MyMedR

Immobilization of hydrophobic lipase derivatives on to organic polymer beads

Basri M, Ampon K, Yunus WM, Razak CN, Salleh AB

J Chem Technol Biotechnol, 1994 Jan;59(1):37-44.

A simple and effective method of lipase immobilization is described. Lipase from Candida rugosa was first modified with several hydrophobic modifiers before being adsorbed on to organic polymer beads. The soluble hydrophobic lipase derivatives adsorbed more strongly on to the various polymers as compared with the native lipase. The optimal adsorption temperature of the native and modified lipases on all the polymers was 40 degrees C. The optimal pH of adsorption was between 6 and 7. Lipase immobilized in this manner produced high catalytic recoveries which are affected by the type of modifiers, degree of modification and type of supports used. Monomethoxypolyethylene glycol (1900) activated with p-nitrophenyl chloroformate was found to be the best modifier of the enzyme at 95% modification, for adsorption to the polymers. Increasing the degree of modification of the enzyme increased the activity which was immobilized. Generally, both native and hydrophobic lipase derivatives showed higher specific activities when immobilized on polar polymers compared with non-polar polymers.

Worm burden and leukocyte response in Angiostrongylus malaysiensis-infected rats: the influence of testosterone

Kamis AB, Ahmad RA, Badrul-Munir MZ

Parasitol Res, 1992;78(5):388-91.

PMID: 1495916

Gonadectomized male albino rats aged 7 weeks were given 1.5 mg/kg testosterone propionate daily and inoculated with 50 third-stage larvae of Angiostrongylus malaysiensis. The treatment significantly increased the number of larvae and adult worms recovered from the brain and pulmonary arteries, respectively, and the rats exhibited smaller thymus glands. The total numbers of leukocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, and especially eosinophils increased significantly post-infection, but the counts were higher in the untreated infected controls. Presumably, immunosuppressive effects of testosterone may at least partly be responsible for the higher loads of A. malaysiensis worms found in male rats as compared with females in the field.

A randomized, controlled trial to assess the safety of switching stable renal transplant patients from Sandimmun to Sandimmun Neoral

Loo CS, Morad Z, Lim TO, Fan KS, Suleiman AB

Transplant Proc, 1996 Jun;28(3):1328-9.

PMID: 8658680

Fulltext Audit of new long-stay patients in Permai Mental Hospital, Johor

Cheah YC, Nur Aiza Z, Paramasivam S, Kadir ABA, Jeyarajah S

Med J Malaysia, 1997 Jun;52(2):139-45.

PMID: 10968071

We report a cross-sectional descriptive study of 90 new long-stay patients (NLS) (i.e. those who had been resident for six months to three years in Permai Mental Hospital, Johor) and studied from April to June, 1995. The age of this sample ranged from 18 to 85 years. Two subgroups were observed (i.e. younger NLS patients aged 18 to 34 years and older NLS patients aged 35 to 85 years). Among the younger NLS patients, the commonest diagnosis was schizophrenia (51.2%), followed by mental retardation with related problems (24.4%). Sixty-one percent of these younger patients had a history of serious violence or dangerous behaviour. Older NLS patients were likely to have a diagnosis of schizophrenia (79.6%), followed by mood disorder (6.1%) and dementia (4.1%). Forty seven percent of these older group had history of danger to others and 57.1% were at moderate or severe risk of non-deliberate self-harm. Focusing on the schizophrenic patients, all of them had some form of psychopathology, either positive, negative or general symptoms and about one-fourth were assessed to pose a risk for aggression.

The effect of water activity on modified lipase during esterification

Salleh AB, Taib M, Basri M, Ampon K, Yunus WM, Razak CN

Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1996 Oct 12;799:328-31.

PMID: 8958097

The influence of thyroxine and propyl thiouracil on Parastrongylus malaysiensis infection in rats

Kamis AB, Ahmad RA, Chang JS, Ambu S

Parasitol Res, 1994;80(1):87-8.

PMID: 8153134

Daily intramuscular injection with thyroxine (T4) at a dose of 2.5 micrograms/100 g body weight decreased the larvae and adult worm burden of Parastrongylus malaysiensis in the brain and pulmonary arteries of male Sprague-Dawley albino rats. In contrast, rats treated with propyl thiouracil (PTU), an antithyroid drug, at a dose of 3.75 mg/100 g body weight retained greater numbers of larvae and adult worms. The results may reflect the contrasting immunomodulatory effects of T4 and PTU that influence the susceptibility of the host.

Effects of estradiol on worm burden and peripheral leukocytes in Parastrongylus malaysiensis-infected rats

Kamis AB, Ahmad RA, Badrul-Munir MZ

Parasitol Res, 1994;80(1):74-7.

PMID: 8153130

Gonadectomized male laboratory rats were given 0.06 mg/kg estradiol benzoate daily for 14 days before being inoculated with 50 third-stage larvae of Parastrongylus malaysiensis. Hormone treatment was continued until the rats were killed. The numbers of larvae in the brain and of adult worms in the pulmonary area of the rats were determined every 7 days after the inoculation. It was found that the rats treated daily with estradiol benzoate had significantly and consistently higher numbers of larvae and adult worms as compared with the controls. The number of total leukocytes increased significantly after the rats were infected. The results show that estradiol-treated rats become susceptible to P. malaysiensis infection, which may indicate that the immunosuppressive effects of testosterone observed in earlier studies may partly be caused by estradiol that was peripherally aromatized from testosterone.

Lead in blood and hair of population near an operational and a proposed area for copper mining, Malaysia

Mokhtar MB, Awaluddin AB, Fong CW, Woojdy WM

Bull Environ Contam Toxicol, 1994 Jan;52(1):149-54.

PMID: 8130410

Fulltext Spectrum of beta-thalassaemia mutations in transfusion dependent thalassaemia patients: practical implications in prenatal diagnosis

George E, George R, Ariffin WA, Mokhtar AB, Azman ZA, Sivagengei K

Med J Malaysia, 1993 Sep;48(3):325-9.

PMID: 8183146

The study concerned the identification of the beta-thalassaemia mutations that were present in 24 patients with beta-thalassaemia major who were transfusion dependent. The application of a modified polymerase chain reaction, the amplification refractory system (ARMS) was found to be an effective and rapid method for the identification of the beta-thalassaemia mutations. Six different mutations were detected. Seventy five percent of the patients were Chinese-Malaysians and showed the commonly occurring anomalies: 1. frameshift codon 41 and 42 (-TCTT); 2. the C to T substitution at position 654 of intron 2 (IVS-2); 3. the mutation at position -28(A to G); and the nonsense mutation A to T at codon 17. In the Malays, the common mutations seen were: 1. the G to C mutation at position 5 of IVS-1; 2. the G to T mutation at position 1 of intron 1 (IVS-1); and the A to T at codon 17. The delineation of the specific mutations present will enable effective prenatal diagnosis for beta-thalassaemia to be instituted.

Rapid serodiagnosis of typhoid fever by dot enzyme immunoassay in an endemic area

Choo KE, Oppenheimer SJ, Ismail AB, Ong KH

Clin Infect Dis, 1994 Jul;19(1):172-6.

PMID: 7948526

A dot enzyme immunoassay (EIA) using 50-kD outer-membrane proteins (OMPs) of Salmonella typhi was compared with the Widal test for the serodiagnosis of typhoid fever in 109 febrile children admitted to a hospital in an endemic area. In the culture-positive typhoid group, the initial dot EIA was positive in 40 of 42 cases and the initial Widal test was positive in 41. In the culture-negative clinical typhoid group, both the dot EIA and the Widal test were positive in 17 of 18 cases. In the nontyphoidal fever group, the dot EIA was negative in all of 49 cases and the Widal test was negative in 44. With culture used as the gold standard, the dot EIA is as sensitive as the Widal test (95% vs. 98%), has a similar high negative predictive value (96% vs. 98%), and is more specific (75% vs. 67%). In addition, the dot EIA offers the advantages of simplicity, speed, early diagnosis, economy, and flexibility (i.e., other diagnostic tests can be conducted simultaneously).

Development of an ELISA for detection of parathion, carbofuran, and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in water, soil, vegetables, and fruits

Razak CN, Salam F, Ampon K, Basri M, Salleh AB

Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1998 Dec 13;864:479-84.

PMID: 9928128

Effect of reductive alkylation of Candida rugosa lipase on its enantioselective esterification reaction

Basri M, Th'ng BL, Razak CN, Salleh AB

Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1998 Dec 13;864:192-7.

PMID: 9928091

Analgesic nephropathy associated with paracetamol

Segasothy M, Tong BK, Kamal A, Murad Z, Suleiman AB

Aust N Z J Med, 1984 Feb;14(1):23-6.

PMID: 6590001

Seven cases of analgesic nephropathy due to excessive ingestion of paracetamol are reported. None of these patients had been taking any other analgesic. All had radiological features of papillary necrosis. With the increasing use of paracetamol as a mild analgesic it is necessary to be aware of the possibility that paracetamol may induce analgesic nephropathy.

Experimental infection of dexamethasone-treated goats with Pasteurella haemolytica A2

Zamri-Saad M, Jasni S, Nurida AB, Sheikh-Omar AR

Br. Vet. J., 1991 Nov-Dec;147(6):565-8.

PMID: 1777800

Sixteen goats either subjected to transport stress or without transport stress were treated with dexamethasone for 3 days prior to infection with P. haemolytica serotype A2 intranasally. The transport-stressed and dexamethasone-treated goats in the first group had various degrees of pulmonary lesions and the organism was re-isolated from the nasal cavity, lymph nodes and lungs. None of the goats treated with dexamethasone only were infected with P. haemolytica and had no lesions of pneumonic pasteurellosis. Treatment with dexamethasone alone failed to induce experimental infection by P. haemolytica except in combination with another stress factor.

Cryptococcosis in a renal unit

Kong NC, Shaariah W, Morad Z, Suleiman AB, Wong YH

Aust N Z J Med, 1990 Oct;20(5):645-9.

PMID: 2285381

Cryptococcosis is a known opportunistic infection in immunosuppressed hosts. We report our experience of all cases presenting to our Department between December 1975 and September 1988. Eight post-renal transplant patients and three systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients were affected. All were receiving treatment with steroids, in association with either azathioprine or cyclosporin. The diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis was initially based on a positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cryptococcal antigen, by latex agglutination test, and subsequently confirmed by cultures. Common clinical presentations, in descending order of frequency, included headaches, fever, mental confusion, epilepsy and papilloedema. Meningism was not a prominent feature. CT brain scans were obtained in eight patients and one showed a focal lesion and one showed cerebral atrophy. Four patients also had an abnormal chest X-ray (CXR) and one had disseminated cryptococcosis. Amphotericin and 5-fluorocytosine were the mainstay of therapy, although ketoconazole alone was subsequently used in three selected patients with cure. Four early deaths occurred in patients with delayed diagnosis and treatment, usually in association with other severe concurrent infections. We conclude that awareness of cryptococcosis is essential in immunocompromised hosts presenting with headache with, or without, mental confusion or fever.

Fulltext Modeling of hemoglobin in dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever using bioelectrical impedance

Ibrahim F, Ismail NA, Taib MN, Wan Abas WA

Physiol Meas, 2004 Jun;25(3):607-15.

PMID: 15253113 DOI: 10.1088/0967-3334/25/3/002

This paper describes a model for predicting hemoglobin (Hb) by using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) in dengue patients in the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM). Bioelectrical impedance measurements were conducted on 83 (47 males and 36 females) serologically confirmed dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) patients during their hospitalization. The predictive equation for Hb was derived using multivariate analysis. We investigated all the parameters in BIA, patients' symptom and demographic data. In this developed model, four predictors (reactance (XC), sex, weight and vomiting) were found to be the best predictive factors for modeling Hb in dengue patients. However, the model can only explain approximately 42% of the variation in Hb status, thus single frequency bio-impedance stand-alone technique is insufficient to monitor Hb for the DF and DHF patients. Further investigation using multi-frequency BIA is recommended in modeling Hb to achieve the most parsimonious model.

Estimation of carbon pool in soil, above and below ground vegetation at different types of mangrove forests in Peninsular Malaysia

Rozainah MZ, Nazri MN, Sofawi AB, Hemati Z, Juliana WA

Mar Pollut Bull, 2018 Dec;137:237-245.

PMID: 30503430 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.10.023

This paper evaluated the total carbon stock of mangrove ecosystems in two contrasting sites: a fishing village in Delta Kelantan (DK) and Ramsar sites in Johor Park (JP). In both sites, aboveground carbon was significantly higher than belowground carbon, and stems contained more carbon than leaf and root partitions. The average carbon concentration of individual mangrove species (44.9-48.1%) was not significantly different but the larger biomass of the DK samples resulted in vegetation carbon stock that was higher than that in JP. Season played an important role in soil carbon stock-a pronounced wet season in DK coincided with the dry season in JP. The total carbon pool was estimated to be 427.88 t ha-1 in JP and 512.51 t ha-1 in DK, where at least 80% was contributed by soil carbon. The carbon dioxide equivalent was 1570.32 t ha-1 CO2e (JP) and 1880.91 t ha-1 CO2e (DK).

The rubber elongation factor of rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) is the major allergen in latex

Czuppon AB, Chen Z, Rennert S, Engelke T, Meyer HE, Heber M, et al.

J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1993 Nov;92(5):690-7.

PMID: 8227860

BACKGROUND: Allergy to latex-containing articles is becoming more and more important because it can result in unexpected life-threatening anaphylactic reactions in sensitized individuals.

METHODS: A protein of 58 kd with an isoelectric point of 8.45 was purified from raw latex and from latex gloves and identified as the major allergen, completely blocking specific IgE antibodies in the serum of latex-sensitized subjects. The allergen is a noncovalent homotetramer molecule, in which the 14.6 kd monomer was identified, by amino acid composition and sequence homologies of tryptic peptides, to be the rubber elongation factor found in natural latex of the Malaysian rubber tree.

RESULTS: Competitive immunoinhibition tests showed that the starch powder covering the finished gloves is the airborne carrier of the allergen, resulting in bronchial asthma on inhalation. The purified allergen can induce allergic reactions in the nanogram range.

CONCLUSION: The identification of the allergen (Hev b I) may help to eliminate it during the production of latex-based articles in the future.

Incidence of Retrocaecal Acute Appendicitis at the Hospital Sultanah Nora Ismail (HSNI) Batu Pahat

Nur Bazlaah B, Khairuzi S, Nabiha F, Mohd Nadzri M, Nur Bazilah B, Hirdayu AB, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2021 03;76(2):223-228.

PMID: 33742632

BACKGROUND: A surgical audit study among Batu Pahat population was conducted in determining the commonest position of appendix in post appendectomy.

METHODOLOGY: This is a retrospective study. A total of 204 cases of patients underwent an appendectomy admitted to the surgical ward from January 2017 until January 2018 at Hospital Sultanah Nora Ismail (HSNI) were audited retrospectively.

RESULTS: This findings showed different figures of ascendancy in gender among patients who underwent an appendectomy with females 58.8% and males 41.2%. The perforation rate was 40.7% and delay in diagnosis was found to be 19.1%. The perforated appendix had a significantly higher incidence in males with a correlation of p-value 0.04. Retrocaecal appendix (RA) remained the commonest position for patients who underwent an appendectomy with 26.9%. RA is associated with an increased incidence of perforation (p-value 0.01).

CONCLUSION: The position of appendix in our patients who underwent an appendectomy is parallel to the reports available globally in that it is retrocaecal followed by retroileal as the commonest position among residence of Batu Pahat.

Species distribution and clinical profiles of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) isolated from blood cultures among paediatric patients in Hospital Kuala Lumpur

Siti NM, Wan Nazirah WAB, Rosni I, Mohamed AN, Salbiah N

Med J Malaysia, 2020 05;75(3):266-273.

PMID: 32467543

INTRODUCTION: Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) is often considered as a culture contaminants but it can potentially be pathogenic to patients with risk factors. A combination of species identification and clinical criteria has been suggested in determining true CoNS bacteraemia.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the species distribution, antibiotic susceptibility patterns and clinical profiles of CoNS isolated from blood cultures among paediatric patients in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL).

METHODS: This study involved CoNS isolation from blood cultures of paediatric in-patients of the Paediatric Institute HKL. Isolates were identified to species level using Analytical Profile Index Staph identification strips and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern following Kirby-Bauer Disc Diffusion method. The clinical profiles of patients were obtained from their medical records.

RESULTS: Eleven CoNS species were identified from 148 isolates. Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most frequent species isolated (67.6%). The majority of the isolates showed resistance to penicillin (85.8%); while 70.3% were methicillin-resistant (MR) CoNS, which demonstrated a significant association with true infection (p=0.021). Predictors for significant CoNS infection included thrombocytopaenia, presence of predisposing factors, nosocomial infection, blood collected from peripheral vein, and CoNS isolated from two consecutive blood cultures. The most common predisposing factors for the isolation of CoNS were the presence of peripheral (54.1%) and central venous catheters (35.1%).

CONCLUSION: CoNS can cause significant bloodstream infections. The isolation of CoNS from blood cultures should be carefully interpreted by considering the predictive factors. Local data regarding predictive factors of patients with culture-positive CoNS, species distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern are useful to determine the significance of blood culture results and care management of patients.

Displaying publications 181 - 200 of 691 in total