Clinical and laboratory features of JAK2 v617f, CALR, and MPL mutations in Malaysian patients with classical myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN)

Mutations of JAK2V617F, CALR, and MPL genes confirm the diagnosis of myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN). This study aims to determine the genetic profile of JAK2V617F, CALR exon 9 Type 1 (52 bp deletion) and Type 2 (5 bp insertion), and MPL W515 L/K genes among Malaysian patients and correlate these mutations with clinical and hematologic parameters in MPN. Mutations of JAK2V617F, CALR, and MPL were analyzed in 159 Malaysian patients using allele-specific polymerase chain reaction, including 76 polycythemia vera (PV), 41 essential thrombocythemia (ET), and 42 primary myelofibrosis (PMF) mutations, and the demographics of the patients were retrieved. The result showed that 73.6% JAK2V617F, 5.66% CALR, and 27.7% were triple-negative mutations. No MPL W515L/K mutation was detected. In ET and PMF, the predominance type was the CALR Type 1 mutation. In JAK2V617F mutant patients, serum LDH was significantly higher in PMF compared to PV and ET. PV has a higher risk of evolving to post PV myelofibrosis compared to ET. A thrombotic event at initial diagnosis of 40.9% was high compared to global incidence. Only one PMF patient had a CALR mutation that transformed to acute myeloid leukemia. JAK2V617F and CALR mutations play an important role in diagnostics. Hence, every patient suspected of having a myeloproliferative neoplasm should be screened for these mutations

The Global Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency and Insufficiency in Patients with Multiple Myeloma:A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

© 2023 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15143227BACKGROUND: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematological malignancy characterized by the exponential growth of malignant plasma cells. Individuals diagnosed with MM exhibit a deficiency in vitamin D and may suffer fatigue, a loss of muscular strength, persistent musculoskeletal aches, and pain. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in individuals diagnosed with MM. METHODS: We searched five electronic databases using relevant keywords. The quality of the included studies was evaluated using the critical appraisal tool developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. We employed a random-effects model and presented the findings in the form of percentages accompanied by 95% confidence intervals (CI). This protocol has been officially registered in PROSPERO under the registration number CRD42021248710. RESULTS: The meta-analysis comprised a total of eighteen studies and found that, among patients with MM, the occurrence of serum vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency was 39.4% (95% CI: 25.8 to 52.9, n = 3746) and 34.1% (95% CI: 20.9 to 47.2, n = 3559), respectively. The findings indicate that a greater proportion of newly diagnosed patients exhibited vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency, with rates of 43.0% and 41.6%, respectively, compared to those receiving treatment (rates of 41.6% and 32.3%, respectively). The findings of the sensitivity analyses were consistent, and most of the studies (72.2%) were deemed to be of high quality. The results of Egger's test indicated the absence of publication bias. CONCLUSIONS: Patients diagnosed with MM have been found to exhibit significantly elevated levels of both vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency. Therefore, it is recommended to consider vitamin D testing as an additional parameter in the current criteria for the clinical evaluation of MM.This work was supported by the GIPS-PhD (311/PPSP/4404822) research grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia to M.F.J and N.H.I.Published versio

Dysregulation of Non-Coding RNAs: Roles of miRNAs and lncRNAs in the Pathogenesis of Multiple Myeloma

The dysregulation of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), specifically microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), leads to the development and advancement of multiple myeloma (MM). miRNAs, in particular, are paramount in post-transcriptional gene regulation, promoting mRNA degradation and translational inhibition. As a result, miRNAs can serve as oncogenes or tumor suppressors depending on the target genes. In MM, miRNA disruption could result in abnormal gene expression responsible for cell growth, apoptosis, and other biological processes pertinent to cancer development. The dysregulated miRNAs inhibit the activity of tumor suppressor genes, contributing to disease progression. Nonetheless, several miRNAs are downregulated in MM and have been identified as gene regulators implicated in extracellular matrix remodeling and cell adhesion. miRNA depletion potentially facilitates the tumor advancement and resistance of therapeutic drugs. Additionally, lncRNAs are key regulators of numerous cellular processes, such as gene expression, chromatin remodeling, protein trafficking, and recently linked MM development. The lncRNAs are uniquely expressed and influence gene expression that supports MM growth, in addition to facilitating cellular proliferation and viability via multiple molecular pathways. miRNA and lncRNA alterations potentially result in anomalous gene expression and interfere with the regular functioning of MM. Thus, this review aims to highlight the dysregulation of these ncRNAs, which engender novel therapeutic modalities for the treatment of MM.</p

Design of FPGA-based Traffic Light Controller System

This paper proposed a design of a modern FPGA-based Traffic Light Control (TLC) System to manage the road traffic. The approach is by controlling the access to areas shared among multiple intersections and allocating effective time between various users; during peak and off-peak hours. The implementation is based on real location in a city in Malaysia where the existing traffic light controller is a basic fixed-time method. This method is inefficient and almost always leads to traffic congestion during peak hours while drivers are given unnecessary waiting time during off-peak hours. The proposed design is a more universal and intelligent approach to the situation and has been implemented using FPGA. The system is implemented on ALTERA FLEX10K chip and simulation results are proven to be successful. Theoretically the waiting time for drivers during off-peak hours has been reduced further, therefore making the system better than the one being used at the moment. Future improvements include addition of other functions to the proposed design to suit various traffic conditions at different locations

Invariance of organisational citizenship behaviour measurement model across institutions in Malaysia

Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) is a discretionary behaviour that benefits organisations and their members. Even though OCB has been broadly researched over the years in the US, the measurement of OCB has received rather limited deliberation particularly in Asian contexts like Malaysia. This study tests the adequacy of the OCB measurement model and analyses the invariance of the model of 417 respondents in two Malaysian institutions. A three–dimensional OCB model was found to be adequate after having been subjected to Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). As a result of discriminant validity, the two dimensions of OCB ‘helping’ and ‘civic virtue’ were found to measure the same thing. Consequently, the two dimensions were merged and named ‘concern’. Although the factors were found to have acceptable reliability and validity with very few modifications, there is a need to further test the model with different and larger samples. This study also shows that the CFA model experienced invariance across institutions. The results have practical implications for recruitment and training managers to utilise the instrument as well as to pay more attention to the importance of cultivating OCB among staff of the sampled institutions

Bluetooth and security

Detta arbete behandlar hur Bluetooth fungerar samt säkerheten kring Bluetooth och några allmänt tillgängliga attack verktyg. Syftet med uppsatsen är att försöka fastställa hur säkert Bluetooth är i dagens läge. Bluetooth har länge varit tillgängligt för att utbyta data över korta avstånd. Därför har man valt att implementera det i kommunikationsenheter som mobiltelefoner och laptops med mera. Det har funnits en debatt om hur säkert Bluetooth är. För att kunna genomföra denna undersökning så har vi satt oss in i hur Bluetooth fungerar, vilka allmänt tillgängliga attacker och implementationer av dessa, som finns. Vi har även testat några implementationer av de funna attackerna. I vår undersökning testade vi nio attackverktyg mot en implementation av den senaste version av Bluetooth. Värt att tänka på är att vi inte vet om de finns andra attackverktyg som fungerar på dagens Bluetooth-teknik. Vi kan fastställa att det är säkert ifall du följer de säkerhetskriterier som vi presenterar

Bluetooth and security

Detta arbete behandlar hur Bluetooth fungerar samt säkerheten kring Bluetooth och några allmänt tillgängliga attack verktyg. Syftet med uppsatsen är att försöka fastställa hur säkert Bluetooth är i dagens läge. Bluetooth har länge varit tillgängligt för att utbyta data över korta avstånd. Därför har man valt att implementera det i kommunikationsenheter som mobiltelefoner och laptops med mera. Det har funnits en debatt om hur säkert Bluetooth är. För att kunna genomföra denna undersökning så har vi satt oss in i hur Bluetooth fungerar, vilka allmänt tillgängliga attacker och implementationer av dessa, som finns. Vi har även testat några implementationer av de funna attackerna. I vår undersökning testade vi nio attackverktyg mot en implementation av den senaste version av Bluetooth. Värt att tänka på är att vi inte vet om de finns andra attackverktyg som fungerar på dagens Bluetooth-teknik. Vi kan fastställa att det är säkert ifall du följer de säkerhetskriterier som vi presenterar

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production from palm oil mill effluent (POME) using mixed culture in sequencing batch reactor (SBR)

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are raw materials for production of biodegradable plastics, generated by a range of microbes, cultured under different nutrients and experimental conditions. PHAs usually lipid in nature, are accumulated as storage materials in the form of mobile, amorphous, and liquid granules. Currently, the main limitation for PHAs production is cost of production. Biodegradable plastics from renewable resources, such as PHAs, are alternative to petroleum-based plastic materials, which are non-biodegradable. The aim of this study was to develop a biological process to produce PHAs from palm oil mill effluent (POME). A fed-batch was utilized for fifteen months for POME particularly to optimize the PHAs production under various experimental conditions. The POME cultivation was studied under six experimental conditions, such as COD:N:P ratios, HRT=SRT, air flowrates, substrates feeding rates, anoxic/aerobic and microaerophilic-aerobic. The production rate of PHAs under feast-famine regime occurred rapidly between three to four hours during the substrate uptake rate. The results showed that a short chain fatty aci(especially acetic acid) from POME was considered the most optimum carbon source for PHAs production in the study. The optimum experimental condition for high PHAs production from POME recorded in the cycling of microaerophilic-aerobic experiments with a combination of COD/N:COD/P ratio (490:200 g/g), long retention time (6 to 10 h) and slow feeding rate (20 ml/min). This study showed that the increased of PHAs production would not necessarily enhance the removal of total organic carbon (TOC), phosphate (PO4-P) and nitrate (NO3-N). TOC removal was recorded at range 18 to 33%, while PO4-P and NO3-N removal did not show any consistent trend. A statistical design of experiment was conducted to optimize the PHAs production and organic removal (TOC, PO4-P and NO3-N). Results from response surface method (RSM) analysis, both COD/N:COD/P ratio and air flowrate showed significant influence on PHAs production, TOC, and NO3-N removal. It can be concluded that the PHAs storage capacity was higher two to three times in aerobic compared to anoxic conditions