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Fulltext Diabetes and cognitive decline: Challenges and future direction

Ab-Hamid N, Omar N, Ismail CAN, Long I

World J Diabetes, 2023 Jun 15;14(6):795-807.
PMID: 37383592 DOI: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i6.795

There is growing evidence that diabetes can induce cognitive decline and dementia. It is a slow, progressive cognitive decline that can occur in any age group, but is seen more frequently in older individuals. Symptoms related to cognitive decline are worsened by chronic metabolic syndrome. Animal models are frequently utilized to elucidate the mechanisms of cognitive decline in diabetes and to assess potential drugs for therapy and prevention. This review addresses the common factors and pathophysiology involved in diabetes-related cognitive decline and outlines the various animal models used to study this condition.
A Clinicopathology Review and Update of Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated Mesenchymal Tumors

Lee OZJ, Omar N, Tay JK, Lee VKM

Cancers (Basel), 2023 Nov 24;15(23).
PMID: 38067267 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15235563

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with various tumor types, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma and lymphoproliferative disorders. While much is known about EBV-related epithelial and lymphoid tumors, there is a paucity of knowledge concerning EBV-associated mesenchymal tumors. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of EBV-associated mesenchymal tumors, encompassing their clinical features, pathological characteristics, pathophysiology, prognostic factors, and current treatment approaches. Through an extensive literature search using the PubMed database, we were able to identify three distinct EBV-associated mesenchymal tumors: EBV-associated smooth muscle tumors, inflammatory pseudotumor-like follicular dendritic cell sarcomas, and EBV-associated osteosarcomas. Although this review extensively explored the different aspects of these mesenchymal tumors, our comprehension of the underlying pathophysiology in this context is still incomplete. Therefore, we hope that this review paper will not only serve as a valuable repository of information but also serve as a catalyst for prospective in vitro and in vivo research studies to bridge the existing knowledge gap surrounding pathophysiology, ultimately making an important contribution to shaping future therapeutic approaches.
Fulltext A normalization model for repeated letters in social media hate speech text based on rules and spelling correction

Mansur Z, Omar N, Tiun S, Alshari EM

PLoS One, 2024;19(3):e0299652.
PMID: 38512966 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299652

As social media booms, abusive online practices such as hate speech have unfortunately increased as well. As letters are often repeated in words used to construct social media messages, these types of words should be eliminated or reduced in number to enhance the efficacy of hate speech detection. Although multiple models have attempted to normalize out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words with repeated letters, they often fail to determine whether the in-vocabulary (IV) replacement words are correct or incorrect. Therefore, this study developed an improved model for normalizing OOV words with repeated letters by replacing them with correct in-vocabulary (IV) replacement words. The improved normalization model is an unsupervised method that does not require the use of a special dictionary or annotated data. It combines rule-based patterns of words with repeated letters and the SymSpell spelling correction algorithm to remove repeated letters within the words by multiple rules regarding the position of repeated letters in a word, be it at the beginning, middle, or end of the word and the repetition pattern. Two hate speech datasets were then used to assess performance. The proposed normalization model was able to decrease the percentage of OOV words to 8%. Its F1 score was also 9% and 13% higher than the models proposed by two extant studies. Therefore, the proposed normalization model performed better than the benchmark studies in replacing OOV words with the correct IV replacement and improved the performance of the detection model. As such, suitable rule-based patterns can be combined with spelling correction to develop a text normalization model to correctly replace words with repeated letters, which would, in turn, improve hate speech detection in texts.
A multi-view representation technique based on principal component analysis for enhanced short text clustering

Ahmed MH, Tiun S, Omar N, Sani NS

PLoS One, 2024;19(8):e0309206.
PMID: 39178180 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309206

Clustering texts together is an essential task in data mining and information retrieval, whose aim is to group unlabeled texts into meaningful clusters that facilitate extracting and understanding useful information from large volumes of textual data. However, clustering short texts (STC) is complex because they typically contain sparse, ambiguous, noisy, and lacking information. One of the challenges for STC is finding a proper representation for short text documents to generate cohesive clusters. However, typically, STC considers only a single-view representation to do clustering. The single-view representation is inefficient for representing text due to its inability to represent different aspects of the target text. In this paper, we propose the most suitable multi-view representation (MVR) (by finding the best combination of different single-view representations) to enhance STC. Our work will explore different types of MVR based on different sets of single-view representation combinations. The combination of the single-view representations is done by a fixed length concatenation via Principal Component analysis (PCA) technique. Three standard datasets (Twitter, Google News, and StackOverflow) are used to evaluate the performances of various sets of MVRs on STC. Based on experimental results, the best combination of single-view representation as an effective for STC was the 5-views MVR (a combination of BERT, GPT, TF-IDF, FastText, and GloVe). Based on that, we can conclude that MVR improves the performance of STC; however, the design for MVR requires selective single-view representations.
Fulltext Reduced fibrinogen, fibrinolytic biomarkers, and physical parameters after a weight-loss program in obese subjects

Aziz CB, Omar N, Abdullah WZ, Jalil RA, Nik WS, Zakaria R

N Am J Med Sci, 2014 Aug;6(8):377-82.
PMID: 25210670 DOI: 10.4103/1947-2714.139286

Obese subjects are at risk of multiple comorbidities including stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD), which is partly due to disturbances in the hemostatic system.
Fulltext Development of an antigen-DNAzyme based probe for a direct antibody-antigen assay using the intrinsic DNAzyme activity of a daunomycin aptamer

Omar N, Loh Q, Tye GJ, Choong YS, Noordin R, Glökler J, et al.

Sensors (Basel), 2013;14(1):346-55.
PMID: 24379042 DOI: 10.3390/s140100346

G-Quadruplex (G-4) structures are formed when G-rich DNA sequences fold into intra- or intermolecular four-stranded structures in the presence of metal ions. G-4-hemin complexes are often effective peroxidase-mimicking DNAzymes that are applied in many detection systems. This work reports the application of a G-rich daunomycin-specific aptamer for the development of an antibody-antigen detection assay. We investigated the ability of the daunomycin aptamer to efficiently catalyze the hemin-dependent peroxidase activity independent of daunomycin. A reporter probe consisting of biotinylated antigen and daunomycin aptamer coupled to streptavidin gold nanoparticles was successfully used to generate a colorimetric readout. In conclusion, the daunomycin aptamer can function as a robust alternative DNAzyme for the development of colorimetric assays.
Fulltext Clinicopathological features and immunohistochemical detection of antigens in acute experimental Streptococcus agalactiae infection in red tilapia (Oreochromis spp.)

Abdullah S, Omar N, Yusoff SM, Obukwho EB, Nwunuji TP, Hanan L, et al.

Springerplus, 2013;2:286.
PMID: 23961386 DOI: 10.1186/2193-1801-2-286

This study investigates the clinicopathological features of acute experimental streptococcosis in red tilapia using various routes of infection; intraperitoneal (IP), immersion (IM) and immersion cut (IC). Twenty four red tilapia in duplicates were inoculated intraperitoneally with 10(9) CFU/ml of S. agalactiae while another sets: intact, one with sharp cut at the tail end were exposed to bacterial inoculums 10(9) CFU/ml diluted in water while two groups of control fish were similarly manipulated. Clinical signs were recorded; samples from the gills, brain, eyes and kidneys were also taken for bacterial isolation and histopathology. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were employed to detect the antigen. The diseased fish showed skin, fin haemorrhages and exophthalmia with obvious signs in IP at 2 hpc followed by IC and IM at 4 hpc. The lesions were noticed earlier in the kidney and most severe in IP. IHC detected antigen as early as PCR and isolation with intense staining in blood vessel lumen and wall, macrophages in choroid, focal haemorrhage in the renal interstitium and meninges especially in IP followed by IC and IM. The immunolocalisation of the antigen described for the first time further explain the pathogenesis of streptococcosis in red tilapia.
Projecting social support needs of informal caregivers in Malaysia

Abu Bakar SH, Weatherley R, Omar N, Abdullah F, Mohamad Aun NS

Health Soc Care Community, 2014 Mar;22(2):144-54.
PMID: 24024495 DOI: 10.1111/hsc.12070

This article presents the findings of a self-report study of the consequences of being an informal caregiver in Malaysia. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine Malaysian efforts in assisting informal caregivers, based on an analysis of the issues and concerns raised by the caregivers themselves. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of informal caregivers in 2009. This sample comprised parents, spouses and/or adult siblings, and adult children, caring for their children, spouses or siblings and parents who were chronically ill and/or had a disability. Of 300 prospective participants, only 175 could be located (58%), but all those contacted agreed to participate. Respondents were randomly selected and interviewed using a structured questionnaire to identify the emotional, financial, social and physical issues consequent upon being a caregiver. Most respondents reported that their care-giving responsibilities had impacted their emotional, financial, social and/or physical well-being. Inadequate and/or uncertain income was by far the greatest concern followed in descending order by social, physical and emotional consequences. The one-way analysis of variance showed significant differences among the three categories of caregivers with respect to physical and emotional consequences. The findings show that care-giving has detrimental effects on the lives of informal caregivers, and that they are in significant need of social support to help them deal with care-giving tasks and responsibilities. Based on the findings, an integrated social support programme is proposed, tailored to the needs of informal caregivers.
Fulltext Malay sentiment analysis based on combined classification approaches and Senti-lexicon algorithm

Al-Saffar A, Awang S, Tao H, Omar N, Al-Saiagh W, Al-Bared M

PLoS One, 2018;13(4):e0194852.
PMID: 29684036 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194852

Sentiment analysis techniques are increasingly exploited to categorize the opinion text to one or more predefined sentiment classes for the creation and automated maintenance of review-aggregation websites. In this paper, a Malay sentiment analysis classification model is proposed to improve classification performances based on the semantic orientation and machine learning approaches. First, a total of 2,478 Malay sentiment-lexicon phrases and words are assigned with a synonym and stored with the help of more than one Malay native speaker, and the polarity is manually allotted with a score. In addition, the supervised machine learning approaches and lexicon knowledge method are combined for Malay sentiment classification with evaluating thirteen features. Finally, three individual classifiers and a combined classifier are used to evaluate the classification accuracy. In experimental results, a wide-range of comparative experiments is conducted on a Malay Reviews Corpus (MRC), and it demonstrates that the feature extraction improves the performance of Malay sentiment analysis based on the combined classification. However, the results depend on three factors, the features, the number of features and the classification approach.
Fulltext Corrigendum: Obesity and Comorbidity: Could Simultaneous Targeting of esRAGE and sRAGE Be the Panacea?

Eleazu C, Omar N, Lim OZ, Yeoh BS, Nik Hussain NH, Mohamed M

Front Physiol, 2019 08 07;10:1017.
PMID: 31417435 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.01017

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00787.].
Fulltext Obesity and Comorbidity: Could Simultaneous Targeting of esRAGE and sRAGE Be the Panacea?

Eleazu C, Omar N, Lim OZ, Yeoh BS, Nik Hussain NH, Mohamed M

Front Physiol, 2019;10:787.
PMID: 31293451 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00787

Obesity, a chronic multifaceted disease, predisposes its patients to increased risk of metabolic disorders such as: diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, dyslipidemia, etc. Recent studies reported it to be amongst the leading causes of deaths in the world. Although several treatment options for obesity abound, many of them have not been able to successfully reverse the existing obesity and metabolic dysregulation. This has therefore warranted the need for either alternative therapies or diversification of the treatment approach for obesity and its comorbidity. When the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) interacts with its ligand, RAGE-ligand activates an inflammatory signaling cascade, that leads to the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and transcription of inflammatory cytokines. This action has been associated with the development of obesity and its mediated metabolic dysregulation. In view of the increasing prevalence of obesity globally and the potential threat it places on life expectancy, this article reviewed the promising potentials of targeting endogenous secretory receptor for advanced glycation end products/soluble receptors for advanced glycation end products signaling as a treatment approach for obesity. We carried out a literature search in several electronic data bases such as: Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Google, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Medline from 1980 to 2019 to acquire the status of information concerning this. The article suggests the need for the development of an esRAGE/sRAGE targeted pharmacotherapy as a treatment approach for obesity and its comorbidity.
Functionality among stroke survivors with upper limb impairment attending community-based rehabilitation

Omar NH, Mohd Nordin NA, Chai SC, Abdul Aziz AF

Med J Malaysia, 2020 03;75(2):146-151.
PMID: 32281596

INTRODUCTION: There is scarcity of research information on upper limb (UL) functionality among Malaysian post-stroke population despite the increasing number of stroke survivors. This study intends to evaluate functionality among stroke survivors residing in the community, with a specific focus on the UL.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 65 stroke survivors with UL dysfunction (mean (SD) age = 64.83 (8.05) years, mean (SD) post-stroke duration 41.62 (35.24) months) who attended community-based rehabilitation program. Upper limb functionality was assessed using the UL items of Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SSQOL), the Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Scale and the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test (JTHFT). The stroke survivors' performance in completing JTHFT using their affected dominant hand was compared with standard norms.
RESULTS: The three most affected UL daily living tasks were writing (64.7%, n=42), opening a jar (63.1%, n=41) and putting on socks (58.5%, n=38). As for IADL, the mean (SD) score of Lawton scale was 3.26 (2.41), with more than 50% unable to handle finance, do the laundry and prepare meals for themselves. Performances of stroke survivors were much slower than normal population in all tasks of JTHFT (p<0.05), with largest speed difference demonstrated for 'stacking objects' task (mean difference 43.24 secs (p=0.003) and 24.57 (p<0.001) in males and females, respectively.
CONCLUSION: UL functions are significantly impaired among stroke survivors despite undergoing rehabilitation. Rehabilitation professionals should prioritize highly problematic tasks when retraining UL for greater post-stroke functionality.
Fulltext The Influence of Ficus deltoidea in Preserving Alveolar Bone in Ovariectomized Rats

Omar NI, Baharin B, Lau SF, Ibrahim N, Mohd N, Ahmad Fauzi A, et al.

Vet Med Int, 2020;2020:8862489.
PMID: 33456747 DOI: 10.1155/2020/8862489

Ficus deltoidea has been shown to possess antioxidant properties that could prevent the development of chronic inflammatory bone diseases. In this study, the efficacy of F. deltoidea in preventing alveolar bone resorption in osteoporotic rats induced by ovariectomy (OVX) was investigated. Twenty-four female Wistar rats were divided into four groups (n = 6) consisting of sham-operated (SO), ovariectomized control (OVXN), ovariectomized treated with estrogen (OVXP), and ovariectomized treated with F. deltoidea extract (OVXF). At the beginning of the study, two nonovariectomized, healthy rats were sacrificed to serve as baseline (BL). Treatment of the rats commenced two weeks after ovariectomy-the OVXP rats that served as positive control received Premarin® (64.5 μg/kg body weight), while OVXF rats were given F. deltoidea (800 mg/kg body weight); both agents were administered orally for two months. The negative control group of rats (OVXN) and the SO group received deionized water, also administered via oral gavage. At necropsy, morphometric assessment of the interradicular bone of the first molar was carried out using a micro-CT scanner, while quantification of osteoclasts and osteoblasts was performed histologically. The results showed that no statistically significant differences among the groups (p > 0.05) for bone morphometric assessment. However, trabecular thickness in the OVXF group was similar to BL, while trabecular separation and alveolar bone loss height were lower than those of the OVXN group. Histologically, the OVXF group demonstrated a significantly lower number of osteoclasts and a higher number of osteoblasts compared with OVXN (p=0.008 and p=0.019, respectively; p < 0.05). In conclusion, F. deltoidea has the capacity to prevent alveolar bone loss in ovariectomy-induced osteoporosis rats by potentially preserving trabecular bone microarchitecture and to decrease osteoclast and increase osteoblast cell count.
WIDENING THE BOTTLENECK OF PHOSPHOPROTEOMICS: EVOLVING STRATEGIES FOR PHOSPHOPEPTIDE ENRICHMENT

Low TY, Mohtar MA, Lee PY, Omar N, Zhou H, Ye M

Mass Spectrom Rev, 2021 07;40(4):309-333.
PMID: 32491218 DOI: 10.1002/mas.21636

Phosphorylation is a form of protein posttranslational modification (PTM) that regulates many biological processes. Whereas phosphoproteomics is a scientific discipline that identifies and quantifies the phosphorylated proteome using mass spectrometry (MS). This task is extremely challenging as ~30% of the human proteome is phosphorylated; and each phosphoprotein may exist as multiple phospho-isoforms that are present in low abundance and stoichiometry. Hence, phosphopeptide enrichment techniques are indispensable to (phospho)proteomics laboratories. These enrichment methods encompass widely-adopted techniques such as (i) affinity-based chromatography; (ii) ion exchange and mixed-mode chromatography (iii) enrichment with phospho-specific antibodies and protein domains, and (iv) functionalized polymers and other less common but emerging technologies such as hydroxyapatite chromatography and precipitation with inorganic ions. Here, we review these techniques, their history, continuous development and evaluation. Besides, we outline associating challenges of phosphoproteomics that are linked to experimental design, sample preparation, and proteolytic digestion. In addition, we also discuss about the future outlooks in phosphoproteomics, focusing on elucidating the noncanonical phosphoproteome and deciphering the "dark phosphoproteome". © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Amelioration of inflammation in young men with cardiovascular risks participating pedometer-based walking programme

Omar NO, Ahmad RA, Mohd Shah MS, Aminuddin AA, Chellappan KC

Med J Malaysia, 2021 05;76(3):375-381.
PMID: 34031337

INTRODUCTION: Inflammation plays a central role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular events. The lack of exercise among Malaysians and the increasing cardiovascular diseases among young men are of concern. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reducing of inflammation by measuring C-Reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 70 young men (20 - 40 years) who were sedentary, achieving less than 5,000 steps/day in casual walking with 2 or more cardiovascular risk factors were recruited in Institute of Vocational Skills for Youth (IKBN Hulu Langat). Subjects were randomly assigned to a control group (CG) (n=34; no change in walking) and pedometer group (PG) (n=36; minimum target: 8,000 steps/day). All parameter was measured at baseline, at 6 weeks and after 12 weeks.
RESULTS: At post intervention, the CG step counts were similar (4983 ± 366vs 5697 ± 407steps/day). The PG significant increased step count from 4996 ± 805 to 10,128 ±511 steps/day (p<0.001). The PG showed significant improvement in anthropometric variables and lipid (time and group effect p<0.001). After intervention, CRP, IL-6 and TNF- α were significantly reduced for time and group effect (p<0.001). However, no changes were seen in CG.
CONCLUSION: The pedometer-based walking programme improved health status in terms of improving inflammation and arterial stiffness.
Effect of short-term ketogenic diet on end-tidal carbon dioxide

Vijayam B, Malarvili MB, Md Shakhih MF, Omar N, Wahab AA

Clin Nutr ESPEN, 2021 04;42:124-131.
PMID: 33745565 DOI: 10.1016/j.clnesp.2021.02.005

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Previous studies have shown that end-tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO2) is lower with the presence of supraphysiological ketones as in the case of chronic ketogenic diet (KD) and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). This study aimed to determine changes in EtCO2 upon short term KD.
METHODS: Healthy subjects were screened not to have conditions that exerts abnormal EtCO2 nor contraindicated for KD. Subjects underwent seven days of KD while the EtCO2 and blood ketone (beta-hydroxybutyrate; β-OHB) parameters were sampled at day zero (t0) and seven (t7) of ketosis respectively. Statistically, the t-test and Pearson's coefficient were conducted to determine the changes and correlation of both parameters.
RESULTS: 12 subjects completed the study. The mean score ± standard deviation (SD) for EtCO2 were 35.08 ± 3.53 and 35.67 ± 3.31 mm Hg for t0 and t7 respectively. The mean score ±SD for β-OHB were 0.07 ± 0.08 and 0.87 ± 0.84 mmol/L for t0 and t7 respectively. There was no significant difference of EtCO2 between the period of study (p > 0.05) but the β-OHB increased during t7 (p
Fulltext Sex estimation using subpubic angle from reconstructed three-dimensional computed tomography pelvic model in a contemporary Malaysian population

Mohd Ali SH, Omar N, Shafie MS, Nik Ismail NA, Hadi H, Nor FM

Anat Cell Biol, 2020 Mar;53(1):27-35.
PMID: 32274246 DOI: 10.5115/acb.19.135

Research in forensic anthropology is recent in Malaysia due to limited access to documented skeletal collections. However, advanced imaging techniques provide virtual bone samples for use in morphometric studies to establish population-specific standards by virtual anthropology. This study examined sexual dimorphism in the subpubic angle using a three-dimensional computed tomography model of the pelvis, in a contemporary Malaysian population. The sample comprised multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) scans of 50 male and 50 female adults. Segmentation of the MDCT scans was performed using 3D Slicer, and four landmarks were acquired using Stratovan Checkpoint for the subpubic angle measurement. The technical error of measurement (TEM), relative TEM, and coefficient of reliability (R) exhibited high reliability in measurements. Results showed that the subpubic angle in males was 68.6°±7.6° and in females 87.4°±6.5°. The subpubic angle in females was significantly larger than in males (P<0.001). Inverse correlation was found between the subpubic angle and age, in both males (r=-0.449, P<0.01) and females (r=-0.385, P<0.01). The overall accuracy of sex estimation using the subpubic angle was 94% (P<0.001). The subpubic angle, with a demarcating point of 78.6°, showed a sensitivity and specificity of 94% in the classification of female individuals. In conclusion, sex estimation using the subpu bic angle is highly accurate, with a high degree of expected sensitivity and specificity in the Malaysian population.
Molecular tissue profiling by MALDI imaging: recent progress and applications in cancer research

Lee PY, Yeoh Y, Omar N, Pung YF, Lim LC, Low TY

Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci, 2021 11;58(7):513-529.
PMID: 34615421 DOI: 10.1080/10408363.2021.1942781

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) imaging is an emergent technology that has been increasingly adopted in cancer research. MALDI imaging is capable of providing global molecular mapping of the abundance and spatial information of biomolecules directly in the tissues without labeling. It enables the characterization of a wide spectrum of analytes, including proteins, peptides, glycans, lipids, drugs, and metabolites and is well suited for both discovery and targeted analysis. An advantage of MALDI imaging is that it maintains tissue integrity, which allows correlation with histological features. It has proven to be a valuable tool for probing tumor heterogeneity and has been increasingly applied to interrogate molecular events associated with cancer. It provides unique insights into both the molecular content and spatial details that are not accessible by other techniques, and it has allowed considerable progress in the field of cancer research. In this review, we first provide an overview of the MALDI imaging workflow and approach. We then highlight some useful applications in various niches of cancer research, followed by a discussion of the challenges, recent developments and future prospect of this technique in the field.
Diagnostic Accuracy of Shear Wave Elastography as an Adjunct Tool in Detecting Axillary Lymph Nodes Metastasis

Ng WL, Omar N, Ab Mumin N, Ramli Hamid MT, Vijayananthan A, Rahmat K

Acad Radiol, 2022 Jan;29 Suppl 1:S69-S78.
PMID: 33926793 DOI: 10.1016/j.acra.2021.03.018

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluates the diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography (SWE) in differentiating between benign and axillary lymph node (ALN) metastasis in breast carcinoma.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Breast lesions and axillae of 107 patients were assessed using B-mode ultrasound and SWE. Histopathology was the diagnostic gold standard.
RESULTS: In metastatic axillary lymph nodes, qualitative SWE using color patterns had the highest area under curve (AUC) value, followed by B-mode Ultrasound (cortical thickening >3 mm) and quantitative SWE using Emax of 15.2 kPa (AUC of 81.3%, 70.1%, and 61.2%, respectively). Qualitative SWE exhibited better diagnostic performance than the other two parameters, with sensitivity of 96.0% and specificity of 56.1%. Combination of B-mode Ultrasound (using cortical thickness of >3 mm as cut-off point) and qualitative SWE (Color patterns of 2 to 4) showed sensitivity of 71.6%, specificity of 95%, PPV of 96%, NPV of 66.7%, and accuracy of 80.4%.
CONCLUSION: Qualitative SWE assessment exhibited higher accuracy compared to quantitative values. Qualitative SWE as an adjunct to B-mode ultrasound can further improve the diagnostic accuracy of metastatic ALN in breast cancer.
Generation and selection of naïve Fab library for parasitic antigen: Anti-BmSXP antibodies for lymphatic filariasis

Omar N, Hamidon NH, Yunus MH, Noordin R, Choong YS, Lim TS

Biotechnol Appl Biochem, 2018 May;65(3):346-354.
PMID: 28833498 DOI: 10.1002/bab.1591

Phage display has been applied successfully as a tool for the generation of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Naive antibody libraries are unique as they are able to overcome several limitations associated with conventional mAb generation methods like the hybridoma technology. Here, we performed an in vitro selection and generation of Fab antibodies against Brugia malayi SXP protein (BmSXP), a recombinant antigen for the detection of lymphatic filariasis. We developed a naïve multi ethnic Fab antibody library with an estimated diversity of 2.99 × 109 . The antibody library was used to screen for mAbs against BmSXP recombinant antigen. Soluble monoclonal Fab antibodies against BmSXP were successfully isolated from the naïve library. The Fab antibodies obtained were expressed and analyzed to show its binding capability. The diversity obtained from a pool of donors from various ethnic groups allowed for a diverse antibody library to be generated. The mAbs obtained were also functional in soluble form, which makes it useful for further downstream applications. We believe that the Fab mAbs are valuable for further studies and could also contribute to improvements in the diagnosis of filariasis.

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