Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe muscle-wasting disease caused by frame shifting and nonsense mutations in the dystrophin gene. Through skipping of an (additional) exon from the pre-mRNA, the reading frame can be restored. This can be achieved with antisense oligonucleotides (AONs), which induce exon skipping by binding to splice sites or splice enhancer sites. The resulting protei...

This paper presents a region of interest transcoding scheme for multipoint video conferencing to enhance the visual quality. In a multipoint video conference, usually there are only one or two active conferees at one time which are the regions of interest to the other conferees involved. We propose a Dynamic Sub-Window Skipping (DSWS) scheme to firstly identify the active participants from the ...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe, progressive muscle-wasting disorder, while Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is milder muscle disease [1]. Both are caused by mutations in dystrophin, a protein, which stabilizes muscle fibers during contraction by linking muscle actin to the extracellular matrix. In DMD patients mutations disrupt the open reading frame, generating prematurely trunca...

Stop-skipping is a key method for alleviating congestion in rail transit, where schedules are sometimes difficult to implement. Several mechanisms have been proposed and analyzed in the literature, but very few performance comparisons are available. This study formulated train choice behavior estimation into the model considering passengers' perception. If a passenger's train path can be identi...

Antisense-mediated modulation of pre-mRNA splicing is an attractive therapeutic strategy for genetic diseases. Currently, there are few examples of modulation of pre-mRNA splicing using locked nucleic acid (LNA) antisense oligonucleotides, and, in particular, no systematic study has addressed the optimal design of LNA-based splice-switching oligonucleotides (LNA SSOs). Here, we designed a serie...

Non-B DNA structures are abundant in the genome and are often associated with critical biological processes, including gene regulation, chromosome rearrangement and genome stabilization. In particular, G-quadruplex (G4) may affect alternative splicing based on its ability to impede the activity of RNA polymerase II. However, the specific role of non-B DNA structures in splicing regulation still...

OBJECTIVE Although breakfast is associated with different benefits, breakfast skipping is increasingly common among children. This study aimed to identify lifestyle and socioeconomic correlates of breakfast skipping in Hong Kong schoolchildren. METHODS 68,606 primary 4 participants of the Department of Health Student Health Service in 1998-2000 reported breakfast habit and other lifestyle cha...

BACKGROUND Over-reliance on convenience foods, including ready-meals, has been suggested as one contributor to obesity. Little research has systematically explored the nutritional content of supermarket ready-meals. We described the nutritional content and cost of UK supermarket ready-meals. METHODS We conducted a survey of supermarket own-brand chilled and frozen ready-meals available in bra...

INTRODUCTION There are not enough studies about the barriers to lose weight from the perspective of children and their parents. METHODS Children and adolescents diagnosed with overweight/obesity in the Department of Endocrinology and their parents were invited to participate in a series of focus group discussions (FGD). Twenty-nine children 10-16 years old and 22 parents participated in 7 foc...

OBJECTIVES Growing concern about ideal body image among adolescent girls in developing countries has led them to follow dietary modifications. In general, the ideal body image is perceived as a 'thin body' and now tagged with the concept of being physically fit. The present study evaluates the prevalence of weight concerns, and subsequent eating behaviour modifications among a group of adolesce...