Bulletin No. 1, 2012

40   Chinese University Bulletin No. 1, 2012 research New Marker for Disease Control in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients Oral antiviral drugs are effective in suppressing the replication of the Hepatitis B virus. However, most patients experience relapse of Hepatitis after stopping the antiviral drug. Researchers at the Center for Liver Health at CUHK monitored 53 chronic Hepatitis B patients who were treated by lamivudine for an average of three years. They found that a Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) level of 100 IU/ml or lower is a good predictor for disease control after stopping antiviral therapy. CUHK recommends regular monitoring of serum HBsAg in chronic Hepatitis B patients on antiviral drugs to decide when to stop therapy, so as to free patients from life-long treatment. New Technology Boosts LED Efficiency The efficiency of Light-Emitting Diodes ( LED) lamps is limited by the refrac tive index of it s semiconductor materials which causes a large proportion of light to be lost due to total internal r e f l e c t i on . P r o f. Ong Ho c k- chun Daniel, associate professor, and Hu i Koon - chung , s eni o r research assistant, both from the Department of Physics, invented a technology to attach plasmonic c r y s t a l s o n L E D t o i n d u c e electromagnetic resonances that exist at the interface between metal and dielectrics, facilitating effec tive ‘light stealing’ from internal reflection, and guiding light out of the semiconductor. Initial experiments have shown that LED that is capped with plasmonic crystals are four times brighter than LED without treatment. Prof. Chan Lik-yuen Henry (right), director, Center for Liver Health; and Prof. Wong Wai-sun Vincent, associate professor, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics Prof. Ong Hock-chun Daniel (front) and his research team