Browse publications by year: 2021

  1. Abu HB, Ludin SBM, Sowtali SNB
    J Public Health Res, 2021 Apr 14;10(2).
    PMID: 33855404 DOI: 10.4081/jphr.2021.2206
    BACKGROUND: This preliminary finding from a qualitative study examined the process of self-efficacy for the development of physical activity during myocardial infarction (MI) after recovery. A combination of healthy behaviors, including physical activity is the secondary prevention recommended to reduce the risk of recurrent MI. This study aims to understand how self-efficacy for physical activity is developed in a patient after MI by examining their perceptions and personal adherence to physical activity.

    DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a qualitative study and data was collected through semi-structured in-depth recorded phone interviews with eight Malay male participants. They were screened using a questionnaire and participants that met the inclusion criteria were interviewed, and were admitted to National Heart Centre, Malaysia between January to June 2019 diagnosed with MI. The data collected were analysed using NVivo 12 software and thematic analysis was applied.

    RESULTS: Four preliminary themes emerged from the study: 1) beliefs in physical activity; 2) healthy lifestyle: new normal or same old habit; 3) factors determining participation in pa; and 4) physical activity adherence strategies.

    CONCLUSIONS: The results of the studies showed that participants understand the need to maintain physical activity, which helps to maintain a healthy life after MI and prevent recurrent infarction. Strategies for developing self-efficacy for physical activity were also discussed. The need to understand that maintaining physical activity as well as adopting a new normal of healthy habit after MI is crucial in order to maintain the health and prevent recurrence of MI.

    MeSH terms: Habits; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Myocardial Infarction; Perception; Surveys and Questionnaires; Software; Health Behavior; Exercise; Self Efficacy; Secondary Prevention; Healthy Lifestyle
  2. Sowtali SN, Ariffin SRM, Nazli NS, Shukri NABM, Khattak MMAK, Ab Rashid IM, et al.
    J Public Health Res, 2021 Apr 14;10(2).
    PMID: 33855421 DOI: 10.4081/jphr.2021.2238
    BACKGROUND: To date, no studies have been published at evaluating the level of knowledge, awareness and practice of dietary, particularly regarding to urolithiasis in patients or the general population. This study aims to provide basic information on the level of knowledge, awareness and dietary practice among general population in Kuantan, Pahang.

    DESIGN AND METHODS: The respondents (n=30) were conveniently recruited within 10 kilometres radius of Kuantan city. The data were obtained using semi-guided administered questionnaires, which consists of four parts: socio-demographic data, lifestyle and clinical history (Part A); attitude and awareness on dietary practice regarding urolithiasis (Part B); food frequency questionnaire on urolithiasis (Part C) and level of knowledge on urolithiasis (Part D).

    RESULTS: Majority of the respondents were women (70%), Malay (83.3%), mean age of 33.97 (±9.27), married (63.3%), completed higher education level (60%), working with government sector (33.3%) and have fixed monthly income (53.3%). Some of them had hypertension (n=4), diabetes (n=1), gout (n=1) and intestinal problem (n=1). Majority (80%) claimed having no family history of urolithiasis, consumed alcohol (10%), exercise with average frequency 2-3 times/week (46.7%) and heard about urolithiasis from healthcare worker (46.7%). The respondents' awareness about urolithiasis is considered to be good [81.23 (±9.98)] but having poor knowledge score [2.70 (±1.149)]. Majority preferred wholemeal bread, white rice, chicken meat, mackerel fish, chicken egg, apple, carrot, mustard leave and fresh milk in daily intake. Lesser plain water intake than standard requirement was noticed among respondents. Seasoning powder was commonly used for seasoning.

    CONCLUSIONS: Generally, the general population of Kuantan, Pahang was aware of urolithiasis disease but needed more information on dietary aspect in terms of knowledge and food choice.

    MeSH terms: Animals; Bread; Chickens; Demography; Diabetes Mellitus; Diet; Drinking; Female; Food Hypersensitivity; Food Preferences; Gout; Government; Health Personnel; Humans; Hypertension; Life Style; Malaysia; Meat; Milk; Mustard Plant; Perciformes; Powders; Surveys and Questionnaires; Radius; Reference Standards; Oryza; Exercise; Daucus carota; Malus; Urolithiasis
  3. Ruslan MA, Baharuddin KA, Noor NM, Yazid MB, Noh AYM, Rahman A
    West J Emerg Med, 2021 Feb 16;22(2):196-203.
    PMID: 33856300 DOI: 10.5811/westjem.2020.10.47825
    INTRODUCTION: Most experts recommend norepinephrine as the first-line agent in septic shock. Our objective was to determine the effectiveness and safety of norepinephrine in patients with septic shock.

    METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Epistemonikos, as well as MEDLINE from 1966 till August 2019. Screening of full texts, evaluation for eligibility, and data extraction were done by four independent reviewers. We estimated risk ratios (RR) and mean differences (MD) using a random-effects model with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The primary outcomes included the number of participants who achieved the target mean arterial pressure (MAP), time to achieve the target MAP, and number of participants with all-cause 28-day mortality. The secondary outcomes included the length of stay in the intensive care unit, length of hospital stay, incidence of arrhythmia and myocardial infarction, vasopressor-free days, and number of participants with all-cause 90-day mortality.

    RESULTS: We identified 11 randomized controlled trials with a total of 4,803 participants. There was no difference in the number of participants who achieved the target MAP between those patients receiving norepinephrine and other vasopressors (RR 1.44; 95% CI, 0.32 to 6.54; P = 0.640; I2 = 94%; two trials, 116 participants). There was no significant difference in time to achieve the target MAP (MD -0.05; 95%, CI, -0.32 to 0.21; P = 0.690; I2 = 26%; two trials, 1763 participants) and all-cause 28-day mortality (RR 0.95; 95% CI, 0.89 to 1.02; P = 0.160; I2 = 0%; seven trials, 4,139 participants). Regarding the secondary outcome, norepinephrine may significantly reduce the incidence of arrhythmia as compared to other vasopressors (RR 0.64; 95% CI, 0.42 to 0.97; P = 0.030; I2 = 64%; six trials, 3974 participants). There was no difference in the incidence of myocardial infarction (RR 1.28; 95% CI, 0.79 to 2.09), vasopressor-free day (RR 0.46; 95% CI, -1.82 to 2.74) and all-cause 90-day mortality (RR 1.08; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.21) between norepinephrine and vasopressors.

    CONCLUSION: In minimizing the occurrence of an arrhythmia, norepinephrine is superior to other vasopressors, making it safe to be used in septic shock. However, there was insufficient evidence concerning mortality and achievement of the target MAP outcomes.

    MeSH terms: Humans; Intensive Care Units; Length of Stay; Norepinephrine/therapeutic use*; Shock, Septic/drug therapy*; Shock, Septic/mortality; Vasoconstrictor Agents/therapeutic use*
  4. Chin WK, Thuraisingam AS, Kanagasabapathy S
    Account Res, 2021 May 05.
    PMID: 33857400 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2021.1917397
    Clinical trials play a critical role in the development of life-enhancing and life-sustaining biomedical advances. It is costly and, regardless of how well-designed and ethically conducted, there are always inherent uncertainties which subsequently expose human participants to the risk of injuries or even death. In Malaysia, compensation for clinical trial-related injury has not been incorporated into standard national regulations or policies. Therefore, when clinical trial-related injuries do occur, such participants cannot be compensated by researchers, and with the absence of specific statutory laws governing trial-related injury within the local legal framework, aggrieved parties need to seek legal redress and can only depend on the existing tort laws. To propose a viable compensation framework, the existing compensation regulations and policies implemented in India and South Africa are analyzed, and their best principles have been recommended. This study proposes the implementation of a no-fault compensation framework in Malaysia which should be disbursed efficiently at minimum administrative cost. This proposed approach should be mandated by the amendment of current laws governing biomedical research and, in the interim, should be adopted voluntarily by research sponsors, institutions and investigators conducting clinical trials in Malaysia.
    MeSH terms: Humans; India; Malaysia; Reference Standards; Research Personnel; South Africa; Liability, Legal; Biomedical Research; Compensation and Redress; Policy
  5. Boo YL, Koh LP
    Transplant Cell Ther, 2021 07;27(7):571-588.
    PMID: 33857661 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtct.2021.04.002
    Mature T and natural killer (NK) cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (T-NHL) has a poor prognosis. Data from existing retrospective and prospective studies have suggested that high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (auto-HCT) may improve the survival in patients with chemosensitive disease, either in the upfront or salvage setting. Auto-HCT is currently recommended to be used as frontline consolidation in peripheral T cell lymphoma not otherwise specified, angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma, anaplastic large cell lymphoma-anaplastic lymphoma kinase negative, NK/T cell (disseminated), and enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma. However, about one-third of patients never reach transplantation because of early relapse or refractory disease. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT), via its immunologic graft-versus-lymphoma effect, has been used to salvage patients with relapsed or refractory disease, resulting in long-term disease-free survival in a fraction of patients. However, the higher risk of transplant-related mortality due to regimen-related toxicities, graft-versus-host disease, and post-transplant infectious complications continues to limit the mainstream adoption of allo-HCT for this disease. Despite that, allo-HCT has been incorporated as part of the frontline treatment for aggressive subtypes of T-NHL, such as γδ T cell lymphoma and aggressive NK cell leukemia. Recent attempts to incorporate novel targeted T cell directed therapies into the treatment pathway of T-NHL may enhance treatment response and enable more patients to reach transplant, offering an alternative means of treating this disease.
    MeSH terms: Humans; Killer Cells, Natural; Prospective Studies; Retrospective Studies; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation*
  6. Saqib S, Rafiq S, Muhammad N, Khan AL, Mukhtar A, Ullah S, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2021 06 05;411:125155.
    PMID: 33858108 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125155
    The synergetic effect of nitrogen-rich and CO2-philic filler and polymer in mixed matrix-based membranes (MMMs) can separate CO2 competently. The introduction of well-defined nanostructured porous fillers of pores close to the kinetic diameter of the gas molecule and polymer matrix compatibility is a challenge in improving the gas transportation characteristics of MMMs. This study deals with the preparation of porphyrin filler and the polysulfone (PSf) polymer MMMs. The fillers demonstrated uniform distribution, uniformity, and successful bond formation. MMMs demonstrated high thermal stability with a glass transition temperature in the range of 480-610 °C. The porphyrin filler exhibited microporous nature with the presence of π-π bonds and Lewis's basic functionalities between filler-polymer resulted in a highly CO2-philic structure. The pure and mixed gas permeabilities and selectivity were successfully improved and surpass the Robeson's upper bound curve's tradeoff. Additionally, the temperature influence on CO2 permeability revealed lower activation energies at higher temperatures leading to the gas transport facilitation. This can be granted consistency and long-term durability in polymer chains. These results highlight the unique properties of porphyrin fillers in CO2 separation mixed matrix membranes and offer new knowledge to increase comprehension of PSf performance under various contents or environments.
    MeSH terms: Carbon Dioxide; Glass; Nitrogen; Permeability; Polymers; Porphyrins; Sulfones; Temperature; Porosity; Comprehension; Transition Temperature; Nanostructures
  7. Ismail SI, Mohmad Zaiwawi NL, Abdullah S, Jamian S, Saad N
    Plant Dis, 2021 Apr 15.
    PMID: 33858187 DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-12-20-2614-PDN
    Plumeria alba L. is a flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae and widely cultivated in Malaysia as a cosmopolitan ornamental plant. In January 2020, anthracnose lesions were observed on leaves of Plumeria alba planted in Agricultural Farm, Universiti Putra Malaysia, in Selangor state, Malaysia. The disease mainly affected the leaves with symptoms occurring with approximately a 60% disease incidence. Ten symptomatic leaves were sampled from 3 different trees in the farm. Symptoms initiated as small circular necrotic spots that rapidly enlarged into black lesions with pale brown borders. Diseased tissues (5×5 mm) were surface-sterilized with 70% ethanol for 1 min, rinsed three times with sterile distilled water, dried on sterile filter papers, plated on PDA and, incubated at 25 °C with a 12-h photoperiod. A total of seven single-spore isolates with similar colony morphologies were obtained from tissue samples. After 7 days, the colonies raised the entire margin and showed white-to-gray aerial mycelium, orange conidial masses in the center and appeared dark brown at the center of the reverse view. The conidia were 1-celled, hyaline, smooth-walled, cylindrical with narrowing at the center, averaged (13-15 μm × 3 - 4 μm) (n=40) in size. Morphological characteristics of the isolates were similar to those detailed in taxonomic description of Colletotrichum sp. (Prihastuti et al. 2009). For molecular identification, genomic DNA of two representative isolates, PL3 and PL4 was extracted from fresh mycelium using DNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen, USA). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, actin (ACT) and calmodulin (CAL) genes were amplified using ITS5/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), ACT-512F/783R (Carbone and Kohn 1999) and CL1C/CL2C primer sets (Weir et al. 2012). A BLAST nucleotide search of GenBank using ITS sequences showed 100% identity to Colletotrichum siamense ex-type culture ICMP 18578 (GenBank accession no. JX010171). ACT and CAL sequences showed 100% identity with C. siamense ex-type isolate BPD-I2 (GenBank accession no. FJ907423 and FJ917505). The sequences were deposited in GenBank (ITS: accession nos. MW335128, MT912574), ACT: accession nos. MW341257, MW341256, CAL: accession nos. MW341255 and MT919260). Based on these morphological and molecular characteristics, the fungus was identified as C. siamense. Pathogenicity of PL3 and PL4 isolates was verified using four healthy detached leaves of Plumeria alba. The leaves were surface-sterilized using 70% ethanol and rinsed twice with sterile water before inoculation. The leaves (three inoculation sites/leaf) were wounded by puncturing with a sterile needle through the leaf cuticle and inoculated in the wound site with 10-μl of conidial suspension (1×106 conidia/ml) from 7-days-old culture on PDA. Four leaves were used as a control and were inoculated only with 10-μl of sterile distilled water. Inoculated leaves were kept in humid chambers for 2 weeks at 25 °C with 98% relative humidity on a 12-h fluorescent light/dark period. The experiment was repeated three times. Anthracnose symptoms were observed on all inoculated leaves after 3 days, whereas controls showed no symptoms. Fungal isolates from the diseased leaves showed the same morphological characteristics as isolates PL3 and PL4, confirming Koch's postulates. C. siamense has been reported causing anthracnose on rose (Rosa chinensis) in China (Feng et al. 2019), Coffea arabica in Thailand (Prihastuti et al. 2009) and mango leaf anthracnose in Vietnam (Li et al. 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of Colletrotrichum siamense causing leaf anthracnose on Plumeria alba in Malaysia. Accurate identification of this pathogen provides a foundation in controlling anthracnose disease on Plumeria alba.
  8. Lee ZV, Llanes EJ, Sukmawan R, Thongtang N, Ho HQT, Barter P, et al.
    Lipids Health Dis, 2021 Apr 15;20(1):33.
    PMID: 33858442 DOI: 10.1186/s12944-021-01450-8
    Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity within the Asia-Pacific region, with the prevalence of CVD risk factors such as plasma lipid disorders increasing in many Asian countries. As members of the Cardiovascular RISk Prevention (CRISP) in Asia network, the authors have focused on plasma lipid disorders in the six countries within which they have clinical experience: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Australia. Based on country-specific national surveys, the prevalence of abnormal levels of total cholesterol, low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C and HDL-C, respectively), and triglycerides (TG) are reported. An important caveat is that countries have used different thresholds to define plasma lipid disorders, making direct comparisons difficult. The prevalence of abnormal lipid levels was as follows: high total cholesterol (30.2-47.7%, thresholds: 190-213 mg/dL); high LDL-C (33.2-47.5%; thresholds: 130-135 mg/dL); low/abnormal HDL-C (22.9-72.0%; thresholds: 39-50 mg/dL); and high/abnormal TG (13.9-38.7%; thresholds: 150-177 mg/dL). Similarities and differences between country-specific guidelines for the management of plasma lipid disorders are highlighted. Based on the authors' clinical experience, some of the possible reasons for suboptimal management of plasma lipid disorders in each country are described. Issues common to several countries include physician reluctance to prescribe high-dose and/or high-intensity statins and poor understanding of disease, treatments, and side effects among patients. Treatment costs and geographical constraints have also hampered disease management in Indonesia and the Philippines. Understanding the factors governing the prevalence of plasma lipid disorders helps enhance strategies to reduce the burden of CVD in the Asia-Pacific region.
    MeSH terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Humans; Hyperlipidemias; Indonesia; Cholesterol, HDL; Cholesterol, LDL; Malaysia; Morbidity; Philippines; Physicians; Plasma; Surveys and Questionnaires; Risk Factors; Thailand; Triglycerides; Vietnam; Hypertriglyceridemia; Prevalence; Health Care Costs; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; Disease Management
  9. Mohamed S, May Amelia TS, Abdullah Amirul AA, Abdul Wahid ME, Bhubalan K
    Biologicals, 2021 Jun;71:51-54.
    PMID: 33858743 DOI: 10.1016/j.biologicals.2021.03.002
    A natural biodegradable polymer, polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), was adjuvanted with a vaccine seed to observe the biomaterial's ability in enhancing an immune response in rats. The adjuvant potential of PHA was tested using the whole-killed Pasteurella multocida B:2 (PMB2) vaccine in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats to detect changes in serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) responses. A common PHA, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)], from Bacillus megaterium UMTKB-1 was constructed into microparticles using the solvent evaporation method. Twelve SD rats were divided into four treatment groups: 1) non-treatment as negative control, 2) P(3HB) adjuvant, 3) PMB2 vaccine, and 4) adjuvanted-P(3HB)/PMB2 vaccine groups, which were intramuscularly vaccinated twice. Immunoglobulins IgG and IgM levels were used as markers of the immune response induced by the adjuvanted-P(3HB)/PMB2 vaccine and analysed over an eight-week study period. The group vaccinated specifically with adjuvanted-P(3HB)/PMB2 vaccine had higher concentrations of immunoglobulins compared to other treatment groups, hence demonstrating the potential of the adjuvant to enhance immune response. Findings showed a need to delay the delivery of the second booster dose to determine the appropriate regime for the adjuvanted-P(3HB)/PMB2 vaccine.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Antibodies, Bacterial/blood*; Bacterial Vaccines/immunology*; Immunoglobulin G/blood*; Immunoglobulin M/blood; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rats; Polyhydroxyalkanoates*
  10. Chang KY, Riley WJ, Knox SH, Jackson RB, McNicol G, Poulter B, et al.
    Nat Commun, 2021 Apr 15;12(1):2266.
    PMID: 33859182 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22452-1
    Wetland methane (CH4) emissions ([Formula: see text]) are important in global carbon budgets and climate change assessments. Currently, [Formula: see text] projections rely on prescribed static temperature sensitivity that varies among biogeochemical models. Meta-analyses have proposed a consistent [Formula: see text] temperature dependence across spatial scales for use in models; however, site-level studies demonstrate that [Formula: see text] are often controlled by factors beyond temperature. Here, we evaluate the relationship between [Formula: see text] and temperature using observations from the FLUXNET-CH4 database. Measurements collected across the globe show substantial seasonal hysteresis between [Formula: see text] and temperature, suggesting larger [Formula: see text] sensitivity to temperature later in the frost-free season (about 77% of site-years). Results derived from a machine-learning model and several regression models highlight the importance of representing the large spatial and temporal variability within site-years and ecosystem types. Mechanistic advancements in biogeochemical model parameterization and detailed measurements in factors modulating CH4 production are thus needed to improve global CH4 budget assessments.
  11. Saha P, Mukherjee D, Singh PK, Ahmadian A, Ferrara M, Sarkar R
    Sci Rep, 2021 04 15;11(1):8304.
    PMID: 33859222 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87523-1
    COVID-19, a viral infection originated from Wuhan, China has spread across the world and it has currently affected over 115 million people. Although vaccination process has already started, reaching sufficient availability will take time. Considering the impact of this widespread disease, many research attempts have been made by the computer scientists to screen the COVID-19 from Chest X-Rays (CXRs) or Computed Tomography (CT) scans. To this end, we have proposed GraphCovidNet, a Graph Isomorphic Network (GIN) based model which is used to detect COVID-19 from CT-scans and CXRs of the affected patients. Our proposed model only accepts input data in the form of graph as we follow a GIN based architecture. Initially, pre-processing is performed to convert an image data into an undirected graph to consider only the edges instead of the whole image. Our proposed GraphCovidNet model is evaluated on four standard datasets: SARS-COV-2 Ct-Scan dataset, COVID-CT dataset, combination of covid-chestxray-dataset, Chest X-Ray Images (Pneumonia) dataset and CMSC-678-ML-Project dataset. The model shows an impressive accuracy of 99% for all the datasets and its prediction capability becomes 100% accurate for the binary classification problem of detecting COVID-19 scans. Source code of this work can be found at GitHub-link .
    MeSH terms: Humans; Radiography, Thoracic/methods*; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods*; Neural Networks (Computer)*; Datasets as Topic
  12. Nordin N, Sani NIM, Kadir AA, Shaari R, Mohamed M, Reduan MFH, et al.
    J Adv Vet Anim Res, 2021 Mar;8(1):101-104.
    PMID: 33860019 DOI: 10.5455/javar.2021.h491
    Objective: In this case report, we have investigated the infectious bronchitis (IB) virus (IBV) outbreak with the co-infection of Escherichia coli in 28-33-day-old broiler chickens in Malaysia.

    Materials and Methods: A farmer complained that Cobb 500 chickens, raised in the open house, were having bloody diarrhea, open mouth breathing, non-uniform growth, and ruffled feathers. The mortality was about 100 birds (from about 7000 birds) per day. The sick birds were isolated and subjected to physical examination, postmortem, and histopathological analyses. Gross lesions were observed and recorded. The lung samples have proceeded with histopathological evaluations. The lungs, kidneys, trachea, air sac, and heart samples were collected to isolate bacteria and fungi through a series of conventional cultural methods, followed by molecular confirmation of the IBV.

    Results: Postmortem examination revealed air sacculitis, hemorrhagic tracheitis, pulmonary congestion, fibrin deposition in the liver and air sac, hemorrhagic enteritis, and renomegaly. The bacterial culture and biochemical tests revealed E. coli in the lungs, trachea, liver, intestine, and kidney samples. However, no fungus could be isolated from those samples. Histological evaluation of lung samples demonstrated infiltration of inflammatory cells in the pulmonary tissues. Apart from this, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction confirmed the presence of avian coronavirus responsible for infectious bronchitis (IB).

    Conclusion: The chickens were diagnosed with IB concurrent with E.coli. The chickens exhibited typical nephropathogenic strain of IBV infection, causing high mortality.

    MeSH terms: Farmers; Air Sacs; Animals; Autopsy; Infectious bronchitis virus; Bronchitis; Chickens; Diarrhea; Disease Outbreaks; Enteritis; Escherichia coli; Feathers; Fibrin; Fungi; Humans; Intestines; Kidney; Liver; Lung; Malaysia; Mouth Breathing; Trachea; Tracheitis; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Reverse Transcription; Coinfection
  13. Lam SK, Lau GKK
    JGH Open, 2021 Apr;5(4):525-527.
    PMID: 33860106 DOI: 10.1002/jgh3.12496
    Two patients with idiopathic multitudinous fundic gland polyposis, a hitherto undescribed condition, were reported. They presented incidentally with a multitude of fundic gland polyps, 52 and 147, without a family history of polyposis, and these polyps were not attributable to the chronic use of proton pump inhibitors. All polyps were removed by hot-biopsy polypectomy, and each was individually subjected to pathological examination, which showed no evidence of dysplasia. When confronted with gastric polyps of clinically undetermined origin, endoscopists would, to exclude dysplasia, usually resect all if they are few and sample some and survey the others periodically if they are numerous. The condition reported presents a management dilemma: Because the number of the polyps is such that they are manageable by total polypectomy, should this be carried out, despite the labor intensiveness involved, to exclude dysplasia, and are the polyps a variant of syndromic polyposis and therefore carry a malignant potential and inform the need for periodic surveillance and to investigate the patient's kindred? The frequency of this condition and whether it is truly not associated with dysplasia require further studies.
    MeSH terms: Biopsy; Humans; Polyps; Surveys and Questionnaires; Stomach Neoplasms; Adenomatous Polyps; Proton Pump Inhibitors
  14. Pszczolkowski S, Manzano-Patrón JP, Law ZK, Krishnan K, Ali A, Bath PM, et al.
    Eur Radiol, 2021 Oct;31(10):7945-7959.
    PMID: 33860831 DOI: 10.1007/s00330-021-07826-9
    OBJECTIVES: To test radiomics-based features extracted from noncontrast CT of patients with spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage for prediction of haematoma expansion and poor functional outcome and compare them with radiological signs and clinical factors.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven hundred fifty-four radiomics-based features were extracted from 1732 scans derived from the TICH-2 multicentre clinical trial. Features were harmonised and a correlation-based feature selection was applied. Different elastic-net parameterisations were tested to assess the predictive performance of the selected radiomics-based features using grid optimisation. For comparison, the same procedure was run using radiological signs and clinical factors separately. Models trained with radiomics-based features combined with radiological signs or clinical factors were tested. Predictive performance was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) score.

    RESULTS: The optimal radiomics-based model showed an AUC of 0.693 for haematoma expansion and an AUC of 0.783 for poor functional outcome. Models with radiological signs alone yielded substantial reductions in sensitivity. Combining radiomics-based features and radiological signs did not provide any improvement over radiomics-based features alone. Models with clinical factors had similar performance compared to using radiomics-based features, albeit with low sensitivity for haematoma expansion. Performance of radiomics-based features was boosted by incorporating clinical factors, with time from onset to scan and age being the most important contributors for haematoma expansion and poor functional outcome prediction, respectively.

    CONCLUSION: Radiomics-based features perform better than radiological signs and similarly to clinical factors on the prediction of haematoma expansion and poor functional outcome. Moreover, combining radiomics-based features with clinical factors improves their performance.

    KEY POINTS: • Linear models based on CT radiomics-based features perform better than radiological signs on the prediction of haematoma expansion and poor functional outcome in the context of intracerebral haemorrhage. • Linear models based on CT radiomics-based features perform similarly to clinical factors known to be good predictors. However, combining these clinical factors with radiomics-based features increases their predictive performance.

    MeSH terms: Humans; ROC Curve; Tomography, X-Ray Computed*
  15. Ahsan N, Rao RSP, Wilson RS, Punyamurtula U, Salvato F, Petersen M, et al.
    Proteomics, 2021 05;21(10):e2000279.
    PMID: 33860983 DOI: 10.1002/pmic.202000279
    While protein-protein interaction is the first step of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, recent comparative proteomic profiling enabled the identification of over 11,000 protein dynamics, thus providing a comprehensive reflection of the molecular mechanisms underlying the cellular system in response to viral infection. Here we summarize and rationalize the results obtained by various mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic approaches applied to the functional characterization of proteins and pathways associated with SARS-CoV-2-mediated infections in humans. Comparative analysis of cell-lines versus tissue samples indicates that our knowledge in proteome profile alternation in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection is still incomplete and the tissue-specific response to SARS-CoV-2 infection can probably not be recapitulated efficiently by in vitro experiments. However, regardless of the viral infection period, sample types, and experimental strategies, a thorough cross-comparison of the recently published proteome, phosphoproteome, and interactome datasets led to the identification of a common set of proteins and kinases associated with PI3K-Akt, EGFR, MAPK, Rap1, and AMPK signaling pathways. Ephrin receptor A2 (EPHA2) was identified by 11 studies including all proteomic platforms, suggesting it as a potential future target for SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanisms and the development of new therapeutic strategies. We further discuss the potentials of future proteomics strategies for identifying prognostic SARS-CoV-2 responsive age-, gender-dependent, tissue-specific protein targets.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Humans; Protein Kinases/analysis; Protein Kinases/metabolism; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Mass Spectrometry/methods*; Signal Transduction; Proteome/analysis; Proteome/metabolism; Protein Interaction Mapping/methods; Receptor, EphA2/analysis; Receptor, EphA2/metabolism; Proteomics/methods*; Host-Pathogen Interactions*; Protein Interaction Maps
  16. Frias L, Hasegawa H, Chua TH, Sipangkui S, Stark DJ, Salgado-Lynn M, et al.
    Int J Parasitol, 2021 10;51(11):925-933.
    PMID: 33862059 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2021.03.003
    Parasites are important components of ecosystems, influencing trophic networks, competitive interactions and biodiversity patterns. Nonetheless, we are not nearly close to disentangling their complex roles in natural systems. Southeast Asia falls within global areas targeted as most likely to source parasites with zoonotic potential, where high rates of land conversion and fragmentation have altered the circulation of wildlife species and their parasites, potentially resulting in altered host-parasite systems. Although the overall biodiversity in the region predicts equally high, or even higher, parasite diversity, we know surprisingly little about wild primate parasites, even though this constitutes the first step towards a more comprehensive understanding of parasite transmission processes. Here, we characterise the gastrointestinal helminth parasite assemblages of a community of Bornean primates living along the Kinabatangan floodplain in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo), including two species endemic to the island. Through parasitological analyses, and by using several measures of parasite infection as proxies for parasite diversity and distribution, we show that (i) most parasite taxonomic groups are not limited to a single host, suggesting a greater flexibility for habitat disturbance, (ii) parasite infracommunities of nocturnal primates differ from their diurnal counterparts, reflecting both phylogenetic and ecological constraints, and (iii) soil-transmitted helminths such as whipworm, threadworm and nodule worm are widespread across the primate community. This study also provides new parasite records for southern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina), silvered langurs (Trachypithecus cristatus) and Western tarsiers (Cephalopachus bancanus) in the wild, while adding to the limited records for the other primate species in the community. Given the information gap regarding primate-parasite associations in the region, the information presented here should prove relevant for future studies of parasite biodiversity and infectious disease ecology in Asia and elsewhere.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Host-Parasite Interactions; Parasites*; Phylogeny; Primates; Ecosystem; Biodiversity
  17. Mustafa NWNA, Ishak NH, Mohd Rosli NA, Nik Zulkifeli NR, Rajali A
    Complement Ther Clin Pract, 2021 May;43:101392.
    PMID: 33862351 DOI: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2021.101392
    BACKGROUND: Gagging condition is among factors contributing to avoidance behavior to seek the dental treatment, and rigorous management is still under investigation. This study aims to explore the effect of listening to the self-preference music in reducing the gagging condition during dental impression procedure towards gagging patient. Physiology and psychological impact to the procedure with and without musical intervention are investigated.

    METHOD AND MATERIAL: A group of twenty-five patients that will undergo impression procedure was randomly selected. Self-reported Gagging Problem Assessment (GPA-pa-SF) questionnaires was then administered to determine the severity of gagging. Maxillary impression was taken twice within the same patient in two different time intervals (1st without any intervention and 2nd with musical intervention). During both procedures, the pulse rate/minutes (BPM) and arterial oxygen saturation of haemoglobin (SpO2%) were recorded and psychometric assessment was evaluated through the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14).

    RESULT: Mean value of BPM was significantly reduced with music (p 

    MeSH terms: Gagging; Humans; Music*; Psychometrics; Quality of Life*; Surveys and Questionnaires
  18. Shiming Z, Mak KK, Balijepalli MK, Chakravarthi S, Pichika MR
    Biomed Pharmacother, 2021 Jul;139:111576.
    PMID: 33862494 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111576
    Diabetes mellitus or type-2 diabetes, commonly referred as diabetes, is a metabolic disorder that results in high blood sugar level. Despite the availability of several antidiabetic drugs in the market, they still do not adequately regulate blood sugar levels. Thus, in general people prefer to use herbal supplements/medicines along with antidiabetic drugs to control blood sugar levels. One of such herbal medicine is Swietenia macrophylla seeds. It is widely used in Asia for controlling blood sugar levels. One of the major bioactive compounds, Swietenine, is reported to be responsible for controlling blood glucose levels. However, there were no studies on its efficacy in controlling the blood glucose in diabetic rats. In this study, we evaluated the antihyperglycemic activity of Swietenine and its pharmacodynamic interaction with Metformin in Streptozotocin induced diabetes in rats. The activity of Swietenine was investigated at three different doses: 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg body weight (bw). Metformin (50 mg/kg bw) was used as a standard drug. Swietenine (20 and 40 mg/kg bw) and Metformin (50 mg/kg bw) showed significant effect in reducing the glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, urea, creatinine, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, and malondialdehyde level in serum while it had increased the high-density lipoprotein, glutathione, and total antioxidant capacity level. In addition, Swietenine (20 and 40 mg/kg) had shown significant synergistic effect with Metformin. Administration of Swietenine at 10 mg/kg bw neither showed activity nor influenced Metformin's activity. The results from this study confirmed the beneficial effects of Swietenine and its synergistic action with Metformin in controlling the dysregulated serum parameters in Streptozotocin induced diabetes in rats.
    MeSH terms: Alanine Transaminase; Alkaline Phosphatase; Animals; Antioxidants; Aspartate Aminotransferases; Blood Glucose; Body Weight; Cholesterol; Creatinine; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Glucose; Glutathione; Hypoglycemic Agents; Lipoproteins, HDL; Lipoproteins, LDL; Malondialdehyde; Medicine; Metformin; Reference Standards; Seeds; Streptozocin; Triglycerides; Urea; Dietary Supplements; Herbal Medicine; Meliaceae; Rats
  19. Siti Hayati Mohd Nahwari, Bahiyah Abdullah, Suzanna Daud, Norhana Mohd Kasim, Norhana Mohd Kasim
    MyJurnal
    This case series highlights the outcome of four pregnancies complicated with COVID-19, as
    the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a lot of uncertainties due to lack
    of scientific evidence in guiding the management of pregnancy with COVID-19. The women
    were between 25 and 31 years of age and of 35 - 39 weeks of gestation with no underlying
    medical problems. Three women were delivered via caesarean section and one woman was
    delivered via ventouse delivery due to poor progress during the second stage of labour. Two
    women were in stage 4 of the disease (having breathing difficulties and requiring oxygen
    support) at presentations. One of them was treated with hydroxychloroquine (HC) only while
    another one was treated with both HC and antiviral medications; none required assisted
    ventilation during their hospitalizations. There is no vertical transmission of COVID-19 disease
    observed in this case series.
    MeSH terms: Adult; Antiviral Agents; Cesarean Section; Dyspnea; Female; Hospitalization; Humans; Hydroxychloroquine; Labor Stage, Second; Oxygen; Pregnancy; Respiration; Vacuum Extraction, Obstetrical; Coronavirus; Pandemics
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