Introduction: Leprosy is a chronic granulomatous disease which also known as Hansen’s disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The social rights and health requirements should not be neglected among the remaining survivors. Although nutritional status and leprosy invasion has been studied in the past, there is still an unclear relationship between these two. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between nutritional status and disability among the leprosy survivors.
sampling was conducted at Sungai Buloh, Selangor area from June 2014 to July 2014. The degree of disability was assessed using Barthel’s Index and the nutritional status assessment was assessed using Mini Nutritional Assessment. The data was analysed using SPSS version 20.
Results: A total of 73 patients were involved in the study (60.3% were male and 89.0% were Chinese). The prevalence of disability was 56.2% (95% CI: 44.5 – 67.8) with walking up-stair s the highest item that need help (50.7%). There were 9.6% malnourished and 49.3% were at risk of malnutrition. There was a negative strong correlation between Nutritional score and the Barthel’s index score (Spearman rho, ρ = -0.714, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Measures must be taken to improve their nutritional status in order to increase their ability to be more independent particularly those who are very old. The degree of disability increases with malnutrition.
KEYWORDS: Functional dependence, nutritional status, leprosy
To determine the prevalence of depression and its relationship with health related quality of life among prostate cancer patients in tertiary medical centres, Kuala Lumpur.
Introduction: Although urinary incontinence is commonly associated with increasing parity, there is however a lack of published data on urinary incontinence among primiparous women. This study aims to determine its prevalence among primiparous women at 6-8 weeks postpartum, its risk factors and effects to their quality of life. Methods: This is a crosssectional study involving primiparous women at 6-8 weeks postpartum. Women in their third trimester were recruited using convenience sampling. Data were obtained using a study proforma, and International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire – Short Form (ICIQSF) over a face-to-face interview. The same questionnaire with additional enquiries on delivery was completed over a telephone interview at 6-8 week postpartum. Data were analysed using chi-square and simple logistic regression tests contained in the Statistical Package for Social Science version 20.0. Results: Three hundred and six women participated in this study. The prevalence of urinary incontinence in the third trimester of pregnancy was 34.3% (95%CI: 29.0, 39.7) and dropped to 5.2% (95% CI: 2.7, 7.7) at 6-8 weeks postpartum. Childhood enuresis and postpartum body mass index were the two factors that showed significant association with postpartum urinary incontinence. Urinary incontinence in 95 (31%) women had resolved by 6-8 weeks postpartum, whereas 10 (3.3%) women still had persistent symptom. A small proportion of women (2.0%) developed urinary incontinence in the postpartum period. Majority of women with urinary incontinence did not feel it significantly affected their quality of life. The ICIQ- SF mean score was 6.13 (range 2- 12). Conclusions: Postpartum urinary incontinence is rather uncommon among primiparous women and does not seem to affect their quality of life. Childhood enuresis and postpartum BMI were risk factors associated with postpartum urinary incontinence.
Introduction: Although urinary incontinence is commonly associated with increasing parity, there is however a lack of published data on urinary incontinence among primiparous women. This study aims to determine its prevalence among primiparous women at 6-8 weeks postpartum, its risk factors and effects to their quality of life. Methods: This is a crosssectional study involving primiparous women at 6-8 weeks postpartum. Women in their third trimester were recruited using convenience sampling. Data were obtained using a study proforma, and International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire – Short Form (ICIQSF) over a face-to-face interview. The same questionnaire with additional enquiries on delivery was completed over a telephone interview at 6-8 week postpartum. Data were analysed using chi-square and simple logistic regression tests contained in the Statistical Package for Social Science version 20.0. Results: Three hundred and six women participated in this study. The prevalence of urinary incontinence in the third trimester of pregnancy was 34.3% (95%CI: 29.0, 39.7) and dropped to 5.2% (95% CI: 2.7, 7.7) at 6-8 weeks postpartum. Childhood enuresis and postpartum body mass index were the two factors that showed significant association with postpartum urinary incontinence. Urinary incontinence in 95 (31%) women had resolved by 6-8 weeks postpartum, whereas 10 (3.3%) women still had persistent symptom. A small proportion of women (2.0%) developed urinary incontinence in the postpartum period. Majority of women with urinary incontinence did not feel it significantly affected their quality of life. The ICIQ- SF mean score was 6.13 (range 2- 12). Conclusions: Postpartum urinary incontinence is rather uncommon among primiparous women and does not seem to affect their quality of life. Childhood enuresis and postpartum BMI were risk factors associated with postpartum urinary incontinence.
The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought much fear and anxiety
worldwide due to the rapid transmission rate and mortality. The exponential surge of COVID19 cases need to be addressed aggressively to flatten the epidemic curve. This review aims to
describe the COVID-19 disease epidemiology and disease transmission, response actions
taken by the authorities to control this pandemic and risk communication strategies in Malaysia.
A literature search via the ScienceDirect and Google Scholar databases of published articles
and official statements from the Ministry of Health, Malaysia from December 2019 to May 2020
was conducted. The first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia started in late January
involving 22 cases but the second wave involved more cases due to the massive religious
gathering that occurred in late February. Malaysia implemented the Movement Control Order
(MCO) on 18th March 2020 and other well-coordinated response action plans to prevent
community transmission. The reproduction number (R0) was successfully reduced from 3.6 to
0.3 due to the MCO. Malaysia’s risk communication strategies that include daily press
conference by the Director General of Health and dissemination of information through national
television and social media, played a crucial role in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. In
conclusion, effective response actions and mitigation plans, should be the main priorities to
combat this pandemic. The immediate direction will need to be focused on development of
vaccines for COVID-19. Future research should study the origin of the virus in animals and the
role of comorbidities contributing to poorer prognosis.
The objective of this research is to investigate the regulation of apoptotic associated-genes and proteins expression of aloe emodin on oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive (MCF-7). Oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive (MCF-7) cells were cultured in complete RPMI media. Cells were treated with aloe emodin at its IC50 of 80uM. Maximum treatment time was set for 72 hours in all assays. Both genes and proteins involved in the regulation of apoptosis (Fas, FADD, Caspase-3, Caspase-8, Caspase-9, Bax, Bcl-2, and Cytochrome c) in aloe emodin-treated MCF-7 were determined using Quantigene 2.0 Plex and protein ELISA assays respectively. Aloe emodin, previously reported as anti-cancer agent, was found to act as an apoptotic inducer on MCF-7 cells. In intrinsic apoptosis signalling, Bax, Cytochrome c and Caspase-9 proteins were upregulated (54.11% ± 4.51, 25.17% ± 4.13 and 36.05% ±11.75); while no change was observed in Bcl-2 protein. Except for Caspase-9, these results are in accordance with gene expression. In extrinsic apoptosis, Fas and Caspase-8 were upregulated (133.82% ± 2.85 and 26.44% ± 2.48), contrary to gene expression. These findings indicate that aloe emodin activates both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways. The data suggests (i) aloe emodin has the potential to be a selective apoptotic inducer in ER+-breast cancer management; and (ii) the present study could be used as a basis for in vivo experiment.
Two-third of breast cancer patients expressed estrogen receptors (ER)s and received endocrine treatment with established anti-estrogens such as tamoxifen. But the action and acquired resistance during treatment are largely unknown. In contrary, phytochemicals are more selective and less cytotoxic to normal cells. Accordingly, we found aloe emodin, an anthraquinone to inhibit the proliferation of ER+-breast cancer cells, MCF-7 with IC50 of 80 µM, but not affecting control breast cells, MCF-10A. Tamoxifen was non-selective to both cells with IC50 of 27 and 38 μM, respectively. Thus, we aimed to investigate the anti-proliferative mechanism of aloe emodin on MCF-7 and its underlying signalling compared to tamoxifen. Cells were treated separately with aloe emodin and tamoxifen at respective IC50 for 72 h. Apoptosis was determined using Annexin V-FITC/PI staining. The expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R), insulin like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP)-2 and B-raf gene was investigated using QuantiGene 2.0 Plex assay. Pairedstudent t-test and ANOVA test were used to compare between untreated and treated cells on the measured parameters. Each treatment was conducted in triplicate and repeated three times. Significance was set at p<0.05. The presences of early and late apoptosis in MCF-7 were seen in both treatments. All target genes were down regulated. The anti-proliferation effect of aloe emodin on MCF-7 is similar with tamoxifen which mediates inhibition of IGF-1R signalling pathway. This suggests aloe emodin as a potential anti-cancer agent to be used in combined anti-estrogen therapy to enhance its efficacy in ER+-breast cancer treatment.
BACKGROUND: The Ministry of Health is committed to achieve Millenium Development Goal (MDG) MDG 4 and 5 by 2015 and include pre-pregnancy care as a strategy. This study evaluates the risk factors detected during the pre-pregnancy screening at selected public primary care clinics in Selangor.
OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to determine the proportion of women with risk factors receiving pre-pregnancy care in selected clinics in Selangor, their socio demographic features, the types of risk factors detected and their significance.
METHODS: A retrospective review using secondary data was carried out from the month of March until June 2013 in four public primary care clinics in Klang and Petaling districts of Selangor. Data were obtained through non-probability sampling, using the pre-pregnancy screening form utilised in 2012, which is a standard questionnaire to determine the presence of risk factors. Women with at least one defined risk factor were considered as being at risk of an adverse obstetric outcome. Data were analysed using SPSS version 16.
RESULTS: A total of 840 pre-pregnancy screening forms were collected. However only 614 (73.1%) were analysed and studied. The proportion of women with at least one risk factor was 68.8% (95% CI: 65.1, 72.5). The majority was Malays who had tertiary education and earned more than RM 1000. Most were in the reproductive age group of 18-35 years old (350, 82.9%). The mean age was 28.68 + 5.78 years. Most of the women were parous (259, 65.1%) and did not practice any form of contraception (308, 80.8%) despite having risks. The percentage of those not receiving any form of immunisation was small i.e. 9.8% but it was of importance and needed to be addressed prior to the conception. This study did not reveal any person with mental disorder or those who endured domestic abuse. Additionally, 3% (12) of them had unhealthy lifestyle habits, which include smoking, alcohol and substance abuse. Approximately one-third (212, 35.2%) of the women screened were overweight and obese, putting them at risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus, pregnancy induced hypertension or deep vein thrombosis. The mean body mass index (BMI) for those at risk was 25.36 + 5.94 compared to 21.06 ± 1.46 for those with no risk. This study also found a small percentage of women with raised blood pressure (3.9%), abnormal physical examination (1.5%) and anaemia (14.4%), which need to be investigated and treated prior to conception.
CONCLUSION: More than half of the women who attended the pre-pregnancy screening were found to have at least one risk factor.