Publications by authors named "Ken Cheung"

Objective: To determine whether a panel of immune markers adds significant information to known correlates of risk of dementia and cognitive impairment.

Background: The impact of immune mechanisms on dementia risk is incompletely characterized.

Design/methods: A subsample of the Northern Manhattan Study, a prospective cohort study in the racially/ethnically diverse population of New York City, underwent comprehensive neuropsychological testing up to three times, at approximately 5-year intervals.

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Objective: To determine whether a panel of immune markers adds significant information to known correlates of risk of dementia and cognitive impairment.

Background: The impact of immune mechanisms on dementia risk is incompletely characterized.

Design/methods: A subsample of the Northern Manhattan Study, a prospective cohort study in the racially/ethnically diverse population of New York City, underwent comprehensive neuropsychological testing up to three times, at approximately 5-year intervals.

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Background And Objectives: Omigapil is a small molecule which inhibits the GAPDH-Siah1-mediated apoptosis pathway. Apoptosis is a pathomechanism underlying the congenital muscular dystrophy subtypes LAMA2-related dystrophy (LAMA2-RD) and COL6-related dystrophy (COL6-RD). Studies of omigapil in the (dy/dy) LAMA2-RD mouse model demonstrated improved survival, and studies in the (dy/dy) LAMA2-RD mouse model and the (Col6a1) COL6-RD mouse model demonstrated decreased apoptosis.

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Background: Most U.S. K-12 schools have adopted safety tactics and policies like arming teachers and installing metal detectors, to address intentional school gun violence.

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Contingency Management (CM) is a psychological treatment that aims to change behavior with financial incentives. In substance use disorders (SUDs), deployment of CM has been enriched by longstanding discussions around the cost-effectiveness of prized-based and voucher-based approaches. In prize-based CM, participants earn draws to win prizes, including small incentives to reduce costs, and the number of draws escalates depending on the duration of maintenance of abstinence.

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Introduction: For people living with HIV/AIDS, care is commonly delivered through Differentiated Service Delivery (DSD). Although people with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and HIV/AIDS experience severe treatment associated challenges, there is no DSD model to support their treatment. In this study, we defined patterns of medication adherence and characterized longitudinal barriers to inform development of an MDR-TB/HIV DSD framework.

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Background: -related myopathies (-RM) are caused by pathogenic variants in the gene which encodes the type 1 ryanodine receptor (RyR1). RyR1 is the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium release channel that mediates excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle. RyR1 sub-conductance, SR calcium leak, reduced RyR1 expression, and oxidative stress often contribute to -RM pathogenesis.

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Background: Inflammation contributes to atherosclerosis but is incompletely characterized in intracranial large artery stenosis (ICAS). We hypothesized that immune markers would be associated with ICAS and modify the risk ICAS confers on future vascular events.

Methods: This study included a subsample of stroke-free participants in the prospective NOMAS (Northern Manhattan Study), who had blood samples analyzed with a 60-plex immunoassay (collected from 1993 to 2001) and ICAS assessment with time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (obtained from 2003 to 2008).

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Background And Objectives: Previous research has identified numerous benefits of information and communication technology (ICT) on the well-being of older adults. However, it has been increasingly recognized that older adults do not necessarily catch up with the rapidly digitalized society, known as the 'age-based digital divide'. The progress of digitalization has been accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have widened the digital divide.

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Background: Sleep duration is associated with stroke risk and is 1 of 8 essential components of cardiovascular health according to the American Heart Association. As stroke disproportionately burdens Black and Hispanic populations in the United States, we hypothesized that long and short sleep duration would be associated with greater subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, a precursor of stroke, in the racially and ethnically diverse NOMAS (Northern Manhattan Study).

Methods: NOMAS is a study of community-dwelling adults.

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Article Synopsis
  • Muscle cramps are a prevalent and disabling symptom in ALS, and there are currently no approved medications specifically for their treatment, prompting the investigation of the traditional Japanese medicine TJ-68.
  • The trial aims to assess the safety and efficacy of TJ-68 in people with ALS suffering from frequent muscle cramps through a randomized, double-blind, and personalized N-of-1 design, involving 22 participants.
  • The study will primarily evaluate TJ-68's safety while also measuring its effects on muscle cramp severity and overall quality of life using various scales and diaries over multiple treatment periods.
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Background: Being physically active is critical to successful aging, but most middle-aged and older adults do not move enough. Research has shown that even small increases in activity can have a significant impact on risk reduction and improve quality of life. Some behavior change techniques (BCTs) can increase activity, but prior studies on their effectiveness have primarily tested them in between-subjects trials and in aggregate.

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Objective: To evaluate the sensitivities and specificities of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in the detection of locally recurrent or persistent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) through nasopharyngeal (NP) brush biopsy and plasma, respectively, and whether a combination of both would be superior to the individual tests.

Study Design: A case-control study was conducted from September 2016 to June 2022.

Setting: A multicentre study at 3 tertiary referral centers in Hong Kong was conducted by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

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Objective: To test the hypothesis that children in Food FARMacia-a six-month food insecurity intervention from May 2019 to January 2020-would have smaller age-adjusted, sex-specific body mass index (BMIz) gains than matched counterparts.

Methods: In this proof-of-concept study, we performed a difference-in-differences (DiD) analysis of a propensity-score matched cohort among paediatric primary care patients aged <6 years with household food insecurity. Children with anthropometric measures prior to and after intervention started were included.

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Background: Extreme hot weather events are happening with increasing frequency, intensity and duration in Hong Kong. Heat stress is related to higher risk of mortality and morbidity, with older adults being particularly vulnerable. It is not clear whether and how the older adults perceive the increasingly hot weather as a health threat, and whether community service providers are aware and prepared for such future climate scenario.

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Article Synopsis
  • Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is a rare, misunderstood disease, but recent developments in biomarkers and potential treatments are changing the landscape of research.
  • The PLS Natural History Study, spanning 30 sites over 24 months, aims to enroll 100 participants and uses a mix of smartphone-based assessments and in-person evaluations to track disease progression through the PLS Functional Rating Scale.
  • Enrollment progress has been slower than expected, impacted by COVID-19 and the uniqueness of PLS, highlighting the need for innovative strategies to improve recruitment and research for rare diseases.
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For rare diseases, conducting large, randomized trials of new treatments can be infeasible due to limited sample size, and it may answer the wrong scientific questions due to heterogeneity of treatment effects. Personalized (N-of-1) trials are multi-period crossover studies that aim to estimate individual treatment effects, thereby identifying the optimal treatments for individuals. This article examines the statistical design issues of evaluating a personalized (N-of-1) treatment program in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

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Chronic lower back pain (CLBP) affects 25% of U.S. adults and is associated with high costs due to physician visits and reduced productivity.

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Background And Purpose: The criteria for determining the level of postacute care for patients with stroke are variable and inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to identify key factors influencing the selection of postacute level of care for these patients.

Methods: We used a collaborative 4-round Delphi process to achieve a refined list of factors influencing postacute level of care selection.

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Background: Intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS) is one of the most common causes of stroke worldwide and confers a high risk of stroke recurrence, despite aggressive management of risk factors.

Objectives: This study identified the role of risk factors and risk of vascular events in subjects with asymptomatic ICAS for improved risk stratification.

Methods: Stroke-free participants in the NOMAS (Northern Manhattan Study) trial, prospectively followed since 1993, underwent a brain magnetic resonance angiogram from 2003 to 2008.

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Objective: To determine whether immune protein panels add significant information to correlates of cognition.

Background: Immune mechanisms in vascular cognitive aging are incompletely characterized.

Design/methods: A subsample of the prospective Northern Manhattan Study underwent detailed neuropsychological testing.

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Conventional randomized clinical trials (RCTs) compare treatment effectiveness to provide support for evidence-based treatments that can be generalized to the average patient. However, the information obtained from RCTs may not always be useful for selecting the best treatment for individual patients. This article presents a complementary approach to identifying optimized treatments using experimental designs that focus on individuals.

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