Dental anomalies in Chinese children with cleft lip and palate

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Bipolar gold(III) complexes for solution-processable organic light-emitting devices with a small efficiency roll-off

Poster: no. 12A new class of bipolar alkynylgold(III) complexes containing triphenylamine and benzimidazole moieties has been synthesized and fully characterized. The incorporation of methyl groups in the central phenyl unit has been found to rigidify the molecule to reduce non-radiative decay, yielding a high photoluminescence quantum yield of up to 75 % in spin-coated thin films. More importantly, this class of alkynylgold(III) complexes exhibits excellent solubility in various organic solvents and is capable of serving as phosphorescent dopants in the fabrication of solution-processable organic lightemitting devices (OLEDs). Efficient solution-processable OLEDs with high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of up to 10 % and an extremely small efficiency roll-off of less than 1 % at a practical brightness of 1000 cd m–2 have been demonstrated.published_or_final_versio

Inhibition of protein kinase C (PKC) induces apoptosis in COLO 205 human colon carcinoma cells

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A correlation study between in-brace correction, compliance to spinal orthosis and health-related quality of life of patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

BACKGROUND: It has been proposed that in-brace correction is the best guideline for prediction of the results of brace treatment for patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS). However, bracing may be a stressful experience for patients and bracing non-compliance could be psychologically related. The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation between brace compliance, in-brace correction and QoL of patients with AIS. METHODS: Fifty-five patients with a diagnosis of AIS were recruited. All were female and aged 10 years or above when a brace was prescribed, none had undergone prior treatment, and all had a Risser sign of 0–2 and a Cobb angle of 25-40°. The patients were examined in three consecutive visits with 4 to 6 months between each visit. The Chinese translated Trunk Appearance Perception Scale (TAPS), the Chinese translated Brace Questionnaires (BrQ) and the Chinese translated SRS-22 Questionnaires were used in the study. The in-brace Cobb angle, vertebral rotation and trunk listing were also measured. Patients’ compliance, in-brace correction and patients’ QoL were assessed. To identify the relationship among these three areas, logistic regression model and generalized linear model were used. RESULT: For the compliance measure, a significant difference (p = 0.008) was detected on TAPS mean score difference between Visit 1 and Visit 2 in the least compliant group (0–8 hours) and the most compliant group (17–23 hours). In addition, a significant difference (p = 0.000) was detected on BrQ mean score difference between Visit 2 and Visit 3 in the least compliant group (0–8 hours) and the most compliant group (17–23 hours). For the orthosis effectiveness measure, no significant difference was detected between the three groups of bracing hours (0–8 hours, 9–16 hours, 17–23 hours) on in-brace correction (below 40% and 40% or above). For the QoL measure, no significant difference was detected between the two different in-brace correction groups (below 40% and 40% or above) on QoL as reflected by the TAPS, BrQ and SRS-22r mean scores. CONCLUSION: The results showed a positive relationship between patients’ brace wear compliance and patients’ QoL. Poor compliance would cause a lower QoL

Effect of therapeutic play on pre- and post-operative anxiety and emotional responses in Hong Kong Chinese children: a randomised controlled trial

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Intramuscular recurrence in a Hepatocellular carcinoma patient with indolent disease course

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy worldwide and treatment options are depended on the stage of the tumour. In general, the prognosis of HCC patients with extra-hepatic metastasis is poor. The most common sites of extra-hepatic metastasis are the lung, abdominal lymph nodes and bone.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>Here, we reported a 54-year-old man with an indolent clinical course of HCC. He had multiple extra-hepatic recurrences after initial hepatectomy for HCC and was benefited from repeated resections with prolonged survival. Eventually, he developed intramuscular recurrence in the thigh, which was initially mistaken as deep vein thrombosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Selected patients with indolent disease course of HCC may benefit from repeated resections of extra-hepatic metastases with prolonged survival.</p

以前瞻性雙盲隨機對照方式, 試驗香港華籍人士在進行經直腸超聲波導引的前列腺活組織切除術時, 使用含利多卡因的凝膠與純粹潤滑劑在止痛效用上的分別

OBJECTIVE. To compare the level of pain experienced by patients during transrectal ultrasound-guided prostatic biopsy using intrarectal 2% lidocaine gel versus plain lubricant gel. DESIGN. Prospective double-blind randomised controlled trial. SETTING. Regional hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS. From March 2002 to December 2003, patients who underwent ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy at a Geriatric Urology Centre. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES. Pain and discomfort scores measured by horizontal visual analogue scales. RESULTS. A total of 338 consecutive patients were randomised to lidocaine gel or plain lubricant gel groups. The two groups were statistically similar in demographic and disease characteristics. There were no significant statistical differences in pain or discomfort score in the lidocaine gel and plain lubricant groups—pain score: 1.75 versus 1.79 (P=0.66) on day 0 and 0.21 versus 0.15 (P=0.97) on day 1; discomfort score: 0.79 versus 0.77 (P=0.86) on day 0 and 0.12 versus 0.12 (P=0.76) on day 1. No major complications were recorded in this cohort. CONCLUSIONS. Transrectal ultrasound-guided trucut biopsy of the prostate can be safely performed with no anaesthesia in Chinese patients. Pain and discomfort are minimal. It was found that 2% lidocaine gel has no statistical therapeutic or analgesic benefit over plain lubricant gel.published_or_final_versio

Proton Density-weighted Spinal fMRI Comparison between Sensorimotor Task and Acupoint Stimulation

Proton density-weighted fMRI studies have been carried out in spinal cord in the current study. We compared the spinal cord activation produced by handgripping sensorimotor task and electro-acupuncture stimulation. Activation was detected in both cases localized at spinal levels C6-C7 (11/14 in sensorimotor and 7/11 in acupuncture stimulation). It was observed that the amount of activation in sensorimotor task was in general greater than in electroacupuncture stimulation. The percentage signal changes were found to be similar. Our results indicate that proton density-weighted fMRI in low field MRI system can be used for sensorimotor and acupuncture pathway research.published_or_final_versio

Functional MRI of the spinal cord at low field

A second contrast mechanism SEEP was reported to co-exist with BOLD during fMRI activation. The mechanism was based on the task-induced signal change of extravascular water protons and was primarily shown in the spinal cord at high field. Recently, a preliminary study was reported at 0.2T showing SEEP contrast in the brain while the BOLD effect was negligible. The present study is to investigate the presence of SEEP in the spinal cord at 0.2T using proton density-weighted imaging with motor task. Bilateral activations were obtained in the anterior grey horns consistently across C6-C8 levels, which correlated with the neural anatomy.published_or_final_versio