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<p><h1><b>Integrated Human Practice</b></h1></p> | <p><h1><b>Integrated Human Practice</b></h1></p> | ||
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<b>1. Professor Chan Kay Sheung, Paul</b> | <b>1. Professor Chan Kay Sheung, Paul</b> | ||
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− | We interviewed Professor Paul Chan at the | + | We interviewed Professor Paul Chan at the Department of Microbiology, Prince of Wales Hospital. Professor Paul Chan is an Honorary Consultant in Microbiology of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority. He is also a member of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network of World Health Organization. He is an expert in molecular methods for rapid diagnosis and strain characterization.</u>. |
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− | The conversation with Prof. Chan was fruitful. He had explained the whole process of influenza detection, from sample collection to standard diagnosis procedures in very detail, which set a clearer direction on what we should focus more. For example, there is a verity of sources of sample can be collected from patient: | + | The conversation with Prof. Chan was fruitful. He had explained the whole process of influenza detection, from sample collection to standard diagnosis procedures in very detail, which set a clearer direction on what we should focus more. For example, there is a verity of sources of sample can be collected from patient: Nasopharyngeal aspirate is the most sensitive source to be examined, however, assistance of nurse is required, while throat swab is the common method adopted in clinic due to its easier manipulation and collection, but lower amount of virus can be found here, leading to lower accuracy. Thus, He emphasized the importance of the sensitivity: if the product we designed is sensitive enough (sensitivity performance similar to PCR reaction), the source limitation is no longer an obstacle and it can then be applied in the clinic without the help of profession of collecting human specimens. |
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− | Thus, we decided to package our design as “point of care”, can be applied in both hospital and clinic, especially useful in nightshift and peak season. Besides, as suggested by Prof Chan,distinguishing the subtype of influenza is not very significant in tackling flu, because currently available medicine can already defeat all types of influenza. Reversely, subtyping is relatively important to be the parameter of deciding the release of chicken to the market. Thus, two directions of detection are proposed: for human, identification of the presence of influenza | + | Thus, we decided to package our design as “point of care”, can be applied in both hospital and clinic, especially useful in nightshift and peak season. Besides, as suggested by Prof Chan, distinguishing the subtype of influenza is not very significant in tackling flu, because currently, available medicine can already defeat all types of influenza. Reversely, subtyping is relatively important to be the parameter of deciding the release of chicken to the market. |
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+ | <b>2. Professor Joseph J.Y. Sung </b> | ||
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+ | We have also met Prof Sung, Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and concurrently Mok Hing Yiu Professor of Medicine of CUHK. Prof Sung has long been dedicated his life to public health affairs. In 2003, Professor Sung led his medical team to fight against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). He also won the name of “Asian Hero” in the Time magazine and was awarded the Distinguished Award for Scientist and Medical Professional in the Fighting Against SARS (Medical Technology Personnel Category), in praise of his great contributions. | ||
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+ | Similar to what Prof Chan suggested, Prof Sung also agreed that two directions of the project can be launched as subtyping detection kit of influenza is rare in the market. Thus, two directions of detection are proposed: for human, identification of the presence of influenza is enough; as for subtyping, it is more suitable to be applied in detection of virus in chicken. | ||
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+ | In addition, he emphasized the importance of sensitivity and specificity for several times, especially the latter, as there are many subtypes of influenza. Ability to distinguish various subtypes efficiently enhance the competence of our design. Therefore, sensitivity and specificity check will be the focus of our wet lab part afterward. | ||
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Revision as of 16:51, 29 October 2017