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Fulltext Can dynamic consent facilitate the protection of biomedical big data in biobanking in Malaysia?

Abdul Aziz MF, Mohd Yusof AN

Asian Bioeth Rev, 2019 Jun;11(2):209-222.
PMID: 33717312 DOI: 10.1007/s41649-019-00086-2

As with many other countries, Malaysia is also developing and promoting biomedical research to increase the understanding of human diseases and possible interventions. To facilitate this development, there is a significant growth of biobanks in the country to ensure continuous collection of biological samples for future research, which contain extremely important personal information and health data of the participants involved. Given the vast amount of samples and data accumulated by biobanks, they can be considered as reservoirs of precious biomedical big data. It is therefore imperative for biobanks to have in place regulatory measures to ensure ethical use of the biomedical big data. Malaysia has yet to introduce specific legislation for the field of biobanking. However, it can be argued that its existing Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) has laid down legal principles that can be enforced to protect biomedical big data generated by the biobanks. Consent is a mechanism to enable data subjects to exercise their autonomy by determining how their data can be used and ensure compliance with legal principles. However, there are two main concerns surrounding the current practice of consent in biomedical big data in Malaysia. First, it is uncertain that the current practice would be able to respect the underlying notion of autonomy, and second, it is not in accordance with the legal principles of the PDPA. Scholars have deliberated on different strategies of informed consent, and a more interactive approach has recently been introduced: dynamic consent. It is argued that a dynamic consent approach would be able to address these concerns.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research
Fulltext The Molecular Approaches and Challenges of Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotyping for Epidemiological Surveillance in the Vaccine Era

Abdul Rahman NA, Mohd Desa MN, Masri SN, Taib NM, Sulaiman N, Hazman H, et al.

Pol J Microbiol, 2023 Jun 01;72(2):103-115.
PMID: 37314355 DOI: 10.33073/pjm-2023-023

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) belongs to the Gram-positive cocci. This bacterium typically colonizes the nasopharyngeal region of healthy individuals. It has a distinct polysaccharide capsule - a virulence factor allowing the bacteria to elude the immune defense mechanisms. Consequently, it might trigger aggressive conditions like septicemia and meningitis in immunocompromised or older individuals. Moreover, children below five years of age are at risk of morbidity and mortality. Studies have found 101 S. pneumoniae capsular serotypes, of which several correlate with clinical and carriage isolates with distinct disease aggressiveness. Introducing pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) targets the most common disease-associated serotypes. Nevertheless, vaccine selection pressure leads to replacing the formerly dominant vaccine serotypes (VTs) by non-vaccine types (NVTs). Therefore, serotyping must be conducted for epidemiological surveillance and vaccine assessment. Serotyping can be performed using numerous techniques, either by the conventional antisera-based (Quellung and latex agglutination) or molecular-based approaches (sequetyping, multiplex PCR, real-time PCR, and PCR-RFLP). A cost-effective and practical approach must be used to enhance serotyping accuracy to monitor the prevalence of VTs and NVTs. Therefore, dependable pneumococcal serotyping techniques are essential to precisely monitor virulent lineages, NVT emergence, and genetic associations of isolates. This review discusses the principles, associated benefits, and drawbacks of the respective available conventional and molecular approaches, and potentially the whole genome sequencing (WGS) to be directed for future exploration.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research*
Fulltext Oral granular cell tumour: a clinicopathological study of 7 cases and a brief review of the literature

Ajura Abdul Jalil, Lau, Shin Hui

Malaysian Dental Journal, 2008;29(2):94-96.
MyJurnal

Oral granular cell tumour is a fairly rare lesion with a predilection for the tongue. Seven cases (6 females, 1 male) of oral granular cell tumour were seen during the 40 year period (1967-2006) in Stomatology Unit, Institute for Medical Research (IMR) in which 5 cases were located at the tongue. All the cases presented as a single swelling and excisional biopsies were carried out in all cases.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research
Fulltext The use of fiber Bragg grating sensors in biomechanics and rehabilitation applications: the state-of-the-art and ongoing research topics

Al-Fakih E, Abu Osman NA, Mahamd Adikan FR

Sensors (Basel), 2012 Sep 25;12(10):12890-926.
PMID: 23201977 DOI: 10.3390/s121012890

In recent years, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are becoming increasingly attractive for sensing applications in biomechanics and rehabilitation engineering due to their advantageous properties like small size, light weight, biocompatibility, chemical inertness, multiplexing capability and immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI). They also offer a high-performance alternative to conventional technologies, either for measuring a variety of physical parameters or for performing high-sensitivity biochemical analysis. FBG-based sensors demonstrated their feasibility for specific sensing applications in aeronautic, automotive, civil engineering structure monitoring and undersea oil exploration; however, their use in the field of biomechanics and rehabilitation applications is very recent and its practicality for full-scale implementation has not yet been fully established. They could be used for detecting strain in bones, pressure mapping in orthopaedic joints, stresses in intervertebral discs, chest wall deformation, pressure distribution in Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs), forces induced by tendons and ligaments, angles between body segments during gait, and many others in dental biomechanics. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of all the possible applications of FBG sensing technology in biomechanics and rehabilitation and the status of ongoing researches up-to-date all over the world, demonstrating the FBG advances over other existing technologies.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research/methods; Biomedical Research/standards; Biomedical Research/trends
Fulltext Anticipating rotavirus vaccines--a pre-vaccine assessment of incidence and economic burden of rotavirus hospitalizations among children < 5 year of age in Libya, 2012-13

Alkoshi S, Leshem E, Parashar UD, Dahlui M

BMC Public Health, 2015;15:26.
PMID: 25616973 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-015-1400-7

Libya introduced rotavirus vaccine in October 2013. We examined pre-vaccine incidence of rotavirus hospitalizations and associated economic burden among children < 5 years in Libya to provide baseline data for future vaccine impact evaluations.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research/economics
Tissue engineering research in developing countries, the significant and differences as compared to the developed countries

Aminuddin BS, Ruszymah BH

Med J Malaysia, 2008 Jul;63 Suppl A:47-8.
PMID: 19024977

The emergence of tissue engineering and stem cell research has created a tremendous response amongst scientist in Malaysia. However, despite the enthusiastic to embark on the research we have to carefully divert the research towards our needs. This is due to our responsibility to address the mounting problem of communicable diseases here and a very limited funding. As commercialization is a key objective the combination of products towards treating or diagnosing communicable and non-communicable diseases in the developing country is another important factor. The discussion here is mainly on the evolution of tissue engineering in Malaysia and taking a model of tissue engineering in otolaryngology.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research*
Fulltext Trends in malaria research in 11 Asian Pacific countries: an analysis of peer-reviewed publications over two decades

Andersen F, Douglas NM, Bustos D, Galappaththy G, Qi G, Hsiang MS, et al.

Malar J, 2011 May 18;10:131.
PMID: 21586174 DOI: 10.1186/1475-2875-10-131

BACKGROUND: Quantitative data are lacking on published malaria research. The purpose of the study is to characterize trends in malaria-related literature from 1990 to 2009 in 11 Asian-Pacific countries that are committed to malaria elimination as a national goal.
METHODS: A systematic search was conducted for articles published from January 1990 to December 2009 in PubMed/MEDLINE using terms for malaria and 11 target countries (Bhutan, China, North Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vanuatu). The references were collated and categorized according to subject, Plasmodium species, and whether they contained original or derivative data.
RESULTS: 2,700 articles published between 1990 and 2009 related to malaria in the target countries. The annual output of malaria-related papers increased linearly whereas the overall biomedical output from these countries grew exponentially. The percentage of malaria-related publications was nearly 3% (111/3741) of all biomedical publications in 1992 and decreased to less than 1% (118/12171; p < 0.001) in 2009. Thailand had the highest absolute output of malaria-related papers (n = 1211), followed by China (n = 609) and Indonesia (n = 346). Solomon Islands and Vanuatu had lower absolute numbers of publications, but both countries had the highest number of publications per capita (1.3 and 2.5 papers/1,000 population). The largest percentage of papers concerned the epidemiology and control of malaria (53%) followed by studies of drugs and drug resistance (47%). There was an increase in the proportion of articles relating to epidemiology, entomology, biology, molecular biology, pathophysiology and diagnostics from the first to the second decade, whereas the percentage of papers on drugs, clinical aspects of malaria, immunology, and social sciences decreased.
CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of malaria-related publications out of the overall biomedical output from the 11 target Asian-Pacific countries is decreasing. The discovery and evaluation of new, safe and effective drugs and vaccines is paramount. In addition the elimination of malaria will require operational research to implement and scale up interventions.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research/trends*; Biomedical Research/statistics & numerical data*
Fulltext Future Directions for Dementia Risk Reduction and Prevention Research: An International Research Network on Dementia Prevention Consensus

Anstey KJ, Peters R, Zheng L, Barnes DE, Brayne C, Brodaty H, et al.

J Alzheimers Dis, 2020;78(1):3-12.
PMID: 32925063 DOI: 10.3233/JAD-200674

In the past decade a large body of evidence has accumulated on risk factors for dementia, primarily from Europe and North America. Drawing on recent integrative reviews and a consensus workshop, the International Research Network on Dementia Prevention developed a consensus statement on priorities for future research. Significant gaps in geographical location, representativeness, diversity, duration, mechanisms, and research on combinations of risk factors were identified. Future research to inform dementia risk reduction should fill gaps in the evidence base, take a life-course, multi-domain approach, and inform population health approaches that improve the brain-health of whole communities.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research*
Using hermeneutic phenomenology and the ethnographic principle of cultural interpretation with Malaysian nurses

Arunasalam N

Nurse Res, 2018 Jun 07;26(1):23-27.
PMID: 29799178 DOI: 10.7748/nr.2018.e1557

BACKGROUND: The interpretive paradigm and hermeneutic phenomenological design are the most popular methods used in international cross-cultural research in healthcare, nurse education and nursing practice. Their inherent appeal is that they help researchers to explore experiences. The ethnographic principle of cultural interpretation can also be used to provide meaning, clarity and insight.
AIM: To examine the use of hermeneutic phenomenology and the ethnographic principle of cultural interpretation in a research study conducted with Malaysian nurses on part-time, transnational, post-registration, top-up nursing degree programmes provided by one Australian and two UK universities.
DISCUSSION: To enable the researcher to undertake international cross-cultural research and illuminate Malaysian nurses' views for the reader, cultural aspects need to be considered, as they will influence the information participants provide. Useful strategies that western researchers can adopt to co-create research texts with interviewees are outlined. The paradigm and research designs used in the study revealed the views and experiences of Malaysian nurses.
CONCLUSION: Hermeneutic phenomenology enabled the exploration of participants' experiences, and the ethnographic principle of cultural interpretation enabled the researcher's reflexivity to provide emic and etic views for the reader.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This paper adds to the discussion of the paradigms and research designs used for international, cross-cultural research in Asia. It identifies the influence participants' cultural values have on their confidence and level of disclosure with western researchers.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research/methods*
Fulltext Unethical research trend: shadow libraries

Asim Z, Sorooshian S

Sao Paulo Med J, 2017 08 21;136(1):96-97.
PMID: 28832811 DOI: 10.1590/1516-3180.2017.0122210517
Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research/ethics
Fulltext Clone journals: a threat to medical research

Asim Z, Sorooshian S

Sao Paulo Med J, 2019;137(6):550-551.
PMID: 31939492 DOI: 10.1590/1516-3180.2018.0370160919
Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research*
Fulltext Exploring the current landscape of single-cell RNA sequencing applications in gastric cancer research

Awuah WA, Roy S, Tan JK, Adebusoye FT, Qiang Z, Ferreira T, et al.

J Cell Mol Med, 2024 Apr;28(7):e18159.
PMID: 38494861 DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.18159

Gastric cancer (GC) represents a major global health burden and is responsible for a significant number of cancer-related fatalities. Its complex nature, characterized by heterogeneity and aggressive behaviour, poses considerable challenges for effective diagnosis and treatment. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has emerged as an important technique, offering unprecedented precision and depth in gene expression profiling at the cellular level. By facilitating the identification of distinct cell populations, rare cells and dynamic transcriptional changes within GC, scRNA-seq has yielded valuable insights into tumour progression and potential therapeutic targets. Moreover, this technology has significantly improved our comprehension of the tumour microenvironment (TME) and its intricate interplay with immune cells, thereby opening avenues for targeted therapeutic strategies. Nonetheless, certain obstacles, including tumour heterogeneity and technical limitations, persist in the field. Current endeavours are dedicated to refining protocols and computational tools to surmount these challenges. In this narrative review, we explore the significance of scRNA-seq in GC, emphasizing its advantages, challenges and potential applications in unravelling tumour heterogeneity and identifying promising therapeutic targets. Additionally, we discuss recent developments, ongoing efforts to overcome these challenges, and future prospects. Although further enhancements are required, scRNA-seq has already provided valuable insights into GC and holds promise for advancing biomedical research and clinical practice.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research*
Fulltext StakeMeter: value-based stakeholder identification and quantification framework for value-based software systems

Babar MI, Ghazali M, Jawawi DN, Bin Zaheer K

PLoS One, 2015;10(3):e0121344.
PMID: 25799490 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121344

Value-based requirements engineering plays a vital role in the development of value-based software (VBS). Stakeholders are the key players in the requirements engineering process, and the selection of critical stakeholders for the VBS systems is highly desirable. Based on the stakeholder requirements, the innovative or value-based idea is realized. The quality of the VBS system is associated with the concrete set of valuable requirements, and the valuable requirements can only be obtained if all the relevant valuable stakeholders participate in the requirements elicitation phase. The existing value-based approaches focus on the design of the VBS systems. However, the focus on the valuable stakeholders and requirements is inadequate. The current stakeholder identification and quantification (SIQ) approaches are neither state-of-the-art nor systematic for the VBS systems. The existing approaches are time-consuming, complex and inconsistent which makes the initiation process difficult. Moreover, the main motivation of this research is that the existing SIQ approaches do not provide the low level implementation details for SIQ initiation and stakeholder metrics for quantification. Hence, keeping in view the existing SIQ problems, this research contributes in the form of a new SIQ framework called 'StakeMeter'. The StakeMeter framework is verified and validated through case studies. The proposed framework provides low-level implementation guidelines, attributes, metrics, quantification criteria and application procedure as compared to the other methods. The proposed framework solves the issues of stakeholder quantification or prioritization, higher time consumption, complexity, and process initiation. The framework helps in the selection of highly critical stakeholders for the VBS systems with less judgmental error.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research/standards
Fulltext A global exploratory comparison of country self-citations 1996-2019

Baccini A, Petrovich E

PLoS One, 2023;18(12):e0294669.
PMID: 38157326 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294669

Self-citations are a key topic in evaluative bibliometrics because they can artificially inflate citation-related performance indicators. Recently, self-citations defined at the largest scale, i.e., country self-citations, have started to attract the attention of researchers and policymakers. According to a recent research, in fact, the anomalous trends in the country self-citation rates of some countries, such as Italy, have been induced by the distorting effect of citation metrics-centered science policies. In the present study, we investigate the trends of country self-citations in 50 countries over the world in the period 1996-2019 using Scopus data. Results show that for most countries country self-citations have decreased over time. 12 countries (Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Ukraine), however, exhibit different behavior, with anomalous trends of self-citations. We argue that these anomalies should be attributed to the aggressive science policies adopted by these countries in recent years, which are all characterized by direct or indirect incentives for citations. Our analysis confirms that when bibliometric indicators are integrated into systems of incentives, they are capable of affecting rapidly and visibly the citation behavior of entire countries.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research*
Fulltext The hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) outbreak in the state of Johor, Malaysia in the year 2000

Badrul Hisham Abd Samad, Nooraini Baba, Mohd.Raili Suhaili, Prathapa Senan, C., Daud Abd.Rahim

Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine, 2003;3(1):68-72.
MyJurnal

The hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) outbreak occurred in the state of Johor, Malaysia in the months 0f October and November 2000 aber the HFMD outbreak started in Singapore in September 2000. The HFMD notification and investigation forms sent to the Epidemiology Unit of the Johor Health Department from district health offices and hospitals during the outbreak were analysed. Patients’ specimens were sent to the Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur and the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur for viral isolation. A total of 1,122 HFMD cases were notified during the outbreak period with 2 deaths giving 0.2% casefatality rate. From all the cases, 544 (48.5%) patients were admitted to the hospital while the rest were treated as outpatients. Majority (81.7%) of children with HFMD were aged below 5 years old with the commonest age group (46.9%) being between 1 to 2 years old. Sixty-eight patients had positive specimens for viral isolation belonging to enteroviruses namely Enterovirus 71 (43 cases), Coxsackievirus Type A16 (11), Echovirus 7 (3), and Coxsackievirus Type B (2); and non-enteroviruses namely Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1
(5), and Adenovirus (4). Fever and mouth ulcer were the two most common symptoms among HFMD children but vesicles on palms and soles were more common than rashes in children with positive enteroviral isolation.

Study site: University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC)

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research
Advancing Neuroscience Research in Africa: Invertebrate Species to the Rescue

Balogun WG, Cobham AE, Amin A, Seeni A

Neuroscience, 2018 03 15;374:323-325.
PMID: 29427653 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2018.01.062

Neuroscience research and training in many African countries are difficult due to funding and infrastructure deficit. This has resulted in few neuroscientists within Africa. However, invertebrates such as Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans could provide the perfect answer to these difficulties. These organisms are cheap, easy to handle and offer a comparable advantage over vertebrates in neuroscience research modeling because they have a simple nervous system and exhibit well-defined behaviors. Studies using invertebrates have helped to understand neurosciences and the complexes associated with it. If Africa wants to catch up with the rest of the world in neuroscience research, it needs to employ this innovative cost-effective approach in its research. To improve invertebrate neuroscience within the Africa continent, the authors advocated the establishment of invertebrate research centers either at regional or national level across Africa. Finally, there is also a need to provide public funding to consolidate the gains that have been made by not-for-profit international organizations over the years.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research/economics; Biomedical Research/methods*
Fulltext Protocol for a cross-sectional study measuring person-centredness among healthcare providers in Malaysian primary care clinics: the adaptation and validation of the Person-Centred Practice Inventory-Staff (PCPI-S) Questionnaire

Balqis-Ali NZ, Saw PS, Jailani AS, Yeoh TW, Fun WH, Mohd-Salleh N, et al.

BMJ Open, 2020 03 26;10(3):e034128.
PMID: 32220914 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034128

INTRODUCTION: Person-centred care (PCC) has become a global movement in healthcare. Despite this, the level of PCC is not routinely assessed in clinical practice. This protocol describes the adaptation and validation of the Person-Centred Practice Inventory-Staff (PCPI-S) tool that will be used to assess person-centred practices of primary healthcare providers in Malaysia.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS: To ensure conceptual and item equivalence, the original version of the PCPI-S will be reviewed and adapted for cultural context by an expert committee. The instrument will subsequently be translated into Malay language using the forward-backward translation method by two independent bilingual speaking individuals. This will be pretested in four primary care clinics and refined accordingly. The instrument will be assessed for its psychometric properties, such as test-retest reliability, construct and internal validity, using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Study findings will be disseminated to healthcare professionals and academicians in the field through publication in peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations, as well as at managerial clinic sites for practice improvement. The study was approved by the Medical Research and Ethics Committee (MREC), Ministry of Health Malaysia (KKM/NIHSEC/ P18-766 (14) and Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (2018-14363-19627).

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research
Recombinant vaccines

Barnard RT

Expert Rev Vaccines, 2010 May;9(5):461-3.
PMID: 20450319 DOI: 10.1586/erv.10.48

The Recombinant Vaccines: Strategies for Candidate Discovery and Vaccine Delivery conference, organized by EuroSciCon, hosted a group of UK-based and international scientists from as far afield as Malaysia and Australia. Genomic analyses of pathogens and elucidation of mechanisms of pathogenesis has advanced candidate discovery and development of vaccines. Therefore, it was timely that this conference featured, in addition to detailed expositions of target selection and clinical trials, presentations on manufacturability, scale-up and delivery of vaccines. Ten talks were presented. This meeting report describes the key topics presented and the themes that emerged from this conference.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research/trends*
Fulltext Interrogating the Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequence of Escherichia coli Sequence Type 127 Strain 1538RHQ, Which Harbors Virulent Antigenic Factors, Isolated from a Mastitic Cow

Bashir A, Zunita Z, Jesse FFA, Ramanoon SZ, Mohd-Azmi ML

Microbiol Resour Announc, 2019 Nov 27;8(48).
PMID: 31776215 DOI: 10.1128/MRA.01057-19

We report the whole-genome sequence of Escherichia coli sequence type 127 (ST127) strain 1538RHQ, recovered from a mastitic cow in a dairy herd in Selangor, Malaysia. The objective of this study was to identify the antigenic and virulence properties that can be used as suitable targets for vaccine development against bovine mastitis.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research
Symposium on nutrition and cognition: towards research and application for different life stages

Benton D, Winichagoon P, Ng TP, Tee ES, Isabelle M

Asia Pac J Clin Nutr, 2012;21(1):104-24.
PMID: 22374567

A SYMPOSIUM ON NUTRITION AND COGNITION: Towards research and application for different life stages was held on October 2010 in Malaysia. The influence of diet and nutrition on the cognitive development of the child and on cognitive decline in later life was reviewed. Central to the study of such topics is the assessment of cognitive functioning. Cognitive functioning falls into six main areas: executive functioning, memory, attention, perception, psychomotor and language skills, although each domain can be further subdivided. As it is in the nature of human functioning that the performance on any cognitive test can reflect aspects of many of these domains, ideally a battery of tests should be used to establish the basis of any difference in performance. In intervention studies, frequently there has been a failure to demonstrate a beneficial influence of changes in diet. A possible reason is that studies have failed to acknowledge the time scale and critical ages over which diet has an impact. Diet may have a slow and progressive influence making it difficult for short-term studies to show an improvement. In addition, as many factors influence human behaviour, dietary interventions should only be one part of a coordinated approach; the effect of diet will depend on the social and psychological context in which an individual lives. Placing diet into a broader social and psychological context greatly increases the chance of generating significant findings. This report highlights and reviews presentations and discussions at the symposium.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research*

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