Publications by authors named "Christopher Cheng"

Background: Management of localised prostate cancer (PCa) remains controversial in the era of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. This study aims to describe the natural history of men with PCa being followed up expectantly to evaluate disease mortality.

Methods: After exclusion, clinical data of 204 patients retrieved from a prospective large PCa registry were reviewed.

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Background: Historically, Asia had a lower prostate cancer (PCa) incidence and mortality compared with Western countries, but the gap is narrowing. Paradoxically, Asians have been reported to present with more advanced disease though more favorable outcomes. Despite PCa becoming an emerging health priority in East Asia, our knowledge remains limited.

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Boxing is a popular combat sport in which participants frequently experience head trauma. The neurological impact of boxing has been widely discussed, but the impact on the bone and soft tissue of the head has been less investigated. For this study, a national emergency department database was used to investigate the impact of a 2013 rule change - removing the requirement for amateurs to wear head protection - on the frequency and type of facial injuries sustained by amateur boxers.

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Objectives: Letters of recommendation (LORs) are an important part of pain medicine fellowship applications that may be subject to implicit bias by the letter's author. This study evaluated letters of recommendation for applications to pain medicine fellowships in the United States to characterize biases and differences among applicants over four application cycles.

Methods: This was a retrospective single-site cohort study.

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The basal cell maintains the airway's respiratory epithelium as the putative resident stem cell. Basal cells are known to self-renew and differentiate into airway ciliated and secretory cells. However, it is not clear if every basal cell functions as a stem cell.

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  • The study investigated how stenting affects the length, shape, and movement of the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in patients reliant on this vessel for blood flow to the lungs.
  • Involved 12 patients with congenital heart issues, revealing significant shortening (26%) and straightening of the PDA after stenting, with notable reductions in curvature.
  • Findings emphasize the importance of precise stent sizing to avoid complications and offer insights for better device design for congenital heart patients, especially in neonates.
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Objective: Personal statements (PSs) and letters of recommendation (LORs) are critical components of the neurotology fellowship application process but can be subject to implicit biases. This study evaluated general and deep learning linguistic differences between the applicant genders over a 10-year span.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

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  • The study aimed to assess how double chimney thoracic endovascular aortic repair (ch-TEVAR) affects gutter phenomena and endograft deformations in a model that simulates real blood flow conditions.
  • Researchers compared two types of chimney grafts (balloon-expandable and self-expandable) using advanced imaging techniques to evaluate their behavior during different phases of the heart cycle.
  • Results showed that balloon-expandable grafts had significantly larger gutter volumes and exhibited different deformation patterns than self-expandable grafts, highlighting important design considerations for future devices to mitigate risks like endoleak.
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This follow-up dual-institutional and longitudinal study further evaluated for underlying gender biases in LORs for rhinology fellowship. Explicit and implicit linguistic gender bias was found, heavily favoring male applicants.

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Treatment intensification with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (ARPi) have led to improved survival in advanced prostate cancer. However, ADT is linked to significant cardiovascular toxicity, and ARPi also negatively impacts cardiovascular health. Together with a higher prevalence of baseline cardiovascular risk factors reported among prostate cancer survivors at diagnosis, there is a pressing need to prioritise and optimise cardiovascular health in this population.

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Background: For nurses, clinical competency is paramount in ensuring that patients receive safe, high-quality care. Multi-patient simulation (MPS) in nursing education is gaining attention, and evidence shows its suitability for real-life situations. MPS can be an effective solution for nurses' continuing clinical education.

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Objective: Iliofemoral venous obstructive disease can result in significant, potentially debilitating symptoms that can negatively affect quality of life. Unlike arterial disease, patients with deep venous disease have a significantly lower median age, therefore the need for long term stent patency becomes a matter of decades rather than years. Furthermore, iliofemoral lesions frequently require stent placement across the inguinal ligament.

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Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a key stimulator for gonadotropin secretion in the pituitary and its pivotal role in reproduction is well conserved in vertebrates. In fish models, GnRH can also induce prolactin (PRL) release, but little is known for the corresponding effect on PRL gene expression as well as the post-receptor signalling involved. Using grass carp as a model, the functional role of GnRH and its underlying signal transduction for PRL regulation were examined at the pituitary level.

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Introduction: Withdrawal symptoms lead to smoking relapse and reduce the intention to quit. The present pilot RCT examined the effect of simple and very brief handgrip and isometric exercises on reducing withdrawal symptoms, measured by the strength of tobacco craving, Questionnaire of Smoking Urges-Brief (QSU-B), Mood and Physical Symptoms Scale (MPSS), and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS).

Methods: In this 2-arm, open-labeled pilot RCT, 30 current smokers who had abstained from tobacco for at least 9 hours were randomly assigned (allocation ratio 1:1) to either the intervention group that watched a 5-minute video and did 5-minute handgrip and isometric exercises (pulling and pushing) or control group that watched 10-minute healthy-diet videos.

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Widespread adoption of mpMRI has led to a decrease in the number of patients requiring prostate biopsies. Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT has demonstrated added benefits in identifying csPCa. Integrating the use of these imaging techniques may hold promise for predicting the presence of csPCa without invasive biopsy.

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Background: Very brief advice (VBA; ≤ 3 min) on quitting is practical and scalable during brief medical interactions with patients who smoke. This study aims to synthesize the effectiveness of VBA for smoking cessation and summarize the implementation strategies.

Methods: We searched randomized controlled trials aiming at tobacco abstinence and comparing VBA versus no smoking advice or no contact from Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo databases, six Chinese databases, two trial registries ClinicalTrials.

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Otolaryngologists can enhance workflow efficiency, provide better patient care, and advance medical research and education by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into their practices. GPT-4 technology is a revolutionary and contemporary example of AI that may apply to otolaryngology. The knowledge of otolaryngologists should be supplemented, not replaced when using GPT-4 to make critical medical decisions and provide individualized patient care.

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Introduction: Open carpal tunnel release (O-CTR) is associated with high patient satisfaction and low complication rates. Risk factors for complications are well-established. Recent studies have found that patient-reported allergies (PRAs) and psychiatric comorbidities may be associated with increased complication rates.

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Significance: Vision health disparities largely stem from inaccessibility to vision specialists. To improve patient access to vision tests and to expedite clinical workflows, it is important to assess the viability of virtual reality (VR) as a modality for evaluating contrast sensitivity.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the validity of a VR version of the Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity test by comparing its results with those of the corresponding in-office test.

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Development and maturation of the immune system begin and continue throughout the neonatal period. Both the maternal and neonatal gut microbiome influence immune development, but the relative importance of the prenatal and postnatal periods is unclear. In the present study, we characterized immune cell populations in mice in which the timing of microbiome colonization was strictly controlled using gnotobiotic methodology.

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Nerve transfer after spinal cord injury has become increasingly popular. Accurate preoperative identification of lower motor neuron involvement in potential recipient nerves is critical. Electrodiagnostic testing has been shown to correlate with intraoperative findings; however, it is time-consuming, costly and may not be readily available.

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Numerous eponymous surgical approaches are used in the treatment of upper extremity pathology, especially in the trauma setting. Knowledge of anatomy and planes is critical to maximize visualization, achieve anatomic reduction, and avoid iatrogenic injury to critical neurovascular structures. Understanding the history of these commonly used eponymous upper extremity approaches (Kaplan, Kocher, Boyd, Thompson, and Henry) provides a humanistic perspective of each of these surgeons' narratives, which shaped their description of anatomic approaches that have forever changed the course of hand and upper extremity surgeries, providing greater means and possibilities to treat our patients.

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Purpose: This study presents analytic techniques to quantify cardiac pulsatility-induced deformations of thoracic aortic endografts in patients with thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA), dissection (TAD), and blunt thoracic aortic injury (BTAI) after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR).

Technique: We analyzed 19 image data sets from 14 patients treated for TAA, TAD, and BTAI with cardiac-gated post-TEVAR CTs. Systolic and diastolic geometric models were constructed and diametric, axial, and bending deformations were quantified.

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Introduction: There are currently no published studies using patient reviews of pain physicians to quantitatively assess patient preferences for pain physician attributes. The aim of the present study was to use natural language processing to quantitatively analyze patient reviews of pain physicians by determining the effect of physician demographics and word frequency on positive review outcomes.

Methods: Using a peer-reviewed algorithm, online Healthgrades reviews of pain physicians practicing in the USA were scored according to their positive sentiment from -1 to 1.

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