MATERIALS AND RESULTS: Four bioformulations consisting of dry (pesta granules, talc powder and alginate beads) and liquid formulations were evaluated for their ability to control Foc-TR4, sustain microbial populations after application and maintain microbial stability during storage. All tested bioformulations reduced disease severity (DS) by more than 43·00% with pesta granules producing the highest reduction in DS by 66·67% and the lowest area under the disease progress curve value (468·75) in a glasshouse trial. Microbial populations of DRB1 and CBF2 were abundant in the rhizosphere, rhizoplane and within the roots of bananas after pesta granules application as compared to talc powder, alginate beads and liquid formulations 84 days after inoculation (DAI). The stability of both microbial populations after 180 days of storage at 4°C was the greatest in the pesta granule formulation.
CONCLUSION: The pesta granule formulation was a suitable carrier of biological control agents (BCA) without compromising biocontrol efficacy, microbial population and storage stability as compared to other bioformulations used in this study.
SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Pesta granules could be utilized to formulate BCA consortia into biofertilizers. This formulation could be further investigated for possible applications under agricultural field settings.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 2015 to 2017 using validated questionnaire. Sampling methods included multistage cluster sampling, followed by simple random sampling to obtain 315 respondents. Descriptive analysis was performed to determine the KAP while χ2 and the subsequent logistic regression analysis were carried out to identify associations and predictors between variables.
RESULTS: Respondents were mainly Malaysian Bumiputra with a mean (Standard Deviation (SD)) age of 32.5 (13.0) years. Of 315 respondents, 80.3% (n = 253) had poor knowledge, 87.0% (n = 274) had good attitude, and 81.3% (n = 256) showed unacceptable practice towards leptospirosis and its prevention. Regression analysis identified age as the sole predictor influencing good knowledge (AOR 2.388; 95% CI = 1.298, 4.396; p = 0.005). Education level (AOR 2.197; 95% CI = 1.109, 4.352; p = 0.024) was also noted as the significant predictor influencing the overall practice.
CONCLUSIONS: The urban community in Selangor showed a positive attitude in waste management despite having little knowledge regarding the disease itself. The study also discovered inadequacy in preventive practice, hence marking the importance of the proper integration of knowledge and attitude into forming an acceptable practice to reduce transmission of Leptospira among urban population in Malaysia.
METHODS: A prospective, double-blinded randomized controlled trial comparing the post-operative pain score between BSCPB and LWI was conducted among patients undergoing thyroid surgery. Ropivacaine 0.50% was used in the study. Pain score was measured at 4, 12, 16 and 24 h after surgery using the visual analog scale (VAS). Subcutaneous injection of Tramadol was given whenever the pain score was ≥4 or requested by patients.
RESULTS: A total of 70 patients were recruited, with 35 patients on each arm. There was no statistical difference in the post-operative pain score between the two groups at 4 h (p = 0.208), 12 h (p = 0.860), 16 h (p = 0.376) and 24 h (p = 0.375) after surgery. Time to the first rescue dose of Tramadol between the two arms was also insignificant (p = 0.949). One patient in the BSCPB arm developed transient left upper limb weakness, which resolved 12 h after surgery.
CONCLUSION: LWI remains the simplest, safest and most economical method of pain management. While BSCPB is comparable, it does however, come with potential regional block related complications.
METHODS: A prospective pre- and post-intervention study was conducted among medical inpatients in a Malaysian secondary care hospital. DVT and bleeding risks were stratified using validated Padua Risk Assessment Model (RAM) and International Medical Prevention Registry on Venous Thromboembolism (IMPROVE) Bleeding Risk Assessment Model. Pharmacist-driven DRAT was developed and implemented post-interventional phase. DVT prophylaxis use was determined and its appropriateness was compared between pre and post study using multivariate logistic regression with IBM SPSS software version 21.0.
RESULTS: Overall, 286 patients (n=142 pre-intervention versus n=144 post-intervention) were conveniently recruited. The prevalence of DVT prophylaxis use was 10.8%. Appropriate thromboprophylaxis prescribing increased from 64.8% to 68.1% post-DRAT implementation. Of note, among high DVT risk patients, DRAT intervention was observed to be a significant predictor of appropriate thromboprophylaxis use (14.3% versus 31.3%; adjusted odds ratio=2.80; 95% CI 1.01 to 7.80; p<0.05).
CONCLUSION: The appropriateness of DVT prophylaxis use was suboptimal but doubled after implementation of DRAT intervention. Thus, an integrated risk stratification checklist is an effective approach for the improvement of rational DVT prophylaxis use.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We pooled data from 17 observational studies involving 1,699 patients treated with either CSII or non-CSII (including premixed and MDI) regimen. The study outcomes were the frequencies of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia and/or ketosis. Given the lack of patient-level data, separate analyses for premixed and MDI regimen were not carried out.
RESULTS: The CSII-treated group (n = 203) was older (22.9 ± 6.9 vs 17.8 ± 4.0 years), and had longer diabetes duration (116.7 ± 66.5 vs 74.8 ± 59.2 months) and lower glycated hemoglobin (7.8 ± 1.1% vs 9.1 ± 2.0%) at baseline than the non-CSII-treated group (n = 1,496). The non-CSII-treated group had less non-severe hypoglycemia than the CSII-treated group (22%, 95% CI 13-34 vs 35%, 95% CI 17-55). Of the non-CSII-treated group, 7.1% (95% CI 5.8-8.5) developed severe hypoglycemia, but none from the CSII-treated group did. The non-CSII-treated group was more likely to develop hyperglycemia (12%, 95% CI 3-25 vs 8.8%, 95% CI 0-31) and ketosis (2.5%, 95% CI 1.0-4.6 vs 1.6%, 95% CI 0.1-4.7), and discontinue fasting (55%, 95% CI 34-76 vs 31%, 95% CI 9-60) than the CSII-treated group.
CONCLUSIONS: The CSII regimen had lower rates of severe hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia/ketosis, but a higher rate of non-severe hyperglycemia than premixed/MDI regimens. These suggest that appropriate patient selection with regular, supervised fine-tuning of the basal insulin rate with intensive glucose monitoring might mitigate the residual hypoglycemia risk during Ramadan.
METHODS: In a double blind, randomised crossover design, 12 well-trained male runners completed 4 running time to exhaustion (TTE) trials at a speed equivalent to 70% of VO2peak in a thermoneutral condition. Throughout each run, participants mouth rinsed and expectorated every 15 min either 25 mL of 6% CHO or a placebo (PLA) solution for 10 s. The four TTEs consisted of two trials in the euhydrated (EU-CHO and EU-PLA) and two trials in the dehydrated (DY-CHO and DY-PLA) state. Prior to each TTE run, participants were dehydrated via exercise and allowed a passive rest period during which they were fed and either rehydrated equivalent to their body mass deficit (i.e., EU trials) or ingested only 50 mL of water (DY trials).
RESULTS: CHO mouth rinsing significantly improved TTE performance in the DY compared to the EU trials (78.2 ± 4.3 vs. 76.9 ± 3.8 min, P = 0.02). The arousal level of the runners was significantly higher in the DY compared to the EU trials (P = 0.02). There was no significant difference among trials in heart rate, plasma glucose and lactate, and psychological measures.
CONCLUSIONS: CHO mouth rinsing enhanced running performance significantly more when participants were dehydrated vs. euhydrated due to the greater sensitivity of oral receptors related to thirst and central mediated activation. These results show that level of dehydration alters the effect of brain perception with presence of CHO.
METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey assessing female undergraduate students' intention to obtain the HPV vaccine and their acceptability of 2-, 4- and 9-valent HPV vaccines (2vHPV, 4vHPV, and 9vHPV, respectively).
RESULTS: Of a total of 997 complete responses, 55.2% reported intent to obtain the HPV vaccine. Some of the significant factors exerting influence on intent to obtain HPV vaccination were high knowledge score (OR = 1.469, 95% CI:1.087-1.987), perceived high risk of HPV infection (OR = 1.466, 95%CI:1.017-2.114), perception of no serious side effects (OR = 1.562, 95%CI:1.150-2.121), and mass media exposure to HPV vaccination information (OR = 2.196, 95%CI: 1.625-2.966). Socioeconomic status indicators did not significantly influence intent to obtain the HPV vaccine. A higher proportion of respondents were willing to pay for 2vHPV (78.6%) and 4vHPV (68.0%) compared with 9vHPV (49.3%). Socioeconomic status indicators were the strongest correlates of acceptability for all the three vaccines. Exposure to mass media reporting about HPV vaccination is the factor which exerts the most influence on acceptance of 9vHPV after socioeconomic status indicators.
CONCLUSIONS: It is important to improve knowledge and health beliefs, and to establish a mass media marketing strategy to promote HPV vaccination in order to enhance HPV vaccine uptake. Undergraduate female students should be provided with detailed information about the different valency vaccine choices to help them make informed decisions about immunization.