METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 214 respondents in northeastern Malaysia using a multi-stage stratified random sampling method. The study population was divided into two groups based on geographical locations: urban and rural. All data were entered and analyzed using the IBM Statistics for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 software for Windows (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). The continuous variables were presented using mean and standard deviation (SD), whereas the categorical variables were described using frequency and percentage. Multiple logistic regression was performed to determine the associated factors for good KABP toward leptospirosis among the respondents.
RESULTS: It was found that 52.8% of respondents had good knowledge, 84.6% had positive attitudes, 59.8% had positive beliefs, and 53.7% had satisfactory practices. There were no significant sociodemographic factors associated with knowledge and practice, except for educational status, which was significant in the attitude and belief domains. Those with higher education exhibited better attitudes (Odds Ratio (OR) 3.329; 95% Coefficient Interval (CI): 1.140, 9.723; p = 0.028) and beliefs (OR 3.748; 95% CI: 1.485, 9.459; p = 0.005). The communities in northeastern Malaysia generally have good knowledge and a high level of positive attitude; however, this attitude cannot be transformed into practice as the number of people with satisfactory practice habits is much lower compared to those with positive attitudes. As for the belief domain, the communities must have positive beliefs to perceive the threat of the disease.
CONCLUSIONS: Our current health program on preventing leptospirosis is good in creating awareness and a positive attitude among the communities, but is not sufficient in promoting satisfactory practice habits. In conclusion, more attention needs to be paid to promoting satisfactory practice habits among the communities, as they already possess good knowledge and positive attitudes and beliefs.
Methods: In this study, AA was administered orally at an individual dose of 300 and 2000 mg/kg body weight to group 1 and 2 respectively, while group 3 served as normal control. All the animals were observed for 2 weeks to determine any behavioral and physical changes. On day 15, blood was collected for hematological and biochemical investigation, later animals from all the three groups were euthanized to harvest and store essential organs for histopathological analysis. Four different staining techniques; hematoxylin and eosin, Masson trichrome, Periodic acid Schiff and Oil O Red were used to investigate any alterations in different tissues through microscopical observation.
Results: The results of the study showed no morbidity and mortality at two different dosage of AA treatment. Daily food & water intake, body weight, relative organ weight, hematological and biochemical parameters were detected to be normal with no severe alteration seen through microscopical investigation in the structure of harvested tissues. Our findings support the safety profile of AA, which was well tolerated at higher dose. Thus, an in-detail study on the subacute disease model is warranted.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using validated modified-communication tools; Patient Communication Assessment Instruments (PCAI), Student Communication Assessment Instruments (SCAI) and Clinical Communication Assessment Instruments (CCAI) which included four communication domains. One hundred and seventy-six undergraduate clinical year students were recruited in this study whereby each of them was assessed by a clinical instructor and a randomly selected patient in two settings: Dental Health Education (DHE) and Comprehensive Care (CC) clinic.
RESULTS: Comparing the three perspectives, PCAI yielded the highest scores across all domains, followed by SCAI and CCAI (p
METHODS: A multi-staged cluster sampling method was employed. A total of 598 16-year-old adolescents participated in this study. Participants' demographic profile was assessed through a self-administered questionnaire. Clinical examinations were carried out under standardized conditions by a single examiner. The level of GTW was recorded using the modified Smith and Knight's Tooth Wear Index (TWI) whilst ETW were recorded using the Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE) index. This index was developed to record clinical findings and assist in the decision-making process for the management of erosive tooth wear. Dental caries was recorded using the D3MFT index whereby D3 denotes obvious dental decay into dentine detected visually.
RESULTS: The prevalence of GTW, ETW and dental caries, i.e. percentage of individuals found to have at least one lesion, was 99.8%, 45.0% and 27.8% respectively. Two thirds of affected teeth with GTW were observed to have a TWI score of 1 whereas almost all of the affected teeth with ETW had a BEWE score of 2. The mean D3MFT was 0.62 (95% CI 0.50, 0.73) with Decayed (D) teeth being the largest component, mean D3T was 0.36 (95% CI 0.30, 0.43). There was no significant association between socio-demographic factors and prevalence of ETW. Logistic regression analysis also showed no significant relationship between the prevalence of ETW and D3MFT (p > 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Almost all adolescents examined had GTW but they were mainly early lesions. However, nearly half were found to have ETW of moderate severity (BEWE score 2). No significant relationship between the occurrence of erosive tooth wear and caries was observed in this population.
METHODS: We studied ER-α expression in 84 cases of PTC obtained within an eight-year period (2011-2018) by immunohistochemical technique (IHC). Associations between ER-α expression and clinicopathological features were evaluated using Fisher's exact test. The statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
RESULTS: ER-α was expressed in 13.1% of all the PTC cases examined (n=11/84). There were no associations observed between ER-α expression and lymph node metastasis (p=1.000), tumour size (p=0.970), extrathyroidal extension (p=0.677), variants of PTC (p=1.000), age groups (p=0.188), gender (p=0.725) or race (p=0.920).
CONCLUSION: There was no evidence in this study to support the application of ER-α as prediction marker for lymph node metastasis or disease aggressiveness in PTC. Given that the scope of this study was limited to the protein expression of ER- α, we also propose the inclusion of molecular analysis of ESR1 gene expression, as well as inclusion of detailed clinical and radiological findings in future research investigating the role of ER-α in prognostication of PTC.