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Objective: To review medical records of pregnant women with positive non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) results for sex chromosome abnormalities who attended Tuen Mun hospital between 2015 and 2021. Patient decision after prenatal diagnosis, confirmatory diagnostic testing results, and pregnancy/neonatal outcomes were summarised. Methods: Medical records of women with abnormal NIPT results for sex chromosome abnormalities who attended Tuen Mun Hospital between January 2015 and December 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. Results: 56 Chinese women attended our prenatal diagnostic clinic with abnormal NIPT results for sex chromosome abnormalities involving 45, X (n=17), 47, XXY (n=10), 47, XXX (n=6), 47, XYY (n=8), disproportionate level of sex chromosomes (n=9), copy number variants of sex chromosomes (n=3), and suspected maternal sex chromosome imbalance (n=3). 53 had singleton pregnancies and three had dichorionic-diamniotic twin pregnancies. 58.9% had conventional combined Down syndrome screening; 15.2% of them were at high risk for trisomy 21. 33 (58.9%) of the patients opted for invasive diagnostic test: amniocentesis (n=29), chorionic villus sampling (n=3), and chorionic villus sampling followed by amniocentesis (n=1). Confirmatory cytogenetic test results (including postnatal results) were available in 35 cases. The overall positive predictive value of NIPT to detect fetal sex chromosome aneuploidies was 71.4%; the value was 42.9% for detecting 45, X, 100% for detecting 47,XXY, 80% for detecting 47,XXX, and 83.3% for detecting 47,XYY. False positive results were observed in three cases of confined placental mosaicism and three cases of vanishing twin pregnancies. Two women with 47,XXX and one woman with mosaic 45,X/46,XX were also incidentally discovered. Conclusion: Positive NIPT results for sex chromosome abnormalities can be caused by true fetal sex chromosome abnormalities, confined placental mosaicism/placental mosaicism, vanishing twins, and maternal X chromosome abnormalities. Multidisciplinary management can help prenatal counselling and genetic diagnosis. Follow-up confirmatory cytogenetic analysis prenatally and/or postnatally is useful to characterise the numeric or structural fetal sex chromosome abnormalities and their mosaic patterns, and can maximise the benefits of prenatal genetic screening in obtaining more genetic information to support pregnancy management and clinical care of affected unborn child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To evaluate the success rate and short-term complications of single, double, and triple modalities of uterine-sparing treatment (UST) for primary postpartum haemorrhage (PPH). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed records of women who underwent UST for PPH between 2006 and 2019 in Tuen Mun Hospital. The success rates of single, double, and triple modalities of UST (derived from the number of haemostatic hysterectomies prevented) were compared, as were short-term complications between single and double modality groups. Results: Of 221 women who underwent UST for primary PPH, 174 (78.7%) received single, 44 (19.9%) received double, and 3 (1.4%) received triple modalities of UST. The three groups were comparable, except that there were more nulliparous women in the double than single modality group, more women having caesarean sections in the single than double or triple modality group, and more uterine atony in the double or triple than single modality group. The success rate of haemostasis decreased from 94.3% after single modality to 90.9% after double modalities to 0% after triple modalities (p<0.001). All three women with triple modalities of UST eventually underwent haemostatic hysterectomy. The single and double modality groups were comparable in terms of short-term complications. Conclusion: Single and double modalities of UST were effective and safe in treating primary PPH. Early resort to hysterectomy should be considered if double modalities of UST failed to achieve haemostasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study on the emulsion formation mechanically and relate the effect of emulsions to the friction or wall shear stress ( τw ) in the pipeline flow has not yet been explored. So, this study aims to understand the emulsions formation mechanically and to discover the effects of water-in-oil emulsions to the pipeline flow transport by relating the effect of emulsions to the wall shear stress or friction of the pipe. In this study, wall shear stress is compared at water cuts from 0% to 40%, Reynolds number that covers laminar (1100 < Re < 1800) and transitional (2400 < Re < 2800) flow regime, pipeline constrictions that consists of gradual and sudden contraction with a contraction ratio of 0.50 and 0.75, respectively as well as along the pipelines. To carry out the experiments, the Ultrasonic Velocity Profiler and a lab-scale flow rig were used. The results show that the maximum wall shear stress happens at 10% water cuts, higher Reynolds number results in lower wall shear stress, pipeline constriction with contraction ratio of 0.75 results in higher wall shear stress than the contraction ratio of 0.50 and sudden constriction results in higher wall shear stress than the gradual constriction, and wall shear stress increases with the increase in the length of the pipeline downstream the pipeline constriction. In conclusion, pipeline flow with higher Reynolds number and pipeline constriction (which represents the usage of choke valve in the industries) type gradual constriction ratio 0.50 are recommended to be used in the oil and gas industries because this combination results in the lowest wall shear stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edible bird nests (EBNs) are highly demanded globally. The industry was recently affected by an import ban to China due to high nitrite levels. Subsequently, many concerns have been raised. In this study, the microbial composition of both raw and commercial EBNs was investigated. The raw EBNs were purchased from swiftlet farms: Kuala Sanglang (Perlis), Pantai Remis (Perak), Kluang (Johor), Kajang (Selangor) and Kota Bharu (Kelantan). The commercial nests were purchased from five different Chinese traditional medicinal shops (Companies A-E) in Malaysia and one from Indonesia (Medan). A total of 123 and 34 isolates were successfully identified from unboiled raw and commercial EBNs respectively. The highest average CFU (1.77 x 104) was associated with raw EBNs obtained from Kluang, while for the commercial EBNs, those obtained from Company M1 had the highest CFU (5.50 x 104). Bacillus sp. accounted for the highest isolated species from both unboiled raw and commercial EBNs. Bacillus sp. and Brevibacillus sp. were mainly isolated from the boiled EBNs. Bacillus spp. were the dominant bacterial groups in all the raw EBNs except for those obtained from Kajang. The average number of bacteria isolated from the raw EBNs (average = 7) was higher compared with those isolated from the commercial EBNs (average = 4). The highest average number of bacterial isolates was reported in the raw EBNs obtained from Kota Bharu. Among the commercial EBNs, one EBN sample each from Companies A and M1 showed the highest number of isolates (n = 10). In general, there was a significant reduction in the number of bacteria isolated after boiling the EBNs. Raw EBNs obtained from Kajang had a distinct pool of bacterial species where the majority of the isolated species belonged to Staphylococcus species. The associated health impacts of these microorganisms to the consumers and public need to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]