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Rising Strengths Hong Kong SAR in Bioinformatics.

ABSTRACT: Hong Kong's bioinformatics sector is attaining new heights in combination with its economic boom and the predominance of the working-age group in its population. Factors such as a knowledge-based and free-market economy have contributed towards a prominent position on the world map of bioinformatics. In this review, we have considered the educational measures, landmark research activities and the achievements of bioinformatics companies and the role of the Hong Kong government in the establishment of bioinformatics as strength. However, several hurdles remain. New government policies will assist computational biologists to overcome these hurdles and further raise the profile of the field. There is a high expectation that bioinformatics in Hong Kong will be a promising area for the next generation.

SUBMITTER: Chakraborty C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7091071 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rising Strengths Hong Kong SAR in Bioinformatics.

Chakraborty Chiranjib C George Priya Doss C C Zhu Hailong H Agoramoorthy Govindasamy G

Interdisciplinary sciences, computational life sciences 20160309 2

Hong Kong's bioinformatics sector is attaining new heights in combination with its economic boom and the predominance of the working-age group in its population. Factors such as a knowledge-based and free-market economy have contributed towards a prominent position on the world map of bioinformatics. In this review, we have considered the educational measures, landmark research activities and the achievements of bioinformatics companies and the role of the Hong Kong government in the establishme ...[more]

PMID: 26961385

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Project description:In 2014, the Centre for Health Protection in Hong Kong introduced screening for influenza C virus (ICV) as part of its routine surveillance for infectious agents in specimens collected from patients presenting with symptoms of respiratory viral infection, including influenza-like illness (ILI). A retrospective analysis of ICV detections up to week 26 of 2019 revealed persistent low-level circulation, with two outbreaks having occurred in the winters of 2015 to 2016 and 2017 to 2018. These outbreaks occurred at the same time as, and were dwarfed by, seasonal epidemics of influenza types A and B. Gene sequencing studies on stored ICV-positive clinical specimens from the two outbreaks have shown that the hemagglutinin-esterase (HE) genes of the viruses fall into two of the six recognized genetic lineages (represented by C/Kanagawa/1/76 and C/São Paulo/378/82), with there being significant genetic drift compared to earlier circulating viruses within both lineages. The location of a number of encoded amino acid substitutions in hemagglutinin-esterase fusion (HEF) glycoproteins suggests that antigenic drift may also have occurred. Observations of ICV outbreaks in other countries, with some of the infections being associated with severe disease, indicates that ICV infection has the potential to have significant clinical and health care impacts in humans.IMPORTANCE Influenza C virus infection of humans is common, and reinfection can occur throughout life. While symptoms are generally mild, severe disease cases have been reported, but knowledge of the virus is limited, as little systematic surveillance for influenza C virus is conducted and the virus cannot be studied by classical virologic methods because it cannot be readily isolated in laboratories. A combination of systematic surveillance in Hong Kong SAR, China, and new gene sequencing methods has been used in this study to assess influenza C virus evolution and provides evidence for a 2-year cycle of disease outbreaks. The results of studies like that reported here are key to developing an understanding of the impact of influenza C virus infection in humans and how virus evolution might be associated with epidemics.

Project description:ObjectivesTo evaluate the effect of hypertension and related comorbidities on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using EuroQol 5-dimensions instrument with five-level scale (EQ-5D-5L) Hong Kong (HK) version.DesignData were analysed by a secondary data analysis based on a cross-sectional study assessing experience on public specialist outpatient service.SettingA representative sample was recruited from 26 specialist outpatient clinics in HK.ParticipantsA total of 4528 patients with hypertension aged 18 or above who responded to the survey.InterventionEQ-5D-5L HK was applied to assess the HRQoL. The five-dimension descriptive system and the utility index of EQ-5D-5L were treated as the dependent variable in the current study. Regression modelling was applied to estimate the effect of hypertension and related comorbidities on health-related quality of life.ResultsMore respondents were women (53.9%), aged ≥65 years old (60.1%), and with primary educational attainment or below (52.3%). A total of 1466 respondents (32.4%) also reported suffering from diabetes, heart disease (20.8%), vision problem (1.7%) and cancer (1.5%). In the ordinal least squares model, utility decreased most when patients reported having physical disability associated with hypertension (beta=-0.395, SE=0.047), and 0.128, 0.064, 0.05 and 0.048 for mental problem, cancer, vision problem and heart problem. In the Tobit model, the utility reduced most for comorbidity of physical disability, and then mental problem, cancer, vision problem, heart problem and diabetes. For first part of two-part model, respondents coliving with mental problem were 10% less likely to report a full health. For the second part of two-part model, the respondents with physical disability had 0.294 lower in utility.ConclusionsRespondents with hypertension reported a low EQ-5D utility score. Respondents were women, with a high education, fully employed and living with families reported better HRQoL. There is a significant effect of comorbidity influence on the decreased HRQoL, particularly those with physical disability and mental problem.

Dataset Information

Rising Strengths Hong Kong SAR in Bioinformatics.

Publications

Rising Strengths Hong Kong SAR in Bioinformatics.

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