320 research outputs found
Fashion sketch design by interactive genetic algorithms
No full textAuthor name used in this publication: Mok, P.Y.Author name used in this publication: Kwok, Y.L.Refereed conference paper2012-2013 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishedVoR allowe
Airway Problems in Neonates-A Review of the Current Investigation and Management Strategies.
No full textAirway problems in the neonatal population are often life threatening and raise challenging issues in diagnosis and management. The airway problems can result from congenital or acquired lesions and can be broadly classified into those causing obstruction or those due to an abnormal "communication" in the airway. Many different investigations are now available to identify the diagnosis and quantify the severity of the problem, and these tests can be simple or invasive. Bronchography and bronchoscopy are essential to determine the extent and severity of the airway problem and to plan treatment strategy. Further imaging techniques help to delineate other commonly associated abnormalities. Echocardiography is also important to confirm any associated cardiac abnormality. In this review, the merits and disadvantages of the various investigations now available to the clinician will be discussed. The current therapeutic strategies are discussed, and the review will focus on the most challenging conditions that cause the biggest management conundrums, specifically laryngotracheal cleft, congenital tracheal stenosis, and tracheobronchomalacia. Management of acquired stenosis secondary to airway injury from endotracheal intubation will also be discussed as this is a common problem. Slide tracheoplasty is the preferred surgical option for long-segment tracheal stenosis, and results have improved significantly. Stents are occasionally required for residual or recurrent stenosis following surgical repair. There is sufficient evidence that a multidisciplinary team approach for managing complex airway issues provides the best results for the patient. There is ongoing progress in the field with newer diagnostic tools as well as development of innovative management techniques, such as biodegradable stents and stem cell-based tracheal transplants, leading to a much better prognosis for these children in the future
Airway Problems in Neonates—A Review of the Current Investigation and Management Strategies
No full textTemporal-order-based attentional priority modulates mnemonic representations in parietal and frontal cortices
No full textThe respective roles of occipital, parietal, and frontal cortices in visual working memory maintenance have long been under debate. Previous work on whether parietal and frontal regions convey mnemonic information has yielded mixed findings.
One possibility for this variability is that the mnemonic representations in high-level frontoparietal regions are modulated by attentional priority, such as temporal order. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether the most recent item, which has a higher attentional priority in terms of temporal order, is preferentially encoded in frontoparietal regions. On each trial, participants viewed 2 gratings with different orientations in succession, and were cued to remember one of them. Using fMRI and an inverted encoding model, we reconstructed population-level, orientation representations in occipital (V1–V3), parietal (IPS), and frontal (FEF) areas during memory maintenance. Unlike early visual cortex where robust orientation representations were observed regardless of serial order, parietal, and frontal cortices showed stronger representations when participants remembered the second grating. A subsequent experiment using a change detection task on color rings excluded the possibilities of residual stimulus-driven signals or motor preparative signals for responses. These results suggest that mnemonic representations in parietal and frontal cortices are modulated by temporal-order-based attentional priority signals.
© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]
Holomorphic Isometries between irreducible bounded symmetric domains with respect to the Bergman metric
No full textThe study of holomorphic isometries between K¨ahler manifolds with real-analytic potential functions dated back to Bochner and Calabi. Especially, in his seminal work on holomorphic isometries in 1953 in which the diastasis was introduced, Calabi established results on existence, uniqueness and analytic
continuation of holomorphic isometries into PN , 1 ≤ N ≤ ∞, from which one derives analytic continuation of germs of holomorphic isometries f between bounded domains with respect to the Bergman metric, and the question remained as to whether analytic continuation persists across the boundary. In 2012, the author solved the problem of boundary extension in a very general context, proving in particular that Graph(f) extends to an affine algebraic variety provided that Bergman kernels are rational functions, which applies in particular to the case of germs of holomorphic isometries from the complex unit ball Bn
into bounded symmetric domains Ω in their standard embeddings. In 2016 the author published examples
of holomorphic isometric embeddings of higher dimensional complex unit balls into irreducible bounded symmetric domains Ω. Images of such isometries are intersections of Ω with cones of minimal rational curves passing through a vertex lying on Reg(∂Ω). In the case where Ω is a Lie sphere (i.e., a type-IV domain), Chan-Mok classified all holomorphic isometric embeddings of complex unit balls into Ω (the codimension 1 cases being also classified by Uppmeier-Wang-Zhang and Xiao-Yuan). When Ω is an irreducible bounded symmetric domain of rank 2 other than a Lie sphere, Mok-Yang proved the uniqueness of holomorphic isometric embeddings of complex unit balls of maximal admissible dimenion into Ω modulo reparametrization. The proof relies on the use of a “duality principle” leading to the determination of isomorphism types of tangent spaces of images of holomorphic isometric embeddings, the method of reconstruction of uniruled projective varieties by means of varieties of minimal rational tangents (VMRTs) and the construction of essentially smooth neighborhoods of certain minimal rational
curves by means of the “Thickening Lemma” in the recent work of Mok-Zhang on geometric substructures modelled on pairs of VMRTs.
CUHK electronic theses & dissertations collection
No full textMok, Lai Fong Annie.Thesis D.Nurs. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2015.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-127).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on 06, January, 2017)
Acute lower respiratory tract infection in infancy: a seven year follow-up study
No full textSeven years after hospitalisation for acute lower
respiratory tract infection in infancy, 200 children and
their case -controls were assessed for respiratory status
and epidemiological characteristics. The index group
comprised 100 cases where respiratory syncytial virus had
been responsible for the index illness (RSV +) and 100 cases
in whom this organism had not been found (RSV -).No differences were noted between index and control
children with respect to birth weight and gestational age,
although breast feeding was more frequently observed in
control children. Index children reported more respiratory
symptoms and asthma as well as other indices of respiratory
illhealth. Although index children appeared to be a socially disadvantaged group, parental respiratory symptoms
and smoking habits were comparable in both groups of
children. The atopic background was similar in index and
control populations. At follow -up, index children were
shorter than controls, although their weights were comparable.
Tests of respiratory function were diminished in index children,
who also had evidence of bronchial hyperreactivity.RSV+ and RSV- index children showed similar clinical
characteristics and atopic background. No significant
differences were found in the age at which the index illness occurred, or in the proportion who were breast -fed. The
results of tests of respiratory function and exercise
test were comparable in RSV+ and RSV- children.Children who had suffered bronchitis, bronchiolitis
or pneumonia had similar clinical characteristics compared
to their controls, with the exception that fewer children
who had bronchiolitis were breast -fed, and children who
suffered pneumonia were of lower birth weight. All three
sub -groups of index children reported more respiratory
symptoms and ill health than their controls. Social and
family factors were less favourable when compared to control
children. The atopic background was similar between the
three disease categories, and also between index and control
children. Tests of respiratory function were significantly
reduced only in children who had bronchiolitis, although
the trend in the bronchitis and pneumonia children was also
towards poorer function. A one -way analysis of variance
between disease categories on the differences between case
and control for each respiratory function measurement
showed that differences within a disease category was geater
than the differences between disease categories.Following the index illness, children were reported
to cough, wheeze or remain asymptomatic. Those with symptoms
were almost identical in terms of clinical, social and family
characteristics, as well as atopic background; but differed from their controls. Tests of respiratory function were
diminished in both groups of symptomatic children, with
evidence of bronchial hyper- reactivity. The asymptomatic
index children did not differ from the symptomatic children
with respect to social factors, suggesting that these
contribute little to the occurrence of respiratory symptoms.
Asymptomatic children were of similar height to their
controls. Respiratory function was also comparable although
there was a slight trend to hyper- reactive airways.Children whose index illness was attributed solely to
acute infections (RSV +, non -atopic) reported similar
occurrences of respiratory symptoms to their controls.
Respiratory function was also comparable. When there was
a background history of atopy, children reported more
respiratory symptoms and had significantly lower tests of
respiratory function as well as evidence of bronchial
hyperreactivity when compared with controls. The results
suggest that atopy is a determinant of poor respiratory
function, but they may have also been influenced by the
discrepancy in numbers. Bronchial reactivity was present
in excess in atopic and non -atopic index cases, despite
being significant only in the atopic children.Index children with bronchial reactivity showed
similar clinical, atopic, social and family characteristics
to those without evidence of hyperreactive airways, but these two groups differed clinically and in social and family
background from control children. Those with bronchial
reactivity wheezed more, and there was a greater percentage
of asthmatics. Respiratory function was significantly
diminished compared to controls. There was no excess of
atopic disorders in the index children with hyperreactive
airways.Children without evidence of hyperreactive airways
also reported more respiratory symptoms, but bronchitis
rather than asthma was diagnosed in these children. Except
for a lower PEFR, all other tests of respiratory function
were similar between index and control children.Ventilatory dysfunction paralleled bronchial reactivity.
It is not clear which is of primary importance, or if there
is any relationship between the two. Acute respiratory
infection may have caused both these abnormalities, or they
could have predated the event, rendering children more
susceptible to infection
Randomised controlled trial comparing cisatracurium and vecuronium infusions in a paediatric intensive care unit
No full textInterventions to reduce central venous catheter-associated infections in children: which ones are beneficial?
No full textSocio-environmental adaptations in a new low-cost housing estate / Wong Mok Lan
No full textThis academic exercise is a study of the residents’ early stages of socio-environmental adaptations to the Rancangan Rumah Rakyat Dusun Nyior 2a housing estate. A total of 30 households, 15 Malay and 15 Chinese were selected from 95 units for study. The first chapters generally discusses the low-cost housing situation in Malaysia and some socio-psychological aspects of housing. Chapter two includes the presentation of the purpose of study and a review of related literatures. In chapter three, the author explains the method of sample selection and design adopted for the study. The findings of the research are analyse and discussed in the following chapter. In the final chapter, conclusions are drawn from the findings and a few suggestions are offered for the possible solution of certain problems
- …
