Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) infectionsare well recognized and prevalent sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The role ofMycoplasma spp andUreaplasma spp arestill controversial as some are commensals of genitourinary tract. OBJECTIVES:To estimate the prevalence rate of 7 organisms: Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoea, Mycoplasma genitalium, Trichomonas vaginalis, Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU)and Ureaplasma parvum (UP)in infertile married couples during infertility evaluation. MATERIALS & METHODS:A total of 274 samples from all of the 137 couples who attended the reproductive center from June to December 2014 were collected. Detection of the organisms was performed using multiplex polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: STI-associatedorganisms were detected in 35.4% (97/274) of subjects. The prevalence rates of CT, MG, TV, UU, MHwere 7.3%,1.1%, 0.4%,5.4% and 5.1% respectively. Twenty-one (7.7%) subjects were positive for more than one organism. 24/274 (8.8%) of subjects had history of urogenital tract-related symptoms and 50% (12/24) were tested positive to one or more organisms. The presence of symptoms in both male and female subjects were found to be 10% (2/20) in CT infection, 10% (7/67) in UP, 14% (2/14) in MH and 13% (2/15) in UU infections. CONCLUSION: Sexually transmitted organisms were detected in one third of subjects planning for fertility evaluation. The absence of symptom in most subjects particularly in CT infection emphasizes the need for microbiological screening during infertility evaluation. The presence of genital ureaplasmas and mycoplasmas in infertile couples should not be neglected. There is a growing need to clarify whether their roles are simply colonizers or pathogens implicated in infertility.
The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of HI V iryfection, risk factors and to measure the knowledge on AIDS among fishermen in Terengganu. In this survey fishermen registered with the Malaysian Fishery Development Board in Terengganu were studied. There were 600 eligible fishermen based on a list provided by the Malaysian Fishery Development Board (MFDB). Study sites were at 6 loading centres where health personnel awaited returning fishermen between 4. 00pm —7. 00 pm during a period of one month, A total of 542 registeredfshermen were studied and this corresponded to a response rate of 90.3 %. The majority of the fishermen were Malays (98.6%}, Nine fishermen were tested positive to HIV antibody and this corresponds to a
g prevalence of I. 7%. Prevalence of HIV is higher among those with a positive history of drug use, single marital status and also among the unskilled workers who represented the socio-economically poorer group of fishermen. Almost 89% of respondents have heard about HIV/AIDS and among these, 93% received information through TV and radio. The mean knowledge score was significantly higher among fishermen admitting to drug taking, sex with prostitutes, and those who have had at least a secondary school education. The Prevalence of HIV infection among fishermen is higher than in the general population. Risk characterisation of HI V injection was statistically signyicant onlv among fishermen who gave positive history of drug used. Findings also suggest that poorer fishermen based on multiple indicators to socioeconomic status had a higher risk of being HIV positive as well as being less knowledgeable about AIDS, Health promotion strategies should focus on the use of TV and radio as an interactive medium to reach out to risk groups among fishermen as its popularity has been determined by this study.
Carbon nanospheres derived from a natural source using a green approach were reported. Lablab purpureus seeds were pyrolyzed at different temperatures to produce carbon nanospheres for supercapacitor electrode materials. The synthesized carbon nanospheres were analyzed using SEM, TEM, FTIR, TGA, Raman spectroscopy, BET and XRD. They were later fabricated into electrodes for cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy testing. The specific capacitances were found to be 300, 265 and 175 F g-1in 5 M KOH electrolyte for carbon nanospheres synthesized at 800, 700 and 500 °C, respectively. These are on a par with those of prior electrodes made of biologically derived carbon nanospheres but the cycle lives were remarkably higher than those of any previous efforts. The electrodes showed 94% capacitance retention even after 5200 charge/discharge cycles entailing excellent recycling durability. In addition, the practical symmetrical supercapacitor showed good electrochemical behaviour under a potential window up to 1.7 V. This brings us one step closer to fabricating a commercial green electrode which exhibits high performance for supercapacitors. This is also a waste to wealth approach based carbon material for cost effective supercapacitors with high performance for power storage devices.
Orang Asli, the indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia comprises only 0.5% of total Malaysia population but contribute to 0.06% of total notified HIV cases in the country. Their current knowledge, attitude and practice related to HIV was not known. A cross-sectional study on knowledge, attitude and practice among Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia was carried out involving 2706 Orang Asli from 33 remote and 47 fringe villages. Generally, the level of knowledge was fair (30%-50%) with mean scores of 55.7% (SD 31.7) while attitudes were negative. There was gender bias towards misconception on HIV transmission and sources of information. HIV seroprevalence of 0.3% was detected while risk behaviors were low. This study provides baseline information for HIV/AIDS preventive programs to the Orang Asli communities.
A cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and HIV-associated risk behavior was conducted in February 1998 among 6,324 drug users in 26 drug rehabilitation centres in Malaysia. The majority of respondents were males (97.3%) and Malays (77.8%), administered drugs intravenously (64.6%) and of these 65.4% shared needles. About 78.1% had sexual exposure, of which 55.1% had sex with girl friends, 31.3% with prostitutes and 4.6% with male partners. The HIV prevalence rate in the group was 12.1% and significantly high among injecting drug users (IDU); those sharing needles; those who started addiction at a young age (10-15 years); those who had sexual exposures and had sex with prostitutes.
Acute necrotising encephalopathy of childhood (ANEC) is an uncommon disease with characteristic clinical and imaging findings. We present two cases of ANEC secondary to Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and mycoplasma infections. An eight-month-old boy presented with features of gastroenteritis but soon developed multiple episodes of seizures. Blood and CSF cultures were negative but nasopharyngeal aspirate immunofluorescence was positive for RSV. A nine-year-old girl presented with abnormal behaviour following two days of prodromal symptoms. Her serological markers implicated mycoplasma (IgM titre 1: 640). CT brain of both patients showed bilateral symmetrical thalamic hypodensities, while MRI revealed more extensive white matter involvements.
The East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia faces the South China Sea and is vulnerable to oil pollution because of intense petroleum production activities in the area. The South China Sea is also a favored route for supertankers carrying crude oil to the Far East. Consequently, oil spills can occur, causing pollution and contamination in the surrounding areas. Residual oil spills stranded on coastal beaches usually end up as tar-balls. Elucidating the sources of tar-balls using a molecular marker approach is essential in assessing environmental impacts and perhaps settling legal liabilities for affected parties. This study utilizes a multimodal molecular marker approach through the use of diagnostic ratios of alkanes, hopanes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to determine the source, distribution and weathering of tar-balls. Hopane ratios (e.g., C29/C30, and summation C31-C35/C30 ratios) were used to identify the sources of tar-balls. The weathering effects were distinguished by using alkanes, namely the unresolved complex mixture (UCM) and low molecular weight/high molecular weight (L/H) ratios. Similarly, PAHs were also used for the determination of weathering processes undergone by the tar-balls. This multimodal molecular marker gave a very strong indication of the sources of tar-balls in this study. For example, 16 out of 17 samples originated from South East Asian Crude Oil (SEACO) with one sample from Merang, Terengganu originating from North Sea Oil (Troll). The TRME-2 sample may have come from a supertanker's ballast water discharge. The second possibility is that the tar-ball may have been transported via oceanographic currents. All 'weathered' sample characterizations were based on the presence of UCM and other ratios. The multimodal molecular marker approach applied in this study has enabled us to partially understand the transport behavior of tar-balls in the marine environment and has revealed insights into the weathering process of tar-balls.
HIV/AIDS is a global issue and the fourth biggest killer worldwide. Report from Ministry Of Health Malaysia showed factory workers are among the social group that are mostly infected (10.4%). A cross~sectional study was carried out to determine the socio-demographic factor and its relationship with knowledge, attitude and HIV-related risk behavior among factory workers in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and MaIacca. This study involved 3300 factory workers selected randomly and were given self-guided questionnaire. With response rate about 95.4% (3148), the level of knowledge was high (97.3%) and the attitude was positive (81 %). However there was still an amount of fear towards HIV/AlDS patient. Logistic regression showed significant difference (p<0.05) between level of knowledge and ethnic group, income and level of education and between attitude and income and level of knowledge. About 27.7% of respondents smoked cigarette. 4.2% involved with drugs of which 0.7% administered intravenously, 2.3% were homosexuals, 2.5% were bisexuals and 3.1% were hererosexuals. HIV/AIDS prevention and control intervention should take into consideration the local socio-cultural factors and commitment from the top level management in the factory·
Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a major cause of blindness worldwide, is a complex disease with a significant genetic contribution. We performed Exome Array (Illumina) analysis on 3504 POAG cases and 9746 controls with replication of the most significant findings in 9173 POAG cases and 26 780 controls across 18 collections of Asian, African and European descent. Apart from confirming strong evidence of association at CDKN2B-AS1 (rs2157719 [G], odds ratio [OR] = 0.71, P = 2.81 × 10(-33)), we observed one SNP showing significant association to POAG (CDC7-TGFBR3 rs1192415, ORG-allele = 1.13, Pmeta = 1.60 × 10(-8)). This particular SNP has previously been shown to be strongly associated with optic disc area and vertical cup-to-disc ratio, which are regarded as glaucoma-related quantitative traits. Our study now extends this by directly implicating it in POAG disease pathogenesis.
Primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) is a major cause of blindness worldwide. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) followed by replication in a combined total of 10,503 PACG cases and 29,567 controls drawn from 24 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. We observed significant evidence of disease association at five new genetic loci upon meta-analysis of all patient collections. These loci are at EPDR1 rs3816415 (odds ratio (OR) = 1.24, P = 5.94 × 10(-15)), CHAT rs1258267 (OR = 1.22, P = 2.85 × 10(-16)), GLIS3 rs736893 (OR = 1.18, P = 1.43 × 10(-14)), FERMT2 rs7494379 (OR = 1.14, P = 3.43 × 10(-11)), and DPM2-FAM102A rs3739821 (OR = 1.15, P = 8.32 × 10(-12)). We also confirmed significant association at three previously described loci (P < 5 × 10(-8) for each sentinel SNP at PLEKHA7, COL11A1, and PCMTD1-ST18), providing new insights into the biology of PACG.