OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of virtual data collection for a longitudinal study of aging assessing cognitive frailty in a middle-income Southeast Asian country.
METHODS: The Transforming Cognitive Frailty into Later-Life Self-Sufficiency (AGELESS) longitudinal study of aging involved community-dwelling participants aged 60 years and above. A semi-structured focus group discussion was conducted via videoconferencing with selected representatives from existing participants. The survey instrument was compiled during a hybrid meeting and refined using a virtual Delphi process involving 51 AGELESS investigators. The final draft survey and recruitment strategy were then piloted among selected participants.
RESULTS: Twelve individuals participated in the virtual focus group interview. Smartphone, tablet computer, laptops, and desktop personal computers were used for information gathering, communication, banking, shopping, leisure, religion, and education, within this group. The survey instrument was redacted from 362 items in 18 sections to 141 items in 12 sections through 3 virtual Delphi rounds facilitated by email, social media messaging, and videoconferencing which attracted 213 comments. Of 45 participants selected for the pilot survey, 30 were successfully contacted after one attempt and 18 completed the survey. Cognitive frailty was present in 13%, cognitive impairment in 20%, frailty in 20%, and 47% were robust.
CONCLUSION: A virtual survey instrument was developed for the AGELESS longitudinal survey of aging which was vital for determining the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our older population as well as sustaining research into aging despite barriers posed by the pandemic.
Methodology: The leaves of all selected plants were extracted with methanol, chloroform, ethyl acetate and butanol separately with simple cold maceration. Antioxidant activity of all crude extracts were quantitatively measured against DPPH and Ferric Reducing Assay. Antimicrobial evaluation was done by Microdilution and MTT assay and antipoliferative activity of all extracts of selected plant were evaluated against A549, HePG2 and MCF7 cell lines.
Results: Results showed that methanol extract exhibited highest percentage free radical scavenging activity of almost all extracts of selected plants. Antimicrobials results showed chloroform and methanol extracts of O. stamineus extract were the two most active extracts against resistant MRSA but not S. aureus. Only methanol extract of G. procumbens showed antimicrobial activity against the tested pathogens. Chloroform and methanol extracts of F. deltoidea elicited antimicrobial activity against S. aureus but not MRSA. Antiproliferative activity against three tested cell lines results showed that ethyl acetate extract of O. stamineus showed good effect whereas methanol extract of F. deltoidea and G. procumbens exhibited good antiproliferative activity.
Conclusions: The results of the present investigation demonstrated significant variations in the antioxidant, antimicrobial and antiproliferative effects of different solvent extracts. These data could be helpful in isolation of pure potent compounds with good biological activities from the extracts of plants.
Methods: An online questionnaire survey method was used. Based on sample size calculation, a total of 1,508 UiTM staff and students from ten selected campuses of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) were invited to participate in this survey. An up-to-date e-mail list of staff in the selected campuses was used as the sampling frame for the study, whereas the students were recruited from the official university student Facebook portal.
Results: A total of 788 respondents participated in this survey, 72.2% of them knew about facial candling, though only 35.4% had tried the treatment. Approximately one-fifth of respondents agreed that facial candling might treat AR. It was found that a higher number of users than nonusers agreed that facial candling was a traditional medicine (78.9% vs 55.0%); could be used on the face and ears (83.5% vs 45.4%); and could be self-administered at home (83.5 vs 45.4%). Interestingly, more than half of them were uncertain about its long-term effects and adverse reactions.
Conclusion: This study confirms the facial candling use among patients with AR although the percentage is low. The patients and general public need to be better informed about the use of facial candling in AR and its associated risks.
METHODS: Endophytes were isolated from plants collected from Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan and the National Park, Pahang and the extracts were tested for BACE1 inhibition. For investigation of biological activity, the pure endophytic cultures were cultivated for 14 days on PDA plates at 28°C and underwent semipolar extraction with ethyl acetate.
RESULTS: Of 212 endophytic extracts (1000 μg/ml), 29 exhibited more than 90% inhibition of BACE1 in the preliminary screening. Four extracts from isolates HAB16R13, HAB16R14, HAB16R18 and HAB8R24 identified as Cytospora rhizophorae were the most active with IC(50(BACE1)) values of less than 3.0 μg/ml. The most active extract HAB16R13 was shown to non-competitively inhibit BACE1 with K(i) value of 10.0 μg/ml. HAB16R13 was considered non-potent against PC-12 and WRL68 (IC(50(CT))) of 60.0 and 40.0 μg/ml, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: This first report on endophytic fungal extract with good BACE1 inhibitory activity demonstrates that more extensive study is required to uncover the potential of endophytes.