Molecular characterization and prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Helicobacter pylori isolates in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Acknowledgment We would like to thank the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for providing both the permission and the facilities to conduct and publish this research. The research was funded by a grant from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia under Economic Transformation Programme Research Fund Scheme (grant no. ETP-2013-042).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the small intestine in a patient with refractory coeliac disease.

INTRODUCTION: Coeliac disease enteropathy is associated with an increased risk of lymphomas. Enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma is the principal malignancy related to coeliac disease. However, studies have shown that other types of lymphoma such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma may also be associated with coeliac disease. CASE REPORT: We report a 54-year-old Caucasian man who presented with chronic diarrhoea and weight loss. He was diagnosed with coeliac disease based on positive serology results and duodenal, jejunal, and ileal biopsies that showed villous atrophy. Despite adherence to a gluten-free diet, there was no clinical remission and enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma was suspected. Repeated endoscopic biopsy showed persistent mucosal disease but no evidence of lymphoma. Several weeks later he presented with a perforated jejunum. Histology of the resected jejunum showed diffuse infiltration of submucosa and muscularis propria by malignant lymphoid cells sparing the mucosa. The cells expressed CD20, CD79α, CD10 and BCL6 and ki67 of 80%, consistent with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. DISCUSSION: It is suspected that the undetected lymphoma may have contributed to the persistent malabsorption syndrome rendering the patient unresponsive to treatment. Despite thorough clinical and endoscopic evaluation and multiple biopsies, histologic diagnosis of DLBCL was only confirmed following resection of the perforated jejunu

Achieving Efficient Decision Making Through Hybrid Reduction in Soft Set Theory

The main intention of proposing an alternative technique is to ensure consistency is been upheld besides successfully reducing the file. Of all the reduction techniques available currently, only normal parameter reduction has managed to address the issue of consistency at optimal and suboptimal level. In this paper, we initiated another form of reduction known as hybrid reduction by complementing the normal parameter reduction with object reduction. It has already demonstrated that the proposed hybrid reduction has successfully reduced data by 55% with the sample used, thus proving that it as a good alternative for the process of decision making using less amount of data

Solitary fibrous tumour of the submandibular region: a rare entity

Solitary fibrous tumours of the head and neck region are extremely rare. The clinical diagnosis is often difficult to establish, and this lesion may be indistinguishable from other soft tissue neoplasms. An 18-year old Chinese gentleman presented with a painless right submandibular swelling which was increasing in size for eight months. A computed tomography scan showed a well-defined solid mass measuring about 2.0 x 2.96 cm in the submandibular region. The tumour was resected and was confined within its capsule. Immunohistochemical staining was strongly positive for CD34, CD 99, and vimentin and negative for desmin, smooth muscle actin (SMA), cytokeratin, S100 and CD68. The microscopic and immunohistochemical profile were compatible with solitary fibrous tumour. Distinguishing solitary fibrous tumours from various spindle neoplasms can be difficult. In view of the resemblance, immunohistochemical staining can help differentiate solitary fibrous tumour from spindle neoplasm

Solving Incomplete Datasets in Soft Set Using Supported Sets and Aggregate Values

AbstractThe theory of soft set proposed by Molodtsovin 1999[1]is a new method for handling uncertain data and can be defined as a Boolean-valued information system. Ithas been applied to data analysis and decision support systems based on large datasets. In this paper, it is shown that calculated support value can be used to determine missing attribute value of an object. However, in cases when more than one value is missing, the aggregate values and calculated support values will be used in determining the missing values. By successfully recovering missing attribute values, the integrity of a dataset can still been maintained

Protein expression of STAT3, pSTAT3, MMP-7 and VEGF in colorectal adenocarcinoma: an immunohistochemical study

Background: The purpose of the present study is to investigate the expression levels of STAT3, pSTAT3, MMP-7 and VEGF in colorectal adenocarcinoma, and also to determine association with the clinico-pathological parameters and co-expression of these genes. Methods: An immunohistochemical method was used to evaluate the expression of MMP-7 and VEGF genes in 93 archival tissues whereas STAT3 and pSTAT3 expression was determined in 75 cases. Results: Overexpression of STAT3 was detected in 26.7% (20/75), pSTAT3 in 13.4% (10/75), MMP-7 in 38.8% (36/93) and VEGF in 59.2% (55/93) of the colorectal carcinomas. STAT3, MMP-7 and VEGF immunopositivity were significantly correlated with poorly-differentiated tumors (P = 0.004; P = 0.03; P =0.002, respectively) but not with other parameters. However, pSTAT3 immunostaining was not significantly associated with the clinico-pathological characteristics. Significant relationship was noted between overexpression of pSTAT3 and STAT3 (P \u3c 0.001), pSTAT3 and VEGF (P = 0.044), pSTAT3 and MMP-7 (P = 0.003), and STAT3 and VEGF (P = 0.037) but marginal association was detected between STAT3 and MMP-7 (P = 0.057), and MMP-7 and VEGF (P = 0.052). Conclusion: Our data suggest that expression of these genes may have an important role in tumor dedifferentiation and may be useful as indicators of biologic aggressiveness. Co-expression of the bio-markers by cancer cells may have important implications in colorectal cancer biology and could be useful biological markers of the malignant phenotype

Small Cell Neuroendocrine Tumour of Bladder: A Rare Entity and Review of the Literature

Small cell neuroendocrine cancer of the bladder (SCNCB) is a rare tumor with highly aggressive characteristics and poor differentiation. It comprises less than 1% of bladder malignancy and usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. It is challenging to differentiate between SCNCB with other bladder tumors as they had a similar presentation. We presented a case of a 60-year-old gentleman who presented with painless hematuria and ultrasound and cystoscopy examination show mass on the right urinary bladder wall. Computed tomography revealed urinary bladder mass with invasion to the prostate. Histopathological examination after transurethral resection of bladder tumor display features consistent with small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma with muscularis propria invasion, positive for synaptophysin, chromogranin A and p53 in immunohistochemistry. The patient currently underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy with Etoposide and cisplatin for 4-cycles. We, with this, presented a rare case of SCNCB, along with a discussion on the clinical presentation, histological characteristics, management, and prognosis

mIR-99a-5p and mIR-148a-3p as candidate molecular biomarkers for the survival of lung cancer patients

MicroRNA (miRNA) has emerged as a promising biomarker for improving the current state of an early lung cancer diagnosis. Multiple studies have reported that circulating miRNAs are usually combined in a single panel to determine lung cancer risk. In this study, we sought to assess the prognostic predictive values of the potential miRNAs for lung cancer survival among Malaysian patients. The microarray analysis was performed on the isolated miRNA samples of formalin-fixed lung cancer tissues from Malaysian populations. The correlation between miRNA expression and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patient survival was predicted using TGGA data, followed by extensive in silico analyses, including miRNA target gene identification, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction, subnetwork (SN) detection, functional enrichment analysis, gene-disease associations, and survival analysis in advanced-stage LUAD. Overall, two promising miR-99a-5p and miR-148a-3p were upregulated in the patients with good survival. We found that 64 miR-99a-5p and 95 miR-148a-3p target genes were associated with poor prognosis and highly participated in cancer-associated processes, such as apoptosis, mRNA transport and cell-cell adhesion. The density score of 4.667, 3.333, and 3.000 in respective SN1, SN2, and SN3 showed the significant subnetworks of constructed PPI leading to the identification of 17 targets, of which ~79% of them involved in neoplastic diseases. Four high-confidence target genes (SUDS3, TOMM22, KPNA4, and HMGB1) were associated with worse overall survival in LUAD patients, implying their critical roles in LUAD pathogenesis. These findings shed additional light on the roles of miR-99a-5p and miR-148a-3p as potential biomarkers for LUAD survival

Differential osteogenic activity of osteoprogenitor cells on HA and TCP/HA scaffold of tissue engineered bone.

Biomaterial, an essential component of tissue engineering, serves as a scaffold for cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation; provides the three dimensional (3D) structure and, in some applications, the mechanical strength required for the engineered tissue. Both synthetic and naturally occurring calcium phosphate based biomaterial have been used as bone fillers or bone extenders in orthopedic and reconstructive surgeries. This study aims to evaluate two popular calcium phosphate based biomaterial i.e., hydroxyapatite (HA) and tricalcium phosphate/hydroxyapatite (TCP/HA) granules as scaffold materials in bone tissue engineering. In our strategy for constructing tissue engineered bone, human osteoprogenitor cells derived from periosteum were incorporated with human plasma-derived fibrin and seeded onto HA or TCP/HA forming 3D tissue constructs and further maintained in osteogenic medium for 4 weeks to induce osteogenic differentiation. Constructs were subsequently implanted intramuscularly in nude mice for 8 weeks after which mice were euthanized and constructs harvested for evaluation. The differential cell response to the biomaterial (HA or TCP/HA) adopted as scaffold was illustrated by the histology of undecalcified constructs and evaluation using SEM and TEM. Both HA and TCP/HA constructs showed evidence of cell proliferation, calcium deposition, and collagen bundle formation albeit lesser in the former. Our findings demonstrated that TCP/HA is superior between the two in early bone formation and hence is the scaffold material of choice in bone tissue engineering