METHODS: This was a Malaysian Community Salt Study (MyCoSS) sub-study, which was conducted from October 2017 to March 2018. Out of 798 participants in the MyCoSS study who completed 24-h urine collection, 768 of them have collected one-time spot urine the following morning. They were randomly assigned into two groups to form separate spot urine equations. The final spot urine equation was derived from the entire data set after confirming the stability of the equation by double cross-validation in both study groups. Newly derived spot urine equation was developed using the coefficients from the multiple linear regression test. A Bland-Altman plot was used to measure the mean bias and limits of agreement between estimated and measured 24-h urine sodium. The estimation of sodium intake using the new equation was compared with other established equations, namely Tanaka and INTERSALT.
RESULTS: The new equation showed the least mean bias between measured and predicted sodium, - 0.35 (- 72.26, 71.56) mg/day compared to Tanaka, 629.83 (532.19, 727.47) mg/day and INTERSALT, and 360.82 (284.34, 437.29) mg/day. Predicted sodium measured from the new equation showed greater correlation with measured sodium (r = 0.50) compared to Tanaka (r =0.24) and INTERSALT (r = 0.44), P < 0.05.
CONCLUSION: Our newly developed equation from spot urine can predict least mean bias of sodium intake among the Malaysian population when 24-h urine sodium collection is not feasible.
Materials and methods: This prospective study that screened 59 healthy cats and the status of the heart were evaluated based on a combination of findings from physical examination, electrocardiography, blood pressure measurement, routine blood test, urinalysis, and total thyroid level.
Results: Approximately 40.7% (n = 24/59) of the apparently healthy cats were diagnosed with heart disease hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (62.5%) remains to be the most commonly diagnosed. The mean age was 4.9-year old (age range, 7-month-old to 19-year-old). The prevalence was higher in males (45.0%; n = 17/38) cats, especially the domestic shorthairs (46.0%; n = 11/24). Among the healthy cats with vertebral heart scale (VHS) > 8.0, only 52% (n = 12/23) of them were diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. However, 33% (n = 12/36) of the cats with normal VHS ≤ 7.9 were diagnosed with heart disease. Consistently, all healthy cats with abnormal heart sounds were diagnosed with heart disease. About 31.4% (n = 16/51) of these cats with typical heart sound had cardiomyopathy too.
Conclusion: The occurrence of cardiomyopathy in apparently healthy cats has no association with the patient's age, sex, and VHS, except for the heart sound. Echocardiography remains the best diagnostic tool, as normal heart size and normal heart sound do not exclude cardiomyopathy in this group of apparently healthy cats.
METHODS: All members of the Penang Private Medical Practitioners' Society were asked to complete a self-administered survey. Nonresponders were contacted after 3 weeks and received a telephone request after 6 weeks.
RESULTS: Of the 786 practitioners contacted, 669 considered themselves to be PCPs, including 279 (42%) who responded to the survey. Adult males with prostatitis-like symptoms typically constitute <1% of the patients seen by PCPs. Most PCPs (72%) believe that prostatitis-like symptoms are caused by bacterial infection. 61% of PCPs base their diagnosis of prostatitis-like symptoms on clinical history, a physical examination and dipstick urinalysis. Standard management was to prescribe 1 or 2 courses of antimicrobials.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite the 8.7% prevalence found in a previous survey in this population, prostatitis remains underdiagnosed in Malaysia. In contrast to many other clinical settings, urologists in Malaysia see a large proportion of newly diagnosed and treatment-naive prostatitis patients, providing an opportunity for clinical diagnostic and treatment studies.