DESIGN: Mixed-methods systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42018091033).
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Asian adults (≥18 years old) living in the community globally.
METHODS: Medline (Ovid), Web of Science, CINAHL (EBSCO), Open Grey, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to June 30, 2022. Qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods studies reporting on the views of non-seriously ill community-dwelling Asian adults on ACP or the factors influencing their ACP uptake were included. Secondary research, studies not published in English, or studies not available as full text were excluded. Two independent teams of researchers extracted data, assessed methodologic quality, and performed the data analysis. Data analysis was conducted using the multistep convergent integrated approach based on Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for mixed-methods systematic review.
RESULTS: Fifty-eight studies were included. Non-seriously ill community-dwelling Asians were willing to engage in ACP (46.5%-84.4%) although their awareness (3.1%-42.9%) and uptake of ACP remained low (14.0%-53.4%). Background factors (sociodemographic factors, and health status, as well as experience and exposure to information) and underlying beliefs (attitude toward ACP, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) were found to affect their uptake of ACP. A conceptual framework was developed to facilitate a proper approach to ACP for this population.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: A flexible approach toward ACP is needed for non-seriously ill community-dwelling Asians. There is also a need to raise end-of-life and ACP literacy, and to explore ways to narrow the gap in the expectations and implementation of ACP so that trust in its effective execution can be built.
METHODS: This is an observational retrospective study carried out in a general hospital on 117 solid tumor patients who admitted between January 2003 to December 2006. The main statistical tests used were Chi- square test and Fisher' s Exact test. The significance of the result will be when the P<0.05, while the confidence interval for this study was 95%.
RESULTS: The highest chemotherapeutic regimen was (5-FU+epirubicin+cyclophosphamide) (47, 40.2%) followed by (gemcitabine+cisplatin) (6, 5.1%) and many others. Majority of the patients receive their chemotherapy schedule of administration was one day schedule (90, 76.9%) followed by more than one day schedule (27, 23.1%).
CONCLUSION: The doses of these drugs were not high enough to produce a sufficient pharmacological effect to cause bone marrow suppression and lead to neutropenia. Besides the schedule of administration for each drug was long enough to overcome neutropenia also the high uses of granulocyte colony stimulation factor (G-CSF) which will play a major role in reducing the time and severity of neutropenia. All these factors play an important role in giving non- significant association between neutropenia onset and severity with chemotherapeutics drugs and their schedule of administration.
RESULTS: An investigation on the adherence, invasion and intracellular survival of bacterial strains within the bovine aortic endothelial cell line (BAEC) were carried out. The potential vaccine strain, P. multocida B:2 GDH7, was significantly better (p ≤ 0.05) at adhering to and invading BAEC compared to its parent strain and to P. multocida B:2 JRMT12 and survived intracellularly 7 h post treatment, with a steady decline over time. A dual reporter plasmid, pSRGM, which enabled tracking of bacterial movement from the extracellular environment into the intracellular compartment of the mammalian cells, was subsequently transformed into P. multocida B:2 GDH7. Intracellular trafficking of the vaccine strain, P. multocida B:2 GDH7 was subsequently visualized by tracking the reporter proteins via confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).
CONCLUSIONS: The ability of P. multocida B:2 GDH7 to model bactofection represents a possibility for this vaccine strain to be used as a delivery vehicle for DNA vaccine for future multivalent protection in cattle and buffaloes.
OBJECTIVE: To overcome the drawback of cold storage requirement for LAMP reagents we modified the reagents by adding sucrose as stabilizer. We then sought to determine the stability at room temperature of the premixed LAMP reagents containing sucrose.
METHOD: Premixed LAMP reagents with sucrose and without sucrose were prepared. The prepared mixtures were stored at room temperature for up to 60 days, and were subjected to LAMP reactions at various intervals using rat kidney samples to detect leptospiral DNA.
RESULTS: The premixed LAMP reagents with sucrose remained stable for 45 days while sucrose-free premixed LAMP reagents showed no amplification from day 1 of storage at room temperature up to day 14.
CONCLUSION: The LAMP reagent system can be refined by using sucrose as stabilizer, thus allowing their storage at room temperature without the need for cold storage. The modified method enables greater feasibility of LAMP for field surveillance and epidemiology in resource-limited settings.
AIM: To study the characteristics of pain in cancer patients and its pharmacological management by using a subjective self-assessment questionnaire and the World Health Organization (WHO)analgesic ladder for pain management.
SETTINGS AND DESIGNS: This study was conducted in the Oncology Wards of Penang Hospital, Penang, Malaysia. A questionnaire was developed to assess the pain characteristics and their effect on the patients' daily life activities and the information on the pharmacological management of the cancer pain. The cancer pain intensity was noted from the patients' medical database.
METHOD AND MATERIAL: By using the validated questionnaire, an observational, cross sectional study was conducted on the cancer patientswho were admitted in the oncology wards of Penang Hospital, Malaysia, for a period of 1 month.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics like mean, frequency and percentages were used for this study.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A total of 42 patients out of 143, who fulfilled the criteria, were interviewed. The results showed mild pain in 66.7% (28) of the patients, moderate pain in 7.1% (3) and severe painin 26.2% (11). The normal daily life activities were affected by the pain in almost all the patients. Among the interviewed patients, sleep was affected in 88% (37) of the patients and the normal physical activity was affected in 92.9% (39) of the patients. Similarly, the pain decreased the appetite in 78.6% (33) of the patients, it affected the personal relationship in 35.7% (15), it affected the emotion in 71.5% (30) and it affected the visual activity in 33.6% (13) of the patients. Mild pain with distressing symptoms was not treated with any analgesic or adjuvant medications in 40.5% (17) of the patients. In contrast, all the patients with moderate and severe pain were treated with medications. Among them, 66.7% (2) of the patients with moderate pain and 90.9% (10) of the patients with severe pain were treated with analgesics as per the WHO analgesic ladder. The WHO analgesic ladder guide for pain management was followed in a majority of the cases, when analgesics were prescribed. However, there was inadequate treatment of the cancer pain in many patients with mild pain and, consequently, their quality of life was largely affected.