A review of genotrichoses and hair pathology associated with inherited skin diseases.

Genetic hair disorders, also known as genotrichoses, are characterized by abnormalities of hair structure, growth or differentiation, giving rise to a spectrum of phenotypes such as hypertrichosis, hypotrichosis and atrichia. These disorders may present as isolated phenotypes or be part of more complex phenotypes including abnormalities in skin or other organs. Genetic discoveries for hair disorders have been recently augmented with the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. We reviewed the literature and summarized disease-gene associations for inherited hair disorders, as well as genodermatoses presenting with hair abnormalities discovered by NGS technologies. We identified 28 nonsyndromic hair disorders, involving 25 individual genes and four unidentified genes. We have also discovered that approximately 30% of all the genodermatoses that were identified by NGS approaches demonstrated hair abnormalities as part of their phenotype. This review underscores the huge impact of NGS technologies in disclosing the genetics of hair disorders and the potential these discoveries provide for future translational research and new therapies.

Validation of the Chinese general self-efficacy scale among individuals with schizophrenia in Hong Kong.

The concept of self-efficacy has recently produced considerable interest among mental illness researchers. Self-efficacy was found to be associated with the number of hospitalizations, social adjustment, rehabilitation outcome, and levels of positive symptoms among individuals with schizophrenia. Given its escalating importance in psychiatric rehabilitation, a scale to assess self-efficacy with established psychometric properties is urgently needed. Validated scales that measure self-efficacy of Chinese with severe mental illness are however extremely limited. The Chinese General Self-efficacy Scale (CGSS) was generic in design and had not been validated for use with people with mental illness. The purpose of this study is to examine psychometric properties of CGSS for use among persons with schizophrenia in Chinese societies. The content validity of items was endorsed by a panel of 8 rehabilitation professionals with 75% to 100% of agreement. The scale was tested in sample of 78 individuals with schizophrenia and found to have excellent internal consistency (0.92-0.93) and very good to excellent test re-test reliability (0.75-0.94). Exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution explaining 69.0% of variance which was different from overseas studies which showed the scale to be unidimensional. The scale was concluded to be reliable and valid to assess self-efficacy of Chinese with schizophrenia. Potential uses of this scale were suggested.

Job profiles of people with severe mental illness: implications for rehabilitation.

Employment history is known to be a consistent predictor of vocational functioning of people with mental illness. A review of the literature, however, shows that studies that describe the employment pattern of those with psychiatric disabilities are limited. This study aimed to explore the employment histories and job profiles of people with severe mental illness in the Special Administrative Region of the Chinese Mainland: Hong Kong. The participants consisted of 64 patients (46 men and 18 women) recruited from two mental hospitals. A specially designed and validated instrument (work history record sheet) was used to collect data including medical history, educational and training background and employment information of the participants for the past 5 years. Some results were consistent with previous findings. All participants had a work history and had roughly 2 years of employment in a job; most of the jobs were in low-wage and low-prestige positions. In addition, interpersonal competence was of paramount importance for getting and keeping jobs. Some findings are different from earlier studies. For instance, most of the jobs were full time. The ways that people secured their jobs were not the same as in Western studies. Possible cultural differences leading to different findings and implications for rehabilitation services are discussed.

The development of supported employment services for people with mental illness: local experience in Hong Kong.

Before the 1960s in Hong Kong, specialized vocational services for people with mental illness were very limited, and sheltered workshop seemed to be the only option for their future vocational placement at that time. As discussed in the literature, there are still many shortcomings of the sheltered workshop model, that brings us to the emergence of another community-based vocational service: Supported Employment. Unlike traditional vocational services, the concept of supported employment emphasizes the placing of the clients into integrated work environments and then providing on-going support and work-related skills training in the job post. Though supported employment services help many clients to sustain a job in the competitive market, many service barriers and problems still remain unsolved. These service barriers and problems will be discussed in this article, and suggestions will be made.