HKALL and ILLIAD: The Search for Improved Interlibrary Loan

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Digital Library Consortia in the 21st Century: The Hong Kong JULAC Case

The article outlines the initiatives of the local consortia of the eight academic institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) of the Hong Kong SAR Government. The role and services that this consortium provides for its members, especially with respect to consortial electronic purchasing agreements and joint licensing, are examined. The paper addresses many of the problems, difficulties, and challenges within consortia when coping with their internal needs, facing the need to both cooperate and compete with other consortial members, and making individual and consortial decisions in an environment of increasing budgetary constraints and technological advances. Case studies are used to illustrate each of the challenges mentioned above.postprin

Increased apoptotic blood neutrophils and macrophages and decreased clearance of apoptotic neutrophils in systemic lupus erythematosus

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The effects of topical triptolide in an animal model of contact dermatitis

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Classification of Protein-Binding Sites Using a Spherical Convolutional Neural Network

The analysis and comparison of protein-binding sites aid various applications in the drug discovery process, e.g., hit finding, drug repurposing, and polypharmacology. Classification of binding sites has been a hot topic for the past 30 years, and many different methods have been published. The rapid development of machine learning computational algorithms, coupled with the large volume of publicly available protein–ligand 3D structures, makes it possible to apply deep learning techniques in binding site comparison. Our method uses a cutting-edge spherical convolutional neural network based on the DeepSphere architecture to learn global representations of protein-binding sites. The model was trained on TOUGH-C1 and TOUGH-M1 data and validated with the ProSPECCTs datasets. Our results show that our model can (1) perform well in protein-binding site similarity and classification tasks and (2) learn and separate the physicochemical properties of binding sites. Lastly, we tested the model on a set of kinases, where the results show that it is able to cluster the different kinase subfamilies effectively. This example demonstrates the method’s promise for lead hopping within or outside a protein target, directly based on binding site information

Screening and Characterization of Ternary Oxides for High-Temperature Carbon Capture

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is increasingly being accepted as a necessary component of any effort to mitigate the impact of anthropogenic climate change, as it is both a relatively mature and easily implemented technology. High-temperature CO2 absorption looping is a promising process that offers a much lower energy penalty than the current state of the art amine scrubbing techniques, but more effective materials are required for widespread implementation. This work describes the experimental characterisation and CO2 absorption properties of several new ternary transition metal oxides predicted by high-throughput DFT screening. One material reported here, Li5SbO5, displays reversible CO2 sorption, and maintains 72 % of its theoretical capacity out to 25 cycles. The results in this work are used to discuss major influences on CO2 absorption capacity and rate, including the role of the crystal structure, the transition metal, the alkali or alkaline earth metal, and the competing roles of thermodynamics and kinetics. Notably, this work shows the extent and rate to which ternary metal oxides carbonate is driven primarily by the identity of the alkali or alkaline earth ion and the nature of the crystal structure, whereas the identity of the transition ion carries little influence in the systems studied here

Clinical outcomes of a treat and extend regimen with intravitreal aflibercept injections in patients with diabetic macular edema: Experience in clinical practice

Introduction: Treat-and-extend (T&E) and prore nata (PRN; ‘as needed’) regimens of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) treatment have been found to reducethe injection burden on patients and improvethe cost effectiveness of the treatment of macular edema. The aim of this study was to assessthe effectiveness of a T&E regimen of aflibercept, in a clinical setting, in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) who were either intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy naive or withminimal exposure to anti-VEGF (B 6 treatments) in the previous 12 months.Methods: This prospective, single arm, open labelstudy recruited patients with DME (macularthickness of C 300 lm) and best-corrected visualacuity (BCVA) between 28-78 ETDRS letters. Participants received five loading doses of intravitrealaflibercept at 4-weekly intervals. BCVA measurements and macular optical coherence tomographywere performed at each visit. If no disease activitywas detected, treatment intervals were increased by2 weeks to a maximum of 12 weeks. Outcomemeasures included: changes in BCVA and retinalanatomical measures (central foveal thickness[CFT] and central macular volume within 6 mm ofthe fovea [CSVol]) between baseline and 2 years,patient treatment intervals; and adverse events.Results: Of the 36 patients who providedinformed consent to participate in the studyand were screened, 26 patients (eyes) were eligible to participate in the study. After regressionanalysis, adjustment for repeated measures, andsignificant covariates, the mean BCVA increasedby 3.8 letters (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1,6.4) and the CFT and CSVol decreased by127.2 lm (95% CI 91.7, 162.5) and 1.6 mm3 (95% CI 1.2, 2.0), respectively, over the courseof the study. In the second year, 16 of the 25patients still participating had their treatmentintervals extended to 12 weeks. There was noevidence of any new adverse events that wouldrequire changes to the aflibercept safety profile.Conclusion: For the majority of patients presenting with DME, a T&E regimen of afliberceptin the first 2 years of therapy is a practical alternative to PRN treatment with regular review

Sichuan 512 catastrophe: rebuilding libraries after the earthquake

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Usage Statistics at Hong Kong University : From Fun to Fundamental in Just a Few Years

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Factors associated with medication adherence in school-aged children with asthma

Adherence to preventive asthma treatment is poor, particularly in children, yet the factors associated with adherence in this age group are not well understood. Adherence was monitored electronically over 6 months in school-aged children who attended a regional emergency department in New Zealand for an asthma exacerbation and were prescribed twice-daily inhaled corticosteroids. Participants completed questionnaires including assessment of family demographics, asthma responsibility and learning style. Multivariable analysis of factors associated with adherence was conducted. 101 children (mean (range) age 8.9 (6-15) years, 51% male) participated. Median (interquartile range) preventer adherence was 30% (17-48%) of prescribed. Four explanatory factors were identified: female sex (+12% adherence), Asian ethnicity (+19% adherence), living in a smaller household (-3.0% adherence per person in the household), and younger age at diagnosis (+2.7% for every younger year of diagnosis) (all p<0.02). In school-aged children attending the emergency department for asthma, males and non-Asian ethnic groups were at high risk for poor inhaled corticosteroid adherence and may benefit most from intervention. Four factors explained a small proportion of adherence behaviour indicating the difficulty in identifying adherence barriers. Further research is recommended in other similar populations