MyMedR

Changing trends of prostate cancer in Asia

Pu YS, Chiang HS, Lin CC, Huang CY, Huang KH, Chen J

Aging Male, 2004 Jun;7(2):120-32.

Although Asian people have the lowest incidence and mortality rates of prostate cancer in the world, these rates have risen rapidly in the past two decades in most Asian countries. Prostate cancer has become one of the leading male cancers in some Asian countries. In 2000, the age-adjusted incidence was over 10 per 100000 men in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Israel. Although some of the increases may result from enhanced detection, much of the increased incidence may be associated with westernization of the lifestyle, with increasing obesity and increased consumption of fat. The differences in incidences between native Americans and Asian immigrants are getting smaller, reflecting a possible improvement of diagnostic efforts and changes of environmental risk factors in Asian immigrants. Nevertheless, the huge variations in incidences among ethnic groups imply that there are important genetic risk factors. The stage distributions of prostate cancer in Asian populations are still unfavorable compared to those of Western developed countries. However, a trend towards diagnosing cancer with more favorable prognosis is seen in most Asian countries. Both genetic and environmental risk factors responsible for elevated risks in Asian people are being identified, which may help to reduce prostate cancer incidence in a chemopreventive setting.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia/epidemiology

Changing epidemiology of gastroesophageal reflux disease in the Asian-Pacific region: an overview

Goh KL

J Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2004 Sep;19 Suppl 3:S22-5.

PMID: 15324378

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common disease in the West, which now appears to be also increasing in prevalence in the Asian Pacific region. The reasons for this changing epidemiology are two-fold: an increased awareness among doctors and patients, and/or a true increase in the prevalence of the disease. Prevalence rates of reflux esophagitis (RE) of up to 16% and prevalence of GERD symptoms of up to 9% have been reported in the Asian population. However, the frequency of strictures and Barrett's esophagus remain very low. Non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) appears to be the most common form of GERD among Asian patients accounting for 50-70% of cases with GERD. Among Asian patients differences can also be discerned among different ethnic groups. For example, in Malaysia where a multiracial society exists, RE is significantly more common among Indians compared to Chinese and Malays whereas NERD is more frequently seen in the Indian and Malays compared to the Chinese. The reasons for these differences are not known but may indicate both genetic factors and environmental factors peculiar to the particular racial group. GERD has also been increasing in the region demonstrating a time-lag phenomenon compared to the West. Differing predisposition to GERD among different ethnic groups would mean that such an increase would be more prominent among certain racial groups.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia/epidemiology

Fulltext Use of expansion factors to estimate the burden of dengue in Southeast Asia: a systematic analysis

Undurraga EA, Halasa YA, Shepard DS

PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2013;7(2):e2056.

PMID: 23437407 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002056

BACKGROUND: Dengue virus infection is the most common arthropod-borne disease of humans and its geographical range and infection rates are increasing. Health policy decisions require information about the disease burden, but surveillance systems usually underreport the total number of cases. These may be estimated by multiplying reported cases by an expansion factor (EF).

METHODS AND FINDINGS: As a key step to estimate the economic and disease burden of dengue in Southeast Asia (SEA), we projected dengue cases from 2001 through 2010 using EFs. We conducted a systematic literature review (1995-2011) and identified 11 published articles reporting original, empirically derived EFs or the necessary data, and 11 additional relevant studies. To estimate EFs for total cases in countries where no empirical studies were available, we extrapolated data based on the statistically significant inverse relationship between an index of a country's health system quality and its observed reporting rate. We compiled an average 386,000 dengue episodes reported annually to surveillance systems in the region, and projected about 2.92 million dengue episodes. We conducted a probabilistic sensitivity analysis, simultaneously varying the most important parameters in 20,000 Monte Carlo simulations, and derived 95% certainty level of 2.73-3.38 million dengue episodes. We estimated an overall EF in SEA of 7.6 (95% certainty level: 7.0-8.8) dengue cases for every case reported, with an EF range of 3.8 for Malaysia to 19.0 in East Timor.

CONCLUSION: Studies that make no adjustment for underreporting would seriously understate the burden and cost of dengue in SEA and elsewhere. As the sites of the empirical studies we identified were not randomly chosen, the exact extent of underreporting remains uncertain. Nevertheless, the results reported here, based on a systematic analysis of the available literature, show general consistency and provide a reasonable empirical basis to adjust for underreporting.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia, Southeastern/epidemiology

Diet and Colorectal Cancer Risk in Asia--a Systematic Review

Azeem S, Gillani SW, Siddiqui A, Jandrajupalli SB, Poh V, Syed Sulaiman SA

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2015;16(13):5389-96.

PMID: 26225683

Diet is one of the major factors that can exert a majorly influence on colorectal cancer risk. This systematic review aimed to find correlations between various diet types, food or nutrients and colorectal cancer risk among Asian populations. Search limitations included Asian populations residing in Asia, being published from the year 2008 till present, and written in the English language. A total of 16 articles were included in this systematic review. We found that red meats, processed meats, preserved foods, saturated/animal fats, cholesterol, high sugar foods, spicy foods, tubers or refined carbohydrates have been found by most studies to have a positive association with colorectal cancer risk. Inversely, calcium/dairy foods, vitamin D, general vegetable/fruit/fiber consumption, cruciferous vegetables, soy bean/soy products, selenium, vitamins C,E and B12, lycophene, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, folic acid and many other vitamins and minerals play a protective role against colorectal cancer risk. Associations of fish and seafood consumption with colorectal cancer risk are still inconclusive due to many varying findings, and require further more detailed studies to pinpoint the actual correlation. There is either a positive or no association for total meat consumption or white meats, however their influence is not as strong as with red and processed meats.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia/epidemiology

Fulltext Research priorities in epilepsy for the Asia-Oceanian region

Kwan P, Cabral-Lim L, D'Souza W, Jain S, Lee BI, Liao W, et al.

Epilepsia, 2015 May;56(5):667-73.

PMID: 25823580 DOI: 10.1111/epi.12957

The Asia-Oceanian region is the most populous region in the world. Although there has been substantial economic development and improvement in health services in recent years, epilepsy remains generally an underrecognized and understudied condition. To help promote research in the region, the Commission on Asian and Oceanian Affairs (CAOA) of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) appointed the Research Task Force (RTF) to facilitate the development of research priorities for the region. Research that focuses on issues that are unique or of particular importance in the Asia-Oceanian region is encouraged, and that captures the impact of the dynamic socioeconomic changes taking place in the region is emphasized. Based on these considerations, we propose research "dimensions" as priorities within the Asia-Oceanian region. These are studies (1) that would lead to fuller appreciation of the health burden of epilepsy, particularly the treatment gap; (2) that would lead to better understanding of the causes of epilepsy; (3) that would alleviate the psychosocial consequences of epilepsy; (4) that would develop better therapies and improved therapeutic outcomes; and (5) that would improve the research infrastructure.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia/epidemiology

The determinants of infant mortality in Malaysia: a graphical chain modelling approach

Mohamed WN, Diamond I, Smith PW

J R Stat Soc Ser A Stat Soc, 1998;161(3):349-66.

PMID: 12348725

"A graphical chain modelling approach is used to study the determinants of neonatal and post-neonatal mortality in Malaysia. This approach provides an easily interpretable empirical description and illustrates explicitly the conditional independence structure between each pair of variables. The interpretation can be read directly from a mathematical graph. Besides examining the direct association of each determinant on mortality, we also examine the effects of socio-economic determinants on intermediate determinants to understand the pathways through which the socioeconomic determinants affect the chance of mortality. The data anlaysed come from the second Malaysian Family Life Survey, fielded between August 1988 and January 1989. "

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

Indonesian immigrant settlements in peninsular Malaysia

Azizah Kassim

Sojourn, 2000 Apr;15(1):100-22.

PMID: 12349650

For over 2 decades, until the economic crisis in mid-1997, Malaysia's rapid economic growth attracted an influx of foreign labor, mostly from Indonesia, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. In 1997 the number of registered workers was estimated at 1.2 million and undocumented ones at approximately 800,000. The influx created various problems, of which housing is one of the most serious, especially in the Kelang Valley. This paper examines the ways and means by which Indonesian workers, the largest group among foreigners, overcame their accommodation problem. Two types of settlements are identified, that is, illegal ones in the squatter areas and legal ones, which are largely in Malay Reservation Areas. The settlements, which signify Indonesians' success in finding a foothold in Malaysia, today have become a base for more in-migration.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

Consultative meeting considers past successes and future programmes for subregional network

Asia Pac POPIN Bull, 1999 Sep-Dec;11(3):1-3.

PMID: 12349810

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

Malaysia urges ASEAN to tackle AIDS crisis

AIDS Wkly, 2000 Aug 7.

PMID: 12349742

Urgent action is needed to fight the alarming spread of HIV/AIDS that infected 1.3 million people in Southeast Asia last year alone, Malaysia's foreign minister said July 24, 2000. Syed Hamid said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should tackle at regional and national level an epidemic that was taking its most drastic toll among the region's youth. "HIV/AIDS not only represents a major public health and social problem but is a serious challenge to development as well," Syed Hamid told the opening ceremony of ASEAN's 33rd annual foreign ministers' meeting. The crisis requires commitment at the "highest political level," he said, warning that HIV/AIDS could become a transnational problem within the 10-member group. Foreign ministers have recommended their leaders discuss the crisis later this year at an informal summit in Singapore and hold a summit on HIV/AIDS in conjunction with the 7th ASEAN Summit in Brunei next year. "I think people recognized the importance and the adverse impacts on our social development," Syed Hamid told reporters later. "I think it is a real issue that we cannot run away from." Among ASEAN members, Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar have some of the highest infection rates in Asia of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

International Women's Day observed in Malaysia

CIRDAP Dev Dig, 1999 Dec.

PMID: 12157876

On the eve of International Women's Day, 80 women representing five women's groups in Malaysia, including Persatuan Sahabat Wanita, CAW's network member, marched from Petaling Jaya to Penang to attend the Women's Day celebration. The group had organized the visitation in order to strengthen its networking. During their meeting with some reporters before their departure to Penang, they demanded that the women's groups be consulted before any guideline on the prevention and handling of sexual harassment at the workplace is drawn up. They said that they have been handling several complaints and their input would help the Human Resource Ministry formulate a comprehensive set of guidelines. This demand by the women's group was in response to the announcement by the Human Resource Minister Datuk Lim Ah Lek that in a month time a code would be ready on guidelines about the establishment and implementation of in-house preventive and redress mechanisms for dealing with sexual harassment.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

Prevalence and etiology of linear enamel hypoplasia in monkeys and apes from Asia and Africa

Guatelli-Steinberg D, Skinner M

Folia Primatol., 2000 May-Jun;71(3):115-32.

PMID: 10828689

Ninety-seven specimens of sympatric monkeys and apes from East Malaysia and 115 monkeys and apes from West Africa are examined in order to evaluate the magnitude and nature of the great ape-monkey linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) 'dichotomy'. This study demonstrates that great apes from both regions have a higher incidence of LEH and repetitive LEH than do gibbons and monkeys. However, the authors find that the dichotomy is not as clear-cut as previous research suggests, since some monkey samples exhibit high LEH frequencies. The authors evaluate the potential influence of great ape-monkey differences in crown height on this dichotomy. They show that canine crown height variation is weakly associated with LEH variation. Differences between monkeys and great apes in their crown formation spans and in their experience of environmental stress may be more likely causes of the dichotomy.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia/epidemiology; Dental Enamel Hypoplasia/epidemiology; Dental Enamel Hypoplasia/veterinary*

Making women's voices heard: technological change and women's employment in Malaysia

Ng Choon Sim C

Gend Technol Dev, 1999 Jan-Apr;3(1):19-42.

PMID: 12179935

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

Stratified partial likelihood estimation

Ridder G, Tunali I

J Econom, 1999 Oct;92(2):193-232.

PMID: 12322577

When multiple durations are generated by a single unit, they may be related in a way that is not fully captured by the regressors. The omitted unit-specific variables might vary over the durations. They might also be correlated with the variables in the regression component. The authors propose an estimator that responds to these concerns and develop a specification test for detecting unobserved unit-specific effects. Data from Malaysia reveal that concentration of child mortality in some families is imperfectly explained by observed explanatory variables, and that failure to control for unobserved heterogeneity seriously biases the parameter estimates.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

The Singapore state's response to migration

Yap MT

Sojourn, 1999 Apr;14(1):198-211.

PMID: 12295146

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

The Malaysian state's response to migration

Pillai P

Sojourn, 1999 Apr;14(1):178-97.

PMID: 12295145

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

Responses to HIV / AIDS: the case of Malaysia

Chong S

Venereology, 1995 Aug;8(3):149-52.

PMID: 12290782

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

"Population is key factor in environmental degradation," Parliamentarian conference on ocean life declares

Asian Forum Newsl, 1995 Oct-Dec.

PMID: 12320069

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

Present status of cancer treatment in several Asian countries

Puribhat S

Gan To Kagaku Ryoho, 1992 Jul;19(8 Suppl):1153-9.

PMID: 1514828

Most of Asian Countries are still developing. Hence there are constraints in cancer treatment. There are those countries with fully equipped and fully distributed like western world such as Japan, Korea and Singapore. Other with some comprehensive cancer centers but confine to only big cities with poor coverage of the population resulting in a lot of late cases of cancer patients seen. Such countries are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri-Lanka, Thailand and etc. Still a lot of countries have no facilities to cope with cancer patients such as Brunei, Kampuchea, Laos, Nepal, Vietnam and etc. International collaboration and supports are needed.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia/epidemiology

Financing old age in Southeast Asia: an overview

Asher MG

Nanyang Wenti Yenchiu, 1996.

PMID: 12348604

"The main purpose here is to provide an overview of the social security arrangements in selected Southeast Asian countries. Given the significant differences in these countries in the underlying philosophy, design and detailed provisions concerning social security arrangements, a country-by-country rather than a comparative approach is adopted." The countries analyzed are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

Fulltext Twelve-year follow-up of respondents in a sample survey in Peninsular Malaysia

Haaga J, Davanzo J, Peterson C, Tey NP

Asia Pac Popul J, 1994 Jun;9(2):61-72.

PMID: 12288227

This note reports the experience of an attempt to find and re-interview in late 1988 and early 1989, as part of the Second Malaysian Family Life Survey (MFLS-2), the female respondents to the 1976-77 Malaysian Family Life Survey (MFLS-1) and a sample of their adult children aged 18 or older.... We discuss the field methods used to track the panel members and their adult children, report follow-up rates and analyze the selectivity of attrition from the panel, using data from the MFLS-1 on characteristics of both the missing and the re-interviewed respondents and their families. We then discuss the degree to which these results might be generalized to other such attempts at re-contacting survey respondents.
Study name: Malaysian Family Life Survey (MFLS-2)

Matched MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern

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