MATERIALS AND METHODS: This systematic survey was accomplished as per the PRISMA guidelines. The information was collected from books, and electronic search (PubMed, Science Direct, Lilca and Scielo) during 1967-2019.
RESULTS: Many phytochemicals have been identified till date, including alkaloids as its major secondary metabolites (piperine and piperlongumine), essential oil, flavonoids and steroids. These exhibit a wide range of activities including anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-cancer, anti-parkinsonian, anti-stress, nootropic, anti-epileptic, anti-hyperglycemic, hepatoprotective, anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-platelet, anti-angiogenic, immunomodulatory, anti-arthritic, anti-ulcer, anti-asthmatic, anthelmintic action, anti-amebic, anti-fungal, mosquito larvicidal and anti-snake venom.
CONCLUSION: Amongst various activities, bioscientific clarification in relation to its ethnopharmacological perspective has been evidenced mainly for anti-amebic, anthelminthic, anti-tumor and anti-diabetic activity. However, despite traditional claims, insufficient scientific validation for the treatment of insomnia, dementia, epilepsy, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, spleen disorder, puerperal fever and leprosy, necessitate future investigations in this direction. It is also essential and critical to generate toxicological data and pharmacokinetics on human subjects so as to confirm its conceivable bio-active components in the body.
Methods: A targeted GWAS was used to investigate whether ten candidate genes with known roles in corneal development were associated with CCT in two Singaporean populations. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within a 500 kb interval encompassing each candidate were analyzed, and in light of the resulting data, members of the Wnt pathway were subsequently screened using similar methodology.
Results: Variants within the 500 kb interval encompassing three candidate genes, DKK1 (rs1896368, p=1.32×10-3), DKK2 (rs17510449, p=7.34×10-4), and FOXO1 (rs7326616, p=1.56×10-4 and rs4943785, p=1.19×10-3), were statistically significantly associated with CCT in the Singapore Indian population. DKK2 was statistically significantly associated with CCT in a separate Singapore Malaysian population (rs10015200, p=2.26×10-3). Analysis of Wnt signaling pathway genes in each population demonstrated that TCF7L2 (rs3814573, p=1.18×10-3), RYK (rs6763231, p=1.12×10-3 and rs4854785, p=1.11×10-3), and FZD8 (rs640827, p=5.17×10-4) were statistically significantly associated with CCT.
Conclusions: The targeted GWAS identified four genes (DKK1, DKK2, RYK, and FZD8) with novel associations with CCT and confirmed known associations with two genes, FOXO1 and TCF7L2. All six participate in the Wnt pathway, supporting a broader role for Wnt signaling in regulating the thickness of the cornea. In parallel, this study demonstrated that a hypothesis-driven candidate gene approach can identify associations in existing GWAS data sets.
METHODS: This study included 1740 males (1146 Chinese, 327 Malays and 267 Asian Indians) and 1950 females (1329 Chinese, 360 Malays and 261 Asian Indians) with complete data on anthropometric indices, fasting lipids, smoking status, alcohol consumption, exercise frequency and genotype at the APOE locus.
RESULTS: Malays and Asian Indians were more obese compared with the Chinese. Smoking was uncommon in all females but Malay males had significantly higher prevalence of smokers. Malays had the highest LDL-C whilst Indians had the lowest HDL-C, The epsilon 3 allele was the most frequent allele in all three ethnic groups. Malays had the highest frequency of epsilon 4 (0.180 and 0.152) compared with Chinese (0.085 and 0.087) and Indians (0.108 and 0.075) in males and females, respectively. The epsilon 2 allele was the least common in Asian Indians. Total cholesterol (TC) and LDL-C was highest in epsilon 4 carriers and lowest in epsilon 2 carriers. The reverse was seen in HDL-C with the highest levels seen in epsilon 2 subjects. The association between ethnic group and HDL-C differed according to APOE genotype and gender. Asian Indians had the lowest HDL-C for each APOE genotype except in Asian Indian males with epsilon 2, where HDL-C concentrations were intermediate between Chinese and Malays.
CONCLUSION: Ethnic differences in lipid profile could be explained in part by the higher prevalence of epsilon 4 in the Malays. Ethnicity may influence the association between APOE genotypes and HDL-C. APOE genotype showed no correlation with HDL-C in Malay males whereas the association in Asian Indians was particularly marked. Further studies of interactions between genes and environmental factors will contribute to the understanding of differences of coronary risk amongst ethnic groups.
DESIGN: Retrospective observational analysis.
SETTING: 56 acute stroke hospitals in eight countries.
PARTICIPANTS: 1074 trial physiotherapists, nurses, and other clinicians.
OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of babies born during trial recruitment per trial participant recruited.
RESULTS: With 198 site recruitment years and 2104 patients recruited during AVERT, 120 babies were born to trial staff. Births led to an estimated 10% loss in time to achieve recruitment. Parental leave was linked to six trial site closures. The number of participants needed to recruit per baby born was 17.5 (95% confidence interval 14.7 to 21.0); additional trial costs associated with each birth were estimated at 5736 Australian dollars on average.
CONCLUSION: The staff absences registered in AVERT owing to parental leave led to delayed trial recruitment and increased costs, and should be considered by trial investigators when planning research and estimating budgets. However, the celebration of new life became a highlight of the annual AVERT collaborators' meetings and helped maintain a cohesive collaborative group.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry no 12606000185561.
DISCLAIMER: Participation in a rehabilitation trial does not guarantee successful reproductive activity.
METHODS: Standardised anthropometric measurements were compared against the self-reported values from 5,132 adult residents in a cross-sectional, epidemiological survey. Discrepancies in self-reports from measurements were examined by comparing overall mean differences. Intraclass correlations, Cohen's kappa and Bland-Altman plots with limits of agreement, and sub-analysis by sex and ethnicity were also explored.
RESULTS: Data were obtained from 5,132 respondents. The mean age of respondents was 43.9 years. Overall, the height was overestimated (0.2cm), while there was an underestimation of weight (0.8kg) and derived BMI (0.4kg/m2). Women had a larger discrepancy in height (0.35cm, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.22 to 0.49), weight (-0.95kg, 95% CI -1.11 to -0.79) and BMI (-0.49kg/m2, 95% CI -0.57 to -0.41) compared with men. Height reporting bias was highest among Indians (0.28cm, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.44) compared with Chinese and Malays, while weight (-1.32kg, 95% CI -1.53 to -1.11) and derived BMI (-0.57kg/m2, 95% CI -0.67 to -0.47) showed higher degrees of underreporting among Malays compared with Chinese and Indians. Substantially high self-reported versus measured values were obtained for intraclass correlations (0.96-0.99, P<0.001) and kappa (0.74). For BMI categories, good to excellent kappa agreement was observed (0.68-0.81, P<0.0001).
CONCLUSION: Self-reported anthropometric estimates can be used, particularly in large epidemiological studies. However, sufficient care is needed when evaluating data from Indians, Malays and women as there is likely an underestimation of obesity prevalence.
Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to adult Asian patients with dyslipidemia at two primary care clinics (polyclinics) in northeastern Singapore. The demographic and clinical data for this sub-population with both T2DM and dyslipidemia were collated with laboratory and treatment information retrieved from their electronic health records. The combined data was then analyzed to determine the proportion of patients who attained triple treatment goals, and logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with this outcome.
Results: 665 eligible patients [60.5% female, 30.5% Chinese, 35% Malays, and 34.4% Indians] with a mean age of 60.6 years were recruited. Of these patients, 71% achieved LDL-C ≤2.6 mmol/L, 70.4% had BP