METHODS: This study utilized convenience sampling to investigate the mental health of undergraduates in UAE universities using a bilingual DASS-21 questionnaire via Google Forms. Analysis was conducted using SPSS version 29.0, employing descriptive statistics, Chi-squared tests, Mann-Whitney tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and Multinomial Logistic Regression to analyze relationships between sociodemographic variables and mental health scores.
RESULTS: The study examined 332 students, with most female participants (81 %, n = 269) and individuals aged 18-20 (89.8 %, n = 298). It revealed higher mean DASS scores among females: Depression (M = 15.80, p = 0.030), Anxiety (M = 17.63, p
METHODS: DNA methylation profiling was utilized to screen the differentially hypermethylated genes in OSCC. Three selected differentially-hypermethylated genes of p16, DDAH2 and DUSP1 were further validated for methylation status and protein expression. The correlation between demographic, clinicopathological characteristics, and survival rate of OSCC patients with hypermethylation of p16, DDAH2 and DUSP1 genes were analysed in the study.
RESULTS: Methylation profiling demonstrated 33 promoter hypermethylated genes in OSCC. The differentially-hypermethylated genes of p16, DDAH2 and DUSP1 revealed positivity of 78%, 80% and 88% in methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction and 24% and 22% of immunoreactivity in DDAH2 and DUSP1 genes, respectively. Promoter hypermethylation of p16 gene was found significantly associated with tumour site of buccal, gum, tongue and lip (P=0.001). In addition, DDAH2 methylation level was correlated significantly with patients' age (P=0.050). In this study, overall five-year survival rate was 38.1% for OSCC patients and was influenced by sex difference.
CONCLUSIONS: The study has identified 33 promoter hypermethylated genes that were significantly silenced in OSCC, which might be involved in an important mechanism in oral carcinogenesis. Our approaches revealed signature candidates of differentially hypermethylated genes of DDAH2 and DUSP1 which can be further developed as potential biomarkers for OSCC as diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic targets in the future.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to investigate the sensitivity and specificity of PMCTA in diagnosing coronary artery stenosis using water-based contrast media introduced though the vessels of the neck, compared to the gold standard of diagnosis i.e. gross and histological evaluation of the coronary artery.
METHOD: This was a cross sectional study of 158 arterial sections involving 37 subjects recruited from the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (IPFN), Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). An unenhanced PMCT was performed followed by PMCTA using water-based contrast media introduced though the vessels of the neck. Coronary artery stenosis was determined using multiplanar reconstructionD while the degree of stenosis was determined by calculating the percentage of luminal diameter divided by the diameter of the vessel internal elastic.
RESULTS: The analysis of PMCTA and histopathology examinations revealed a sensitivity of 61.5%, specificity of 91.7%; positive predictive value (PPV) of 40.0% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 96.4%.
CONCLUSION: PMCTA utilizing water-based contrast introduced though the vessels of the neck yielded similar results as other methods and techniques of PMCTA. We would therefore conclude that PMCTA utilizing this technique could be used to assess the degree of calcification and the presence of significant stenosis.
METHODS: This is a retrospective, descriptive study of patients who presented to the ED between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2020. Patients diagnosed with mental health-related systematised nomenclature of medicine who visited the ED during this period were identified and were placed into mental health diagnosis categories for analysis. A comparison was made between patients who presented before the pandemic (2019) and during the pandemic (2020).
RESULTS: During the study periods, we identified 1,421 patients, of whom 27 were excluded due to non-mental health-related diagnoses, leaving 1,394 patients for analysis. There was a 36.7% increase in mental health-related ED presentations from 2019 to 2020. The proportion of higher-acuity mental health-related ED attendances and number of suicide attempts also increased.
CONCLUSION: Our study described an increase in the proportion of high-acuity mental health-related ED attendances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency physicians must be cognisant of the effects of the pandemic on mental health. Further research should be conducted to better equip the healthcare system for handling all aspects of the pandemic.