METHODS: In this study, 0.05 mM KA was administered at dose of 10 µL/100 g body weight, at a rate of 10 µL/min, to induce spinal injury by intra-spinal injection between the T12 and T13 thoracic vertebrae. In this protocol, detailed description of a dorsal laminectomy was explained to expose the spinal cord, following intra-spinal kainic acid administration at desired location. The dose, rate and technique to administer kainic acid were explained extensively to reflect a successful paraplegia and spinal cord injury in rats. The postoperative care and complication post injury of paraplegic laboratory animals were also explained, and necessary requirements to overcome these complications were also described to help researcher.
RESULTS: This injury model produced impaired hind limb locomotor function with mild seizure. Hence this protocol will help researchers to induce spinal cord injury in laboratories at extremely low cost and also will help to determine the necessary supplies, methods for producing SCI in rats and treatments designed to mitigate post-injury impairment.
CONCLUSIONS: Kainic acid intra-spinal injection at the concentration of 0.05 mM, and rate 10 µL/min, is an effective method create spinal injury in rats, however more potent concentrations of kainic acid need to be studied in order to create severe spinal injuries.
METHODS: Secondary online data provided by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia and Malaysia's national COVID-19 immunisation programme were used: i) COVID-19 deaths data; ii) vaccination coverage data and iii) population estimate data. Quasi-Poisson regression was performed to determine the risk factors for COVID-19 mortality.
RESULTS: Four risk factors were identified: i) vaccination status (partial versus unvaccinated, incidence rate ratio [IRR]: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.54, 0.64; complete versus unvaccinated, IRR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.45, 0.56; booster versus unvaccinated, IRR: 0.13; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.26); ii) age group (19 years old-59 years old versus above 60 years old, IRR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.84, 0.97; 13 years old-18 years old versus above 60 years old, IRR: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.19; 6 years old-12 years old versus above 60 years old, IRR: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.22; below 5 years old versus above 60 years old, IRR: 0.11; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.23); iii) gender (male versus female, IRR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.32) and iv) comorbidity (yes versus no, IRR: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.96, 2.32).
CONCLUSION: This study highlighted the risk factors for COVID-19 mortality and the benefit of COVID-19 vaccination, especially of booster vaccination, in reducing the risk of COVID-19 mortality in Malaysia.
IMPORTANCE: Noroviruses are a significant cause of viral gastroenteritis, and it is important to understand the mechanism of norovirus RNA synthesis. Here we describe the identification of an RNA stem-loop structure that functions as the core of the norovirus subgenomic RNA promoter in cells and in vitro. This work provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms of norovirus RNA synthesis and the sequences that determine the recognition of viral RNA by the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess physical activity levels among Malaysian adolescents and investigate the association between physical activity levels and body composition such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and percentage of body fat.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 1361 school-going 13 year old multi-ethnic adolescents from population representative samples in Malaysia were involved in our study. Self-reported physical activity levels were assessed using the validated Malay version of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C). Height, weight, body fat composition and waist circumference (WC) were measured. Data collection period was from March to May 2012.
RESULTS: 10.8% of the males and 7.4% of the females were obese according to the International Obesity Task Force standards. A majority of the adolescents (63.9%) were physically inactive. There is a weak but significant correlation between physical activity scores and the indicators of obesity. The adjusted coefficient for body fatness was relatively more closely correlated to physical activity scores followed by waist circumference and lastly BMI.
CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that high physical activity scores were associated with the decreased precursor risk factors of obesity.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty five female Sprague Dawley rats at age 21-day old were divided into 4 groups; Group 1 (control, n=10), Group 2 (PF4, n=5), Group 3 (rapamycin, n=10) and Group 4 (rapamycin+PF4, n=10). MNU was administered intraperitionally, dosed at 70 mg/kg body weight. The rats were treated when the tumors reached the size of 14.5 ± 0.5 mm and subsequently sacrificed after 5 days. Rapamycin and PF4 were administered as focal intralesional injections at the dose of 20 μg/lesion. The tumor tissue was then subjected to histopathological examinations for morphological appraisal and immunohistochemical assessment of the pro-apoptotic marker, Bax and anti-apoptotic markers, Bcl-2 and survivin.
RESULTS: The histopathological pattern of the untreated control cohort showed that the severity of the malignancy augments with mammary tumor growth. Tumors developing in untreated groups were more aggressive whilst those in treated groups demonstrated a transformation to a less aggressive subtype. Combined treatment resulted in a significant reduction of tumor size without phenotypic changes. Bax, the pro-apoptotic marker, was significantly expressed at higher levels in the rapamycin-treated and rapamycin+PF4-treated groups compared to controls (p<0.05). Consequently, survivin was also significantly downregulated in the rapamycin-treated and rapamycin+PF4-treated group and this was significantly different when compared to controls (p).
CONCLUSIONS: In our rat model, it could be clearly shown that rapamycin specifically affects Bax and survivin signaling pathways in activation of apoptosis. We conclude that rapamycin plays a critical role in the induction of apoptosis in MNU-induced mammary carcinoma.