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Fulltext Possible Factors Influencing the Seroprevalence of Dengue among Residents of the Forest Fringe Areas of Peninsular Malaysia

Abd-Jamil J, Ngui R, Nellis S, Fauzi R, Lim ALY, Chinna K, et al.

J Trop Med, 2020;2020:1019238.
PMID: 32536945 DOI: 10.1155/2020/1019238

Dengue is an endemic mosquito-borne viral disease prevalent in many urban areas of the tropic, especially the Southeast Asia. Its presence among the indigenous population of Peninsular Malaysia (Orang Asli), however, has not been well described. The present study was performed to investigate the seroprevalence of dengue among the Orang Asli (OA) residing at the forest fringe areas of Peninsular Malaysia and determine the factors that could affect the transmission of dengue among the OA. Eight OA communities consisting of 491 individuals were recruited. From the study, at least 17% of the recruited study participants were positive for dengue IgG, indicating past exposure to dengue. Analysis on the demographic and socioeconomic variables suggested that high seroprevalence of dengue was significantly associated with those above 13 years old and a low household income of less than MYR500 (USD150). It was also associated with the vast presence of residential areas and the presence of a lake. Remote sensing analysis showed that higher land surface temperatures and lower land elevations also contributed to higher dengue seroprevalence. The present study suggested that both demographic and geographical factors contributed to the increasing risk of contracting dengue among the OA living at the forest fringe areas of Peninsular Malaysia. The OA, hence, remained vulnerable to dengue.
Discovery of Antimalarial Drugs from Streptomycetes Metabolites Using a Metabolomic Approach

Ahmad SJ, Abdul Rahim MBH, Baharum SN, Baba MS, Zin NM

J Trop Med, 2017;2017:2189814.
PMID: 29123551 DOI: 10.1155/2017/2189814

Natural products continue to play an important role as a source of biologically active substances for the development of new drug. Streptomyces, Gram-positive bacteria which are widely distributed in nature, are one of the most popular sources of natural antibiotics. Recently, by using a bioassay-guided fractionation, an antimalarial compound, Gancidin-W, has been discovered from these bacteria. However, this classical method in identifying potentially novel bioactive compounds from the natural products requires considerable effort and is a time-consuming process. Metabolomics is an emerging "omics" technology in systems biology study which integrated in process of discovering drug from natural products. Metabolomics approach in finding novel therapeutics agent for malaria offers dereplication step in screening phase to shorten the process. The highly sensitive instruments, such as Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrophotometry (LC-MS), Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrophotometry (GC-MS), and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ((1)H-NMR) spectroscopy, provide a wide range of information in the identification of potentially bioactive compounds. The current paper reviews concepts of metabolomics and its application in drug discovery of malaria treatment as well as assessing the antimalarial activity from natural products. Metabolomics approach in malaria drug discovery is still new and needs to be initiated, especially for drug research in Malaysia.
Fulltext Corrigendum to "Dengue Virus NS1 Protein as a Diagnostic Marker: Commercially Available ELISA and Comparison to qRT-PCR and Serological Diagnostic Assays Currently Used by the State of Florida"

Ambrose JH, Sekaran SD, Azizan A

J Trop Med, 2017;2017:2046864.
PMID: 29209371 DOI: 10.1155/2017/2046864

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2017/8072491.].
Fulltext Performance Evaluation of Commercial Dengue Diagnostic Tests for Early Detection of Dengue in Clinical Samples

Mat Jusoh TNA, Shueb RH

J Trop Med, 2017;2017:4687182.
PMID: 29379526 DOI: 10.1155/2017/4687182

The shattering rise in dengue virus infections globally has created a need for an accurate and validated rapid diagnostic test for this virus. Rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) diagnostic detection are useful tools for diagnosis of early dengue infection. We prospectively evaluated the diagnostic performance of nonstructural 1 (NS1) RDT and real-time RT-PCR diagnostic kits in 86 patient serum samples. Thirty-six samples were positive for dengue NS1 antigen while the remaining 50 were negative when tested with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Commercially available RDTs for NS1 detection, RTK ProDetect™, and SD Bioline showed high sensitivity of 94% and 89%, respectively, compared with ELISA. GenoAmp® Trioplex Real-Time RT-PCR and RealStar® Dengue RT-PCR tests presented a comparable kappa agreement with 0.722. The result obtained from GenoAmp® Real-Time RT-PCR Dengue test showed that 14 samples harbored dengue virus type 1 (DENV-1), 8 samples harbored DENV-2, 2 samples harbored DENV-3, and 1 sample harbored DENV-4. 1 sample had a double infection with DENV-1 and DENV-2. The NS1 RDTs and real-time RT-PCR tests were found to be a useful diagnostic for early and rapid diagnosis of acute dengue and an excellent surveillance tool in our battle against dengue.
Fulltext Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Ligands from Anredera cordifolia (Binahong) to the Main Protease (M pro) of SARS-CoV-2

Fatriansyah JF, Boanerges AG, Kurnianto SR, Pradana AF, Fadilah, Surip SN

J Trop Med, 2022;2022:1178228.
PMID: 36457332 DOI: 10.1155/2022/1178228

COVID-19 in Indonesia is considered to be entering the endemic phase, and the population is expected to live side by side with the SARS-CoV 2 viruses and their variants. In this study, procyanidin, oleic acid, methyl linoleic acid, and vitexin, four compounds from binahong leaves-tropical/subtropical plant, were examined for their interactions with the major protease (Mpro) of the SARS-CoV 2 virus. Molecular dynamics simulation shows that procyanidin and vitexin have the best docking scores of -9.132 and -8.433, respectively. Molecular dynamics simulation also shows that procyanidin and vitexin have the best Root Mean Square Displacement (RMSD) and Root Mean Square Fluctuation (RMSF) performance due to dominant hydrogen, hydrophobic, and water bridge interactions. However, further strain energy calculation obtained from ligand torsion analyses, procyanidin and vitexin do not conform as much as quercetin as ligand control even though these two ligands have good performance in terms of interaction with the target protein.
Fulltext Distribution, Prevalence, and Antibiotic Susceptibility Profiles of Infectious Noncholera Vibrio Species in Malaysia

Hassan M, Mohd Ali MR, Zamri HF, Nor Amdan NA, Azmai MNA, Maniam S, et al.

J Trop Med, 2023;2023:2716789.
PMID: 37274080 DOI: 10.1155/2023/2716789

BACKGROUND: The noncholera Vibrio spp. which cause vibriosis are abundantly found in our water ecosystem. These bacteria could negatively affect both humans and animals. To date, there is a paucity of information available on the existence and pathogenicity of this particular noncholera Vibrio spp. in Malaysia in comparison to their counterpart, Vibrio cholera.
METHODS: In this study, we extracted retrospective data from Malaysian surveillance database. Analysis was carried out using WHONET software focusing noncholera Vibrio spp. including Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, Vibrio fluvialis, Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio hollisae (Grimontia hollisae), Vibrio mimicus, Vibrio metschnikovii, and Vibrio furnissii.
RESULTS: Here, we report the first distribution and prevalence of these species isolated in Malaysia together with the antibiotic sensitivity profile based on the species. We found that V. parahaemolyticus is the predominant species isolated in Malaysia. Noticeably, across the study period, V. fluvialis is becoming more prevalent, as compared to V. parahaemolyticus. In addition, this study also reports the first isolation of pathogenic V. furnissii from stool in Malaysia.
CONCLUSION: These data represent an important step toward understanding the potential emergence of noncholera Vibrio spp. outbreaks.