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  1. Wong LP, George E, Tan JA
    J Community Genet, 2011 Jun;2(2):71-9.
    PMID: 22109791 DOI: 10.1007/s12687-011-0039-z
    Hemoglobin disorders which include thalassemias are the most common heritable disorders. Effective treatment is available, and these disorders can be avoided as identification of carriers is achievable using simple hematological tests. An in-depth understanding of the awareness, attitudes, perceptions, and screening reservations towards thalassemia is necessary, as Malaysia has a multi-ethnic population with different religious beliefs. A total of 13 focus group discussions (70 participants) with members of the general lay public were conducted between November 2008 and January 2009. Lack of knowledge and understanding about thalassemia leads to general confusions over differences between thalassemia carriers and thalassemia major, inheritance patterns, and the physical and psychologically impact of the disorder in affected individuals and their families. Although most of the participants have not been tested for thalassemia, a large majority expressed willingness to be screened. Views on prenatal diagnosis and termination of fetuses with thalassemia major received mixed opinions from participants with different religions and practices. Perceived stigma and discrimination attached to being a carrier emerged as a vital topic in some group discussions where disparity in the answers exhibited differences in levels of participants' literacy and ethnic origins. The two most common needs identified from the discussion were information and screening facilities. Participants' interest in knowing the severity of the disease and assessing their risk of getting the disorder may imply the health belief model as a possible means of predicting thalassemia public screening services. Findings provide valuable insights for the development of more effective educational, screening, and prenatal diagnostic services in the multi-ethnic Asian society.
  2. Aziz HA, Tan YT, Peh KK
    AAPS PharmSciTech, 2012 Mar;13(1):35-45.
    PMID: 22101965 DOI: 10.1208/s12249-011-9707-x
    Microencapsulation of water-soluble drugs using coacervation-phase separation method is very challenging, as these drugs partitioned into the aqueous polymeric solution, resulting in poor drug entrapment. For evaluating the effect of ovalbumin on the microencapsulation of drugs with different solubility, pseudoephedrine HCl, verapamil HCl, propranolol HCl, paracetamol, and curcuminoid were used. In addition, drug mixtures comprising of paracetamol and pseudoephedrine HCl were also studied. The morphology, encapsulation efficiency, particle size, and in vitro release profile were investigated. The results showed that the solubility of the drug determined the ratio of ovalbumin to be used for successful microencapsulation. The optimum ratios of drug, ovalbumin, and gelatin for water-soluble (pseudoephedrine HCl, verapamil HCl, and propranolol HCl), sparingly water-soluble (paracetamol), and water-insoluble (curcuminoid) drugs were found to be 1:1:2, 2:3:5, and 1:3:4. As for the drug mixture, the optimum ratio of drug, ovalbumin, and gelatin was 2:3:5. Encapsulated particles prepared at the optimum ratios showed high yield, drug loading, entrapment efficiency, and sustained release profiles. The solubility of drug affected the particle size of the encapsulated particle. Highly soluble drugs resulted in smaller particle size. In conclusion, addition of ovalbumin circumvented the partitioning effect, leading to the successful microencapsulation of water-soluble drugs.
  3. Anarjan N, Tan CP, Nehdi IA, Ling TC
    Food Chem, 2012 Dec 1;135(3):1303-9.
    PMID: 22953858 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.05.091
    Astaxanthin colloidal particles were produced using solvent-diffusion technique in the presence of different food grade surface active compounds, namely, Polysorbate 20 (PS20), sodium caseinate (SC), gum Arabic (GA) and the optimum combination of them (OPT). Particle size and surface charge characteristics, rheological behaviour, chemical stability, colour, in vitro cellular uptake, in vitro antioxidant activity and residual solvent concentration of prepared colloidal particles were evaluated. The results indicated that in most cases the mixture of surface active compounds lead to production of colloidal particles with more desirable physicochemical and biological properties, as compared to using them individually. The optimum combination of PS20, SC and GA could produce the astaxanthin colloidal particles with small particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), conductivity and higher zeta potential, mobility, cellular uptake, colour intensity and in vitro antioxidant activity. In addition, all prepared astaxanthin colloidal particles had significantly (p<0.05) higher cellular uptake than pure astaxanthin powder.
  4. Yen ST, Tan AK, Feisul MI
    Asia Pac J Public Health, 2015 Mar;27(2):NP2635-50.
    PMID: 23007483 DOI: 10.1177/1010539512458523
    This study examines the sociodemographic factors associated with daily fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption in Malaysia. Based on a cross-sectional sample of 2447 individuals from the Malaysia Non-Communicable Disease Surveillance-1, a multivariate sample selection system is developed and estimated, to accommodate high frequencies of daily FV consumption and the days of servings among nondaily consumers. Results indicate that the authors' attempt to account for endogenous sample selectivity and cross-equation correlations is justified. There exist positive correlations between FV consumption likelihoods and longer work hours, higher levels of education, high income, female gender, nonsmoking status, and being from East Malaysia. Among nondaily consumers, those with longer work hours, singles, and people with diabetes are less inclined to eat fruits on more days. Overall, higher-educated, affluent people, nonsmokers, and East Malaysians display more days of FV consumption. Based on these outcomes, several policy implications are recommended vis-à-vis FV consumption patterns in Malaysia.
  5. Tan YN, Ayob MK, Wan Yaacob WA
    Food Chem, 2013 Jan 1;136(1):279-84.
    PMID: 23017424 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.08.012
    Palm kernel cake (PKC), the most useful by-product resulted from palm kernel oil production. In this study, PKC-derived protein product was found suitable for use as an antimicrobial agent with potent antibacterial activity, particularly against Bacillus species, after enzymatic hydrolysis with alcalase. The hydrolysate was further purified by gel filtration chromatography. The purified fraction was found to have 14.63±0.70% (w/w) protein, a molecular mass of 2.4kDa and low hemolytic activity (<50% hemolysis of human erythrocytes at concentration of 1000μg/ml). The presence of lysine and the major component lauric acid derivative, as indicated by electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) direct infusion and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, may have contributed to the antibacterial effect of purified PKC fraction. This study suggests that the antibacterial PKC compound may be not a pure peptide but instead a peptide-containing compound high in lauric acid derivative.
  6. Chew FN, Tan WS, Boo HC, Tey BT
    Prep Biochem Biotechnol, 2012;42(6):535-50.
    PMID: 23030465 DOI: 10.1080/10826068.2012.660903
    An optimized cultivation condition is needed to maximize the functional green fluorescent protein (GFP) production. Six process variables (agitation rate, temperature, initial medium pH, concentration of inducer, time of induction, and inoculum density) were screened using the fractional factorial design. Three variables (agitation rate, temperature, and time of induction) exerted significant effects on functional GFP production in E. coli shake flask cultivation and were optimized subsequently using the Box-Behnken design. An agitation rate of 206 rpm at 31°C and induction of the protein expression when the cell density (OD(600nm)) reaches 1.04 could enhance the yield of functional GFP production from 0.025 g/L to 0.241 g/L, which is about ninefold higher than the unoptimized conditions. Unoptimized cultivation conditions resulted in protein aggregation and hence reduced the quantity of functional GFP. The model and regression equation based on the shake flask cultivation could be applied to a 2-L bioreactor for maximum functional GFP production.
  7. Loke SC, Tan AW, Dalan R, Leow MK
    Int J Med Sci, 2012;9(7):611-6.
    PMID: 23028244 DOI: 10.7150/ijms.4861
    Post-operative hypocalcemia (POH) may complicate parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism. This study investigates the relationship between POH and pre-operative risk factors to identify a simple method to predict POH risk.
  8. Fonseka M, Ramasamy R, Tan BC, Seow HF
    Cell Biol Int, 2012 Sep;36(9):793-801.
    PMID: 22335239 DOI: 10.1042/CBI20110595
    hUCB-MSC (human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells) offer an attractive alternative to bone marrow-derived MSC for cell-based therapy by being less invasive a source of biological material. We have evaluated the effect of hUCB-MSC on the proliferation of K562 (an erythromyeloblastoid cell line) and the cytokine secretion pattern of hUCB-MSC. Co-culturing of hUCB-MSC and K562 resulted in inhibition of proliferation of K562 in a dose-dependent manner. However, the anti-proliferative effect was reduced in transwells, suggesting the importance of direct cell-to-cell contact. hUCB-MSC inhibited proliferation of K562, arresting them in the G0 /G1 phase. NO (nitric oxide) was not involved in the hUCB-MSC-mediated tumour suppression. The presence of IL-6 (interleukin 6) and IL-8 were obvious in the hUCB-MSC conditioned media, but no significant increase was found in 29 other cytokines. Th1 cytokines, IFNα (interferon α), Th2 cytokine IL-4 and Th17 cytokine, IL-17 were not secreted by hUCB-MSC. There was an increase in the number of hUCB-MSC expressing the latent membrane-bound form of TGFβ1 co-cultured with K562. The anti-proliferative effect of hUCB-MSC was due to arrest of the growth of K562 in the G0 /G1 phase. The mechanisms underlying increased IL-6 and IL-8 secretion and LAP (latency-associated peptide; TGFβ1) by hUCB-MSC remains unknown.
  9. Karupaiah T, Tan CH, Chinna K, Sundram K
    J Am Coll Nutr, 2011 Dec;30(6):511-21.
    PMID: 22331686
    OBJECTIVE: Saturated fats increase total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and are linked to coronary artery disease risk. The effect of variance in chain length of saturated fatty acids (SFA) on coronary artery disease in human postprandial lipemia is not well elucidated.

    METHODS: A total of 20 healthy volunteers were challenged with 3 test meals, similar in fat content (~31% en) but varying in saturated SFA content and polyunsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratios (P/S). The 3 meals were lauric + myristic acid-rich (LM), P/S 0.19; palmitic acid-rich (POL), P/S 0.31; and stearic acid-rich (STE), P/S 0.22. Blood was sampled at fasted baseline and 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8 hours. Plasma lipids (triacylglycerol [TAG]) and lipoproteins (TC, LDL-C, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol [HDL-C]) were evaluated.

    RESULTS: Varying SFA in the test meal significantly impacted postprandial TAG response (p < 0.05). Plasma TAG peaked at 5 hours for STE, 4 hours for POL, and 2 hours for LM test meals. Area-under-the-curve (AUC) for plasma TAG was increased significantly after STE treatment (STE > LM by 32.2%, p = 0.003; STE > POL by 27.9%, p = 0.023) but was not significantly different between POL and LM (POL > LM by 6.0%, p > 0.05). At 2 hours, plasma HDL-C increased significantly after the LM and POL test meals compared with STE (p < 0.05). In comparison to the STE test meal, HDL-C AUC was elevated 14.0% (p = 0.005) and 7.6% (p = 0.023) by the LM and POL test meals, respectively. The TC response was also increased significantly by LM compared with both POL and STE test meals (p < 0.05).

    CONCLUSIONS: Chain length of saturates clearly mediated postmeal plasma TAG and HDL-C changes.

  10. Chan KW, Tan GH, Wong RC
    Sci Justice, 2012 Mar;52(1):9-16.
    PMID: 22325905 DOI: 10.1016/j.scijus.2011.07.005
    Apart from routine analysis of total morphine content required by the criminal justice system, quantification of other major components in illicit heroin has not been considered by the Malaysian enforcement laboratory. In order to quantify various other cutting agents in addition to alkaloids, a gas chromatographic (GC) method was developed to facilitate simultaneous quantification of eight target analytes commonly found in illicit heroin seized in Malaysia within a 12 min run time. The validation results demonstrated high selectivity with the use of an HP Ultra 2 capillary column. Different solvents were studied and methanol:chloroform (1:9) proved best for sample dissolution. The method was repeatable and reproducible. The study ranges covering 50-150% of the preferred concentrations of the eight analytes obtained r(2)>0.9997. Limits of detection up to 6μg/mL were also obtained and the method achieved 99-102% recovery. The capability of the method in heroin profiling was verified using samples from ten case samples.
  11. Lai PS, Chua SS, Tan CH, Chan SP
    BMC Med Res Methodol, 2012 Feb 24;12:18.
    PMID: 22361093 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2288-12-18
    BACKGROUND: Patient's knowledge on diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia and its medications can be used as one of the outcome measures to assess the effectiveness of educational intervention. To date, no such instrument has been validated in Malaysia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Diabetes, Hypertension and Hyperlipidemia (DHL) knowledge instrument for assessing the knowledge of patients with type 2 diabetes in Malaysia.

    METHODS: A 28-item instrument which comprised of 5 domains: diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, medications and general issues was designed and tested. One point was given for every correct answer, whilst zero was given for incorrect answers. Scores ranged from 0 to 28, which were then converted into percentage. This was administered to 77 patients with type 2 diabetes in a tertiary hospital, who were on medication(s) for diabetes and who could understand English (patient group), and to 40 pharmacists (professional group). The DHL knowledge instrument was administered again to the patient group after one month. Excluded were patients less than 18 years old.

    RESULTS: Flesch reading ease was 60, which is satisfactory, while the mean difficulty factor(SD) was 0.74(0.21), indicating that DHL knowledge instrument was moderately easy. Internal consistency of the instrument was good, with Cronbach's α = 0.791. The test-retest scores showed no significant difference for 26 out of the 28 items, indicating that the questionnaire has achieved stable reliability. The overall mean(SD) knowledge scores was significantly different between the patient and professional groups [74.35(14.88) versus 93.84(6.47), p < 0.001]. This means that the DHL knowledge instrument could differentiate the knowledge levels of participants. The DHL knowledge instrument shows similar psychometric properties as other validated questionnaires.

    CONCLUSIONS: The DHL knowledge instrument shows good promise to be adopted as an instrument for assessing diabetic patients' knowledge concerning their disease conditions and medications in Malaysia.

  12. Dunn RA, Tan AK, Nayga RM
    Ethn Health, 2012;17(5):493-511.
    PMID: 22360320 DOI: 10.1080/13557858.2012.661407
    OBJECTIVE: Obesity prevalence is unequally distributed across gender and ethnic group in Malaysia. In this paper, we examine the role of socioeconomic inequality in explaining these disparities.
    DESIGN: The body mass index (BMI) distributions of Malays and Chinese, the two largest ethnic groups in Malaysia, are estimated through the use of quantile regression. The differences in the BMI distributions are then decomposed into two parts: attributable to differences in socioeconomic endowments and attributable to differences in responses to endowments.
    RESULTS: For both males and females, the BMI distribution of Malays is shifted toward the right of the distribution of Chinese, i.e., Malays exhibit higher obesity rates. In the lower 75% of the distribution, differences in socioeconomic endowments explain none of this difference. At the 90th percentile, differences in socioeconomic endowments account for no more than 30% of the difference in BMI between ethnic groups.
    CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that the higher levels of income and education that accrue with economic development will likely not eliminate obesity inequality. This leads us to conclude that reduction of obesity inequality, as well the overall level of obesity, requires increased efforts to alter the lifestyle behaviors of Malaysians.
  13. Tan YN, Matthews KR, Di R, Ayob MK
    Probiotics Antimicrob Proteins, 2012 Mar;4(1):59-65.
    PMID: 26781737 DOI: 10.1007/s12602-012-9091-1
    Palm kernel expeller (PKE), the by-product derived from the palm kernel oil milling industry, is commonly added to ruminant feed as a source of protein. Recent research has demonstrated that the enzymatically hydrolyzed protein is inhibitory to spore-forming bacteria including Bacillus cereus. The trypsin-hydrolyzed PKE peptide appears to disrupt the membrane integrity and inhibit the intracellular macromolecule metabolism of B. cereus. The addition of the PKE peptide (350 and 700 μg/ml) to B. cereus cultures triggered the efflux of K(+) and caused the depletion of the intracellular ATP. However, no proportional increase in cell's extracellular ATP was observed. Analysis of the biosynthesis of macromolecules demonstrated that RNA was affected by the PKE peptide. Results of this study suggest that the PKE peptide is bacteriostatic interfering with membrane integrity and forming membrane pores permitting the efflux of K(+) and interferes with intracellular biopolymer synthesis.
  14. Chan KW, Tan GH, Wong RC
    Sci Justice, 2012 Sep;52(3):136-41.
    PMID: 22841136 DOI: 10.1016/j.scijus.2012.04.006
    Statistical classification remains the most useful statistical tool for forensic chemists to assess the relationships between samples. Many clustering techniques such as principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis have been employed to analyze chemical data for pattern recognition. Due to the feeble foundation of this statistics knowledge among novice drug chemists, a tetrahedron method was designed to simulate how advanced chemometrics operates. In this paper, the development of the graphical tetrahedron and computational matrices derived from the possible tetrahedrons are discussed. The tetrahedron method was applied to four selected parameters obtained from nine illicit heroin samples. Pattern analysis and mathematical computation of the differences in areas for assessing the dissimilarity between the nine tetrahedrons were found to be user-convenient and straightforward for novice cluster analysts.
  15. Ong GH, Yap CK, Maziah M, Suhaimi H, Tan SG
    Environ Monit Assess, 2013 Apr;185(4):3243-54.
    PMID: 22821327 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-012-2787-6
    The first objective of this study was to provide data of arsenic (As) levels in Peninsular Malaysia based on soil samples and accumulation of As in Centella asiatica collected from 12 sampling sites in Peninsular Malaysia. The second objective was to assess the accumulation of As in transplanted C. asiatica between control and semi-polluted or polluted sites. Four sites were selected which were UPM (clean site), Balakong (semi-polluted site), Seri Kembangan (semi-polluted site) and Juru (polluted site). The As concentrations of plant and soil samples were determined by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis. The As levels ranged from 9.38 to 57.05 μg/g dw in soils, 0.21 to 4.33 μg/g dw in leaves, 0.18 to 1.83 μg/g dw in stems and 1.32-20.76 μg/g dw in roots. All sampling sites had As levels exceeding the CCME guideline (12 μg/g dw) except for Kelantan, P. Pauh, and Senawang with P. Klang having the highest As in soil (57.05 μg/g dw). In C. asiatica, As accumulation was highest in roots followed by leaves and stems. When the As level in soils were higher, the uptake of As in plants would also be increased. After the transplantation of plants to semi-polluted and polluted sites for 3 weeks, all concentration factors were greater than 50 % of the initial As level. The elimination factor was around 39 % when the plants were transplanted back to the clean sites for 3 weeks. The findings of the present study indicated that the leaves, stems and roots of C. asiatica are ideal biomonitors of As contamination. The present data results the most comprehensive data obtained on As levels in Malaysia.
  16. Ng MY, Tan WS, Tey BT
    PMID: 22819608 DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2012.06.043
    Fusion M13 phage with disulfide constrained heptapeptide, C-WSFFSNI-C, inserted into the minor coat protein (gpIII), has been selected in the current study as ligand in direct purification of hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) from unclarified Escherichia coli (E. coli) feedstock. The selected fusion phage showed strong association with the surface of the core particle. In the present study, this fusion M13 phage was immobilized onto Streamline base matrix via epoxy activation and used as adsorbent to capture HBcAg from crude E. coli homogenate. The maximum binding capacity for the adsorbent was 3.76 mg/mL with equilibrium coefficient of 1.83 mg/mL. Due to the slow uptake rate of HBcAg by M13 phage-immobilized adsorbents, a modified EBAC operation with recirculation of feedstock into the expanded bed has been investigated in this study. The introduction of feedstock recirculation has led to an 18% increase in yield; however, the purity of the eluted product was reduced by 15% compared with typical EBAC operation. The level of antigenicity exhibited by the core particles purified by both EBAC operations employed in the present study was comparable to that purified using sucrose ultracentrifugation.
  17. Sia KJ, Tang IP, Kong CK, Tan TY
    J Laryngol Otol, 2012 Aug;126(8):847-50.
    PMID: 22804860 DOI: 10.1017/S0022215112001272
    To describe three rare cases of nasolacrimal relapse of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and to discuss the route of tumour spread from nasopharynx to lacrimal system as well as the relevant computed tomography findings.
  18. Ong CK, Tan WC, Chan LC, Abdul Razak M
    Med J Malaysia, 2012 Apr;67(2):222-3.
    PMID: 22822651 MyJurnal
    Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)--tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) like erlotinib and gefitinib have been approved as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after failure of at least one prior chemotherapy regimen. The use of EGFR-TKI is associated with unique and dramatic dermatologic side effects. We report 2 patients with NSCLC developing a typical acneiform (papulo-pustular) eruption shortly after initiation of EGFR-TKI.
  19. Tan SJ, Subramaniam G, Thomas NF, Kam TS
    Nat Prod Commun, 2012 Jun;7(6):739-42.
    PMID: 22816296
    Five new nitrogenous compounds were isolated from the Malayan Alstonia angustifolia and their structures determined based on interpretation of spectroscopic data.
  20. Chiun KC, Tang IP, Tan TY, Jong DE
    Med J Malaysia, 2012 Feb;67(1):17-20.
    PMID: 22582543
    OBJECTIVE: Ear, nose and throat foreign bodies are common in ENT clinical practice. This study was designed to establish the local data of otorhinolaryngeal foreign bodies in term of prevalence among paediatric and adult groups, the clinical features, types of foreign body at different sites, and laterality of foreign bodies.
    METHOD: This study was carried out at ENT department, Sarawak General Hospital, Malaysia, from 1st January 2005 to 31st December 2009. A total of 1084 cases were included and statistically analyzed.
    RESULT: Ear foreign bodies showed the highest incidence which was consisted of 480 (44.3%) cases, followed by nose in 270 (24.9%) cases, pharynx in 251 (23.2%) cases, esophagus in 57 (5.3%) cases and laryngo-tracheobronchial tree in 26 (2.4%) cases. Otorhinolaryngeal foreign bodies occurred more frequently in 0-10 year old age group which constituted 651 (60.1%) cases. The descending order of frequency for foreign body sites in adult was pharynx (17.2%), ear (12.8%), esophagus (3.1%), nose (1.7%) and laryngo-tracheobronchial tree (1.1%). The type of foreign bodies varies with age group and site of foreign body lodgement. In general, common foreign bodies in both adult and children were food related, with the additional of small objects such as plastic toy in paediatric group.
    CONCLUSION: Otorhinolaryngeal foreign bodies were found more frequently in children. The types of foreign body were different from age group and sites of foreign body lodgement. The local food constituted the highest incidence of ear, nose, and throat foreign bodies with additional of plastic toys in paediatric group.
    Study site: ENT clinic, Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
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