Ocular Surface Evaluation in Immunoglobulin G4-Related Ophthalmic Disease.

Purpose: To evaluate the functional and structural changes of the meibomian glands and ocular surface in immunoglobulin G4-related ophthalmic disease (IgG4-ROD) patients.

Design: Cross-sectional, matched case-control comparison study.

Methods: This study included 64 patients with biopsy-proven IgG4-ROD (aged 63.

Association of Polymorphisms in ZFHX1B and PAX6 With Anisometropia in Chinese Children: The Hong Kong Children Eye Genetics Study.

Purpose: To identify gene variants associated with anisometropia development in children.

Methods: This is a population-based, cross-sectional, and longitudinal genetic association study involving 1057 children aged 6 to 10 years with both baseline and 3-year follow-up data. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), ZC3H11B rs4373767, ZFHX1B rs13382811, KCNQ5 rs7744813, SNTB1 rs7839488, PAX6 rs644242, and GJD2 rs524952 were analyzed in all children.

Psychological Experiences of Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) during and after Hospitalization: A Descriptive Phenomenological Study.

During an infectious disease pandemic, patients may experience various psychological issues. Few studies have focused on survivors' experiences in Hong Kong. This study aimed to assess the psychological impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on survivors during admission to and discharge from COVID-19 wards using a descriptive phenomenological design.

The Association of Choroidal Thickening by Atropine With Treatment Effects for Myopia: Two-Year Clinical Trial of the Low-concentration Atropine for Myopia Progression (LAMP) Study.

Purpose: To evaluate longitudinal changes in subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFChT) among children receiving atropine 0.05%, 0.025%, or 0.

Aspirin Reduces the Incidence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B Receiving Oral Nucleos(t)ide Analog.

Introduction: Aspirin may reduce the risk of chronic hepatitis B (CHB)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients receiving antiviral treatment. We aimed to investigate the impact of aspirin on reducing HCC risk in patients treated with first-line oral nucleos(t)ide analogs (NAs; entecavir and/or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate).

Methods: We conducted a territorywide, retrospective cohort study in NA-treated CHB patients between 2000 and 2018 from the electronic healthcare data repository in Hong Kong.

Genetic Studies of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Singaporeans Identify Variants in and That Are Common in Chinese Patients.

Background: To assess the genetic architecture of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in patients of predominantly Chinese ancestry.

Methods: We sequenced HCM disease genes in Singaporean patients (n=224) and Singaporean controls (n=3634), compared findings with additional populations and White HCM cohorts (n=6179), and performed in vitro functional studies.

Results: Singaporean HCM patients had significantly fewer confidently interpreted HCM disease variants (pathogenic/likely pathogenic: 18%, <0.

Association of WNT7B and RSPO1 with Axial Length in School Children.

Purpose: To evaluate the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ZC3H11B, RSPO1, C3orf26, GJD2, ZNRF3, and WNT7B genes and myopia endophenotypes in children.

Methods: Seven SNPs identified in previous genome-wide association studies of axial length (AL) were genotyped in 2883 Southern Han Chinese children. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the genotype association with AL, spherical equivalent (SE), corneal curvature (CC), and central corneal thickness (CCT).

Early Detection of Cancer: Evaluation of MR Imaging Grading Systems in Patients with Suspected Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Background And Purpose: We evaluated modifications to our contrast-enhanced MR imaging grading system for symptomatic patients with suspected nasopharyngeal carcinoma, aimed at improving discrimination of early-stage cancer and benign hyperplasia. We evaluated a second non-contrast-enhanced MR imaging grading system for asymptomatic patients from nasopharyngeal carcinoma plasma screening programs.

Materials And Methods: Dedicated nasopharyngeal MR imaging before (plain scan system) and after intravenous contrast administration (current and modified systems) was reviewed in patients from a nasopharyngeal carcinoma-endemic region, comprising 383 patients with suspected disease without nasopharyngeal carcinoma and 383 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

The rare TREM2 R47H variant exerts only a modest effect on Alzheimer disease risk.

Objectives: Recently, 2 independent studies reported that a rare missense variant, rs75932628 (R47H), in exon 2 of the gene encoding the "triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2" (TREM2) significantly increases the risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) with an effect size comparable to that of the APOE ε4 allele.

Methods: In this study, we attempted to replicate the association between rs75932628 and AD risk by directly genotyping rs75932628 in 2 independent Caucasian family cohorts consisting of 927 families (with 1,777 affected and 1,235 unaffected) and in 2 Caucasian case-control cohorts composed of 1,314 cases and 1,609 controls. In addition, we imputed genotypes in 3 independent Caucasian case-control cohorts containing 1,906 cases and 1,503 controls.

A two-stage refinement approach for the enhancement of excretory production of an exoglucanase from Escherichia coli.

Hyper-expression of a secretory exoglucanase, Exg, encoded by the cex gene of Cellulomonas fimi was previously shown to saturate the SecYEG pathway and result in dramatic cell death of recombinant Escherichia coli (Z.B. Fu, K.