METHODS: A total of 170 blood sample were collected from domestic and stray cats and examined for filarial worm parasites in two localities, Pulau Carey and Bukit Gasing, Selangor State, Malaysia.
RESULTS: The overall prevalence of infection was 23.5% (40/170; 95% CI = 17.4-30.6). Of this, 35% (14/40; 95% CI = 22.1-50.5) and 50% (20/40; 95% CI = 35.2-64.8) were positive for single B. pahangi nd D. repens, respectively. The remaining of 15% (6/40; 95% CI = 7.1-29.1) were positive for mixed B. pahangi and D. repens. In addition, 75% of the infected cats were domestic, and 25% were strays. No Brugia malayi and Dirofilaria immitis was detected. Eighty-four cats were captured at Pulau Carey, of which 35.7% (30/84) were infected. Among the cats determined to be infected, 93% (28/30; 95% CI = 78.7-98.2) were domestic, and only 6.7% (2/30; 95% CI = 19.0-21.3) were strays. Conversely, the number of infected cats was three times lower in Bukit Gasing than in Pulau Carey, and most of the cats were stray.
CONCLUSIONS: B. pahangi and D. repens could be the major parasites underlying filariasis in the study area. Adequate prophylactic plans should be administrated in the cat population in study area.
METHODS: NPV was extracted using liquid-liquid extraction method and the obtained samples were subjected to antidiabetic studies using normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat models whereas antidoxidant activities were investigated via in vitro antioxidant tests namely 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and 2,2'-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiozoline-6-sulfonic acid free radicals scavenging activities and the reducing power assay.
RESULTS: Single administration of NPV and its extracts were not effective in both normal and diabetic rats. In intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test, NPV and its aqueous extract showed significant blood glucose lowering effect. In the sub-acute study, compared with the diabetic control, aqueous extract of NPV showed the most notable blood glucose lowering effect (56.6%) and a significant improvement in serum insulin levels (79.8%, P
METHODS: A total of 31 retrospective samples from non-polio acute flacid paralysis, hand-food-and-mouth disease, viral meningitis and enterovirus cases were subjected to amplification of partial VP1 gene by RT-PCR.
RESULTS: Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the partial sequences identified presence of human echovirus and human coxsackie viruses. It was found that echovirus 11 was the commonly circulating serotype followed by echovirus 6, echovirus 7, echovirus 3, echovirus 9, echovirus 30 and echovirus 1 in decreasing order. Additionally two types of human coxsackie virus isolates were detected which were coxsackie A24 and B3.
CONCLUSIONS: From the findings, there is a possibility that echovirus 11 is the predominant serotype among Malaysian patients with echovirus infection. However, a larger sample size will yield a more confident result to support this evidence.
METHODS: Phytochemical studies of the crude extract led to the isolation of six alkaloids using recycle high performance liquid chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatography. The antiplasmodial activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated using the histidine-rich protein II assay. The isolated alkaloids were also tested for their antioxidant activity using three different assays; DPPH, ferric reducing ability of plasma and metal chelating assays.
RESULTS: Malaria infection caused the formation of free radicals which subsequently led to oxidative stress and apoptosis. The antioxidant properties of the alkaloids under investigation revealed that in addition to the antiplasmodial activity, the alkaloids could also prevent oxidative stress. (+)-laurotetanine and (+)-norstephasubine exhibited strong antiplasmodial activities with IC50 values of 0.189 and 0.116 μM, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Interestingly, the two most potent compounds that exhibit antiplasmodial activity also exhibit good antioxidant activities. The crude dichloromethane extract and the isolated compounds exert substantial antiplasmodial and antioxidative activities which in turn suppress oxidative stress and cause less damage to the host.
METHODS: The cytotoxic activity of the hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of Curcuma mangga rhizomes against human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines (HT29) was determined by using the SRB assay.
RESULTS: The ethyl acetate extract showed a higher cytotoxic effect compared to the hexane extract. Morphological changes of the HT29 cells such as cell shrinkage, membrane blebbling and formation of apoptotic bodies while changes in nuclear morphology like chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation were observed. Further evidence of apoptosis in HT29 cells was further supported by the externalization of phosphatidylserine which indicate early sign of apoptosis.
CONCLUSIONS: The early sign of apoptosis is consistent with the cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 checkpoint which suggests that the changes on the cell cycle lead to the induction of apoptosis in HT29.
METHODS: Anti-plasmodium effect of andrographolide against Plasmodium falciparum strains was screened using the conventional malaria drug sensitivity assay. The drug was incubated with uninfected RBCs to monitor its effect on their morphology, integrity and osmotic fragility. It was incubated with the plasmodium infected RBCs to monitor its effect on the parasite induced permeation pathways. Its effect on the potential of merozoites to invade new RBCs was tested using merozoite invasion assay.
RESULTS: It showed that at andrographolide was innocuous to RBCs at concentrations approach its therapeutic level against plasmodia. Nevertheless, this inertness was dwindled at higher concentrations.
CONCLUSIONS: In spite of its success to inhibit plasmodium induced permeation pathway and the potential of merozoites to invade new RBCs, its anti-plasmodium effect can't be attributed to these functions as they were attained at concentrations higher than what is required to eradicate the parasite. Consequently, other mechanisms may be associated with its claimed actions.
METHODS: The mid-stream urine collected from both male and female patients diagnosed with dengue fever at Penang General Hospital and fourty-three healthy individuals were analyzed with (1)H NMR spectroscopy, followed by chemometric multivariate analysis. NMR signals which highlighted in the OPLS-DA S-plot were further selected and identified using Human Metabolome Database, Chenomx Profiler.
RESULTS: The results pointed out that NMR urine profiling was able to capture human gender metabolic differences that are important for the distinction of classes of individuals of similar physiological conditions; infected with dengue. Distinct differences between dengue infected patients versus healthy individuals and subtle differences in male versus female infected with dengue were found to be related to the metabolism of amino acid and tricarboxylic acid intermediates cycle.
CONCLUSIONS: The (1)H NMR metabolomic investigation combined with appropriate algorithms and pattern recognition procedures, gave an evidence for the existence of distinct metabolic differentiation of individuals, according to their gender, modulates with the infection risk.
METHODS: Kenaf seed oil (KSO), microencapsulated kenaf seed oil (MKSO), kenaf seed extract (KSE) and defatted kenaf seed meal (DKSM) were prepared and phytochemicals screening on these samples were done prior in vivo study. Phenolic compounds in KSE were quantified using high performance liquid chromatography. There were 40 (divided in eight diet groups of 5) male Sprague dawley rats adapted to normal standard diet or hypercholesterolemic diet (HD) with or without the treatment of these kenaf samples for 32 days.
RESULTS: All the kenaf samples exhibited to contain most of the major phytochemicals. KSE possessed gallic acid, tannic acid, catechin, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid, syringic acid, sinapic acid, ferulic acid, naringin acid, and protocatechuic acid. The significant higher (P<0.05) serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and MDA levels in HD group without treatment than the normal control group suggested the hypercholesterolemia was induced by the incorporation of cholesterol into diet. KSE exhibited higher cholesterol-lowering properties due to the significant lower (P<0.05) in serum triglycerides, total cholesterol and MDA levels. KSE showed the highest efficiency of cholesterol-lowering activity, followed by KSO, MKSO and DKSM.
CONCLUSIONS: DKSM, MKSO, KSO and KSE appeared to have comparable anti-hypercholesterolemic effect with the commercial hypocholesterolemic drug. Hence, kenaf seed could be used as an alternative natural source to replace the synthetic hypocholesterolemic drugs.
METHODS: Acanthamoeba triangularis isolates were obtained from environmental water samples and identified by PCR. They were exposed to ethyl acetate, water and butanol fractions of L. japonica Thunb. at concentrations ranging from 0.5 mg/mL to 1.5 mg/mL. The extracts were evaluated for growth inhibition at 24, 48 and 72 h, respectively. Chlorogenic acid at a concentration of 1 mg/mL was examined for inhibition of encystment.
RESULTS: Ethyl acetate fraction at a concentration of 1.5 mg/mL evoked a significant reduction of trophozoite viability by 48.9% after 24 h, 49.2% after 48 h and 33.7% after 72 h chlorogenic acid, the major active constituent of L. japonica Thunb. at the concentration of 1 mg/mL reduced the cysts/trophozoite ratio by 100% after 24 h, 84.0% after 48 h and 72.3% after 72 h. This phenolic compound at concentration of 1 mg/mL concurrent with 0.6% hydrogen peroxide inhibited hydrogen peroxide-induced encystment by 92.8% at 72 h.
CONCLUSIONS: Results obtained from this study show that ethyl acetate fraction at 1.5 mg/mL is the most potent fraction of L. japonica Thunb. and its major constituent chlorogenic acid showed the remarkable inhibition of encystment at a concentration of 1 mg/mL.
METHODS: In this study the nested multiplex malaria PCR was redesigned, targeting the 18S rRNA gene, to identify the fifth human Plasmodium species, Plasmodium knowlesi, together with the other human Plasmodium (Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae) by amplified fragment size using only two amplification processes and including an internal reaction control to avoid false negatives.
RESULTS: The technique was validated with 91 clinical samples obtained from patients with malaria compatible symptoms. The technique showed high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (96%) when it was compared to the reference method employed for malaria diagnosis in the Instituto de Salud Carlos Ⅲ and a published real-time PCR malaria assay.
CONCLUSIONS: The technique designed is an economical, sensitive and specific alternative to current diagnosis methods. Furthermore, the method might be tested in knowlesi-malaria endemic areas with a higher number of samples to confirm the quality of the method.
METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 605 stool samples were collected and screened for the presence of Giardia duodenalis (G. duodenalis) cysts and/or trophozoites by using three different diagnostic methods: direct smear, formalin-ether sedimentation, and trichrome staining. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information on the demographic, socioeconomic, behavioural and environmental characteristics of the participants.
RESULTS: Overall, 28.1% (170/605) of the participants were infected by G. duodenalis. The prevalence was significantly higher among male participants compared to female (P = 0.034); however, it was not significant among different age groups (P > 0.05). Univariate and multivariate analyses identified four variables as the significant key risk factors of Giardia infection among the sampled communities. These are, in addition to being of the male gender, using unsafe water sources for drinking water, not washing hands after defecation, presence of other family members infected with Giardia, and close contact with domestic animals.
CONCLUSIONS: The study reveals that Giardia infection is still prevalent among rural communities in Yemen. The provision of clean and safe drinking water, proper sanitation, and health education regarding personal hygiene practices, particularly handwashing, as well as identifying and treating infected family members is imperative and these interventions should be considered in a strategy to control intestinal parasites among these communities in order to curtail the transmission and morbidity caused by G. duodenalis.
METHODS: First, the essential oils were obtained using a Clevenger-type apparatus. Then, the essential oils compositions were identified by chromatography methods including GC-FID and GC-MS. For the next step, DPPH radical scavenging activity (RSA), β-carotene bleaching (BCB), and ferrous ion chelating ability (FIC) were chosen to evaluate the essential oils antioxidant activity. Finally, disc diffusion assay and minimum inhibitory concentration method (MIC) was applied to investigate antimicrobial activity of the rhizomes and leaves oils of E. sayapensis against 18 microorganisms.
RESULTS: All of the oils contained oxygenated monoterpenes (leaves: 74.18%, stems: 75.60%, and rhizome: 54.61%), The essential oil obtained from leaves contained high amount of carvone (21.38%), cis-carveol (13.49%); The rhizomes oil was rich in linalool formate (25.47%), eugenol (11.84%); and the stems oil was dominated by α-terpineol (39.86%), linalool formate (30.55%). The leaves oil represented the highest ability in all of the antioxidant activity tests. For antimicrobial activity, the rhizome oil presented more active when compared to leaves oil against Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus thuringiensis, Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Aeromonas hydrophila, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Proteus mirabilis, Shigella sonnei, Serratia marcescens, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Candida albicans, and Candida parapsilosis.
CONCLUSIONS: The most components of the essential oils belong to oxygenated monoterpenes. Linalool formate, carvone, and α-terpineol are found as the most abundant compounds in the oils of the different parts of E. sayapensis. The rhizomes oil can prevent the growth of wide spectrum microorganisms; however, the oils are not highly potent in antioxidant assays.
METHODS: Peripheral blood, bone marrow and spleen aspirate samples were collected from clinically suspected VL patients (n = 26). A new PCR primer pair (MK1F/R) was designed targeting kinetoplast mini circle DNA sequences of Leishmania donovani, and Leishmania infantum, and was used to diagnose VL along with some other established primers for VL in polymerase chain reactions. Test was validated by comparing with several other diagnostic methods.
RESULTS: The designed primer set showed 100% specificity and 98% sensitivity in detecting VL using blood samples, when compared with more invasive samples: bone marrow or spleen aspirates.
CONCLUSIONS: The newly designed primer MK1F/R could be a better alternative for PCR based diagnosis of VL using less invasive sample, peripheral blood instead of bone marrow or spleen aspirates.