Persistent hypocalcaemia in a Chinese girl due to a novel de-novo activating mutation of the calciumsensing receptor gene

A significant proportion of patients formerly diagnosed with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism actually have activating mutation of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) gene. Awareness of the possibility of activating mutation of CaSR gene in patients with sporadic idiopathic hypoparathyroidism is important because of its relevance to clinical management. This report is of a novel activating mutation of the CaSR gene identified in a 10-year-old Chinese girl who was initially diagnosed as having idiopathic hypoparathyroidism at 6 years of age after presenting with seizures. Her serum calcium level was difficult to maintain near the lower limit of normal despite treatment with high-dose calcitriol. Treatment with calcitriol produced significantly elevated urinary calcium-to-creatinine ratio. Direct sequencing of the CaSR gene showed a novel heterozygous mutation (p.Q735P (c.2204A>C)). Molecular genetic analysis of her parents demonstrated that both parents did not harbour the child's mutation, indicating that her mutation had arisen de novo. © 1995-2011 HKAM.published_or_final_versio

The therapeutic effects of myoelectrically controlled robotic system for persons after stroke : a pilot study

Author name used in this publication: R. SongAuthor name used in this publication: K. Y. TongAuthor name used in this publication: X. L. HuAuthor name used in this publication: L. LiRefereed conference paper2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

Thermal Effects and Small Signal Modulation of 1.3-μm InAs/GaAs Self-Assembled Quantum-Dot Lasers

We investigate the influence of thermal effects on the high-speed performance of 1.3-μm InAs/GaAs quantum-dot lasers in a wide temperature range (5–50°C). Ridge waveguide devices with 1.1 mm cavity length exhibit small signal modulation bandwidths of 7.51 GHz at 5°C and 3.98 GHz at 50°C. Temperature-dependent K-factor, differential gain, and gain compression factor are studied. While the intrinsic damping-limited modulation bandwidth is as high as 23 GHz, the actual modulation bandwidth is limited by carrier thermalization under continuous wave operation. Saturation of the resonance frequency was found to be the result of thermal reduction in the differential gain, which may originate from carrier thermalization

Mixed Feelings about the Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Consequence of Adjusting To Health Related Quality Of Life

This study aims to explore patients’ reactions to the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and their health related quality of life. We adopted a qualitative exploratory study design using a thematic analysis. Twelve patients with T2DM for more than a 2-year duration were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Both purposive and theoretical samplings were used for data collection. The in-depth interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim, followed by line-by-line coding and constant comparison to identify the themes. Data management was facilitated using Nvivo 10. Patients shared their mixed feelings about the diagnosis of T2DM. Six domains of quality of life emerged from these interviews, namely physical and social functioning, work function and social obligations, dietary freedom and conforming to treatment standard. Diabetes management needs to take these themes and patients’ feelings associated with their quality of life into consideration

Auction-based approach to resolve the scheduling problem in the steel making process

Steel production is an extremely complex process and determining coherent schedules for the wide variety of production steps in a dynamic environment, where disturbances frequently occur, is a challenging task. In the steel production process, the blast furnace continuously produces liquid iron, which is transformed into liquid steel in the melt shop. The majority of the molten steel passes through a continuous caster to form large steel slabs, which are rolled into coils in the hot strip mill. The scheduling system of these processes has very different objectives and constraints, and operates in an environment where there is a substantial quantity of real-time information concerning production failures and customer requests. The steel making process, which includes steel making followed by continuous casting, is generally the main bottleneck in steel production. Therefore, comprehensive scheduling of this process is critical to improve the quality and productivity of the entire production system. This paper addresses the scheduling problem in the steel making process. The methodology of winner determination using the combinatorial auction process is employed to solve the aforementioned problem. In the combinatorial auction, allowing bidding on a combination of assets offers a way of enhancing the efficiency of allocating the assets. In this paper, the scheduling problem in steel making has been formulated as a linear integer program to determine the scheduling sequence for different charges. Bids are then obtained for sequencing the charges. Next, a heuristic approach is used to evaluate the bids. The computational results show that our algorithm can obtain optimal or near-optimal solutions for combinatorial problems in a reasonable computation time. The proposed algorithm has been verified by a case study

Reducing unscheduled hospital care for adults with diabetes following a hypoglycaemic event: which community-based interventions are most effective? A systematic review

AIM: To determine which community-based interventions are most effective at reducing unscheduled hospital care for hypoglycaemic events in adults with diabetes. METHODS: Medline Ovid, CINAHL Plus and ProQuest Health and Medical Collection were searched using both key search terms and medical subject heading terms (MeSH) to identify potentially relevant studies. Eligible studies were those that involved a community-based intervention to reduce unscheduled admissions in adults with diabetes. Papers were initially screened by the primary researcher and then a secondary reviewer. Relevant data were then extracted from papers that met the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: The search produced 2226 results, with 1360 duplicates. Of the remaining 866 papers, 198 were deemed appropriate based on titles, 90 were excluded following abstract review. A total of 108 full papers were screened with 19 full papers included in the review. The sample size of the 19 papers ranged from n = 25 to n = 104,000. The average ages within the studies ranged from 41 to 74 years with females comprising 57% of the participants. The following community-based interventions were identified that explored reducing unscheduled hospital care in people with diabetes; telemedicine, education, integrated care pathways, enhanced primary care and care management teams. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review shows that a range of community-based interventions, requiring different levels of infrastructure, are effective in reducing unscheduled hospital care for hypoglycaemia in people with diabetes. Investment in effective community-based interventions such as integrated care and patient education must be a priority to shift the balance of care from secondary to primary care, thereby reducing hospital admissions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40200-021-00817-z

Higher spin AdS_3 holography with extended supersymmetry

We propose a holographic duality between a higher spin AdS_3 gravity with so(p) extended supersymmetry and a large N limit of a 2-dimensional Grassmannian-like model with a specific critical level k=N and a non-diagonal modular invariant. As evidence, we show the match of one-loop partition functions. Moreover, we construct symmetry generators of the coset model for low spins which are dual to gauge fields in the supergravity. Further, we discuss a possible relation to superstring theory by noticing an N=3 supersymmetry of critical level model at finite k,N. In particular, we examine BPS states and marginal deformations. Inspired by the supergravity side, we also propose and test another large N CFT dual obtained as a Z_2 automorphism truncation of a similar coset model, but at a non-critical level.Comment: 44 pages, published versio

Towards strange metallic holography

We initiate a holographic model building approach to `strange metallic' phenomenology. Our model couples a neutral Lifshitz-invariant quantum critical theory, dual to a bulk gravitational background, to a finite density of gapped probe charge carriers, dually described by D-branes. In the physical regime of temperature much lower than the charge density and gap, we exhibit anomalous scalings of the temperature and frequency dependent conductivity. Choosing the dynamical critical exponent $z$ appropriately we can match the non-Fermi liquid scalings, such as linear resistivity, observed in strange metal regimes. As part of our investigation we outline three distinct string theory realizations of Lifshitz geometries: from F theory, from polarised branes, and from a gravitating charged Fermi gas. We also identify general features of renormalisation group flow in Lifshitz theories, such as the appearance of relevant charge-charge interactions when $z \geq 2$. We outline a program to extend this model building approach to other anomalous observables of interest such as the Hall conductivity.Comment: 71 pages, 8 figure