Adverse Associations between Visceral Adiposity, Brain Structure, and Cognitive Performance in Healthy Elderly

The link between central adiposity and cognition has been established by indirect measures such as body mass index (BMI) or waist–hip ratio. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) quantification of central abdominal fat has been linked to elevated risk of cardiovascular and cerebro-vascular disease. However it is not known how quantification of visceral fat correlates with cognitive performance and measures of brain structure. We filled this gap by characterizing the relationships between MRI measures of abdominal adiposity, brain morphometry, and cognition, in healthy elderly. Methods: A total of 184 healthy community dwelling elderly subjects without cognitive impairment participated in this study. Anthropometric and biochemical markers of cardiovascular risk, neuropsychological measurements as well as MRI of the brain and abdomen fat were obtained. Abdominal images were segmented into subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) adipose tissue compartments. Brain MRI measures were analyzed quantitatively to determine total brain volume, hippocampal volume, ventricular volume, and cortical thickness. Results: VAT showed negative association with verbal memory (r = 0.21, p = 0.005) and attention (r = 0.18, p = 0.01). Higher VAT was associated with lower hippocampal volume (F = 5.39, p = 0.02) and larger ventricular volume (F = 6.07, p = 0.02). The participants in the upper quartile of VAT had the lowest hippocampal volume even after adjusting for age, gender, hypertension, and BMI (b = −0.28, p = 0.005). There was a significant age by VAT interaction for cortical thickness in the left prefrontal region. Conclusion: In healthy older adults, elevated VAT is associated with negative effects on cognition, and brain morphometry

Rapid detection of BRCA1/2 recurrent mutations in Chinese breast and ovarian cancer patients with multiplex SNaPshot genotyping panels.

BRCA1/2 mutations are significant risk factors for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC), its mutation frequency in HBOC of Chinese ethnicity is around 9%, in which nearly half are recurrent mutations. In Hong Kong and China, genetic testing and counseling are not as common as in the West. To reduce the barrier of testing, a multiplex SNaPshot genotyping panel that targeted 25 Chinese BRCA1/2 mutation hotspots was developed, and its feasibility was evaluated in a local cohort of 441 breast and 155 ovarian cancer patients. For those who tested negative, they were then subjected to full-gene testing with next-generation sequencing (NGS). BRCA mutation prevalence in this cohort was 8.05% and the yield of the recurrent panel was 3.52%, identifying over 40% of the mutation carriers. Moreover, from 79 Chinese breast cancer cases recruited overseas, 2 recurrent mutations and one novel BRCA2 mutation were detected by the panel and NGS respectively. The developed genotyping panel showed to be an easy-to-perform and more affordable testing tool that can provide important contributions to improve the healthcare of Chinese women with cancer as well as family members that harbor high risk mutations for HBOC

A Student Perspective on the Effectiveness of PASS in Seminar Courses: A Mixed-Method Study

The General Education Foundation (GEF) Programme, consisting of two seminar courses, namely “In Dialogue with Humanity” and “In Dialogue with Nature,” has been a common core requirement of The Chinese University of Hong Kong since 2012. Aided by selected classics, students from all faculties engage in dialogues with their teachers and each other to reflect on what it means to have a good life, what an ideal society is, and the nature of intellectual pursuit in the sciences. Reading classics and discussing serious questions in class, however, can be challenging for some students. To help students meet these challenges, Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) were introduced in the pilot stage of GEF in 2010 and, with subsequent refinements, continue to this day. The seminar-style and interdisciplinary nature of GEF makes it an atypical case for PASS. This paper will examine and evaluate how PASS can improve student learning in seminar-style courses like GEF with a mixed-method study from a student perspective. According to evidence from online surveys and focus group interviews, PASS successfully 1) improves students’ understanding of the course content at a cognitive level, 2) assists and motivates them to prepare better for seminar discussions, effecting a behavioural change, and 3) facilitates affective learning outcomes in terms of confidence and motivation. Major challenges—including students’ misperceptions about PASS, differences in leaders’ approaches and organisational difficulties—are identified. Proposed solutions to these challenges will also be discussed

The Nexus between Labour Wages and Property Rents in the Greater China Area

Tse and Chan (2003) investigated the relationship between property sales price and the value of commuting time without accounting for the fact that property sales price is subject to the inherent limitation of containing speculative elements. A better measure to use for such a study would be the rent paid by the genuine end-user of the property. This paper examines how equilibrium rents in different locations within Greater China are determined by the time value, or the shadow wage, of an individual. Using the rental information, we provide a first estimated ratio of time values for individuals in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei. Our results show that the shadow wage ratio of the households in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei is about 2.25: 1: 1.61

The Nexus between Labour Wages and Property Rents in the Greater China Area

Tse and Chan (2003) investigated the relationship between property sales price and the value of commuting time without accounting for the fact that property sales price is subject to the inherent limitation of containing speculative elements. A better measure to use for such a study would be the rent paid by the genuine end-user of the property. This paper examines how equilibrium rents in different locations within Greater China are determined by the time value, or the shadow wage, of an individual. Using the rental information, we provide a first estimated ratio of time values for individuals in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei. Our results show that the shadow wage ratio of the households in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei is about 2.25: 1: 1.61

Multi-ancestry study of blood lipid levels identifies four loci interacting with physical activity.

Many genetic loci affect circulating lipid levels, but it remains unknown whether lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, modify these genetic effects. To identify lipid loci interacting with physical activity, we performed genome-wide analyses of circulating HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in up to 120,979 individuals of European, African, Asian, Hispanic, and Brazilian ancestry, with follow-up of suggestive associations in an additional 131,012 individuals. We find four loci, in/near CLASP1, LHX1, SNTA1, and CNTNAP2, that are associated with circulating lipid levels through interaction with physical activity; higher levels of physical activity enhance the HDL cholesterol-increasing effects of the CLASP1, LHX1, and SNTA1 loci and attenuate the LDL cholesterol-increasing effect of the CNTNAP2 locus. The CLASP1, LHX1, and SNTA1 regions harbor genes linked to muscle function and lipid metabolism. Our results elucidate the role of physical activity interactions in the genetic contribution to blood lipid levels