Phy Lo

Understanding the preferred role in infertility treatment decision making among Chinese infertile women in Hong Kong

Introduction High sperm DNA quality and homeostasis are essential for effective transmission of genetic information to the offspring. Evidence based medicine has now shown that abnormal sperm chromatin or damaged DNA can adversely affect fertility and contribute to abortion. A certain proportion of spermatozoa in the ejaculate of most species contain abnormal sperm because of DNA or protein damage. Recently, MACs has been used to remove a portion of the damaged DNA contained in the ejaculate (Figure 1).

When social support rises above all: determinants of end-of-life-treatment and long-term anxiety and depression for Chinese female cancer survivors

The current study aimed to improve the ecological validity of objective cognitive assessment in two ways: (1) by testing prospective memory, a type of cognition that involves remembering to carry out an action when there are distracting ongoing tasks, and (2) by using a virtual reality environment that is more similar to participants’ everyday cognitive challenges than standard neuropsychological tests. The study examined whether prospective memory (PM) performance among breast cancer survivors (BCS) exposed to chemotherapy differed from that seen in a demographically matched control group. Twenty-six female survivors of breast cancer who received chemotherapy that finished 0.5-5 years prior to the time of testing were compared with 25 age- and education-matched women with no history of cancer. Participants completed event-, time- and activity-based PM measures; standardized neuropsychological tests assessing attention and concentration, executive function and verbal memory; and self-report measures of cognitive dysfunction and PM failures. The BCS group showed significantly slower speed of processing on the test of attention and concentration as well as trends towards slower dual task performance. The BCS group reported significantly more cognitive complaints and PM failures than the control group on five of six self-report measures. The groups did not differ on other prospective memory or neuropsychological measures. PM tasks correlated significantly with both standard neuropsychological tasks and with self-reported cognitive function in everyday life. The results provide some evidence for correspondence between more ecologically valid objective measures and self-reported cognitive impairment following chemotherapy treatment. Further research into PM performance in this clinical group appears warranted.