Publications by authors named "Chong C"

Article Synopsis
  • A retrospective study in Brunei assessed the duration of COVID-19 symptoms during the second wave, focusing on cases admitted between August 7-30, 2021.
  • The study analyzed data from 548 COVID-19 cases, finding that common symptoms at admission included cough, fever, and sore throat, with symptom duration varying based on age, disease severity, and vaccination status.
  • Understanding these factors can help improve management strategies for COVID-19, including isolation duration and hospitalization planning.
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Objective: Patients who recover from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection are at risk of long-term health disorders and may require prolonged health care. This retrospective observational study assesses the number of health-care visits before and after COVID-19 infection in Brunei Darussalam.

Methods: COVID-19 cases from the first wave with 12 months of follow-up were included.

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Background: Hypertrophic scars (HTSs) are a fibroproliferative disorder that occur following skin injuries. Salvianolic acid B (Sal-B) is an extractant from Salvia miltiorrhiza that has been reported to ameliorate fibrosis in multiple organs. However, the antifibrotic effect on HTSs remains unclear.

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  • The study focuses on improving the understanding of "curative therapies" for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by developing a statistical model to predict the chances of a cure after treatment.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 1571 HCC patients treated with radiofrequency or microwave ablation to determine the success rate of these curative treatments.
  • The findings indicated a cure rate of around 18.3%, which can increase to about 40% in patients with good liver function and small tumors, and also led to the creation of a calculator for clinicians to estimate individual patient cure probabilities.
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In heart, glucose and glycolysis are important for anaplerosis and potentially therefore for d-β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB) oxidation. As a glucose store, glycogen may also furnish anaplerosis. We determined the effects of glycogen content on βHB oxidation and glycolytic rates, and their downstream effects on energetics, in the isolated rat heart.

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The prevalence of pre-diabetes is increasing globally, affecting an estimated 552 million people by 2030. While lifestyle interventions are the first line of defense against progression toward diabetes, information on barriers toward pre-diabetes management and how to overcome these barriers are scarce. This systematic review describes the publics' and healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) toward pre-diabetes and determines the barriers toward pre-diabetes management.

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: The high soft-tissue contrast of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) makes it useful for evaluation of hand injuries, but its limitations include cost, imaging artifacts, and patient claustrophobia. Ultrasound is readily available, fast, noninvasive, and radiation free, but its utility for the evaluation of hand soft-tissue injury and pathology is less well known. : We sought to examine the accuracy of ultrasound for the evaluation of hand injury at a single institution.

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  • Minimal invasive liver resections (MLRs) are safer alternatives to traditional open surgery, but the effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAT) on their difficulty are not well understood.
  • This study analyzed data from 1,034 patients across 57 centers who underwent laparoscopic and robotic MLRs for colorectal liver metastases (CRLM), comparing those who received NAT to those who did not using statistical matching methods.
  • Results showed no significant differences in perioperative outcomes after matching, although the NAT group experienced slightly higher blood loss but shorter hospital stays, indicating that NAT has minimal impact on the difficulty and overall outcomes of MLRs for CRLM.*
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In order to detect biomolecules, a biosensor based on a dielectric-modulated stacked source trench gate tunnel field effect transistor (DM-SSTGTFET) is proposed. The stacked source structure can simultaneously make the on-state current higher and the off-state current lower. The trench gate structure will increase the tunneling area and tunneling probability.

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Objectives: The objective of this longitudinal study was to determine whether brain iron accumulation, measured using magnetic resonance imaging magnetic transverse relaxation rates (T2*), is associated with response to erenumab for the treatment of migraine.

Methods: Participants (n = 28) with migraine, diagnosed using international classification of headache disorders 3rd edition criteria, were eligible if they had six to 25 migraine days during a four-week headache diary run-in phase. Participants received two treatments with 140 mg erenumab, one immediately following the pre-treatment run-in phase and a second treatment four weeks later.

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Data-driven machine-learning methods on neuroimaging (e.g. MRI) are of great interest for the investigation and classification of neurological diseases.

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Article Synopsis
  • Poliomyelitis, or polio, can lead to permanent paralysis but is preventable through vaccination; Singapore has been polio-free since 2000.
  • While wild polioviruses types 2 and 3 were eradicated globally in 2015 and 2019, resurgence of vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) cases was noted in countries like Israel and the US in late 2022.
  • To sustain global eradication and prevent outbreaks, high vaccination coverage is crucial, with Singapore maintaining 96% coverage among 1-year-olds, and enhanced surveillance strategies are recommended for early detection of poliovirus transmission.
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Background: Post-traumatic headache (PTH) and migraine often have similar phenotypes. The objective of this exploratory study was to develop classification models to differentiate persistent PTH (PPTH) from migraine using clinical data and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of brain structure and functional connectivity (fc).

Methods: Thirty-four individuals with migraine and 48 individuals with PPTH attributed to mild TBI were included.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study compares clinical and demographic characteristics of COVID-19 cases in Brunei during the first wave (March-May 2020) and the second wave (August 2021).
  • Results showed that first wave patients were older and had more comorbidities, while second wave patients were more likely to exhibit symptoms at admission.
  • These findings suggest shifts in COVID-19 manifestations over time, which can inform changes in management strategies, including isolation policies and treatment protocols.
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The halophilic genus is one of the least-studied genera in the family of . So far, only two species were taxonomically identified with limited genomic analysis in the aspect of application has been reported. M1-2 was previously isolated from a seashore sample and it is the second discovered species of the genus .

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Several human monoclonal Abs for treating Influenza have been evaluated in clinical trials with limited success despite demonstrating superiority in preclinical animal models including mice. To conduct efficacy studies in mice, human monoclonal Abs are genetically engineered to contain mouse heavy chain constant domain to facilitate the engagement of Fc-receptors on mouse immune effector cells. Although studies have consistently reported discrepancies in Ab effectiveness following genetic engineering, the structural and mechanistic basis for these inconsistencies remain uncharacterized.

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Article Synopsis
  • - A 23-year-old man experienced a painful red right eye for a month, leading to very poor vision and symptoms indicative of uveitis, including keratic precipitates and vitritis.
  • - The following week, he developed new left-side symptoms such as reduced vision, painless eyelid swelling, and a conjunctival lesion, along with neurological signs affecting sensation.
  • - Blood tests revealed pancytopenia, and a bone marrow biopsy confirmed he had aggressive natural killer (NK) cell leukemia, which is a rare cause of eye inflammation needing a team approach for treatment.
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Objectives/background: Post-traumatic headache (PTH) is a common symptom after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Although there have been several studies that have used clinical features of PTH to attempt to predict headache recovery, currently no accurate methods exist for predicting individuals' improvement from acute PTH. This study investigated the utility of clinical questionnaires for predicting (i) headache improvement at 3 and 6 months, and (ii) headache trajectories over the first 3 months.

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Objective: To explore alterations in thalamic subfield volume and iron accumulation in individuals with post-traumatic headache (PTH) relative to healthy controls.

Background: The thalamus plays a pivotal role in the pathomechanism of pain and headache, yet the role of the thalamus in PTH attributed to mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) remains unclear.

Methods: A total of 107 participants underwent multimodal T1-weighted and T2* brain magnetic resonance imaging.

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Introduction: The healthcare setting is a stressful and demanding work environment, and healthcare workers face a continuous expansion of their job roles and responsibilities. Past studies have shown that factors affecting burnout, resilience, and quality of life among healthcare workers merit further research, as there were inconsistent findings, especially with regards to the influence of demographic and work-related factors. Therefore, this study aims to determine whether demographic and work-related factors are associated with burnout, resilience, and quality of life among healthcare workers.

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Thyroid storm is a rare, fatal complication of thyrotoxicosis that necessitates aggressive medical treatment. We present a case of a patient who developed duodenal ulcer perforation as a result of a thyroid storm caused by Graves' thyrotoxicosis. In addition to life-threatening intra-abdominal sepsis complicated by high anion-gap metabolic acidosis, he was found to have severely deranged thyroid hormone levels and clinical features compatible with thyroid storm based on the Burch-Wartofsky Score.

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This review covers the recent advancements in selected emerging energy sectors, emphasising carbon emission neutrality and energy sustainability in the post-COVID-19 era. It benefited from the latest development reported in the Virtual Special Issue of ENERGY dedicated to the 6th International Conference on Low Carbon Asia and Beyond (ICLCA'20) and the 4th Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory Scientific Conference (SPIL'20). As nations bind together to tackle global climate change, one of the urgent needs is the energy sector's transition from fossil-fuel reliant to a more sustainable carbon-free solution.

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Background: Phyllodes tumors belong to a spectrum of biphasic fibroepithelial lesions and are most commonly found in the breast. They are extremely rare in the urinary tract and only one case of bladder phyllodes tumor has been reported.

Case Presentation: We present a 69-year-old man with gross hematuria without an apparent cause.

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