Publications by authors named "Wing Yun Kwok"

Biological systems are complex, encompassing intertwined spatial, molecular and functional features. However, methodological constraints limit the completeness of information that can be extracted. Here, we report the development of INSIHGT, a non-destructive, accessible three-dimensional (3D) spatial biology method utilizing superchaotropes and host-guest chemistry to achieve homogeneous, deep penetration of macromolecular probes up to centimeter scales, providing reliable semi-quantitative signals throughout the tissue volume.

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Objective: To evaluate the use of virtual reality-based infrared pupillometry (VIP) to detect individuals suffering long COVID.

Design: Prospective, case-control cross-sectional study.

Participants: Participants aged 20-60 were recruited from a community eye screening programme.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to create a flexible yet standardized sleep medicine fellowship curriculum tailored for diverse healthcare settings across Asia, addressing existing training disparities.
  • The development process included a thorough gap analysis, literature review, and expert consensus through a structured survey method.
  • The resulting curriculum features two training tracks (one-year and two-year), detailed learning outcomes, competency-based content, and comprehensive assessment strategies to enhance sleep medicine education and patient care in the region.
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  • This study aimed to find out what factors contribute to sleep-related injuries (SRI) and persistent sleep-related injuries (pSRI) in patients with isolated rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD).
  • A retrospective review of 388 iRBD patients showed that 83% reported a history of SRI, with some suffering severe injuries, and factors like depressive symptoms, alcohol consumption, and certain EMG activity were linked to these injuries.
  • Despite treatment, 18% of patients continued to experience pSRI over an average follow-up of 5.1 years, highlighting the need for better safety measures and targeted screening for those at risk.
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Adolescence and young adulthood are transitional periods associated with significant changes and challenges, leading to a heightened vulnerability to sleep disturbances and mental health difficulties. This stage is often associated with an increased preference for eveningness, manifested as a later chronotype. The current study aimed to investigate the directionality of the association between chronotype, based on an individual's sleep-wake behaviour, and insomnia in young people using a two-wave panel design with a 12-month interval.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Participants kept a sleep diary, wore actigraphy devices, and provided urine samples to measure melatonin levels, with PIPR assessed after exposure to blue and red light.
  • * Findings showed that lower PIPR responses were linked to reduced sleep quality and circadian rhythm function, suggesting age-related changes in light sensitivity may disrupt circadian regulation.
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Objective: This study aimed to investigate the independent and joint associations of accelerometer-derived sleep duration and physical activity (PA) in different intensities with the risk of incident heart failure (HF).

Methods: The study included 89,572 participants (mean age 62.2 ± 7.

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This study examined the psychometric properties and longitudinal changes of the self-reporting Traditional Chinese version of Biological Rhythms Interview for Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (C-BRIAN-SR) among healthy controls (HC) and patients with major depressive episode (MDE). Eighty patients with a current MDE and 80 HC were recruited. Assessments were repeated after two weeks in HC, and upon the discharge of MDE patients to examine the prospective changes upon remission of depression.

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Objective: While isolated rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD) is known as a prodrome of α-synucleinopathies, the prediction for its future phenoconversion to parkinsonism-first or dementia-first subtype remains a challenge. This study aimed to investigate whether visuospatial dysfunction predicts dementia-first phenoconversion in iRBD.

Methods: Patients with iRBD and control subjects were enrolled in this prospective cohort study.

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Background & Aims: Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS) is associated with sleep disturbance, but treatment options are limited. The etiology of PACS may be secondary to alterations in the gut microbiome. Here, we report the efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in alleviating post-COVID insomnia symptoms in a nonrandomized, open-label prospective interventional study.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates chronic neuropsychiatric symptoms in adults recovering from their first COVID-19 infection over a year ago and compares them to individuals who never had COVID.
  • It finds that the post-COVID group experiences significantly more fatigue and that lack of vaccination and higher material deprivation are linked to more chronic symptoms.
  • Chronic symptoms are categorized into two main clusters (cognitive issues like fatigue, and anxiety/depression) and one minor cluster (headache/dizziness), highlighting the complex relationship between these symptoms and socioeconomic factors.
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  • A study conducted by the Asian Society of Sleep Medicine aimed to assess the state of sleep medicine accreditation and training across 29 Asian countries and identified significant gaps in the current system.
  • The survey, which had an 86% response rate, revealed that only 36% of the regions recognize sleep medicine as an independent specialty, with disparities in training standards and a lack of formalized guidelines in many areas.
  • Recommendations include developing a standardized Asian Sleep Medicine Training Curriculum and accreditation guidelines to improve training and recognition of sleep medicine across Asia.
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Background: Preliminary data suggests that obesity might hasten the decline in mRNA vaccine-induced immunity against SARS-CoV-2. However, whether this renders individuals with obesity more susceptible to long COVID symptoms post-vaccination remains uncertain. Given sleep's critical role in immunity, exploring the associations between obesity, probable long COVID symptoms, and sleep disturbances is essential.

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Background: Understanding the evolution of circadian rhythm dysfunction and psychopathology in the high-risk population has important implications for the prevention of bipolar disorder. Nevertheless, some of the previous studies on the emergence of psychopathologies and circadian dysfunction among high-risk populations were inconsistent and limited.

Aims: To examine the prevalence rates of sleep and circadian dysfunctions, mental disorders and their symptoms in the offspring of parents with (O-BD) and without bipolar disorder (O-control).

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Objective: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, clinical correlates and the relationship between hypersomnolence and clinical outcomes in a cohort of MDD patients.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of a MDD cohort in an university-affiliated adult psychiatric outpatient clinic. The diagnosis of MDD and severity of depression were ascertained by the clinician with structured clinical interviews.

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Background: Evening-type and insomnia symptoms are significantly related to each other and independently associated with depressive symptoms, yet few studies have examined the potential interaction between these two conditions. Therefore, we aimed to examine the associations of evening-type and insomnia symptoms with depressive symptoms among Chinese youths, with a specific focus on the joint effects of the two conditions on depressive symptoms.

Methods: Participants aged between 12 and 25 were invited to participate in an online survey from December 15, 2022, to May 26, 2023.

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Background: Insomnia and eveningness are common and often comorbid conditions in youths. While cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) has been suggested as a promising intervention, it remains unclear whether it is sufficient to also address circadian issues in youths. In addition, despite that light has been shown to be effective in phase-shifting one's circadian rhythm, there has been limited data on the effects of bright light therapy and its combination with CBT-I on sleep and circadian outcomes in youths.

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Background: Delta wave activity is a prominent feature of deep sleep, which is significantly associated with sleep quality.

Objectives: The authors hypothesized that delta wave activity disruption during sleep could predict long-term cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CVD mortality risk.

Methods: The authors used a comprehensive power spectral entropy-based method to assess delta wave activity during sleep based on overnight polysomnograms in 4,058 participants in the SHHS (Sleep Heart Health Study) and 2,193 participants in the MrOS (Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study) Sleep study.

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Objective: The study aimed to investigate secular trends in sleep and circadian problems in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents.

Methods: This study analyzed cross-sectional data from two large-scale school-based sleep surveys conducted in 2011-2012 and 2017-2019. Sleep and circadian problems, including sleep-wake pattern, insomnia, chronotype, social jetlag, daytime sleepiness, and other sleep-related factors, were compared between two survey years.

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There is an emerging potential for digital assessment of depression. In this study, Chinese patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and controls underwent a week of multimodal measurement including actigraphy and app-based measures (D-MOMO) to record rest-activity, facial expression, voice, and mood states. Seven machine-learning models (Random Forest [RF], Logistic regression [LR], Support vector machine [SVM], K-Nearest Neighbors [KNN], Decision tree [DT], Naive Bayes [NB], and Artificial Neural Networks [ANN]) with leave-one-out cross-validation were applied to detect lifetime diagnosis of MDD and non-remission status.

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Objective: To assess the effects of a brief parent-based behavioral sleep intervention in children with ADHD.

Methods: Families with a child with ADHD and parent-reported sleep problems received a brief parent-based sleep intervention, which involved two one-to-one consultation sessions and one telephone follow-up with the parent/caregiver. Child's sleep and clinical symptoms, and parental sleep and daytime functioning were assessed at baseline, 2-week post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up.

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Aims: Population-wide restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may create barriers to mental health diagnosis. This study aims to examine changes in the number of incident cases and the incidence rates of mental health diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: By using electronic health records from France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and the UK and claims data from the US, this study conducted interrupted time-series analyses to compare the monthly incident cases and the incidence of depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, alcohol misuse or dependence, substance misuse or dependence, bipolar disorders, personality disorders and psychoses diagnoses before (January 2017 to February 2020) and after (April 2020 to the latest available date of each database [up to November 2021]) the introduction of COVID-related restrictions.

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Objective: To investigate the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with and without excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and behavioral and emotional outcomes in non-obese prepubertal children.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of children aged 5-11 years who presented to our unit for assessment of their sleep-related complaints. All children underwent polysomnography (PSG).

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