The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major changes in pedagogical practices worldwide. As COVID-19 cases increased, universities had to move their teaching online, requiring both instructors and students to engage through online learning platforms. This study explored the effects of students' online learning readiness and online self-regulated English learning on their satisfaction with the online English learning experience.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Resist Infect Control
December 2024
Background: Hand hygiene is a critical component of infection prevention in healthcare settings. Innovative strategies are required to enhance hand hygiene practices among patients and healthcare workers (HCWs).
Methods: This study was conducted at the Chemotherapy Day Center of Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong.
The first dose of COVID-19 vaccines led to an overall reduction in cardiovascular events, and in rare cases, cardiovascular complications. There is less information about the effect of second and booster doses on cardiovascular diseases. Using longitudinal health records from 45.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Some studies have shown that the incidence of type 2 diabetes increases after a diagnosis of COVID-19, although the evidence is not conclusive. However, the effects of the COVID-19 vaccine on this association, or the effect on other diabetes subtypes, are not clear. We aimed to investigate the association between COVID-19 and incidence of type 2, type 1, gestational and non-specific diabetes, and the effect of COVID- 19 vaccination, up to 52 weeks after diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA traditional Chinese herbal medicine formula named Huang-Lian-Jie-Du Decoction (HLJDD) has been used to cure various inflammatory diseases with a long history. However, one component of HLJDD has remarkable liver and kidney toxicities. Therefore, it was altered with to form a modified HLJDD (MHLJDD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Psoriasis is a long-term inflammatory skin disease. A novel herbal formula containing nine Chinese herbal medicines, named Inflammation Skin Disease Formula (ISDF), has been prescribed in clinics for decades.
Aims: To investigate the efficacy and action mechanisms of ISDF on psoriasis using imiquimod (IMQ) and Interleukin-23 (IL-23)-induced models in mice and reveal the pharmacokinetics profile of ISDF in rats.
Infection with SARS-CoV-2 is associated with an increased risk of arterial and venous thrombotic events, but the implications of vaccination for this increased risk are uncertain. With the approval of NHS England, we quantified associations between COVID-19 diagnosis and cardiovascular diseases in different vaccination and variant eras using linked electronic health records for ~40% of the English population. We defined a 'pre-vaccination' cohort (18,210,937 people) in the wild-type/Alpha variant eras (January 2020-June 2021), and 'vaccinated' and 'unvaccinated' cohorts (13,572,399 and 3,161,485 people respectively) in the Delta variant era (June-December 2021).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The nature of cognitive flexibility deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which historically have been tested with probabilistic reversal learning tasks, remains elusive. Here, a novel deterministic reversal task and inclusion of unmedicated patients in the study sample illuminated the role of fixed versus uncertain rules/contingencies and of serotonergic medication. Additionally, our understanding of probabilistic reversal was enhanced through theoretical computational modeling of cognitive flexibility in OCD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly diagnosis of cancer relies on accurate assessment of cancer risk in patients presenting with symptoms, when screening is not appropriate. But recorded symptoms in cancer patients pre-diagnosis may vary between different sources of electronic health records (EHRs), either genuinely or due to differential completeness of symptom recording. To assess possible differences, we analysed primary care EHRs in the year pre-diagnosis of cancer in UK Biobank and Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) populations linked to cancer registry data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough various ferroptosis inducers including magnetic nanoparticles (Fe O ) and iron-organic frameworks have been applied in cancer treatment, the mild immunogenicity, low targeting efficiency to the tumor, and poor tissue penetration have limited the therapeutic efficacy. Herein, a supramolecularly engineered conjugate between living bacteria (facultative anaerobic Salmonella typhimurium VNP20009, VNP) and cancer cell membranes-coated Fe O nanoparticles is developed for improving targeted delivery of Fe O nanoparticles into the tumor tissue and for synergistic ferroptosis and immunotherapy of tumor. The enhanced ferroptosis induced by both Fe O nanoparticles and the loaded ferroptosis inducing agent (sulfasalazine (SAS)) effectively inhibits tumor growth and generates immune response via immunogenic cell death (ICD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and debilitating psychiatric condition, with diagnosed patients typically experiencing moderate or severe symptoms. This study evaluated the cost-of-illness (CoI) of OCD in the UK, capturing the annual costs accrued to the National Health Service (NHS) and Personal Social Services (PSS), people with OCD, caregivers and society.
Methods: The UK OCD population was estimated and stratified by age group (children, adults, elderly), symptom severity (mild, moderate, severe) and treatment received (including no treatment).
Background The aim of this study was to provide quantitative evidence of the use of polygenic risk scores for systematically identifying individuals for invitation for full formal cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment. Methods and Results A total of 108 685 participants aged 40 to 69 years, with measured biomarkers, linked primary care records, and genetic data in UK Biobank were used for model derivation and population health modeling. Prioritization tools using age, polygenic risk scores for coronary artery disease and stroke, and conventional risk factors for CVD available within longitudinal primary care records were derived using sex-specific Cox models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Syphilitic ostial coronary stenosis is an uncommon manifestation of cardiovascular syphilis, characterized by concomitant aortic regurgitation and isolated or bilateral ostial involvement. Although much has been written about syphilis in the pre-antibiotic era, the key imaging and operative findings were rarely reported in the modern literature. Through multimodality imaging and operative videos, we demonstrate the unique diagnostic and therapeutic hurdles associated with the condition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe air fryer and the oven are common cooking methods in our daily lives. However, previous investigations of the air fryer were limited to its comparison with deep-fat frying. This study compared the differences between air frying and household oven baking (without a fan or other forced airflow inside) on food quality and physicochemical properties using a cupcake model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenomic medicine, an emerging medical discipline, applies the principles of evolution, developmental biology, functional genomics, and structural genomics within clinical care. Enabling widespread adoption and integration of genomic medicine into clinical practice is key to achieving precision medicine. We delineate a biological framework defining diagnostic utility of genomic testing and map the process of genomic medicine to inform integration into clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhysical health status defines an individual's ability to perform normal activities of daily living and is usually assessed in clinical settings by questionnaires and/or by validated tests, e.g. timed walk tests.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) induces a prothrombotic state, but long-term effects of COVID-19 on incidence of vascular diseases are unclear.
Methods: We studied vascular diseases after COVID-19 diagnosis in population-wide anonymized linked English and Welsh electronic health records from January 1 to December 7, 2020. We estimated adjusted hazard ratios comparing the incidence of arterial thromboses and venous thromboembolic events (VTEs) after diagnosis of COVID-19 with the incidence in people without a COVID-19 diagnosis.
Background: Huang-Lian-Jie-Du Decoction is a traditional Chinese medicine formula which has long been used to treat inflammatory skin disease including AD. However, Gardeniae Fructus, a component herb of HLJDD, has noticeable toxicity in liver and kidney. We therefore replaced Gardeniae Fructus with Dictamni Cortex with a hope to derive at a modified HLJDD (MHLJDD) with better safety profile.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVillitis of unknown aetiology (VUE) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the placenta that is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in perinatal medicine. The cause remains elusive and recent studies have explored immune-mediated, infectious and environmental triggers in the pathogenesis of VUE. The objective of this study was to identify the characteristics of VUE diagnoses at Mater Mothers' Hospital over a 5-year period, including any association with seasons, maternal age and histological patterns of the disorder.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk prediction models for individuals with type 2 diabetes are important tools to guide intensification of interventions for CVD prevention. We aimed to assess the added value of incorporating risk factors variability in CVD risk prediction for people with type 2 diabetes.
Methods: We used electronic health records (EHRs) data from 83 910 adults with type 2 diabetes but without pre-existing CVD from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink for 2004-2017.
Purpose: Clinical phenotypes in Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) according to the patterns of affecting organs have different risks of malignancies. We attempt to determine the association of malignancies with IgG4-related ophthalmic disease (IgG4-ROD).
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic launched an unprecedented global effort to rapidly develop vaccines to stem the spread of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines were developed quickly by companies that were actively developing mRNA therapeutics and vaccines for other indications, leading to two mRNA vaccines being not only the first SARS-CoV-2 vaccines to be approved for emergency use but also the first mRNA drugs to gain emergency use authorization and to eventually gain full approval. This was possible partly because mRNA sequences can be altered to encode nearly any protein without significantly altering its chemical properties, allowing the drug substance to be a modular component of the drug product.
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