Displaying publications 61 - 70 of 70 in total

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  1. Qurratul-Saadah Z, Che-Amat A, Syed-Hussain SS, Kamaludden J, Ariffin SMZ, Basripuzi NH, et al.
    Trop Biomed, 2023 Mar 01;40(1):55-64.
    PMID: 37356004 DOI: 10.47665/tb.40.1.012
    Gastrointestinal parasites (GIPs) in elephants have been reported in several studies over the last decades. Nonetheless, comprehensive data on clinicopathology of elephant GIPs, parasite burden threshold value, and the effectiveness of conventional anthelmintic drugs are still lacking. Herein, we have systematically reviewed the available knowledge on elephant GIPs identified among different parts of the world based on their prevalence, epidemiology, pathology, diagnosis, treatment, and control. Two electronic databases were searched for publications that met the inclusion criteria. About19 English journal articles published between year of 2011- 2021 were included. The main GIPs reported in elephants were Cyathostomidae (at least 14 species), Ancylostomidae, Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus colubriformis, Oesophagostomum columbianum, Oesophagostomum aceleatum, Ascarids, Trichurids, Strongyloides, Anophlocephalidae, flukes, and Coccidia across different parts of the world, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Most elephants show no clinical signs until the equilibrium between parasite and host is disturbed. The common diagnostic methods for GIPs are traditional direct smear, faecal floatation, sedimentation, and McMaster egg counting technique, all involving morphological identification. However, some articles described the use of molecular detection to characterise common GIPs of elephants. Although benzimidazoles and macrocyclic lactones group of anthelmintic are the most conventional GIPs treatment and control for captive and semi-captive elephants, there is limited data on the threshold value of faecal egg count as the baseline for treatment decision. Over the last decades, various studies regarding elephant GIPs have been conducted. However, more focused and systematic studies are required to enhance our knowledge in multiple aspects of elephant parasitology to find effective solutions and improve elephant health.
  2. Al Qabbani A, Rani KGA, AlKawas S, Sheikh Abdul Hamid S, Yap Abdullah A, Samsudin AR, et al.
    PLoS One, 2023;18(12):e0294291.
    PMID: 38127838 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294291
    The aim of this study was to compare the ability of demineralized (DMB) and decellularized (DCC) bovine bone granules to support bone regeneration in rat calvaria critical-size defects. DMB and DCC were prepared using a previously published method. The granule size used ranged between 500 and 750 μm. A total of forty-eight Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups (n = 24). A pair of 5 mm diameter defects were created on the calvaria of the rats in the right and left parietal bone in both groups. Group A animals received DMB granules and Group B received DCC granules in the right parietal defect side while the left parietal untreated defect acted as sham surgery for both groups. Four animals per group were euthanized in a CO2 chamber at day 7, 14 and 21 post-surgery and the calvaria implantation site biopsy harvested was subjected to osteogenic gene expression analysis. Another four animals per group were euthanized at days 15, 30 and 60 post surgery and the calvaria implantation site biopsy harvested was subjected to histological, immunohistochemistry, RAMAN spectroscopy and Micro-CT analysis at the mentioned time points. Statistical analysis was conducted using t-tests and ANOVA. Histomorphometry showed significantly higher new bone formation in the DCC sites (p<0.05) compared to DMB. Both DMB and DCC implantation sites showed distinct staining for osteocalcin and osteopontin proteins compared to their respective sham sites. By day 21 after implantation, DCC sites demonstrated significantly elevated mRNA levels of osteonectin (p<0.001), osteopontin (p<0.001), osteocalcin (p<0.0001), ALP (p<0.01), and BMP-2 (p<0.001) compared to DMB. However, VEGF expression showed no significant differences at this time point between the two groups. Micro-CT analysis also showed enhanced defect closure and higher bone density in DCC implanted sites while RAMAN spectra demonstrated increased abundance of collagen and bone minerals, especially, PO43- ions than DMB. In conclusion, both DMB and DCC granules demonstrated favorable osteogenic potential in critical-sized defects, with DCC exhibited superior osteoconductive, osteoinductive and osteogenesis properties.
  3. Amar SN, Kamaludin M, Azlina AA, K V Zainuddin MR, Sulaiman KI
    Heliyon, 2024 Mar 30;10(6):e27981.
    PMID: 38524591 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27981
    Malaysia needs to fully utilize its renewable energy resources to meet its goal of installed capacity of 31% of renewable energy in 2025 and 40% in 2035. In order to empower renewable energy sources, the government has established a fund known as the renewable energy fund (RE FUND). In Malaysia, most manufacturing sectors contribute to the RE FUND through their monthly electricity bills due to their electricity consumption exceeding 300kwh per month. As Malaysia's highest electricity consumer, the manufacturing sector needs government investment incentives to switch to renewable energy sources to generate electricity. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify attribute preferences of the manufacturing sector due to investing in renewable energy sources. The Choice Experiment method was employed where the Mixed Logit model was chosen to identify the willingness to pay for the manufacturing sectors based on their preferences among the four attributes: types of renewable energy, project location, annual reduction in GHG emissions, and RE FUND. The study results found that the manufacturing sector places the highest value on the project location, where they prefer to improve the project location from current condition to far location. This study can also help to achieve the Goal 7 in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), where investment in renewable energy sources can guarantee that all individuals obtain affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern electricity in 2030.
  4. Palafox B, Seguin ML, McKee M, Dans AL, Yusoff K, Candari CJ, et al.
    BMJ Open, 2018 07 30;8(7):e024000.
    PMID: 30061449 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024000
    INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease. While safe and effective treatment exists, blood pressure control is poor in many countries, often reflecting barriers at the levels of health systems and services as well as at the broader level of patients' sociocultural contexts. This study examines how these interact to facilitate or hinder hypertension control, taking into account characteristics of service provision components and social contexts.

    METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study, set in Malaysia and the Philippines, builds on two systematic reviews of barriers to effective hypertension management. People with hypertension (pre-existing and newly diagnosed) will be identified in poor households in 24-30 communities per country. Quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to examine their experiences of and pathways into seeking and obtaining care. These include two waves of household surveys of 20-25 participants per community 12-18 months apart, microcosting exercises to assess the cost of illness (including costs due to health seeking activities and inability to work (5 per community)), preliminary and follow-up in-depth interviews and digital diaries with hypertensive adults over the course of a year (40 per country, employing an innovative mobile phone technology), focus group discussions with study participants and structured assessments of health facilities (including formal and informal providers).

    ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been granted by the Observational Research Ethics Committee at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Research Ethics Boards at the Universiti Putra Malaysia and the University of the Philippines Manila. The project team will disseminate findings and engage with a wide range of stakeholders to promote uptake and impact. Alongside publications in high-impact journals, dissemination activities include a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, engagement with traditional and social media and 'digital stories' coproduced with research participants.

  5. Adnan N, Khandker SS, Haq A, Chaity MA, Khalek A, Nazim AQ, et al.
    PMID: 34477019 DOI: 10.1080/14787210.2021.1976144
    BACKGROUND: Rapid increase in COVID-19 suspected cases has rendered disease diagnosis challenging, mainly depending upon RT-qPCR. Reliable, rapid, and cost-effective diagnostic assays that complement RT-qPCR should be introduced after thoroughly evaluating their performance upon various disease phases, viral load, and sample storage conditions.

    OBJECTIVE: We investigated the correlation of cycle threshold (Ct) value, which implies the viral load and infection phase, and the storage condition of the clinical specimen with the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 through our newly developed in-house rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system.

    METHOD: Naso-oropharyngeal samples of 339 COVID-19 suspected cases were collected and evaluated through RT-qPCR that were stored up to 30 days in different conditions (i.e. -80°C, -20°C and initially at 4°C followed by -80°C). The clinical specimens were evaluated with our in-house ELISA system after finalizing the assay method through checkerboard assay and minimizing the signal/noise ratio.

    RESULT: The ELISA system showed the highest sensitivity (92.9%) for samples with Ct ≤30 and preserving at -80°C temperature. The sensitivity reduced proportionally with increasing Ct value and preserving temperature. However, the specificity ranged between 98.3% and 100%.

    CONCLUSION: The results indicate the necessity of early infection phase diagnosis and lower temperature preservation of samples to perform rapid antigen ELISA tests.

  6. Haque M, Rahman NAA, McKimm J, Kibria GM, Azim Majumder MA, Haque SZ, et al.
    Infect Drug Resist, 2019;12:1333-1351.
    PMID: 31190922 DOI: 10.2147/IDR.S203364
    Background: Self-medication of drugs to alleviate symptoms is a common global behavior, helping relieve burdens on health services, but many drugs eg, antibiotics are prescription-only. Self-medication of antibiotics (SMA) is an irrational use of drugs, contributing to microbial resistance increasing health care costs and higher mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to assess SMA among university students. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among medical and non-medical students of the National Defence University of Malaysia. A validated instrument was used to gather data. Ethics approval was obtained. Random and universal sampling was adopted, and SPSS 21 was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 649 students participated in the study: 48.5% male and 51.5% female, 39.3% reported self-medicating with antibiotics. Penicillin, doxycycline, clarithromycin were the antibiotics most used with the majority reporting no adverse drug reactions. Cost savings and convenience were the principal reasons for SMA which were mainly obtained from local retail pharmacies. Despite medical students (particularly the more senior) having better knowledge of antibiotic use than non-medical students, 89% of all research participants responded that practicing SMA was a good/acceptable practice. Conclusion: SMA is common amongst Malaysian students and, despite understanding why SMA is unwise, even medical students self-medicate.
  7. Yusof MFH, Zahari W, Hashim SNM, Osman ZF, Chandra H, Kannan TP, et al.
    J Oral Biol Craniofac Res, 2017 10 19;8(1):48-53.
    PMID: 29556464 DOI: 10.1016/j.jobcr.2017.10.003
    Manipulation of dental stem cells (DSCs) using current technologies in tissue engineering unveil promising prospect in regenerative medicine. DSCs have shown to possess angiogenic and osteogenic potential in both in vivo and in vitro. Neural crest derived DSCs can successfully be isolated from various dental tissues, exploiting their intrinsic great differentiation potential. In this article, researcher team intent to review the characteristics of DSCs, with focus on their angiogenic and osteogenic differentiation lineage. Clinical data on DSCs are still lacking to prove their restorative abilities despite extensive contemporary literature, warranting research to further validate their application for bone tissue engineering.
  8. Yusof MFH, Hashim SNM, Zahari W, Chandra H, Noordin KBAA, Kannan TP, et al.
    Appl Biochem Biotechnol, 2020 May;191(1):177-190.
    PMID: 32096060 DOI: 10.1007/s12010-020-03266-1
    Previously, it was reported that human amniotic membrane (AM) induced stem cells from human deciduous exfoliated teeth (SHED) endothelial-like-cell differentiation. This interesting effect of AM matrix on SHED demands further elucidation. Objective of this in vitro work was to study the effect of 24-h VEGF induced on SHED endothelial differentiation when seeded on acellular stromal side (SS) of AM matrix. Stemness of SHED was identified by flow cytometry. Cell attachment and morphological changes towards the matrix was observed by scanning electron microscopy. Protein expression of endothelial marker was examined by Western blot. The expression of stem cells and endothelial-specific gene markers of VEGF-induced SHED cultured on human AM was inspected via reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Results showed SHED at both passages retain stemness property. Ang-1 protein was expressed in SHED. Cells treated with VEGF and cultured on AM transformed attached well to AM. VEGF-induced SHED expressed both stem cell and endothelial-specific markers throughout the treatments and timeline. Interestingly, prolonged VEGF treatment increased the expression of Cox-2 and VE-Cadherin genes in all treated groups when compared to SHED. It was concluded that the VEGF-induced SHED showed better expression of endothelial-specific markers when cultured on SS of AM, with prolonged VEGF treatment.
  9. Rozilawati H, Faudzi AY, Rahidah AA, Azlina AH, Abdullah AG, Amal NM, et al.
    Indian J Med Res, 2011 Jun;133:670-3.
    PMID: 21727669
    Chikungunya infection has become a public health threat in Malaysia since the 2008 nationwide outbreaks. Aedes albopictus Skuse has been identified as the chikungunya vector in Johor State during the outbreaks. In 2009, several outbreaks had been reported in the State of Kelantan. Entomological studies were conducted in Kelantan in four districts, namely Jeli, Tumpat, Pasir Mas and Tanah Merah to identify the vector responsible for the virus transmission.
  10. Morgan ER, Aziz NA, Blanchard A, Charlier J, Charvet C, Claerebout E, et al.
    Trends Parasitol, 2019 01;35(1):52-71.
    PMID: 30477758 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2018.10.006
    An elicitation exercise was conducted to collect and identify pressing questions concerning the study of helminths in livestock, to help guide research priorities. Questions were invited from the research community in an inclusive way. Of 385 questions submitted, 100 were chosen by online vote, with priority given to open questions in important areas that are specific enough to permit investigation within a focused project or programme of research. The final list of questions was divided into ten themes. We present the questions and set them briefly in the context of the current state of knowledge. Although subjective, the results provide a snapshot of current concerns and perceived priorities in the field of livestock helminthology, and we hope that they will stimulate ongoing or new research efforts.
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