Search

Studies on the sexual adjustment of Hong Kong Chinese women who have gynecologic cancer are reviewed. The findings suggest that sexual beliefs based on the Confucian and Taoist traditions still prevail in contemporary Chinese societies and influence Chinese sexual attitudes and behavior. Chinese women show decreased sexual activities, interest, drive, and satisfaction after gynecologic cancer and its treatment. The sexual morbidity rates are around 30-50%, but marital relationships are minimally affected. We recommend that researchers examine the impact of cultural factors to clarify how women from different cultures experience gynecologic cancer and its treatment.

Objectives: To evaluate pelvic floor biometry of women 3-5 years after their first delivery. The effect of a subsequent delivery and the mode of delivery on pelvic floor biometry were also studied.Methods: Three-hundred and twenty-eight women who had been examined by translabial ultrasound during their first singleton pregnancy and at 8 weeks and 1 year postpartum, were invited for a follow-up 3-5 years later. The positions of the bladder neck, cervix, anorectal junction and hiatal area (HA) were evaluated using translabial ultrasound. The effects of parity, mode of delivery and levator ani muscle avulsion were studied.Results: A total of 240 women completed the study. Of these, 179 had one or more vaginal deliveries (VD) (VD-only group), 52 had one or more Cesarean sections (CS) (CS-only group) and nine had both VD and CS at follow-up. The mean interval between the first delivery and follow-up was 3.8 years. A significantly lower bladder neck and anorectal junction on Valsalva, a lower cervix at rest, on Valsalva and pelvic floor muscle contraction, and a greater HA were observed in the VD-only group at follow-up, compared with findings at 1 year of follow-up or in the first pregnancy. The findings were similar in the CS-only group, except without a lower anorectal junction on Valsalva. Compared with the primiparous VD-only group, a greater HA at rest was observed in the multiparous VD-only group (P = 0.027). The VD-only group had a greater HA than the CS-only group.Conclusions: At 3-5 years after first delivery, a lower bladder neck, cervix and anorectal junction, and a greater HA were observed compared with findings in the first trimester and at 1 year of follow-up, regardless of parity or mode of delivery. Women with two or more VDs had a greater HA compared with those who had only one VD, and women with at least one VD had a greater HA compared with those who delivered by CS only. Copyright © 2017 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Fatigue is common in stroke survivors. Lesion location may influence the risk of poststroke fatigue (PSF) but it is uncertain whether location has an impact on the prognosis of PSF. This study examined the association between PSF outcome and infarct location. Methods The study sample comprised 435 Chinese patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted to the acute stroke unit of a university affiliated regional hospital in Hong Kong. Three and fifteen months after the onset of the index stroke a research assistant administered the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). PSF was defined as a FSS score of 4.0 or above. Of the 139 patients with PSF three months poststroke, 97 (69.8%) attended the 15-month follow-up, when 50 (51.5%) patients still had PSF ('non-remitters') and 47 (48.5%) did not report fatigue ('remitters'). The presence and location of infarcts were evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging. Results In comparison with the remitters, the non-remitters were more likely to have subcortical white matter infarcts (40.0% vs 21.3%, p = 0.046). These infarcts remained an independent predictor of non-remission of PSF in the multivariate analysis, with an odds ratio of 4.208 (p = 0.011). Conclusions The results suggest that subcortical white matter infarcts may influence the outcome of PSF. Further investigations are needed to explore whether infarcts have any impact on the response of PSF to pharmacological or psychological interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Miscarriage is a very common complication during early pregnancy. So far, clinical therapies have limitation in preventing the early pregnancy loss. Chinese Medicine, regarded as gentle, effective, and safe, has become popular and common as a complementary and alternative treatment for miscarriages. However, the evidence to support its therapeutic efficacy and safety is still very limited. Objectives and Methods. To summarize the clinical application of Chinese Medicine for pregnancy and provide scientific evidence on the efficacy and safety of Chinese medicines for miscarriage, we located all the relevant pieces of literature on the clinical applications of Chinese Medicine for miscarriage and worked out this systematic review. Results. 339,792 pieces of literature were identified, but no placebo was included and only few studies were selected for systematic review and conducted for meta-analysis. A combination of Chinese medicines and Western medicines was more effective than Chinese medicines alone. No specific safety problem was reported, but potential adverse events by certain medicines were identified. Conclusions. Studies vary considerably in design, interventions, and outcome measures; therefore conclusive results remain elusive. Large scales of randomized controlled trials and more scientific evidences are still necessary to confirm the efficacy and safety of Chinese medicines during early pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the performance of hotel websites in Hong Kong, China in terms of information quality. Advantages of having websites for hotels; Comparison of the performance of websites among different hotel categories; Incorporation of the perceptions of hotel guests and practitioners in the evaluation development process; Differences in the performance scores of luxury, mid-priced, and economy hotels.

The aims of this study were firstly to examine if corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) concentrations in maternal plasma were significantly elevated in Chinese pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia, secondly to assess if this elevation could be detected in the mid-trimester before onset of clinical signs of the disease, and thirdly to evaluate the performance of using maternal CRH and/or alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) concentrations in the mid-trimester for prediction of pre-eclampsia. The first part of this study was tested in a cohort of 39 subjects. The CRH concentrations were significantly elevated in pregnant women complicated by pre-eclampsia. The second and third parts of the study involved a different cohort of 1021 subjects. Both CRH and AFP concentrations in the mid-trimester were significantly elevated in those who subsequently developed pre-eclampsia. However, when used for prediction of pre-eclampsia, neither the CRH nor AFP concentrations alone in the mid-trimester had strong predictive value. Although the combination of both tests improved the detection rate compared to the use of CRH alone, the small increase in the likelihood ratio from 1.9 to 2.6 did not suggest that the combination would be of great clinical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recurrent miscarriage affects 1% to 3% of women of reproductive age and mostly occurs before the 10th week of gestation (and around the same gestational week in subsequent miscarriages). Although most pregnant women may not recognise a miscarriage until uterine bleeding and cramping occur, a repeat miscarriage after one or more pregnancy loss and the chance of having a successful pregnancy varies. To date, there is no universally accepted treatment for unexplained recurrent miscarriage. Chinese herbal medicines have been widely used in Asian societies for millennia and have become a popular alternative to Western medicines in recent years. Many clinical studies have reported that Chinese herbal medicines can improve pregnancy outcomes for pregnant women who had previously suffered recurrent miscarriage. This systematic review evaluated the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicines for recurrent miscarriage., Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbal medicines for the treatment of unexplained recurrent miscarriage., Search Methods: We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (01 June 2015), Embase (1980 to 01 June 2015); Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (1982 to 01 June 2015); Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) (1978 to 01 June 2015); China Journal Net (CJN) (1915 to 01 June 2015); China Journals Full-text Database (1915 to 01 June 2015); and WanFang Database (Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology) (1980 to 01 June 2015). We also searched reference lists of relevant trials and reviews. We identified and contacted organisations, individual experts working in the field, and medicinal herb manufacturers., Selection Criteria: Randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials, including cluster-randomised trials, with or without full text, comparing Chinese herbal medicines (alone or combined with other intervention or other pharmaceuticals) with placebo, no treatment, other intervention (including bed rest and psychological support), or other pharmaceuticals as treatments for unexplained recurrent miscarriage. Cross-over studies were not eligible for inclusion in this review., Data Collection and Analysis: Two review authors independently assessed all the studies for inclusion in the review, assessed risk of bias and extracted the data. Data were checked for accuracy., Main Results: We included nine randomised clinical trials (involving 861 women). The trials compared Chinese herbal medicines (various formulations) either alone (one trial), or in combination with other pharmaceuticals (seven trials) versus other pharmaceuticals alone. One study compared Chinese herbal medicines and other pharmaceuticals versus psychotherapy. We did not identify any trials comparing Chinese herbal medicines with placebo or no treatment, including bed rest.Various Chinese herbal medicines were used in the different trials (and some of the classical the formulations were modified in the trials). The Western pharmaceutical medicines included tocolytic drugs such as salbutamol and magnesium sulphate; hormonal supplementation with human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG), progesterone or dydrogesterone; and supportive supplements such as vitamin E, vitamin K and folic acid.Overall, the methodological quality of the included studies was poor with unclear risk of bias for nearly all the 'Risk of bias' domains assessed.Chinese herbal medicines alone versus other pharmaceuticals alone - the live birth rate was no different between the two groups (risk ratio (RR) 1.05; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.67 to 1.65; one trial, 80 women). No data were available for the outcome of pregnancy rate (continuation of pregnancy after 20 weeks of gestation).In contrast, the continuing pregnancy rate (RR 1.27 95% CI 1.10 to 1.48, two trials, 189 women) and live birth rate (average RR 1.55; 95% CI 1.14 to 2.10; six trials, 601 women, Tau² = 0.10; I² = 73%) were higher among the group of women who received a combination of Chinese herbal medicines and other pharmaceuticals when compared with women who received other pharmaceuticals alone.For Chinese herbal medicines and psychotherapy versus psychotherapy alone (one study) - there was a higher live birth rate (RR 1.32; 95% CI 1.07 to 1.64; one trial, 90 women) in the group of women who received a combination of Chinese herbal medicines and psychotherapy compared to those women who received psychotherapy alone. No data were available on the continuing pregnancy rate for this comparison.Other primary outcomes (maternal adverse effect and toxicity rate and the perinatal adverse effect and toxicity rate) were not reported in most of the included studies. Two trials (341 women) reported that no maternal adverse effects were found (one trial compared (combined) medicines with other pharmaceuticals, and one trial compared combined Chinese herbal medicine alone versus other pharmaceuticals). One trial (Chinese herbal medicine alone versus other pharmaceuticals alone) reported that there were no abnormal fetuses (ultrasound) or after delivery.There were no data reported for any of this review's secondary outcomes., Authors' Conclusions: We found limited evidence (from nine studies with small sample sizes and unclear risk of bias) to assess the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicines for treating unexplained recurrent miscarriage; no data were available to assess the safety of the intervention for the mother or her baby. There were no data relating to any of this review's secondary outcomes. From the limited data we found, a combination of Chinese herbal medicines and other pharmaceuticals (mainly Western medicines) may be more effective than Western medicines alone in terms of the rate of continuing pregnancy and the rate of live births. However, the methodological quality of the included studies was generally poor.A comparison of Chinese herbal medicines alone versus placebo or no treatment (including bed rest) was not possible as no relevant trials were identified.More high-quality studies are needed to further evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbal medicines for unexplained recurrent miscarriage. In addition to assessing the effect of Chinese herbal medicines on pregnancy rate and the rate of live births, future studies should also consider safety issues (adverse effects and toxicity for the mother and her baby) as well as the secondary outcomes listed in this review. This review would provide more valuable information if the included studies could overcome the problems in their designs, such as lacking of qualified placebo-controlled trials, applying adequate randomisation methods and avoiding potential bias.

Objectives: To compare the 5-year subjective and objective outcomes of transobturator tension-free vaginal tape alone versus the same procedure with concomitant pelvic floor repair surgery for pelvic organ prolapse in women with urinary stress incontinence., Design: Prospective cohort study., Setting: Urogynaecology unit at a university hospital in Hong Kong., Patients: Of 218 women, 96 (44%) received transobturator tension-free vaginal tape alone and 122 (56%) received transobturator tension-free vaginal tape with concomitant pelvic floor repair surgery from September 2004 to December 2009. The women were followed up annually for up to 5 years after the operation., Main Outcome Measures: The 5-year subjective and objective cure rates were assessed. Subjective cure was defined as no urine loss during physical activity and objective cure was defined as no urine leakage on coughing during urodynamic study., Results: Overall, 88 women receiving transobturator tension-free vaginal tape alone and 101 women receiving transobturator tension-free vaginal tape with concomitant pelvic floor repair surgery were followed up for 5 years after operation. The subjective and objective cure rates of the two groups were 70.5% versus 94.1% (P<0.01) and 80.3% versus 85.7% (P=0.58), respectively., Conclusions: Transobturator tension-free vaginal tape is an effective treatment for urinary stress incontinence in women who received it alone or with concomitant pelvic floor repair surgery for pelvic organ prolapse, providing high subjective and objective efficacy for up to 5 years after operation. Transobturator tension-free vaginal tape with concomitant pelvic floor repair surgery achieved similar, if not better, long-term outcome compared with transobturator tension-free vaginal tape alone.

Objectives: To evaluate the quality of life in women with urinary incontinence (categorised by urodynamic findings)., Design: Prospective cohort study on patients., Setting: Urogynaecology unit of a university teaching hospital in Hong Kong. PATIENTS. Female patients presenting to our clinic from July 2008 to December 2009 and having their urinary incontinence categorised by urodynamic study., Main Outcome Measures: Patient's quality of life was assessed using the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form, Urogenital Distress Inventory Short Form, and Incontinence Impact Questionnaire Short Form. Their quality of life was compared according to their urodynamic category and a subgroup analysis was performed on patients having continence surgery for urodynamic stress incontinence., Results: Among the 223 women studied, 46% had urodynamic stress incontinence, 18% had detrusor overactivity, 2% had both urodynamic stress incontinence and detrusor overactivity, and 34% had no urodynamic abnormality. In all, the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form scoring was lower than normal local population. The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form score in detrusor overactivity group was significantly lower than urodynamic stress incontinence group in vitality and mental health domains. Detrusor overactivity group also had higher scores in Incontinence Impact Questionnaire Short Form in travel, social and emotional health subscales and total score (46.3 vs 29.1; P<0.01). Women with urodynamic stress incontinence and required continence surgery had higher scores in Incontinence Impact Questionnaire Short Form., Conclusion: Women with urinary incontinence had impaired quality of life and it was comparable to other chronic medical diseases. Women with detrusor overactivity have more impaired quality of life than women with urodynamic stress incontinence. Severity of urodynamic stress incontinence did not correlate with quality of life. Women who opted for continence surgery had poorer quality of life.

OBJECTIVE. To study the presentations, diagnoses, and outcomes in adolescents with menstrual disorders. DESIGN. Prospective cohort study. SETTING. Paediatric and Adolescent Gynaecology Clinic, Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS. A total of 577 adolescents aged 14 to 19 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES. The presentations and diagnoses of adolescents with menstrual disorders were reviewed and their menstrual outcomes determined by a telephone survey. RESULTS. In all, 47% presented with menorrhagia, prolonged menstruation, and short menstrual cycles; 27% had secondary amenorrhoea, 12% had dysmenorrhoea, 11% had oligomenorrhoea, and 3% had primary amenorrhoea. Significant diagnoses included congenital genital tract anomalies, premature ovarian failure, anorexia nervosa, and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Polycystic ovarian syndrome was diagnosed in 16% of the cohort. In all, 24% of these 577 patients had abnormal menstrual cycles 4 years later. Direct logistic regression analysis indicated a cycle length of more than 35 days at presentation (adjusted odds ratio=2.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.8-4.5), previous diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome (adjusted odds ratio=2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.4), and current body mass index of 23 kg/m(2) or higher (adjusted odds ratio=1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-3.0) were risk factors for persistently long menstrual cycle exceeding 35 days. Adolescents who were screened out with a definitive diagnosis after initial assessment were at low risk of persistently long menstrual cycles at follow-up (adjusted odds ratio=0.3; 95% confidence interval, 0.1-0.8). CONCLUSIONS. Adolescent menstrual disorders should not be ignored. Long cycle, diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome at first consultation, and a current body mass index of 23 kg/m(2) or higher were statistically associated with persistent problems.

Objective: To ascertain the prevalence of menstrual problems in adolescent girls and their health-seeking behaviour., Design: Questionnaire survey on menstruation, menstrual problems, medical consultation, and factors influencing girls seeking medical care., Setting: Secondary schools in the catchment area of a tertiary teaching hospital in Hong Kong., Participants: A total of 5609 girls from 10 secondary schools., Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence of menstrual problems and health-seeking behaviour of adolescent girls., Results: The mean age of the girls and their mean age at menarche were 15.1 (standard deviation, 2.0) years and 12.3 (1.1) years, respectively. The prevalence of menorrhagia, dysmenorrhoea, and menstrual symptoms were 17.9% (95% confidence interval, 16.9-19.1%), 68.7% (67.7-70.3%), and 37.7% (36.7-39.3%), respectively. The prevalence of menstrual symptoms (P<0.001) and dysmenorrhoea (P<0.001) increased with gynaecological age (calendar age minus age at menarche), whilst the proportion having short or long cycles decreased (P=0.002 and P=0.009). One in eight girls reported having been absent from school, whilst only 6.4% had sought medical care because of menses. Multivariate analysis indicated that seeking medical care for menorrhagia was dependent on the opinion of a family member (P=0.005), and for dysmenorrhoea on its severity (P=0.046) and anxiety about embarrassing questions (P=0.039)., Conclusions: The prevalence of menstrual problems in Hong Kong Chinese girls is high and causes significant disruption to their school and daily activities. However, only a minority seek medical advice.

Objective: To find the clinical and socio-demographic determinants for Hong Kong Chinese women who preferred elective caesarean section., Design: Cross-sectional interview survey., Setting: University teaching hospital, Hong Kong., Participants: A cohort of consecutive Hong Kong Chinese pregnant women (n=660) attending a government-funded obstetric unit catering deliveries in the New Territories in Hong Kong in 2002., Main Outcome Measures: The clinical and socio-demographic determinants of preference for elective caesarean section, in women who could have a trial of vaginal delivery., Results: The overall prevalence for maternal preference for elective caesarean section was 16.7% (95% confidence interval, 13.8-19.6). The factors associated with preferring elective caesarean section were: previous elective caesarean section (odds ratio=7.6; 95% confidence interval, 2.0-28.7) and previous emergency caesarean section (3.8; 1.8-8.2). Among nulliparous women, the prevalence of preference for elective caesarean section was 16.8% (95% confidence interval, 13.0-20.6). Conception by in-vitro fertilisation was found to be significantly associated with preferring elective caesarean section in nulliparous women (odds ratio=5.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-26.4)., Conclusion: Previous caesarean section and conception by in-vitro fertilisation were determinants for women preferring elective caesarean section.

Purpose: The incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer are declining in the United States; however, worldwide, cervical cancer is still one of the leading causes of death in women, second only to breast cancer. This disparity is at least partially explained by the absence of or comparatively ineffective screening programs in the developing world. Recent advances in expression genomics have enabled the use of DNA microarray to profile gene expression of various cancers. These expression profiles may be suitable for molecular classification and prediction of disease outcome and treatment response. We envision that expression genomics applied in cervical cancer may provide a more rational approach to the classification and treatment of the disease., Experimental Design: In this report, we examined the expression profiles of cervical cancer compared with normal cervical tissues in DNA microarrays that contained approximately 11,000 features that correspond to either human transcripts with known function or anonymous expressed sequence tags., Results: Our results showed that normal cervical tissues were completely segregated from the cancer samples using about 40 genes whose expressions were significantly different between these specimens. In addition, clinical stage IB and stage IIB tumors could also be classified based on their signature expression patterns. Most importantly, some of the tumor samples were further stratified into two major groups based on their response to radiotherapy, and we were able to predict the response of these patients to radiotherapy from their expression profiles., Conclusions: Gene expression profiling by DNA microarray may be used for further molecular classification of disease stages and prediction of treatment response in cervical cancer.