With the modern advances and technological breakthroughs in biomedicine, scientific experiments involving human subjects had increased. Since the American gynecologist Marion Sims (d.1883), who conducted a scientific research on some selected African women suffering from prolapsed uterus disease, or American physician Walter Reed’s (d.1902) team who gave germs of yellow fever to 22 human subjects to test if fever is transmitted by particularly mosquito species, as well as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study that was conductedfrom 1932 until 1972, or the scientific experiments conducted by Nazis of Germany on large numbers of prisoners, clinical trials on human subjects have become part of the scientific activities. These and many other scientific experiments conducted on human subjects had shown the extent of potential threats of unregulated scientific experiments on human life. Serious moral and legal concerns are then raised towards the morality of these activities. These concerns covered four major areas; safety, sanctity of the human body, consent and validity of experiment. This paper uses textual and analytical methods and aims to review Muslim jurists’ opinions on the permissibility of conducting clinical researches that uses human subjects. The opinions of the Muslim jurists are then compared to that of bioethical codes and declarations such as the Nuremberg Code, coined in (1947) and the Helsinki Declaration that was formulated by World Medical Organizationin 1964. Fiqhand legal literature on this subject is exposed, and the moral contents of such writings are analyzed. The study is expected to come up with a comparative account of conventional and Islamic responses to modern clinical trials on human subjects.
Hypertension is a prevalent chronic disease, which is strongly related to the development of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of hypertension in Malaysia in subjects aged 15 years and above was estimated to be 27.8%. Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) compares treatment options with different effectiveness and safety profiles. The utilisation of antihypertensive drugs has raised some concerns about the balance between its costs and benefits. This study was conducted to describe the healthcare costs for hypertensive subjects and to examine the cost-effectiveness of different classes of antihypertensive drugs used in Malaysia. Retrospective and prospective data analysis of a cohort of uncomplicated hypertensive patients was conducted to determine ambulatory health care costs among hypertensive patients groups. The total direct and
indirect costs of controlled and uncontrolled blood pressure (BP) were described. The health care
costs ($) / clinical outcome (AC/E ratio) was calculated. Mean total direct costs per patient per month was higher in uncontrolled blood pressure groups compared to the controlled blood pressure groups. The cost-effectiveness relationship was more favourable for diuretics (1.9), angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) (2.0), prazosin (2.4) and beta blockers (2.5), more than the diuretics and beta blockers combination theraphy (3.0), calcium channel blockers (CCBs) (3.4) and other combinations (6.1). Antihypertensive drugs used to treat hypertensive patients were different
in their cost-effectiveness ratios. Such results will allow health care professionals and/or decision
makers to make better decisions on how to select treatment options for hypertensive patients in
Malaysia and how to distribute and allocate scarce health care resources. Pharmacoeconomic
evaluations can help in making difficult choices rationally and allocate scarce resources efficiently.
Even though the role of the DICS1 gene as a risk factor for schizophrenia is still unclear, there is substantial evidence from functional and cell biology studies that supports the connection of the gene with schizophrenia. The studies associating the DISC1 gene with schizophrenia in Asian populations are limited to East-Asian populations. Our study examined several DISC1 markers of schizophrenia that were identified in the Caucasian and East-Asian populations in Malaysia and assessed the role of rs2509382, which is located at 11q14.3, the mutual translocation region of the famous DISC1 translocation [t (1; 11) (p42.1; q14.3)].
INTRODUCTION: The present study investigated the relationship between psychological symptoms and psychosocial function and the role of relevant sociodemographic data and antipsychotic use in the prediction of psychosocial function among multiracial schizophrenia outpatients in Malaysia.
METHODS: A total of 223 participants were recruited in this cross-sectional study conducted from December 2010 to April 2011. Psychological symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale whilst the psychosocial function was assessed using the Personal and Social Performance scale. Sociodemographic and treatment variables were gathered through interview or review of the medical records.
RESULTS: All dimensions of psychosocial functions were inversely correlated with Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale sub-domains. Only the disorganization sub-domain significantly predicts all dimensions of psychosocial function. For social data, body mass index and employment status were significant predictors of all dimensions of psychosocial functions. Typical antipsychotics significantly predict social function negatively as compared to sulpiride (β = -0.152, P = 0.028).
DISCUSSION: We found that the relationship between psychological symptoms and psychosocial functions were relatively consistent with the findings from the Caucasian population. Additionally, disorganization was the only significant predictor of all dimensions of psychosocial functions. This further emphasized the importance of cognition in psychosocial function. The roles of sulpiride, body mass index and employment status as predictors of psychosocial function were also discussed.
KEYWORDS: antipsychotics; psychosocial function; schizophrenia; symptoms
Study site: Psychiatric clinic, Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia