Browse publications by year: 2016

  1. Can Anal Sphincter Defects Be Identified by Palpation?
    Shek KL, Atan IK, Dietz HP
    Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg, 2016 Nov-Dec;22(6):472-475.
    PMID: 27682743
    OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to correlate clinical findings of anal sphincter defects and function with a sonographic diagnosis of significant sphincter defects.

    METHODS: This is an observational cross-sectional study on women seen 6 to 10 weeks after primary repair of obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIs). All patients underwent a standardized interview including the St Mark incontinence score, a digital rectal examination, and 3-/4-dimensional transperineal ultrasound imaging.

    RESULTS: Two hundred forty-five patients were seen after primary repair of OASIs. Mean age was 29 (17-43) years. They were assessed at a median of 58 (15-278) days postpartum. One hundred fifty-seven (64%) delivered normal vaginally, 72 (29%) delivered by vacuum, and 16 (7%) delivered by forceps. A comparison of external anal sphincter (EAS) and internal anal sphincter ultrasound volume data and palpation was possible in 220 and 212 cases, respectively. Sphincter defects at rest and on contraction were both detected clinically in 17 patients. Significant abnormalities of the EAS were diagnosed on tomographic ultrasound imaging in 99 cases (45%), and significant abnormalities of the internal anal sphincter were diagnosed in 113 cases (53%). Agreement between digital and sonographic findings of sphincter defect was poor (k = 0.03-0.08). Women with significant EAS defects on ultrasound were found to have a lower resistance to digital insertion (P = 0.018) and maximum anal squeeze (P = 0.009) on a 6-point scale. The difference was however small.

    CONCLUSIONS: Digital rectal examination does not seem to be sufficiently sensitive to diagnose residual sphincter defects after primary repair of OASIs. Imaging is required for the evaluation of sphincter anatomy after repair.
    MeSH terms: Adolescent; Adult; Anal Canal/injuries*; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Obstetric Labor Complications/diagnosis*; Obstetric Labor Complications/therapy; Pregnancy; Sensitivity and Specificity; Ultrasonography; Delivery, Obstetric/adverse effects; Delivery, Obstetric/statistics & numerical data; Digital Rectal Examination/standards*; Young Adult
  2. Fulltext Intervention for Diabetes with Education, Advancement and Support (IDEAS) study: protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial
    Lee JY, Chan CK, Chua SS, Ng CJ, Paraidathathu T, Lee KK, et al.
    BMC Health Serv Res, 2016 Sep 29;16(1):524.
    PMID: 27683021 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-016-1782-y
    BACKGROUND: The high market penetration of mobile phones has triggered an opportunity to combine mobile technology with health care to overcome challenges in today's health care setting. Although Malaysia has a high Internet and mobile penetration rate, evaluations of the efficacy of incorporating this technology in diabetes care is not common. We report the development of a telemonitoring coaching system, using the United Kingdom (UK) Medical Research Council (MRC) framework, for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

    METHODS: The Intervention for Diabetes with Education, Technological Advancement and Support (IDEAS) study is a telemonitoring programme based on an empowerment philosophy to enable participants to be responsible for their own health decision and behaviour. An iterative cycle of development, piloting, and collating qualitative and quantitative data will be used to inform and refine the intervention. To increase compliance, the intervention will be designed to encourage self-management using simple, non-technical knowledge. The primary outcomes will be HbA1c, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and quality of life and diabetes self-efficacy. In addition, an economic analysis on health service utilisation will be collected.

    DISCUSSION: The mixed-method approach in this study will allow for a holistic overview of using telemonitoring in diabetes care. This design enables researchers to understand the effectiveness of telemonitoring as well as provide insights towards the receptiveness of incorporating information technology amongst type 2 diabetes patients in a community setting.

    TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02466880 Registered 2 June 2015.
    MeSH terms: Blood Pressure; Blood Pressure Determination; Cholesterol; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Humans; Malaysia; Patient Compliance; Quality of Life; Self Care; Self Efficacy; Internet; Biomedical Research; Mentoring
  3. Optoelectronic properties of naphtho[2, 1-b:6, 5-b']difuran derivatives for photovoltaic application: a computational study
    Chaudhry AR, Ahmed R, Irfan A, Mohamad M, Muhammad S, Ul Haq B, et al.
    J Mol Model, 2016 Oct;22(10):248.
    PMID: 27683259
    Some important optoelectronic properties of naphtho[2,1-b:6,5-b']difuran (DPNDF) and its two derivatives have been limelighted by applying the density functional theory (DFT). Due to their low cost, high stability and earth abundance, the DPNDF and its derivatives are considered as potential organic semiconductor materials for their optoelectronics applications. Highly proficient derivatives are obtained systematically by attaching -CN (cyanide) to DPNDF at various sites. Our calculations indicate that DPNDF has a wide and direct band gap with an energy gap of 3.157 eV. Whereas the band gaps of its derivatives are found to be decreased by 88 meV for derivative "a" and 300 meV for derivative "b" as a consequence of p orbitals present in C and N atoms in derivative structures. The narrowing of the energy gap and density of states for the derivatives of DPNDF in the present investigation suggest that energy gap can be engineered for desirable optoelectronic applications via derivatives designing. Furthermore, their obtained results for optical parameters such as the dielectric and conductivity functions, reflectivity, refractive index, and the extinction coefficients endorses their aptness for optoelectronic applications. Graphical Abstract Real part of dielectric function for derivative "b".
  4. Fulltext Genetic barriers in transplantation medicine
    Edinur HA, Manaf SM, Che Mat NF
    World J Transplant, 2016 Sep 24;6(3):532-41.
    PMID: 27683631 DOI: 10.5500/wjt.v6.i3.532
    The successful of transplantation is determined by the shared human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) and ABO blood group antigens between donor and recipient. In recent years, killer cell receptor [i.e., killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR)] and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I chain-related gene molecule (i.e., MICA) were also reported as important determinants of transplant compatibility. At present, several different genotyping techniques (e.g., sequence specific primer and sequence based typing) can be used to characterize blood group, HLA, MICA and KIR and loci. These molecular techniques have several advantages because they do not depend on the availability of anti-sera, cellular expression and have greater specificity and accuracy compared with the antibody-antigen based typing. Nonetheless, these molecular techniques have limited capability to capture increasing number of markers which have been demonstrated to determine donor and recipient compatibility. It is now possible to genotype multiple markers and to the extent of a complete sequencing of the human genome using next generation sequencer (NGS). This high throughput genotyping platform has been tested for HLA, and it is expected that NGS will be used to simultaneously genotype a large number of clinically relevant transplantation genes in near future. This is not far from reality due to the bioinformatics support given by the immunogenetics community and the rigorous improvement in NGS methodology. In addition, new developments in immune tolerance based therapy, donor recruitment strategies and bioengineering are expected to provide significant advances in the field of transplantation medicine.
  5. An overview of drug delivery vehicles for cancer treatment: Nanocarriers and nanoparticles including photovoltaic nanoparticles
    Chowdhury S, Yusof F, Salim WW, Sulaiman N, Faruck MO
    J. Photochem. Photobiol. B, Biol., 2016 Nov;164:151-159.
    PMID: 27683958 DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2016.09.013
    Cancer is a complicated disease for which finding a cure presents challenges. In recent decades, new ways to treat cancer are being sought; one being nanomedicine, which manipulates nanoparticles to target a cancer and release drugs directly to the cancer cells. A number of cancer treatments based on nanomedicine are under way and mostly are in preclinical trials owing to challenges in administration, safety, and effectiveness. One alternative method for drug delivery is the use of photovoltaic nanoparticles, which has the potential to deliver drugs via light activation. The concepts are based on standard photovoltaic cell that holds opposite charges on its surfaces and releases drugs when charge intensity or polarity changes upon photo-stimulation such as from a laser source or sunlight. This review will cover some recent progress in cancer treatment using nanoparticles, including photovoltaic nanoparticles.
    MeSH terms: Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use*; Humans; Neoplasms/drug therapy*; Drug Delivery Systems*; Nanoparticles*
  6. Controversies with self-emulsifying drug delivery system from pharmacokinetic point of view
    Chatterjee B, Hamed Almurisi S, Ahmed Mahdi Dukhan A, Mandal UK, Sengupta P
    Drug Deliv, 2016 Aug 15.
    PMID: 27685505
    Self-emulsifying drug delivery system (SEDDS) is an isotropic mixture of lipid, surfactant and co-surfactant, which forms a fine emulsion when comes in contact of an aqueous medium with mild agitation. SEDDS is considered as a potential platform for oral delivery of hydrophobic drug in order to overcome their poor and irregular bioavailability challenges. In spite of fewer advantages like improved solubility of drug, bypassing lymphatic transport etc., SEDDS faces different controversial issues such as the use of appropriate terminology (self-microemulsifying drug delivery system; SMEDDS or self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system; SNEDDS), presence of high amount of surfactant, correlation of in vitro model to in vivo studies, lack of human volunteer study and effect of conversion of SEDDS to final administrable dosage form on pharmacokinetic behavior of the drug. In this review, potential issues or questions on SEDDS are identified and summarized from the pharmacokinetic point of view. Primarily this review includes the conflict between the influences of droplet size, variation in correlation between in vitro lipolysis or ex-vivo intestinal permeation and pharmacokinetic parameters, variation in in vivo results of solid and liquid SEDDS, and potential challenges or limitation of pharmacokinetic studies on human volunteers with orally administered SEDDS. In the past decades, hundreds of in vivo studies on SEDDS have been published. In the present study, only the relevant article on in vivo pharmacokinetic studies with orally administered SEDDS published in past 5-6 years are analyzed for an up to date compilation.
  7. Evaluating photo-degradation of COD and TOC in petroleum refinery wastewater by using TiO2/ZnO photo-catalyst
    Aljuboury DA, Palaniandy P, Abdul Aziz HB, Feroz S, Abu Amr SS
    Water Sci Technol, 2016 Sep;74(6):1312-1325.
    PMID: 27685961
    The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of combined solar photo-catalyst of titanium oxide/zinc oxide (TiO2/ZnO) with aeration processes to treat petroleum wastewater. Central composite design with response surface methodology was used to evaluate the relationships between operating variables for TiO2 dosage, ZnO dosage, air flow, pH, and reaction time to identify the optimum operating conditions. Quadratic models for chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) removals prove to be significant with low probabilities (<0.0001). The obtained optimum conditions included a reaction time of 170 min, TiO2 dosage (0.5 g/L), ZnO dosage (0.54 g/L), air flow (4.3 L/min), and pH 6.8 COD and TOC removal rates of 99% and 74%, respectively. The TOC and COD removal rates correspond well with the predicted models. The maximum removal rate for TOC and COD was 99.3% and 76%, respectively at optimum operational conditions of TiO2 dosage (0.5 g/L), ZnO dosage (0.54 g/L), air flow (4.3 L/min), reaction time (170 min) and pH (6.8). The new treatment process achieved higher degradation efficiencies for TOC and COD and reduced the treatment time comparing with other related processes.
    MeSH terms: Oil and Gas Industry*; Catalysis; Industrial Waste/analysis*; Titanium/chemistry*; Waste Disposal, Fluid; Zinc Oxide/chemistry*; Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; Waste Water/chemistry*
  8. Fulltext Adult-onset metachromatic leukodystrophy with compound heterozygous ARSA gene mutation presented with mania and cognitive decline
    Chee, Kok-Yoon, Nor Azimah Abd Azize, Norzaini Rose Mohd Zain, Ooi, Phaik-Yee, Chin. Loi-Khim, Affandi Omar
    Neurology Asia, 2016;21(2):199-201.
    MyJurnal
    Adult-onset metachromatic leukodystrophy is often a diagnostic challenge to many clinicians. It may be presented with psychiatry symptom before other evidences of leukodystrophy are uncovered. We report a 53-year-old patient who presented with 7-year history of manic-like presentation in addition to progressive neurocognitive deterioration. Diagnosis was made eventually with neuroimaging. Mutational analysis showed compound heterozygous of ARSA gene. This case demonstrated the challenge in diagnosing this condition due to its complex neuropsychiatric presentation.
  9. Fulltext Spontaneous remission without progression to limbic encephalitis in a patient with LGi1 seropositive faciobrachial dystonic seizure
    Sherrini Bazir Ahmad, Suhailah Abdullah, Chong, Tin Tan, Lim, Kheng Seang, Goh, Khean Jin
    Neurology Asia, 2016;21(2):191-193.
    MyJurnal
    Faciobrachial dystonic seizures are pathognomonic of leucine-rich glioma inactivated-1 (LGi1) antibody, non-paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis. Faciobrachial dystonic seizures usually precede limbic encephalitis by about a month. It is unknown whether, if untreated, faciobrachial dystonic seizures inevitably progress to limbic encephalitis. We present an LGi1 seropositive patient with a year’s history of faciobrachial dystonic seizures, who achieved remission spontaneously without immunotherapy or antiepileptic drug treatment, and did not develop evidence of limbic encephalitis over a three-year follow-up.
  10. Demirjian's method is unsuitable for dental age estimation
    Jayaraman J, Roberts G
    Forensic Sci Med Pathol, 2016 12;12(4):532-533.
    PMID: 27669714
    MeSH terms: Age Determination by Teeth*; Forensic Dentistry*; Humans; Radiography, Panoramic
  11. Immune Antibody Libraries: Manipulating The Diverse Immune Repertoire for Antibody Discovery
    Lim TS, Chan SK
    Curr Pharm Des, 2016;22(43):6480-6489.
    PMID: 27669969 DOI: 10.2174/1381612822666160923111924
    BACKGROUND: Antibody phage display is highly dependent on the availability of antibody libraries. There are several forms of libraries depending mainly on the origin of the source materials. There are three major classes of libraries, mainly the naïve, immune and synthetic libraries.

    METHODS: Immune antibody libraries are designed to isolate specific and high affinity antibodies against disease antigens. The pre-exposure of the host to an infection results in the production of a skewed population of antibodies against the particular infection.

    RESULTS: This characteristic takes advantage of the in vivo editing machinery to generate bias and specific immune repertoire. The skewed but diverse repertoire of immune libraries has been adapted successfully in the generation of antibodies against a wide range of diseases.

    CONCLUSION: We envisage immune antibody libraries to play a greater role in the discovery of antibodies for diseases in the near future.

    MeSH terms: Antibodies/genetics; Antibodies/immunology*; Antibodies/chemistry; Antibody Affinity; Antigens/immunology; Bacteriophages/genetics*; Humans; Peptide Library*
  12. Nonalcoholic Wernicke Encephalopathy: An Entity Not to Be Missed!
    Liong CC, Rahmat K, Mah JS, Lim SY, Tan AH
    Can J Neurol Sci, 2016 Sep;43(5):719-20.
    PMID: 27670213 DOI: 10.1017/cjn.2016.269
    MeSH terms: Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging*; Male; Middle Aged; Glasgow Coma Scale
  13. Assessment of antioxidant activity in Victorian marine algal extracts using high performance thin-layer chromatography and multivariate analysis
    Agatonovic-Kustrin S, Morton DW, Ristivojević P
    J Chromatogr A, 2016 Oct 14;1468:228-235.
    PMID: 27670751 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2016.09.041
    The aim of this study was to develop and validate a rapid and simple high performance thin layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method to screen for antioxidant activity in algal samples. 16 algal species were collected from local Victorian beaches. Fucoxanthin, one of the most abundant marine carotenoids was quantified directly from the HPTLC plates before derivatization, while derivatization either with 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) or ferric chloride (FeCl3) was used to analyze antioxidants in marine algae, based on their ability to scavenge non biological stable free radical (DPPH) or to chelate iron ions. Principal component analysis of obtained HPTLC fingerprints has classified algae species into 5 groups according to their chemical/antioxidant profiles. The investigated brown algae samples were found to be rich in non-and moderate-polar compounds and phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity. Most of the phenolic iron chelators also have shown free radical scavenging activity. Strong positive and significant correlations between total phenolic content and DPPH radical scavenging activity showed that, phenolic compounds, including flavonoids are the main contributors of antioxidant activity in these species. The results suggest that certain brown algae possess significantly higher antioxidant potential when compared to red or green algae and could be considered for future applications in medicine, dietary supplements, cosmetics or food industries. Cystophora monilifera extract was found to have the highest antioxidant concentration, followed by Zonaria angustata, Cystophora pectinate, Codium fragile, and Cystophora pectinata. Fucoxanthin was found mainly in the brown algae species. The proposed methods provide an edge in terms of screening for antioxidants and quantification of antioxidant constituents in complex mixtures. The current application also demonstrates flexibility and versatility of a standard HPTLC system in the drug discovery. Proposed methods could be used for the bioassay-guided isolation of unknown natural antioxidants and subsequent identification if combined with spectroscopic identification.
    MeSH terms: Phaeophyta/chemistry*; Antioxidants/chemistry*; Biphenyl Compounds/chemistry; Chromatography, Thin Layer/methods; Flavonoids/analysis; Oxidation-Reduction; Phenols/analysis; Picrates/chemistry; Multivariate Analysis; Free Radical Scavengers/chemistry*; Xanthophylls/analysis; Complex Mixtures/chemistry*
  14. Recent progress on biomass co-pyrolysis conversion into high-quality bio-oil
    Hassan H, Lim JK, Hameed BH
    Bioresour Technol, 2016 Dec;221:645-655.
    PMID: 27671343 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.09.026
    Co-pyrolysis of biomass with abundantly available materials could be an economical method for production of bio-fuels. However, elimination of oxygenated compounds poses a considerable challenge. Catalytic co-pyrolysis is another potential technique for upgrading bio-oils for application as liquid fuels in standard engines. This technique promotes the production of high-quality bio-oil through acid catalyzed reduction of oxygenated compounds and mutagenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons. This work aims to review and summarize research progress on co-pyrolysis and catalytic co-pyrolysis, as well as their benefits on enhancement of bio-oils derived from biomass. This review focuses on the potential of plastic wastes and coal materials as co-feed in co-pyrolysis to produce valuable liquid fuel. This paper also proposes future directions for using this technique to obtain high yields of bio-oils.
    MeSH terms: Biotechnology/methods*; Catalysis; Coal; Oils; Plastics*; Waste Products; Biomass*; Biofuels*
  15. Fulltext JMJD8 is a positive regulator of TNF-induced NF-κB signaling
    Yeo KS, Tan MC, Wong WY, Loh SW, Lam YL, Tan CL, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2016 Sep 27;6:34125.
    PMID: 27671354 DOI: 10.1038/srep34125
    TNF-induced signaling mediates pleiotropic biological consequences including inflammation, immunity, cell proliferation and apoptosis. Misregulation of TNF signaling has been attributed as a major cause of chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer. Jumonji domain-containing protein 8 (JMJD8) belongs to the JmjC family. However, only part of the family members has been described as hydroxylase enzymes that function as histone demethylases. Here, we report that JMJD8 positively regulates TNF-induced NF-κB signaling. Silencing the expression of JMJD8 using RNA interference (RNAi) greatly suppresses TNF-induced expression of several NF-κB-dependent genes. Furthermore, knockdown of JMJD8 expression reduces RIP ubiquitination, IKK kinase activity, delays IκBα degradation and subsequently blocks nuclear translocation of p65. In addition, JMJD8 deficiency enhances TNF-induced apoptosis. Taken together, these findings indicate that JMJD8 functions as a positive regulator of TNF-induced NF-κB signaling.
    MeSH terms: Inflammation; Nuclear Proteins; Repressor Proteins; NF-kappa B; Apoptosis; RNA Interference; Cell Proliferation; Transcription Factor RelA; Ubiquitination; Histone Demethylases; Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases; NF-KappaB Inhibitor alpha
  16. Tocotrienol and Its Role in Chronic Diseases
    Chin KY, Pang KL, Soelaiman IN
    Adv Exp Med Biol, 2016;928:97-130.
    PMID: 27671814
    Tocotrienol is a member of vitamin E family and is well-known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also a suppressor of mevalonate pathway responsible for cholesterol and prenylated protein synthesis. This review aimed to discuss the health beneficial effects of tocotrienol, specifically in preventing or treating hyperlipidaemia, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis and cancer with respect to these properties. Evidence from in vitro, in vivo and human studies has been examined. It is revealed that tocotrienol shows promising effects in preventing or treating the health conditions previously mentioned in in vivo and in vitro models. In some cases, alpha-tocopherol attenuates the biological activity of tocotrienol. Except for its cholesterol-lowering effects, data on the health-promoting effects of tocotrienol in human are limited. As a conclusion, the encouraging results on the health beneficial effects of tocotrienol should motivate researchers to explore its potential use in human.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents/pharmacology; Anticholesteremic Agents/pharmacology; Antioxidants/pharmacology; Chronic Disease; Humans; Hypoglycemic Agents/pharmacology; Osteoporosis/drug therapy; Tocotrienols/pharmacology; Tocotrienols/therapeutic use*
  17. Fulltext Nematode Peptides with Host-Directed Anti-inflammatory Activity Rescue Caenorhabditis elegans from a Burkholderia pseudomallei Infection
    Lim MP, Firdaus-Raih M, Nathan S
    Front Microbiol, 2016;7:1436.
    PMID: 27672387 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01436
    Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, is among a growing number of bacterial pathogens that are increasingly antibiotic resistant. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been investigated as an alternative approach to treat microbial infections, as generally, there is a lower likelihood that a pathogen will develop resistance to AMPs. In this study, 36 candidate Caenorhabditis elegans genes that encode secreted peptides of <150 amino acids and previously shown to be overexpressed during infection by B. pseudomallei were identified from the expression profile of infected nematodes. RNA interference (RNAi)-based knockdown of 12/34 peptide-encoding genes resulted in enhanced nematode susceptibility to B. pseudomallei without affecting worm fitness. A microdilution test demonstrated that two peptides, NLP-31 and Y43C5A.3, exhibited anti-B. pseudomallei activity in a dose dependent manner on different pathogens. Time kill analysis proposed that these peptides were bacteriostatic against B. pseudomallei at concentrations up to 8× MIC90. The SYTOX green assay demonstrated that NLP-31 and Y43C5A.3 did not disrupt the B. pseudomallei membrane. Instead, gel retardation assays revealed that both peptides were able to bind to DNA and interfere with bacterial viability. In parallel, microscopic examination showed induction of cellular filamentation, a hallmark of DNA synthesis inhibition, of NLP-31 and Y43C5A.3 treated cells. In addition, the peptides also regulated the expression of inflammatory cytokines in B. pseudomallei infected macrophage cells. Collectively, these findings demonstrate the potential of NLP-31 and Y43C5A.3 as anti-B. pseudomallei peptides based on their function as immune modulators.
    MeSH terms: Amino Acids; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; DNA; Immunologic Factors; Macrophages; Melioidosis; Organic Chemicals; Cytokines; Burkholderia pseudomallei; Caenorhabditis elegans; Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay; RNA Interference; Microbial Viability
  18. Fulltext Tissue and serum samples of patients with papillary thyroid cancer with and without benign background demonstrate different altered expression of proteins
    Abdullah MI, Lee CC, Mat Junit S, Ng KL, Hashim OH
    PeerJ, 2016;4:e2450.
    PMID: 27672505 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.2450
    Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is mainly diagnosed using fine-needle aspiration biopsy. This most common form of well-differentiated thyroid cancer occurs with or without a background of benign thyroid goiter (BTG).
    MeSH terms: Goiter; Thyroid Neoplasms; Biopsy, Fine-Needle
  19. Fulltext Development and characterization of 27 microsatellite markers for the mangrove fern, Acrostichum aureum (Pteridaceae)
    Yamamoto T, Tsuda Y, Mori GM, Cruz MV, Shinmura Y, Wee AK, et al.
    Appl Plant Sci, 2016 Sep;4(9).
    PMID: 27672519 DOI: 10.3732/apps.1600042
    PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Twenty-seven nuclear microsatellite markers were developed for the mangrove fern, Acrostichum aureum (Pteridaceae), to investigate the genetic structure and demographic history of the only pantropical mangrove plant.

    METHODS AND RESULTS: Fifty-six A. aureum individuals from three populations were sampled and genotyped to characterize the 27 loci. The number of alleles and expected heterozygosity ranged from one to 15 and 0.000 to 0.893, respectively. Across the 26 polymorphic loci, the Malaysian population showed much higher levels of polymorphism compared to the other two populations in Guam and Brazil. Cross-amplification tests in the other two species from the genus determined that seven and six loci were amplifiable in A. danaeifolium and A. speciosum, respectively.

    CONCLUSIONS: The 26 polymorphic microsatellite markers will be useful for future studies investigating the genetic structure and demographic history of of A. aureum, which has the widest distributional range of all mangrove plants.

    MeSH terms: Alleles; Brazil; Demography; Genotype; Guam; Polymorphism, Genetic; Microsatellite Repeats; Ferns; Pteridaceae
  20. Adapting to a US Medical Curriculum in Malaysia: A Qualitative Study on Cultural Dissonance in International Education
    Shilkofski N, Shields RY
    Cureus, 2016;8(8):e739.
    PMID: 27672530 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.739
    Minimal research has examined the recent exportation of medical curricula to international settings. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA partnered with Perdana University Graduate School of Medicine in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and implemented the same curriculum currently used at Johns Hopkins University to teach medical students at Perdana University. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of first-year medical students at Perdana University, focusing on issues of cultural dissonance during adaptation to a US curriculum.
    MeSH terms: Curriculum; Humans; Malaysia; Medicine; Schools; Students, Medical; Universities; Baltimore
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