Displaying publications 201 - 220 of 312 in total

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  1. Said MM, Gibbons S, Moffat AC, Zloh M
    Int J Pharm, 2011 Aug 30;415(1-2):102-9.
    PMID: 21645600 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2011.05.057
    The influx of medicines from different sources into healthcare systems of developing countries presents a challenge to monitor their origin and quality. The absence of a repository of reference samples or spectra prevents the analysis of tablets by direct comparison. A set of paracetamol tablets purchased in Malaysian pharmacies were compared to a similar set of sample purchased in the UK using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Additional samples of products containing ibuprofen or paracetamol in combination with other actives were added to the study as negative controls. NIR spectra of the samples were acquired and compared by using multivariate modeling and classification algorithms (PCA/SIMCA) and stored in a spectral database. All analysed paracetamol samples contained the purported active ingredient with only 1 out of 20 batches excluded from the 95% confidence interval, while the negative controls were clearly classified as outliers of the set. Although the substandard products were not detected in the purchased sample set, our results indicated variability in the quality of the Malaysian tablets. A database of spectra was created and search methods were evaluated for correct identification of tablets. The approach presented here can be further developed as a method for identifying substandard pharmaceutical products.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual*
  2. Hosseinpoor AR, Nambiar D, Schlotheuber A, Reidpath D, Ross Z
    BMC Med Res Methodol, 2016 10 19;16(1):141.
    PMID: 27760520
    BACKGROUND: It is widely recognised that the pursuit of sustainable development cannot be accomplished without addressing inequality, or observed differences between subgroups of a population. Monitoring health inequalities allows for the identification of health topics where major group differences exist, dimensions of inequality that must be prioritised to effect improvements in multiple health domains, and also population subgroups that are multiply disadvantaged. While availability of data to monitor health inequalities is gradually improving, there is a commensurate need to increase, within countries, the technical capacity for analysis of these data and interpretation of results for decision-making. Prior efforts to build capacity have yielded demand for a toolkit with the computational ability to display disaggregated data and summary measures of inequality in an interactive and customisable fashion that would facilitate interpretation and reporting of health inequality in a given country.

    METHODS: To answer this demand, the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT), was developed between 2014 and 2016. The software, which contains the World Health Organization's Health Equity Monitor database, allows the assessment of inequalities within a country using over 30 reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health indicators and five dimensions of inequality (economic status, education, place of residence, subnational region and child's sex, where applicable).

    RESULTS/CONCLUSION: HEAT was beta-tested in 2015 as part of ongoing capacity building workshops on health inequality monitoring. This is the first and only application of its kind; further developments are proposed to introduce an upload data feature, translate it into different languages and increase interactivity of the software. This article will present the main features and functionalities of HEAT and discuss its relevance and use for health inequality monitoring.

    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual/statistics & numerical data
  3. Charan J, Kaur RJ, Bhardwaj P, Haque M, Sharma P, Misra S, et al.
    Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol, 2021 Jan;14(1):95-103.
    PMID: 33252992 DOI: 10.1080/17512433.2021.1856655
    Objectives: Remdesivir has shown promise in the management of patients with COVID-19 although recent studies have shown concerns with its effectiveness in practice. Despite this there is a need to document potential adverse drug events (ADEs) to guide future decisions as limited ADE data available before the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Interrogation of WHO VigiBase® from 2015 to 2020 coupled with published studies of ADEs in COVID-19 patients. The main outcome measures are the extent of ADEs broken down by factors including age, seriousness, region and organ. Results: A total 1086 ADEs were reported from the 439 individual case reports up to July 19, 2020, in the VigiBase®, reduced to 1004 once duplicates were excluded. Almost all ADEs concerned COVID-19 patients (92.5%), with an appreciable number from the Americas (67.7%). The majority of ADEs were from males > 45 years and were serious (82.5%). An increase in hepatic enzymes (32.1%), renal injury (14.4%), rise in creatinine levels (11.2%), and respiratory failure (6.4%) were the most frequently reported ADEs. Conclusions: Deterioration of liver and kidney function are frequently observed ADEs with remdesivir; consequently, patients should be monitored for these ADEs. The findings are in line with ADEs included in regulatory authority documents.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual*
  4. Coleman JRI, Peyrot WJ, Purves KL, Davis KAS, Rayner C, Choi SW, et al.
    Mol Psychiatry, 2020 Jul;25(7):1430-1446.
    PMID: 31969693 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-019-0546-6
    Depression is more frequent among individuals exposed to traumatic events. Both trauma exposure and depression are heritable. However, the relationship between these traits, including the role of genetic risk factors, is complex and poorly understood. When modelling trauma exposure as an environmental influence on depression, both gene-environment correlations and gene-environment interactions have been observed. The UK Biobank concurrently assessed Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and self-reported lifetime exposure to traumatic events in 126,522 genotyped individuals of European ancestry. We contrasted genetic influences on MDD stratified by reported trauma exposure (final sample size range: 24,094-92,957). The SNP-based heritability of MDD with reported trauma exposure (24%) was greater than MDD without reported trauma exposure (12%). Simulations showed that this is not confounded by the strong, positive genetic correlation observed between MDD and reported trauma exposure. We also observed that the genetic correlation between MDD and waist circumference was only significant in individuals reporting trauma exposure (rg = 0.24, p = 1.8 × 10-7 versus rg = -0.05, p = 0.39 in individuals not reporting trauma exposure, difference p = 2.3 × 10-4). Our results suggest that the genetic contribution to MDD is greater when reported trauma is present, and that a complex relationship exists between reported trauma exposure, body composition, and MDD.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual*
  5. Charan J, Dutta S, Kaur R, Bhardwaj P, Sharma P, Ambwani S, et al.
    Expert Opin Drug Saf, 2021 Sep;20(9):1125-1136.
    PMID: 34162299 DOI: 10.1080/14740338.2021.1946513
    BACKGROUND: Elevated inflammatory cytokines in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affect the lungs leading to pneumonitis with a poor prognosis. Tocilizumab, a type of humanized monoclonal antibody antagonizing interleukin-6 receptors, is currently utilized to treat COVID-19. The present study reviews tocilizumab adverse drug events (ADEs) reported in the World Health Organization (WHO) pharmacovigilance database.

    RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: All suspected ADEs associated with tocilizumab between April to August 2020 were analyzed based on COVID-19 patients' demographic and clinical variables, and severity of involvement of organ system.

    RESULTS: A total of 1005 ADEs were reported among 513 recipients. The majority of the ADEs (46.26%) were reported from 18-64 years, were males and reported spontaneously. Around 80%, 20%, and 64% were serious, fatal, and administered intravenously, respectively. 'Injury, Poisoning, and Procedural Complications' remain as highest (35%) among categorized ADEs. Neutropenia, hypofibrinogenemia were common hematological ADEs. The above 64 years was found to have significantly lower odds than of below 45 years. In comparison, those in the European Region have substantially higher odds compared to the Region of Americas.

    CONCLUSION: Neutropenia, superinfections, reactivation of latent infections, hepatitis, and cardiac abnormalities were common ADEs observed that necessitate proper monitoring and reporting.

    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual/statistics & numerical data
  6. Sabariah FJ, Ramesh N, Mahathar AW
    Med J Malaysia, 2008 Sep;63 Suppl C:45-9.
    PMID: 19227673
    The first Malaysian National Trauma Database was launched in May 2006 with five tertiary referral centres to determine the fundamental data on major trauma, subsequently to evaluate the major trauma management and to come up with guidelines for improved trauma care. A prospective study, using standardized and validated questionnaires, was carried out from May 2006 till April 2007 for all cases admitted and referred to the participating hospitals. During the one year period, 123,916 trauma patients were registered, of which 933 (0.75%) were classified as major trauma. Patients with blunt injury made up for 83.9% of cases and RTA accounted for 72.6% of injuries with 64.9% involving motorcyclist and pillion rider. 42.8% had severe head injury with an admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 3-8 and the Revised Trauma Score (RTS) of 5-6 were recorded in 28.8% of patients. The distribution of Injury Severity Score (ISS) showed that 42.9% of cases were in the range of 16-24. Only 1.9% and 6.3% of the patients were reviewed by the Emergency Physician and Surgeon respectively. Patients with admission systolic blood pressure of less than 90 mmHg had a death rate of 54.6%. Patients with severe head injury (GCS < 9), 45.1% died while 79% patients with moderate head injury survived. There were more survivors within the higher RTS range compared to the lower RTS. Patients with direct admission accounted for 52.3% of survivors and there were 61.7% survivors for referred cases. In conclusion, NTrD first report has successfully demonstrated its significance in giving essential data on major trauma in Malaysia, however further expansion of the study may reflect more comprehensive trauma database in this country.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual/standards; Databases, Factual/statistics & numerical data
  7. Shah B, Kirpalani A, Sunder S, Gupta A, Khanna U, Chafekar D, et al.
    BMC Nephrol, 2015;16:215.
    PMID: 26696239 DOI: 10.1186/s12882-015-0191-5
    The objective of this article is to describe the organisation of an international, clinical registry, the Chronic Kidney Disease Observational Database (CKDOD), the processes of enrolling patients and entering data and preliminary results to date.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  8. Mustapha A, Hussain A, Samad SA, Zulkifley MA, Diyana Wan Zaki WM, Hamid HA
    Biomed Eng Online, 2015;14:6.
    PMID: 25595511 DOI: 10.1186/1475-925X-14-6
    Content-based medical image retrieval (CBMIR) system enables medical practitioners to perform fast diagnosis through quantitative assessment of the visual information of various modalities.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  9. Bauer M, Glenn T, Alda M, Andreassen OA, Angelopoulos E, Ardau R, et al.
    Eur. Psychiatry, 2015 Jan;30(1):99-105.
    PMID: 25498240 DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2014.10.005
    PURPOSE: Two common approaches to identify subgroups of patients with bipolar disorder are clustering methodology (mixture analysis) based on the age of onset, and a birth cohort analysis. This study investigates if a birth cohort effect will influence the results of clustering on the age of onset, using a large, international database.

    METHODS: The database includes 4037 patients with a diagnosis of bipolar I disorder, previously collected at 36 collection sites in 23 countries. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to adjust the data for country median age, and in some models, birth cohort. Model-based clustering (mixture analysis) was then performed on the age of onset data using the residuals. Clinical variables in subgroups were compared.

    RESULTS: There was a strong birth cohort effect. Without adjusting for the birth cohort, three subgroups were found by clustering. After adjusting for the birth cohort or when considering only those born after 1959, two subgroups were found. With results of either two or three subgroups, the youngest subgroup was more likely to have a family history of mood disorders and a first episode with depressed polarity. However, without adjusting for birth cohort (three subgroups), family history and polarity of the first episode could not be distinguished between the middle and oldest subgroups.

    CONCLUSION: These results using international data confirm prior findings using single country data, that there are subgroups of bipolar I disorder based on the age of onset, and that there is a birth cohort effect. Including the birth cohort adjustment altered the number and characteristics of subgroups detected when clustering by age of onset. Further investigation is needed to determine if combining both approaches will identify subgroups that are more useful for research.

    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  10. Ganesan K, Acharya RU, Chua CK, Laude A
    Proc Inst Mech Eng H, 2014 Sep;228(9):962-70.
    PMID: 25234036 DOI: 10.1177/0954411914550847
    Identification of retinal landmarks is an important step in the extraction of anomalies in retinal fundus images. In the current study, we propose a technique to identify and localize the position of macula and hence the fovea avascular zone, in colour fundus images. The proposed method, based on varying blur scales in images, is independent of the location of other anatomical landmarks present in the fundus images. Experimental results have been provided using the open database MESSIDOR by validating our segmented regions using the dice coefficient, with ground truth segmentation provided by a human expert. Apart from testing the images on the entire MESSIDOR database, the proposed technique was also validated using 50 normal and 50 diabetic retinopathy chosen digital fundus images from the same database. A maximum overlap accuracy of 89.6%-93.8% and locational accuracy of 94.7%-98.9% was obtained for identification and localization of the fovea.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  11. Mookiah MR, Acharya UR, Koh JE, Chandran V, Chua CK, Tan JH, et al.
    Comput Biol Med, 2014 Oct;53:55-64.
    PMID: 25127409 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2014.07.015
    Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is one of the major causes of vision loss and blindness in ageing population. Currently, there is no cure for AMD, however early detection and subsequent treatment may prevent the severe vision loss or slow the progression of the disease. AMD can be classified into two types: dry and wet AMDs. The people with macular degeneration are mostly affected by dry AMD. Early symptoms of AMD are formation of drusen and yellow pigmentation. These lesions are identified by manual inspection of fundus images by the ophthalmologists. It is a time consuming, tiresome process, and hence an automated diagnosis of AMD screening tool can aid clinicians in their diagnosis significantly. This study proposes an automated dry AMD detection system using various entropies (Shannon, Kapur, Renyi and Yager), Higher Order Spectra (HOS) bispectra features, Fractional Dimension (FD), and Gabor wavelet features extracted from greyscale fundus images. The features are ranked using t-test, Kullback-Lieber Divergence (KLD), Chernoff Bound and Bhattacharyya Distance (CBBD), Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve-based and Wilcoxon ranking methods in order to select optimum features and classified into normal and AMD classes using Naive Bayes (NB), k-Nearest Neighbour (k-NN), Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN), Decision Tree (DT) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated using private (Kasturba Medical Hospital, Manipal, India), Automated Retinal Image Analysis (ARIA) and STructured Analysis of the Retina (STARE) datasets. The proposed system yielded the highest average classification accuracies of 90.19%, 95.07% and 95% with 42, 54 and 38 optimal ranked features using SVM classifier for private, ARIA and STARE datasets respectively. This automated AMD detection system can be used for mass fundus image screening and aid clinicians by making better use of their expertise on selected images that require further examination.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  12. Sivasankar S, Karmegam K, Bahri MT, Naeini HS, Kulanthayan S
    Traffic Inj Prev, 2014;15(6):564-71.
    PMID: 24484430 DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2013.861596
    Motorcycles are a common mode of transport for most Malaysians. Underbone motorcycles are one of the most common types of motorcycle used in Malaysia due to their affordable price and ease of use, especially in heavy traffic in the major cities. In Malaysia, it is common to see a young or child pillion rider clinging on to an adult at the front of the motorcycle. One of the main issues facing young pillion riders is that their safety is often not taken into account when they are riding on a motorcycle. This article reviews the legally available systems in child safety for underbone motorcycles in Malaysia while putting forth the need for a safety system for child pillion riders.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  13. Zaharan NL, Williams D, Bennett K
    Ir J Med Sci, 2014 Jun;183(2):311-8.
    PMID: 24013870 DOI: 10.1007/s11845-013-1011-1
    BACKGROUND: Over the last decade there have been significant changes in the prescribing of antidiabetic therapies. It is of interest to know about these trends and variations in the Irish population so that future prescribing patterns can be estimated.

    AIMS: To examine the trends in prescribed antidiabetic treatments, including variations across age, gender, socioeconomic status and regions in the Irish population over the last 10 years.

    METHODS: The Irish national pharmacy claims database was used to identify patients ≥ 16 years dispensed antidiabetic agents (oral or insulin) from January 2003 to December 2012 through the two main community drug schemes for diabetes. The rate of prescribing per 1,000 population was calculated. Logistic regression was used to examine variations in prescribing in patients with diabetes.

    RESULTS: There was a significant increase in the prescribing of fast and long-acting insulin analogues with a rapid decline in the prescribing of human insulin (p < 0.0001). Increased prescribing of metformin, incretin modulators and fixed oral combination agents was observed (p < 0.0001). Females and older aged patients were more likely to be prescribed human insulin than other insulins. Metformin was less likely while sulphonylureas were more likely to be prescribed in older than younger aged patients. Socioeconomic differences were observed in increased prescribing of the newer and more expensive antidiabetic agents in the non-means tested scheme. Regional variations were observed in the prescribing of both insulin and oral antidiabetic agents.

    CONCLUSION: There has been an increase over time in the prescribing of both insulin and oral antidiabetic agents in the Irish population with increasing uptake of newer antidiabetic agents. This has implications for projecting future uptake and expenditure of these agents given the rising level of diabetes in the population.

    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  14. Chai HY, Swee TT, Seng GH, Wee LK
    Biomed Eng Online, 2013;12:27.
    PMID: 23565999 DOI: 10.1186/1475-925X-12-27
    The high variations of background luminance, low contrast and excessively enhanced contrast of hand bone radiograph often impede the bone age assessment rating system in evaluating the degree of epiphyseal plates and ossification centers development. The Global Histogram equalization (GHE) has been the most frequently adopted image contrast enhancement technique but the performance is not satisfying. A brightness and detail preserving histogram equalization method with good contrast enhancement effect has been a goal of much recent research in histogram equalization. Nevertheless, producing a well-balanced histogram equalized radiograph in terms of its brightness preservation, detail preservation and contrast enhancement is deemed to be a daunting task.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  15. Hss AS, Tan PS, Hashim L
    Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot, 2014;21(1):75-80.
    PMID: 23651461 DOI: 10.1080/17457300.2013.792284
    This study aimed to collate data on childhood drowning in Malaysia and review existing drowning prevention measures. This study used secondary data from governmental and non-governmental agencies. All reported fatal drownings from 2000 to 2007 and all reported non-fatal drownings from 2000 to 2008 were included. Data were analysed to provide understanding of the epidemiology of drowning incidents, risk factors and available preventive efforts. On average 286 (range 248-344) children died yearly due to drowning with a death rate of 3.05 per 100,000 annually. An additional average of 207 children drowned but survived annually (1.99 per 100,000). The estimated burden of drowning in children (death and non-death) is 5 per 100,000. There was no reduction in annual drowning fatalities over time. Most drowning took place in east coast regions during the annual monsoon season. It was 3.52 (2.80-4.41) times more common in boys and most prevalent among 10-14 years. Most prevalent sites of all-age drowning were seas and rivers. Limited water safety regulations are currently available in the country. This is the first comprehensive national study in Malaysia on paediatric drowning and highlights the magnitude of the problem. It calls for concerted effort to devise effective national drowning prevention measures.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  16. Ahmed A, Abdo A, Salim N
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2012;2012:410914.
    PMID: 22623895 DOI: 10.1100/2012/410914
    Many of the similarity-based virtual screening approaches assume that molecular fragments that are not related to the biological activity carry the same weight as the important ones. This was the reason that led to the use of Bayesian networks as an alternative to existing tools for similarity-based virtual screening. In our recent work, the retrieval performance of the Bayesian inference network (BIN) was observed to improve significantly when molecular fragments were reweighted using the relevance feedback information. In this paper, a set of active reference structures were used to reweight the fragments in the reference structure. In this approach, higher weights were assigned to those fragments that occur more frequently in the set of active reference structures while others were penalized. Simulated virtual screening experiments with MDL Drug Data Report datasets showed that the proposed approach significantly improved the retrieval effectiveness of ligand-based virtual screening, especially when the active molecules being sought had a high degree of structural heterogeneity.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  17. Nugroho H, Ahmad Fadzil MH, Shamsudin N, Hussein SH
    Skin Res Technol, 2013 Feb;19(1):e72-7.
    PMID: 22233154 DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0846.2011.00610.x
    Vitiligo is a cutaneous pigmentary disorder characterized by depigmented macules and patches that result from loss of epidermal melanocytes. Physician evaluates the efficacy of treatment by comparing the extent of vitiligo lesions before and after treatment based on the overall visual impression of the treatment response. This method is called the physician's global assessment (PGA) which is subjective. In this article, we present an innovative digital image processing method to determine vitiligo lesion area in an objective manner.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  18. Hamidah A, Wong CY, Tamil AM, Zarina LA, Zulkifli ZS, Jamal R
    Pediatr Blood Cancer, 2011 Jul 15;57(1):105-9.
    PMID: 21465639 DOI: 10.1002/pbc.23125
    Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) in pediatric leukemia patients in Malaysia has not been studied before. This was mainly due to a lack of databases on patients in the past. Many patients abandoned treatment or were lost to follow up. With more children now fully compliant and completing treatment nowadays, with higher cure rate, HRQOL has become important for our patients. The purpose of the current study was to determine the HRQOL scores in children with acute leukemia and to compare the scores for those on maintenance chemotherapy with those off-treatment as well as to determine factors which might affect HRQOL.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  19. Moein S
    Adv Exp Med Biol, 2010;680:109-16.
    PMID: 20865492 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-5913-3_13
    In this paper, application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for electrocardiogram (ECG) signal noise removal has been investigated. First, 100 number of ECG signals are selected from Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) database and Kalman filter is applied to remove their low pass noise. Then a suitable dataset based on denoised ECG signal is configured and used to a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural network to be trained. Finally, results and experiences are discussed and the effect of changing different parameters for MLP training is shown.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
  20. Mahmoodian H, Hamiruce Marhaban M, Abdulrahim R, Rosli R, Saripan I
    Australas Phys Eng Sci Med, 2011 Apr;34(1):41-54.
    PMID: 21327594 DOI: 10.1007/s13246-011-0054-8
    The classification of the cancer tumors based on gene expression profiles has been extensively studied in numbers of studies. A wide variety of cancer datasets have been implemented by the various methods of gene selection and classification to identify the behavior of the genes in tumors and find the relationships between them and outcome of diseases. Interpretability of the model, which is developed by fuzzy rules and linguistic variables in this study, has been rarely considered. In addition, creating a fuzzy classifier with high performance in classification that uses a subset of significant genes which have been selected by different types of gene selection methods is another goal of this study. A new algorithm has been developed to identify the fuzzy rules and significant genes based on fuzzy association rule mining. At first, different subset of genes which have been selected by different methods, were used to generate primary fuzzy classifiers separately and then proposed algorithm was implemented to mix the genes which have been associated in the primary classifiers and generate a new classifier. The results show that fuzzy classifier can classify the tumors with high performance while presenting the relationships between the genes by linguistic variables.
    Matched MeSH terms: Databases, Factual
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