Aims: This cross-sectional study was performed to investigate the carriage rate, genotypic characteristics, and to determine the antibiogram of S. aureus isolated from pets and pet owners in Malaysia.
Methods: Nasal and oral swab samples from 40 cats, 30 dogs, and 70 pet owners were collected through convenient sampling. Presumptive colonies on mannitol salt agar were subjected to biochemical identification. S. aureus and MRSA were confirmed by PCR detection of nuc and mecA genes, respectively. Molecular profiles for antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes in S. aureus were also determined. The antibiogram was carried out via Kirby-Bauer test using 18 antibiotics.
Results: 17.5% of cats, 20% of dogs, and 27% of pet owners were S. aureus positive. MRSA was also detected in dogs, and pet owners. S. aureus isolates displayed high resistance against penicillin (72.7%), and amoxicillin/clavulanate (66.7%). 39.4% of S. aureus isolates showed multidrug-resistance traits, phenotypically. Molecular characterization of S. aureus revealed the presence of mecA, tetk, tetL, ermA, ermB, ermC, msrA, scn, chp, sak, sep, and sea genes.
Conclusion: This study showed the emergence of MRSA and MDRSA in pets and pet owners in Malaysia. The antibiogram findings showed resistance of S. aureus to multiple antibiotics. Furthermore, molecular analysis of immune evasion cluster (IEC) strongly suggests the spread of animal-adapted S. aureus lineages among pets and pet owners.
METHOD: Participants of school-age and adolescent students from Klang Valley School completed the 21-item Malay OCI-CV using Google Form. OCI-CV English version was translated backward and forward to the Malay language. Face validity was conducted first before distributing the questionnaire to the participants. Exploratory Factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of OCI-CV.
RESULTS: A total of 102 school-age children and adolescents with a mean age of 15.96 years (male: 41.2%, female: 58.8%) participated in the study. The Malay OCI-CV showed high internal consistency, with Cronbach Alpha values of 0.90 for the whole scale. EFA showed multifactorial components. Five factors were labelled as "Washing / Ordering, Doubting, Obsessions, Checking, and Hoarding,". In the CFA, the five-factor model indicates adequate fit indices of (χ2/df = 1.51, RMSEA = .071, GFI = .824, AGFI = .769, NFI = .724, CFI = .880).
CONCLUSION: The Malay OCI-CV has good psychometric properties and is suitable for use in the Malaysian context. Further validation studies should be conducted among a clinical population to enhance the generalization of this finding.
METHODS: This study uses the literature review method by reviewing 50 articles from journals and databases.
RESULTS: A review of several articles, namely ginger has bioactive components such as gingerol. Ginger is used as a treatment in complementary therapies using plants. Ginger is a strategy with many benefits and functions as a nutritional complement to the body. This benefit has shown the effect of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer against nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy in breast cancer.
CONCLUSION: Anticancer in ginger is shown by polyphenols associated with anti-metastatic, anti-proliferative, antiangiogenic, anti-inflammatory, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and autophagy. Therefore, consuming ginger regularly affects natural herbal therapy with the prevention and treatment of breast cancer and serves as a prevention against the effects of chemotherapy.