MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty primary school children were included. They were divided into caries and caries-free groups. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected from each participant using spitting method. The salivary elements were measured using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Descriptive statistics, bivariate and Pearson's correlation analysis were performed.
RESULTS: Salivary Cu and Zn levels were significantly higher in children with dental caries compared to those caries-free (p < 0.05). Moreover, these elements had a positive correlation with dental caries (Cu: r=0.698, p<0.001; Zn: r=0.181, p<0.05). No significant variations in Mn and Fe were observed between caries and caries-free group (p>0.05). Additionally, there were significant differences in salivary Zn and Fe among different age groups (p<0.05) and highly significant differences in salivary Cu, Mn and Fe among different ethnic groups (p<0.001). However, all elements exhibited no significant differences between males and females.
CONCLUSION: The salivary Cu and Zn levels showed significant differences between caries and caries-free groups. The findings also revealed significant variations in the levels of salivary Cu, Mn and Fe among different ethnic groups and salivary Zn and Fe among different age groups.
METHODS: Our aim was to determine normative EGJ metrics in a large international cohort of healthy volunteers undergoing HRM (Medtronic, Laborie, and Diversatek software) acquired from 16 countries in four world regions. EGJ-CI was calculated by the same two investigators using a distal contractile integral-like measurement across the EGJ for three respiratory cycles and corrected for respiration (mm Hg cm), using manufacturer-specific software tools. EGJ morphology was designated according to Chicago Classification v3.0. Median EGJ-CI values were calculated across age, genders, HRM systems, and regions.
RESULTS: Of 484 studies (28.0 years, 56.2% F, 60.7% Medtronic studies, 26.0% Laborie, and 13.2% Diversatek), EGJ morphology was type 1 in 97.1%. Median EGJ-CI was similar between Medtronic (37.0 mm Hg cm, IQR 23.6-53.7 mm Hg cm) and Diversatek (34.9 mm Hg cm, IQR 22.1-56.1 mm Hg cm, P = 0.87), but was significantly higher using Laborie equipment (56.5 mm Hg cm, IQR 35.0-75.3 mm Hg cm, P
DESIGN: Population-based, cross-sectional study. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the cut-off values of BMI with optimum sensitivity and specificity for the detection of three cardiovascular risk factors: diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia. Gender-specific logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between BMI and these cardiovascular risk factors.
SETTING: All fourteen states in Malaysia.
SUBJECTS: Malaysian adults aged ≥18 years (n 32 703) who participated in the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey in 2006.
RESULTS: The optimal BMI cut-off value for predicting the presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia or at least one of these cardiovascular risk factors varied from 23.3 to 24.1 kg/m2 for men and from 24.0 to 25.4 kg/m2 for women. In men and women, the odds ratio for having diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia or at least one cardiovascular risk factor increased significantly as BMI cut-off point increased.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that BMI cut-offs of 23.0 kg/m2 in men and 24.0 kg/m2 in women are appropriate for classification of overweight. We suggest that these cut-offs can be used by health professionals to identify individuals for cardiovascular risk screening and weight management programmes.
METHODS: Individual participant data from 14 cohorts, involving 59,025 individuals were used in this cross-sectional analysis. We made 15 clusters of four risk factors (current smoking, overweight, elevated blood pressure, elevated total cholesterol). Multilevel age and sex adjusted linear regression models were applied to estimate mean differences in common carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) between clusters using those without any of the four risk factors as reference group.
RESULTS: Compared to the reference, those with 1, 2, 3 or 4 risk factors had a significantly higher common CIMT: mean difference of 0.026 mm, 0.052 mm, 0.074 mm and 0.114 mm, respectively. These findings were the same in men and in women, and across ethnic groups. Within each risk factor cluster (1, 2, 3 risk factors), groups with elevated blood pressure had the largest CIMT and those with elevated cholesterol the lowest CIMT, a pattern similar for men and women.
CONCLUSION: Clusters of risk factors relate to increased common CIMT in a graded manner, similar in men, women and across race-ethnic groups. Some clusters seemed more atherogenic than others. Our findings support the notion that cardiovascular prevention should focus on sets of risk factors rather than individual levels alone, but may prioritize within clusters.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cases of road accident deaths in motorcyclists received by UKM Medical Centre were studied over a period of 10 years, that is, between 2010 and 2019. This study was based on forensic autopsy records database and forensic autopsy.
RESULTS: The most affected age group by road fatalities were young men. The most common injuries were intracranial hemorrhage (74%), thoracic hemorrhage (73%), and lung laceration (85.7%). About 39 (31%) fatally injured riders were positive for illicit drug and/or alcohol.
CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that men in the third decade of life are the major victims of motorcycle fatalities. Hence, urgent measures are necessary to establish road safety policy to reduce such fatalities.
OBJECTIVE: To estimate mortality due to firearm injury deaths from 1990 to 2016 in 195 countries and territories.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This study used deidentified aggregated data including 13 812 location-years of vital registration data to generate estimates of levels and rates of death by age-sex-year-location. The proportion of suicides in which a firearm was the lethal means was combined with an estimate of per capita gun ownership in a revised proxy measure used to evaluate the relationship between availability or access to firearms and firearm injury deaths.
EXPOSURES: Firearm ownership and access.
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Cause-specific deaths by age, sex, location, and year.
RESULTS: Worldwide, it was estimated that 251 000 (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 195 000-276 000) people died from firearm injuries in 2016, with 6 countries (Brazil, United States, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guatemala) accounting for 50.5% (95% UI, 42.2%-54.8%) of those deaths. In 1990, there were an estimated 209 000 (95% UI, 172 000 to 235 000) deaths from firearm injuries. Globally, the majority of firearm injury deaths in 2016 were homicides (64.0% [95% UI, 54.2%-68.0%]; absolute value, 161 000 deaths [95% UI, 107 000-182 000]); additionally, 27% were firearm suicide deaths (67 500 [95% UI, 55 400-84 100]) and 9% were unintentional firearm deaths (23 000 [95% UI, 18 200-24 800]). From 1990 to 2016, there was no significant decrease in the estimated global age-standardized firearm homicide rate (-0.2% [95% UI, -0.8% to 0.2%]). Firearm suicide rates decreased globally at an annualized rate of 1.6% (95% UI, 1.1-2.0), but in 124 of 195 countries and territories included in this study, these levels were either constant or significant increases were estimated. There was an annualized decrease of 0.9% (95% UI, 0.5%-1.3%) in the global rate of age-standardized firearm deaths from 1990 to 2016. Aggregate firearm injury deaths in 2016 were highest among persons aged 20 to 24 years (for men, an estimated 34 700 deaths [95% UI, 24 900-39 700] and for women, an estimated 3580 deaths [95% UI, 2810-4210]). Estimates of the number of firearms by country were associated with higher rates of firearm suicide (P
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: All suspected ADEs associated with tocilizumab between April to August 2020 were analyzed based on COVID-19 patients' demographic and clinical variables, and severity of involvement of organ system.
RESULTS: A total of 1005 ADEs were reported among 513 recipients. The majority of the ADEs (46.26%) were reported from 18-64 years, were males and reported spontaneously. Around 80%, 20%, and 64% were serious, fatal, and administered intravenously, respectively. 'Injury, Poisoning, and Procedural Complications' remain as highest (35%) among categorized ADEs. Neutropenia, hypofibrinogenemia were common hematological ADEs. The above 64 years was found to have significantly lower odds than of below 45 years. In comparison, those in the European Region have substantially higher odds compared to the Region of Americas.
CONCLUSION: Neutropenia, superinfections, reactivation of latent infections, hepatitis, and cardiac abnormalities were common ADEs observed that necessitate proper monitoring and reporting.
METHODS: Data were derived from a cross-sectional study of 1082 adolescents in 22 welfare institutions located across Peninsular Malaysia in 2009. Using supervised self-administered questionnaires, adolescents were asked to assess their self-esteem and to complete questions on pubertal onset, substance use, family structure, family connectedness, parental monitoring, and peer pressure. SRB was measured through scoring of five items: sexual initiation, age of sexual debut, number of sexual partners, condom use, and sex with high-risk partners. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the various predictors of sexual risk behaviour.
RESULTS: The study showed that 55.1% (95%CI = 52.0-58.2) of the total sample was observed to practice sexual risk behaviours. Smoking was the strongest predictor of SRB among male adolescents (OR = 10.3, 95%CI = 1.25-83.9). Among females, high family connectedness (OR = 3.13, 95%CI = 1.64-5.95) seemed to predict the behaviour.
CONCLUSION: There were clear gender differences in predicting SRB. Thus, a gender-specific sexual and reproductive health intervention for institutionalised adolescents is recommended.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out at three selected public schools in the state of Selangor. A total of 379 Malaysian adolescents completed the PedsQL 4.0 adolescent self-report and 218 (55.9%) parents completed the PedsQL 4.0 parent proxy-report. Weight and height of adolescents were measured and BMI-for-age by sex was used to determine their body weight status.
RESULTS: There were 50.8% male and 49.2% female adolescents who participated in this study (14.25 ± 1.23 years). The prevalence of overweight and obesity (25.8%) was four times higher than the prevalence of severe thinness and thinness (6.1%). Construct validity was analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Based on CFA, adolescent self-report and parent proxy-report met the criteria of convergent validity (factor loading > 0.5, Average Variance Extracted (AVE) > 0.5, Construct Reliability > 0.7) and showed good fit to the data. The adolescent self-report and parent proxy-report exhibited discriminant validity as the AVE values were larger than the R(2) values. Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the adolescent self-report (α = 0.862) and parent proxy-report (α = 0.922) showed these instruments are reliable. Parents perceived the HRQoL of adolescents was poorer compared to the perception of the adolescent themselves (t = 5.92, p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in total HRQoL score between male and female adolescents (t = 0.858, p > 0.05). Parent proxy-report was negatively associated with the adolescents' BMI-for-age (r = -0.152, p < 0.05) whereas no significant association was found between adolescent self-report and BMI-for-age (r = 0.001, p > 0.05).
CONCLUSION: Adolescent self-report and parent proxy-report of the PedsQL 4.0 are valid and reliable to assess HRQoL of Malaysian adolescents. Future studies are recommended to use both adolescent self-report and parent-proxy report of HRQoL as adolescents and parents can provide different perspectives on HRQoL of adolescents.