Publications by authors named "Ching T"

The intersection of queer identity and psychedelics has not been thoroughly explored by the research community, historically or in the present day. With growing access to legal psychedelic therapies, it is essential that queer psychedelic experiences are understood sufficiently by clinicians in order to provide the most safe and effective care possible. Psychedelics and queerness are intricately related, and there is strong interest in the use of psychedelics for healing and identity development among queer populations.

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Objectives: To investigate the effects of automatic scene classification (SCAN) on speech perception in noise and real-world functional performance in children using cochlear implants (CIs).

Methods: We used a within-subjects repeated measures design in two studies. The first study assessed speech perception in noise with or without SCAN enabled in 25 school-aged children.

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Article Synopsis
  • Carers of children with disabilities often face worse job outcomes compared to those with typically developing children, prompting this study on the impact of interventions on carer employment.
  • Using data from the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment study, the research focused on Australian DHH children and analyzed employment outcomes for their primary carers.
  • Results showed that primary carers of DHH children with cochlear implants were more likely to be employed, especially among those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, suggesting that improved support for these children could alleviate stress and increase carers' work opportunities.
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This paper introduces an approach to fabricating lightweight, untethered soft robots capable of diverse biomimetic locomotion. Untethering soft robotics from electrical or pneumatic power remains one of the prominent challenges within the field. The development of functional untethered soft robotic systems hinges heavily on mitigating their weight; however, the conventional weight of pneumatic network actuators (pneu-nets) in soft robots has hindered untethered operations.

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Recent developments in the field of radiofrequency (RF) coils for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offer flexible and patient-friendly solutions. Previously, we demonstrated a proof-of-concept single-element stretchable coil design based on liquid metal and a self-tuning smart geometry. In this work, we numerically analyze and experimentally study a multi-channel stretchable coil array and demonstrate its application in dynamic knee imaging.

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Editor's Note: The following article discusses the timely topic Clinical Guidance in the areas of Evidence-Based Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Programs. This article aims to discuss areas of services needed, guidance to countries/organizations attempting to initiate early hearing detection and intervention systems. Expert consensus and systematic/scoping reviews were combined to produce recommendations for evidence-based clinical practice.

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Novel treatments are required for the 30-50% of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who remain resistant to first-line pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments. Recent pilot data suggest benefit from psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) and from imagery rescripting (ImRs). We explore psychological mechanisms of change underpinning both interventions that appear to allow for reprocessing of negative emotions and core beliefs associated with past aversive events.

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Introduction: Children with early-identified unilateral hearing loss (UHL) might be at risk for delays in early speech and language, functional communication, psychosocial skills, and quality of life (QOL). However, a paucity of relevant research prohibits strong conclusions. This study aimed to provide new evidence relevant to this issue.

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Objectives: The present study utilized an intersectional framework to examine if two forms of gendered racism, psychological emasculation and messages about Asian American men being undesirable partners, were associated with Asian American men's nicotine use. We also examined the potential mediating roles of two racial identity statuses, racial conformity and racial immersion.

Methods: A sample of 356 Asian American men living in the United States of America (USA) completed a cross-sectional survey via Qualtrics containing measures assessing the aforementioned constructs of interest.

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S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), generated from methionine and ATP by S-adenosyl methionine synthetase (SAMS), is the universal methyl group donor required for numerous cellular methylation reactions. In Caenorhabditis elegans, silencing sams-1, the major isoform of SAMS, genetically or via dietary restriction induces a robust mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR) and lifespan extension. In this study, we found that depleting SAMS-1 markedly decreases mitochondrial SAM levels.

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Summary: Pituitary tuberculoma is extremely rare and may pose as a diagnostic challenge especially when encountered as an isolated lesion without other systemic manifestation of tuberculosis. A 21-year-old female was admitted for diabetic ketoacidosis. On the third day of admission following the resolution of diabetic ketoacidosis she developed a sudden onset of headache and blurring of vision suggestive of pituitary apoplexy.

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Background: To date, few randomized controlled trials of psilocybin with non-directive support exist for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Results and participant feedback from an interim analysis of an ongoing single-dose trial (NCT03356483) converged on the possibility of administering a higher fixed dose and/or more doses of psilocybin in future trials for presumably greater benefits.

Objectives: This trial aims to evaluate the safety, feasibility, tolerability, and clinical effects of two doses of psilocybin paired with non-directive support in the treatment of OCD.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study focused on children with congenital unilateral hearing loss (UHL) to analyze their audiological characteristics, determine when reliable hearing tests can be performed, and track any hearing changes from diagnosis to these tests.
  • - It involved 91 children diagnosed with UHL, examining data from clinical reports and using statistical methods to assess the timing of hearing assessments and changes in hearing ability over time.
  • - Results showed that over half of the children (52.7%) were able to obtain reliable hearing tests by age 3, with the average age being 3.0 years; ongoing middle ear issues were linked to delays in testing.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the speech recognition equivalence of Mandarin Bamford-Kowal-Bench (BKB) sentence lists with adults and children with normal hearing.

Method: A total of 32 lists, each of nine sentences, were compiled from a corpus of BKB-like sentences with paired babble in Mandarin. Interlist equivalence, critical differences, and sensitivity of performance to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were examined.

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Background: Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) is a novel technique increasingly used for plaque modification and endovascular revascularization in patients with severe calcification and peripheral artery disease. However, much of the available literature on IVL is focused on its use in coronary arteries, with relatively limited data on non-coronary artery use.

Aim: To analyze the safety and efficacy of current IVL use in non-coronary artery lesions, as reported in case reports and case series.

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To date, psychosocial and interpersonal protective factors such as family connectedness have received little attention in studies of eating behaviors among sexual minority Asian Americans. Therefore, we investigated associations of family connectedness and two types of eating behavior regulation motives and the moderating role of individualism in these associations among 134 sexual minority Asian American young adults. Linear regression models assessed the main and interaction effects of family connectedness and individualism on introjected and identified eating behavior regulation motives.

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Flexible and stretchable radiofrequency coils for magnetic resonance imaging represent an emerging and rapidly growing field. The main advantage of such coil designs is their conformal nature, enabling a closer anatomical fit, patient comfort, and freedom of movement. Previously, we demonstrated a proof-of-concept single element stretchable coil design with a self-tuning smart geometry.

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Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) is gaining renewed interest as a treatment for various mental disorders. However, there has been limited Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) representation in PAP clinical trials, signaling the need for culturally consonant communication about the efficacy and safety of PAP. We randomly assigned 321 BIPOC and 301 non-Hispanic White participants to four different modes of psychoeducation (didactic, visual, narrative, hope-based) and tested effects on likelihood of seeking and referring others to PAP using ANCOVAS.

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Introduction: Early identification of mild hearing loss has resulted in early hearing amplification without adequate evidence of effectiveness. This paper describes learnings from a pilot trial, combined with a qualitative study, to highlight the importance of community engagement in designing research studies to determine whether early amplification benefits young children with bilateral mild hearing loss.

Methods: PART 1 of the study is a proof-of-concept non-blinded multi-centre randomised controlled trial (RCT) of hearing device fitting vs.

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TruAB Discovery is an approach that integrates cellular immunology, high-throughput immunosequencing, bioinformatics, and computational biology in order to discover naturally occurring human antibodies for prophylactic or therapeutic use. We adapted our previously described pairSEQ technology to pair B cell receptor heavy and light chains of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-binding antibodies derived from enriched antigen-specific memory B cells and bulk antibody-secreting cells. We identified approximately 60,000 productive, in-frame, paired antibody sequences, from which 2,093 antibodies were selected for functional evaluation based on abundance, isotype and patterns of somatic hypermutation.

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Fc-engineering is commonly used to improve the therapeutic potency of antibody (Ab) treatments. Because FcγRIIb is the only inhibitory FcγR that contains an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motif (ITIM), Fc-engineered Abs with enhanced binding affinity to FcγRIIb might provide immune suppression in clinical contexts. GYM329 is an anti-latent myostatin Fc-engineered Ab with increased affinity to FcγRIIb which is expected to improve muscle strength in patients with muscular disorders.

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It is essential to understand the effects of specific therapy elements (i.e., mechanisms of change) to optimize the efficacy of available treatments.

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