AIMS: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the serum levels of vitamin D in patients with SLE in compared to healthy controls.
METHODS: PubMed, SCOPUS, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar electronic databases were searched systematically without restricting the languages and year (up to March 2, 2019) and studies were selected based on the inclusion criteria. Mean difference (MD) along with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used and the analyses were carried out by using a random-effects model. Different subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted. Study quality was assessed by the modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and publication bias was evaluated by a contour-enhanced funnel plot, Begg's and Egger's tests.
RESULTS: We included 34 case-control studies (2265 SLE patients and 1846 healthy controls) based on the inclusion criteria. Serum levels of vitamin D was detected significantly lower in the SLE patients than that in the healthy controls (MD: -10.44, 95% CI: -13.85 to -7.03; p Asia (MD: -13.75, 95% CI: -21.45 to -6.05; p = .0005), South America (MD: -3.16, 95% CI: -4.62 to -1.70; p
Methods: We searched Google Scholar, PubMed, and Web of Science for reports, reviews and journal articles published in English between 1st Jan 1990 and 31st August 2016.
Results: Forty-one reports, reviews and journal papers were identified and included in the final review. The current drinking levels and prevalence among young people are markedly different between eight included Asian countries, ranging from 4.2% in Malaysia to 49.3% in China. In a majority of the selected Asian countries, over 15% of total deaths among young men and 6% among young women aged 15-29 years are attributable to alcohol use. Alcohol use among young people is associated with a number of harms, including stress, family violence, injuries, suicide, and sexual and other risky behaviours. Alcohol policies, such as controlling sales, social supply and marketing, setting up/raising a legal drinking age, adding health warning labels on alcohol containers, and developing a surveillance system to monitor drinking pattern and risky drinking behaviour, could be potential means to reduce harmful use of alcohol and related harm among young people in Asia.
Conclusions: The review reveals that drinking patterns and behaviours vary across eight selected Asian countries due to culture, policies and regional variations. The research evidence holds substantial policy implications for harm reduction on alcohol drinking among young people in Asian countries -- especially for China, which has almost no alcohol control policies at present.
METHODS: A multi-national cross-sectional survey was performed among SEANERN countries. A 1-5 Likert scale was used to measure eight components of knowledge, ability, and skill of PHC providers. Descriptive statistics were employed, and radar charts were used to depict the levels of the three dimensions (knowledge, skill and ability) and eight components.
RESULTS: Totally, 606 valid questionnaires from PHC providers were returned from seven countries of SEANERN (China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia), with a responsive rate of 97.6% (606/621). For the three dimensions the ranges of total mean scores were distributed as follows: knowledge dimension: 2.78~3.11; skill dimension: 2.66~3.16; ability dimension: 2.67~3.06. Furthermore, radar charts revealed that the transition of PHC provider's knowledge into skill and from skill into ability decreased gradually. Their competencies in four areas, including safe water and sanitation, nutritional promotion, endemic diseases prevention, and essential provision of drugs, were especially low.
CONCLUSIONS: The general capacity perceived by PHC providers themselves seems relatively low and imbalanced. To address the problem, SEANERN, through the collaboration of the members, can facilitate the appropriate education and training of PHC providers by developing feasible, practical and culturally appropriate training plans.
METHODS: A modified questionnaire was sent to the PV team heads of 21 PV agencies based in the APEC countries, between June 28 and September 12, 2017, to gather information on the structure, process, and outcome of PV status in these countries.
RESULTS: Of the 21 APEC countries, 15 responded. We found harmonized laws and regulations for general PV and risk management systems. However, variations were found in PV structure: for example, 11 out of 15 countries had national regulatory representatives responsible for PV in pharmaceutical companies, while four did not. For PV process, discrepancies were also found in the source type of adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports and reporting of medication errors and therapeutic ineffectiveness in cumulative ADR reports. With respect to PV outcomes, among countries that performed active surveillance, the United States of America was more active, with hundreds of projects including additional pharmacoepidemiological studies etc. Among the nine countries that responded, Japan had the greatest number of product label changes followed by Taiwan, Malaysia, and Korea.
CONCLUSION: We have identified substantial variations in the structures, processes, and outcomes of PV status among the countries of the APEC region. Therefore, efforts to reduce variations in the PV administration and regulation are warranted for harmonization of PV within the APEC region.
Study design: An observational cross-sectional study.
Methods: The participants were aged between 45 and 75 years who participated in a screening program at the Golden Horses Health Sanctuary in Klang Valley. Lipid profile and anthropometric measurements were collected from the subjects' medical records. Ultrasound machine and a structured self-administered questionnaire were used as instruments for recruiting data from the subjects. The subjects who consumed alcohol (>140 g/wk for men and >70 g/wk for females), had hepatitis B or C viruses, liver insults, and surgery, and taken lipid-lowering medications were excluded from the study.
Results: A total of 628 subjects were analyzed, and 235 (37.4%) subjects were diagnosed with definite NAFLD. They comprised 518 (82.5%) Chinese, 92 (14.6%) Malays, and 18 (2.9%) Indians. Peak prevalence of NAFLD was found in 53 to 60 years age group. The higher prevalence of NAFLD was among men (48.3%) than women (27.3%) and among Indians (61.1%) and Malays (51.1%) than among Chinese (34.2%). NAFLD has been found to be strongly correlated with male sex, high body mass index (≥23.0 kg/m2), hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension.
Conclusion: NAFLD is quite common among adults in Malaysian urban population. The prevalence of NAFLD was inordinately high among the 53 to 60 years age group, male sex, Indians, and Malays (as compared with Chinese). Age >60 years, male sex, high body mass index (≥23.0 kg/m2), hypertriglyceridemia, and diabetes mellitus were proven to be risk predictors for NAFLD.