We conducted a population telephone survey in Hong Kong during the second wave of influenza A/H7N9 outbreak in 2014. Among the respondents, 50.5% of the respondents would like to accept A/H7N9 vaccination in future. Respondents had poor knowledge of A/H7N9 influenza and vaccines. More than 60% of respondents mixed up seasonal influenza this year and A/H7N9 influenza. Results show that socio-demographic factors were all independent of the vaccine uptake willingness while anxiety level and vaccine history were the main affecting factors. Vaccine promotion strategies may focus on influenza knowledge, attitude and behavior.

No abstract

chow 1* cancer-related mortality of solid tumors remains the major cause of death worldwide. circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) released from cancer cells harbors specific somatic mutations. Sequencing ctDNA opens opportunities to non-invasive population screening and lays foundations for personalized therapy. in this study, two commercially available platforms, Roche's Avenio ctDNA Expanded panel and QIAgen's QIAseq Human Comprehensive Cancer panel were compared for (1) panel coverage of clinically relevant variants; (2) target enrichment specificity and sequencing performance; (3) the sensitivity; (4) concordance and (5) sequencing coverage using the same human blood sample with ultra-deep next-generation sequencing. Our finding suggests that Avenio detected somatic mutations in common cancers in over 70% of patients while QIAseq covered nearly 90% with a higher average number of variants per patient (Avenio: 3; QIAseq: 8 variants per patient). Both panels demonstrated similar ontarget rate and percentage of reads mapped. However, Avenio had more uniform sequencing coverage across regions with different GC content. Avenio had a higher sensitivity and concordance compared with QIAseq at the same sequencing depth. This study identifies a unique niche for the application of each of the panel and allows the scientific community to make an informed decision on the technologies to meet research or application needs. Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Cancer-related mortality of most solid tumors remains steady despite intense research on carcinogenesis and significant advancement in effective treatments. It is estimated that 1 in every 6 deaths is related to cancer and late-stage presentation is still very common 1. For cervical and colorectal cancers, population-wide screenings have contributed to the decreasing mortality 2. However, there is still an urgent need for accurate, effective and non-invasive paradigms to reduce cancer-related mortality for other common and deadly cancer types via early diagnosis, personalized therapeutic strategies and disease monitoring. Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is released into the peripheral blood due to apoptosis, necrosis or active release 3-5. Higher cfDNA level is found in the plasma of cancer patients comparing to healthy controls 6,7. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from cancer cells harboring a unique set of genetic and epigenetic alterations creates a biological signature. This mutation signature is not only specific to cancer in general when compared to normal tissues but is also highly individual specific 3,8,9. The level of ctDNA, somatic mutations burden, the mutation signature and epigenetic marks are highly correlated with cancer pathophysiology and treatment response 3,10. Unlike traditional biopsy, profiling of somatic mutations via ctDNA is not only minimally invasive but also provides a less localized and biased sampling. Profiling of ctDNA, released from various cells in the tumor, allows a snapshot of somatic mutation burden to provide a more ...

Negative dielectric nematic liquid crystals (LCs) doped with two azobenzene materials provide electrically switchable and permanently stable scattering mode light modulators based on dynamic fingerprint chiral textures (DFCT) with inhomogeneously helical axes. These light modulators can be switched between transparent (stable large domains of DFCT) states and scattering (stable small domains of DFCT) states by applying electric fields with different frequencies. The generation of DFCT results from the long flexible side chains of the doped chiral dopant. That is, if the DFCT can be obtained, then the large domains of DFCT reflect an intrinsically stable state. Moreover, the stabilization of the small domains of DFCT are caused by the terminal rigid restricted side chains of the other doped chiral dopant. Experimentally, the required amplitude to switch the light modulator from a scattering (transparent) state to a transparent (scattering) state decreases as the frequency of the applied electric field increases (decreases) within the set limits. This study is the first report on the advantages of the light scattering mode of DFCT, including low operating voltage, permanently stable transmission, wide viewing angle, high contrast, and polarization-independent scattering and transparency.

Despite the expanding portfolio of targeted therapies for adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), direct implementation in children is challenging due to inherent differences in underlying genetics. Here we established the pharmacological profile of pediatric AML by screening myeloblast sensitivity to approved and investigational agents, revealing candidates of immediate clinical relevance. Drug responses ex vivo correlated with patient characteristics, exhibited age-specific alterations, and concorded with activities in xenograft models. Integration with genomic data uncovered new gene-drug associations, suggesting actionable therapeutic vulnerabilities. Transcriptome profiling further identified gene expression signatures associated with on- and off-target drug responses. We also demonstrated the feasibility of drug screening-guided treatment for children with high-risk AML, with two evaluable cases achieving remission. Collectively, this study offers a high-dimensional gene-drug-clinical dataset that could be leveraged to research the unique biology of pediatric AML, and sets the stage for realizing functional precision medicine for clinical management of the disease.