BACKGROUND AND AIMS:
Diabetic foot ulcer is one of the major health problems that accounts for increased morbidity among the diabetic patients. Having good knowledge, good attitude and practice of managing the foot prevents the impending chronic co-morbidities of the disease.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
This cross-sectional study was performed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice on foot care among the newly diagnosed diabetic type 2 patients with low education and socio economic background. This study was conducted in one of the out patient clinics in a tertiary hospital. A set of questionnaire adopted from The Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center (MDRTC), was used to assess 109 respondents based on their knowledge of diabetes mellitus, practice and attitude towards the condition and care of the feet.
RESULTS:
The overall finding on knowledge, practice and attitude had shown unsatisfactory result. There was no relationship between the knowledge, practice and attitude with care of the feet. Only 20 (18.3%) respondents had a high score on knowledge, 31 (28.4%) had practiced good habits and 5 (4.6%) showed positive attitude towards care of the feet. However, there was significant finding on the level of education and the knowledge of foot care (p=0.01);
CONCLUSION:
Strategies should be developed to overcome the longterm complications. As for the Muslim patients, ablution, the ritual practice of washing and cleaning both feet prior to the prayers may be a possible means of checking the feet for any diabetic foot complication.
Pteropine orthoreoviruses (PRVs) are an emerging group of fusogenic, bat-borne viruses from the Orthoreovirus genus. Since the isolation of PRV from a patient with acute respiratory tract infections in 2006, the zoonotic potential of PRV has been further highlighted following subsequent isolation of PRV species from patients in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia. However, the entry mechanism of PRV is currently unknown. In this study, we investigated the role of previously identified mammalian orthoreovirus (MRV) receptors, sialic acid and junctional adhesion molecule-1 for PRV infection. However, none of these receptors played a significant role in PRV infection, suggesting PRV uses a distinct entry receptor from MRV. Given its broad tissue tropism, we hypothesized that PRV may use a receptor that is widely expressed in all cell types, heparan sulphate (HS). Enzymatic removal of cell surface HS by heparinase treatment and genetic ablation of HS biosynthesis genes, SLC35B2, exostosin-1, N-deacetylase/N-sulfotransferase I and beta-1,3-glucuronyltransferase 3, significantly reduced infection with multiple genetically distinct PRV species. Replication kinetic of PRV3M in HS knockout cells revealed that HS plays a crucial role in the early phase of PRV infection. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that HS is an essential host-factor for PRV attachment and internalization into cells. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of HS as an attachment receptor by PRVs.