METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed involving SLE patients (n = 120 patients) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). Serum and urinary IL-17A levels were determined by immunoassay while disease activity was assessed using Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index-2000 (SLEDAI-2K) and British Isles Lupus Assessment Group's 2004 index (BILAG 2004) scores. The correlations between serum and urinary IL-17A levels with total SLEDAI-2K and BILAG 2004 scores were determined using bivariate correlation analyses. Receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated to determine their sensitivity and specificity as disease activity biomarkers.
RESULTS: Both serum and urinary IL-17A levels correlated with total scores of BILAG 2004, BILAG renal, BILAG mucocutaneous, and SLEDAI-2K (P
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was an age-matched case-control study of US occurrence after PK-TURP. Retrospective data were collected from the hospital records of patients who had a minimum of 36 months of follow-up information. Among the data collected for analysis were prostate-specific antigen level, estimated prostate weight, the amount of prostate resected, operative time, history of urinary tract infection, previous transurethral resection of the prostate, and whether the PK-TURP was combined with other endourological procedures. The resection rate was calculated from the collected data. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify clinical and surgical risk factors related to US formation.
RESULTS: A total of 373 patients underwent PK-TURP between 2003 and 2009. There were 13 cases of US (3.5%), and most of them (10 of 13, 76.9%) presented within 24 months of surgery. Most of the US cases (11 of 13, 84.6%) occurred at the bulbar urethra. Multivariable logistic regression analyses identified slow resection rate as the only risk factor significantly associated with US occurrence.
CONCLUSIONS: The US rate of 3.5% after PK-TURP in this study is comparable to contemporary series. A slow resection rate seems to be related to US occurrence. This should be confirmed by further studies; meanwhile, we must be mindful of this possibility when operating with the PK-TURP system.
METHODS: Prospective observational study involving primary FSGS patients was conducted. Biochemical and urine tests at the time of study were compared to the time of the diagnosis and disease progression analyzed. ACE gene polymorphism was identified using polymerase chain reaction amplification technique and categorized into II, ID and DD genotypes.
RESULTS: Forty-five patients with a median follow-up of 3.8 years (interquartile range: 1.8 - 5.6) were recruited. The commonest genotype was II (n = 23, 51.1%) followed by ID (n = 19, 42.2%) and DD (n = 3, 6.7%). The baseline characteristics were comparable between the II and non-II groups at diagnosis and at study recruitment except that the median urine protein-creatinine index was significantly lower in the II group compared to the non-II group (0.02 vs. 0.04 g/mmol (P = 0.03). Regardless of genotypes, all parameters of renal outcome improved after treatment.
CONCLUSION: The II followed by ID genotypes were the predominant ACE gene alleles in our FSGS. Although the D allele has been reported to have a negative impact on renal outcome, treatment appeared to be more important than genotype in preserving renal function in this cohort.
METHODS: This retrospective cohort study involved laboratory-confirmed drug-resistant TB patients from January 2009 to June 2013. Multiple logistic regression was used to model the outcome, which was subsequently defined according to the recent definition by the WHO. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows version 22.0.
RESULTS: Among the 403 patients who were analysed, 66.7% of them were found to have achieved successful outcomes (cured or completed treatment) while the remaining 33.3% had unsuccessful treatment outcomes (defaulted, treatment failure or died). Multivariable analysis showed that the type of resistance [polyresistant (aOR = 3.00, 95% CI 1.14-7.91), multidrug resistant (MDR) (aOR = 5.37, 95% CI 2.65-10.88)], ethnicity [Malay (aOR = 2.86, 95% CI 1.44-5.71), Indian (aOR = 3.04, 95% CI 1.20-7.70)], and treatment non-compliance (aOR = 26.93, 95% CI 14.47-50.10) were the independent risk factors for unsuccessful treatment outcomes among this group of patients. Notably, the odds of unsuccessful treatment outcome was also amplified among Malay MDR-TB patients in this study (aOR = 13.44, 95% CI 1.99-90.58).
CONCLUSION: In order to achieve better treatment outcomes for TB, effective behavioural intervention and thorough investigation on ethnic disparities in TB treatment are needed to promote good compliance.
Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study used data collected during 2018-2020 from 1204 older adults aged 60 and older selected from Selangor state, Malaysia. A comprehensive face-to-face interview based on the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES-BM) questionnaire was administered to gain information on unmet healthcare needs, socioeconomic factors, health-related factors, and measures of function (activities of daily living, depression, visual impairment, hearing impairment, memory impairment, and walking impairment). Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with their unmet healthcare needs.
Results: Overall, the percentage of older people respondents with unmet healthcare needs is 6.6%. The most reported reasons for forgoing or delaying healthcare were lack of knowledge about healthcare and financial barriers to care. The inability to travel alone (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.51), being overweight (aOR 1.88), and having self-reported depression (aOR 2.23) were each associated with a higher likelihood of having unmet healthcare needs in their daily life.
Conclusion: The prevalence of unmet healthcare needs among older people in this part of Malaysia is lower than that reported in some other countries. However, it is possible to further reduce unmet healthcare needs by improving people's knowledge and attitudes about appropriate healthcare utilization, strengthening financial protection measures and providing support to people at high risk of having unmet healthcare needs.
METHODS: This study consisted of 3 steps; the formulation of ASMaQ draft, content validation and construct validity. A total of 110 questions were drafted with 5-point Likert scale answers. From the list, 31 were selected and subsequently tested on 158 participants. The results were analysed and validated using exploratory factor analysis on SPSS. Components were extracted and questions with low factor loading were removed. The internal consistency was then measured with Cronbach's alpha.
RESULTS: Following analysis, 3 components were extracted and named as general stroke knowledge, hyperacute stroke care and advanced stroke management. Two items were deleted leaving 29 out of 31 questions for the final validated ASMaQ. Internal consistency showed high reliability with Cronbach's alpha of 0.82. Our respondents scored a total cumulative mean of 113.62 marks or 66.6%. A sub analysis by occupation showed that medical assistants scored the lowest in the group with a score of 57% whilst specialists including neurologists scored the highest at 79.4%.
CONCLUSION: The ASMaQ is a newly developed and validated questionnaire consisting of 29 questions testing the respondents' acute stroke management knowledge.