KE Spotlight - Community Engagement - HKU Knowledge Exchange

Jockey Club Charities Trust and HKU School of Public Health announce "Family Day 2016" activities

"Family Day 2016" aims at encouraging Hong Kong people to spend more quality time with their family members so as to enhance family harmony and relationship. A series of events will be held from April 22 to June 5 under three themes, namely "Family Day @ Community", "Family Day - Shopping Fun", and "Active Families Sing for Family Day 2016 Fun Fair".

HKU scientists effectively suppress tumour growth by converting Salmonella into YB1 anaerobe bacterium

Researchers at the HKU School of Biomedical Sciences have recently engineered Salmonella into an anaerobe bacterium named YB1 that can only survive and thrive in the hypoxic condition, for example, hypoxic regions inside solid tumours. YB1 can effectively inhibit the growth of tumours while being safe to normal tissues. The patent applications for this invention have been filed in different countries through the Technology Transfer Office of HKU. A patent was recently granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The researchers hope that YB1 can be further developed into a tumour-targeting agent in the near future.

HKU develops "Comfy Acupressure for the Elderly" to improve the quality of life for the elderly

A recent clinical study conducted by the HKU School of Chinese Medicine in collaboration with Yan Chai Hospital Social Services Department (YCHSS) revealed that "Comfy Acupressure for the Elderly" can effectively improve the quality of life of frail elderly and reduce the strain of their caregivers. This 12-step acupressure protocol was developed on the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine theory and practice. As it is easy to learn and apply in daily life, HKU and YCHSS are planning to further promote it in the community in order to benefit the frail elderly as well as their caregivers.

HKU and PolyU develop world’s first internally motorised minimally invasive surgical robotic system for single incision or natural orifice (incision-less) robotic surgery

To minimize surgical trauma and improve the safety of current robotic surgery, an innovative project to develop a novel surgical robotic system (NSRS) with haptic (tactile) feedback and capable of single incision or natural orifice (incision-less) robotic surgery has been initiated by Professor Yeung Chung-Kwong, Honorary Clinical Professor of the HKU Department of Surgery. A team of experienced engineers led by Professor Yung Kai-Leung of PolyU's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering was invited to join the project team as an engineering partner in 2012. The team has made the breakthrough possible recently. A NSRS with surgical robotic arms that are driven by internal micro-motors and capable of up to 10 degrees of freedom in movement has been developed and successfully utilised in three consecutive animal surgical experiments. This innovative project is funded by NISI (HK) Limited, a company specializing in non-invasive surgical innovations, and supported by the Innovation and Technology Commission of the Hong Kong SAR Government.

The Council on Smoking and Health, HKU and HKBU researchers call for complete ban of e-cigarettes

The Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) commissioned Baptist University to carry out a laboratory test on the components of thirteen e-cigarettes in the market from October 2015 to February 2016. The test confirmed that e-cigarettes contain harmful chemicals including carcinogens that are hazardous to health. COSH had earlier commissioned the HKU School of Public Health and Public Opinion Programme to conduct respectively the Tobacco Control Policy-related Survey and an opinion survey to interview over 5,000 respondents to monitor the prevalence of e-cigarette use and measure public opinion on its ban in Hong Kong. It was found that 68% of users did not know what they inhaled. Although only 0.2% of respondents had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, the rate (7.9%) among young current smokers aged 15 to 29 years was significantly higher than that of current smokers aged 30 years or above. The majority of respondents supported various regulatory measures on e-cigarettes. The Government is urged to enact total ban on e-cigarettes promptly to prevent its epidemic and stop it from becoming the gateway to youth smoking in Hong Kong.

HKU Faculty of Medicine publishes free book on rare bone disorders

The HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, in collaboration with NGO Little People of Hong Kong, has published 3,000 copies of "Understanding Rare Bone Disorders" for primary and secondary schools and hospitals in Hong Kong. They hope to raise awareness of skeletal dysplasia through educating the public of patients' needs. Assistant Dean Professor Danny Chan said patients have been facing a lot of discrimination in Hong Kong and that it is hard to change the views of the older generation. He hopes teachers could use the book to educate the new generation and change their perceptions.

HKU reports findings of school-based smoking survey

The HKU School of Public Health was commissioned by the Food and Health Bureau to conduct a school-based smoking survey among Hong Kong primary 4-6 and secondary 1-6 school students from October 2014 to April 2015 to investigate the prevalence and pattern of smoking among primary and secondary school students. Data were collected from 15,658 primary school students in 80 primary schools and 40,202 secondary school students in 93 secondary schools. According to the findings, 2.8% of the primary school students had ever smoked and 0.2% are current smokers. The current smoking prevalence among secondary school students (2.7%) was lower than that in 2012-13 (3.0%). The smoking habit of e-cigarettes was also surveyed. Among the respondents, 2.6% and 9% of the primary and secondary school students respectively had smoked e-cigarettes, and 1.3% of the secondary school students surveyed are currently e-cigarette users. The Government is considering legislation seeking to ban e-cigarettes import, manufacture, sale, distribution and advertising.