The world is facing the severe challenges of energy depletion and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and solar energy is considered to be a promising source of renewable energy and effective solution. ...However, the application of solar energy is limited in practice due to various barriers. Based on data collected from a survey of practice, this paper identifies the key barriers to the deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy systems in Hong Kong. These include “high initial and repair cost”, “long payback period”, “inadequate installation space and service infrastructure”, “lack of participation of stakeholders/community in energy policy” and “lack of incentives by legislation and regulation”. Recommendations for addressing these barriers are proposed. For example, the high cost of solar PV energy systems can be reduced by the development and mass production of low-cost fabrication technologies and high performance PV technologies. Solar thermal applications should be encouraged as they are much more economical than solar PVs. It is also recommended that the Hong Kong Government adopt strategies to encourage a greater use of solar energy systems. The results from this study not only provide useful information for the Government, the private sector and consumers in Hong Kong but are also likely to apply equally to other similar regions around the world.
► The Hong Kong Government needs to adopt various strategies to encourage the solar energy system application. ► This paper identifies the key barriers to the diffusion of solar energy systems from a questionnaire survey and case study in Hong Kong. ► The barriers highlighted from the questionnaire survey include “high initial and repair cost”, “long payback period”, “inadequate installation space and service infrastructure”, “lack of stakeholder/community participation in energy choices” and “legal and regulation constraints”.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain tumor associated with limited therapeutic options and a poor prognosis. CXCR3, a chemokine receptor, serves dual autocrine-paracrine functions in ...cancer. Despite gaps in our understanding of the functional role of the CXCR3 receptor in GBM, it has been shown to hold promise as a therapeutic target for the treatment of GBM. Existing clinical therapeutics and vaccines targeting CXCR3 ligand expression associated with the CXCR3 axes have also shown anti-tumorigenic effects in GBM. This review summarizes existing evidence on the oncogenic function of CXCR3 and its ligands CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL11, in GBM, and examines the controversies concerning the immunomodulatory functions of the CXCR3 receptor, including immune T cell recruitment, polarization, and positioning. The mechanisms underlying monotherpies and combination therapies targeting the CXCR3 pathways are discussed. A better understanding of the CXCR3 axes may lead to the development of strategies for overcoming the limitations of existing immunotherapies for GBM.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), characterized by progressive degeneration of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), is the major cause of irreversible blindness and visual impairment in elderly ...population. We previously established a RPE degeneration model using an acute high dose sodium iodate to induce oxidative stress. Here we report findings on a prolonged treatment of low doses of sodium iodate on human RPE cells (ARPE-19). RPE cells were treated continuously with low doses (2-10 mM) of sodium iodate for 5 days. Low doses (2-5 mM) of sodium iodate did not reduce RPE cell viability, which is contrasting to cell apoptosis in 10 mM treatment. These low doses are sufficient to retard RPE cell migration and reduced expression of cell junction protein ZO-1. Phagocytotic activity of RPE cells was attenuated by sodium iodate dose-dependently. Sodium iodate also increased expression of FGF-2, but suppressed expression of IL-8, PDGF, TIMP-2 and VEGF. Furthermore, HTRA1 and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition marker proteins were downregulated, whereas PERK and LC3B-II proteins were upregulated after sodium iodate treatment. These results suggested that prolonged exposure to non-lethal doses of oxidative stress induces RPE cell dysfunctions that resemble conditions in AMD. This model can be used for future drug/treatment investigation on AMD.
Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), in which progressive retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell degeneration is a major pathological change. Nicotine ...is a major biologically active component in cigarette smoke. It is continuously catabolized into cotinine, which has longer half-life and higher concentration in tissue cells and fluids. Here we hypothesized that continuous exposure of cotinine has more potent effects on human RPE cell properties than nicotine. Human RPE cell line (ARPE-19) was treated continuously with 1-2 µM of nicotine and/or cotinine for 7 days. RPE cells treated with 2 μM cotinine and nicotine-cotinine mixture has lower MTT signals without significant changes in cell apoptosis or integrity. Moreover, RPE cell migration was retarded under cotinine treatments, but not nicotine. Both nicotine and cotinine treatments attenuated the phagocytotic activity of RPE cells. In addition, cotinine and nicotine-cotinine mixture suppressed VEGF and IL-8 expression and upregulated TIMP-2 expression. Expressions of autophagy genes were upregulated by the cotinine treatment, whereas expressions of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition markers were downregulated. In conclusion, our study, for the first time, demonstrated that cotinine, rather than nicotine, affects the properties of RPE cells in vitro, which could explain the smoking-induced RPE pathology.
This review discusses the findings of the Women’s Health Initiative in 2002 and its updates in 2013. Risks and benefits of menopausal hormone therapy in terms of coronary heart disease, breast ...cancer, stroke, pulmonary embolism and venous thromboembolism, colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, and hip fracture/osteoporosis are also discussed, as is prescription of menopausal hormone therapy to alleviate menopausal symptoms and optimise health.
A HIV positive man with a CD4 count of 777×10(6)/l and suppressed viral load on antiretroviral medication had a delayed diagnosis of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) affecting his left leg. He was diabetic and ...on a controlled diet and had a previous deep vein thrombosis affecting the same leg. Factors that have been studied in HIV-related KS as well as classical KS, such as diabetes mellitus, not smoking and previous deep vein thrombosis, may have increased our patient's risk for the development of this disease. Clinicians should consider KS as a possible diagnosis even in patients with well-controlled HIV.
Environmental contamination with DNA from Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) has previously been found in Genitourinary Medicine (GUM) clinics. There are no known cases of cross-contamination of clinical ...samples and no known nosocomial infections. We investigated whether diagnostic samples could become contaminated from the environment by running dummy sample and carrying out a patient-throughput analysis. A total of 29 748 patients attended clinics over a year. Of these, 2860 (9.6%) had a positive Chlamydia test result.
(1) A run of dummy samples (60 urine samples and 10 swabs) were processed as normal clinic specimens. (2) Patient-throughput analysis: Patient numbers attending the GUM clinic on a given day was categorised as low, moderate or high. χ(2) Tests were used to look for associations between categorical variables and Chlamydia test positivity. A Poisson regression model was fitted to look at the effect of the number of people in the clinic on the number of positive results in a given day. As some clinics were only run on certain days of the week, a sensitivity analysis was later performed with attendances at non-daily clinics removed.
All dummy samples tested negative and we did not find evidence of an association between daily Chlamydia positivity and clinic attendance.
It is unlikely that environmental or cross-contamination of CT has lead to significant numbers of false positive results. Laboratories check for possible cross-contamination routinely. The extension of this simple routine practice to all clinical areas could provide quality assurance, improving confidence in the results in clinics.
Desktop-size robots are becoming commonly used in many fields such as caring, education and entertainment. But factors that affect human perception of desktop-size robots and their interaction are ...still unclear. The study examined the impact of robot behavior and appearance on the Robot Social Attributes Scale (RoSAS) during a virtual human-robot interaction study. The results showed that robots with human-like behavior were perceived more positively than those with random behavior, but the appearance of the robot did not have a significant impact on perception. The findings suggest that the design of humanlike behavior should be prioritized in future HRI studies and robot design. Real-world experiments are also recommended to verify the findings for the application of desktop-size robots in the healthcare field.
We review the diagnostic criteria of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) in adolescents. It is important to recognise PCOS early for timely management. Clinicians should be aware of the difficulties ...in diagnosing PCOS in adolescents. A multi-disciplinary approach for diagnosis and treatment is suggested. For high-risk cases, re-evaluation may avoid under-diagnosing or over-diagnosing PCOS.
Consumers' demand for fresh agricultural products (FAPs) and their quality requirements are increasing in the current agricultural-product consumption market. FAPs' unique perishability and short ...shelf-life features mean a high level of delivery efficiency is required to ensure their freshness and quality. However, consumers' demand for FAPs is contingent and geographically dispersed. Therefore, the conflicting relationship between the costs associated with the logistics distribution and the level of delivery quality is important to consider. In this paper, the authors consider a fresh agricultural-product distribution path planning problem with time windows (FAPDPPPTW). To address the FAPDPPPTW under demand uncertainty, a mixed-integer linear programming model based on robust optimization is proposed. Moreover, a particle swarm optimization algorithm combined with a variable neighborhood search is designed to solve the proposed mathematical model. The numerical experiment results show the robustness and fast convergence of the algorithm.
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