Publications by authors named "Luk K"

The development of laser technology has revolutionized dentistry, offering complementary and alternative approaches to traditional techniques. Lasers have been successfully integrated into various dental procedures, enhancing treatment outcomes and patient care. Several types of lasers can increase the acid resistance of enamel, thus preventing caries.

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Gene networks encapsulate biological knowledge, often linked to polygenic diseases. While model system experiments generate many plausible gene networks, validating their role in human phenotypes requires evidence from human genetics. Rare variants provide the most straightforward path for such validation.

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Introduction: Mobile technology has revolutionised the way people interact with others and gain access to healthcare services. Given that cultural background is a strong moderator for technology penetration, this systematic review aims to examine end-user perceptions and design recommendations for mobile health applications among Asian older people.

Methods And Analysis: Five electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Medline and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) will be searched until May 2025.

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During September-October 2021, group B Streptococcus bloodstream infections surged among patients hospitalized in Hong Kong. Of 95 cases, 57 were caused by the hypervirulent strain sequence type 283, which at the time was also found in freshwater fish and wet market environments and thus poses a transmission threat.

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Herpes simples virus 1 (HSV-1) keratitis is a major cause of blindness globally. During primary infection, HSV-1 travels to the trigeminal ganglia and establishes lifelong latency. Although some treatments can reduce symptom severity and recurrence, there is no cure for HSV-1 keratitis.

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In our wireless-centric world, evaluating the health effects of radio frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) is crucial. An existing research gap pertains to the replication of real-world specific absorption rates (SAR) for RF-EMR, especially within aquatic environments. We aimed to bridge this gap using an innovative TEM cell platform to replicate realistic SAR conditions in water and assess RF-EMR's impact on neuroanatomical and behavioral changes.

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The transmission of tau pathology has been proposed as one of the major mechanisms for the spatiotemporal spreading of tau pathology in neurodegenerative diseases. Over the last decade, studies have demonstrated that targeting total or pathological tau using tau antibodies can mitigate the development of tau pathology in tauopathy or Alzheimer's disease (AD) mouse models, and multiple tau immunotherapy agents have progressed to clinical trials. Tau antibodies are believed to inhibit the internalization of pathologic seeds and/or block seed elongation after seed internalization.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The Daya Bay experiment has successfully measured the oscillation amplitude and frequency of reactor antineutrinos over nearly 2,000 days of data, finding significant results about their behavior.
  • - They observed over 3.6 million signal candidates using improved selection and calibration methods, leading to a measurement of sin²2θ₁₃ = 0.0759 with a precision that indicates how antineutrinos change states.
  • - Combining results from different detection methods at Daya Bay, the overall measurement of sin²2θ₁₃ increased precision to 0.0833±0.0022, representing an 8% improvement in understanding these neutrino properties.
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This study aimed to estimate the percentage of child RTCs utilizing seclusion and restraint (S/R) practices and examine predictors associated with increased likelihood of S/R use between 2010 and 2020. A secondary analysis of the National Mental Health Services Survey was conducted (n-range = 580-781). Facility-level client demographics and facility characteristics were examined using multi-level logistic regression.

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  • Microglia are immune cells in the brain that help maintain cellular health, but they might malfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD), particularly in relation to alpha-synuclein (αSyn) aggregation, which is a key feature of the disease.
  • Research using human induced pluripotent stem cells showed that when microglia are exposed to both alpha-synuclein fibrils and inflammatory signals, it disrupts their ability to effectively manage and clear these aggregates.
  • The study highlights that this model is useful for understanding microglial functioning in PD and reveals how inflammation affects their processing of alpha-synuclein, possibly worsening the disease state.
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Aggregation of misfolded α-synuclein (aSyn) within the brain is the pathologic hallmark of Lewy body diseases (LBD), including Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Evidence exists for aSyn "strains" - conformations with distinct biological properties. However, biomarkers for PD vs.

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  • This study investigates how the cancer treatment drug abiraterone affects the liver transport proteins OATP1B1 and OATP1B3, focusing on the use of coproporphyrin I (CP-I) as a biomarker to measure these effects.
  • The results showed that abiraterone inhibits the uptake of CP-I through OATP1B3 but not OATP1B1, with in vitro tests revealing a moderate inhibition constant and clinical simulations indicating no significant drug interaction.
  • Overall, the findings suggest that the risk of interaction between abiraterone and other drugs that rely on OATP1B transporters is low, meaning that OATP1B3 does
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This Letter presents results of a search for the mixing of a sub-eV sterile neutrino with three active neutrinos based on the full data sample of the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment, collected during 3158 days of detector operation, which contains 5.55×10^{6} reactor ν[over ¯]_{e} candidates identified as inverse beta-decay interactions followed by neutron capture on gadolinium. The analysis benefits from a doubling of the statistics of our previous result and from improvements of several important systematic uncertainties.

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Lewy body disorders are heterogeneous neurological conditions defined by intracellular inclusions composed of misshapen α-synuclein protein aggregates. Although α-synuclein aggregates are only one component of inclusions and not strictly coupled to neurodegeneration, evidence suggests they seed the propagation of Lewy pathology within and across cells. Genetic mutations, genomic multiplications, and sequence polymorphisms of the gene encoding α-synuclein are also causally linked to Lewy body disease.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates protein-rich inclusions in neurodegeneration, noting that current iPSC models lack reproducibility and speed in developing these inclusions.
  • Researchers created new iPSC models that allow for rapid production of CNS cells with proteins prone to aggregation, enabling the tracking of inclusions at a single level.
  • They identified various inclusion types with differing effects on neuron survival and isolated proteins that could influence toxicity, paving the way for improved drug development for neurodegenerative diseases.
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Pre-formed fibrils (PFFs) made from recombinant α-synuclein are broadly used throughout the field in cellular and animal models of Parkinson's disease. However, their ability to successfully recapitulate disease biology is a controversial topic. In this article, two researchers debate this issue with Amanda Woerman taking the view that PFFs are a model of synucleinopathy but not Parkinson's disease, while Kelvin Luk defends their use as an important tool in the field.

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Candida auris is an emerging fungal pathogen responsible for healthcare-associated infections and outbreaks with high mortality around the world. It readily colonizes the skin, nares, respiratory and urinary tract of hospitalized patients, and such colonization may lead to invasive Candida infection in susceptible patients. However, there is no recommended decolonization protocol for C.

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Objective: This study aimed to characterize the changing landscape of circulating SARS-CoV-2 lineages in the local community of Hong Kong throughout 2022. We examined how adjustments to quarantine arrangements influenced the transmission pattern of Omicron variants in a city with relatively rigorous social distancing measures at that time.

Methods: In 2022, a total of 4684 local SARS-CoV-2 genomes were sequenced using the Oxford Nanopore GridION sequencer.

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Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Purpose: To investigate the long-term clinical and radiological outcomes of selective fusion for rotatory olisthesis (RO) in degenerative lumbar scoliosis (DLS).

Overview Of Literature: DLS is often associated with RO, and selective fusion of RO is a common surgical treatment option.

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Spread and aggregation of misfolded α-synuclein (aSyn) within the brain is the pathologic hallmark of Lewy body diseases (LBD), including Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). While evidence exists for multiple aSyn protein conformations, often termed "strains" for their distinct biological properties, it is unclear whether PD and DLB result from aSyn strain differences, and biomarkers that differentiate PD and DLB are lacking. Moreover, while pathological forms of aSyn have been detected outside the brain ( in skin, gut, blood), the functional significance of these peripheral aSyn species is unclear.

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The synucleinopathies are a diverse group of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by the accumulation of aggregated alpha-synuclein (aSyn) in vulnerable populations of brain cells. Oxidative stress is both a cause and a consequence of aSyn aggregation in the synucleinopathies; however, noninvasive methods for detecting oxidative stress in living animals have proven elusive. In this study, we used the reactive oxygen species (ROS)-sensitive positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer [F]ROStrace to detect increases in oxidative stress in the widely-used A53T mouse model of synucleinopathy.

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Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) pathology, neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) variants associated with PD and α-Syn specific CD4+ T lymphocytes in PD patients highlight the importance of antigen presentation in PD etiology. The class II transactivator (CIITA) regulates major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) expression.

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Article Synopsis
  • Positive family relationships are linked to better health and recovery outcomes for people with serious mental illness (SMI), but there’s limited research on what makes these dynamics positive.
  • A study involving 523 individuals with SMI found that high relationship quality was reported by two-thirds of participants, and was influenced by the frequency of contact and mutual support in daily activities.
  • Negative influences included emotional overinvolvement and psychological abuse from relatives, while these dynamics highlight the importance of understanding family interactions in improving recovery strategies for mental health.
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Congenital scoliosis (CS), affecting approximately 0.5 to 1 in 1,000 live births, is commonly caused by congenital vertebral malformations (CVMs) arising from aberrant somitogenesis or somite differentiation. While Wnt/ß-catenin signaling has been implicated in somite development, the function of Wnt/planar cell polarity (Wnt/PCP) signaling in this process remains unclear.

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Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by the presence of proteinaceous alpha-synuclein (α-syn) inclusions (Lewy bodies), markers of neuroinflammation and the progressive loss of nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons. These pathological features can be recapitulated in vivo using the α-syn preformed fibril (PFF) model of synucleinopathy. We have previously determined that microglia proximal to PFF-induced nigral α-syn inclusions increase in soma size, upregulate major-histocompatibility complex-II (MHC-II) expression, and increase expression of a suite of inflammation-associated transcripts.

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