Publications by authors named "Victoria Mak"

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in clinical characteristics and health care use of Native Hawaiian and White patients with gout.

Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of Native Hawaiian and White patients with gout treated from 2011 to 2017 within a large health care system in Hawai'i. We compared demographic characteristics, clinical outcomes, and risk factors for gout.

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The Research Education Core of the Pacific Islands Partnership for Cancer Health Equity (PIPCHE) conducted a systematic review of participant learning. All students from both the University of Guam and the University of Hawai'i who have completed the program were asked two open-ended questions, which were then thematically analyzed. (1) What impact did the training have on your career? (2) What did you learn about cancer health disparities? Findings include themes such as expanding social networks, building professional skills, providing opportunities and funding, inspiring a future career in research, and giving back to the community.

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Background: The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted the health and day-to-day life of individuals, especially the elderly and people with certain pre-existing medical conditions, including cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate how COVID-19 impacted access to cancer screenings and treatment, by studying the participants in the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) study.

Methods: The MEC has been following over 215,000 residents of Hawai'i and Los Angeles for the development of cancer and other chronic diseases since 1993-1996.

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We report a case of statin-associated necrotising autoimmune myopathy successfully treated with subcutaneous immunoglobulin therapy (SCIG) monotherapy without corticosteroids. This is a 51-year old female with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis, who had been on statins for several years, who developed proximal muscle weakness and elevated creatine kinase after resuming her statin post sleeve gastrectomy for weight loss. Our patient had a history of severe side effects to prednisone.

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Recent and comprehensive research of gout in the Pacific region and Hawai'i is significantly lacking. This study was conducted to improve the understanding of the healthcare utilization of gout patients within a single health care system in Hawai'i. The objective was to examine gout inpatient, outpatient and emergency department care within a single health care system in Hawai'i.

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Article Synopsis
  • Alternative end-joining (alt-EJ) repair can lead to harmful genetic changes, such as deletions and translocations, by using microhomologous sequences to link broken DNA ends.
  • A model called synthesis-dependent microhomology-mediated end joining (SD-MMEJ) suggests that new microhomologies can be created through limited DNA synthesis when pre-existing ones aren't available.
  • Research in Drosophila embryos confirmed that even small sequence variations near DNA breaks significantly influence the repair outcomes and that specific structures, like loops, play a role in this process, highlighting the importance of sequence context in DNA repair mechanisms.
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