Browse publications by year: 2020

  1. Fulltext The effect of Ca-bearing contents in chitosan on Pb 2+, Cd 2+ and Cu 2+ adsorption and its adsorption mechanism
    Alam O, Qiao X, Nath TK
    J Environ Health Sci Eng, 2020 Dec;18(2):1401-1414.
    PMID: 33312651 DOI: 10.1007/s40201-020-00556-y
    The preparation of chitosan has been investigated for more than half century; however, the application of chitosan for heavy metal (HM) adsorption is still under research. This study investigated the effects of chitosan with chemically controlled Ca-bearing contents (CBC) on Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+ adsorption in the solution with the initial pH values of 2.10, 4.14 and 6.13. Highly purified chitosan showed the optimum HM adsorption at the initial pH values of 4.14 and 6.13, and the adsorption mechanism was chemisorption involving valence forces through sharing or exchange of electrons between the chitosan and HM ions. Highly purified chitosan prepared from HCl treated chitin only showed effective for Pb2+, however, those prepared from CH3COOH treated chitin showed effective for Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+ adsorption due to a little amount of CBC. The HM adsorption mechanisms of partly purified chitosan were precipitation due to CBC and biosorption. Chitosan with 73% CBC showed the optimum adsorption of Pb2+ (755 mg/g) at an initial pH value of 2.10 while Cd2+ (979 mg/g) and Cu2+ (877 mg/g) at the initial pH values of 4.14 and 6.13. High Ca(OH)2-bearing chitosan prepared from HCl and H2SO4 treated chtin showed the optimum Cd2+ (978 mg/g) and Cu2+ (852 mg/g) adsorption at an initial pH value of 2.10. Biosorption isotherm and kinetics models showed that the adsorption data of Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+ onto the surface of chitosan was well-fitted by Langmuir model and Pseudo-second-order model with correlation coefficient (R2 > 0.95 and R2 > 0.91, respectively). Pseudo-second-order model showed that the adsorption capacity strongly depended on CBC in chitosan and initial pH value of HM solution. It is concluded that the HM adsorption by the prepared chitosan is a chemical process that was supported by CBC of chitosan through elevating solution pH value.
  2. Fulltext Gynecological Endoscopic Society of Malaysia Statement and Recommendations on Gynecological Laparoscopic Surgery during COVID-19 Pandemic
    Ghazali WAHW, Nallaluthan P, Hasan RZ, Adlan AS, Boon NK
    Gynecol Minim Invasive Ther, 2020 10 15;9(4):185-189.
    PMID: 33312860 DOI: 10.4103/GMIT.GMIT_109_20
    Objectives: While the issue of aerosolization of virus from the blood occurs during usage of energy sources scare practitioners, there have been no reported instances of healthcare workers (HCWs) being infected. COVID-19 virus is primarily transmitted via respiratory droplets and contact routes. Therefore, the ultimate decision for surgery, should be based on which is the safest, quickest route and concurrently ensuring that HCWs are protected during these surgeries. During the time of crisis, HCWs need to concentrate and channel resources to the care of those affected by the coronavirus hence judicious allocation of resources is mandatory. We present the guidelines and recommendations on gynecological laparoscopic surgery during this COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia.

    Materials and Methods: Thorough search of articles and recommendations were done to look into the characteristics of the virus in terms of transmission and risks during surgery. Smoke plume characteristics, composition and risk of viral transmission were also studied. Search includes The WHO Library, Cochrane Library and electronic databases (PubMed, Google scholar and Science Direct).

    Conclusion: We concluded that there is no scientific basis of shunning laparoscopic approach in surgical intervention. Ultimately, the guiding principles would be of reducing the anesthetic and surgical duration, the availability of full protective gear for HCWs during the surgery and the status of the patient. It is mandatory for viral swab tests to be done within the shortest window period possible, for all cases planned for surgery.

    MeSH terms: Anesthetics; Disease Outbreaks; Female; Gynecology; Health Personnel; Humans; Libraries; Malaysia; Laparoscopy; Smoke; Gynecologic Surgical Procedures; Coronavirus; Coronavirus Infections; PubMed; Resource Allocation
  3. Fulltext Association of early life factors with dyslipidemia in children and adolescents: The CASPIAN-V study
    Vard B, Adham A, Riahi R, Karimi G, Esmail Motlagh M, Heshmat R, et al.
    Health Promot Perspect, 2020;10(4):349-358.
    PMID: 33312930 DOI: 10.34172/hpp.2020.53
    Background: This study aimed to investigate the association between prenatal/infancy factors and lipid profile in children and adolescents. Methods: This multicentric national study was conducted in 30 provinces in Iran. It comprised 4200 participants, aged 7-18 years, from the fifth survey of a national surveillance program. History regarding birth weight, as well as the type of consumed milk and food during infancy was obtained from parents. In addition to physical examinations, fasting blood samples were obtained to assess the lipid profile of these students. Results: Data from 3844 participants were available (91.5% participation rate), 52.4 % of students were boys. Mean (SD) age of participants was 12.3(3.2) years. Consuming cow milk in the first two years significantly increased the risk of high triglycerides (TG) (odds ratio [OR]:2.77, 95% CI: 1.32-5.85, P: 0.01), elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (P<0.05) and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (P <0.05). Students who had consumed commercially made food as complementary feeding were 93% more likely to have high LDL (OR: 1.93, 95% CI=1.19-3.13, P: 0.01) and 90% more likely to have high TG than students who had consumed homemade food (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.15-3.12, P: 0.01). The aforementioned figures were not significantly associated with an elevated total cholesterol (TC) level. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that the history of using human milk and home-made food as complementary feeding was associated with better lipid profile in childhood and early adolescence. Increasing public knowledge in this regard might be useful for encouragement of healthier life prevention of chronic diseases.
    MeSH terms: Adolescent; Animals; Birth Weight; Cattle; Child; Chronic Disease; Fasting; Female; Humans; Hypercholesterolemia; Infant; Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Iran; Lipids; Lipoproteins, LDL; Male; Milk, Human; Parents; Surveys and Questionnaires; Students; Triglycerides; Hypertriglyceridemia; Odds Ratio
  4. Fulltext Exposure risk assessment of the municipal waste collection activities during COVID-19 pandemic
    Salvaraji L, Jeffree MS, Avoi R, Atil A, Mohd Akhir H, Shamsudin SBB, et al.
    J Public Health Res, 2020 Oct 14;9(4):1994.
    PMID: 33312989 DOI: 10.4081/jphr.2020.1994
    An increasing amount of waste concurrently further extends the risk of exposure to hazardous material among waste collectors. In light of the COVID-19 crisis, municipal waste collectors are one of the most at-risk groups of SARS-Cov-2 exposure. Risk assessment included hazard identification, evaluation of existing control level at the workplace, estimation of likelihood and severity of hazard, risk determination, and control measure recommendations. Five waste collection activities were identified and reviewed. High-risk exposure includes collection of garbage, mechanical manipulation of compactor lorries and unloading of garbage at the disposal site. There is poor practice of personal hygiene and unestablished continuous monitoring of personal protective equipment supplies. The preventive measures in the waste collection industry are influenced by several factors. Until the preventive measures are adopted into practice and adapted according to each company's requirements, biological agents continue to be risk factor to the health workers.
    MeSH terms: Personal Protective Equipment; Biological Factors; Garbage; Humans; Hygiene; Industrial Waste; Risk Factors; Hazardous Substances; Workplace; Risk Assessment
  5. Development and implementation of an e-tutorial to provide tobacco cessation training for dental students
    Omar H, Bilal S
    J Dent Educ, 2020 Dec 13.
    PMID: 33314054 DOI: 10.1002/jdd.12520
  6. Hybrid Organizations in Health Systems: The Corporatization of Malaysia's National Heart Institute
    Virk A, Croke K, Mohd Yusoff M, Mokhtaruddin K, Abdullah Z, Nadziha Mohd Hanafiah A, et al.
    Health Syst Reform, 2020 12 01;6(1):e1833639.
    PMID: 33314988 DOI: 10.1080/23288604.2020.1833639
    Health system reforms across high- and middle-income countries often involve changes to public hospital governance. Corporatization is one such reform, in which public sector hospitals are granted greater functional independence while remaining publicly owned. In theory, this can improve public hospital efficiency, while retaining a public service ethos. However, the extent to which efficiency gains are realized and public purpose is maintained depends on policy choices about governance and payment systems. We present a case study of Malaysia's National Heart Institute (IJN), which was created in 1992 by corporatization of one department in a large public hospital. The aim of the paper is to examine whether IJN has achieved the goals for which it was created, and if so, whether it provides a potential model for further reforms in Malaysia and other similar health systems. Using a combination of document analysis and key informant interviews, we examine key governance, health financing and payment, and equity issues. For governance, we highlight the choice to have IJN owned by and answerable to a Ministry of Finance (MOF) holding company and MOF-appointed board, rather than the Ministry of Health (MOH). On financing and payment, we analyze the implications of IJN's combined role as fee-for-service provider to MOH as well as provider of care to private patients. For equity, we analyze the targeting of IJN care across publicly-referred and private patients. These issues demonstrate unresolved tensions between IJN's objectives and public service goals. As an institutional innovation that has endured for 28 years and grown dramatically in size and revenue, IJN's trajectory offers critical insights on the relevance of the hybrid public-private models for hospitals in Malaysia as well as in other middle-income countries. While IJN appears to have achieved its goal of establishing itself as a commercially viable, publicly owned center of clinical excellence in Malaysia, the value for money and equity of the services it provides to the Ministry of Health remain unclear. IJN is accountable to a small Ministry of Finance holding company, which means that detailed information required to evaluate these critical questions is not published. The case of IJN highlights that corporatization cannot achieve its stated goals of efficiency, innovation, and equity in isolation; rather it must be supported by broader reforms, including of health financing, payment, governance, and transparency, in order to ensure that autonomous hospitals improve quality and provide efficient care in an equitable way.
    MeSH terms: Cardiology/organization & administration*; Cardiology/trends; Government Programs/methods; Humans; Malaysia; Politics; Privatization/trends*
  7. Breakfast consumption and mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
    Zahedi H, Djalalinia S, Sadeghi O, Zare Garizi F, Asayesh H, Payab M, et al.
    Nutr Neurosci, 2020 Dec 14.
    PMID: 33314992 DOI: 10.1080/1028415X.2020.1853411
    OBJECTIVE: Several studies have been conducted on the relationship between breakfast consumption and mental health with conflicting results. Therefore, the present systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken to summarize evidences on the association between skipping breakfast and mental health.

    METHODS: We searched online databases for all related papers through the comprehensive international data bases of Institute of PubMed/ MEDLINE, ISI/WOS and Scopus up to December 2019, using relevant keywords. Overall, 14 studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis.

    RESULTS: The total sample size of all selected studies was 399,550 individuals with age range of 6 to ≥65 years old. We found a significant positive association between skipping breakfast and Odds Ratio (OR) of depression (pooled OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.34-1.44), stress (pooled OR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.04-1.43) and psychological distress (pooled OR: 1.55; 95% CI: 1.47-1.62). In contrast, there was no significant association between skipping breakfast and anxiety in all age cohort (pooled OR: 1.31; 95% CI: 0.97-1.65). However, subgroup analysis based on age stratification showed that there was a significant positive association between skipping breakfast and anxiety in adolescences (pooled OR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.25-1.77).

    CONCLUSION: In conclusion, skipping breakfast was positively associated with odds of depression, stress and psychological distress in all age groups and anxiety in adolescence, underlining impact of breakfast on mental health.

    MeSH terms: Adolescent; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Child; Data Collection; Depression; Humans; Mental Health; Bibliometrics; Odds Ratio; MEDLINE; Sample Size; Breakfast
  8. Evidence for Top Quark Production in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions
    Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Ambrogi F, Bergauer T, Dragicevic M, et al.
    Phys Rev Lett, 2020 Nov 27;125(22):222001.
    PMID: 33315428 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.222001
    Ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions recreate in the laboratory the thermodynamical conditions prevailing in the early universe up to 10^{-6}  sec, thereby allowing the study of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) matter with deconfined partons. The top quark, the heaviest elementary particle known, is accessible in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN LHC, and constitutes a novel probe of the QGP. Here, we report the first evidence for the production of top quarks in nucleus-nucleus collisions, using lead-lead collision data at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment. Two methods are used to measure the cross section for top quark pair production (σ_{tt[over ¯]}) via the selection of charged leptons (electrons or muons) and bottom quarks. One method relies on the leptonic information alone, and the second one exploits, in addition, the presence of bottom quarks. The measured cross sections, σ_{tt[over ¯]}=2.54_{-0.74}^{+0.84} and 2.03_{-0.64}^{+0.71}  μb, respectively, are compatible with expectations from scaled proton-proton data and QCD predictions.
    MeSH terms: Electrons; Elementary Particles; Mesons; Motivation; Protons; Thermodynamics; United States; Heavy Ions; Nucleons
  9. Fulltext Managing threatened ungulates in logged-primary forest mosaics in Malaysia
    D MR, Linkie M
    PLoS One, 2020;15(12):e0243932.
    PMID: 33315909 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243932
    Across the tropics, large-bodied mammals have been affected by selective logging in ways that vary with levels of timber extraction, collateral damage, species-specific traits and secondary effects of hunting, as facilitated by improved access through logging roads. In Peninsular Malaysia, 3.0 million hectares or 61 percent of its Permanent Reserved Forests is officially assigned for commercial selective logging. Understanding how wildlife adapts and uses logged forest is critical for its management and, for threatened species, their conservation. In this study, we quantify the population status of four tropical ungulate species in a large selectively logged forest reserve and an adjacent primary forest protected area. We then conduct finer scale analyses to identify the species-specific factors that determine their occurrence. A combined indirect sign-camera trapping approach with a large sampling effort (2,665 km and 27,780 trap nights surveyed) covering a wide area (560 km2) generated species-specific detection probabilities and site occupancies. Populations of wild boar were widespread across both logged and primary forests, whereas sambar and muntjac occupancy was lower in logged forest (48.4% and 19.2% respectively), with gaur showing no significant difference. Subsequent modelling revealed the importance of conserving lower elevation habitat in both habitat types, particularly <1,000 m asl, for which occupancies of sambar, muntjac and gaur were typically higher. This finding is important because 75 percent (~13,400 km2) of Peninsular Malaysia's Main Range Forest (Banjaran Titiwangsa) is under 1,000 m asl and therefore at risk of being converted to industrial timber plantations, which calls for renewed thinking around forest management planning.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Cattle; Conservation of Natural Resources*; Malaysia; Mammals/physiology*; Species Specificity; Tropical Climate; Video Recording; Forestry*; Ecosystem; Muntjacs/physiology; Biodiversity; Endangered Species*; Forests
  10. Fulltext Clustering and Tracking the Stability of Biological CVD Risk Factors in Adolescents: The Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team Study (MyHeARTs)
    Thangiah N, Chinna K, Su TT, Jalaludin MY, Al-Sadat N, Majid HA
    Front Public Health, 2020;8:69.
    PMID: 32257989 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00069
    Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors tend to cluster and progress from adolescence to young adulthood. Reliable and meaningful clustering of CVD risk factors is essential to circumvent loss of information. Tracking adverse and high-risk profiles of adolescents is hoped to curb CVD progression later in life. The study aims to investigate the clustering of biological CVD risk factor among adolescents in Malaysia and the transitions between clusters over time. Method: The Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team study (MyHeARTs) examined school students aged 13 in 2012 and re-examined them in 2014 and 2016. In a two-stage stratified cluster sampling, 1,361 students were recruited, of which, 1,320 had complete data. In the follow-up, there were 881 and 637 students in 2014 and in 2016, respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to identify and remove highly correlated CVD risk factors. All risk factors were standardized into z-scores. The hierarchical and non-hierarchical (k-means) cluster analyses were used to classify students into high, medium and low risk clusters in each screening year. The tracking and stability of cluster transitions through cross-classification were enumerated with Pearson's inter-age correlations and percentages. Results: Three significant clusters of high, medium and low risk groups were derived from the clustering of eight biological CVD risk factors. The transitions between risk clusters from one screening year to the other were categorized as either stagnant, improved or adverse. The number of students who had adverse transitions increased from 15.5% (13-15 year) to 19.5% (15-17 year), 13.8 to 18.2% among the girls and 19.9 to 22.8% among the boys. For girls, the number of them who remained at high risk over the two transition periods were about the same (13.6 vs. 13.8%) whereas for boys, the percentage reduced from 14.6 to 12.3%. Conclusion: Over time, more than 12% of adolescents remained in the high risk cluster. There were sizable adverse transitions over time as more adolescents appear to be shifting toward an increased risk of having CVD. Collaborative and constant measures should be taken by parents, school, health promotion boards and policy makers to curb the multiplicative effect of clustering CVD risk factors among adolescents.
    MeSH terms: Adolescent; Adult; Biological Factors; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Malaysia/epidemiology; Male; Risk Factors; Prevalence; Cluster Analysis; Young Adult
  11. Characterization of Microcrystalline Cellulose Isolated from Conocarpus Fiber
    Fouad H, Kian LK, Jawaid M, Alotaibi MD, Alothman OY, Hashem M
    Polymers (Basel), 2020 Dec 07;12(12).
    PMID: 33297332 DOI: 10.3390/polym12122926
    Conocarpus fiber is an abundantly available and sustainable cellulosic biomass. With its richness in cellulose content, it is potentially used for manufacturing microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), a cellulose derivative product with versatile industrial applications. In this work, different samples of bleached fiber (CPBLH), alkali-treated fiber (CPAKL), and acid-treated fiber (CPMCC) were produced from Conocarpus through integrated chemical process of bleaching, alkaline cooking, and acid hydrolysis, respectively. Characterizations of samples were carried out with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared-Ray (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric (TGA), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). From morphology study, the bundle fiber feature of CPBLH disintegrated into micro-size fibrils of CPMCC, showing the amorphous compounds were substantially removed through chemical depolymerization. Meanwhile, the elemental analysis also proved that the traces of impurities such as cations and anions were successfully eliminated from CPMCC. The CPMCC also gave a considerably high yield of 27%, which endowed it with great sustainability in acting as alternative biomass for MCC production. Physicochemical analysis revealed the existence of crystalline cellulose domain in CPMCC had contributed it 75.7% crystallinity. In thermal analysis, CPMCC had stable decomposition behavior comparing to CPBLH and CPAKL fibers. Therefore, Conocarpus fiber could be a promising candidate for extracting MCC with excellent properties in the future.
    MeSH terms: Alkalies; Anions; Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; Cations; Cellulose; Cooking; Dietary Fiber; Fourier Analysis; Hydrolysis; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; X-Ray Diffraction; X-Rays; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Biomass
  12. Recombinant Enterovirus 71 Viral Protein 1 Fused to a Truncated Newcastle Disease Virus NP (NPt) Carrier Protein
    Mustafa S, Abd-Aziz N, Saw WT, Liew SY, Yusoff K, Shafee N
    Vaccines (Basel), 2020 Dec 07;8(4).
    PMID: 33297428 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines8040742
    Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is the major causative agent in hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), and it mainly infects children worldwide. Despite the risk, there is no effective vaccine available for this disease. Hence, a recombinant protein construct of truncated nucleocapsid protein viral protein 1 (NPt-VP1198-297), which is capable of inducing neutralizing antibody against EV71, was evaluated in a mouse model. Truncated nucleocapsid protein Newcastle disease virus that was used as immunological carrier fused to VP1 of EV71 as antigen. The recombinant plasmid carrying corresponding genes was constructed by recombinant DNA technology and the corresponding protein was produced in Escherichia coli expression system. The recombinant NPt-VP1198-297 protein had elicited neutralizing antibodies against EV71 with the titer of 1:16, and this result is higher than the titer that is elicited by VP1 protein alone (1:8). It was shown that NPt containing immunogenic epitope(s) of VP1 was capable of inducing a greater functional immune response when compared to full-length VP1 protein alone. It was capable to carry larger polypeptide compared to full-length NP protein. The current study also proved that NPt-VP1198-297 protein can be abundantly produced in recombinant protein form by E. coli expression system. The findings from this study support the importance of neutralizing antibodies in EV71 infection and highlight the potential of the recombinant NPt-VP1198-297 protein as EV71 vaccine.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Epitopes; Child; DNA, Recombinant; Enterovirus Infections; Enterovirus; Escherichia coli; Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease; Humans; Newcastle disease virus; Nucleoproteins; Peptides; Plasmids; Viral Proteins; Nucleocapsid Proteins; Enterovirus A, Human; Mice; Antibodies, Neutralizing
  13. Rapid Surface Modification of Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Antifouling Properties
    Said N, Khoo YS, Lau WJ, Gürsoy M, Karaman M, Ting TM, et al.
    Membranes (Basel), 2020 Dec 07;10(12).
    PMID: 33297433 DOI: 10.3390/membranes10120401
    In this work, several ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with enhanced antifouling properties were fabricated using a rapid and green surface modification method that was based on the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Two types of hydrophilic monomers-acrylic acid (AA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) were, respectively, deposited on the surface of a commercial UF membrane and the effects of plasma deposition time (i.e., 15 s, 30 s, 60 s, and 90 s) on the surface properties of the membrane were investigated. The modified membranes were then subjected to filtration using 2000 mg/L pepsin and bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions as feed. Microscopic and spectroscopic analyses confirmed the successful deposition of AA and HEMA on the membrane surface and the decrease in water contact angle with increasing plasma deposition time strongly indicated the increase in surface hydrophilicity due to the considerable enrichment of the hydrophilic segment of AA and HEMA on the membrane surface. However, a prolonged plasma deposition time (>15 s) should be avoided as it led to the formation of a thicker coating layer that significantly reduced the membrane pure water flux with no significant change in the solute rejection rate. Upon 15-s plasma deposition, the AA-modified membrane recorded the pepsin and BSA rejections of 83.9% and 97.5%, respectively, while the HEMA-modified membrane rejected at least 98.5% for both pepsin and BSA. Compared to the control membrane, the AA-modified and HEMA-modified membranes also showed a lower degree of flux decline and better flux recovery rate (>90%), suggesting that the membrane antifouling properties were improved and most of the fouling was reversible and could be removed via simple water cleaning process. We demonstrated in this work that the PECVD technique is a promising surface modification method that could be employed to rapidly improve membrane surface hydrophilicity (15 s) for the enhanced protein purification process without using any organic solvent during the plasma modification process.
    MeSH terms: Acrylates; Filtration; Methacrylates; Pepsin A; Serum Albumin, Bovine; Solvents; Surface Properties; Ultrafiltration; Water; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  14. A Review of Machine Learning Methods of Feature Selection and Classification for Autism Spectrum Disorder
    Rahman MM, Usman OL, Muniyandi RC, Sahran S, Mohamed S, Razak RA
    Brain Sci, 2020 Dec 07;10(12).
    PMID: 33297436 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10120949
    Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to DSM-5 in the American Psychiatric Association, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that includes deficits of social communication and social interaction with the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors. Children with ASD have difficulties in joint attention and social reciprocity, using non-verbal and verbal behavior for communication. Due to these deficits, children with autism are often socially isolated. Researchers have emphasized the importance of early identification and early intervention to improve the level of functioning in language, communication, and well-being of children with autism. However, due to limited local assessment tools to diagnose these children, limited speech-language therapy services in rural areas, etc., these children do not get the rehabilitation they need until they get into compulsory schooling at the age of seven years old. Hence, efficient approaches towards early identification and intervention through speedy diagnostic procedures for ASD are required. In recent years, advanced technologies like machine learning have been used to analyze and investigate ASD to improve diagnostic accuracy, time, and quality without complexity. These machine learning methods include artificial neural networks, support vector machines, a priori algorithms, and decision trees, most of which have been applied to datasets connected with autism to construct predictive models. Meanwhile, the selection of features remains an essential task before developing a predictive model for ASD classification. This review mainly investigates and analyzes up-to-date studies on machine learning methods for feature selection and classification of ASD. We recommend methods to enhance machine learning's speedy execution for processing complex data for conceptualization and implementation in ASD diagnostic research. This study can significantly benefit future research in autism using a machine learning approach for feature selection, classification, and processing imbalanced data.
    MeSH terms: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Machine Learning; Attention; Autistic Disorder; Child; Communication; Decision Trees; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Language Therapy; Speech; United States; Verbal Behavior; Support Vector Machine
  15. Fulltext Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in a patient with concomitant Graves' disease and squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix
    Chee YC, Abdul Halim S
    BMJ Case Rep, 2020 Dec 09;13(12).
    PMID: 33298481 DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2020-236730
    Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is caused by either acquired or inherited pro-thrombotic states. Hyperthyroidism is a less recognised predisposing factor of CVST, and the causality has been debated. We report a case of a life-threatening CVST in a 40-year-old woman, with uncommon dual risk factors: hyperthyroidism and advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. CVST should be considered as a differential diagnosis when a patient with hyperthyroidism presents with new-onset headache or other neurological symptoms. Further assessment to elucidate other covert risk factors may need to be continuously carried out, when the causal relationship of one apparent cause has not been well established.
    MeSH terms: Adult; Anticoagulants; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/complications*; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/complications*; Female; Graves Disease/complications*; Headache/etiology; Humans; Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial/diagnosis; Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial/etiology*; Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial/therapy; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
  16. Fulltext Massive airway myiasis: an extreme rarity
    Teah MK, Chu YM, Shanmuganathan SD, Yeap TB
    BMJ Case Rep, 2020 Dec 09;13(12).
    PMID: 33298493 DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2020-237764
    Intubations are important live saving skills to maintain adequate ventilation and oxygenation. Common indications include impending upper airway obstruction, respiratory failure and impaired conscious level. Oral myiasis is an infrequently found disease which is characterised by ectoparasitic infestation of body tissues by fly maggots.We present a case report and share valuable experiences on a patient with massive airway myiasis causing upper airway obstruction which require emergency intubation.
    MeSH terms: Airway Obstruction/etiology; Animals; Diptera*; Humans; Larva; Male; Middle Aged; Mouth Diseases/diagnosis*; Mouth Diseases/parasitology*; Mouth Diseases/therapy; Myiasis/diagnosis*; Myiasis/parasitology*; Myiasis/therapy
  17. Fulltext Release of a liver anticancer drug, sorafenib from its PVA/LDH- and PEG/LDH-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for drug delivery applications
    Ebadi M, Bullo S, Buskara K, Hussein MZ, Fakurazi S, Pastorin G
    Sci Rep, 2020 Dec 09;10(1):21521.
    PMID: 33298980 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76504-5
    The use of nanocarriers composed of polyethylene glycol- and polyvinyl alcohol-coated vesicles encapsulating active molecules in place of conventional chemotherapy drugs can reduce many of the chemotherapy-associated challenges because of the increased drug concentration at the diseased area in the body. The present study investigated the structure and magnetic properties of iron oxide nanoparticles in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol and polyethylene glycol as the basic surface coating agents. We used superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (FNPs) as the core and studied their effectiveness when two polymers, namely polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG), were used as the coating agents together with magnesium-aluminum-layered double hydroxide (MLDH) as the nanocarrier. In addition, the anticancer drug sorafenib (SO), was loaded on MLDH and coated onto the surface of the nanoparticles, to best exploit this nano-drug delivery system for biomedical applications. Samples were prepared by the co-precipitation method, and the resulting formation of the nanoparticles was confirmed by X-ray, FTIR, TEM, SEM, DLS, HPLC, UV-Vis, TGA and VSM. The X-ray diffraction results indicated that all the as-synthesized samples contained highly crystalline and pure Fe3O4. Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that the shape of FPEGSO-MLDH nanoparticles was generally spherical, with a mean diameter of 17 nm, compared to 19 nm for FPVASO-MLDH. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the presence of nanocarriers with polymer-coating on the surface of iron oxide nanoparticles and the existence of loaded active drug consisting of sorafenib. Thermogravimetric analyses demonstrated the thermal stability of the nanoparticles, which displayed enhanced anticancer effect after coating. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) curves of both produced samples showed superparamagnetic behavior with the high saturation magnetization of 57 emu/g for FPEGSO-MLDH and 49 emu/g for FPVASO-MLDH. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed a narrow size distribution of both final samples. The SO drug loading and the release behavior from FPEGSO-MLDH and FPVASO-MLDH were assessed by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. This evaluation showed around 85% drug release within 72 h, while 74% of sorafenib was released in phosphate buffer solution at pH 4.8. The release profiles of sorafenib from the two designed samples were found to be sustained according to pseudo-second-order kinetics. The cytotoxicity studies confirmed the anti-cancer activity of the coated nanoparticles loaded with SO against liver cancer cells, HepG2. Conversely, the drug delivery system was less toxic than the pure drug towards fibroblast-type 3T3 cells.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology; Humans; Liver/pathology; Liver Neoplasms/drug therapy; Magnetics; Polyethylene Glycols/chemistry; Polyvinyl Alcohol/chemistry; X-Ray Diffraction/methods; 3T3 Cells; Drug Delivery Systems/methods*; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared/methods; Mice; Hep G2 Cells; Magnetite Nanoparticles/chemistry; Drug Liberation/physiology
  18. Fulltext Biosafety evaluation of culture-expanded human chondrocytes with growth factor cocktail: a preclinical study
    Al-Masawa ME, Wan Kamarul Zaman WS, Chua KH
    Sci Rep, 2020 12 09;10(1):21583.
    PMID: 33299022 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78395-y
    The scarcity of chondrocytes is a major challenge for cartilage tissue engineering. Monolayer expansion is necessary to amplify the limited number of chondrocytes needed for clinical application. Growth factors are often added to improve monolayer culture conditions, promoting proliferation, and enhancing chondrogenesis. Limited knowledge on the biosafety of the cell products manipulated with growth factors in culture has driven this study to evaluate the impact of growth factor cocktail supplements in chondrocyte culture medium on chondrocyte genetic stability and tumorigenicity. The growth factors were basic fibroblast growth factor (b-FGF), transforming growth factor β2 (TGF β2), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), insulin-transferrin-selenium (ITS), and platelet-derived growth factor (PD-GF). Nasal septal chondrocytes cultured in growth factor cocktail exhibited a significantly high proliferative capacity. Comet assay revealed no significant DNA damage. Flow cytometry showed chondrocytes were mostly at G0-G1 phase, exhibiting normal cell cycle profile with no aneuploidy. We observed a decreased tumour suppressor genes' expression (p53, p21, pRB) and no TP53 mutations or tumour formation after 6 months of implantation in nude mice. Our data suggest growth factor cocktail has a low risk of inducing genotoxic and tumorigenic effects on chondrocytes up to passage 6 with 16.6 population doublings. This preclinical tumorigenicity and genetic instability evaluation is crucial for further clinical works.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Cell Cycle/drug effects; Culture Media/pharmacology*; DNA Damage/drug effects; Humans; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I/pharmacology; Mice, Nude; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2/pharmacology; Chondrocytes/cytology*; Chondrocytes/drug effects; Chondrogenesis/drug effects*; Tissue Engineering/methods*; Cell Shape/drug effects; Cell Proliferation/drug effects*; Mice; Transforming Growth Factor beta2/pharmacology
  19. Fulltext Accelerated nucleophilic substitution reactions of dansyl chloride with aniline under ambient conditions via dual-tip reactive paper spray
    Sarih NM, Romero-Perez D, Bastani B, Rauytanapanit M, Boisdon C, Praneenararat T, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2020 12 09;10(1):21504.
    PMID: 33299034 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78133-4
    Paper spray ionization (PSI) mass spectrometry (MS) is an emerging tool for ambient reaction monitoring via microdroplet reaction acceleration. PSI-MS was used to accelerate and monitor the time course of the reaction of dansyl chloride with aniline, in acetonitrile, to produce dansyl aniline. Three distinct PSI arrangements were explored in this study representing alternative approaches for sample loading and interaction; conventional single tip as well as two novel setups, a dual-tip and a co-axial arrangement were designed so as to limit any on-paper interaction between reagents. The effect on product abundance was investigated using these different paper configurations as it relates to the time course and distance of microdroplet travel. It was observed that product yield increases at a given distance and then decreases thereafter for all PSI configurations. The fluorescent property of the product (dansyl aniline) was used to visually inspect the reaction progress on the paper substrate during the spraying process. Amongst the variety of sample loading methods the novel dual-tip arrangement showed an increased product yield and microdroplet density, whilst avoiding any on-paper interaction between the reagents.
    MeSH terms: Acceleration; Acetonitriles; Aniline Compounds; Dansyl Compounds; Indicators and Reagents; Mass Spectrometry
  20. The environmental impacts of palm oil in context
    Meijaard E, Brooks TM, Carlson KM, Slade EM, Garcia-Ulloa J, Gaveau DLA, et al.
    Nat Plants, 2020 12;6(12):1418-1426.
    PMID: 33299148 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-020-00813-w
    Delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires balancing demands on land between agriculture (SDG 2) and biodiversity (SDG 15). The production of vegetable oils and, in particular, palm oil, illustrates these competing demands and trade-offs. Palm oil accounts for ~40% of the current global annual demand for vegetable oil as food, animal feed and fuel (210 Mt), but planted oil palm covers less than 5-5.5% of the total global oil crop area (approximately 425 Mha) due to oil palm's relatively high yields. Recent oil palm expansion in forested regions of Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, where >90% of global palm oil is produced, has led to substantial concern around oil palm's role in deforestation. Oil palm expansion's direct contribution to regional tropical deforestation varies widely, ranging from an estimated 3% in West Africa to 50% in Malaysian Borneo. Oil palm is also implicated in peatland draining and burning in Southeast Asia. Documented negative environmental impacts from such expansion include biodiversity declines, greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. However, oil palm generally produces more oil per area than other oil crops, is often economically viable in sites unsuitable for most other crops and generates considerable wealth for at least some actors. Global demand for vegetable oils is projected to increase by 46% by 2050. Meeting this demand through additional expansion of oil palm versus other vegetable oil crops will lead to substantial differential effects on biodiversity, food security, climate change, land degradation and livelihoods. Our Review highlights that although substantial gaps remain in our understanding of the relationship between the environmental, socio-cultural and economic impacts of oil palm, and the scope, stringency and effectiveness of initiatives to address these, there has been little research into the impacts and trade-offs of other vegetable oil crops. Greater research attention needs to be given to investigating the impacts of palm oil production compared to alternatives for the trade-offs to be assessed at a global scale.
    MeSH terms: Agriculture/trends*; Agriculture/statistics & numerical data; Conservation of Natural Resources/trends*; Forecasting; Crops, Agricultural/growth & development*; Arecaceae/growth & development*; Biodiversity*
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