MATERIALS AND METHODS: Full-text articles of case report, case control, cohort and cross-sectional studies that were published from 1st January 2012 until 30th June 2022, were searched using PubMed, CINAHL and Scopus. Periodontal related diseases were excluded in this review due to its wellknown associated disease with P. gingivalis. A comparison studies of detection methods were also excluded in this review.
RESULTS: Out of 612 articles that were screened, only 106 met the eligibility criteria to be selected for further review. Risk of bias was performed using FEAT principles and reviewers' discussion. A total of 21 final articles that were reviewed showed significant correlation with P. gingivalis and were classified into several clinical domains. Twelve out of 13 detection methods showed high sensitivity and specificity with short duration analysis.
CONCLUSION: Due to asymptomatic periodontal disease and the high prevalence of P. gingivalis-associated clinical diseases, this review suggests the need for oral public health awareness and early screening for the bacterium detection especially among elderly groups to maintain their quality of life.
METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 269 older persons with diabetes in all government health clinics in Kuantan using Diabetes Quality of Life questionnaire. SPSS version 23 was used for the statistical analysis.
RESULTS: Majority of the respondents were females (61%), Malays (84.8%), pensioners (54.3%) with education up to primary school (52%) and are staying with family members (93.7%). Most of the patients were on two antidiabetic agents (48%) followed by a single antidiabetic agent (32%). Despite the risk of hypoglycaemia, 0.4% of them are on glibenclamide. The use of insulin is still common among 21% of them that are on intermediate-acting insulin, 15.6% on premixed insulin and 7.8% on short-acting insulin. Those taking a higher number of antidiabetic agents were found to be associated with poorer quality of life (p=0.001) compared to those taking one or two antidiabetic medications. Those on insulin also have significantly poorer quality of life score (p=0.012).
CONCLUSION: Despite aiming for controlled diabetes, older persons suffer poor quality of life with further intensification of their antidiabetic medications according to the guidelines. This includes the complexity of insulin usage and polypharmacy, which contribute to the low quality of life score.
METHODS: A simple visual acuity test algorithm in the form of a single letter E display was designed as the optotype for development of a mobile application. The standardised optotype is presented at random to test visual acuity for corresponding level of 3/60, 6/60, 6/18, and 6/12. The final result is auto-generated based on the classification of the WHO for visual impairment and blindness. The Snellen chart was used as the gold standard to determine its validity while five different users were involved to determine its inter-rater reliability. A pilot study was performed between April till November 2019, in the Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Medical Centre (UMC) at Kuala Nerus and Mooris Optometrist Centre at Marang, Terengganu. A total of 279 participants aged four years old and above were involved in this study.
RESULTS: The highest sensitivity was found at the vision level cut-off point of 6/12 with the percentage of 92.7% and 86.8% for the right and left eye, respectively. The specificity was more than 89% for all vision levels in both eyes. The Krippendorff's alpha value for the inter-rater reliability was 0.87 and 0.83.
CONCLUSION: The relatively high level of validity and reliability obtained indicate the feasibility of using the designed optotype to develop a valid and reliable mobile app for vision test. The app can be used to screen vision by nonmedical persons, at anytime and anywhere to help improve public awareness and capability to correctly determine their visual status.
METHODS: Medical claims records from February 2019 to February 2020 were extracted from a health insurance claims database. Data cleaning and data analysis were performed using Python 3.7 with the Pandas, NumPy and Matplotlib libraries. The top five most common diagnoses were identified, and for each diagnosis, the most common medication classes and medications prescribed were quantified. Potentially inappropriate prescribing practices were identified by comparing the medications prescribed with relevant clinical guidelines.
KEY FINDINGS: The five most common diagnoses were upper respiratory tract infection (41.5%), diarrhoea (7.7%), musculoskeletal pain (7.6%), headache (6.7%) and gastritis (4.0%). Medications prescribed by general practitioners were largely as expected for symptomatic management of the respective conditions. One area of potentially inappropriate prescribing identified was inappropriate antibiotic choice. Same-class polypharmacy that may lead to an increased risk of adverse events were also identified, primarily involving multiple paracetamol-containing products, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and antihistamines. Other areas of non-adherence to guidelines identified included the potential overuse of oral corticosteroids and oral salbutamol, and inappropriate gastroprotection for patients receiving NSAIDs.
CONCLUSIONS: While prescribing practices are generally appropriate within the private primary care sector, there remain several areas where some potentially inappropriate prescribing occurs. The areas identified should be the focus in continuing efforts to improve prescribing practices to obtain the optimal clinical outcomes while reducing unnecessary risks and healthcare costs.
OBJECTIVE: This study was looking at the acceptance towards using social network information system among public health workers.
MATERIALS AND METHOD: This study was done on 205 Malaysian One Health University Network (MyOHUN) members through email and physical survey.
RESULTS: Results show that 62.4% public health workers accepted the use technology. The acceptance was shown to be associated with performance expectancy (p<0.05). However, unlike the very famous Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, the acceptance of social network information system was not associated with effort expectancy, social factors, facilitating conditions and socio-demographic factors. Therefore, it is suggested that social network information system be developed by the authorities in Malaysia, and be developed in a way that the system could strongly increase performance in detection of outbreak earlier than the current normal pathways. As such the system to be accepted and used, it must be sensitive, specific and be able to detect influenza outbreak early CONCLUSION: The development of social network information system is feasible as it is highly accepted and it's potential to improve early detection of influenza outbreak.
OBJECTIVES: To consider which items from a long list of candidate items to exclude and which to cluster into outcome domains.
METHODS: The study used an international and multistakeholder approach, involving patients, dermatologists, surgeons, the pharmaceutical industry and medical regulators. The study format was a combination of formal presentations, small group work based on nominal group theory and a subsequent online confirmation survey.
RESULTS: Forty-one individuals from 13 countries and four continents participated. Nine items were excluded and there was consensus to propose seven domains: disease course, physical signs, HS-specific quality of life, satisfaction, symptoms, pain and global assessments.
CONCLUSIONS: The HISTORIC consensus meetings I and II will be followed by further e-Delphi rounds to finalize the core domain set, building on the work of the in-person consensus meetings.