool for Adolescents

Two studies were conducted to support the development of an eight-item Cybercrime Rapid Identification Tool (CRIT) and evaluate the psychometric properties of the proposed scale on samples of secondary school and university students. The CRIT was developed and evaluated in two cross-sectional studies with 2044 respondents from Hong Kong and China. Study 1 recruited 1533 secondary school students from Hong Kong with a mean age of 14.91 (SD = 1.77) years, and Study 2 recruited 511 university students from mainland China with a mean age of 20.41 (SD = 2.49) years. A stepwise confirmatory factor analytical approach was taken with further verification by exploratory factor analysis based on different samples. Factorial validity was further verified using confirmatory factor analysis. The analyses supported an eight-item scale with a two-factor structure. The eight-item CRIT was found to possess good internal consistency and concurrent validity. The studies offer promising support for the CRIT. It has the potential to advance epistemological methods and clinical research related to cybercrime prevention