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It is of interest to estimate the size of a crowd in a demonstration. We propose a practical method to obtain an estimate of the size of the crowd and its standard error. This method has been implemented in practice and, compared with other counting methods, is found to be more efficient, more timely and have less scope for bias. The method described in this paper was motivated by the annual 1 July demonstrations in Hong Kong, and data from the 2006 demonstration are used as an example of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To study the utilization of public health care by advanced cancer patients in their last 6 months of life and their end-of-life process within the last 2 weeks of life. Methods: This was a retrospective study on 494 cancer deaths from four public hospitals in 2005. This sample was selected from all in-patient cancer deaths by the ratio of one in four. Data were collected by review of charts and an electronic data base. Results: A total of 494 cancer deaths were analysed. The mean age of all cancer patients ( n=494) was 72.6 years. Two-thirds of cancer patients received palliative care and half died in palliative care setting. Patients were categorized into three groups according to palliative care coverage and the place of death. The first group comprised of patients who received palliative care service and died in palliative care units (PCS-PCD group, n=247); the second group of patients who received palliative care service within the last 6 months of life but died in non-palliative care wards ( n=86); and the third group of patients who never received palliative care and who died in non-palliative care wards (NPCS-NPCD group, n=161). Differences among groups were tested by one way ANOVA. During the last 6 months of life, patients in the PCS-PCD group had less admission to acute care wards (P < 0.012), shorter duration of stay in acute care wards (P < 0.003), and less admission to an intensive care unit setting (P < 0.001). Within the last 2 weeks of life, the PCS-PCD group had fewer interventions initiated (P < 0.001); had higher number of symptoms documented in patient's record (P < 0.001); and were more likely to receive analgesics (P < 0.001), adjuvant analgesics (P < 0.001) and sedatives (P < 0.001). Patients in PCS-PCD group were more physically dependent in the last 2 weeks of life (P < 0.001), but mentally more alert at 72 hours before death (P < 0.001). Patients in the NPCS-NPCD group had fewer patients with a do not resuscitate order present (P < 0.001), and more patients with cardiopulmonary resuscitation performed (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our results suggest that palliative care service has played a role in improving end-of-life cancer care in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for acquiring the current-year traffic data is a problem for transport planners since such data may not be available for on-going transport studies. A method is proposed in this paper to predict hourly traffic flows up to and into the near future, using historical data collected from the Hong Kong Annual Traffic Census (ATC). Two parametric and two non-parametric models have been employed and evaluated in this study. The results show that the non-parametric models (Non-Parametric Regression (NPR) and Gaussian Maximum Likelihood (GML)) were more promising for predicting hourly traffic flows at the selected ATC station. Further analysis encompassing 87 ATC stations revealed that the NPR is likely to react to unexpected changes more effectively than the GML method, while the GML model performs better under steady traffic flows. Taking into consideration the dynamic nature of the common traffic patterns in Hong Kong and the advantages/disadvantages of the various models, the NPR model is recommended for predicting the hourly traffic flows in that region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a case study is carried out in Hong Kong for demonstration of the Transport Information System (TIS) prototype. A traffic flow simulator (TFS) is presented to forecast the short-term travel times that can be served as a predicted travel time database for the TIS in Hong Kong. In the TFS, a stochastic deviation coefficient is incorporated to simulate the minute-by-minute fluctuation of traffic flows within the peak hour period. The purposes of the case study are: 1) to show the applicability of the TFS for larger-scale road network; and 2) to illustrate the short-term forecasting of path travel times in practice. The results of the case study show that the TFS can be applied to real network effectively. The predicted travel times are compared with the observed travel times on the selected paths for an OD pair. The results show that the observed path travel times fall in the 90% confidence interval of the predicted path travel times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Both Western and Chinese medicine, despite different in methods and systems, are well accepted in Hong Kong. According to a survey on cancer patients in Hong Kong conducted by the Hong Kong Baptist University in 2009, 57% of cancer patients used at least one form of Chinese Medicine therapy. Among those who were on chemotherapy, 60% of them are concurrently receiving Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herbal therapy. This pilot study addressed the problem of hepatotoxicity of concurrent Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herbal therapy use, which is the major hurdle of integrated Chinese-Western medicine practice in cancer medicine. We evaluated the difference in incidence of liver toxicity of cancer patients receiving systemic therapy with or without concurrent TCM herbal therapy. Methods 187 patients were prospectively recruited in the Department of Clinical Oncology of Queen Mary Hospital. Through questionnaires and the online Clinical Management System (CMS), they were followed up for 3 months, their current Western systemic therapy, TCM herbal therapy taken, and liver function tests results (bilirubin, ALT, AST, ALP) were retrieved. Patients were divided into the TCM herbal therapy and non-TCM herbal therapy group, depending on whether TCM herbal therapy was taken concurrently with systemic therapy. Liver function derangement was graded by CTCAE v4.0. The differences between the TCM herbal therapy and non-TCM herbal therapy groups were analysed by Pearson's chi square test and Mann-Whitney U tests. Multivariable analysis was performed by Cox proportional hazard models to identify the prognostic factors for TCM herbal therapy coverage. Results There was no significant difference of liver toxicity incidence between the TCM herbal therapy and non-TCM herbal therapy group(P = 0.577). No prognostic factors (age and sex) were identified for TCM herbal therapy coverage. Conclusions The results of our pilot study suggest that concurrent TCM herbal therapy usage by cancer patients does not increase the risk of liver toxicity. Our results warrant further prospective studies to confirm the finding. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]