Microscopy-based technique has been widely used in the detection of Blastocystis sp. This study was conducted to compare
the techniques used for screening of Blastocystis sp., namely in vitro cultivation of stool specimens in Jones’ medium (IVC)
followed by Wheatley Trichrome staining and direct examination of stool samples preserved with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)
followed by Wheatley Trichrome staining with single-round polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as the reference technique.
The study was performed on 466 stool samples obtained from the aboriginal community in Pahang, Malaysia. IVC showed
higher detection rate of Blastocystis sp. (35.6%) than PVA (20.0%). Single-round PCR detected Blastocystis sp. in 41.0%
of the stool specimens. The sensitivity and specificity of PVA and IVC in comparison to the reference technique were 75.3%
(95% CI: 65.2-83.6) and 68.5% (CI: 63.7-73.3) and 88.6% (CI: 82.7-93.0) and 86.3% (CI: 81.9-90.0), respectively. The
agreement between the reference technique and PVA showed statistically significant fair agreement by Cohen Kappa
statistics of (K=0.318, p<0.001), meanwhile statistically significant substantial agreement was observed between PCR
and IVC by Cohen Kappa (K=0.727, p<0.001). Therefore, in vitro cultivation in Jones’ medium followed by Wheatley
Trichrome staining of stool specimens should be used as a screening technique in the detection of Blastocystis sp. infections.
ABSTRACT
Academic achievement may be influenced by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT)
polymorphism. A common functional polymorphism of COMT, the rs4680 is consistently being
involved in the modulation of dopaminergic pathway and prefrontal cortex function which may
predominantly affect cognitive functions. A total of 197 female participants were recruited in this
study. The score of student’s grade point average (GPA) from the latest previous semester was
used as the measurement of academic achievement. The COMT polymorphism was genotyped
using tetra primer allele specific polymerase chain reaction. The findings indicated that there
were 8 (4.1 %), 72 (36.5 %), and 117 (59.4 %) participants harbouring Met/Met, Met/Val, and
Val/Val genotype for COMT polymorphism respectively. All the genotype distributions of
COMT polymorphism were consistent with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (χ2 = 0.495, p > 0.05).
The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) result demonstrated that participants bearing
Met/Met genotype had a better achievement in GPA as compared to the other COMT genotypes
(p = 0.001). These findings support evidence that the affective role of COMT polymorphism
might overwhelm cognitive abilities in measures of academic achievement like GPA.
This study was performed to establish the genetic variability of Aedes albopictus within Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, by using the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase 5 subunit (ND5) mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) marker. A total of 90 samples were collected from 9 localities within an area of the Subang Jaya Municipality. Genetic variability was determined through the amplification and sequencing of a fragment of the ND5 gene. Eight distinct mtDNA haplotypes were identified. The evolutionary relationship of the local haplotypes alongside 28 reference strains was used to construct a phylogram, the analysis of which revealed low genetic differentiation in terms of both nucleotide and haplotype diversity. Bayesian method was used to infer the phylogenetic tree, revealing a unique relationship between local isolates. The study corroborates the reliability of ND5 to identify distinct lineages for polymorphism-based studies and supplements the existing body of knowledge regarding its genetic diversity. This in turn could potentially aid existing vector control strategies to help mitigate the risk and spread of the dengue virus.