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Many new infectious diseases in humans have been derived from animal sources in the past 20 years. Some are highly contagious and fatal. Vaccination may not be available and antiviral drugs are not effective enough. Infectious control is important in clinical medicine and in Ophthalmology. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), as an example, is a highly contagious respiratory disease that has recently been reported in Asia, North America, and Europe. Within a matter of weeks, the outbreak has evolved to become a global health threat and more than 30 countries have been afflicted with a novel Coronavirus strain (SARS-CoV) that is the aetiologic agent of SARS. The primary route of transmission of SARS appears involving close person-to-person contact through droplets. Ophthalmologists may be particularly susceptible to the infection as routine ophthalmic examinations like direct ophthalmoscopy and slit-lamp examination are usually performed in a setting that has close doctor-patient contact. Being the Ophthalmology Department of the only hospital in the world that has just gone through the largest outbreak of SARS, we would like to share our strategy, measures, and experiences of preventing contracting or spreading of SARS infection as an infection control model. SARS is one of the many viruses against which personnel will need protecting in an ophthalmic setting. The experiences attained and the measures established might also apply to other infectious conditions spreading by droplets such as the avian influenza with H5N1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

* The purpose of the study was to determine the stressors and coping methods of chronic haemodialysis patients in Hong Kong. Relationships among treatment-related stressors, coping methods and length of time on haemodialysis were explored.* Fifty subjects completed the Haemodialysis Stressor Scale (HSS) and Jalowiec Coping Scale (JCS).* Results revealed that limitation of fluid was the most frequently identified stressor, followed by limitation of food, itching, fatigue and cost.* The most common coping methods are 'accepted the situation because very little could be done', followed by 'told oneself not to worry because everything would work out fine' and 'told oneself that the problem was really not that important.' It was found that the traditional philosophies of the Chinese - Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism - share an approach to the understanding and management of life stressors as different from that adopted by Western philosophies.* The findings of this study can further facilitate nurse practitioners in providing support, information, and alternative solutions when assisting patients in coping with long-term haemodialysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Identifying genetic disease-susceptible individuals through population screening is considered as a promising approach for disease prevention. DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes including MLH1 , MSH2 , MSH6 and PMS2 play essential roles in maintaining microsatellite stability through DNA mismatch repair, and pathogenic variation in MMR genes causes microsatellite instability and is the genetic predisposition for cancer as represented by the Lynch syndrome. While the prevalence and spectrum of MMR variation has been extensively studied in cancer, it remains largely elusive in the general population. Lack of the knowledge prevents effective prevention for MMR variation-caused cancer. In the current study, we addressed the issue by using the Chinese population as a model., Methods: We performed extensive data mining to collect MMR variant data from 18 844 ethnic Chinese individuals and comprehensive analyses for the collected MMR variants to determine its prevalence, spectrum and features of the MMR data in the Chinese population., Results: We identified 17 687 distinct MMR variants. We observed substantial differences of MMR variation between the general Chinese population and Chinese patients with cancer, identified highly Chinese-specific MMR variation through comparing MMR data between Chinese and non-Chinese populations, predicted the enrichment of deleterious variants in the unclassified Chinese-specific MMR variants, determined MMR pathogenic prevalence of 0.18% in the general Chinese population and determined that MMR variation in the general Chinese population is evolutionarily neutral., Conclusion: Our study provides a comprehensive view of MMR variation in the general Chinese population, a resource for biological study of human MMR variation, and a reference for MMR-related cancer applications., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)