Accepted 13 January 2012.
Introduction The purpose of this study is to explore the reasons of Shisha smoking among teenagers in Ipoh, Perak.
Methods Data was collected using in-depth face to face interview. Purposive convenient sampling was used to select volunteer respondents from one of the Shisha restaurant located at Ipoh. The interviews were conducted for 15-20 minutes, recorded using video tape. The data obtained was transcribed and coded for the purpose of thematic analysis.
Results All respondents were influenced by peers in their first attempt in Shisha smoking. Other reasons attracting them to continue smoking Shisha include appealing smell and the flavoured taste of Shisha, easy to access, perceived that Shisha was not addictive and its’ cheaper price. In terms of perception on health risk, all respondents believed that Shisha was less harmful compared to cigarette smoking.
Conclusions More educational programme, health talk about risk of Shisha should be developed and conducted to rectify the misconception about health risk of Shisha smoking. The target population should be focus on male teenagers who smoke Shisha in order to control the widespread Shisha smoking in Malaysia.
Approximately 100-400 million people from more than 100 countries in the tropical and subtropical world are affected by dengue infections. Recent scientific breakthroughs have brought new insights into novel strategies for the production of dengue antivirals and vaccines. The search for specific dengue inhibitors is expanding, and the mechanisms for evaluating the efficacy of novel drugs are currently established, allowing for expedited translation into human trials. Furthermore, in the aftermath of the only FDA-approved vaccine, Dengvaxia, a safer and more effective dengue vaccine candidate is making its way through the clinical trials. Until an effective antiviral therapy and licensed vaccine are available, disease monitoring and vector population control will be the mainstays of dengue prevention. In this article, we highlighted recent advances made in the perspectives of efforts made recently, in dengue vaccine development and dengue antiviral drug.
An increase in the occurrence of viral infectious diseases is a global concern for human health. According to a WHO report, dengue virus (DENV) is one of the most common viral diseases affecting approximately 400 million people annually, with worsening symptoms in nearly 1% of cases. Both academic and industrial researchers have conducted numerous studies on viral epidemiology, virus structure and function, source and route of infection, treatment targets, vaccines, and drugs. The development of CYD-TDV or Dengvaxia® vaccine has been a major milestone in dengue treatment. However, evidence has shown that vaccines have some drawbacks and limitations. Therefore, researchers are developing dengue antivirals to curb infections. DENV NS2B/NS3 protease is a DENV enzyme essential for replication and virus assembly, making it an interesting antiviral target. For faster hit and lead recognition of DENV targets, methods to screen large number of molecules at lower costs are essential. Similarly, an integrated and multidisciplinary approach involving in silico screening and confirmation of biological activity is required. In this review, we discuss recent strategies for searching for novel DENV NS2B/NS3 protease inhibitors from the in silico and in vitro perspectives, either by applying one of the approaches or by integrating both. Therefore, we hope that our review will encourage researchers to integrate the best strategies and encourage further developments in this area.