Silicosis is an incurable lung disease affecting millions of workers in hazardous occupations. It is caused by chronic exposure to the dust that contains free crystalline silica. Silica-induced lung damage occurs by several main mechanisms including cell death by apoptosis, fibrosis and production of cytokines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Millions of workers are exposed to dust containing silica. Chronic and over-exposure to silica will lead to silicosis, which is an irreversible and sometimes fatal lung disease. The disordered physiological processes of silicosis consist of accumulation of silica particles in the alveoli of the lung.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrently, there are no recommended alternative assays for HER2 cases deemed equivocal by immunohistochemistry and fluorescent in situ hybridization. Digital PCR (ddPCR), a highly accurate method to determine DNA copy number, could be a robust alternative for clinical HER2 diagnostics. HER2 and CEP17 copy numbers were quantified using two ddPCR platforms (QX200 and RainDrop) in 102 samples of invasive breast cancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSilicosis is a prolonged, irreversible and incurable occupational disease, and there is a significant number of newly diagnosed cases every year in Hong Kong. Due to the long latency of the disease, the diagnosis can be missed until detailed clinical examination at a later stage. For a better control of this deadly disease, detailing the pro-inflammatory and fibrotic events in the macrophage would be instrumental in understanding the pathogenesis of the disease and essential for the significant biomarkers discovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlobally, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common form of cancer. The development of effective chemopreventive strategies to reduce CRC incidence is therefore of paramount importance. Over the past decade, research has indicated the potential of rice bran, a byproduct of rice milling, in CRC chemoprevention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEczema is a common skin condition that impairs children's daily life activities and quality of life. Previous research shows that gut microbiome composition plays an important role in the development of eczema. The present review summarizes evidence on environmental factors related to altered gut microbiota in children with eczema.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Salmonella Typhimurium is frequently isolated from foodborne infection cases in Hong Kong, but the lack of genome sequences has hindered in-depth epidemiological and phylogenetic studies. In this study, we sought to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationship and investigate the distribution and mutation patterns of virulence determinants among local S. Typhimurium clinical isolates using their genome sequences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring evolution of animals, their co-evolution with bacteria has generally been ignored. Recent studies have provided evidences that the symbiotic bacteria in the animal gut can either be essential or contributing to the plasticity of the host. The Crustacea includes crab, crayfish, lobster, and shrimp and represents the second largest subphylum on the planet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a Gram-negative halophilic bacterium. Infections with the bacterium could become systemic and can be life-threatening to immunocompromised individuals. Genome sequences of a few clinical isolates of V.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Shiitake mushroom, Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Pegler is a tetrapolar basidiomycete with two unlinked mating-type loci, commonly called the A and B loci. Identifying the mating-types in shiitake is important for enhancing the breeding and cultivation of this economically-important edible mushroom.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSalmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium human blood strains isolated from outside Africa are rarely sequenced. Here, we report the draft genome sequences of two S. Typhimurium clinical strains isolated in the same year, one from blood and another from stool, in order to gain insights into the genetic basis leading to invasive diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Genetic linkage maps are important tools in breeding programmes and quantitative trait analyses. Traditional molecular markers used for genotyping are limited in throughput and efficiency. The advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has facilitated progeny genotyping and genetic linkage map construction in the major grains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global threat in the 21st century. Traditional studies of the disease are focused on the single pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Recent studies have revealed associations of some diseases with an imbalance in the microbial community.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSalmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is one of the most prevalent serovars of Salmonella that causes human gastroenteritis. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of the S. Typhimurium multidrug-resistant strain ST1660/06.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResveratrol (trans-3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene), a polyphenolic compound found largely in the skins of red grapes, has been used as a nutritional supplement or an investigational new drug for prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Previous reports showed that resveratrol had a protective effect against oxidative agent-induced cell injury. Our studies indicate that resveratrol plays a role in the differentiation of cardiomyoblasts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in China and the first case emerged in mid-November 2002. The aetiological agent of this disease was found to be a previously unknown coronavirus, SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). The detailed pathology of SARS-CoV infection and the host response to the viral infection are still not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF