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Social Science Strengthens One Health: A Participatory Approach to Codevelop a Guidebook on Countering Zoonotic Spillover in Southeast Asia, 2022-2024

Togami E, Thévenon AD, Galang EIN, Yean HRA, Isa NF, Shaw CN, et al.

Health Secur, 2026 Apr;24(2):95-107.
PMID: 42087519 DOI: 10.1177/23265094261434687

Diseases caused by pathogens that affect animals, humans, and their shared environment (zoonoses) impact regional and global health security. Context-specific recommendations could help control animal-to-human pathogen spillover and mitigate the risk of epidemics and pandemics. Our objective is to share the codevelopment of a guidebook to counter zoonotic spillover in Southeast Asia and how participatory approaches and implementation science guided One Health actor groups towards a common goal. The project was a collaboration between the International Network for Governmental Science Advice Asia and the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Experts in disciplines including virology, bioinformatics, wildlife conservation, biodefense, epidemiology, participatory research, and implementation science codeveloped behavior change and policy recommendations. Participatory exercises, including silent reflections, role-playing, and the "systems-thinking iceberg" enabled dynamic discussions that helped incorporate diverse perspectives. The team identified ways to overcome linguistic and discipline-specific language barriers, time differences, limitations to voluntary participation, and technological challenges. The frameworks and concepts that guided the team were the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, the principle that participatory approaches enable positive social learning, and the concept that interventions can be adapted to the local context but should not be reinvented. Participatory approaches can support One Health actor groups work toward a collective vision, which catalyzes a process that can improve local ownership, ultimately working to strengthen health security.
Fulltext Screening of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) single nucleotide polymorphisms and plasma BDNF levels among Malaysian major depressive disorder patients

Aldoghachi AF, Tor YS, Redzun SZ, Lokman KAB, Razaq NAA, Shahbudin AF, et al.

PLoS One, 2019;14(1):e0211241.
PMID: 30677092 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211241

BACKGROUND: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin found in abundance in brain regions such as the hippocampus, cortex, cerebellum and basal forebrain. It has been associated with the risk of susceptibility to major depressive disorder (MDD). This study aimed to determine the association of three BDNF variants (rs6265, rs1048218 and rs1048220) with Malaysian MDD patients.
METHODS: The correlation of these variants to the plasma BDNF level among Malaysian MDD patients was assessed. A total of 300 cases and 300 matched controls recruited from four public hospitals within the Klang Valley of Selangor State, Malaysia and matched for age, sex and ethnicity were screened for BDNF rs6265, rs1048218 and rs1048220 using high resolution melting (HRM).
FINDINGS: BDNF rs1048218 and BDNF rs1048220 were monomorphic and were excluded from further analysis. The distribution of the alleles and genotypes for BDNF rs6265 was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for the controls (p = 0.13) but was in Hardy Weinberg disequilibrium for the cases (p = 0.011). Findings from this study indicated that having BDNF rs6265 in the Malaysian population increase the odds of developing MDD by 2.05 folds (95% CI = 1.48-3.65). Plasma from 206 cases and 206 controls were randomly selected to measure the BDNF level using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A significant decrease in the plasma BDNF level of the cases as compared to controls (p<0.0001) was observed. However, there was no evidence of the effect of the rs6265 genotypes on the BDNF level indicating a possible role of other factors in modulating the BDNF level that warrants further investigation.
CONCLUSION: The study indicated that having the BDNF rs6265 allele (A) increase the risk of developing MDD in the Malaysian population suggesting a possible role of BDNF in the etiology of the disorder.
Fulltext Two Secreted Proteoglycans, Activators of Urothelial Cell-Cell Adhesion, Negatively Contribute to Bladder Cancer Initiation and Progression

Papadaki V, Asada K, Watson JK, Tamura T, Leung A, Hopkins J, et al.

Cancers (Basel), 2020 Nov 13;12(11).
PMID: 33202923 DOI: 10.3390/cancers12113362

Osteomodulin (OMD) and proline/arginine-rich end leucine repeat protein (PRELP) are secreted extracellular matrix proteins belonging to the small leucine-rich proteoglycans family. We found that OMD and PRELP were specifically expressed in umbrella cells in bladder epithelia, and their expression levels were dramatically downregulated in all bladder cancers from very early stages and various epithelial cancers. Our in vitro studies including gene expression profiling using bladder cancer cell lines revealed that OMD or PRELP application suppressed the cancer progression by inhibiting TGF-β and EGF pathways, which reversed epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), activated cell-cell adhesion, and inhibited various oncogenic pathways. Furthermore, the overexpression of OMD in bladder cancer cells strongly inhibited the anchorage-independent growth and tumorigenicity in mouse xenograft studies. On the other hand, we found that in the bladder epithelia, the knockout mice of OMD and/or PRELP gene caused partial EMT and a loss of tight junctions of the umbrella cells and resulted in formation of a bladder carcinoma in situ-like structure by spontaneous breakdowns of the umbrella cell layer. Furthermore, the ontological analysis of the expression profiling of an OMD knockout mouse bladder demonstrated very high similarity with those obtained from human bladder cancers. Our data indicate that OMD and PRELP are endogenous inhibitors of cancer initiation and progression by controlling EMT. OMD and/or PRELP may have potential for the treatment of bladder cancer.

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