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Validity of the FACT-H&N (v 4.0) among Malaysian oral cancer patients

Doss JG, Thomson WM, Drummond BK, Raja Latifah RJ

Oral Oncol, 2011 Jul;47(7):648-52.
PMID: 21602094 DOI: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2011.04.023

To assess the cross-sectional construct validity of the Malay-translated and cross-culturally adapted FACT-H&N (v 4.0) for discriminative use in a sample of Malaysian oral cancer patients. A cross-sectional study of adults newly diagnosed with oral cancer. HRQOL data were collected using the FACT-H&N (v 4.0), a global question and a supplementary set of eight questions ('MAQ') obtained earlier in pilot work. Of the 76 participants (61.8% female; 23.7% younger than 50), most (96.1%) had oral squamous cell carcinoma; two-thirds were in Stages III or IV. At baseline, patients' mean FACT summary (FACT-G, FACT-H&N, FACT-H&N TOI, and FHNSI) and subscale (pwb, swb, ewb, fwb, and hnsc) scores were towards the higher end of the range. Equal proportions (36.8%) rated their overall HRQOL as 'good' or 'average'; fewer than one-quarter rated it as 'poor', and only two as 'very good'. All six FACT summary and most subscales had moderate-to-good internal consistency. For all summary scales, those with 'very poor/poor' self-rated HRQOL differed significantly from the 'good/very good' group. All FACT summary scales correlated strongly (r>0.75). Summary scales showed convergent validity (r>0.90) but little discriminant validity. The discriminant validity of the FHNSI improved with the addition of the MAQ. The FACT-H&N summary scales and most subscales demonstrated acceptable cross-sectional construct validity, reliability and discriminative ability, and thus appear appropriate for further use among Malaysian oral cancer patients.
Validation of bioelectrical impedance analysis for total body water assessment against the deuterium dilution technique in Asian children

Liu A, Byrne NM, Ma G, Nasreddine L, Trinidad TP, Kijboonchoo K, et al.

Eur J Clin Nutr, 2011 Dec;65(12):1321-7.
PMID: 21731041 DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2011.122

To develop and cross-validate bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) prediction equations of total body water (TBW) and fat-free mass (FFM) for Asian pre-pubertal children from China, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.
Utilization of solar energy for wastewater treatment: Challenges and progressive research trends

Pandey AK, Reji Kumar R, B K, Laghari IA, Samykano M, Kothari R, et al.

J Environ Manage, 2021 Nov 01;297:113300.
PMID: 34293672 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113300

This article offers a trend of inventions and implementations of photocatalysis process, desalination technologies and solar disinfection techniques adapted particularly for treatment of industrial and domestic wastewater. Photocatalysis treatment of wastewater using solar energy is a promising renewable solution to reduce stresses on global water crisis. Rendering to the United Nation Environment Programme, 1/3 of world population live in water-stressed countries, while by 2025 about 2/3 of world population will face water scarcity. Major pollutants exhibited from numerous sources are critically discussed with focus on potential environmental impacts & hazards. Treatment of wastewater by photocatalysis technique, solar thermal electrochemical process, solar desalination of brackish water and solar advanced oxidation process have been presented and systematically analysed with challenges. Both heterogenous and homogenous photocatalysis techniques employed for wastewater treatment are critically reviewed. For treating domestic wastewater, solar desalination technologies adopted for purifying brackish water into potable water is presented along with key challenges and remedies. Advanced oxidation process using solar energy for degradation of organic pollutant is an important technique to be reviewed due to their effectiveness in wastewater treatment process. Present article focused on three key issues i.e. major pollutants, wastewater treatment techniques and environmental benefits of using solar power for removal of pollutants. The review also provides close ideas on further research needs and major concerns. Drawbacks associated with conventional wastewater treatment options and direct solar energy-based wastewater treatment with energy storage systems to make it convenient during day and night both listed. Although, energy storage systems increase the overall cost of the wastewater treatment plant it also increases the overall efficiency of the system on environmental cost. Cost-efficient wastewater treatment methods using solar power would significantly ensure effective water source utilization, thereby contributing towards sustainable development goals.
Urban blue: A global analysis of the factors shaping people's perceptions of the marine environment and ecological engineering in harbours

Strain EMA, Alexander KA, Kienker S, Morris R, Jarvis R, Coleman R, et al.

Sci Total Environ, 2019 Mar 25;658:1293-1305.
PMID: 30677991 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.285

Marine harbours are the focus of a diverse range of activities and subject to multiple anthropogenically induced pressures. Support for environmental management options aimed at improving degraded harbours depends on understanding the factors which influence people's perceptions of harbour environments. We used an online survey, across 12 harbours, to assess sources of variation people's perceptions of harbour health and ecological engineering. We tested the hypotheses: 1) people living near impacted harbours would consider their environment to be more unhealthy and degraded, be more concerned about the environment and supportive of and willing to pay for ecological engineering relative to those living by less impacted harbours, and 2) people with greater connectedness to the harbour would be more concerned about and have greater perceived knowledge of the environment, and be more supportive of, knowledgeable about and willing to pay for ecological engineering, than those with less connectedness. Across twelve locations, the levels of degradation and modification by artificial structures were lower and the concern and knowledge about the environment and ecological engineering were greater in the six Australasian and American than the six European and Asian harbours surveyed. We found that people's perception of harbours as healthy or degraded, but not their concern for the environment, reflected the degree to which harbours were impacted. There was a positive relationship between the percentage of shoreline modified and the extent of support for and people's willingness to pay indirect costs for ecological engineering. At the individual level, measures of connectedness to the harbour environment were good predictors of concern for and perceived knowledge about the environment but not support for and perceived knowledge about ecological engineering. To make informed decisions, it is important that people are empowered with sufficient knowledge of the environmental issues facing their harbour and ecological engineering options.
University of Hong Kong. Address by the Hon. Dr. Lim Boon Keng.

Lim BK

J Trop Med Hyg, 1919;22:77-9.

On tlie occasion of his being elected an Honorary LL.D. of the University of Hong-Kong in January, 1919, Dr. Lim Boon Keng, of Singapore, addressed the assembly in the University Hall as follows:—
Twelve-hour fasting compared with expedited oral intake in the initial inpatient management of hyperemesis gravidarum: a randomised trial

Tan PC, Abdussyukur SA, Lim BK, Win ST, Omar SZ

BJOG, 2020 10;127(11):1430-1437.
PMID: 32356413 DOI: 10.1111/1471-0528.16290

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate fasting for 12 hours compared with expedited oral feeding in hospitalised women with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG).
DESIGN: Randomised trial.
SETTING: University Hospital, Malaysia: April 2016-April 2017.
POPULATION: One hundred and sixty women hospitalised for HG.
METHOD: Women were randomised upon admission to fasting for 12 hours or expedited oral feeding. Standard HG care was instituted.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Primary outcome was satisfaction score with overall treatment at 24 hours (0-10 Visual Numerical Rating Scale VNRS), vomiting episodes within 24 hours and nausea VNRS score at enrolment, and at 8, 16 and 24 hours.
RESULTS: Satisfaction score, median (interquartile range) 8 (5-9) versus 8 (7-9) (P = 0.08) and 24-hour vomiting episodes were 1 (0-4) versus 1 (0-5) (P = 0.24) for 12-hour fasting versus expedited feeding, respectively. Repeated measures analysis of variance of nausea scores over 24 hours showed no difference (P = 0.11) between trial arms. Participants randomised to 12-hour fasting compared with expedited feeding were less likely to prefer their feeding regimen in future hospitalisation (41% versus 65%, P = 0.001), to recommend to a friend (65% versus 84%, P = 0.01; RR 0.8, 95% CI 0.6-0.9) and to adhere to protocol (85% versus 95%, P = 0.04; RR 0.9, 95% CI 0.8-1.0). Symptoms profile, ketonuria status at 24 hours and length of hospital stay were not different.
CONCLUSION: Advisory of 12-hour fasting compared with immediate oral feeding resulted in a non-significant difference in satisfaction score but adherence to protocol and fidelity to and recommendation of immediate oral feeding to a friend were lower. The 24-hour nausea scores and vomiting episodes were similar.
TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Women hospitalised for hyperemesis gravidarum could feed as soon, as much and as often as can be tolerated compared with initial fasting.
Fulltext Tuberculosis in Malaysia: predictors of treatment outcomes in a national registry

Liew SM, Khoo EM, Ho BK, Lee YK, Mimi O, Fazlina MY, et al.

Int J Tuberc Lung Dis, 2015 Jul;19(7):764-71.
PMID: 26056099 DOI: 10.5588/ijtld.14.0767

OBJECTIVES: To determine treatment outcomes and associated predictors of all patients registered in 2012 with the Malaysian National Tuberculosis (TB) Surveillance Registry.
METHODS: Sociodemographic and clinical data were analysed. Unfavourable outcomes included treatment failure, transferred out and lost to follow-up, treatment defaulters, those not evaluated and all-cause mortality.
RESULTS: In total, 21 582 patients were registered. The mean age was 42.36 ± 17.77 years, and 14.2% were non-Malaysians. The majority were new cases (93.6%). One fifth (21.5%) had unfavourable outcomes; of these, 46% died, 49% transferred out or defaulted and 1% failed treatment. Predictors of unfavourable outcomes were older age, male sex, foreign citizenship, lower education, no bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination scar, treatment in tertiary settings, smoking, previous anti-tuberculosis treatment, human immunodeficiency virus infection, not receiving directly observed treatment, advanced chest radiography findings, multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extra-pulmonary TB. For all-cause mortality, predictors were similar except for rural dwelling and nationality (higher mortality among locals). Absence of BCG scar, previous treatment for TB and MDR-TB were not found to be predictors of all-cause mortality. Indigenous populations in East Malaysia had lower rates of unfavourable treatment outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: One fifth of TB patients had unfavourable outcomes. Intervention strategies should target those at increased risk of unfavourable outcomes and all-cause mortality.
Tuberculosis among the Singapore Chinese

Lim BK

Journal of the Malaya Branch of the British Medical Association, 1903.
The opium smoking habit and its treatment

Lim BK

Journal of the Malaya Branch of the British Medical Association, 1905.
The molecular mechanisms of probiotic strains in improving ageing bone and muscle of d-galactose-induced ageing rats

Hor YY, Ooi CH, Lew LC, Jaafar MH, Lau AS, Lee BK, et al.

J Appl Microbiol, 2021 Apr;130(4):1307-1322.
PMID: 32638482 DOI: 10.1111/jam.14776

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the molecular mechanisms of Lactobacillus strains in improving ageing of the musculoskeletal system.
METHODS AND RESULTS: The anti-ageing mechanism of three probiotics strains Lactobacillus fermentum DR9, Lactobacillus paracasei OFS 0291 and L. helveticus OFS 1515 were evaluated on gastrocnemius muscle and tibia of d-galactose-induced ageing rats. Upon senescence induction, aged rats demonstrated reduced antioxidative genes CAT and SOD expression in both bone and muscle compared to the young rats (P
Fulltext The incidence of deep venous thrombosis following arthroscopic knee surgery

Ng WM, Chan KY, Lim ABK, Gan EC

Med J Malaysia, 2005 Jul;60 Suppl C:14-6.
PMID: 16381276

A prospective cohort study was undertaken at two centers to look for the incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) following knee arthroscopic surgery. Eighty-four patients who had 90 arthroscopic procedures were reviewed. The relevant risk factors: past or family history of DVT, smoking, oral contraceptives, body weight, haemoglobin level, platelet count, tourniquet time and type of anaesthesia were documented. All patients were subjected to preoperative and post-operative duplex ultrasound. Only one patient (1.2 %) was noted to have DVT involving the peroneal vein. We concluded that the incidence of DVT after knee arthroscopy was very low in this study population.
Fulltext The Anticancer, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties of the Sesquiterpene β-Caryophyllene from the Essential Oil of Aquilaria crassna

Dahham SS, Tabana YM, Iqbal MA, Ahamed MB, Ezzat MO, Majid AS, et al.

Molecules, 2015;20(7):11808-29.
PMID: 26132906 DOI: 10.3390/molecules200711808

The present study reports a bioassay-guided isolation of β-caryophyllene from the essential oil of Aquilaria crassna. The structure of β-caryophyllene was confirmed using FT-IR, NMR and MS. The antimicrobial effect of β-caryophyllene was examined using human pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains. Its anti-oxidant properties were evaluated by DPPH and FRAP scavenging assays. The cytotoxicity of β-caryophyllene was tested against seven human cancer cell lines. The corresponding selectivity index was determined by testing its cytotoxicity on normal cells. The effects of β-caryophyllene were studied on a series of in vitro antitumor-promoting assays using colon cancer cells. Results showed that β-caryophyllene demonstrated selective antibacterial activity against S. aureus (MIC 3 ± 1.0 µM) and more pronounced anti-fungal activity than kanamycin. β-Caryophyllene also displayed strong antioxidant effects. Additionally, β-caryophyllene exhibited selective anti-proliferative effects against colorectal cancer cells (IC50 19 µM). The results also showed that β-caryophyllene induces apoptosis via nuclear condensation and fragmentation pathways including disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential. Further, β-caryophyllene demonstrated potent inhibition against clonogenicity, migration, invasion and spheroid formation in colon cancer cells. These results prompt us to state that β-caryophyllene is the active principle responsible for the selective anticancer and antimicrobial activities of A. crassnia. β-Caryophyllene has great potential to be further developed as a promising chemotherapeutic agent against colorectal malignancies.
Survey of the Anopheles maculatus complex (Diptera: Culicidae) in peninsular Malaysia by analysis of cuticular lipids

Kittayapong P, Clark JM, Edman JD, Lavine BK, Marion JR, Brooks M

J Med Entomol, 1993 Nov;30(6):969-74.
PMID: 8271255

Anopheles maculatus Theobald sensu lato is a species complex now consisting of eight sibling species; An. maculatus is still represented by two cytologically distinct forms; i.e., the widely distributed sensu strictu or B, and E from southern Thailand and adjacent areas in northern Malaysia. Cuticular lipid profiles in conjunction with principal component analysis was used to separate An. maculatus form E from sensu stricto form B in a preliminary survey of the An. maculatus complex at five locations spanning peninsular Malaysia. The relative rank orders, from the areas of the five gas chromatographic peaks used to determine lipid differences for specimens from peninsular Malaysia, matched well with those from cytogenetically identified colony specimens of An. maculatus forms B and E. The two-dimensional principal component pattern of specimens identified as form E was highly clumped, which indicated that very similar cuticular lipids were present within this putative malaria vector. Both forms coexisted in peninsular Malaysia, but form E may be dominant except in the south.
Study of target and non-target interplay in spatial attention task

Sweeti, Joshi D, Panigrahi BK, Anand S, Santhosh J

J Med Eng Technol, 2018 Feb;42(2):113-120.
PMID: 29448856 DOI: 10.1080/03091902.2018.1433244

Selective visual attention is the ability to selectively pay attention to the targets while inhibiting the distractors. This paper aims to study the targets and non-targets interplay in spatial attention task while subject attends to the target object present in one visual hemifield and ignores the distractor present in another visual hemifield. This paper performs the averaged evoked response potential (ERP) analysis and time-frequency analysis. ERP analysis agrees to the left hemisphere superiority over late potentials for the targets present in right visual hemifield. Time-frequency analysis performed suggests two parameters i.e. event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) and inter-trial coherence (ITC). These parameters show the same properties for the target present in either of the visual hemifields but show the difference while comparing the activity corresponding to the targets and non-targets. In this way, this study helps to visualise the difference between targets present in the left and right visual hemifields and, also the targets and non-targets present in the left and right visual hemifields. These results could be utilised to monitor subjects' performance in brain-computer interface (BCI) and neurorehabilitation.
Fulltext Stable heterologous expression of biologically active terpenoids in green plant cells

Ikram NK, Zhan X, Pan XW, King BC, Simonsen HT

Front Plant Sci, 2015;6:129.
PMID: 25852702 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2015.00129

Plants biosynthesize a great diversity of biologically active small molecules of interest for fragrances, flavors, and pharmaceuticals. Among specialized metabolites, terpenoids represent the greatest molecular diversity. Many terpenoids are very complex, and total chemical synthesis often requires many steps and difficult chemical reactions, resulting in a low final yield or incorrect stereochemistry. Several drug candidates with terpene skeletons are difficult to obtain by chemical synthesis due to their large number of chiral centers. Thus, biological production remains the preferred method for industrial production for many of these compounds. However, because these chemicals are often found in low abundance in the native plant, or are produced in plants which are difficult to cultivate, there is great interest in engineering increased production or expression of the biosynthetic pathways in heterologous hosts. Although there are many examples of successful engineering of microbes such as yeast or bacteria to produce these compounds, this often requires extensive changes to the host organism's metabolism. Optimization of plant gene expression, post-translational protein modifications, subcellular localization, and other factors often present challenges. To address the future demand for natural products used as drugs, new platforms are being established that are better suited for heterologous production of plant metabolites. Specifically, direct metabolic engineering of plants can provide effective heterologous expression for production of valuable plant-derived natural products. In this review, our primary focus is on small terpenoids and we discuss the benefits of plant expression platforms and provide several successful examples of stable production of small terpenoids in plants.
Significant resolution of tuberculous pleural effusion on chemotherapy alone

Loh LC, Lim BK, Wan Yusuf S

J R Coll Physicians Edinb, 2010 Jun;40(2):100-4.
PMID: 21125048 DOI: 10.4997/JRCPE.2010.202

As a standard, significant pleural effusion, whether tuberculous (TB) or not, requires therapeutic thoracocentesis. We tested the hypothesis that standard anti-TB chemotherapy alone can resolve significant pleural effusion.
Sequence of the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase gene of the Newcastle disease virus oral vaccine strain V4(UPM)

Yusoff K, Tan WS, Lau CH, Ng BK, Ibrahim AL

Avian Pathol, 1996 Dec;25(4):837-44.
PMID: 18645902

The nucleotide sequence of the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) glycoprotein gene of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) variant strain V4(UPM) was determined by direct genomic RNA sequencing and confirmed by cycle sequencing. The gene comprises 1996 nucleotides encoding a 615 amino acid protein of size 67.4 kDa. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of this strain were compared with those of the parent strain V4(QUE). There are 16 nucleotide substitutions on V4(UPM), eight of which are silent mutations and another eliminated a potential Asn-linked glycosylation site in V4(UPM). In addition, an Arg (403) residue was shown to be absent in the variant strain. This deletion is thought to be significant because of its location in a highly conserved region of the HN protein.
Fulltext Sequence analysis of the PIP5K locus in Eimeria maxima provides further evidence for eimerian genome plasticity and segmental organization

Song BK, Pan MZ, Lau YL, Wan KL

Genet. Mol. Res., 2014;13(3):5803-14.
PMID: 25117339 DOI: 10.4238/2014.July.29.8

Commercial flocks infected by Eimeria species parasites, including Eimeria maxima, have an increased risk of developing clinical or subclinical coccidiosis; an intestinal enteritis associated with increased mortality rates in poultry. Currently, infection control is largely based on chemotherapy or live vaccines; however, drug resistance is common and vaccines are relatively expensive. The development of new cost-effective intervention measures will benefit from unraveling the complex genetic mechanisms that underlie host-parasite interactions, including the identification and characterization of genes encoding proteins such as phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase (PIP5K). We previously identified a PIP5K coding sequence within the E. maxima genome. In this study, we analyzed two bacterial artificial chromosome clones presenting a ~145-kb E. maxima (Weybridge strain) genomic region spanning the PIP5K gene locus. Sequence analysis revealed that ~95% of the simple sequence repeats detected were located within regions comparable to the previously described feature-rich segments of the Eimeria tenella genome. Comparative sequence analysis with the orthologous E. maxima (Houghton strain) region revealed a moderate level of conserved synteny. Unique segmental organizations and telomere-like repeats were also observed in both genomes. A number of incomplete transposable elements were detected and further scrutiny of these elements in both orthologous segments revealed interesting nesting events, which may play a role in facilitating genome plasticity in E. maxima. The current analysis provides more detailed information about the genome organization of E. maxima and may help to reveal genotypic differences that are important for expression of traits related to pathogenicity and virulence.
Search for Scalar Leptoquarks Produced via τ-Lepton-Quark Scattering in pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV

Hayrapetyan A, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Andrejkovic JW, Bergauer T, Chatterjee S, et al.

Phys Rev Lett, 2024 Feb 09;132(6):061801.
PMID: 38394587 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.061801

The first search for scalar leptoquarks produced in τ-lepton-quark collisions is presented. It is based on a set of proton-proton collision data recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb^{-1}. The reconstructed final state consists of a jet, significant missing transverse momentum, and a τ lepton reconstructed through its hadronic or leptonic decays. Limits are set on the product of the leptoquark production cross section and branching fraction and interpreted as exclusions in the plane of the leptoquark mass and the leptoquark-τ-quark coupling strength.
Search for Nonresonant Pair Production of Highly Energetic Higgs Bosons Decaying to Bottom Quarks

Tumasyan A, Adam W, Andrejkovic JW, Bergauer T, Chatterjee S, Damanakis K, et al.

Phys Rev Lett, 2023 Jul 28;131(4):041803.
PMID: 37566864 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.041803

A search for nonresonant Higgs boson (H) pair production via gluon and vector boson (V) fusion is performed in the four-bottom-quark final state, using proton-proton collision data at 13 TeV corresponding to 138 fb^{-1} collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The analysis targets Lorentz-boosted H pairs identified using a graph neural network. It constrains the strengths relative to the standard model of the H self-coupling and the quartic VVHH couplings, κ_{2V}, excluding κ_{2V}=0 for the first time, with a significance of 6.3 standard deviations when other H couplings are fixed to their standard model values.

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