Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 170 in total

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  1. A Malaysian consensus recommendation for the prevention of influenza in older persons
    Tan MP, Sekawi Z, Abdul Manap R, Razali RM, Mahadzir H, Nordin N, et al.
    BMC Infect Dis, 2022 Dec 15;22(1):943.
    PMID: 36522615 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-022-07920-3
    BACKGROUND: Older persons are at high-risk of developing severe complications from influenza. This consensus statement was developed to provide guidance on appropriate influenza prevention strategies relevant to the Malaysian healthcare setting.

    METHODS: Under the initiative of the Malaysian Influenza Working Group (MIWG), a panel comprising 11 multi-speciality physicians was convened to develop a consensus statement. Using a modified Delphi process, the panellists reviewed published evidence on various influenza management interventions and synthesised 10 recommendations for the prevention of influenza among the aged population via group discussions and a blinded rating exercise.

    RESULTS: Overall, annual influenza vaccination is recommended for individuals aged ≥ 60 years, particularly those with specific medical conditions or residing in aged care facilities (ACFs). There is no preference for a particular vaccine type in this target population. Antiviral agents can be given for post-exposure chemoprophylaxis or when vaccine contraindication exists. Infection control measures should serve as adjuncts to prevent the spread of influenza, especially during Hajj.

    CONCLUSION: This consensus statement presents 10 evidence-based recommendations that can be adopted by healthcare providers to prevent influenza among the aged population in Malaysia. It could also serve as a basis for health policy planning in other lower- and middle-income countries.

  2. A Patient with Third-Space Fluid Loss
    Tay TY, Nordin N, Badaruddin IA, Othman H
    Clin Chem, 2023 Feb 01;69(2):125-128.
    PMID: 36724481 DOI: 10.1093/clinchem/hvac205
  3. Fulltext A Review on the Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Humans and Animals Reported in Malaysia from 2008-2018
    Nasiru Wana M, Mohd Moklas MA, Watanabe M, Nordin N, Zasmy Unyah N, Alhassan Abdullahi S, et al.
    Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2020 07 03;17(13).
    PMID: 32635389 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17134809
    Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). Human toxoplasmosis seroprevalence in Malaysia has increased since it was first reported in 1973 as shown in previous reviews of 1991 and 2007. However, over a decade since the last review, comprehensive data on toxoplasmosis in Malaysia is lacking. This work aimed at reviewing articles on toxoplasmosis research in Malaysia in order to identify the research gaps, create public awareness, and efforts made so far and proffer management options on the disease. The present review examines the available published research articles from 2008 to 2018 related to toxoplasmosis research conducted in Malaysia. The articles reviewed were retrieved from nine credible databases such as Web of Science, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, Springer, Wiley online library, Ovid, and Cochrane using the keywords; Malaysia, toxoplasmosis, Toxoplasma gondii, toxoplasma encephalitis, seroprevalence, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients, pregnant women, genotype strain, anti-toxoplasma antibodies, felines, and vaccine. The data highlighted seropositive cases from healthy community members in Pangkor Island (59.7%) and among migrant workers (57.4%) at alarming rates, as well as 42.5% in pregnant women. Data on animal seroprevalence were limited and there was no information on cats as the definitive host. Genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii from HIV patients; pregnant women, and domestic cats is lacking. This present review on toxoplasmosis is beneficial to researchers, health workers, animal health professionals, and policymakers. Therefore, attention is required to educate and enlighten health workers and the general public about the risk factors associated with T. gondii infection in Malaysia.
  4. Fulltext A Web-Based Intervention for Social Media Addiction Disorder Management in Higher Education: Quantitative Survey Study
    Dogan H, Norman H, Alrobai A, Jiang N, Nordin N, Adnan A
    J Med Internet Res, 2019 10 02;21(10):e14834.
    PMID: 31579018 DOI: 10.2196/14834
    BACKGROUND: Social media addiction disorder has recently become a major concern and has been reported to have negative impacts on postgraduate studies, particularly addiction to Facebook. Although previous studies have investigated the effects of Facebook addiction disorder in learning settings, there still has been a lack of studies investigating the relationship between online intervention features for Facebook addiction focusing on postgraduate studies.

    OBJECTIVE: In an attempt to understand this relationship, this study aimed to carry out an investigation on online intervention features for effective management of Facebook addiction in higher education.

    METHODS: This study was conducted quantitatively using surveys and partial least square-structural equational modeling. The study involved 200 postgraduates in a Facebook support group for postgraduates. The Bergen Facebook Addiction test was used to assess postgraduates' Facebook addiction level, whereas online intervention features were used to assess postgraduates' perceptions of online intervention features for Facebook addiction, which are as follows: (1) self-monitoring features, (2) manual control features, (3) notification features, (4) automatic control features, and (5) reward features.

    RESULTS: The study discovered six Facebook addiction factors (relapse, conflict, salience, tolerance, withdrawal, and mood modification) and five intervention features (notification, auto-control, reward, manual control, and self-monitoring) that could be used in the management of Facebook addiction in postgraduate education. The study also revealed that relapse is the most important factor and mood modification is the least important factor. Furthermore, findings indicated that notification was the most important intervention feature, whereas self-monitoring was the least important feature.

    CONCLUSIONS: The study's findings (addiction factors and intervention features) could assist future developers and educators in the development of online intervention tools for Facebook addiction management in postgraduate education.

  5. A bismuth diethyldithiocarbamate compound promotes apoptosis in HepG2 carcinoma, cell cycle arrest and inhibits cell invasion through modulation of the NF-κB activation pathway
    Ishak DH, Ooi KK, Ang KP, Akim AM, Cheah YK, Nordin N, et al.
    J Inorg Biochem, 2014 Jan;130:38-51.
    PMID: 24176918 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2013.09.018
    The compound with R=CH2CH3 in Bi(S2CNR2)3 (1) is highly cytotoxic against a range of human carcinoma, whereas that with R=CH2CH2OH (2) is considerably less so. Both 1 and 2 induce apoptosis in HepG2 cells with some evidence for necrosis induced by 2. Based on DNA fragmentation, caspase activities and human apoptosis PCR-array analysis, both the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways of apoptosis have been shown to occur. While both compounds activate mitochondrial and FAS apoptotic pathways, compound 1 was also found to induce another death receptor-dependent pathway by induction of CD40, CD40L and TNF-R1 (p55). Further, 1 highly expressed DAPK1, a tumour suppressor, with concomitant down-regulation of XIAP and NF-κB. Cell cycle arrest at the S and G2/M phases correlates with the inhibition of the growth of HepG2 cells. The cell invasion rate of 2 is 10-fold higher than that of 1, a finding correlated with the down-regulation of survivin and XIAP expression by 1. Compounds 1 and 2 interact with DNA through different binding motifs with 1 interacting with AT- or TA-specific sites followed by inhibition of restriction enzyme digestion; 2 did not interfere with any of the studied restriction enzymes.
  6. Fulltext A comparative study of machine learning techniques for suicide attempts predictive model
    Nordin N, Zainol Z, Mohd Noor MH, Lai Fong C
    Health Informatics J, 2021 3 23;27(1):1460458221989395.
    PMID: 33745355 DOI: 10.1177/1460458221989395
    Current suicide risk assessments for predicting suicide attempts are time consuming, of low predictive value and have inadequate reliability. This paper aims to develop a predictive model for suicide attempts among patients with depression using machine learning algorithms as well as presents a comparative study on single predictive models with ensemble predictive models for differentiating depressed patients with suicide attempts from non-suicide attempters. We applied and trained eight different machine learning algorithms using a dataset that consists of 75 patients diagnosed with a depressive disorder. A recursive feature elimination was used to reduce the features via three-fold cross validation. An ensemble predictive models outperformed the single predictive models. Voting and bagging revealed the highest accuracy of 92% compared to other machine learning algorithms. Our findings indicate that history of suicide attempt, religion, race, suicide ideation and severity of clinical depression are useful factors for prediction of suicide attempts.
  7. Fulltext A comprehensive review of cystic fibrosis in Africa and Asia
    Abubakar Bobbo K, Ahmad U, Chau DM, Nordin N, Abdullah S
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2023 Jul;30(7):103685.
    PMID: 37313453 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2023.103685
    Cystic fibrosis (CF) was earlier thought to be a disease prevalent in the West among Caucasians. However, quite a number of recent studies have uncovered CF cases outside of this region, and reported hundreds of unique and novel variant forms of CFTR. Here, we discuss the evidence of CF in parts of the world earlier considered to be rare; Africa, and Asia. This review also highlighted the CFTR mutation variations and new mutations discovered in these regions. This discovery implies that the CF data from these regions were earlier underestimated. The inadequate awareness of the disease in these regions might have contributed towards the poor diagnostic facilities, under-diagnosis or/and under-reporting, and the lack of CF associated health policies. Overall, these regions have a high rate of infant, childhood and early adulthood mortality due to CF. Therefore, there is a need for a thorough investigation of CF prevalence and to identify unique and novel variant mutations within these regions in order to formulate intervention plans, create awareness, develop mutation specific screening kits and therapies to keep CF mortality at bay.
  8. A descriptive study of nasogastric tube feeding among geriatric inpatients in Malaysia: utilization, complications, and caregiver opinions
    Nordin N, Kamaruzzaman SB, Chin AV, Poi PJ, Tan MP
    J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr, 2015;34(1):34-49.
    PMID: 25803603 DOI: 10.1080/21551197.2014.998326
    The strong emphasis on feeding in Asian cultures may influence decisions for nasogastric (NG) tube feeding in geriatric inpatients. We evaluated the utility, complications, and opinions of caregivers toward NG tube feeding in an acute geriatric ward in a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Consecutive patients aged 65 years and older receiving NG tube feeding were included. Sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory indices were recorded. Opinion on NG tube feeding were evaluated through face-to-face interviews with caregivers, recruited through convenience sampling. Of 432 patients admitted, 96 (22%), age ± standard deviation = 80.8 ± 7.4 years, received NG tube feeding. The complication and mortality rates were 69% and 38%, respectively. Diabetes (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 3.34 [1.07, 10.44], aspiration pneumonia (8.15 [2.43, 27.24]), impaired consciousness (3.13 [1.05, 9.36]), and albumin ≤26 g/dl (4.43 [1.46, 13.44]) were independent predictors of mortality. Other relatives were more likely than spouses (23.5 [3.59, 154.2]) and caregivers with tertiary education more likely than those with no formal education ( 18 [1.23, 262.7]) to agree to NG feeding. Sixty-four percent of caregivers felt NG tube feeding was appropriate at the end of life, mostly due to the fear of starvation. NG tube feeding is widely used in our setting, despite high complication and mortality rates, with likely influences from cultural emphasis on feeding.
  9. A highly efficient immobilized ZnO/Zn photoanode for degradation of azo dye Reactive Green 19 in a photocatalytic fuel cell
    Lee SL, Ho LN, Ong SA, Wong YS, Voon CH, Khalik WF, et al.
    Chemosphere, 2017 Jan;166:118-125.
    PMID: 27693872 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.09.082
    Photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) is a potential wastewater treatment technology that can generate electricity from the conversion of chemical energy of organic pollutants. An immobilized ZnO/Zn fabricated by sonication and heat attachment method was applied as the photoanode and Pt/C plate was used as the cathode of the PFC in this study. Factors that affect the decolorization efficiency and electricity generation of the PFC such as different initial dye concentrations and pH were investigated. Results revealed that the degradation of Reactive Green 19 (RG19) was enhanced in a closed circuit PFC compared with that of a opened circuit PFC. Almost 100% decolorization could be achieved in 8 h when 250 mL of 30 mg L(-1) of RG19 was treated in a PFC without any supporting electrolyte. The highest short circuit current of 0.0427 mA cm(-2) and maximum power density of 0.0102 mW cm(-2) was obtained by PFC using 30 mg L(-1) of RG19. The correlation between dye degradation, conductivity and voltage output were also investigated and discussed.
  10. A plethora of human pluripotent stem cells
    Gao L, Thilakavathy K, Nordin N
    Cell Biol Int, 2013 Sep;37(9):875-87.
    PMID: 23619972 DOI: 10.1002/cbin.10120
    At the early stages of mammalian development, a number of developmentally plastic cells appear that possess the ability to give rise to all of the differentiated cell types normally derived from the three primary germ layers - unique character known as pluripotency. To date, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have been shown to be truly pluripotent. However, recent studies have revealed a variety of other cells that demonstrate pluripotentiality, including very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs), amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs), marrow-isolated adult multilineage inducible cells (MIAMI) and multipotent adult precursor cells (MAPCs). This review summarises key features of these six kinds of pluripotent and potentially pluripotent stem cells (ESCs, iPSCs, VSELs, AFSCs, MIAMI and MAPCs) and the evidence for their pluripotency properties.
  11. Fulltext A simple, portable, electrochemical biosensor to screen shellfish for Vibrio parahaemolyticus
    Nordin N, Yusof NA, Abdullah J, Radu S, Hushiarian R
    AMB Express, 2017 Dec;7(1):41.
    PMID: 28205102 DOI: 10.1186/s13568-017-0339-8
    An earlier electrochemical mechanism of DNA detection was adapted and specified for the detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in real samples. The reader, based on a screen printed carbon electrode, was modified with polylactide-stabilized gold nanoparticles and methylene blue was employed as the redox indicator. Detection was assessed using a microprocessor to measure current response under controlled potential. The fabricated sensor was able to specifically distinguish complementary, non-complementary and mismatched oligonucleotides. DNA was measured in the range of 2.0 × 10(-8)-2.0 × 10(-13) M with a detection limit of 2.16 pM. The relative standard deviation for 6 replications of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurement of 0.2 µM complementary DNA was 4.33%. Additionally, cross-reactivity studies against various other food-borne pathogens showed a reliably sensitive detection of the target pathogen. Successful identification of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (spiked and unspiked) in fresh cockles, combined with its simplicity and portability demonstrate the potential of the device as a practical screening tool.
  12. A synergistic heterostructured ZnO/BaTiO3 loaded carbon photoanode in photocatalytic fuel cell for degradation of Reactive Red 120 and electricity generation
    Ong YP, Ho LN, Ong SA, Banjuraizah J, Ibrahim AH, Lee SL, et al.
    Chemosphere, 2019 Mar;219:277-285.
    PMID: 30543963 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.12.004
    Photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) is considered as a sustainable green technology which could degrade organic pollutant and generate electricity simultaneously. A synergistic double-sided ZnO/BaTiO3 loaded carbon plate heterojunction photoanode was fabricated in different ratios by using simple ultrasonication and mixed-annealed method. The double-sided design of photoanode allowed the lights irradiated at both sides of the photoanode. The ferroelectricity fabricated photoanode was applied in a membraneless PFC with platinum-loaded carbon as the cathode. Results revealed that the photoanode with 1:1 ratio of BaTiO3 and ZnO exhibited a superior photocatalytic activity among all the photoanodes prepared in this study. The heterojunction of this photoanode was able to achieve up to a removal efficiency of 93.67% with a maximum power density of 0.5284 μW cm-2 in 10 mg L-1 of Reactive Red 120 (RR120) without any supporting electrolyte. This photoanode was able to maintain at high performance after recycling 3 times. Overloading of ZnO above 50% on BaTiO3 could lead to deterioration of the performance of PFC due to the charge defects and light trapping ability. The interactions, interesting polarizations of the photocatalysts and proposed mechanism of the n-n type heterojunction in the photoanode of ZnO/BaTiO3 was also discussed.
  13. A systematic review of statistical methods used to test for reliability of medical instruments measuring continuous variables
    Zaki R, Bulgiba A, Nordin N, Azina Ismail N
    Iran J Basic Med Sci, 2013 Jun;16(6):803-7.
    PMID: 23997908
    Reliability measures precision or the extent to which test results can be replicated. This is the first ever systematic review to identify statistical methods used to measure reliability of equipment measuring continuous variables. This studyalso aims to highlight the inappropriate statistical method used in the reliability analysis and its implication in the medical practice.
  14. Fulltext ABO-Incompatible Living-Donor Kidney Transplantation in a Developing Country: A Multicenter Experience in Malaysia
    Gan CC, Jalalonmuhali M, Nordin NZ, Abdul Wahab MZ, Yahya R, Ng KP, et al.
    Transplant Proc, 2021 Apr;53(3):856-864.
    PMID: 33487455 DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2020.10.038
    Malaysia has a low deceased-donor donation rate and has not embarked on a paired kidney exchange program; therefore, ABO-incompatible and HLA-incompatible transplantation remain the main contributor to the sustainability of the national kidney transplantation (KT) program. There were 26 cases of ABO-incompatible KTs performed from 2011 to 2018 in 3 major transplant centers, namely, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, University Malaya Medical Centre, and Prince Court Medical Centre. We collected perioperative and follow-up data through June 2019. The desensitization protocol varies and is center specific: the localized Japanese protocol and Swedish protocol with a target anti-A/B isoagglutinin titer of 16 or 32 on the day of transplant. The induction and tacrolimus-based maintenance protocol was nearly identical. The median follow-up time was 62.3 months (interquartile range, 37.0-79.7). Fifteen subjects had the highest predesensitization anti-A/B titer of ≥32 (57.7%). The acute cellular rejection and antibody-mediated rejection incidence were 12.5% (3 cases) and 8.3% (2 cases), respectively. Patient, graft, and death-censored graft survival rates were 96.2%, 92.3%, and 96.0%, respectively, 1 year post-living-donor KT (LDKT) and 96.2%, 87.2%, and 90.7%, respectively, 5 years post-LDKT. Our experience shows that ABO-incompatible LDKT using a suitable desensitization technique could be a safe and feasible choice for LDKT even with varied desensitization regimens for recipients with relatively high baseline isoagglutinin titers.
  15. Accelerated wound closure - Systematic evaluation of cellulose acetate effects on biologically active molecules release from amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs)
    Nuge T, Liu X, Tshai KY, Lim SS, Nordin N, Hoque ME, et al.
    Biotechnol Appl Biochem, 2021 Apr 07.
    PMID: 33826152 DOI: 10.1002/bab.2162
    Despite a lot of intensive research on cells-scaffolds interaction, focused are mainly on the capacity of construct scaffolds to regulate cell mobility, migration and cytotoxicity. The effect of the scaffold's topographical and material properties on the expression of biologically active compounds from stem cells is not well understood. In this study, the influence of cellulose acetate (CA) on the electrospinnability of gelatin and the roles of gelatin-cellulose acetate (Ge-CA) on modulating the release of biologically active compounds from amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs) is emphasized. It was found that the presence of a small amount of CA could provide a better microenvironment that mimics AFSCs' niche. However, a large amount of CA exhibited no significant effect on AFSCs migration and infiltration. Further study on the effect of surface topography and mechanical properties on AFSCs showed that the tailored microenvironment provided by the Ge-CA scaffolds had transduced physical cues to biomolecules released into the culture media. It was found that the AFSCs seeded on electrospun scaffolds with less CA proportions has profound effects on the secretion of metabolic compounds compared to those with higher CA contained and gelatin coating. The enhanced secretion of biologically active molecules by the AFSCs on the electrospun scaffolds was proven by the accelerated wound closure on the injured human dermal fibroblast (HDF) model. The rapid HDF cell migration could be anticipated due to a higher level of paracrine factors in AFSCs media. Our study demonstrates that the fibrous topography and mechanical properties of the scaffold is a key material property that modulates the high expression of biologically active compounds from the AFSCs. The discovery elucidates a new aspect of material functions and scaffolds material-AFSCs interaction for regulating biomolecules release to promote tissue regeneration/repair. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing the scaffolds material-AFSCs interaction and the efficacy of scratch assays on quantifying the cell migration in response to the AFSCs metabolic products. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
  16. Acetogenins Exhibit Potential BCL-XL Inhibitor for the Induction of Apoptosis in the Molecular Docking Study
    Nordin N, Khimani K, Abd Ghani MF
    Curr Drug Discov Technol, 2021;18(6):e010921191171.
    PMID: 33563198 DOI: 10.2174/1570163818666210204202426
    BACKGROUND: Anti-apoptotic protein BCL-XL plays a vital role in tumorigenesis and cancer chemotherapy resistance, resulting in a good target for cancer treatment. Understanding the function of BCL-XL has driven the progression of a new class of cancer drugs that can mimic its natural inhibitors, BH3-only proteins, to trigger apoptosis. This mimicking is initiated through acetogenins due to their excellent biological properties. Acetogenins, which can be isolated from Annonaceae plants, have a unique structure along with several oxygenated functionalities.

    OBJECTIVE: Based on their biological capability, various acetogenins were studied in the present study and compared alongside ABT-737 on molecular docking.

    METHODS: The docking simulation of acetogenins was performed using AutoDock Vina software.

    RESULTS: Our findings have shown eleven acetogenins-BCL-XL protein complex, namely, muricin B (2), muricin F (4), muricin H (6), muricin I (7), xylomaticin (9), annomontacin (12), annonacin (14), squamocin (15), squamostatin A (16), bullatacin (20) and annoreticulin (21) exhibited strong binding affinities lower than - 10.4 kcalmol-1 as compared to ABT-373-BCL-XL complex. Six hydrogen bonds along with hydrophobic interaction were detected on the complex of BCL-XL with muricin B (2), muricin G (5), corossolone (11), and isoannonacin-10-one A (18).

    CONCLUSION: These findings indicated that some acetogenins could represent a new potential BCLXL inhibitor that could mimic the BH3-only protein for the induction of apoptosis in cancer chemotherapy.

  17. Fulltext Acute toxicity and gastroprotective role of M. pruriens in ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injuries in rats
    Golbabapour S, Hajrezaie M, Hassandarvish P, Abdul Majid N, Hadi AH, Nordin N, et al.
    Biomed Res Int, 2013;2013:974185.
    PMID: 23781513 DOI: 10.1155/2013/974185
    The investigation was to evaluate gastroprotective effects of ethanolic extract of M. pruriens leaves on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injuries in rats. Forty-eight rats were divided into 8 groups: negative control, extract control, ulcer control, reference control, and four experimental groups. As a pretreatment, the negative control and the ulcer control groups were orally administered carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). The reference control was administered omeprazole orally (20 mg/kg). The ethanolic extract of M. pruriens leaves was given orally to the extract control group (500 mg/kg) and the experimental groups (62.5, 125, 250, and 500 mg/kg). After 1 h, CMC was given orally to the negative and the extract control groups. The other groups received absolute ethanol. The rats were sacrificed after 1 h. The ulcer control group exhibited significant mucosal injuries with decreased gastric wall mucus and severe damage to the gastric mucosa. The extract caused upregulation of Hsp70 protein, downregulation of Bax protein, and intense periodic acid schiff uptake of glandular portion of stomach. Gastric mucosal homogenate showed significant antioxidant properties with increase in synthesis of PGE2, while MDA was significantly decreased. The ethanolic extract of M. pruriens leaves was nontoxic (<5 g/kg) and could enhance defensive mechanisms against hemorrhagic mucosal lesions.
  18. Fulltext Advancements in reprogramming strategies for the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells
    Lai MI, Wendy-Yeo WY, Ramasamy R, Nordin N, Rosli R, Veerakumarasivam A, et al.
    J Assist Reprod Genet, 2011 Apr;28(4):291-301.
    PMID: 21384252 DOI: 10.1007/s10815-011-9552-6
    Direct reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has emerged as an invaluable method for generating patient-specific stem cells of any lineage without the use of embryonic materials. Following the first reported generation of iPS cells from murine fibroblasts using retroviral transduction of a defined set of transcription factors, various new strategies have been developed to improve and refine the reprogramming technology. Recent developments provide optimism that the generation of safe iPS cells without any genomic modification could be derived in the near future for the use in clinical settings. This review summarizes current and evolving strategies in the generation of iPS cells, including types of somatic cells for reprogramming, variations of reprogramming genes, reprogramming methods, and how the advancement iPS cells technology can lead to the future success of reproductive medicine.
  19. An NMR-compatible microfluidic platform enabling in situ electrochemistry
    Davoodi H, Nordin N, Bordonali L, Korvink JG, MacKinnon N, Badilita V
    Lab Chip, 2020 08 26;20(17):3202-3212.
    PMID: 32734975 DOI: 10.1039/d0lc00364f
    Combining microfluidic devices with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has the potential of unlocking their vast sample handling and processing operation space for use with the powerful analytics provided by NMR. One particularly challenging class of integrated functional elements from the perspective of NMR are conductive structures. Metallic electrodes could be used for electrochemical sample interaction for example, yet they can cause severe NMR spectral and SNR degradation. These issues are more entangled at the micro-scale since the distorted volume occupies a higher ratio of the sample volume. In this study, a combination of simulation and experimental validation was used to identify an electrode geometry that, in terms of NMR spectral parameters, performs as well as for the case when no electrodes are present. By placing the metal tracks in the side-walls of a microfluidic channel, we found that NMR RF excitation performance was actually enhanced, without compromising B0 homogeneity. Monitoring in situ deposition of chitosan in the microfluidic platform is presented as a proof-of-concept demonstration of NMR characterisation of an electrochemical process.
  20. Fulltext An audit of the referral letter received at Klinik Pakar Orthodontik Jln Abd Samad [Abstract]
    Mohamed Zini SH, Nordin N
    International Medical Journal Malaysia, 2017;16(21):36.
    MyJurnal
    Introduction: The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence and the pattern of hypodontia among orthodontic patients in Klinik Pergigian Jalan Sultan Mahmud, Kuala Terengganu.
    Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study where 351 orthodontic patients records (comprises of 104 males and 247 females), were reviewed. The records were evaluated by a trained dental officer between October 2016 and June 2017. The Chi-square and Fisher's Exact Tests were carried out for statistical analysis.
    Results: The prevalence of hypodontia was 10.8%. Thirty-eight (38) patients were found to have at least a single missing tooth. A significant difference was found between males and females having hypodontia (p = 0.048). No significant difference was found for hypodontia patients by races (p = 0.829). The maxillary lateral incisor was the most frequently missing tooth followed by mandibular second premolar and mandibular lateral incisor. Hypodontia cases observed, tended to be more likely occurred in the upper left arch compared to the lower arch. The majority of hypodontia patients had a single missing tooth, but rarely more than 3 missing teeth. Hypodontia patients had mainly Class III malocclusion, however no statistically significant difference was found (p = 0.081).
    Conclusion(s): The prevalence of hypodontia of this study was within the range of what is being reported in the literature and showed gender significant. In this sample, hypodontia mainly involved maxillary lateral incisors; more prevalent in the upper arch; and mostly observed in patients with Class III malocclusion. Early detection and accurate diagnosis are essential. Therefore, alternative treatment modalities can be well planned under multidisciplinary team approach in restoring the aesthetic and function.
    KEYWORDS: referral letter
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