METHODS: Data collected 2001 to 2016 from PHIVA 10-19 years of age within a regional Asian cohort were analyzed using competing risk time-to-event and Poisson regression analyses to describe the nature and incidence of morbidity events and hospitalizations and identify factors associated with disease-related, treatment-related and overall morbidity. Morbidity was defined according to World Health Organization clinical staging criteria and U.S. National Institutes of Health Division of AIDS criteria.
RESULTS: A total 3,448 PHIVA contributed 17,778 person-years. Median age at HIV diagnosis was 5.5 years, and ART initiation was 6.9 years. There were 2,562 morbidity events and 307 hospitalizations. Cumulative incidence for any morbidity was 51.7%, and hospitalization was 10.0%. Early adolescence was dominated by disease-related infectious morbidity, with a trend toward noninfectious and treatment-related morbidity in later adolescence. Higher overall morbidity rates were associated with a CD4 count <350 cells/µL, HIV viral load ≥10,000 copies/mL and experiencing prior morbidity at age <10 years. Lower overall morbidity rates were found for those 15-19 years of age compared with 10-14 years and those who initiated ART at age 5-9 years compared with <5 or ≥10 years.
CONCLUSIONS: Half of our PHIVA cohort experienced a morbidity event, with a trend from disease-related infectious events to treatment-related and noninfectious events as PHIVA age. ART initiation to prevent immune system damage, optimize virologic control and minimize childhood morbidity are key to limiting adolescent morbidity.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
SETTING: Primary and secondary schools in Malaysia.
PARTICIPANTS: 11 246 non-smoking school-going adolescents.
OUTCOME MEASURES: The prevalence and factors associated with smoking susceptibility among non-smoking school-going adolescents in Malaysia.
RESULTS: Approximately 14% of non-smokers were susceptible to smoking, and the prevalence of susceptibility was significantly higher among males, ever-smokers and e-cigarette users. The odds of susceptibility to smoking were higher among males, e-cigarette users, those aged 12 years and under and those who had ever smoked or tried cigarettes. Students from schools with educational programmes on the health effects of second-hand smoke (SHS) and who perceived smoking to be harmful were less likely to be susceptible to smoking.
CONCLUSION: Smoking susceptibility is prevalent among school-going adolescents. A comprehensive approach that enhances or reinforces health education programmes on the adverse health effects of smoking and SHS among school children, that considers multiple factors and that involves all stakeholders is urgently needed to reduce the prevalence of smoking susceptibility among vulnerable subgroups, as identified from the present findings.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 305 Malaysian adults in six major districts, selected from urban, semi-urban, and rural settings in one state in Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire was used in this study. It was comprised of socio-demographics, risk-taking behaviors, and validated domains of the Health Belief Model (HBM).
RESULTS: The mean (± SD) age of the respondents was 34.5 (± 9.6) and the majority (59.0%) of them were 30 years or older. Almost 20.7% of the respondents felt they were susceptible to colorectal cancer. Self-reported perceived susceptibility mirrored unsatisfactory screening behaviors owing to the lack of doctors' recommendation, ignorance of screening modalities, procrastination, and the perception that screening was unnecessary. Factors significantly associated with perceived susceptibility to colorectal cancer were gender (OR = 1.8, 95% CI 1.0-3.3), age (OR = 2. 2, 95% CI 1.2-4.0), ethnicity (OR = 0. 3, 95% CI 0.2-0.6), family history of colorectal cancer (OR = 3. 2, 95% CI 1.4-7.4) and alcohol intake (OR = 3.9, 95% CI 2.1-7.5).
CONCLUSION: The present study revealed that screening behavior among respondents was unsatisfactory. Hence, awareness of the importance of screening to prevent colorectal cancers is imperative.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Using an Oragene® RNA kit, the total RNA was purified from the saliva of 10 patients with chronic periodontitis and 10 patients without chronic periodontitis. The quantity and quality of the total RNA was determined, and a measure of gene expression via cDNA was undertaken using the Affymetrix microarray system. The microarray profiling result was further validated by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
RESULTS: Spectrophotometric analysis showed the total RNA purified from each participant ranged from 0.92 μg/500 μL to 62.85 μg/500 μL. There was great variability in the quantity of total RNA obtained from the 2 groups in the study with a mean of 10.21 ± 12.71 μg/500 μL for the periodontitis group and 15.97 ± 23.47 μg/500 μL for the control group. Further the RNA purity (based on the A260 /A280 ratio) for the majority of participants (9 periodontitis and 6 controls) were within the acceptable limits for downstream analysis (2.0 ± 0.1). The study samples, showed 2 distinct bands at 23S (3800 bp) and 16S (1500 bp) characteristic of bacterial rRNA. Preliminary microarray analysis was performed for 4 samples (P2, P6, H5 and H9). The percentage of genes present in each of the 4 samples was not consistent with about 1.8%-18.7% of genes being detected. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction confirmed that the total RNA purified from each sample was mainly bacterial RNA (Uni 16S) with minimal human mRNA.
CONCLUSION: This study showed that minimal amounts of human RNA were able to be isolated from the saliva of patients with periodontitis as well as controls. Further work is required to enhance the extraction process of human mRNA from saliva if the salivary transcriptome is to be used in determining individual patient susceptibility.