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Background: There is a growing concern that the use of anti-hypertensives may be associated with an increased risk of cancer, but it remains uncertain for the association between anti-hypertensives and lung cancer risk, as well as their interaction with aspirin in chemoprotective effects., Methods: The goal of this study is to assess the association between anti-hypertensives use and the risk of lung cancer, as well as the chemopreventive impacts from the combination usage of aspirin and anti-hypertensives. A retrospective cohort study was conducted based on all the public hospital electronic medical records in Hong Kong. Patients with prescription records of anti-hypertensives (ACEi/ARB, CCB, β-blocker,α-blocker) and/or aspirin were included as the exposure groups. Using the Cox proportional hazards model with inverse probability weighting, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for lung cancer risk from anti-hypertensives usage or combination usage of aspirin with anti-hypertensives. The likelihood ratio test and interaction model were adopted for exploring the interaction effects with aspirin., Results: A total of 6592 and 84,116 lung cancer cases were identified from the groups of anti-hypertensives users and anti-hypertensives users with aspirin, respectively. The group of non-aspirin patients who received anti-hypertensives showed a significantly lower risk of lung cancer (HR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.60-0.66), compared to those without anti-hypertensives. When aspirin and α-blocker were used simultaneously, it could lower the risk of lung cancer significantly (HR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.34-0.84). Moreover, the lower risk of lung cancer persisted with a longer follow-up period of anti-hypertensives usage. Combination usage with aspirin in the users of ACEi/ARB, CCB, and α-blocker showed significant interaction effects. However, the smoking effect could not be eliminated in this analysis., Discussion: Anti-hypertensive treatment was associated with a lower risk of lung cancer, which is associated with the anti-hypertensives exposure period. The potential interaction on the chemopreventive influence from combination usage of α-blocker and aspirin might exist. More corroborations on these findings are needed to focus on the different settings in future studies., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Objective: To compare the clinical outcomes and pathological findings of transperineal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TPUSPB) and transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUSPB) in a secondary referral hospital., Methods: This was a retrospective study of 100 TPUSPBs and 100 TRUSPBs performed in our centre. Pre-biopsy patient parameters (eg, patient age, clinical staging, serum prostate-specific antigen [PSA] level, prostate size, and PSA density), as well as pathological results and 30-day complication and readmission rates, were retrieved from the patients' medical records and compared between the two groups., Results: One hundred TPUSPBs performed from January 2018 to May 2018 and 100 TRUSPBs performed from January 2016 to April 2016 were included for analysis. Mean age did not significantly differ between the groups. The TPUSPB group had a higher mean PSA level, smaller prostate size, and higher PSA density, compared with the TRUSPB group. The overall prostate cancer detection rate was similar between the TPUSPB and TRUSPB groups (35% vs 25%, P=0.123). There were no significant differences between the groups in prostate cancer detection rates after stratification according to PSA density and clinical staging. With respect to complications, no patients developed fever in the TPUSPB group, while 4% of patients in the TRUSPB group had fever and required at least 1-week admission for intravenous antibiotic administration., Conclusion: For prostate biopsy, TPUSPB is safer, with no infection complications, and has similar prostate cancer detection rate compared with TRUSPB., Competing Interests: As an editor of the journal, CF Ng was not involved in the peer review process. Other authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Hypertension is one of the most common chronic cardiovascular diseases in adults while obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common type of sleep apnea. It was recently reported that the mean Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) score, measuring subjective daytime sleepiness, was significantly higher in non-hypertensive subjects than the hypertensive counterparts with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. In the current study, the authors investigated the interaction between hypertension and OSA on daytime sleepiness among 280 subjects recruited from a sleep study. OSA was evaluated with the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI), and daytime sleepiness was measured with the ESS. Significantly higher mean ESS scores were found for subjects without than those with hypertension (11.3 vs 9.4, P = 0.003) but only a marginally significant difference was discerned for the ESS scores between subjects with AHI ≥15/h and AHI <15/h (P = 0.075). A significant interaction between hypertension and OSA status on daytime sleepiness was observed from the analysis of variance (P = 0.02). The adjusted mean ESS score for the group of normotensive subjects with moderate to severe OSA (13.11) was significantly higher than the other three groups, namely, normotensive subjects with mild OSA (9.35), hypertensive subjects with mild OSA (9.70), and hypertensive subjects with moderate to severe OSA to (9.43). In conclusion, subjective daytime sleepiness of normotensive subjects with moderate to severe OSA was significantly more severe than other subjects., (©2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Introduction: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most prevalent deforming orthopaedic condition; it causes significant disability when spinal curves progress beyond 45deg. Bracing is the primary treatment prescribed for adolescents with an immature skeleton who have spinal curves between 25 and 45deg. New evidence suggests that compliance with bracing significantly decreases the progression of high-risk curves to the threshold for surgery. Nonetheless, bracing is a stressful experience. Therefore, interventions that mediate health-related quality of life for AIS patients are of great interest. In the past few decades, numerous studies have documented the benefits of mindfulness training on chronic pain, stress management, anxiety and emotional disorders. Mindfulness might additionally provide AIS patients with psychosocial support., Research Questions: This study will investigate the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on bracing compliance and quality of life among AIS patients with poor bracing compliance. The study also plans to evaluate if the mindfulness-based intervention effect is sustained after the intervention period. The potential mechanism by which mindfulness affects bracing compliance will be explored., Design: Single-blind, two-arm, randomised, controlled trial., Participants and Setting: The study will recruit 120 AIS patients aged between 10 and 15 years with non-satisfactory bracing compliance. Patients who have previously practised or are currently practising meditation or mindful yoga or who cannot finish the whole intervention will be excluded. The study will take place at the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care building., Intervention: Patients in the mindfulness-based intervention group will join weekly sessions for 8 weeks. This program is a short version of a mindfulness-based stress relaxation program to address the specific issues of AIS patients. Two to three experienced instructors will deliver the program., Control: Control group patients will participate in an 8-week physiotherapy exercise program as recommended in the International Scientific Society on Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT) 2011 guideline., Measurements: The primary outcome is the 6-month post-intervention total score of bracing compliance. Secondary measures are non-bracing-specific quality of life, bracing-specific quality of life, self-compassion, emotional regulation, mindful awareness and acceptance, self-efficacy, perception of stress, and general measure of health outcome., Procedure: 120 participants will be assigned to either an intervention or control arm by simple randomisation, and the randomisation result will only be revealed once participants have confirmed availability to attend intervention classes. Clinicians of the scoliosis clinic and research staff will be blinded to the treatment allocation., Analysis: ANCOVA will be conducted to compare the effect of mindfulness-based intervention versus physiotherapy exercise on the outcome measures. To investigate significant change over time, linear mixed models analyses will be conducted following the intention-to-treat principle. The R-package lavaan will be used to conduct structural equation modelling to study the potential mechanism of mindfulness., Discussion/significance: This will be the first psychosocial intervention study conducted on braced AIS patients with the aim of improving patients' bracing compliance and quality of life. The results from this study will potentially carry significant impact on future AIS treatment by emphasising psychosocial care for braced AIS patients., (Copyright © 2018 Australian Physiotherapy Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, a survey is conducted to study the attitudes of Hong Kong residents towards organ donation after death. It is found that 60.3% of the respondents are willing to donate organs, which is comparable to those cited in the literature. The results also indicate that the willingness to donate is related to age, occupation and attitude. A factor analysis of attitudes yielded four factors, including form of burial, altruism, lack of understanding on organ donation and lack of confidence in professional conduct of medical doctors. Further analysis of the factor scores provides information that is useful to the design of effective public education programs in organ donation.