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Fulltext Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Prevalence and Type Distribution in Urban Areas of Malaysia

Rahmat F, Kuan JY, Hajiman Z, Mohamed Shakrin NNS, Che Roos NA, Mustapa M, et al.

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2021 Sep 01;22(9):2969-2976.
PMID: 34582669 DOI: 10.31557/APJCP.2021.22.9.2969

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the third leading cause of death in Malaysia, and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the principal aetiology that is responsible for its development. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence and distribution of HPV types among different age groups, ethnicity, and areas in Malaysia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 764 women aged 20-74 years old within the cities of Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Penang, and Kota Kinabalu underwent both cervical cytological assessment and HPV DNA analysis. Cervical cytology glass slides were prepared using the liquid base technique (Path TEZT TM). HPV DNA was extracted using TANBead® Nucleic Acid Extraction Kit (Taiwan Advanced Nonotech Inc.), then the types were further identified using a DR.HPV Genotyping IVD kit.
RESULTS: The prevalence of HPV infection was 14.0% (107/764) with high-risk type at 10.7% (82/764) and low-risk type at 3.27% (25/764). The most common high-risk HPV types were HPV-52, 66, 33, 39, and 58 whereas low-risk HPV types were HPV-6, 40, and 81. The majority of HPV infections (80.37%) were detected in women with normal cytology results. The most prevalent HPV type among Chinese is 33 (n=6) followed by 16, 44, 58, 66 and 68 (n=5). Among Malays, HPV 16 and 51 were the two most prevalent types (n=2). The sensitivity of the HPV DNA test compared to cytology was 100% with a specificity of 88.37%.
CONCLUSION: This study revealed that the most common high-risk HPV type among women living in urban areas in Malaysia is HPV 52, unfortunately which is not the type of infection the current HPV vaccine is covered for protection among females. These findings may contribute beneficial information to health care providers for the appropriate use of HPV vaccine in the prevention of cervical cancer in Malaysia.
Fulltext Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma as a Lateral Neck Cyst: A Cystic Metastatic Node versus an Ectopic Thyroid Tissue

Rahmat F, Kumar Marutha Muthu A, S Raja Gopal N, Jo Han S, Yahaya AS

Case Rep Endocrinol, 2018;2018:5198297.
PMID: 30420925 DOI: 10.1155/2018/5198297

Papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most common thyroid malignancy and frequently metastasizes to regional lymph nodes. Occasionally, metastatic lymph nodes are palpable without the evidence of primary tumour. Papillary thyroid carcinoma of lateral neck cyst is a rare condition. It may arise from thyroid primary which underwent cystic degeneration or true malignant transformation of ectopic thyroid tissue. Herein, we reported two cases with preoperative diagnosis of benign lateral neck cyst but postoperative histopathological results showed primary papillary thyroid carcinoma. Ultrasonography and computed tomography of the neck in both cases showed no significant thyroid lesion. However, the patient in Case 2 was subjected for total thyroidectomy and histopathological results showed the origin of primary tumour. In conclusion, thorough investigations including total thyroidectomy are indicated in cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma of lateral neck cyst. This practice is to ensure that this type of thyroid cancer can be detected earlier because it has a very good prognosis if treated earlier.
Fulltext Diet and Pre-Intervention Washout Modifies the Effects of Probiotics on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Hasain Z, Che Roos NA, Rahmat F, Mustapa M, Raja Ali RA, Mokhtar NM

Nutrients, 2021 Aug 30;13(9).
PMID: 34578921 DOI: 10.3390/nu13093045

Dynamic interactions among gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gut microbiota, inflammation, oxidative stress, and probiotics are increasingly acknowledged. This meta-analysis aimed to summarize the effects of probiotics in GDM, focusing on lifestyle intervention and pre-intervention washout, in addition to metabolic, inflammation, oxidative stress, and pregnancy outcomes. Three electronic databases (i.e., PubMed, Scopus, and CENTRAL) were searched from inception until October 2020. A meta-analysis was performed, and the effect sizes were reported as either mean differences or odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Altogether, 10 randomized controlled trials enrolling 594 participants were included. The meta-analysis indicated that probiotics supplementation effectively reduced fasting plasma glucose by 3.10 mg/dL, and subgroup analyses suggested that the duration of intervention, number of species, pre-intervention washout period, and dietary intervention may determine the effects of probiotics. Probiotics also reduced the level of inflammatory markers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and malondialdehyde), incidence of macrosomia, and newborn hospitalization. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggests that probiotics may have positive effects on metabolic, inflammation, oxidative stress, and neonatal outcomes in women with GDM. Additionally, diet and pre-intervention washout may modify the effects of probiotics. Future studies are warranted on a larger scale to ascertain the clinical significance.
Fulltext Sustainable Production of Arecanut Husk Ash as Potential Silica Replacement for Synthesis of Silicate-Based Glass-Ceramics Materials

Anuar MF, Fen YW, Azizan MZ, Rahmat F, Mohd Zaid MH, Khaidir REM, et al.

Materials (Basel), 2021 Feb 28;14(5).
PMID: 33670923 DOI: 10.3390/ma14051141

Arecanut husk (AH) was selected as a material for silica replacement in the synthesis process of glass-ceramics zinc silicate and also the fact that it has no traditional use and often being dumped and results in environmental issues. The process of pyrolysis was carried out at temperature 700 °C and above based on thermogravimetric analysis to produce arecanut husk ash (AHA). The average purity of the silica content in AHA ranged from 29.17% to 45.43%. Furthermore, zinc oxide was introduced to AHA and zinc silicate started to form at sintering temperature 700 °C and showed increased diffraction intensity upon higher sintering temperature of 600 °C to 1000 °C based on X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The grain sizes of the zinc silicate increased from 1011 nm to 3518 nm based on the morphological studies carried out by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). In addition, the optical band gap of the sample was measured to be in the range from 2.410 eV to 2.697 eV after sintering temperature. From the data, it is believed that a cleaner production of low-cost zinc silicate can be achieved by using arecanut husk and have the potential to be used as phosphors materials.
Fulltext Synthesis and Characterization of ZnO-SiO2 Composite Using Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch as a Potential Silica Source

Rahmat F, Fen YW, Anuar MF, Omar NAS, Zaid MHM, Matori KA, et al.

Molecules, 2021 Feb 18;26(4).
PMID: 33670482 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26041061

In this paper, the structural and optical properties of ZnO-SiO2-based ceramics fabricated from oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) were investigated. The OPEFB waste was burned at 600, 700 and 800 °C to form palm ash and was then treated with sulfuric acid to extract silica from the ash. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses confirmed the existence of SiO2 in the sample. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) showed that the particles displayed an irregular shape and became finer after leaching. Then, the solid-state method was used to produce the ZnO-SiO2 composite and the samples were sintered at 600, 800, 1000, 1200 and 1400 °C. The XRD peaks of the Zn2SiO4 showed high intensity, which indicated high crystallinity of the composite. FESEM images proved that the grain boundaries were larger as the temperature increased. Upon obtaining the absorbance spectrum from ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, the energy band gaps obtained were 3.192, 3.202 and 3.214 eV at room temperature, 600 and 800 °C, respectively, and decreased to 3.127, 2.854 and 2.609 eV at 1000, 1200 and 1400 °C, respectively. OPEFB shows high potential as a silica source in producing promising optical materials.
Leptospirosis modelling using hydrometeorological indices and random forest machine learning

Jayaramu V, Zulkafli Z, De Stercke S, Buytaert W, Rahmat F, Abdul Rahman RZ, et al.

Int J Biometeorol, 2023 Mar;67(3):423-437.
PMID: 36719482 DOI: 10.1007/s00484-022-02422-y

Leptospirosis is a zoonosis that has been linked to hydrometeorological variability. Hydrometeorological averages and extremes have been used before as drivers in the statistical prediction of disease. However, their importance and predictive capacity are still little known. In this study, the use of a random forest classifier was explored to analyze the relative importance of hydrometeorological indices in developing the leptospirosis model and to evaluate the performance of models based on the type of indices used, using case data from three districts in Kelantan, Malaysia, that experience annual monsoonal rainfall and flooding. First, hydrometeorological data including rainfall, streamflow, water level, relative humidity, and temperature were transformed into 164 weekly average and extreme indices in accordance with the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI). Then, weekly case occurrences were classified into binary classes "high" and "low" based on an average threshold. Seventeen models based on "average," "extreme," and "mixed" indices were trained by optimizing the feature subsets based on the model computed mean decrease Gini (MDG) scores. The variable importance was assessed through cross-correlation analysis and the MDG score. The average and extreme models showed similar prediction accuracy ranges (61.5-76.1% and 72.3-77.0%) while the mixed models showed an improvement (71.7-82.6% prediction accuracy). An extreme model was the most sensitive while an average model was the most specific. The time lag associated with the driving indices agreed with the seasonality of the monsoon. The rainfall variable (extreme) was the most important in classifying the leptospirosis occurrence while streamflow was the least important despite showing higher correlations with leptospirosis.