Chinese Public Attitudes Toward Epilepsy (PATE) scale: translation and psychometric evaluation

None of the quantitative scale for public attitudes toward epilepsy was translated to Chinese language. This study aimed to translate and test the validity and reliability of a Chinese version of the Public Attitudes Toward Epilepsy (PATE) scale. Methods: The translation was performed according to standard principles and tested in 140 Chinese-speaking adults aged more than 18 years for psychometric validation. Results: The items in each domain had similar standard deviations (equal item variance), ranged from 0.85-0.95 in personal domain and 0.75-1.04 in general domain. The correlation between an item and its domain was 0.4 and above for all, and higher than the correlation with the other domain. Multitrait analysis showed the Chinese PATE had a similar variance, floor and ceiling effects, and relative relationship between the domains, as the original PATE. The Chinese PATE scale showed a similar correlation with almost all demographic variable except age. Item means were generally clustered in the factor analysis as hypothesized. The Cronbach’s α values was within acceptable range (0.773) in the personal domain and satisfactory range (0.693) in the general domain. Conclusion: The Chinese PATE scale is a validated and reliable translated version in measuring the public attitudes toward epilepsy

Primary headache in the elderly in South-East Asia

Headache aetiology and presentation are considerably different in elderly individuals. However, literature on headache characteristics among Asians is limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the headache characteristics among elderly in an outpatient clinic setting in Malaysia, a South-East Asian country with diverse ethnicity. In this prospective cross-sectional study, patients presenting with headache to Neurology and Primary Care Clinics of University Malaya Medical Centre between February 2010 and July 2010 were included. Data for consecutive eligible adult patients were entered in a prospective headache registry. International Headache Criteria II (ICHD-II) were used to classify various headache subtypes. Patients with headache due to intracranial space occupying lesions were excluded. Patient were divided into two age groups—elderly (55 years and above) and younger (less than 55 years of age). Of the 175 screened patients, 165 were included in the study—70 in elderly age group and 95 in younger group. Tension-type headache was the commonest subtype (45.7 %) among the elderly while Migraine without aura (54.7 %) was more common in young adults. More elderly patients suffered from chronic daily headache as compared to younger patients (47.1 vs. 28.4 %; p = 0.015). Headache subtypes and frequency differ considerably among elderly South East Asian patients

Central nervous system intravascular lymphoma in a Malaysian.

Intravascular lymphoma (IVL) is a rare subtype of extranodal diffuse large cell lymphoma, characterized by intravascular proliferation of B or T lymphocytes within small blood vessels; which may lead to occlusive symptoms, its neurological involvement has been said to be uncommon among Asians. 1 We describe a Malaysian with central nervous system IVL, to demonstrate that IVL is an important differential diagnosis in diffuse brain pathology also among Asians

Integrative multi-omics database (iMOMdb) of Asian pregnant women

Asians are underrepresented across many omics databases, thereby limiting the potential of precision medicine in nearly 60% of the global population. As such, there is a pressing need for multi-omics derived quantitative trait loci (QTLs) to fill the knowledge gap of complex traits in populations of Asian ancestry. Here, we provide the first blood-based multi-omics analysis of Asian pregnant women, constituting high-resolution genotyping (N= 1079), DNA methylation (N=915) and transcriptome profiling (N=238). Integrative omics analysis identified 219 154 CpGs associated with cis-DNA methylation QTLs (meQTLs) and 3703 RNAs associated with cis-RNA expression QTLs (eQTLs). Ethnicity was the largest contributor of inter-individual variation across all omics datasets, with 2561 genes identified as hotspots of this variation; 395 of these hotspot genes also contained both ethnicity-specific eQTLs and meQTLs. Gene set enrichment analysis of these ethnicity QTL hotspots showed pathways involved in lipid metabolism, adaptive immune system and carbohydrate metabolism. Pathway validation by profiling the lipidome (similar to 480 lipids) of antenatal plasma (N = 752) and placenta (N = 1042) in the same cohort showed significant lipid differences among Chinese, Malay and Indian women, validating ethnicity-QTL gene effects across different tissue types. To develop deeper insights into the complex traits and benefit future precision medicine research in Asian pregnant women, we developed iMOMdb, an open-access database.Peer reviewe

Delayed colonization of Bifidobacterium spp. and low prevalence of B. infantis among infants of Asian ancestry born in Singapore: insights from the GUSTO cohort study

BackgroundThe loss of ancestral microbes, or the “disappearing microbiota hypothesis” has been proposed to play a critical role in the rise of inflammatory and immune diseases in developed nations. The effect of this loss is most consequential during early-life, as initial colonizers of the newborn gut contribute significantly to the development of the immune system.MethodsIn this longitudinal study (day 3, week 3, and month 3 post-birth) of infants of Asian ancestry born in Singapore, we studied how generational immigration status and common perinatal factors affect bifidobacteria and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis (B. infantis) colonization. Cohort registry identifier: NCT01174875.ResultsOur findings show that first-generation migratory status, perinatal antibiotics usage, and cesarean section birth, significantly influenced the abundance and acquisition of bifidobacteria in the infant gut. Most importantly, 95.6% of the infants surveyed in this study had undetectable B. infantis, an early and beneficial colonizer of infant gut due to its ability to metabolize the wide variety of human milk oligosaccharides present in breastmilk and its ability to shape the development of a healthy immune system. A comparative analysis of B. infantis in 12 countries by their GDP per capita showed a remarkably low prevalence of this microbe in advanced economies, especially Singapore.ConclusionThis study provides new insights into infant gut microbiota colonization, showing the impact of generational immigration on early-life gut microbiota acquisition. It also warrants the need to closely monitor the declining prevalence of beneficial microbes such as B. infantis in developed nations and its potential link to increasing autoimmune and allergic diseases

Comparison of Anterior Segment Optical Tomography Parameters Measured Using a Semi-Automatic Software to Standard Clinical Instruments

10.1371/journal.pone.0065559PLoS ONE86

A common variant near TGFBR3 is associated with primary open angle glaucoma

Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a major cause of blindness worldwide, is a complex disease with a significant genetic contribution. We performed Exome Array (Illumina) analysis on 3504 POAG cases and 9746 controls with replication of the most significant findings in 9173 POAG cases and 26 780 controls across 18 collections of Asian, African and European descent. Apart from confirming strong evidence of association at CDKN2B-AS1 (rs2157719 [G], odds ratio [OR] = 0.71, P = 2.81 × 10−33), we observed one SNP showing significant association to POAG (CDC7–TGFBR3 rs1192415, ORG-allele = 1.13, Pmeta = 1.60 × 10−8). This particular SNP has previously been shown to be strongly associated with optic disc area and vertical cup-to-disc ratio, which are regarded as glaucoma-related quantitative traits. Our study now extends this by directly implicating it in POAG disease pathogenesis

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

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Abstract Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a major cause of blindness worldwide, is a complex disease with a significant genetic contribution. We performed Exome Array ), we observed one SNP showing significant association to POAG (CDC7-TGFBR3 rs1192415, OR G-allele = 1.13, P meta = 1.60 × 10 −8 ). This particular SNP has previously been shown to be strongly associated with optic disc area and vertical cup-to-disc ratio, which are regarded as glaucoma-related quantitative traits. Our study now extends this by directly implicating it in POAG disease pathogenesis