Publications by authors named "Yan Kwok"
Background: Meta-analyses (MAs) provide up-to-date, quantified evidence on treatment effects, which may be useful for clinical and policy decision-making. However, the quality of MAs varies, and methodological flaws can limit their reliability.
Aims: This review evaluated the methodological quality of MAs on sleep disorder treatments.
High-Performance Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation Using Robust Dianchoring Photosensitizers.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
October 2024
Article Synopsis
- A series of organic dyes based on 9,9'-dihexylfluorene with unique electron-donating groups were created to improve photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) performance.
- These dyes achieved impressive results, including a turnover number (TON) of 17,400 and hydrogen production of 1,090 μmol over 126 hours under visible light.
- The research highlights that the dianchoring design significantly boosts PHE efficiency and durability compared to traditional organic dyes, marking it as a leading system for hydrogen production.
Article Synopsis
- The 300IR house dust mite (HDM) sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) tablet is approved for treating allergic rhinitis caused by dust mites, and a comprehensive review was conducted on its safety based on clinical trial and post-marketing data.
- In randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 1,853 subjects received the 300IR HDM-SLIT tablet, showing mainly mild to moderate adverse events, particularly at the beginning of treatment, with no reported cases of anaphylaxis.
- Over 7 years of real-world data corroborated the favorable safety profile of the 300IR HDM-SLIT tablet across various age groups and asthma statuses, with rare severe reactions noted.
Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a chronic respiratory condition that internationally continues to be burdensome and impacts quality of life. Despite availability of medicines and guidelines for healthcare providers for the optimal management of AR, optimisation of its management in the community continues to be elusive. The reasons for this are multi-faceted and include both environmental and healthcare related factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Systematic reviews (SRs) offer updated evidence to support decision-making on sepsis treatments. However, the rigour of SRs may vary, and methodological flaws may limit their validity in guiding clinical practice. This cross-sectional study appraised the methodological quality of SRs on sepsis treatments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe impact of implementing an allergic rhinitis clinical management pathway (AR-CMaP) in the community pharmacy.
Explor Res Clin Soc Pharm
December 2023
Background: The Allergic Rhinitis Clinical Management Pathway (AR-CMaP) was developed to overcome the challenge of implementing current AR guidelines in the Australian community pharmacy practice and support pharmacists in optimally managing patients' AR.
Objectives: To evaluate the impact of AR-CMaP on patients' behaviour and pharmacists' needs in managing AR in the pharmacy.
Methods: This study used a cross-sectional, pre-post study design in which the primary outcome was the appropriateness of medications purchased from community pharmacies in Australia.
Purpose: To assess the feasibility and acceptability of immersive virtual reality for managing anxiety, nausea and vomiting amongst paediatric patients with cancer receiving their first chemotherapy.
Methods: An exploratory randomised control trial supplemented with qualitative interviews was conducted to enrol Chinese paediatric patients receiving their first intravenous chemotherapy. Participants were randomly assigned to intervention (three immersive virtual reality sessions) or control (standard care) groups.
Introduction: Asthma poses a significant burden for the Australian population. Understanding severe exacerbation rates, and steroid-related burden for adults diagnosed with asthma stands to offer insights into how this could be reduced.
Methods: Electronic medical records (EMR) and questionnaires from the Optimum Patient Care Research Database Australia (OPCRDA) were utilised retrospectively.
A new time-domain simulation protocol of two-dimensional electronic spectra with photocurrent detection is presented. Time-dependent density functional theory for open systems at finite temperature is applied to evaluate the photocurrent response to four laser pulses, and a non-perturbative phase-matching approach is implemented to extract the fourth-order photocurrent signal with a desired phase-matching condition. Simulations for an open three-level model indicates that transition dipoles interact resonantly with the incident pulses and that different sample-electrode couplings may be identified by appearance of different peaks/valleys in photocurrent spectra from different electrodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Unlike most virtual reality (VR) training programs that are targeted at homogenous populations, a set of VR games for rehabilitation purposes targeted at a heterogeneous group of users was developed. The VR games covered physical training, cognitive training (classification and reality orientation), community-living skills training, and relaxing scenery experiences. Special considerations for local older adults and people with disabilities were made in terms of hardware choice and software design.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Allergic Rhinitis (AR) is a highly burdened chronic respiratory disease, which affects about 40% of the world's population. Research shows that only 15% of people with AR, in the community pharmacy setting are using optimal AR medication. There is a clear need to better implement AR management guidelines so that more effective medication selection and an evidence-based approach to the management of AR is implemented.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAllergic Rhinitis (AR) is both a common and high burden disease, with the majority of AR sufferers purchasing suboptimal/inappropriate AR medication from community pharmacies. Unfortunately, it is still a challenge to translate the AR management guidelines that are available at both a global and national level into practice. This study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of community pharmacists with regards to the implementation of AR management guidelines in real-life everyday practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) are chronic respiratory diseases of a united airway. Poor AR control is a risk factor for uncontrolled asthma. We know that people with AR feel confident in making their own treatment choices with over-the-counter therapies, yet only 16% of purchases were the optimal selection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA qualitative investigation of the allergic rhinitis network from the perspective of the patient.
NPJ Prim Care Respir Med
September 2019
Patient self-selection of over-the-counter medicines for the management of allergic rhinitis is suboptimal. The mapping of the allergic rhinitis network demonstrates that patients' decisions with regards to their allergic rhinitis management can be influenced by up to 11 individuals/resources (alters). This study aimed to identify the role of alters within the allergic rhinitis network and identify the factors that determined their degree of influence as perceived by the patient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Community pharmacists have a key role to play in the management of allergic rhinitis (AR). Their role is especially important because the majority of medications used to treat AR are available for purchase over-the-counter (OTC), allowing patients to self-select their own medications and bypass the pharmacists. Patients' self-selection often results in suboptimal treatment selection, undertreated AR and poor clinical outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA patient-centric analysis to identify key influences in allergic rhinitis management.
NPJ Prim Care Respir Med
September 2018
Allergic rhinitis (AR) is increasingly becoming a patient self-managed disease. Just under 70% of patients purchasing pharmacotherapy self-select their treatment with no health-care professional intervention often resulting in poor choices, leading to suboptimal management and increased burden of AR on the individual and the community. However, no decision is made without external, influencing forces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Burden of Rhinitis and the Impact of Medication Management within the Community Pharmacy Setting.
J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
November 2019
Background: The burden of rhinitis is high. It is unknown to what extent this burden is related to inappropriate medication use.
Objective: This study aimed to identify the way in which people with rhinitis medicate their condition and to evaluate the appropriateness of this medication management.
Allergic rhinitis (AR) is sub-optimally managed in the community and is responsible for a significant health and economic burden. Uncontrolled AR increases the risk of poorly controlled asthma and presents an increased susceptibility to thunderstorm asthma. With the availability of treatments over-the-counter, bypassing the health care professional (HCP), the role of the patient is paramount.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with allergic rhinitis often trivialise their condition, self-manage inappropriately, and would benefit from health care intervention. The primary point of health care contact for these self-managing allergic rhinitis patients is the community pharmacy. With the majority of allergic rhinitis treatments being available for purchase over the counter, without health care professional contact, we know little about how the patients self-manage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Measurement of wrist range of motion (ROM) is important to all aspects of treatment and rehabilitation of upper extremity conditions. Recently, gyroscopes have been used to measure ROM and may be more precise than manual evaluations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of the iPhone gyroscope application and compare it with use of a goniometer, specifically evaluating its accuracy and ease of use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The first aim of the study (i) assess the current asthma status of general-practitioner-managed patients receiving regular fixed-dose combination inhaled corticosteroid and long-acting beta agonist (FDC ICS/LABA) therapy and (ii) explore patients' perceptions of asthma control and attitudes/behaviors regarding preventer inhaler use.
Methods: A cross-sectional observational study of Australian adults with a current physician diagnosis of asthma receiving ≥2 prescriptions of FDC ICS/LABA therapy in the previous year, who were recruited through general practice to receive a structured in-depth asthma review between May 2012 and January 2014. Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square tests for independence were used for associations across asthma control levels.
Comparison of Wrist Motion and Grip Strength in a Normal Chinese and Caucasian Population.
J Hand Surg Asian Pac Vol
October 2016
Background: Anatomical and functional differences between Asian and Caucasian populations have been described and are important in treatment of wrist pathology. The purpose of this study was to establish and compare normal values in an Asian and Caucasian population. We hypothesized that a normal Asian population will have greater wrist ROM and reduced grip- strength when compared to a normal Caucasian population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBasing on the earlier works on the hierarchical equations of motion for quantum transport, we present in this paper a first principles scheme for time-dependent quantum transport by combining time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and Keldysh's non-equilibrium Green's function formalism. This scheme is beyond the wide band limit approximation and is directly applicable to the case of non-orthogonal basis without the need of basis transformation. The overlap between the basis in the lead and the device region is treated properly by including it in the self-energy and it can be shown that this approach is equivalent to a lead-device orthogonalization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing a Hong Kong-sourced sample of 261 participants, this study set out to validate the Volunteer Satisfaction Index (VSI) in the Chinese cultural context and to evaluate its psychometric properties. The VSI was originally developed by Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley (2001) to measure the outcomes of volunteer experiences. In this study, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) yielded a different factor structure from that proposed by the scale developer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe structural analysis of post-translational modifications (PTMs) of lipoproteins is difficult due to the hydrophobic properties of their fatty acid moieties. At the present time, the relative positions of fatty acid components on the N-acyl-S-diacylglycerylcysteine core structure has not been specifically identified in any natural or bacterial expressed recombinant lipoproteins. In this study, we describe a rapid solid-phase extraction using acetonitrile and isopropanol method that can be performed manually to isolate large amounts of relatively pure lipopeptides generated by the limited tryptic-digestion of recombinant lipoproteins.
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