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Sudden death due to infective endocarditis caused by Streptococcus constellatus: A case report

Zamasry MS, Hilmi Z, Mohd Yusof MYP, Razali HSA, Nawawi H, Mahmood MS

Trop Biomed, 2019 Dec 01;36(4):845-849.
PMID: 33597456

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a relatively uncommon disease, but has been challenging to diagnose over the years. With the increasing incidence, variety of causative agents and the resistance of microorganisms towards antibiotics, there is still an occurrence of sudden death due to undiagnosed IE. The most common microorganism causing IE is Staphylococcus aureus. However, there is increasing prevalence of other microorganisms causing IE. This case report highlights a case of sudden death due to IE caused by a rare pathogen, Streptococcus constellatus which belongs to the Streptococcus anginosus group (Milleri group). A study noted the crude incidence of IE in 6 world regions ranged between 1.5 and 11.6 cases per 100,000 people. To date, there has been no previous report on sudden death due to IE caused by Streptococcus constellatus in Malaysia, neither in the forensic nor clinical setting. This case report underlined the characteristics and pathological features of this microorganism. The increasing incidence and variety of causative organisms in IE are important public health issues. It is vital for future studies to examine the risk factors of IE related to Streptococcus constellatus, to enhance better understanding, insight and awareness regarding the course of this disease. This in turn may facilitate preventive measures to avoid morbidity and mortality from this condition.
Fulltext Alleviation of water stress effects on MR220 rice by application of periodical water stress and potassium fertilization

Zain NA, Ismail MR, Mahmood M, Puteh A, Ibrahim MH

Molecules, 2014;19(2):1795-819.
PMID: 24504074 DOI: 10.3390/molecules19021795

The use of periodical water stress and potassium fertilization may enhance rice tolerance to drought stress and improve the crop's instantaneous water use efficiency without much yield reduction. This study was conducted to assess the effects of different periodical water stress combined with potassium fertilization regimes on growth, yield, leaf gas exchanges and biochemical changes in rice grown in pots and compare them with standard local rice grower practices. Five treatments including (1) standard local grower's practice (control, 80CF = 80 kg K2O/ha + control flooding); (2) 120PW15 = 120 kg K2O/ha + periodical water stress for 15 days; (3) 120DS15V = 120 kg K2O/ha + drought stress for 15 days during the vegetative stage; (4) 120DS25V = 120 kg K2O/ha + drought stress for 25 days and (5) 120DS15R = 120 kg K2O/ha + drought stress for 15 days during the reproductive stage, were evaluated in this experiment. Control and 120PW15 treatments were stopped at 100 DAS, and continuously saturated conditions were applied until harvest. It was found that rice under 120PW15 treatment showed tolerance to drought stress evidenced by increased water use efficiency, peroxidase (POX), catalase (CAT) and proline levels, maximum efficiency of photosystem II (fv/fm) and lower minimal fluorescence (fo), compared to other treatments. Path coefficient analysis revealed that most of parameters contribute directly rather than indirectly to rice yield. In this experiment, there were four factors that are directly involved with rice yield: grain soluble sugar, photosynthesis, water use efficiency and total chlorophyll content. The residual factors affecting rice yield are observed to be quite low in the experiment (0.350), confirming that rice yield was mostly influenced by the parameters measured during the study.
Fulltext Fast synthesis of multilayer carbon nanotubes from camphor oil as an energy storage material

TermehYousefi A, Bagheri S, Shinji K, Rouhi J, Rusop Mahmood M, Ikeda S

Biomed Res Int, 2014;2014:691537.
PMID: 25258714 DOI: 10.1155/2014/691537

Among the wide range of renewable energy sources, the ever-increasing demand for electricity storage represents an emerging challenge. Utilizing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for energy storage is closely being scrutinized due to the promising performance on top of their extraordinary features. In this work, well-aligned multilayer carbon nanotubes were successfully synthesized on a porous silicon (PSi) substrate in a fast process using renewable natural essential oil via chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Considering the influx of vaporized multilayer vertical carbon nanotubes (MVCNTs) to the PSi, the diameter distribution increased as the flow rate decreased in the reactor. Raman spectroscopy results indicated that the crystalline quality of the carbon nanotubes structure exhibits no major variation despite changes in the flow rate. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra confirmed the hexagonal structure of the carbon nanotubes because of the presence of a peak corresponding to the carbon double bond. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images showed multilayer nanotubes, each with different diameters with long and straight multiwall tubes. Moreover, the temperature programmed desorption (TPD) method has been used to analyze the hydrogen storage properties of MVCNTs, which indicates that hydrogen adsorption sites exist on the synthesized multilayer CNTs.
Fulltext Proteome of rice roots treated with exogenous proline

Teh CY, Ho CL, Shaharuddin NA, Lai KS, Mahmood M

3 Biotech, 2019 Mar;9(3):101.
PMID: 30800612 DOI: 10.1007/s13205-019-1615-x

Proteomic analysis was conducted to identify the rice root proteins induced by exogenous proline and their involvement in root growth. Proteins were extracted from the root tissues grown under two conditions, T1 (control) and T2 (10 mM proline), and profiled by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Seventeen of 30 differentially expressed proteins were identified by mass spectrometry. Proline-treated rice roots showed up-regulation and down-regulation of nine and eight proteins, respectively, when compared to those in the control. Among the differentially expressed proteins, the down-regulation of glutathione reductase and peroxidase could be involved in the regulation of cellular hydrogen peroxide and reactive oxygen species levels that modulate the root cell wall structure. Differentially expressed proteins identified as pathogenesis-related proteins might be related to stress adaptive mechanisms in response to exogenous proline treatment. In addition, differentially expressed protein identified as the fructose-bisphosphate aldolases and cytochrome c oxidase might be associated with energy metabolism, which is needed during root developmental process. This is the first attempt to study the changes in rice root proteome treated with proline. The acquired information could open new avenues for further functional studies on the involvement of proline in modulating root development and its relation to stress adaptation of plants.
Fulltext Synthesis of silver nanoparticles dispersed in various aqueous media using laser ablation

Tajdidzadeh M, Azmi BZ, Yunus WM, Talib ZA, Sadrolhosseini AR, Karimzadeh K, et al.

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:324921.
PMID: 25295298 DOI: 10.1155/2014/324921

The particle size, morphology, and stability of Ag-NPs were investigated in the present study. A Q-Switched Nd: YAG pulsed laser (λ = 532 nm, 360 mJ/pulse) was used for ablation of a pure Ag plate for 30 min to prepare Ag-NPs in the organic compound such as ethylene glycol (EG) and biopolymer such as chitosan. The media (EG, chitosan) permitted the making of NPs with well dispersed and average size of Ag-NPs in EG is about 22 nm and in chitosan is about 10 nm in spherical form. Particle size, morphology, and stability of NPs were compared with distilled water as a reference. The stability of the samples was studied by measuring UV-visible absorption spectra of samples after one month. The result indicated that the formation efficiency of NPs in chitosan was higher than other media and NPs in chitosan solution were more stable than other media during one month storage. This method for synthesis of silver NPs could be as a green method due to its environmentally friendly nature.
Fulltext Clostridial aortitis causing ruptured dissecting aneurysm in a young adult female

Subramaniam K, Hasmi AH, Mahmood MS

Malays J Pathol, 2014 Dec;36(3):213-6.
PMID: 25500522 MyJurnal

Ruptured dissecting aortic aneurysm more commonly occur in men in the 40 to 70 age group, and most commonly is associated with atherosclerosis. Uncommon causes are previous heart surgery, connective tissue disorders and aortitis. Despite its rarity, Clostridium spp aortitis progresses very rapidly with a mortality rate of approximately 79% in adults, typically occurring within 48 hours of infection. We present a case of sudden death due to clostridial aortitis causing ruptured aortic dissection in an apparently healthy adult female, 7 weeks post-spontaneous vaginal delivery. This case highlights the pathology of aortic dissection and cystic media necrosis as presentations of clostridium spp infection in young female adult.
Sudden cardiac death in a young adult man due to spontaneous coronary artery dissection

Subramaniam K, Siew SF, Mahmood MS

Malays J Pathol, 2019 Apr;41(1):51-54.
PMID: 31025638

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare event and commonly associated with pregnancy and female gender. This condition can reduce or completely obstruct the blood flow to the heart, causing a myocardial ischaemia, abnormalities in heart rhythm or sudden death. We present a case of a 28-year-old Indian male with no previous medical illness who complained sudden onset of chest pain prior to his death. Autopsy revealed a left anterior descending coronary artery dissection associated with plaque rupture. The anterior wall of left ventricle showed contraction band necrosis. There was also atheroma present in the right coronary artery which was insignificant. Histologically, dissection was associated with atherosclerosis. There was no evidence of vasculitis. The cause of death was given as coronary artery dissection due to coronary artery atherosclerosis.
The Effect of Obesity on Severity of Asthma: An Observational Prospective Study from Pakistan

Shahid S, Alqahtani SS, Bajwa M, Rashid M, Sana A, Bajwa A, et al.

J Pharm Bioallied Sci, 2024;16(1):38-43.
PMID: 38694965 DOI: 10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_238_23

OBJECTIVE: The current research study aimed to access the relationship between obesity and asthma exacerbations and severity among adult patients at the outpatient section of a federal hospital (PIMS) in Islamabad, Pakistan.
METHODS: A cross-sectional research study was carried out on 207 asthma adult patients belonging to different areas and ethnic groups from the country. The study setting was the PIMS hospital, which attracts patients from all over the country due to its facilities and cost-effective treatments. The body mass index (BMI) of asthma patients was calculated using the heights and weights of the study subjects. However, the pulmonary functions were calculated using a computerized spirometer i-e Spirolab III S/N 303681 in line with Winspiro PRO 7.1.version software. It presents the patient's forced vital capacity that expires in the first second of expiration to full (FEV1) in comparison to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio, that is, Tiffeneau-Pinelli index was also recorded to determine the asthma severity.
RESULTS: According to recent surveys, the overall prevalence of patients with overweight and obesity was 29.0% and 23.7%, respectively. A Chi-square test was used, and a statistically significant relationship was observed between BMI and asthma severity (P < 0.001). The adult obese female patients presented poor pulmonary functions. The average FEV1/FVC ratio presented significant variance among four different categories of BMI with P < 0.05. This difference was due to the normal BMI category as the Tiffeneau-Pinelli index, that is, FEV1/FVC in the normal BMI group was significantly lower as compared to that in underweight and obese patients.
CONCLUSION: The study subjects presented raised asthma severity in accordance with the raised BMI. Obese patients presented comparatively raised asthma exacerbations. Moreover, a statistically significant association of gender difference was observed between obesity and asthma severity. It was concluded that adult asthmatic women with obesity presented raised asthma severity as compared to adult asthmatic males.
Barium Levels in Soils and Centella asiatica

Ong GH, Yap CK, Mahmood M, Tan SG, Hamzah S

Trop Life Sci Res, 2013 Aug;24(1):55-70.
PMID: 24575242

In this study, Centella asiatica and surface soils were collected from 12 sampling sites in Peninsular Malaysia, and the barium (Ba) concentrations were determined. The Ba concentration [μg/g dry weight (dw)] was 63.72 to 382.01 μg/g in soils while in C. asiatica, Ba concentrations ranged from 5.05 to 21.88 μg/g for roots, 3.31 to 11.22 μg/g for leaves and 2.37 to 6.14 μg/g for stems. In C. asiatica, Ba accumulation was found to be the highest in roots followed by leaves and stems. The correlation coefficients (r) of Ba between plants and soils were found to be significantly positively correlated, with the highest correlation being between roots-soils (r=0.922, p<005), followed by leaves-soils (r=0.890, p<005) and stems-soils (r=0.848, p<005). This indicates that these three parts of C. asiatica are good biomonitors of Ba pollution. For the transplantation study, four sites were selected as unpolluted [(Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)], semi-polluted (Seri Kembangan and Balakong) and polluted sites (Juru). Based on the transplantation study under experimental field and laboratory conditions, Ba concentrations in C. asiatica were significantly (p<0.05) higher after three weeks of exposure at Seri Kembangan, Balakong and Juru. Thus, these experimental findings confirm that the leaves, stems and roots of C. asiatica can reflect the Ba levels in the soils where this plant is found. Three weeks after back transplantation to clean soils, the Ba levels in C. asiatica were still higher than the initial Ba level even though Ba elimination occurred. In conclusion, the leaves, stems and roots of C. asiatica are good biomonitors of Ba pollution.
Isolation and characterization of two ABRE-binding proteins: EABF and EABF1 from the oil palm

Omidvar V, Abdullah SN, Ho CL, Mahmood M, Al-Shanfari AB

Mol Biol Rep, 2012 Sep;39(9):8907-18.
PMID: 22722992 DOI: 10.1007/s11033-012-1758-x

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important phytohormone involved in the abiotic stress resistance in plants. The ABA-responsive element (ABRE) binding factors play significant roles in the plant development and response to abiotic stresses, but none so far have been isolated and characterized from the oil palm. Two ABA-responsive cDNA clones, named EABF and EABF1, were isolated from the oil palm fruits using yeast one-hybrid system. The EABF had a conserved AP2/EREBP DNA-binding domain (DNA-BD) and a potential nuclear localization sequence (NLS). No previously known DNA-BD was identified from the EABF1 sequence. The EABF and EABF1 proteins were classified as DREB/CBF and bZIP family members based on the multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis. Both proteins showed ABRE-binding and transcriptional activation properties in yeast. Furthermore, both proteins were able to trans-activate the down-stream expression of the LacZ reporter gene in yeast. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay revealed that in addition to the ABRE sequence, both proteins could bind to the DRE sequence as well. Transcriptional analysis revealed that the expression of EABF was induced in response to the ABA in the oil palm fruits and leaves, but not in roots, while the EABF1 was constitutively induced in all tissues. The expressions of both genes were strongly induced in fruits in response to the ABA, ethylene, methyl jasmonate, drought, cold and high-salinity treatments, indicating that the EABF and EABF1 might act as connectors among different stress signal transduction pathways. Our results indicate that the EABF and EABF1 are novel stress-responsive transcription factors, which are involved in the abiotic stress response and ABA signaling in the oil palm and could be used for production of stress-tolerant transgenic crops.
The oil palm metallothionein promoter contains a novel AGTTAGG motif conferring its fruit-specific expression and is inducible by abiotic factors

Omidvar V, Abdullah SN, Izadfard A, Ho CL, Mahmood M

Planta, 2010 Sep;232(4):925-36.
PMID: 20635097 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-010-1220-z

The 1,053-bp promoter of the oil palm metallothionein gene (so-called MSP1) and its 5' deletions were fused to the GUS reporter gene, and analysed in transiently transformed oil palm tissues. The full length promoter showed sevenfold higher activity in the mesocarp than in leaves and 1.5-fold more activity than the CaMV35S promoter in the mesocarp. The 1,053-bp region containing the 5' untranslated region (UTR) gave the highest activity in the mesocarp, while the 148-bp region was required for minimal promoter activity. Two positive regulatory regions were identified at nucleotides (nt) -953 to -619 and -420 to -256 regions. Fine-tune deletion of the -619 to -420 nt region led to the identification of a 21-bp negative regulatory sequence in the -598 to -577 nt region, which is involved in mesocarp-specific expression. Gel mobility shift assay revealed a strong interaction of the leaf nuclear extract with the 21-bp region. An AGTTAGG core-sequence within this region was identified as a novel negative regulatory element controlling fruit-specificity of the MSP1 promoter. Abscisic acid (ABA) and copper (Cu(2+)) induced the activity of the promoter and its 5' deletions more effectively than methyl jasmonate (MeJa) and ethylene. In the mesocarp, the full length promoter showed stronger inducibility in response to ABA and Cu(2+) than its 5' deletions, while in leaves, the -420 nt fragment was the most inducible by ABA and Cu(2+). These results suggest that the MSP1 promoter and its regulatory regions are potentially useful for engineering fruit-specific and inducible gene expression in oil palm.
C-reactive protein is highly expressed in visceral adipose tissue of obese but not lean subjects: A post mortem study

Noorjamal NA, Omar E, Kaur M, Shah Mahmood M, Hasmi AH, Nawawi HM

Atherosclerosis, 2017 Aug;263:e122.
PMID: 29365498 DOI: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2017.06.393
Glycaemic control and associated factors among patients with diabetes at public health clinics in Johor, Malaysia

Mahmood MI, Daud F, Ismail A

Public Health, 2016 Jun;135:56-65.
PMID: 26976488 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2015.07.043

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of glycaemic control and factors associated with poor glycaemic control [glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) ≥6.5%] among patients with type 2 diabetes treated in public health clinics in Johor, Malaysia.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.

METHODS: A review of all patients aged over 18 years and with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes for >1 year. The National Diabetic Registry was used as the database for attendees at public health clinics in Johor Bahru between January and December 2013. A required sample of 660 was calculated, and a random sampling method was applied to acquire patient information across the 13 public health clinics in Johor Bahru. All relevant information (e.g. HbA1c, type of treatment and other parameters for glycaemic control) were abstracted from the registry.

RESULTS: Sixty-eight percent of 706 patients had HbA1c >6.5%, and mean HbA1c was 7.8%. Younger patients (72.3%) had poorer glycaemic control than older patients (63.0%), and most patients with poor glycaemic control were obese (79.2%). Approximately 31.7% of patients did not achieve the target blood pressure <130/80 mmHg, and 58.5% did not achieve the target lipid profile. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that age (<60 years), sex (male), duration of diabetes (>5 years), body mass index (obese), type of treatment (diet therapy vs combination therapy) and abnormal lipid profile were significantly associated with increased odds of HbA1C >6.5%.

CONCLUSIONS: More than half (68%) of the patients with diabetes had HbA1c >6.5%. This highlights the importance of providing organized care to manage patients with diabetes in the primary care setting, such as weight reduction programmes, proper prescribing treatment, and age- and gender-specific groups to ensure good glycaemic control.
Acute and repeated dose 28-day oral toxicity of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) nanoparticles in Sprague-Dawley rats

Leong YH, Isa ASM, Mohamed Mahmood M, Moey CEJ, Utar Z, Soon YI, et al.

Regul Toxicol Pharmacol, 2018 Jun;95:280-288.
PMID: 29567329 DOI: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2018.03.011

This study aimed to investigate the oral acute and subacute toxicity of Poly [3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate], P(3HB-co-4HB) in the form of nanoparticles in Sprague-Dawley rats. Acute oral administration of P(3HB-co-4HB) nanoparticles was performed as a single dose up to 2000 mg/kg in six female rats for 14 days. Subacute toxicity study via oral administration for 28 days at doses of 0 (control), 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg in rats (10 rats in each group, female:male = 1:1) was conducted. The estimated lethal dose (LD50) of P(3HB-co-4HB) nanoparticles was >2000 mg/kg. No mortality, unusual changes in behaviour, adverse clinical signs, abnormal changes in body weights or food consumption were observed on all animals treated with P(3HB-co-4HB) nanoparticles during 14 days of the acute toxicity study. In the subacute test, there was no mortality and toxicologically significant changes in clinical signs, body weights, food consumption, hematology, clinical biochemistry, urinalysis, macroscopic findings, organ weights as well as histopathological examination were observed.
Fulltext Antioxidant Potential in Different Parts and Callus of Gynura procumbens and Different Parts of Gynura bicolor

Krishnan V, Ahmad S, Mahmood M

Biomed Res Int, 2015;2015:147909.
PMID: 26491654 DOI: 10.1155/2015/147909

Plants from Gynura family was used in this study, namely, Gynura procumbens and Gynura bicolor. Gynura procumbens is well known for its various medicinal properties such as antihyperglycaemic, antihyperlipidaemic, and antiulcerogenic; meanwhile, G. bicolor remains unexploited. Several nonenzymatic antioxidants methods were utilized to study the antioxidant capacity, which include ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay, total flavonoid content, total phenolic content, and ascorbic acid content determination. DPPH assay reveals G. procumbens shoot as the lowest (66.885%) and G. procumbens root as the highest (93.499%) DPPH radical inhibitor. In FRAP assay, reducing power was not detected in G. procumbens leaf callus (0.000 TEAC mg/g FW) whereby G. procumbens root exhibits the highest (1.103 TEAC mg/g FW) ferric reducing power. Total phenolic content and total flavonoid content exhibited similar trend for both the intact plants analysed. In all antioxidant assays, G. procumbens callus culture exhibits very low antioxidant activity. However, G. procumbens root exhibited highest phenolic content, flavonoid content, and ascorbic acid content with 4.957 TEAC mg/g FW, 543.529 QE µg/g FW, and 54.723 µg/g FW, respectively. This study reveals that G. procumbens root extract is a good source of natural antioxidant.
Fulltext MH17: the Malaysian experience

Khoo LS, Hasmi AH, Abdul Ghani Aziz SA, Ibrahim MA, Mahmood MS

Malays J Pathol, 2016 Apr;38(1):1-10.
PMID: 27126658 MyJurnal

A disaster is a natural or man-made (or technological) hazard resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment. It is a phenomenon that can cause damage to life and property and destroy the economic, social and cultural life of the people; and overwhelms the capacity of the community to cope with the event. The recent tragic aviation accidents in 2014 involving Malaysia Airlines flights MH370 and MH17 shocked the world in an unprecedented manner. This paper focuses on the Malaysian experience in the MH17 mission in Ukraine as well as the first ever international Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) operation for the Malaysian DVI team. The DVI operations in Hilversum, the Netherlands were well described in stages. The Netherlands' Landelijk Team Forensische Opsporing as the lead DVI team in Hilversum operated systematically, ensuring the success of the whole mission. This paper discusses the lessons learned by the Malaysian team on proper DVI structure, inter- and intra-agency cooperation, facilities planning and set up, logistics and health and safety aspects, as well as effective communication and collaboration with other international delegates. Several issues and challenges faced by the Malaysian team were also documented. In addition, the authors shared views, opinions and recommendations for a more comprehensive DVI operation in the future.
Association of coronary artery calcium score with calcification and degree of stenosis: An autopsy study

Kaur M, Rahimi R, Razali F, Mohd Noor N, Omar E, Abdul Manaf Z, et al.

Malays J Pathol, 2019 Aug;41(2):177-183.
PMID: 31427553

INTRODUCTION: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a known cause of major cardiovascular events and calcium score (CS) has been developed as a marker of coronary atherosclerosis. Yet, the relationship between post mortem computed tomography (PMCT) CS with histologically observed calcification and the severity of coronary artery stenosis has not been widely explored and is still unclear. This study aims to determine the association between coronary artery PMCT CS with histologically observed calcification and degree of stenosis of coronary arteries in post-mortem cases.
MATERIALS & METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study involving 101 subjects recruited from the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (IPFN) Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) over a period of 15 months, from December 2012 until April 2014. PMCT CS of the coronary arteries was calculated using Agatston-Janowitz score. Histological presence of calcification was observed and the degree of stenosis was calculated using an image analysis technique.
RESULTS: PMCT CS increased with increasing severity of stenosis (p<0.001). PMCT CS showed a positive correlation with the presence of calcification (r=-0.82, p<0.001).
CONCLUSION: Calcium score is strongly associated with coronary artery calcification and the degree of luminal stenosis in post mortem subjects. Thus, PMCT may be useful as a non-invasive tool in diagnosing CAD in the event that an autopsy is not possible.
Diffusion-weighted imaging in hyperacute haemorrhagic stroke patients presenting within thrombolysis window

Kamis MFAK, Ishak A, Bahari N, Yaakob MNM, Abdul Rahim E, Baharin J, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2023 Dec;78(7):890-892.
PMID: 38159923

INTRODUCTION: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been proposed as the first line of neuroimaging for acute ischaemic stroke. The reliability of DWI in detecting intracranial haemorrhage, however, is still unproven, compared with susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) and CT scan which being considered the gold standard. This study seeks to establish the reliability of DWI as a first-line imaging modality to detect the intracranial haemorrhage in the patients present within the thrombolysis window.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was performed on patients who presented to our institution from April 2020 until July 2021 for acute stroke and had MRI brain as first-line neuroimaging. A total of 31 subjects were included in this study. Two radiologists assessed the signal patterns in DWI sequence and compared them with SWI and CT Brain, whenever available, as the gold standard for observing the presence of intracranial haemorrhage.
RESULTS: The majority of patients with hyperacute bleed proven to be revealed on SWI or CT, thus showed characteristics of central hyperintensity and peripheral hypointense rim, on DWI. Slightly more than half (51.6%) presented with mild to moderate NIHSS scores (1-15). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of DWI in detecting intracranial intra-axial haemorrhages were exceptionally high. There is strong interobserver level of agreement in identifying central haemorrhagic signal intensity [kappa = 0.94 (0.06), p < 0.05].
CONCLUSION: This study supported the DWI sequence as a reliable sequence in MRI, to detect intracranial haemorrhage in hyperacute stroke.
Echocardiographic Assessment of Left Atrial Systolic Function after Percutaneous Mitral Balloon Valvuloplasty Using Tissue Doppler Imaging

Hasan MN, Banarjee SK, Ahsan SA, Habib SM, Mahmood M

Mymensingh Med J, 2018 Oct;27(4):851-858.
PMID: 30487504

Mitral stenosis (MS) affects left atrial (LA) function as a result of hemodynamic and myocardial factors that causes significant symptoms and complications. Conventional echocardiographic methods have been practicing to see the improvement of left atrial function after successful percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty (PMBV). Introduction of tissue doppler imaging allows direct and non-invasive measurement of myocardial velocities. The aim of the study was to evaluate LA functions after PMBV using colour tissue doppler imaging. This cross sectional study was performed in Cardiology department of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh from March 2014 to February 2015. Forty six (46) patients (28 females, mean age: 28.96±5.78 years) presenting with mitral valve stenosis who fulfilled the indications for PMBV were included in the study. Within 24 hours before PMBV, all the patients underwent colour tissue doppler study in addition to routine conventional echocardiographic examinations. Late diastolic velocities (A') measured at the septal and lateral annuli were recorded. All the measurements were repeated 24 hours after PMBV. The PMBV was done using the Inoue technique. After PMBV mitral valve areas (MVA) were significantly increased. Maximum and mean gradients, LA diameter, LA area, LA volume, systolic pulmonary arterial pressure and mean LA pressures were decreased while septal and lateral A' were significantly (p<0.001) increased. Lateral and septal A' velocities were correlated with MVA and inversely related to LA pressure measured invasively during PMBV. Tissue doppler velocities illustrated improvement of left atrial systolic function after PMBV in relation to decreased mean left atrial pressure and increased mitral valve area. Therefore, tissue doppler Imaging is a useful tool to detect improvement of left atrial systolic function after PMBV in patients with mitral stenosis.
Marker-assisted backcrossing: a useful method for rice improvement

Hasan MM, Rafii MY, Ismail MR, Mahmood M, Rahim HA, Alam MA, et al.

Biotechnology, biotechnological equipment, 2015 Mar 04;29(2):237-254.
PMID: 26019637

The world's population is increasing very rapidly, reducing the cultivable land of rice, decreasing table water, emerging new diseases and pests, and the climate changes are major issues that must be addressed to researchers to develop sustainable crop varieties with resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, recent scientific discoveries and advances particularly in genetics, genomics and crop physiology have opened up new opportunities to reduce the impact of these stresses which would have been difficult if not impossible as recently as the turn of the century. Marker assisted backcrossing (MABC) is one of the most promising approaches is the use of molecular markers to identify and select genes controlling resistance to those factors. Regarding this, MABC can contribute to develop resistant or high-yielding or quality rice varieties by incorporating a gene of interest into an elite variety which is already well adapted by the farmers. MABC is newly developed efficient tool by which using large population sizes (400 or more plants) for the backcross F1 generations, it is possible to recover the recurrent parent genotype using only two or three backcrosses. So far, many high yielding, biotic and abiotic stresses tolerance, quality and fragrance rice varieties have been developed in rice growing countries through MABC within the shortest timeframe. Nowadays, MABC is being used widely in plant breeding programmes to develop new variety/lines especially in rice. This paper reviews recent literature on some examples of variety/ line development using MABC strategy.

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