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The anatomical locations of postoperative pain and their recovery trajectories following Posterior Spinal Fusion (PSF) surgery in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) patients

Chiu CK, Chong KI, Chan TS, Mohamad SM, Hasan MS, Chan CYW, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2020 01;75(1):12-17.
PMID: 32008013

INTRODUCTION: This study looked into the different anatomical locations of pain and their trajectories within the first two weeks after Posterior Spinal Fusion (PSF) surgery for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS).
METHODS: We prospectively recruited patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) scheduled for PSF surgery. The anatomical locations of pain were divided into four: (1) surgical wound pain; (2) shoulder pain; (3) neck pain; and (4) low back pain. The anatomical locations of pain were charted using the visual analogue pain score at intervals of 12, 24, 36, 48 hours; and from day-3 to -14. Patient-controlled analgesia (morphine), use of celecoxib capsules, acetaminophen tablets and oxycodone hydrochloride capsule consumption were recorded.
RESULTS: A total of 40 patients were recruited. Patients complained of surgical wound pain score of 6.2±2.1 after surgery. This subsequently reduced to 4.2±2.0 by day-4, and to 2.4±1.3 by day-7. Shoulder pain scores of symptomatic patients peaked to 4.2±2.7 at 24 hours and 36 hours which then reduced to 1.8±1.1 by day-8. Neck pain scores of symptomatic patients reduced from 4.2±1.9 at 12 hours to 1.8±1.1 by day-4. Low back pain scores of symptomatic patients reduced from 5.3±2.3 at 12 hours to 1.8±1.1 by day- 12.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite the presence of different anatomical locations of pain after surgery, surgical wound was the most significant pain and other anatomical locations of pain were generally mild. Surgical wound pain reduced to a tolerable level by day-4 when patients can then be comfortably discharged. This finding provides useful information for clinicians, patients and their caregivers.
Fulltext Sero-prevalence study of IgE responses to allergens from Malaysian house dust (HDM) and storage mites (SM)

Chong KT, Wong SF, Mak JW, Loh LC, Ho TM

Trop Biomed, 2015 Sep;32(3):524-39.
PMID: 26695214 MyJurnal

Allergens of Dermatophagoides and Blomia species are well-characterized but not for other species. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of allergic sensitization to house dust (HDM) and storage mites (SM). One hundred adult subjects (aged ≥ 18) were recruited. The mite specific IgE of all allergic subjects were higher compared with healthy subjetcs despite being not statistically significant except for D. farinae and G. malaysiensis. The mean serum IgE levels against HDM and SM for allergic subjects were significantly higher compared with those in healthy subjects. They were mainly sensitized to Dermatophagoides farinae (35%) and Glycycometus malaysiensis (37%). Immunoblots revealed not all allergic subjects showed positive immuno-reactivity against the mites tested. Single or multiple bands were observed for different species. The subjects were commonly sensitized to Group 2 (9-12 kDa), 10 (38 kDa) and 18 (40-48 kDa) allergens. Twenty-one out of 60 allergic subjects were sensitized to either one or more species. The majority of them (71%) were sensitized to single species. The allergic subjects were mainly sensitized to D. pteronyssinus, followed by Tyrophagus putrecentiae and Aleuroglyphus ovatus. Seven were solely sensitized to HDM while 10 were solely sensitized to SM. Four subjects were sensitized to both. Pre-adsorption study revealed no cross-reactivity. There was difference between the prevalence and reactivity to allergens of HDM and SM in these subjects. Both ELISA and immunoblot did not correlate well but can complement each other in improving the detection of mite allergens to the species level.
Distribution of the FcgammaRIIIa 176 F/V polymorphism amongst healthy Chinese, Malays and Asian Indians in Singapore

Chong KT, Ho WF, Koo SH, Thompson P, Lee EJ

Br J Clin Pharmacol, 2007 Mar;63(3):328-32.
PMID: 16981896

To determine and compare the distribution of the FcgammaRIIIa 176 F/V polymorphism across three ethnically distinct populations (Chinese, Asian Indians and Malays) in Singapore.
Fulltext Streamflow classification by employing various machine learning models for peninsular Malaysia

AlDahoul N, Momo MA, Chong KL, Ahmed AN, Huang YF, Sherif M, et al.

Sci Rep, 2023 Sep 04;13(1):14574.
PMID: 37666880 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41735-9

Due to excessive streamflow (SF), Peninsular Malaysia has historically experienced floods and droughts. Forecasting streamflow to mitigate municipal and environmental damage is therefore crucial. Streamflow prediction has been extensively demonstrated in the literature to estimate the continuous values of streamflow level. Prediction of continuous values of streamflow is not necessary in several applications and at the same time it is very challenging task because of uncertainty. A streamflow category prediction is more advantageous for addressing the uncertainty in numerical point forecasting, considering that its predictions are linked to a propensity to belong to the pre-defined classes. Here, we formulate streamflow prediction as a time series classification with discrete ranges of values, each representing a class to classify streamflow into five or ten, respectively, using machine learning approaches in various rivers in Malaysia. The findings reveal that several models, specifically LSTM, outperform others in predicting the following n-time steps of streamflow because LSTM is able to learn the mapping between streamflow time series of 2 or 3 days ahead more than support vector machine (SVM) and gradient boosting (GB). LSTM produces higher F1 score in various rivers (by 5% in Johor, 2% in Kelantan and Melaka and Selangor, 4% in Perlis) in 2 days ahead scenario. Furthermore, the ensemble stacking of the SVM and GB achieves high performance in terms of F1 score and quadratic weighted kappa. Ensemble stacking gives 3% higher F1 score in Perak river compared to SVM and gradient boosting.
Fulltext The Recent Progress on Silver Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Electronic Applications

Bouafia A, Laouini SE, Ahmed ASA, Soldatov AV, Algarni H, Feng Chong K, et al.

Nanomaterials (Basel), 2021 Sep 06;11(9).
PMID: 34578634 DOI: 10.3390/nano11092318

Nanoscience enables researchers to develop new and cost-effective nanomaterials for energy, healthcare, and medical applications. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are currently increasingly synthesized for their superior physicochemical and electronic properties. Good knowledge of these characteristics allows the development of applications in all sensitive and essential fields in the service of humans and the environment. This review aims to summarize the Ag NPs synthesis methods, properties, applications, and future challenges. Generally, Ag NPs can be synthesized using physical, chemical, and biological routes. Due to the great and increasing demand for metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, researchers have invented a new, environmentally friendly, inexpensive synthetic method that replaces other methods with many defects. Studies of Ag NPs have increased after clear and substantial support from governments to develop nanotechnology. Ag NPs are the most widely due to their various potent properties. Thus, this comprehensive review discusses the different synthesis procedures and electronic applications of Ag NPs.
Fulltext Audit of hypertension in general practice

Chan SC, Chandramani T, Chen TY, Chong KN, Harbaksh S, Lee TW, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2005 Oct;60(4):475-82.
PMID: 16570710

An audit of hypertension management was done in October 2004 in nine general practice (GP) clinics. Two structure, ten process and two outcome indicators were assessed. Results showed that targets were achieved in only four indicators, i.e., weight recording (89%), BP monitoring (85.8%), follow-up interval not exceeding 6 months (87.9%) and mean diastolic BP (73.9%). The other indicators (hypertension registry, reminder mechanisms for defaulters, recording of smoking, height, fundoscopy, monitoring of lipid profile, blood sugar, ECG, renal function and achievement of target mean systolic pressure) showed adequacy percentages varying from 22.1 to 68.7. Out of the 1260 patients assessed, 743 (59%) achieved a mean BP < or = 140/90 (or < or = 130/80 mmHg with diabetes mellitus / renal insufficiency) in the last 3 recorded readings. There was a vast difference between individual clinics. Reasons for not achieving targets were discussed and remedial measures for implementation were recommended.
Knockdown of c-MET induced apoptosis in ABCB1-overexpressed multidrug-resistance cancer cell lines

Hung TH, Li YH, Tseng CP, Lan YW, Hsu SC, Chen YH, et al.

Cancer Gene Ther, 2015 May;22(5):262-70.
PMID: 25908454 DOI: 10.1038/cgt.2015.15

Inappropriate c-MET signaling in cancer can enhance tumor cell proliferation, survival, motility, and invasion. Inhibition of c-MET signaling induces apoptosis in a variety of cancers. It has also been recognized as a novel anticancer therapy approach. Furthermore, reports have also indicated that constitutive expression of P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) is involved in the HGF/c-MET-related pathway of multidrug resistance ABCB1-positive human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. We previously reported that elevated expression levels of PKCδ and AP-1 downstream genes, and HGF receptor (c-MET) and ABCB1, in the drug-resistant MES-SA/Dx5 cells. Moreover, leukemia cell lines overexpressing ABCB1 have also been shown to be more resistant to the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib mesylate. These findings suggest that chemoresistant cancer cells may also develop a similar mechanism against chemotherapy agents. To circumvent clinical complications arising from drug resistance during cancer therapy, the present study was designed to investigate apoptosis induction in ABCB1-overexpressed cancer cells using c-MET-targeted RNA interference technology in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that cell viability decreased and apoptosis rate increased in c-MET shRNA-transfected HGF/c-MET pathway-positive MES-SA/Dx5 and MCF-7/ADR2 cell lines in a dose-dependent manner. In vivo reduction of tumor volume in mice harboring c-MET shRNA-knockdown MES-SA/Dx5 cells was clearly demonstrated. Our study demonstrated that downregulation of c-MET by shRNA-induced apoptosis in a multidrug resistance cell line.
Association between medication adherence and blood pressure control and factors associated with antihypertensive medication adherence in the Melaka Tengah District: A cross-sectional survey

Suleiman SZ, Htay MNN, Soe HHK, Low LYC, Alias SH, Yussof S, et al.

Malays Fam Physician, 2024;19:56.
PMID: 39534762 DOI: 10.51866/oa.651

INTRODUCTION: The burden of cardiovascular disease and early morbidity and mortality is exacerbated by hypertension. According to the 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey, 30% of adults in Malaysia aged over 18 years had hypertension. Our study aimed to investigate the association between medication adherence and blood pressure control and the factors associated with antihypertensive medication adherence.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among adult patients with hypertension who had been under treatment at public primary health clinics in the Melaka Tengah District. A self-administered questionnaire was used, and blood pressure was measured. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 28).
RESULTS: A total of 1531 patients were recruited in this study. Among them, 74.1% had good antihypertensive medication adherence, and 51.4% had their blood pressure controlled. Medication adherence was significantly associated with blood pressure control (P<0.005). The multivariate analysis showed that the determinants for antihypertensive medication non-adherence were Malay ethnicity, secondary education, farther distance from the clinic, experience of side effects of antihypertensive medications, concern about long-term side effects and usage of alternative medicine (P<0.05). Taking multiple antihypertensive medications was the only factor associated with uncontrolled blood pressure (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION: Addressing issues on medication adherence is important to ensure blood pressure control. The factors associated with non-adherence should be closely monitored to improve blood pressure control and prevent adverse health outcomes. Single-pill combination antihypertensive medications are encouraged to reduce pill burden and improve blood pressure control.
Abstracts of the 34th World Congress on Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 15-18 September 2024, Budapest, Hungary

Chen Y, Papastefanou I, Hoang LN, Dinh LT, Tai S, Nguyen D, et al.

Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol, 2024 Sep;64 Suppl 1:35.
PMID: 39249193 DOI: 10.1002/uog.27813
Abstracts of the 34th World Congress on Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 15-18 September 2024, Budapest, Hungary

Hoang LN, Dinh LT, Tai S, Nguyen D, Pooh RK, Shiozaki A, et al.

Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol, 2024 Sep;64 Suppl 1:33-34.
PMID: 39249221 DOI: 10.1002/uog.27809
Fulltext Trust predicts COVID-19 prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions in 23 countries

Pagliaro S, Sacchi S, Pacilli MG, Brambilla M, Lionetti F, Bettache K, et al.

PLoS One, 2021;16(3):e0248334.
PMID: 33690672 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248334

The worldwide spread of a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) since December 2019 has posed a severe threat to individuals' well-being. While the world at large is waiting that the released vaccines immunize most citizens, public health experts suggest that, in the meantime, it is only through behavior change that the spread of COVID-19 can be controlled. Importantly, the required behaviors are aimed not only at safeguarding one's own health. Instead, individuals are asked to adapt their behaviors to protect the community at large. This raises the question of which social concerns and moral principles make people willing to do so. We considered in 23 countries (N = 6948) individuals' willingness to engage in prescribed and discretionary behaviors, as well as country-level and individual-level factors that might drive such behavioral intentions. Results from multilevel multiple regressions, with country as the nesting variable, showed that publicized number of infections were not significantly related to individual intentions to comply with the prescribed measures and intentions to engage in discretionary prosocial behaviors. Instead, psychological differences in terms of trust in government, citizens, and in particular toward science predicted individuals' behavioral intentions across countries. The more people endorsed moral principles of fairness and care (vs. loyalty and authority), the more they were inclined to report trust in science, which, in turn, statistically predicted prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions. Results have implications for the type of intervention and public communication strategies that should be most effective to induce the behavioral changes that are needed to control the COVID-19 outbreak.