METHODS: An Excel-based budget impact model was constructed to assess dialysis-associated costs when changing dialysis modalities between PD and ICHD. The model incorporates the current modality distribution and accounts for Malaysian government dialysis payments and erythropoiesis-stimulating agent costs. Epidemiological data including dialysis prevalence, incidence, mortality, and transplant rates from the Malaysian renal registry reports were used to estimate the dialysis patient population for the next 5 years. The baseline scenario assumed a stable distribution of PD (8%) and ICHD (92%) over 5 years. Alternative scenarios included the prevalence of PD increasing by 2.5%, 5.0%, and 7.5% or decreasing 1% yearly over 5 years. All four scenarios were accompanied with commensurate changes in ICHD.
RESULTS: Under the current best available cost information, an increase in the prevalent PD population from 8% in 2014 to 18%, 28%, or 38% in 2018 is predicted to result in 5-year cumulative savings of Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 7.98 million, RM15.96 million, and RM23.93 million, respectively, for the Malaysian government. If the prevalent PD population were to decrease from 8% in 2014 to 4.0% by 2018, the total expenditure for dialysis treatments would increase by RM3.19 million over the next 5 years.
CONCLUSIONS: Under the current cost information associated with PD and HD paid by the Malaysian government, increasing the proportion of patients on PD could potentially reduce dialysis-associated costs in Malaysia.
METHODS: PRISMA 2009 framework was adopted for study design. Scholarly literature search was done using MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and Clinical Trials.gov using selected keywords. Five articles fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Our main outcome of interest is to review the ideal properties of the suburethral sling, procedure of insertion and post-surgical complication following the sling insertion primarily vaginal erosion. Results were compared using one way-ANOVA test and independent T- test.
RESULTS: Total of 1725 subjects were available for analysis in the five studies. Monofilament polypropylene constituted 92.5% of the total sample size from one study alone. Polyester (n= 16/51) causes higher incidence rate of vaginal erosion compared to monofilament polypropylene (31.4 vs., 4.7; p = 0.01). There was no difference in the vaginal erosion rate between monofilament polypropylene and multifilament polypropylene (4.7 vs, 14.1; p=0.055) as well as between multifilament polypropylene and polyester (14.1 vs, 31.4; p=0.068). Although there was a marginally lower rate of vaginal erosion in TVT-O over TVT, the difference was not significant. (5.6 vs., 6.4, p=0.468). Common presentations of vaginal erosion were vaginal discharge, perineal pain and dyspareunia.
CONCLUSION: Given the limited sample size, polyester sling material appears to cause higher rates of vaginal erosion. No difference in erosion rate was seen between TVT and TVT-O.
METHODS: A study was carried out in 2013, which involved a total of 40 secondary schools. They were randomly selected using a two-stage clustering sampling method. Subsequently, all upper secondary school students (aged 16 to 17 years) from each selected school were recruited into the study. Data was collected using a validated standardised questionnaire.
RESULTS: This study revealed that the prevalence of smoking was 14.6% (95% CI:13.3-15.9), and it was significantly higher among males compared to females (27.9% vs 2.4%, p
Methods: The antibody binding pattern of the epitope was analyzed using bioinformatics tools. The IgG production in mice were examined by FACS Calibur™ Flow cytometer.
Results: The epitope bound the 72A1 monoclonal antibody at the same site as GP350/220 protein, indicating that the epitope should stimulate B cells to produce antibody. Moreover, in vivo administration of EBVepitope successfully induced IgG expression from B cells, compared with controls. Further investigation indicated that the relative number of B cells expressing IgE in EBVepitope-treated mice was lower than controls.
Conclusions: Our data suggest that this EBV GP350 epitope is able to induce IgG expression in vivo without causing allergic reactions, and represents a potential EBV vaccine candidate.