OBJECTIVE: This study was sought to assess the level of cognitive functions and linked with blood oxidative status during normal aging in rats.
METHODS: A longitudinal study using male Sprague Dawley rats was performed starting from the age of 14 months old to 27 months old. Cognitive functions tests such as open field, Morris water maze and object recognition were determined at the age of 14, 18, 23, and 27 months old and were compared with group 3 months old. Blood was collected from the orbital venous sinus and oxidative status was determined by measuring the level of DNA damage, lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation and antioxidant enzymes activity.
RESULTS: Aged rats showed declining exploratory behavior and increased in the level of anxiety as compared to the young rats. The level of DNA damage increased with increasing age. Interestingly, our study found that both levels of malondialdehyde and plasma carbonyl content decreased with age. In addition, the level of superoxide dismutase activity was significantly decreased with age whereas catalase activity was significantly increased from 18 months of age. However, no significant difference was found in glutathione peroxidase activity among all age groups.
CONCLUSION: The progressions of cognitive impairment in normal aging rats are linked to the increment in the level of DNA damage.
STUDY DESIGN: This observational cross-sectional study includes 195 confirmed PPHN with a gestational age of ≥34 weeks without congenital heart disease. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for mortality.
RESULTS: The mortality rate was 16.4%, with the highest mortality with pulmonary hypoplasia. Of 195, 65% received iNO; 18% were iNO non-responders with the majority having pulmonary hypoplasia. Independent risk factors for mortality were the presence of reversal of flow at the descending aorta, pulmonary hypoplasia, APGAR scores ≤ 5 at 5 min, and idiopathic PPHN with an adjusted odds ratio of 15.9, 7.5, 6.7, and 6.4, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite the usage of iNO, mortality due to PPHN remains high and is related to etiology and cardiac function.
METHODS: Male Wistar rats (200-250 g) were divided into 4 groups according to the diet given: control group (normal diet), ChV group with three different doses (50, 150 and 300 mg/kg body weight), liver cancer- induced group (choline deficient diet + 0.1% ethionine in drinking water or CDE group), and the treatment group (CDE group treated with three different doses of ChV). Rats were killed at 0, 4, 8 and 12 weeks of experiment and blood and tissue samples were taken from all groups for the determination of tumour markers expression alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), M2-pyruvate kinase (M2-PK) and specific antigen for oval cells (OV-6).
RESULTS: Serum level of TGF-β increased significantly (p < 0.05) in CDE rats. However, ChV at all doses managed to decrease (p < 0.05) its levels to control values. Expressions of liver tumour markers AFP, TGF-β, M2-PK and OV-6 were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in tissues of CDE rats when compared to control showing an increased number of cancer cells during hepatocarcinogenesis. ChV at all doses reduced their expressions significantly (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Chlorella vulgaris has chemopreventive effect by downregulating the expression of tumour markers M2-PK, OV-6, AFP and TGF-β, in HCC-induced rats.
METHODS: A randomised controlled trial was conducted for 12 weeks among older adults with diabetes in elderly care facility in Peninsular Malaysia. Six elderly care facility were randomly allocated by an independent person into two groups (intervention and control). The intervention group (three elderly care facility) received a health education program on foot self-care behaviour while the control group (three elderly care facility) received standard care. Participants were assessed at baseline, and at week-4 and week-12 follow-ups. The primary outcome was foot-self-care behaviour. Foot care self-efficacy (efficacy expectation), foot care outcome expectation, knowledge of foot care and quality of life were the secondary outcomes. Data were analysed with Mixed Design Analysis of Variance using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22.0.
RESULTS: 184 respondents were recruited but only 76 met the selection criteria and were included in the analysis. Foot self-care behaviour, foot care self-efficacy (efficacy expectation), foot care outcome expectation and knowledge of foot care improved in the intervention group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). However, some of these improvements did not significantly differ compared to the control group for QoL physical symptoms and QoL psychosocial functioning (p > 0.05).
CONCLUSION: The self-efficacy enhancing program improved foot self-care behaviour with respect to the delivered program. It is expected that in the future, the self-efficacy theory can be incorporated into diabetes education to enhance foot self-care behaviour for elderly with diabetes living in other institutional care facilities.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ACTRN12616000210471.
Methods and results: A retrospective record review was conducted among 432 first-ever stroke patients admitted to the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia. Data from between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2011, were extracted from the medical records. The Kaplan-Meier product limit estimator was applied to determine the 28-day, 1-year, and 5-year survival probabilities. Log-rank test was used to test the equality of survival time between different groups. A total of 101 patients died during the study period. The 28-day, 1-year, and 5-year survival probabilities were 78.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 73.5-81.9), 74.2% (95% CI: 69.4-78.4), and 70.9% (95% CI: 65.1-75.9), respectively. There were significant differences in the survival time based on the types of stroke, Glasgow Coma Scale, hyperlipidaemia, atrial fibrillation, fasting blood glucose, and diastolic blood pressure.
Conclusion: This study, though retrospective, highlights several clinical parameters that influenced the survival probabilities among first-ever stroke patients managed in a suburban setting in Malaysia, and compared them to those reported in more urban regions. Our data emphasise the need for wider establishment of specialized stroke units and teams, as well as for prospective multi-centre studies on first-ever stroke patients to better inform the development of stroke care provision in Malaysia.
METHODS: Twenty-three male subjects walked on a customized platform with four different surface inclinations (i.e., 0, 5, 7.5 and 10°) with inclined and declined directions. The motion of the ten reflective markers was captured using Qualysis motion capture system (Qualysis, Gothenburg, Sweden) and exported to a visual three-dimensional (3D) software (C-motion, Germantown, USA) in order to analyze the GRF, JRF and PFS.
RESULTS: The results found that the peak vertical GRF is almost consistent for 0 and 5° inclination slope but started to decrease at 7.5° onwards during decline walking. The most affected JRF was found on knee at medial-lateral direction even as low as 5 to 10° inclination for both walking conditions. Furthermore, the findings also show that the JRF of lower extremity was more affected during declined walking compared to inclined walking based on the number of significant differences observed in each inclination angle. The PFS was found increased with the increase of surface inclination.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings could provide a new insight on the relationship of joint reaction forces and strain parameter in response to the incline and decline walking. It would benefit in providing a better precaution that should be considered during hiking activity, especially in medial-lateral direction in order to prevent injury or fall risk.
RESULTS: Using total RNA extracted from young roots as template, we performed a comparative transcriptome analysis on oil palm responding to 14d and 28d of Pi deprivation treatment and under adequate Pi supply. By using Illumina HiSeq4000 platform, RNA-Seq analysis was successfully conducted on 12 paired-end RNA-Seq libraries and generated more than 1.2 billion of clean reads in total. Transcript abundance estimated by fragments per kilobase per million fragments (FPKM) and differential expression analysis revealed 36 and 252 genes that are differentially regulated in Pi-starved roots at 14d and 28d, respectively. Genes possibly involved in regulating Pi homeostasis, nutrient uptake and transport, hormonal signaling and gene transcription were found among the differentially expressed genes.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that the molecular response mechanism underlying Pi starvation in oil palm is complexed and involved multilevel regulation of various sensing and signaling components. This contribution would generate valuable genomic resources in the effort to develop oil palm planting materials that possess Pi-use efficient trait through molecular manipulation and breeding programs.