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  1. Guad RM, Mangantig E, Low WY, Taylor-Robinson AW, Azzani M, Sekaran SD, et al.
    BMC Infect Dis, 2021 Aug 31;21(1):893.
    PMID: 34465288 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-021-06606-6
    BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported a significant association of knowledge, attitude and preventive practice (KAP) regarding dengue infection among community's resident in endemic areas. In this study we aimed to assess and develop a reliable and valid KAP survey on the subject of dengue that is suitable for the resident population of Sabah, Malaysia.

    METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2019 to February 2020 involving 468 respondents. Information on the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants (six items), their KAP (44, 15 and 18 items on knowledge, attitude and practice, respectively) and treatment-seeking behaviour (five items) towards dengue was collected using a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS and R software in the R Studio environment. The knowledge section was analysed by two-parameter logistic item response theory (2-PL IRT) using ltm package. The construct validity and reliability of items for sections on attitude, practice and treatment-seeking behaviour were analysed using psy package.

    RESULTS: For the knowledge section, only 70.5% (31/44) of items were within or close to the parameter acceptable range of -3 to + 3 of difficulty. In terms of discrimination, 65.9% (29/44) of items were within or close to the acceptable range of 0.35 to 2.5, and 24 items (54.5%) failed to fit the 2-PL IRT model (P  0.7, while based on the communalities, 11 items in the attitude section were excluded due to very low h2, factor loading values and low correlation with the total ( 0.7. The communalities of the practice section showed that seven items had low h2 values (

  2. Guad RM, Taylor-Robinson AW, Wu YS, Gan SH, Zaharan NL, Basu RC, et al.
    BMC Nephrol, 2020 09 07;21(1):388.
    PMID: 32894076 DOI: 10.1186/s12882-020-02052-9
    BACKGROUND: New-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT) is associated with reduced patient and graft survival. This study examined the clinical and selected genetic factors associated with NODAT among renal-transplanted Malaysian patients.

    METHODS: This study included 168 non-diabetic patients (58% males, 69% of Chinese ethnicity) who received renal transplantation between 1st January 1994 to 31st December 2014, and were followed up in two major renal transplant centres in Malaysia. Fasting blood glucose levels were used to diagnose NODAT in patients who received renal transplantation within 1 year. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), namely; rs1494558 (interleukin-7 receptor, IL-7R) and rs2232365 (mannose-binding leptin-2, MBL2) were selected and genotyped using Sequenom MassArray platform. Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were used to examine the risk of developing NODAT according to the different demographics and clinical covariates, utilizing four time-points (one-month, three-months, six-months, one-year) post-transplant.

    RESULTS: Seventeen per cent of patients (n = 29, 55% males, 69% Chinese) were found to have developed NODAT within one-year of renal transplantation based on their fasting blood glucose levels. NODAT patients had renal transplantation at an older age compared to non-NODAT (39.3 ± 13.4 vs 33.9 ± 11.8 years, p = 0.03). In multivariate analysis, renal-transplanted patients who received a higher daily dose of cyclosporine (mg) were associated with increased risk of NODAT (Hazard ratio (HR) =1.01 per mg increase in dose, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00-1.01, p = 0.002). Other demographic (gender, ethnicities, age at transplant) and clinical factors (primary kidney disease, type of donor, place of transplant, type of calcineurin inhibitors, duration of dialysis pre-transplant, BMI, creatinine levels, and daily doses of tacrolimus and prednisolone) were not found to be significantly associated with risk of NODAT. GA genotype of rs1494558 (HR = 3.15 95% CI 1.26, 7.86) and AG genotype of rs2232365 (HR = 2.57 95% CI 1.07, 6.18) were associated with increased risk of NODAT as compared to AA genotypes.

    CONCLUSION: The daily dose of cyclosporine and SNPs of IL-7R (rs1494558) and MBL2 (rs2232365) genes are significantly associated with the development of NODAT in the Malaysian renal transplant population.

  3. Liew CSL, Guad RM, Taylor-Robinson AW, Teck KS, Mandrinos S, Duin EV, et al.
    Trop Biomed, 2024 Sep 01;41(3):310-315.
    PMID: 39548785 DOI: 10.47665/tb.41.3.011
    To investigate co-infection of bacterial isolates associated with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children aged less than two years who were admitted to hospital with confirmed lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in Kelantan, Malaysia. The demographic data, clinical history, case management, haematological as well as infectious parameters (white blood cell differential and count, plus C-reactive protein, CRP) of the patients were systematically recorded. Less than one-third of cases were RSV-positive (21.03% and 26.23% were diagnosed as acute bronchiolitis or pneumonia, respectively). Blood cultures from approximately 10% of patients demonstrated growth of Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas stutzeri, haemolytic Streptococcus group A, and Bacillus subtilis. Further analysis indicated that children with positive bacterial growth had an insignificant predictive value of CRP (2.32-7.16 mg/dl). The total white cell counts were 2.97-7.33 x 109sup>/L despite increased lymphocyte values in the bacteria-positive blood culture. Platelet counts were also within normal limits except for a single case of H. influenzae infection (685.50 x 109sup>/L). Interestingly, 95.01% of patients were treated with antibiotics; 66.23% of RSV infection cases were administered with a combination of antibiotics and 33.77% with only a single antibiotic. The data indicate that the use of antibiotics, either singly or in combination, is not always effective in treating LRTI in infants. Alternative therapeutic regimens should be considered, especially in Asian countries that may have limited resources.
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