Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 203 in total

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  1. Sidhu S, Badaruddoza, Kaur A
    Med J Malaysia, 2004 Jun;59(2):233-41.
    PMID: 15559175
    Blood pressure readings were collected from 1042 adult females of rural and urban Jat Sikh community of Punjab, a north Indian State. Anthropometric measurements like height, weight and skinfold thickness were also collected. The difference between rural and urban females in systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure was found to be statistically significant. All anthropometric variables and age have a significant positive association with blood pressure. The effects of anthropometric variables on blood pressure were assessed simultaneously through stepwise multiple regression analysis. All 'F' ratios have been found highly significant (p < 0.001) among both rural and urban female population.
  2. Kuek CY, Gurmukh Singh SKA, Tay PS
    Asian Bioeth Rev, 2021 Jun;13(2):167-178.
    PMID: 33968213 DOI: 10.1007/s41649-021-00166-2
    The conception of saviour siblings using preimplantation genetic diagnosis coupled with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing or HLA typing alone is controversial and receives a wide divergence of legal responses among countries around the world. The resulting child conceived through this procedure is dubbed a 'saviour sibling' as the child can potentially act as a compatible donor for an elder ailing sibling who needs a haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. At present, the acceptability of this procedure in Malaysia is ambiguous as there is no specific statute governing assisted reproductive technology, and the guideline issued by the Malaysian Medical Council does not expressly address this issue. The ethical arguments relating to the conception of saviour siblings in the current literature are mainly thought to reflect a liberal viewpoint which is predominantly Western in nature. This paper seeks to explore the perception of selected key stakeholders on the acceptability of and ethical concerns related to this procedure in the Malaysian context. The findings indicate that stakeholders generally support the conception of saviour siblings and some of their concerns echo the Western viewpoint. Interestingly, many were highly anxious about its economic implication, which is rarely discussed in the current literature on saviour siblings.
  3. Alavi M, Mehrinezhad SA, Amini M, Parthaman Singh MKA
    Health Psychol Open, 2017 Dec 17;4(2):2055102917748461.
    PMID: 29379632 DOI: 10.1177/2055102917748461
    This study explored the relationship between family functioning and trait emotional intelligence among 547 respondents, between the age of 16 and 24 years from Malaysia, Iran, China, Sudan, Somalia, Morocco, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. The questionnaires were Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale III and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship between family functioning and trait emotional intelligence. The higher the family functioning, the higher the trait emotional intelligence among youths. The findings provide a deeper understanding in the field of family functioning and trait emotional intelligence and have implications for parents, administrators and child relationships dealing with trait emotional intelligence.
  4. Awang-Hashim R, Kaur A, Noman M
    J Adolesc, 2015 Dec;45:214-24.
    PMID: 26513126 DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.10.001
    The study examined a conceptual model integrating existing knowledge on the linkages between life satisfaction, affect, purpose in life, and resilience with school engagement. This model posits direct relationships between all the social psychological variables and school engagement, and also indirect relationships between life satisfaction and school engagement as mediated by all the other variables in the study. The participants were 2381 students (1119 boys and 1262 girls) with average age of 15 years, from 40 national secondary schools in Malaysia. The findings supported the theoretical conceptualization. All variables were positively associated with school engagement. The strongest relationship was observed between overall life satisfaction and school engagement. The mediating model was partially supported. The study reiterates the adage that "it takes a village to raise a child". Implications for practice and future research are discussed in the context of engagement in school learning.
  5. Kohli S, Bhatia S, Kaur A, Rathakrishnan T
    Indian J Dent, 2015;6(4):167-71.
    PMID: 26752875 DOI: 10.4103/0975-962X.168518
    The aim of the study was to assess the awareness of the patients regarding implant-retained prosthesis as an option for tooth replacement and the knowledge about tooth replacement as a whole including source of information and attitude towards it amongst Malaysian population.
  6. Kaur A, Ali R, Omar E, Hashim H
    J Radiol Case Rep, 2021 Jan;15(1):1-10.
    PMID: 33717402 DOI: 10.3941/jrcr.v15i1.3898
    A 46-year-old male presented with painless, recurrent bilateral ear discharge and an enlarging right temporal swelling. There were no neurological deficits. Imaging revealed an enhancing, soft tissue mass at the right infratemporal region involving the right temporalis muscle with a small, enhancing intradural component and associated hyperostosis of the greater wing of the right sphenoid bone. Tumour debulking of the right temporalis tumour was performed. Tumour invasion of the right temporalis muscle was noted intraoperatively. Histopathological result was consistent with fibrous meningioma WHO Grade 1 involving surgical resection margins. Follow-up MRI revealed residual right temporal extracranial component. Thus, plans were made for a second stage tumour debulking, however at time of writing, surgery had not been performed. This case highlights the differing appearances of the common meningioma occurring extracranially with elaboration of its differential diagnosis and management.
  7. Shashvat K, Basu R, Bhondekar PA, Kaur A
    Trop Biomed, 2019 Dec 01;36(4):822-832.
    PMID: 33597454
    Time series modelling and forecasting plays an important role in various domains. The objective of this paper is to construct a simple average ensemble method to forecast the number of cases for infectious diseases like dengue and typhoid and compare it by applying models for forecasting. In this paper we have also evaluated the correlation between the number of typhoid and dengue cases with the ecological variables. The monthly data of dengue and typhoid cases from 2014 to 2017 were taken from integrated diseases surveillance programme, Government of India. This data was analysed by three models namely support vector regression, neural network and linear regression. The proposed simple average ensemble model was constructed by ensemble of three applied regression models i.e. SVR, NN and LR. We combine the regression models based upon the error metrics such as Mean Square Error, Root Mean Square Error and Mean Absolute Error. It was found that proposed ensemble method performed better in terms of forecast measures. The finding demonstrates that the proposed model outperforms as compared to already available applied models on the basis of forecast accuracy.
  8. Noman M, Kaur A, Nafees N
    Child Youth Serv Rev, 2021 Jun;125:106001.
    PMID: 35990216 DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106001
    Covid-19 has impacted the lives of everyone around the world, including university students. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on all economies, resulting in a huge loss of employment. As a result, university students are anxious about their job prospects upon graduation. The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of two stressors - employment anxiety and financial anxiety and two supports - university support and lecturer support on dropout intention and academic performance on university students with well-being and purpose in life being the mediators. This quantitative was carried out in Malaysia using 436 final-year undergraduate students. The full mediation model indicated that the university and lecturer support mitigates the two stressors' effects through well-being and purpose in life. Students who reported better support systems reported lower academic concerns and were less likely to drop out than those who reported less support from their university and lectures. The significance of this study and its implications are discussed, along with the findings.
  9. Md S, Kuldeep Singh JKA, Waqas M, Pandey M, Choudhury H, Habib H, et al.
    Drug Dev Ind Pharm, 2019 Feb;45(2):323-332.
    PMID: 30404554 DOI: 10.1080/03639045.2018.1542704
    Betamethsone valerate (BMV), a medium potency topical corticosteroid, is one of the most commonly employed pharmacological agents for the management of atopic dermatitis in both adults and children. Despite having remarkable pharmacological efficacy, these agents have limited clinical implication due to poor penetration across the startum cornum (SC). To mitigate issues related to targeted delivery, stability, and solubility as well as to potentiate therapeutic and clinical implication, the nanodelivery systems have gained remarkable recognition. Therefore, this study was aimed to encapsulate BMV into the chitosan nanoparticles (CS-NPs) for optimum dermal targeting and improved penetration across the SC. The prepared NPs were characterized for particle size, zeta potential, polydispersity index, entrapment efficiency, loading capacity, crystallinity, thermal behavior, morphology, in vitro release kinetics, drug permeation across the SC, and percentage of drug retained into various skin layers. Results showed that optimized BMV-CS-NPs exhibited optimum physicochemical characteristics including small particle size (< 250 ± 28 nm), higher zeta potential (+58 ± 8 mV), and high entrapment efficiency (86 ± 5.6%) and loading capacity (34 ± 7.2%). The in vitro release study revealed that BMV-CS-NPs displayed Fickian-diffusion type mechanism of release in simulated skin surface (pH 5.5). Drug permeation efficiency and the amount of BMV retained into the epidermis and the dermis were comparatively higher in case of BMV-CS-NPs compared to BMV solution. Conclusively, we anticipated that BMV-CS-NPs could be a promising nanodelivery system for efficient dermal targeting of BMV and improved anti-AD efficacy.
  10. Madan SS, Pai DR, Kaur A, Dixit R
    Orthop Surg, 2014 Feb;6(1):1-7.
    PMID: 24590986 DOI: 10.1111/os.12084
    Injury of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) of thumb can be incapacitating if untreated or not treated properly. This injury is notorious for frequently being missed by inexperienced health care personnel in emergency departments. It has frequently been described in skiers, but also occurs in other sports such as rugby, soccer, handball, basketball, volleyball and even after a handshake. The UCL of the thumb acts as a primary restraint to valgus stress and is injured if hyperabduction and hyperextension forces are applied to the first metacarpophalangeal joint. The diagnosis is best established clinically, though MRI is the imaging modality of choice. Many treatment options exist, surgical treatment being offered depending on various factors, including timing of presentation (acute or chronic), grade (severity of injury), displacement (Stener lesion), location of tear (mid-substance or peripheral), associated or concomitant surrounding tissue injury (bone, volar plate, etc.), and patient-related factors (occupational demands, etc.). This review aims to identify the optimal diagnostic techniques and management options for UCL injury available thus far.
  11. Kaur A, Lee LH, Chow SC, Fang CM
    Int Rev Immunol, 2018;37(5):229-248.
    PMID: 29985675 DOI: 10.1080/08830185.2018.1469629
    Transcription factors are gene regulators that activate or repress target genes. One family of the transcription factors that have been extensively studied for their crucial role in regulating gene network in the immune system is the interferon regulatory factors (IRFs). IRFs possess a novel turn-helix turn motif that recognizes a specific DNA consensus found in the promoters of many genes that are involved in immune responses. IRF5, a member of IRFs has recently gained much attention for its role in regulating inflammatory responses and autoimmune diseases. Here, we discuss the role of IRF5 in regulating immune cells functions and how the dysregulation of IRF5 contributes to the pathogenesis of immune disorders. We also review the latest findings of potential IRF5 inhibitors that modulate IRF5 activity in the effort of developing therapeutic approaches for treating inflammatory disorders.
  12. Kaur A, Cho L, Cereb N, Lin PY, Yang KL
    HLA, 2020 09;96(3):329-330.
    PMID: 32227684 DOI: 10.1111/tan.13884
    One nucleotide substitution in codon 73 of HLA-A*01:01:01:01 results in a novel allele, HLA-A*01:211.
  13. Cho L, Kaur A, Cereb N, Lin PY, Yang KL
    HLA, 2020 09;96(3):344-345.
    PMID: 32212215 DOI: 10.1111/tan.13879
    One nucleotide substitution in codon 112 of HLA-B*15:349:01 results in a novel allele, HLA-B*15:349:02.
  14. Cho L, Kaur A, Cereb N, Lin PY, Yang KL
    HLA, 2020 08;96(2):243-244.
    PMID: 32250029 DOI: 10.1111/tan.13889
    One nucleotide substitution in codon 38 of HLA-DQB1*06:01:01:01 results in a novel allele, HLA-DQB1*06:132.
  15. Cho L, Kaur A, Cereb N, Lin PY, Yang KL
    HLA, 2020 08;96(2):240-241.
    PMID: 32246584 DOI: 10.1111/tan.13887
    Nucleotide substitutions in codon 38 of HLA-DQB1*05:03:01:01 result in a novel allele, HLA-DQB1*05:66:01.
  16. Cho L, Kaur A, Cereb N, Lin PY, Yang KL
    HLA, 2020 08;96(2):217-218.
    PMID: 32227685 DOI: 10.1111/tan.13873
    One nucleotide substitution in codon 89 of HLA-B*38:02:01:01 results in a novel allele, HLA-B*38:64.
  17. Kaur A, Cho L, Cereb N, Lin PY, Yang KL
    HLA, 2020 08;96(2):251-252.
    PMID: 32306483 DOI: 10.1111/tan.13908
    One nucleotide substitution in codon 85 of HLA-DPB1*04:01:01:01 results in a novel allele, HLA-DPB1*454:01.
  18. Kaur A, Cho L, Cereb N, Lin PY, Yang KL
    HLA, 2020 07;96(1):94-95.
    PMID: 32166893 DOI: 10.1111/tan.13862
    DNA substitutions from codons 69 to 71 of HLA-B*35:05:01:01 result in a novel allele, HLA-B*35:368.
  19. Bajaj S, Wakode S, Kaur A, Fuloria S, Fuloria N
    Nat Prod Res, 2021 Dec;35(23):5055-5065.
    PMID: 32498574 DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2020.1775224
    The present study was intended to evaluate the in vitro (COX-1/COX-2) and in vivo anti-inflammatory and ulcerogenic activity of newer phytoconstituents isolated from the aerial parts of Swertia alata C.B. Clarke (Gentianaceae). For isolation of newer phytoconstituents, the ethanolic extract of aerial parts of S. alata was subjected to column chromatography using mixture of petroleum ether and chloroform in various concentrations, which yielded two phytoisolates characterised as nonacosyl triacontanoate (SA-3) and 8-O-glucpyranosyl-(2-acetyl)-1,3-dihydroxy-5-methoxy-xanthone (SA-9). Identification of compounds was based on melting point, UV, FTIR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and mass spectrometric data. The isolates were screened for in vitro COX-1/COX-2 inhibitory activity, in vivo anti-inflammatory and ulcerogenic activity. Among the two compounds, SA-3 was found to be more effective than SA-9. The ulcerogenic study revealed significant gastric tolerance of SA-3 and SA-9 in comparison to indomethacin.
  20. Kaur A, Dhiman S, Lee HB, Sharma M
    Anticancer Agents Med Chem, 2022;22(18):3182-3192.
    PMID: 35469577 DOI: 10.2174/1871520622666220425114553
    BACKGROUND: Camptothecin is a naturally occurring alkaloid obtained from the stem wood of the Chinese tree, Camptotheca acuminata. It exerts pharmacological effects due to its ability to selectively inhibit the type-I topoisomerase DNA nuclear enzyme. Several semisynthetic analogs of camptothecin have been synthesized to date possessing antitumor activity.

    OBJECTIVE: Camptothecin (CPT) is one of the most promising anticancer drugs but it produces various side effects because of its non-selectivity towards cancer cells. To overcome these adverse effects, we synthesized biotin conjugate of camptothecin, which was linked via a self-immolative disulfide linker (CPT-SS-Biotin).

    METHODS: Biotin conjugated camptothecin linked through a disulfide bond was synthesized following schemes, and the structural characterization was carried out. The stability and drug release studies were performed in the presence of glutathione (GSH) while in vitro studies were performed on 4T1 tumor cell lines. In vivo pharmacological investigation was done using an antitumor Wistar rat model.

    RESULTS: The stability and drug release studies were performed in the presence of glutathione (GSH), and CPT-SSBiotin was found to be physiologically stable moiety and can only be cleaved in the presence of GSH to release free CPT. The CPT-SS-Biotin showed higher toxicity in the biotin-overexpressing 4T1 tumor cell line with a lower IC50 value (8.44 μM) compared to camptothecin alone (IC50 > 30 μM). CPT-SS-Biotin also showed 10.6% higher cellular uptake by cells in comparison to free camptothecin. The CPT-SS-Biotin was delivered to cells by binding to the biotin receptors on the cell surface, followed by energy-dependent endocytosis and internalization to cause cellular toxicity.

    CONCLUSION: In-vivo tumor suppression studies and in vitro cell line studies along with serological parameters and histopathological studies showed that conjugate produced a high therapeutic effect and remarkably reduced toxic effects in comparison to free CPT. The results suggested that biotinylation of camptothecin via disulfide linker can be a safe and efficacious method in cancer therapeutics.

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