MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a multicentre study with a total of 280 cases of cervical cancer from 4 referral centres in Malaysia, studied using real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) detection of 12 high risk-HPV genotypes.
RESULTS: Overall HPV was detected in 92.5% of cases, in 95.9% of squamous cell carcinomas and 84.3%of adenocarcinomas. The five most prevalent high-risk HPV genotypes were HPV 16 (68.2%), 18 (40%), 58 (10.7%), 33 (10.4%) and 52 (10.4%). Multiple HPV infections were more prevalent (55.7%) than single HPV infections (36.8%). The percentage of HPV positive cases in Chinese, Malays and Indians were 95.5%, 91.9% and 80.0%, respectively. HPV 16 and 18 genotypes were the commonest in all ethnic groups. We found that the percentage of HPV 16 infection was significantly higher in Chinese (75.9%) compared to Malays (63.7%) and Indians (52.0%) (p<0.05), while HPV 18 was significantly higher in Malays (52.6%) compared to Chinese (25.0%) and Indians (28%) (p<0.05). Meanwhile, HPV 33 (17.9%) and 52 (15.2%) were also more commonly detected in the Chinese (p<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the distribution of HPV genotype in Malaysia is similar to other Asian countries. Importantly, we found that different ethnic groups in Malaysia have different HPV genotype infection rates, which is a point to consider during the implementation of HPV vaccination.
METHODS: We searched 3 major databases, i.e., PubMed, Embase and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Journals@Ovid, for studies published up until 1May 2013 without language restrictions. All study designs were included in this review. The studies were identified and retrieved by two independent authors.
RESULTS: Of 118 titles scanned, 14 duplicates were removed, and a total of 13 abstracts from all three databases were identified for full-text retrieval. From the full text, eight articles met the inclusion criteria for this systematic review. These articles showed acceptable quality based on our scoring system. Most of the studies indicated that temporary threshold shifts were much lower when subjects were exposed to a noise level of 85 dBA or lower.
CONCLUSIONS: There were more threshold shifts in subjects adopting 90 dBA compared with 85 dBA. These temporary threshold shifts may progress to permanent shifts over time. Action curtailing noise exposure among employees would be taken earlier on adoption of 85 dBA as the permissible exposure limit, and hence prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss may be reduced.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective descriptive study. We identified 1041 patients (810 Chinese, 139 Malays, 92 Indians) without previous history of cardiovascular disease who underwent cardiac computed tomography for atypical chest pain evaluation. A cardiologist, who was blinded to the patients' clinical demographics, reviewed all scans. We retrospectively analysed all their case records.
RESULTS: Overall, Malays were most likely to be active smokers (P = 0.02), Indians had the highest prevalence of diabetes mellitus (P = 0.01) and Chinese had the highest mean age (P <0.0001). The overall prevalence of patients with non-calcified plaques as the only manifestation of sub-clinical coronary artery disease was 2.1%. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of CAC, mean CAC score or prevalence of non-calcified plaques among the 3 ethnic groups. Active smoking, age and hypertension were independent predictors of CAC. Non-calcified plaques were positively associated with male gender, age, dyslipidaemia and diabetes mellitus.
CONCLUSION: The higher MI rates in Malays and Indians in Singapore cannot be explained by any difference in CAC or non-calcified plaque. More research with prospective follow-up of larger patient populations is necessary to establish if ethnic-specific calibration of CAC measures is needed to adjust for differences among ethnic groups.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and impact of CYP2C19*2, *3 and *17 genotypes on clopidogrel responsiveness in a multiethnic Malaysian population planned for percutaneous coronary intervention.
SETTING: Between October 2010 and March 2011, a total of 118 consecutive patients planned for percutaneous coronary intervention were enrolled in Sarawak General Hospital, Borneo. All patients received at least 75 mg aspirin daily for at least 2 days and 75 mg clopidogrel daily for at least 4 days prior to angiography.
METHOD: Genotyping for CYP2C19*2 (rs4244285, 681G > A), *3 (rs4986893, 636G > A) and *17 (rs11188072, -3402C > T) alleles were performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment linked polymorphism method. Whole blood ADP-induced platelet aggregation was assessed with multiple electrode platelet aggregometry (MEA) using the Multiplate Analyzer.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The distribution of CYP2C19*2, *3 and *17 among different ethnic groups and the association between genotype, clopidogrel responsiveness and clinical outcome were the main outcome measures.
RESULTS: The highest prevalence of poor metabolisers (carriers of at least one copy of the *2 or *3 allele) was among the Chinese (53.7 %), followed by the Malays (26.9 %), Ibans (16.4 %) and other races (3.0 %). Poor metabolisers (PMs) had the highest mean MEA (303.6 AU*min), followed by normal metabolisers (NMs) with 270.5 AU*min and extensive metabolisers (EMs) with 264.1 AU*min (p = 0.518). Among poor responders to clopidogrel, 65.2 % were PMs and NMs, respectively, whereas none were EMs (p = 0.350). Two cardiac-related deaths were reported.
CONCLUSION: There was a diverse inter-ethnic difference in the distribution of CYP2C19 polymorphism. The findings of this study echo that of other studies where genotype appears to have a limited impact on clopidogrel responsiveness and clinical outcome in low-risk patients.