A retrospective case series review was conducted to determine the pre-operative role and safety of pre-operative adjunctive anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti- VEGF) agent ranibizumab “LUCENTISTM” in patients with diabetic retinopathy requiring vitrectomy. The study involved twenty consecutive eyes of sixteen patients (age range: 46-72 years; mean 57.5 years) which received intravitreal injection of 0.5 - 1 mg of ranibizumab 3 to 8 days (mean 4.4 days) prior to vitrectomy for diabetic retinopathy. There were no local or systemic post-injection complications. Indications for vitrectomy were retinal detachment (RD) [n=11; 3 combined tractional (TRD) - rhegmatogenous RD (RRD), 8 TRD], TRD with vitreous haemorrhage (VH) (n=3) ,VH (n=8) and vitreomacular traction syndrome (n=1). Inclusion criteria include all consecutive eyes of diabetic patients requiring vitrectomy receiving a first pre-operative injection of anti- VEGF. Pre-operative visual acuity (VA) ranged from 6/36 to light perception. All eyes had minimal to moderate intraoperative bleeding. Post-operative VH in eyes without tamponade or gas tamponade was nil (n=1), mild (n=13) or moderate (n=1). Silicone filled eyes had nil (n=1), moderate (n=3) or severe haemorrhages (n=1). Post-operative VA was unchanged (n=2) (10%), improved (n = 14) (70%) or worsened (n=4). VA was 2/60 or better (n=15) to no light perception (n=1). Two eyes achieved 6/12 or better vision (10%). Ten eyes (50%) had 6/36 or better vision. In conclusion, pre-operative intravitreal ranibizumab is safe and useful in diabetic vitrectomy and appears to help with perioperative bleeding leading to improvement in vision.
The aim of this study is to determine the optimization of enzymatic protein hydrolysis conditions on the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory (ACEI) activity of blood cockle meat. Preliminary study was carried out to evaluate the effect of different commercial proteinases (Alcalase®, Protamex™, Neutrase®, pepsin, papain, trypsin and α-chymotrypsin) and hydrolysis time on the ACEI activity of cockle’s meat. The proteinase with the highest ACEI activity will be used in the optimization study using Response Surface Methodology. A face-centered central composite design was employed to investigate the effect of hydrolysis conditions parameters (i.e hydrolysis time, pH, hydrolysis temperature and enzyme to substrate (E/S) ratio) towards ACEI activity of cockle’s meat. Preliminary study found that the highest ACEI activity was given by Protamex™ at 6 hrs. Therefore, optimization study was carried out using Protamex™ at 4-8 hrs hydrolysis times with temperature of 35-60oC, pH of 5.5- 7.5 and E/S of 0.5-1.5%. All variables were successfully fitted with the quadratic model (p < 0.0001) with a non-significant lack-of-fit (p = 0.3665), and also possess good coefficient of determination (p = 0.8666) and adjusted R-square (p = 0.8158). The optimum hydrolysis conditions were found to be at temperature of 59.8o C, time of 4.69 hrs, pH of 5.59 and E/S ratio of 0.9%. ACEI activity of the experimental value (97.8%) agreed with the predicted value (99.2%) within 95% confidence interval.
Most poultry farms in Malaysia preferred rearing chickens either for eggs or/and meat than turkeys. This is due to several challenges such as parasitic load and heat stress in rearing turkey. Blastocystis is one of the most common protozoan parasites infecting poultry. As no study was conducted on Blastocystis infection in turkey in Malaysia, this study aims to determine the current status, the morphological characteristics and subtyping of Blastocystis from turkey reared either in closed house or free-range system in Penang, Malaysia. It was found that the prevalence of Blastocystis sp. infection in turkeys were moderately high with 41.6% (25/60) in the closed house and 45.0% (45/100) in free-range system as infection was higher in the female turkeys with no gastrointestinal signs and symptoms. Vacuolar form was the most common form found in the in vitro culture ranged between 5 to 20 μm in diameter with a rough surface coat and undulating cell surface viewed under the scanning electron microscope. Meanwhile, the ultrastructure of the cells from turkey isolates were varies with partially expanded electron-opaque vacuoles to electron-dense in fully distended vacuoles. Interestingly, sequence analysis for 30 positive Blastocystis isolates from turkeys revealed one subtypes with three alleles namely, ST7 allele 99 (73.4%, n=22), ST7 allele 100 (23.3%, n=7) and ST7 allele 101 (3.3%, n=1). Findings from this study added to our understanding on Blastocystis infection in turkey production.