Lung Cancer Decreased Sharply in First 5 Years After Smoking Cessation in Chinese Men

BackgroundThe rate of decline in lung cancer risk after smoking cessation among male population and the importance of the magnitude of the early decline were not sufficiently defined in the earlier studies. We evaluated the detailed duration-response relationship between years since smoking cessation and lung cancer risk across major histological types in a population-based case-referent study.MethodsWe recruited 1208 consecutive incident cases of primary lung cancer among Chinese males from the largest oncology center in Hong Kong during 2004–2006, and 1069 male community referents frequency-matched in 5-year age groups. We performed unconditional multiple logistic regression and generalized additive model incorporating smoothing spline to model the potential nonlinear effect of years since cessation on lung cancer.ResultsAll histological types of lung cancer were strongly associated with current smoking. We observed a rapidly decreasing odds ratio of lung cancer (>50%) across all major histological types of lung cancer (except for the large cell type) within the first 5 years of quitting; the odds ratio continued to decrease but at a slower rate in the subsequent years.ConclusionThe substantial benefits obtainable within a short period of 5 years' abstinence should convey an encouraging message to chronic smokers, clinicians, and public health workers

Cough mixture abuse as a novel cause of folate deficiency: a prospective, community-based, controlled study

Cough mixture abuse has been reported to cause severe folate deficiency and neurological defects. We carried out a prospective case-controlled survey to confirm this association and define the incidence and severity of the problem. A total of 57 cough mixture abusers and 47 other substance abusers (controls) were studied. When compared with controls, cough mixture abusers had a high incidence of low folate levels that could only be detected by screening

Are Current or Future Mesothelioma Epidemics in Hong Kong the Tragic Legacy of Uncontrolled Use of Asbestos in the Past?

BACKGROUND: Because of the long latent period of asbestos-related mesothelioma, investigators suggest that the high incidence of this disease will continue in the coming decades. OBJECTIVES: We describe the time trends of mesothelioma incidence and its relationship to historical consumption of asbestos in Hong Kong and project future trends of mesothelioma incidence. METHODS: We obtained local annual consumption of total asbestos for 1960-2006 (converted to kilograms per person per year). Age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) of mesothelioma were computed and depicted on graphs using the centered moving average method. Indirectly standardized rates were regressed on a transformation of consumption data that assumed that the latency between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma diagnosis followed a normal distribution with a mean ± SD of 42 ± 10.5 years. RESULTS: ASIRs for males started to increase substantially in 1994 and were highest in 2004; for females, ASIRs climbed in the 1980s and in the early 1990s but have fluctuated without obvious trends in recent years. The highest asbestos consumption level in Hong Kong was in 1960-1963 and then decreased sharply afterward. Using past asbestos consumption patterns, we predict that the mesothelioma incidence rate for males will peak in 2009, with the number of cases peaking in 2014, and then slowly decline in the coming decades. CONCLUSIONS: Hong Kong experienced an epidemic of mesothelioma from 2000 to 2006 that corresponded with the peak of local asbestos consumption in the early 1960s assuming an average latent period of 42 years. The incidence is anticipated to decline in the coming decades but may not decrease back to the background risk level (the risk unrelated to asbestos exposure)

Fumarylacetoacetate Hydrolase Knock-out Rabbit Model for Hereditary Tyrosinemia Type 1.

Hereditary tyrosinemia type 1 (HT1) is a severe human autosomal recessive disorder caused by the deficiency of fumarylacetoacetate hydroxylase (FAH), an enzyme catalyzing the last step in the tyrosine degradation pathway. Lack of FAH causes accumulation of toxic metabolites (fumarylacetoacetate and succinylacetone) in blood and tissues, ultimately resulting in severe liver and kidney damage with onset that ranges from infancy to adolescence. This tissue damage is lethal but can be controlled by administration of 2-(2-nitro-4-trifluoromethylbenzoyl)-1,3-cyclohexanedione (NTBC), which inhibits tyrosine catabolism upstream of the generation of fumarylacetoacetate and succinylacetone. Notably, in animals lacking FAH, transient withdrawal of NTBC can be used to induce liver damage and a concomitant regenerative response that stimulates the growth of healthy hepatocytes. Among other things, this model has raised tremendous interest for the in vivo expansion of human primary hepatocytes inside these animals and for exploring experimental gene therapy and cell-based therapies. Here, we report the generation of FAH knock-out rabbits via pronuclear stage embryo microinjection of transcription activator-like effector nucleases. FAH-/- rabbits exhibit phenotypic features of HT1 including liver and kidney abnormalities but additionally develop frequent ocular manifestations likely caused by local accumulation of tyrosine upon NTBC administration. We also show that allogeneic transplantation of wild-type rabbit primary hepatocytes into FAH-/- rabbits enables highly efficient liver repopulation and prevents liver insufficiency and death. Because of significant advantages over rodents and their ease of breeding, maintenance, and manipulation compared with larger animals including pigs, FAH-/- rabbits are an attractive alternative for modeling the consequences of HT1.Wellcome Trus

Who wants a slimmer body? The relationship between body weight status, education level and body shape dissatisfaction among young adults in Hong Kong

Background: Body shape dissatisfaction has been thought to have an indispensable impact on weight control behaviors. We investigated the prevalence of body shape dissatisfaction (BSD) and explored its association with weight status, education level and other determinants among young adults in Hong Kong. Methods. Information on anthropometry, BSD, and socio-demographics was collected from a random sample of 1205 young adults (611 men and 594 women) aged 18-27 in a community-based household survey. BSD was defined as a discrepancy between current and ideal body shape based on a figure rating scale. Cross-tabulations, homogeneity tests and logistic regression models were applied. Results: The percentages of underweight men and women were 16.5% and 34.9% respectively, and the corresponding percentages of being overweight or obese were 26.7% and 13.2% for men and women respectively. Three-quarters of young adults had BSD. Among women, 30.9% of those underweight and 75.5% of those with normal weight desired a slimmer body shape. Overweight men and underweight women with lower education level were more likely to have a mismatch between weight status and BSD than those with higher education level. After controlling for other determinants, underweight women were found to have a higher likelihood to maintain their current body shapes than other women. Men were found to be less likely to have a mismatch between weight status and BSD than women. Conclusions: Overweight and obesity in men and underweight in women were prevalent among Hong Kong young adults. Inappropriate body shape desire might predispose individuals to unhealthy weight loss or gain behaviors. Careful consideration of actual weight status in body shape desire is needed in health promotion and education, especially for underweight and normal weight women and those with a low education level. © 2011 Cheung et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.published_or_final_versio

A sensitive method for measuring plasma catecholamines and its application on the study of the effect of alfentanil and esmolol onintra-operative hypertension

published_or_final_versiontocabstractAnaesthesiologyMasterMaster of Philosoph

Automatic Construction of Online Catalog Topologies

Abstract—Given a set of products, where each is characterized by a set of attribute values, an online catalog is an organization of a set of product pages on the web through which users can access their required product information. A good online catalog is crucial to the success of an e-commerce web site. Traditionally, an online catalog is mainly built by hand. To what extent this can be automated is a challenging problem. Recently, there have been investigations on how to reorganize an existing online catalog based on some criteria, but none of them has addressed the problem of organizing an online catalog automatically from scratch. This paper attempts to tackle this problem. We model an online catalog organization as a decision tree structure and propose a metric, based on the popularity of products and the relative importance of product attribute values, to evaluate the quality of a catalog organization. The problem is then formulated as a decision tree construction problem. Although traditional decision tree algorithms, such as C4.5, can be used to generate online catalog organization, the catalog constructed is generally not good based on our metric. An efficient greedy algorithm (GENCAT) is thus developed, and the experimental results show that GENCAT produces better catalog organizations based on our metric. Index Terms—Decision tree, metrics, online catalog, tree optimization. I

Metformin-associated lactic acidosis in Chinese patients with type II diabetes

Metformin is a widely used antidiabetic agent that is generally considered safe. However, metformin-associated lactic acidosis (MALA), though not common, occurs from time to time and results in significantly high mortality. A series of 23 MALA cases in a local major hospital in Hong Kong is reported in this article to demonstrate the epidemiological data, risk factors, clinical features as well as the clinical outcomes for better understanding of this disease entity. It is the first MALA case series in which plasma metformin levels were assessed. However, the results show that plasma metformin levels in MALA bear no diagnostic and prognostic values. Risk factors of mortality were identified as shock and high plasma lactate levels. The majority of patients were found to have significantly raised creatinine versus a normal baseline value before the acute illness. Concomitant illnesses taking place alongside MALA were common. With a high utility rate of renal replacement therapy (82.6%) in the study group, the mortality rate was 30.4%. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Who wants a slimmer body? The relationship between body weight status, education level and body shape dissatisfaction among young adults in Hong Kong

Abstract Background Body shape dissatisfaction has been thought to have an indispensable impact on weight control behaviors. We investigated the prevalence of body shape dissatisfaction (BSD) and explored its association with weight status, education level and other determinants among young adults in Hong Kong. Methods Information on anthropometry, BSD, and socio-demographics was collected from a random sample of 1205 young adults (611 men and 594 women) aged 18-27 in a community-based household survey. BSD was defined as a discrepancy between current and ideal body shape based on a figure rating scale. Cross-tabulations, homogeneity tests and logistic regression models were applied. Results The percentages of underweight men and women were 16.5% and 34.9% respectively, and the corresponding percentages of being overweight or obese were 26.7% and 13.2% for men and women respectively. Three-quarters of young adults had BSD. Among women, 30.9% of those underweight and 75.5% of those with normal weight desired a slimmer body shape. Overweight men and underweight women with lower education level were more likely to have a mismatch between weight status and BSD than those with higher education level. After controlling for other determinants, underweight women were found to have a higher likelihood to maintain their current body shapes than other women. Men were found to be less likely to have a mismatch between weight status and BSD than women. Conclusions Overweight and obesity in men and underweight in women were prevalent among Hong Kong young adults. Inappropriate body shape desire might predispose individuals to unhealthy weight loss or gain behaviors. Careful consideration of actual weight status in body shape desire is needed in health promotion and education, especially for underweight and normal weight women and those with a low education level.</p