METHODS: Aedes aegypti first-instar larvae were exposed to various doses of Pichia-TMOF, Bt and combination of Pichia-TMOF and Bt. The development of the larvae were observed and recorded daily during the bioassay larval test until the adult emergence.
RESULTS: The results showed that 400 ppm Pichia-TMOF and 300 ppm Pichia-TMOF were able to cause 100% and 67% cumulative mortality on Ae. aegypti larvae on 8(th) day respectively. At 200 ppm, 100 ppm and 50 ppm concentration Pichia-TMOF showed obvious stunted effect on Ae. aegypti larvae. Moreover, the combination of 400 ppm Pichia-TMOF with 0.1 ppm Bt showed synergistic effect on Ae. aegypti.
CONCLUSION: Pichia-TMOF inhibited trypsin biosynthesis is potential to act in larval gut causing stunted growth and larval development and causing mortality. The combination of Pichia-TMOF and Bt increased the effectiveness in causing larval mortality.
METHOD: This is a retrospective study where datasets from May 2011 to Apr 2020 were extracted to construct the fetal growth chart using the Lambda-Mu-Sigma method. SGA is defined as birth weight <10th centile. The local growth chart's diagnostic accuracy in detecting SGA at birth was evaluated using datasets from May 2020 to Apr 2021 and was compared with the WHO, Hadlock, and INTERGROWTH-21st charts. Balanced accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were reported.
RESULTS: A total of 68,897 scans were collected and five biometric growth charts were constructed. Our national growth chart achieved an accuracy of 69% and a sensitivity of 42% in identifying SGA at birth. The WHO chart showed similar diagnostic performance as our national growth chart, followed by the Hadlock (67% accuracy and 38% sensitivity) and INTERGROWTH-21st (57% accuracy and 19% sensitivity). The specificities for all charts were 95-96%. All growth charts showed higher accuracy in the third trimester, with an improvement of 8-16%, as compared to that in the second trimester.
CONCLUSION: Using the Hadlock and INTERGROWTH-21st chart in the Malaysian population may results in misdiagnose of SGA. Our population local chart has slightly higher accuracy in predicting preterm SGA in the second trimester which can enable earlier intervention for babies who are detected as SGA. All growth charts' diagnostic accuracies were poor in the second trimester, suggesting the need of improvising alternative techniques for early detection of SGA to improve fetus outcomes.
METHOD: A randomized controlled trial was conducted recruiting patients from Hospital Melaka, Malaysia. Postoperative TKA patients with good hearing and visual acuity, fully conscious and prescribed with patients controlled analgesia (PCA) were randomized to either intervention or control groups using a sealed envelope. Patients in the intervention group received usual care with additional music therapy during recovery, while patients in the control group received the usual care provided by the hospital. Two factors identified affecting mental well-being were the pain (measured using numerical rating scale) and anxiety (measured using a visual analog scale) at five different minutes' points (0, 10, 20, 30, and 60).
RESULTS: A total of 56 (control: 28, intervention: 28) postoperative TKA patients consented in the study. There was no difference in baseline characteristics between the two groups (p>0.05). Using Mann-Whitney U tests, patients in music therapy group showed significantly lower numerical pain score at 60min (p=0.045) whereas there was no significant difference between the two groups at all time points for anxiety scores (p>0.05). In the intervention group, Friedman tests showed that there was a significant difference in numerical pain (χ2=36.957, df=4, p<0.001) and anxiety score across times (χ2=18.545, p=0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: This study found that pain score decreases over time among patients in the music therapy group while no effect is seen for anxiety. It is suggested that music therapy could not affect postoperative TKA patients' mental well-being. Nonetheless, patients reported better pain score despite the small sample.