Prospective Randomized Study on Switching Triple Inhaler Therapy in COPD from Multiple Inhaler Devices to a Single Inhaler Device in a Chinese Population.

Background: Triple therapy with inhaled corticosteroids and dual bronchodilator was recommended in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients who had exacerbations and eosinophilia. It can be administered by single inhaler (SITT) or multiple inhaler (MITT). There was lack of evidence of the benefits of SITT over MITT in Chinese population, especially on switching from existing MITT to SITT.

Correlation of sputum inflammatory markers with severity and blood inflammatory markers in bronchiectasis.

Background: As a disease characterized by chronic neutrophilic inflammation, various sputum biomarkers have been investigated in the association with the severity and prognosis of bronchiectasis. However, there is lack of data on the association between sputum interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels at clinical stable state and the clinical, spirometric and blood inflammatory parameters, as well as prognostic scores. The purpose of the study is to assess the association between sputum IL-1β, IL-8 and TNF-α levels at clinical stable state and various clinical and laboratory parameters in bronchiectasis.

Severe bronchiectasis is associated with increased carotid intima-media thickness.

Background: Although bronchiectasis has been shown to be associated with cardiovascular disease, there is limited evidence of an association with subclinical atherosclerosis, especially carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT).

Methods: This prospective study compared CIMT among patients with and without bronchiectasis, and among bronchiectatic patients classified according to disease severity using the FACED score. The study was carried out at a major regional hospital and tertiary respiratory referral centre in Hong Kong.

Baseline neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of response to hospitalized bronchiectasis exacerbation risks.

Background: Bronchiectasis is a disease with predominantly neutrophilic inflammation. As a readily available biomarker, there is little evidence to support the use of blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) to predict bronchiectasis exacerbation severe enough to warrant hospitalization.

Methods: A registry-based retrospective cohort study was conducted at a in Hong Kong.

Systemic immune-inflammation index in predicting hospitalized bronchiectasis exacerbation risks and disease severity.

Background: Bronchiectasis is a common respiratory disease with neutrophilic inflammation being the predominant pathophysiology. Systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) is a simple and readily available biomarker being studied in various conditions including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and interstitial lung disease, but not in bronchiectasis. We aim to investigate the prognostic role of SII in bronchiectasis with this study.

Information-Distilled Generative Label-Free Morphological Profiling Encodes Cellular Heterogeneity.

Image-based cytometry faces challenges due to technical variations arising from different experimental batches and conditions, such as differences in instrument configurations or image acquisition protocols, impeding genuine biological interpretation of cell morphology. Existing solutions, often necessitating extensive pre-existing data knowledge or control samples across batches, have proved limited, especially with complex cell image data. To overcome this, "Cyto-Morphology Adversarial Distillation" (CytoMAD), a self-supervised multi-task learning strategy that distills biologically relevant cellular morphological information from batch variations, is introduced to enable integrated analysis across multiple data batches without complex data assumptions or extensive manual annotation.

Increased exacerbations of bronchiectasis following recovery from mild COVID-19 in patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.

Background And Objective: Respiratory viral infection is a common trigger of bronchiectasis exacerbation. Knowledge of the intermediate to long-term effect of COVID-19 on bronchiectasis is poor.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patient records was conducted to assess the frequency of bronchiectasis exacerbation following recovery from mild-to-moderate COVID-19.

Real-World Effectiveness Study of Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir or Molnupiravir in Hospitalized Unvaccinated Patients with Chronic Respiratory Diseases and Moderate COVID-19 at Presentation.

Introduction: Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (NMV-r) and molnupiravir (MOL) were developed as out-patient anti-viral for mild COVID-19. There was limited data on their role in treating COVID-19 for hospitalized patients, especially among adult patients who are unvaccinated and had chronic respiratory diseases.

Methods: A territory-wide retrospective study was conducted in Hong Kong to compare the efficacy of NMV-r and MOL against COVID-19 in unvaccinated adult patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis and interstitial lung diseases presenting with moderate COVID-19 from 16th February 2022 to 15th March 2023.

Chimera and Tandem-Repeat Type Galectins: The New Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy.

In humans, a total of 12 galectins have been identified. Their intracellular and extracellular biological functions are explored and discussed in this review. These galectins play important roles in controlling immune responses within the tumour microenvironment (TME) and the infiltration of immune cells, including different subsets of T cells, macrophages, and neutrophils, to fight against cancer cells.

Variability of Blood Eosinophil Count at Stable-State in Predicting Exacerbation Risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) phenotyping using stable-state blood eosinophil level was shown to have prognostic implication in terms of exacerbation risk. However, using a single cut-off of blood eosinophil level to predict clinical outcome has been challenged. There have been suggestions that variability of blood eosinophil count at stable-state could provide additional information on exacerbation risk.

Blood eosinophil percentage as a predictor of response to inhaled corticosteroid in bronchiectasis.

Introduction: The role of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) among patients with bronchiectasis remains controversial. There is limited evidence of using baseline eosinophil count (absolute and percentage) as a marker to predict the role of ICS among patients with bronchiectasis.

Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted in a major regional hospital and tertiary respiratory referral centre in Hong Kong, including 140 Chinese patients with noncystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis, to investigate the exacerbation risks of bronchiectasis among ICS users and nonusers with different baseline eosinophil counts.

Prediction model on disease recurrence for low risk resected stage I lung adenocarcinoma.

Background And Objective: Although stage I non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) typically carries a good prognosis following complete resection, early disease recurrence can occur. An accurate survival prediction model would help refine a follow-up strategy and personalize future adjuvant therapy. We developed a post-operative prediction model based on readily available clinical information for patients with stage I adenocarcinoma.

Real-World Study on Effectiveness of Molnupiravir and Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir in Unvaccinated Patients with Chronic Respiratory Diseases with Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Infection Managed in Out-Patient Setting.

While molnupiravir (MOV) and nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (NMV-r) were developed for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 infection, there has been a lack of data on the efficacy among unvaccinated adult patients with chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchiectasis. A territory-wide retrospective cohort study was conducted in Hong Kong to investigate the efficacy of MOV and NMV-r against severe outcomes of COVID-19 in unvaccinated adult patients with chronic respiratory diseases. A total of 3267 patients were included.

Efficacy of mRNA and Inactivated Whole Virus Vaccines Against COVID-19 in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Diseases.

Background: While different COVID-19 vaccines have been developed, there has been lack of data on the efficacy comparison between mRNA and inactivated whole virus vaccine among patients with chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchiectasis.

Methods: This was a retrospective case control study on the efficacy of BNT162b2 (mRNA vaccine) and CoronaVac (inactivated whole virus vaccine) against COVID-19 in patients with chronic respiratory diseases. A total of 327 patients were included, with 109 patients infected with COVID-19 matched with 218 patients without COVID-19.

Association of genetic polymorphisms of CYP3A4 and CYP2D6 with gefitinib-induced toxicities.

Dermatological, gastrointestinal and hepatic toxicities are the most common adverse events associated with gefitinib use. Gefitinib is metabolized by cytochrome P450. Inconsistent associations of single nucleotide genetic polymorphisms of CYP450 and gefitinib-induced adverse effects were reported.

Serum protein level as a predictor of therapeutic response and adverse effects associated with afatinib use.

Background: Afatinib is an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor with significant serum protein binding. Total protein level was found to be associated with plasma afatinib level. The trough serum concentration was shown to be associated with development of adverse effects.

Survival benefits from afatinib compared with gefitinib and erlotinib among patients with common EGFR mutation in first-line setting.

Background: Epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are recommended as first-line treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with sensitizing EGFR mutations. The sequential use of different EGFR-TKIs has been reported to demonstrate improvement in overall survival of NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations. There are limited reports on comparisons between regimens with first-line use of afatinib, gefitinib or erlotinib, followed by osimertinib upon disease progression with acquired T790M mutation.

Clinical efficacy and safety of pemetrexed with or without either Bevacizumab or Pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell carcinoma.

Background: Pemetrexed was approved by United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) in combination with platinum for the treatment of advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and malignant mesothelioma. Bevacizumab and pembrolizumab can be added to chemotherapy for patients with nonsquamous NSCLC with benefits but there has not been any dedicated head-to-head comparison between pembrolizumab-pemetrexed-platinum (PAC) and bevacizumab-pemetrexed-platinum (BAC) on their efficacy and safety.

Methods: This was a retrospective single-center cohort study conducted in Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong.

A multicenter retrospective cohort study on predicting the risk for amiodarone pulmonary toxicity.

Background: Amiodarone is one of the most commonly used anti-arrhythmic agents. Amiodarone pulmonary toxicity is a potentially fatal adverse effect associated with amiodarone use. Previous studies on the epidemiology and risk factors for amiodarone pulmonary toxicity showed diverse results.

Asthma, from mild to severe, is an independent prognostic factor for mild to severe Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Background: Chronic illnesses were reported to be poor prognostic factors associated with severe illness and mortality in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. The association with asthma, however, is limited and controversial, especially for mild asthma.

Methods: A territory wide retrospective study was conducted to investigate the association between asthma and the prognosis of COVID-19.

Risk factors of nephrotoxicity of maintenance pemetrexed in patients with metastatic non-squamous non-small cell carcinoma of lung.

Background: Nephrotoxicity is one of the concerns of prolonged maintenance therapy with pemetrexed. No reversible risk factors for pemetrexed-induced nephrotoxicity have been identified in previous studies. Identification of such factors would be clinically meaningful to maximize the chemotherapeutic benefits by avoiding premature termination of maintenance therapy which might otherwise result from the development of renal impairment.