The mating system of Dryobalanops aromatica in three different forest types and a seed orchard was quantified by allozyme analysis of progeny arrays using a mixed-mating model. The primary forest (Bukit Sai) had the highest multilocus outcrossing rate (tm=0.923 +/- 0.035), followed by logged forest (Lesong; tm=0.766 +/- 0.056) and artificial forest (FRIM; tm=0.661 +/- 0.066) with seed orchard showing the lowest (Tampin; tm=0.551 +/- 0.095). Deviations from the mixed mating model were evident from differences in pollen and ovule allele frequencies, and heterogeneity of pollen pools in all three different forest types and the seed orchard. A high rate of outcrossing in primary forest (tm=0.92) may indicate that the species is self-incompatible, but a lower value in the seed orchard (tm=0.55) might suggest further that the self-incompatibility system is weak. The outcrossing rate was greater in the primary forest (tm=0.92) than in logged forest (tm=0.77). It is argued that this might be a consequence of the lower density of flowering trees and alteration of pollinator foraging behaviour in logged forest. Higher values of correlated mating (rp) and biparental mating (tm - ts) in primary forest (0.08 and 0.39, respectively) in comparison with logged forest (0.03 and 0.11, respectively) demonstrate that logging activities might reduce the seeds produced through consanguineous mating. Compared with primary forest, it is argued that lower rates of outcrossing in artificial forest (tm=0.67) and seed orchard (tm=0. 55) might be attributed to lack of flowering synchrony and insufficient number of pollinators. The high level of correlated mating (rp=0.43) and biparental mating (tm - ts=0.12) in the seed orchard may further suggest that the seed orchard was established using related seed sources.
This research aimed to explore the interplay between the central and peripheral aspects of gaming and their correlation with internet gaming disorder (IGD) in predicting indicators of psychological distress. The study proposed that the core and peripheral characteristics of gaming serve as confounding variables affecting the direct relationship between IGD and psychological distress. Employing a longitudinal design spanning two distinct timeframes, the research involved 100 esports players from Malaysia, all of whom had participated in at least one official tournament. The outcomes revealed that both the core and peripheral attributes of gaming significantly predicted stress, anxiety, and depression. However, IGD exhibited a significant predictive association only with stress. Notably, the study also detected the confounding effects of core and peripheral characteristics in the direct link between IGD and stress. These results imply that core and peripheral gaming traits should be interpreted as individual differences that amplify susceptibility to IGD and its associated psychological distress indicators. Moreover, the findings suggested that IGD might not be a prominent concern for esports players, potentially due to their training in performance management as athletes. The paper explores further implications stemming from these findings.
A cross-sectional study was conducted to explore clincians' baseline knowledge, practice beliefs and acceptance of intravenous (IV)-to-oral antibiotic switching practice in Hospital Pulau Pinang. The factors most highly rated for antibiotic conversion were the ability to maintain oral intake (85.6%) and microbiology etiology (85.0%). Majority of the clinicians (76%) agreed with the traditional clinical rule that "patient should be afebrile for 24 hours before IV-to-oral switch". Specialists and consultants had the highest knowledge score among the clinicians. However, they were generally less positive about a guideline being integrated into practice.
While the development of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors has been hailed as a remarkable triumph in the field of oncology, it has inherited with it a host of cutaneous side-effects that have been increasingly observed in a substantial number of patients in the recent years. One cutaneous manifestation that may inflict significant pain and affect activities of daily living among some of the patients receiving epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors is paronychia. A case of paronychia associated with the use of cetuximab in the management of KRAS wild-type midrectal adenocarcinoma along with its management has been described.
A 67-year-old mental institute resident was treated for smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis. His background history included chronic essential hypertension which was well-controlled with amlodipine 10mg daily. However, his blood pressure became suboptimal one week into antitubercular treatment, necessitating escalation of antihypertensive therapy up to six medications. Following completion of antitubercular treatment, his blood pressure improved markedly. The number of antihypertensives was able to be reduced to only two after a month. We postulate that rifampicin has attenuated the therapeutic effect of amlodipine via potent induction of hepatic CYP3A4 but the failure to control the blood pressure even with medications unrelated to cytochrome P450 pathways raises the spectre of an additional interaction.
This study examined the perceptions of parental bonding, depressive experiences of self-criticism and dependency, and the current level of depressive symptomology among 212 college students from Sabah, Malaysia. The participants completed the brief version of the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Reconstructed Depressive Experiences Questionnaire, and the Patient Health Questionnaire. The results showed significant direct effects of maternal care, maternal overprotection, paternal care, self-criticism, and dependency on depressive symptomology. In contrast, the indirect effects of self-criticism and dependency on the relationship between parental bonding and depressive symptomology were not significant. These findings were in line with previous studies that have highlighted the significance of parent-child bonding, self-criticism, and dependency in the development of depressive symptomology. However, they contradicted previous results on the significant indirect effects of self-criticism and dependency. This study highlights the importance of parental care and overprotection, as they can predict the manifestation of depressive symptomology at a later stage in life.
Cervical adenocarcinoma accounts for 25% of invasive cervical cancer which frequently metastasize distantly to the lungs, liver, bone, and brain. Metastases to the common bile duct from cervical cancer are exceedingly rare with few reported cases in the literature. Diagnosis of bile duct metastases from cervical cancer can be established with endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology, biliary cytobrushing, or direct cholangioscopy with biopsy, and this would guide further therapies such as endoscopic biliary drainage and systemic chemotherapy. We hereby present a rare case of obstructive jaundice from metastatic biliary stricture with "beaded" appearance in a patient with cervical adenocarcinoma. How to cite this article: Lee SL, Sidhu J, Ng CY. Metastatic Biliary Stricture with "Beaded" Appearance from Cervical Adenocarcinoma. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2021;11(2):97-99.
Severe dengue infection is life threatening as it can result in fatal complications such as intractable bleeding from coagulopathy, multiorgan failure from shock and haemophagocytic syndrome. There have been case reports of atypical manifestation of severe dengue infection such as pancreatitis, Guillian-Barre's syndrome, perforated viscus and myocarditis. However, to our knowledge, pancreatic pseudocyst from dengue-related pancreatitis has never been reported in the literature. We hereby report a case of infected pancreatic pseudocyst in a patient with persistent pyrexia, abdominal pain and raised inflammatory markers 10 weeks from the onset of severe dengue infection. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guided transluminal drainage of the infected pancreatic pseudocyst with lumen-apposing metallic stent (LAMS) was performed with good clinical and radiological outcome.
Abdominal pain is one of the common presentations in severe dengue infection. We report a rare case of perforated gastric ulcer in a young man diagnosed with severe dengue infection and the challenges we faced in managing this patient. Perforated gastric ulcer need to be considered if there are signs of peritonitis and persistent abdominal pain that does not conform to the natural history of dengue. Proper imaging and early surgical intervention in perforated gastric ulcer is vital in preventing further complication and reducing the risk of mortality.
Pollen flow and population genetic structure among 30 potentially flowering individuals of Neobalanocarpus heimii, a tropical emergent tree, were investigated in a lowland tropical rainforest of Malaysia using microsatellite polymorphism. The 248 offspring in the vicinity of five reproductive trees of the 30 potentially flowering trees were used in paternity analysis for pollen-flow study. Four primer pairs, developed in different species of dipterocarps, were adopted to detect microsatellite polymorphism. Based upon microsatellite polymorphism, pollen flow and seed migration were detected. Pollen-flow events of more than 400 m were observed directly, based on paternity analysis in the study plot. The estimated average mating distance of the five reproductive trees was 524 m. This result suggests that reproduction of this species is mediated by a long-distance pollinator. The haplotypes of some offspring were not compatible with the nearest reproductive tree. Thus, the results suggest that some seeds are dispersed by a seed dispersal vector. Investigation of genetic structure showed significant and negative correlation of genetic relatedness and spatial distances between the 30 potentially flowering trees, but this correlation was weak. We suggest that long-distance gene flow and seed migration are responsible for the poorly developed genetic structure of this species.
Analyses of the spatial distribution pattern, spatial genetic structure and of genetic diversity were carried out in two tropical tree species with contrasting breeding systems and different ploidy levels using a 50-ha demographic plot in a lowland dipterocarp forest in Peninsular Malaysia. Shorea leprosula is a diploid and predominantly outcrossed species, whereas S. ovalis ssp. sericea is an autotetraploid species with apomictic mode of reproduction. Genetic diversity parameters estimated for S. leprosula using microsatellite were consistently higher than using allozyme. In comparisons with S. leprosula and other tropical tree species, S. ovalis ssp. sericea also displayed relatively high levels of genetic diversity. This might be explained by the lower pressure of genetic drift due to tetrasomic inheritance, and for autotetraploids each locus can accommodate up to four different alleles and this allows maintenance of more alleles at individual loci. The observed high levels of genetic diversity in S. ovalis ssp. sericea can also be due to a random retention of more heterogeneous individuals in the past, and the apomictic mode of reproduction might be an evolutionary strategy, which allows the species to maintain high levels of genetic diversity. The spatial distribution pattern analyses of both species showed significant levels of aggregation at small and medium but random distribution at the big diameter-class. The decrease in magnitude of spatial aggregation from small- to large-diameter classes might be due to compensatory mortality during recruitment and survival under competitive thinning process. Spatial genetic structure analyses for both species revealed significant spatial genetic structure for short distances in all the three diameter-classes. The magnitude of spatial genetic structure in both species was observed to be decreasing from smaller- to larger-diameter classes. The high spatial genetic structuring observed in S. ovalis ssp. sericea at the small-diameter class is due primarily to limited seed dispersal and apomictic mode of reproduction. The similar observation in S. leprosula, however, can be explained by limited seed and pollen dispersal, which supports further the fact that the species is pollinated by weak fliers, mainly of Thrips and Megalurothrips in the lowland dipterocarp forest.
We investigated the fine-scale genetic structure of three tropical-rainforest trees, Hopea dryobalanoides, Shorea parvifolia and S. acuminata (Dipterocarpaceae), in Peninsular Malaysia, all of which cooccurred within a 6-ha plot in Pasoh Forest Reserve. A significant genetic structure was found in H. dryobalanoides, weaker (but still significant) genetic structure in S. parvifolia and nonsignificant structure in S. acuminata. Seeds of all three species are wind dispersed, and their flowers are thought to be insect pollinated. The most obvious difference among these species is their height: S. parvifolia and S. acuminata are canopy species, whereas H. dryobalanoides is a subcanopy species. Clear differences were also found among these species in their range of seed dispersal, which depends on the height of the release point; so taller trees disperse their seed more extensively. The estimates of seed dispersal area were consistent with the degree of genetic structure found in the three species. Therefore, tree height probably had a strong influence on the fine-scale genetic structure of the three species.
We report that transparent mesostructured silica/gold nanocomposite materials with an interpore distance of 4.1 nm, as-synthesized from a templated sol-gel synthesis method using discotic trinuclear gold(I) pyrazolate complex, were successfully utilized for the fabrication of thin film mesoporous silica nanocomposites containing gold nanoparticles. The material exhibited a highly ordered hexagonal structure when subjected to a thermal hydrogen reduction treatment at 210 °C. In contrast, when the material was subjected to calcination as a heat treatment from 190 to 450 °C, the thin film nanocomposites showed an intense d100 X-ray diffraction peak. Moreover, gold nanoparticles inside the thin film nanocomposites were confirmed by the presence of the d111 diffraction peak at 2θ = 38.2°, a surface plasmon resonance peak between 500-580 nm, and the spherical shape observed in the transmission electron microscope images, as well as the visual change in color from pink to purple. Interestingly, by simply dipping the material into a reaction solution of 4-nitrophenol at room temperature, the highly ordered structure of the as-fabricated silica/gold nanoparticle thin film composite after thermal hydrogen reduction at 210 °C resulted in an improved catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol compared to the material calcined at 250 °C. Such catalytic activity is due to the presence of gold nanoparticles of smaller size in the silicate channels of the highly ordered mesoporous film nanocomposites.
Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a potentially fatal disorder resulting from uncontrolled hyperinflammatory response. There had been increase in cases of one of the secondary form of HLH, i.e., infectionassociated haemophagocytic syndrome (IAHS) in severe dengue in recent years. However, the condition remains under diagnosed due to lack of awareness compounded by the lack of validated diagnostic criteria. Severe hepatitis with prolonged cytopenias, severe hyperferritinemia, hypofibrinogenemia and persistent fever were evident in all four cases reported. All the subjects survived with supportive care and adjuvant steroid therapy. Prospective controlled studies are needed to develop diagnostic criteria and management protocol for IAHS in severe dengue.
Ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone secretion (EAS) from the pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour (PNET) is rare, aggressive, and challenging to treat. We hereby present a rare case of EAS from PNET presenting with Cushing syndrome diagnosed with endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology. This case highlights the advanced presentation of EAS from PNET with poor clinical correlation of hypercortisolism and the grade of PNET.
A metal-free mesoporous carbon nitride (MCN) was investigated for the first time as an adsorbent for N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), which is one of the nitrosamine pollutants. Under the same condition, the adsorption capability of the MCN was found to be higher than that of the MCM-41. Since the adsorption isotherm was consistent with Langmuir and Freundlich model equations, it was suggested that the adsorption of NPYR molecules on the MCN occurred in the form of mono-molecular layer on the heterogeneous surface sites. It was proposed that MCN with suitable adsorption sites was beneficial for the adsorption of NPYR. The evidence on the interaction between the NPYR molecules and the MCN was supported by fluorescence spectroscopy. Two excitation wavelengths owing to the terminal N-C and N=C groups were used to monitor the interactions between the emission sites of the MCN and the NPYR molecules. It was confirmed that the intensity of the emission sites was quenched almost linearly with the concentration of NPYR. This result obviously suggested that the MCN would be applicable as a fluorescence sensor for detection of the NPYR molecules. From the Stern-Volmer plot, the quenching rate constant of terminal N-C groups was determined to be ca. two times higher than that of the N=C groups on MCN, suggesting that the terminal N-C groups on MCN would be the favoured sites interacted with the NPYR. Since initial concentration can be easily recovered, the interactions of NPYR on MCN were weak and might only involve electrostatic interactions.
Pollinator syndrome is one of the most important determinants regulating pollen dispersal in tropical tree species. It has been widely accepted that the reproduction of tropical forest species, especially dipterocarps that rely on insects with weak flight for their pollination, is positively density-dependent. However differences in pollinator syndrome should affect pollen dispersal patterns and, consequently, influence genetic diversity via the mating process. We examined the pollen dispersal pattern and mating system of Shorea maxwelliana, the flowers of which are larger than those of Shorea species belonging to section Mutica which are thought to be pollinated by thrips (weak flyers). A Bayesian mating model based on the paternity of seeds collected from mother trees during sporadic and mass flowering events revealed that the estimated pollen dispersal kernel and average pollen dispersal distance were similar for both flowering events. This evidence suggests that the putative pollinators - small beetles and weevils - effectively contribute to pollen dispersal and help to maintain a high outcrossing rate even during sporadic flowering events. However, the reduction in pollen donors during a sporadic event results in a reduction in effective pollen donors, which should lead to lower genetic diversity in the next generation derived from seeds produced during such an event. Although sporadic flowering has been considered less effective for outcrossing in Shorea species that depend on thrips for their pollination, effective pollen dispersal by the small beetles and weevils ensures outcrossing during periods of low flowering tree density, as occurs in a sporadic flowering event.
Microsatellite markers were developed for Johannesteijsmannia lanceolata to assess the genetic diversity and mating system of this alarmingly endangered species.