Publications by authors named "Fong J"

The use of an alteplase (Activase) purge solution to address Impella ventricular assist device "thrombosis" or "purge system occlusion" has been mainly documented with earlier generation Impella devices (CP, 2.5, 5.0).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tolerance to dietary antigens is critical for avoiding deleterious type 2 immune responses resulting in food allergy (FA) and anaphylaxis. However, the mechanisms resulting in both the maintenance and failure of tolerance to food antigens are poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that the goblet-cell-derived resistin-like molecule β (RELMβ) is a critical regulator of oral tolerance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: To evaluate the accuracy of Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), a large language model (LLM), to assist in diagnosing neuro-ophthalmic diseases based on case reports.

Methods: We selected 22 different case reports of neuro-ophthalmic diseases from a publicly available online database. These cases included a wide range of chronic and acute diseases commonly seen by neuro-ophthalmic subspecialists.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Childhood adversity harms neurodevelopment. Literature on late-life brain health is limited, and findings on late-life cognition are mixed.

Methods: Pooling data from Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences (KHANDLE) and Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans (STAR) cohorts, we assessed the impact of childhood adversity (factor score from seven self-reported items) on (a) executive function and verbal memory decline using linear mixed effects models (n = 2447), (b) structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using linear regression (n = 618), and (c) amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) using generalized linear models (n = 331), all adjusting for early-life demographic and socioeconomic confounders.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Postoperative delirium (POD) and cognitive dysfunction (POCD) are significant complications after surgery that can lead to serious health issues; this study aimed to see if pre-surgery cognitive training helps reduce these risks.
  • The analysis included seven randomized controlled trials with 864 participants, showcasing a moderate quality of reporting on cognitive training interventions, which were mostly home-based and computer-focused, lasting 2.3-10 hours over a few weeks.
  • Results indicated that cognitive prehabilitation did not significantly decrease the incidence of POD or early POCD compared to standard care, but the study suggested that the sample sizes may be too small to definitively rule out any potential benefits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

China has committed to develop an ecological civilization and recently taken significant steps to enhance conservation measures including updating the List of National Key Protected Wild Animals and revising the Wildlife Protection Law in 2021. Conservation has improved by increasing the number of protected species. However, a notable shortcoming undermines the effectiveness of protection for as many as 87 species, as the regulation applies only to wild and not to captive individuals (Figure 1 and Table S1).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Underweight is a prevalent condition among older adults in developing countries and poses a substantial burden on health, social, and aged-care systems. In this study, we examined the influence of tobacco use and food insecurity on the risk of being underweight among adults aged 60 or older in India.

Methods: We used data from the 2017-2018 Longitudinal Aging Study in India.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a potential complication of foot and ankle surgery. There is a lack of agreement on contributing risk factors and chemical prophylaxis requirements. The primary outcome of this study was to analyze the 90-day incidence of symptomatic VTE and VTE-related mortality in patients undergoing foot and ankle surgery and Achilles tendon (TA) rupture.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Immune dysregulation and SARS-CoV-2 plasma viremia have been implicated in fatal COVID-19 disease. However, how these two factors interact to shape disease outcomes is unclear.

Methods: We carried out viral and immunological phenotyping on a prospective cohort of 280 patients with COVID-19 presenting to acute care hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts and Genoa, Italy between June 1, 2020 and February 8, 2022.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - This study looks at how different feeding methods (direct breastfeeding, expressed milk, and formula) affect the gut bacteria of infants at 6 weeks old.
  • - Researchers analyzed stool samples from 217 healthy infants in Hong Kong, finding similar bacterial diversity in both direct breastfeeding and expressed milk feeding groups.
  • - The results indicate that the way a baby is fed doesn’t significantly change gut microbiota, suggesting that certain bacteria may come from the milk itself or other sources rather than the feeding method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The text discusses the global need for increased trust in vaccines, particularly in the context of COVID-19, highlighting a collaborative effort in Fiji to improve vaccination rates through a training program for health workers and community influencers.
  • The Vaccine Champions program involved co-designing training, educating participants, and supporting them to lead community vaccine discussions over six months, evaluated using the RE-AIM framework.
  • Results showed significant increases in Champions’ confidence and knowledge about vaccines, with community vaccination intention rising from 41% to 83% after sessions led by trained Champions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

is a common opportunistic fungus in humans, whose morphological switch between yeast and hyphae forms represents a key virulence trait. Developing strategies to inhibit hyphal growth may provide insights into designs of novel antivirulent therapeutics. Importantly, the gut commensal bacterium, , secretes a bacteriocin EntV which has potent antivirulent and antifungal effects against in infection models; however, hampered by the challenges to access large quantities of bioactive EntV, the detailed understanding of its mechanisms on has remained elusive.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Diminished activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, particularly baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia, is linked to empathy issues in individuals with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), especially those with left frontoinsula dysfunction.
  • In a study involving 102 participants, including asymptomatic and symptomatic carriers of the C9orf72 gene mutation, researchers found that those with symptomatic FTD exhibited significantly lower respiratory sinus arrhythmia compared to other groups, indicating disrupted parasympathetic activity.
  • Results showed a correlation between lower respiratory sinus arrhythmia and greater behavioral symptom severity as well as reduced empathic concern, suggesting that parasympathetic deficits might play a role in the progression of FTD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: To examine the prevalence of toileting disability among older adults in India and its association with broad aspects of the physical and social environment.

Methods: We use data from the inaugural wave of the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India and focus on adults aged 65 and older (N = 20,789). We draw on the disablement process model and existing frameworks to identify environmental factors and other risk factors that may be associated with toileting disability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In a prospective cohort of subjects who subsequently developed preeclampsia (PE, n = 14) versus remaining healthy (NORM, n = 12), early gestation circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing a panel of microRNA signatures were characterized and their biological networks of targets deciphered. Multiple microRNAs of which some arose from the placenta (19MC and 14MC) demonstrated changes in association with advancing gestation, while others expressed were pathognomonic of the subsequent development of characteristic clinical features of PE which set in as a late-onset subtype. This panel of miRNAs demonstrated a predictability with an area under the curve of 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Bacterial and fungal copper radical oxidases (CROs) from Auxiliary Activity Family 5 (AA5) are implicated in morphogenesis and pathogenesis. The unique catalytic properties of CROs also make these enzymes attractive biocatalysts for the transformation of small molecules and biopolymers. Despite a recent increase in the number of characterized AA5 members, especially from subfamily 2 (AA5_2), the catalytic diversity of the family as a whole remains underexplored.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

With the proliferation of pass/fail grading practices in the pre-clerkship phase of undergraduate medical education, questions arise about the transparency and variability of grading and grade reporting practices, raising issues of equity in assessment, particularly regarding residency matching. The purpose of this survey was to determine the remediation and academic performance reporting practices of United States (U.S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A group of multi-drug resistant bacteria is linked to bacterial eye infections such as conjunctivitis and keratitis, but details on how these infections develop are not well understood.
  • A study using New Zealand White rabbits established a model to investigate how biofilm formation by these bacteria contributes to keratitis, leading researchers to explore gene sequences for potential virulence factors involved in this process.
  • The identification of a gene encoding a mycolyltransferase was found to play a significant role in the infection, indicating that targeting this gene could offer new treatment options for ocular infections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: New global crises are emerging, while existing global crises remain unabated. Coping with climate change, the radioactive water released into the Pacific Ocean subsequent to the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East (hereafter referred to as the wars) as individual crises can negatively affect the psychological health of young people, but little is known about the compounded impact of multiple crises. We aimed to examine: (1) the emotional responses of young people towards each individual crisis, (2) how aggregate levels of emotional engagement in global crises might pose different potential trajectories in psychological health, and (3) the protective or exacerbating role of media exposure and nature connectedness as mediators on psychological health outcomes of young people.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The prevalence of opiate use is rising, affecting about 0.6% of the global population, leading to many infants being born with prenatal opioid exposure.
  • Animal and human studies show that this exposure negatively impacts brain development and anatomy, but the effects of postnatal exposure on hospitalized infants are less understood.
  • The review discusses the effects of both prenatal and postnatal opioid exposure on neurodevelopment and suggests resources and strategies to address and possibly reduce developmental setbacks in affected infants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF