Publications by authors named "K G Lau"

Background: Breastfeeding is vital for the health and well-being of both mothers and infants, and it is crucial to create supportive environments that promote and maintain breastfeeding practices.

Objective: The objective of this paper was to describe the development of a breastfeeding-friendly app called "bfGPS" (HKU TALIC), which provides comprehensive territory-wide information on breastfeeding facilities in Hong Kong, with the goal of fostering a breastfeeding-friendly community.

Methods: The development of bfGPS can be categorized into three phases, which are (1) planning, prototype development, and preimplementation evaluation; (2) implementation and updates; and (3) usability evaluation.

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The structure and function of the mammalian gut vary by region, yet why inflammatory diseases manifest in specific regions and not others remains unclear. We use a TNF-overexpressing Crohn's disease (CD) model (Tnf ), which typically presents in the terminal ileum (TI), to investigate how environmental factors interact with the host's immune susceptibility to drive region-specific disease. We identified , an intracellular bacterium and murine counterpart to the human sexually transmitted , as necessary and sufficient to trigger disease manifestation in the ascending colon (AC), another common site of human CD.

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Background And Aims: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) has various aetiologies, including genetic conditions like Fabry disease (FD), a lysosomal storage disorder. FD prevalence in high-risk HCM populations ranges from 0.3% to 11.

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This study assessed the novel concept that osteoclast-derived Grem1 has regulatory functions in the skeletal response to calcium stress using an osteoclastic Grem1 conditional knockout (cKO) mouse model. The calcium stress was initiated by feeding cKO mutants and wildtype (WT) littermates a calcium-deficient diet for 2 weeks. Deletion of Grem1 in mature osteoclasts did not affect developmental bone growth nor basal bone turnover.

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The hemoflagellate parasite is transmitted by triatomine kissing bugs and may co-infect humans together with its Chagas disease-causing congener . Using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and antimicrobial assays, we studied () the temporal and spatial distribution of in common bed bugs, , following oral ingestion and hemocoelic injection of and () the immune responses of bed bugs induced by infections. Irrespective of infection mode, no live were present in the bed bugs' hemolymph, salivary glands, or feces.

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