Materials and methods: This prospective study that screened 59 healthy cats and the status of the heart were evaluated based on a combination of findings from physical examination, electrocardiography, blood pressure measurement, routine blood test, urinalysis, and total thyroid level.
Results: Approximately 40.7% (n = 24/59) of the apparently healthy cats were diagnosed with heart disease hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (62.5%) remains to be the most commonly diagnosed. The mean age was 4.9-year old (age range, 7-month-old to 19-year-old). The prevalence was higher in males (45.0%; n = 17/38) cats, especially the domestic shorthairs (46.0%; n = 11/24). Among the healthy cats with vertebral heart scale (VHS) > 8.0, only 52% (n = 12/23) of them were diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. However, 33% (n = 12/36) of the cats with normal VHS ≤ 7.9 were diagnosed with heart disease. Consistently, all healthy cats with abnormal heart sounds were diagnosed with heart disease. About 31.4% (n = 16/51) of these cats with typical heart sound had cardiomyopathy too.
Conclusion: The occurrence of cardiomyopathy in apparently healthy cats has no association with the patient's age, sex, and VHS, except for the heart sound. Echocardiography remains the best diagnostic tool, as normal heart size and normal heart sound do not exclude cardiomyopathy in this group of apparently healthy cats.
Methods: Fasting blood samples were collected from 35 DMT2 or DMT2HTN patients each to analyze differences in serum and plasma levels of IMA, hs-CRP, FIB, total cholesterol (TC), high and low density lipoproteins (HDL and LDL), triglyceride (TG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C), glycated hemoglobin and creatinine.
Results: In DMT2 and DMT2HTN patients, IMA, hs-CRP, FIB, TC, TG, HDL, LDL, glycated hemoglobin and creatinine levels, including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), were significantly higher relative to healthy controls. In addition, the levels of IMA, hs-CRP and FIB levels showed a strong link to BMI, WHR, TC, TG, LDL and glycated hemoglobin. Lastly, both DMT2 and DMT2HTN patients demonstrated a significant reduction in HDL.
Conclusion: DMT2 and DMT2HTN patients have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular related complications. This study suggests that quantifying hs-CRP, IMA and FIB levels can help diagnose the risk of developing complications during the early stages of metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Overall, the specific risk factors may be used for early identification of cardiovascular complications to decrease mortality and morbidity in T2DM patients.
METHODS: We source daily death registry data for 4100 municipalities in Italy's north and match them to Census data. We augment the dataset with municipality-level data on a host of co-factors of COVID-19 mortality, which we exploit in a differences-in-differences regression model to analyze COVID-19-induced mortality.
RESULTS: We find that COVID-19 killed more than 0.15% of the local population during the first wave of the epidemic. We also show that official statistics vastly underreport this death toll, by about 60%. Next, we uncover the dramatic effects of the epidemic on nursing home residents in the outbreak epicenter: in municipalities with a high share of the elderly living in nursing homes, COVID-19 mortality was about twice as high as in those with no nursing home intown.
CONCLUSIONS: A pro-active approach in managing the epidemic is key to reduce COVID-19 mortality. Authorities should ramp-up testing capacity and increase contact-tracing abilities. Adequate protective equipment should be provided to nursing home residents and staff.
STUDY DESIGN: Systematic Review of Literature.
METHODS: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and SCOPUS databases were searched through November 2019.
RESULTS: Eight studies (1,924 patients) met criteria (age range: 28-70.9 years, body mass index range: 21.9-37 kg/m2 , and AHI range: 0.5-62 events/hour). Five studies compared ODI and AHI simultaneously, and three had a week to months between assessments. Sensitivities ranged from 32% to 98.5%, whereas specificities ranged from 47.7% to 98%. Significant heterogeneity was present; however, for studies reporting data for a 4% ODI ≥ 15 events/hour, the specificity for diagnosing OSA ranged from 75% to 98%, and only one study reported the positive predictive value, which was 97%. Direct ODI and AHI comparisons were not made because of different hypopnea scoring, different oxygen desaturation categories, and different criteria for grading OSA severity.
CONCLUSION: Significant heterogeneity exists in studies comparing ODI and AHI. Based on currently published studies, consideration should be given for diagnosing adult OSA with a 4% ODI of ≥ 15 events/hour and for recommending further evaluation for diagnosing OSA with a 4% ODI ≥ 10 events/hour. Screening with oximetry may be indicated for the detection of OSA in select patients. Further study is needed before a definitive recommendation can be made. Laryngoscope, 131:440-447, 2021.
METHODS: A total of 2,461 secondary school students aged 12-17 years from 19 schools in Sarawak participated in the study. Questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic data, parental history of hypertension, and self-reported physical activity. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were taken. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS version 23.0.
RESULTS: The prevalence of adolescents with elevated blood pressure, overweight, central obesity, and overfat were 30.1%, 24.3%, 13.5%, and 6.7%, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated the predictors significantly associated with elevated blood pressure among respondents: overweight (adjusted odds ratio=3.144), being male (adjusted odds ratio=3.073), being Chinese (adjusted odds ratio=2.321) or Iban (adjusted odds ratio=1.578), central obesity (adjusted odds ratio=2.145), being overfat (adjusted odds ratio=1.885), and being an older adolescent (adjusted odds ratio=1.109). Parental history of hypertension, locality, and physical activity showed no significant associations.
CONCLUSION: The obesity epidemic must be tackled at community and school levels by health education and regulation of school canteen foods.
METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted exclusively among women in the public with total sample of three hundred and forty six (346), questionnaires were distributed using a simple random technique. Data was collected and analyzed by student T test in SPPS version 20.
RESULTS: Our study reveals insufficient awareness on BC. Overall, awareness on risk factors is inadequate, but good knowledge on the importance of family history and diet as risk factors are discovered. Awareness on the cause and clinical manifestations of BC is required for improvement. As for treatment, alternatives especially surgery and chemotherapy are unclear to public, public is remotely unwitting on cessation of smoking to prevent BC at the early stage.
CONCLUSION: Malaysian has spaces for improvement on awareness of BC in terms of risk factors, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Early detection can be achieved with good awareness because it leads to better prognosis and lower mortality.
Methods: This is a multinational, multicenter, longitudinal, and observational registry of PC patients presenting to participating tertiary-care hospitals in eight Asian countries (www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT02546908. Registry Identifier: NOPRODPCR4001). Approximately 3500-4000 eligible patients with existing or newly diagnosed high-risk localized PC (cohort 1), nonmetastatic biochemically recurrent PC (cohort 2), or metastatic PC (cohort 3) will be consecutively enrolled and followed-up for 5 years. An enrollment cap of 600 patients each will be applied to cohorts 1 and 2. Disease status is collected at enrollment, and outcome variables captured at 3-monthly intervals include diagnostic/staging, treatments including reason for change, laboratory results, comorbidities, and concomitant medications. Treatments and survival outcomes will be captured real time until study end. Patient-reported quality-of-life will be measured every 6 months, and medical resource utilization summarized at study end. Data analysis will include exploratory analyses of potential associations between multiple risk factors and socioeconomic variables with disease progression and evaluation of various treatments for PC including novel therapies on clinical outcome and health-related quality-of-life outcomes.
Results: 3636 men with PC were enrolled until July 2018; 416 in cohort 1, 399 in cohort 2 and 2821 in cohort 3.
Discussion: A total of 3636 patients were enrolled until July 2018. The prospective disease registry will provide comprehensive and wide-ranging real-world information on how PC is diagnosed and treated in Asia. Such information can be used to inform policy development for best practice and direct clinical study design evaluating new treatments.
METHOD: Data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2016 conducted by Ministry of Health was analysed. This nationwide survey involved 15,188 children below five years old. The survey was carried out using a two-stage stratified sampling design to ensure national representativeness. The Questionnaire from UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MCIS) was adapted to suit local requirements. Analysis was done using SPSS Version 23. Descriptive followed by multiple logistic regression were done to identify relevant factors.
RESULT: The prevalence of diarrhoea among children under five in Malaysia was 4.4% (95% CI: 3.8,5.2). Analysis using logistic regression indicated that only ethnicity and usage of untreated water were significantly associated with diarrhoea among children after controlling for relevant factors. By ethnicity, children in the 'Other Bumiputera' group had 2.5 times the odds of having diarrhoea compared to children of Malay ethnicity. Children of Indian ethnicity were also at higher risk, at almost double the odds, as well as other ethnic groups (1.5 times). Children who used untreated water supply were two times more likely to develop diarrhoea.
CONCLUSION: There is a higher risk of diarrhoea among children of 'Other Bumiputera' ethnicity, Indian ethnicities, and other ethnic groups and those who consume untreated water. Strategies to reduce diarrhoea among children should be targeted towards these at-risk populations. In addition, the Government must strive to ensure universal access to treated clean water in Malaysia and the Ministry of Health must focus on raising awareness on how to prevent diarrhoea.