MATERIALS AND METHODS: A research cross-sectional observational was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of students towards MHC at a private university in Malaysia. A validated questionnaire was distributed to 284 students studying in three different selected faculties, namely the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data.
RESULTS: Upon evaluation of knowledge, male students were having less-adequate knowledge than females (P = 0.006). Malay students were having adequate knowledge than other races about MHC. Faculty of Medicine was having adequate knowledge than other faculties (P ≤ 0.001). Regarding attitude, the Faculty of Pharmacy students had the highest positive attitudes (P = 0.001). Final year students were having a more positive attitude than pre-final year students. For the evaluation of practice, the Faculty of Dentistry students had the lowest practice compared with other faculties.
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, overall, good knowledge was seen among the students of the private medical university about MHC. The medical students had adequate knowledge when compared with other faculties in the university.
RESULTS: The LACV was evaluated for its colonization potential, reactogenicity, immunogenicity and protective efficacy in animal models after its storage at room temperature for 140 days. In suckling mice colonization assay, the LACV recorded the highest recovery of (7.2 × 107 CFU/mL) compared to those of unformulated VCUSM14P (5.6 × 107 CFU/mL) and the WT O139 strain (3.5 × 107 CFU/mL). The LACV showed no reactogenicity even at an inoculation dose of 104-106 CFU/mL in a rabbit ileal loop model. The rabbits vaccinated with the LACV or unformulated VCUSM14P survived a challenge with WT O139 and showed no signs of diarrhoea or death in the reversible intestinal tie adult rabbit diarrhoea (RITARD) model. Vaccinated rabbits recorded a 275-fold increase in anti-CT IgG and a 15-fold increase in anti-CT IgA antibodies compared to those of rabbits vaccinated with unformulated VCUSM14P. Vibriocidal antibodies were increased by 31-fold with the LACV and 14-fold with unformulated VCUSM14P.
CONCLUSION: The vaccine formulation mimics a natural infection, is non-reactogenic and highly immunogenic in vivo and protects animals from lethal wild-type V. cholerae O139 challenge. The single dose LACV formulation was found to be stable at room temperature (25 ± 2 °C) for 140 days and it would result in significant cost savings during mass cholera vaccination campaigns.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Pediatric Neurology Clinic, Hospital Pulau Pinang. Over a period of 6 months, the required data were extracted from the medical records using a pre-designed data collection form.
RESULTS: Seizure frequency showed no significant association with patient's demographics and clinical characteristic. However, significant reduction in seizure frequency from the baseline to the last follow-up visit was only seen in certain subgroups of patients including Malays, females, patients <4 years of age, patients with global developmental delay/intellectual disability, and patients with focal seizure. There was no significant association between seizure frequency and rate of adverse events. Polytherapy visits were associated with higher seizure frequency than monotherapy visits (27.97 ± 56.66, 10.94 ± 30.96 attack per month, respectively) (P < 0.001). There was a clear tendency to get antiepileptic drugs used at doses above the recommended range in polytherapy (8.4%) rather than in monotherapy (1.4%) visits (P < 0.001). A significant correlation was found between seizure frequency and number of visits per patient per year (r = 0.450, P < 0.001).
CONCLUSION: Among children with structural-metabolic epilepsy, Malays, females, patients <4 years of age, patients with global developmental delay/intellectual disability and patients manifested with focal seizure are more responsive antiepileptic drug therapy than the other subgroups of patients.
METHODS: The articles related to the topic were identified through Medline and PubMed search (1968-Feburary 2010) for English language on the interaction between parenteral nutrition and antiepileptic drugs; the search terms used were anti-epileptic drugs, parenteral nutrition, and/or interaction, and/or in vitro. The search looked for prospective randomized and nonrandomized controlled studies; prospective nonrandomized uncontrolled studies; retrospective studies; case reports; and in vitro studies. Full text of the articles were then traced from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) library subscribed databases, including Wiley-Blackwell Library, Cochrane Library, EBSCOHost, OVID, ScienceDirect, SAGE Premier, Scopus, SpringerLINK, and Wiley InterScience. The articles from journals not listed by USM library were traced through inter library loan.
RESULTS: There were interactions between parenteral nutrition and drugs, including antiepileptics. Several guidelines were designed for the management of illnesses such as traumatic brain injuries or cancer patients, involving the use of parenteral nutrition and antiepileptics. Moreover, many studies demonstrated the in vitro and in vivo parenteral nutrition -drugs interactions, especially with antiepileptics.
CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence supporting the existence of parenteral nutrition-antiepileptic drugs interaction. The issue has not been studied in formal researches, but several case reports and anecdotes demonstrate this drug-nutrition interaction. However, alteration in the drug-free fraction result from parenteral nutrition-drug (i.e. antiepileptics) interactions may necessitate scrupulous reassessment of drug dosages in patients receiving these therapies. This reassessment may be particularly imperative in certain clinical situations characterized by hypoalbuminemia (e.g., burn patients).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of students towards oral hygiene at a private university in Malaysia. Validated questionnaires were distributed to a convenient stratified sample of 324 students studying in the different selected faculties, namely pharmacy, medicine, biotechnology, and business, respectively. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data.
RESULTS: With regard to knowledge, upon evaluation, it was seen that the students of the Faculty of Pharmacy had the highest percentage of adequate knowledge, which was statistically significant with a P-value of 0.001 and the effect size of 0.246. On the evaluation of attitudes, it was seen that the Faculty of Biotechnology had the highest positive attitudes. According to race, Malay students had the highest positive attitude among all the races that participated in the study, which showed a P-value of 0.037 with the effect size of 0.034. Regarding practice, the Faculty of Pharmacy had the lowest practice compared with the other faculties. This variable had a P-value of 0.001 and showed to have significance against the practice with an effect size of 0.193.
CONCLUSION: Overall, a good attitude was seen amongst the students on their oral hygiene. It was also observed that the attitude, knowledge, and practice of the students in a private university increased with an increasing level of education.