Publications by authors named "Grace Chan"
Little is known about the prevalence of anxiety disorders in Han Chinese children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This is an important topic for research as symptoms may be written off as being due to ASD alone.ObjectiveTo provide prevalence rates of anxiety disorders in a clinical sample of Han Chinese children with ASD and identify correlates which may be amenable to intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlood culture (BC) investigation remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of bloodstream infections. However, BC contamination can have clinical implications for the patient, cost implications for service providers and less well-documented, environmental impacts. Efforts to reduce BC contamination are a long-standing theme in quality improvement initiatives in emergency departments (EDs) and hospitals, prompted by hospital costs, healthcare inefficiencies and antimicrobial stewardship efforts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding the uncommon: Insights into thymoma associated immunodeficiency.
Asian Pac J Allergy Immunol
February 2025
Background: Thymoma-associated immunodeficiency (TAI) is a rare, acquired adult-onset immunodeficiency. It includes the classic form of Good syndrome (GS), characterized by thymoma and hypogammaglobulinemia, as well as a non-classic form of GS. This condition leads to specific or combined deficiencies in both B- and T-cells, causing considerable morbidity and mortality, although the underlying immunopathology is still not well understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: We investigate offspring alcohol use outcomes as a function of unremitted and remitted parental alcohol use disorder (AUD).
Methods: Self-report data of participants in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) were used. Offspring (n=2244, mean age 16.
Carbapenems are usually employed as first-line antimicrobials against bacteria harbouring extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs). These enzymes confer resistance often to multiple classes of antimicrobials. This indiscriminate use of carbapenems and the inevitable development of carbapenem resistance have prompted the need for carbapenem-sparing strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Identification of individuals at high risk of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and subsequent application of prevention and intervention programs has been reported to decrease the incidence of AUD. The polygenic score (PGS), which measures an individual's genetic liability to a disease, can potentially be used to evaluate AUD risk.
Objective: To assess the estimability and generalizability of the PGS, compared with family history and ADH1B, in evaluating the risk of AUD among populations of European ancestry.
Article Synopsis
- There is a critical need to enhance research capacity in maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) in low- and middle-income countries, which led to the creation of the HaSET MNCH Research Fellowship in Ethiopia, co-designed with the Ministry of Health and local academic institutions.
- The fellowship implemented a hands-on learning model, allowing postdoctoral fellows and policymakers to collaboratively identify research questions, conduct studies, and translate findings into actionable health policies, guided by mentorship from experienced researchers.
- From March 2021 to July 2023, the program trained five postdoctoral fellows and four policymakers, resulting in 15 research manuscripts and 11 policy briefs, and fostering collaboration between the Ministry of Health, health bureaus, and universities to
Article Synopsis
- A study was conducted to estimate the proportion of children under 2 years old with diarrhoea, exploring treatment-seeking practices and identifying related factors.
- Data was collected from 4678 children over a year, revealing the highest diarrhoea rates in late 2018 and lower rates in early 2019; access to chlorinated water significantly reduced diarrhoea occurrence.
- Among children with diarrhoea, a large majority sought treatment at health facilities, but female children were less likely to receive care compared to males.
Article Synopsis
- A systematic review was conducted to assess the quality of health care for sick children in Ethiopia, synthesizing evidence from various studies that highlighted barriers and enablers to quality care.
- The review analyzed 36 studies, mostly nonexperimental and focused on public health facilities, revealing low-quality structural and interpersonal processes of care, despite some successful interventions in reducing child mortality.
- Key barriers identified included a lack of essential drugs and trained staff, while enabling factors involved health system improvements like user-centered services and community engagement strategies.
Background: Despite progress in reducing maternal and child mortality worldwide, adverse birth outcomes such as preterm birth, low birth weight (LBW), small for gestational age (SGA), and stillbirth continue to be a major global health challenge. Developing a prediction model for adverse birth outcomes allows for early risk detection and prevention strategies. In this systematic review, we aimed to assess the performance of existing prediction models for adverse birth outcomes and provide a comprehensive summary of their findings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is heterogeneous with varied progression rate. This study aimed to identify the baseline clinical characteristics associated with ILD progression within 1, 3 and 5 years of the diagnosis of ILD.
Methods: This was a prospective, multicentre study - Systematic Sclerosis Cohort Singapore - conducted from January 2008 to February 2021, which included SSc patients with ILD diagnosed by high-resolution computed tomography.
Background: Maternal continuum of care (MCC) is the utilisation of maternal health care services, including 4+ antenatal care (ANC) visits, skilled birth attendants (SBAs), and postnatal care (PNC). This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the pooled proportion of MCC utilisation among women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and its association with selected sociodemographic factors.
Methods: We identified keywords and MeSH terms related to the condition (MCC), the context (SSA), and population (women with history of childbirth) to search for published or unpublished observational studies.
Article Synopsis
- HPK1 is a negative regulator of T-cell receptor signaling, and its inhibition can enhance immune responses and work well with immune checkpoint inhibitors in cancer models.
- Researchers have discovered a new series of isoquinoline compounds that effectively inhibit HPK1 and promote T-cell activity through fragment-based screening.
- The best candidate from these efforts showed strong inhibition of HPK1, excellent selectivity for other kinases, a good safety profile, and favorable pharmacokinetic properties for potential cancer immunotherapy use.
Introduction: Despite the progress in reducing child mortality, the rate remains high, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries. Limited data exist on child survival and other birth outcomes by sex. This study compared survival rates and birth outcomes by sex among neonates and children under 2 in Ethiopia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth facility delivery is one of the critical indicators to monitor progress towards the provision of skilled delivery care and reduction in perinatal mortality. In Ethiopia, utilization of health facilities for skilled delivery care has been increasing but varies greatly by region and among specific socio-demography groups. We aimed to measure the prevalence and determinants of health facility delivery in the Amhara region in Ethiopia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Biliary obstruction can be due to both malignant and benign pancreaticobiliary disease. Currently, there are no biomarkers that can accurately help make this distinction. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are stable molecules in tissue and biofluids that are commonly deregulated in cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patient registries are crucial for rare disease management. However, manual registry construction is labor-intensive and often not user-friendly. Our goal is to establish Hong Kong's first computer-assisted patient identification tool for rare diseases, starting with inborn errors of metabolism (IEM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigates the complex relationships between alcohol use milestones, behavioral traits (like impulsivity and anxiety), and genetic risk factors in a large sample of individuals aged 11-36.
- Findings indicate that certain externalizing behaviors predict future alcohol use issues, while internalizing behaviors increase the risk of developing severe alcohol use disorders (AUD).
- There is a bidirectional link where early alcohol use can lead to later mental health issues, reinforcing the idea that both behavior and alcohol use influence each other over time.
Objectives: Infections are one of the most common causes of neonatal mortality, and maternal colonization has been associated with neonatal infection. In this study, we sought to quantify carriage prevalence of extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase (ESBL) -producing and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) among pregnant women and their neonates and to characterize risk factors for carriage in rural Amhara, Ethiopia.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study nested in the Birhan field site.
Article Synopsis
- Hospital surfaces in LMICs harbor antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (GNB), leading to nosocomial infections and contributing to mortality rates.
- The BARNARDS study sampled neonatal ward surfaces, employing PCR and whole genome sequencing to identify dominant bacterial clones, notably Klebsiella pneumoniae, linked to neonatal sepsis in Pakistan.
- A higher prevalence of carbapenemases was noted in certain countries, emphasizing the importance of improving Infection Prevention and Control guidelines in healthcare settings.