Biological and Molecular Properties of Sweet Potato Leaf Curl Virus.

In 1994, a sweet potato sample showing leaf curl symptoms was collected from the field in Louisiana. When graft-inoculated, Ipomoea setosa reacted with mild upward leaf curling while I. aquatica reacted with a bright yellow mottle. The putative virus was transmitted by the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci biotype B, and it was designated the United States isolate of Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV-US). Four independent Southern blot hybridizations using the DNA-A of different begomoviruses as probes confirmed the presence of begomovirus-like DNA in the infected plants. Fibrillar inclusions and granular aggregates of geminivirus-like particles were observed in the nuclei of infected I. cordatotriloba. These results suggested that SPLCV-US belongs to the genus Begomovirus. The complete nucleotide sequence of the SPLCV-US DNA-A genomic component was determined from three overlapping polymerase chain reaction (PCR) clones. The genome organization of the virus was similar to that of monopartite begomoviruses, with six open reading frames (ORF) and an intergenic region containing a stem-loop motif present in all geminiviruses. The iterative elements located within the intergenic region of SPLCV-US have sequences and arrangement similar to those of the Old World begomoviruses. The presence of the AV2 ORF supports the relationship between SPLCV-US and begomoviruses from the Old World. Phylogenetic analyses using the AV2 sequences revealed relationships between SPLCV-US and begomoviruses from the East Asia. The presence of the virus DNA in plant samples was detected using PCR with SPLCV-specific primers. From more than 150 sweet potato and Ipomoea spp. samples collected between 1997 and 2000, only thirteen samples were infected with SPLCV. The virus also was detected in the total DNAs extracted from five I. setosa grafted with sweet potato from four different countries. The amplified viral DNA fragments of these samples were cloned and sequenced. Based on the partial AC1 ORF sequences, the phylogenetic relationships among SPLCV isolates was determined. The results indicated that SPLCV isolates clustered into three groups, and all of them might have evolved from the same common ancestor possibly from the Old World

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) degradation by laccase from a tropical white rot fungus Ganoderma lucidum

Laccase enzyme was produced from an isolate of the white rot fungus, Ganoderma lucidum Chaaim-001 BCU. The enzyme was subsequently evaluated for its degradative ability towards sixteen types of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The G. lucidum laccase degraded antracene completely with or without a redox mediator (2 mM 1-hydroxybenzotriazole) and also degraded benzo[a]pyrene, fluorine, acenapthene, acenaphthylene and benzo[a]anthracene up to 100.0, 98.6, 95.4, 90.1 and 85.3 %,respectively, when the mediator was present. In the absence of the mediator, the ability to degrade these compounds dropped to 71.71, 62.9, 80.49, 85.85 and 9.14% respectively. Compared to the laccase enzyme from Trametes vesicolor, G. lucidum laccase appeared to retain more of its capability todegrade these PAHs when the mediator was absent

Reliability and validity of the Thai version of the PHQ-9

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Most depression screening tools in Thailand are lengthy. The long process makes them impractical for routine use in primary care. This study aims to examine the reliability and validity of a Thai version Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) as a screening tool for major depression in primary care patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The English language PHQ-9 was translated into Thai. The process involved back-translation, cross-cultural adaptation, field testing of the pre-final version, as well as final adjustments. The PHQ-9 was then administered among 1,000 patients in family practice clinic. Of these 1,000 patients, 300 were further assessed by the Thai version of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and the Thai version of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). These tools served as gold-standards for diagnosing depression and for assessing symptom severity, respectively. In the assessment, reliability and validity analyses, and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis were performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Complete data were obtained from 924 participants and 279 interviewed respondents. The mean age of the participants was 45.0 years (SD = 14.3) and 73.7% of them were females. The mean PHQ-9 score was 4.93 (SD = 3.75). The Thai version of the PHQ-9 had satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.79) and showed moderate convergent validity with the HAM-D (r = 0.56; P < 0.001). The categorical algorithm of the PHQ-9 had low sensitivity (0.53) but very high specificity (0.98) and positive likelihood ratio (27.37). Used as a continuous measure, the optimal cut-off score of PHQ-9 ≥ 9 revealed a sensitivity of 0.84, specificity of 0.77, positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.21, negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.99, and positive likelihood ratio of 3.71. The area under the curve (AUC) in this study was 0.89 (SD = 0.05, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.92).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The Thai version of the PHQ-9 has acceptable psychometric properties for screening for major depression in general practice with a recommended cut-off score of nine or greater.</p

Reliability and Validity of the Thai Version of the Florida Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory

This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Thai version of the FOCI (FOCI-T), which is a brief selfreport questionnaire to assess the symptoms and severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Forty-seven OCD patients completed the FOCI-T, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and the Pictorial Thai Quality of Life (PTQL). They were then interviewed to determine the OCD symptom severity by the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale-Second Edition (YBOCS-II) and depressive symptoms by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), together with the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and the Clinical Global Impression-Severity Scales (CGI-S). The result showed that the FOCI-T had satisfactory internal consistency reliability on both the Symptom Checklist (KR-20 = 0.86) and the Severity Scale ( = 0.92). Regarding validity analyses, the FOCI-T Severity Scale had stronger correlations with the YBOCS-II and CGI-S than the FOCI-T Symptom Checklist. This implied the independence between the FOCI-T Symptom Checklist and the Severity Scale and good concurrent validity of the FOCI-T Severity Scale. Our results suggested that the FOCI-T was found to be a reliable and valid self-report measure to assess obsessive-compulsive symptoms and severity

Psychiatric services in primary care settings: a survey of general practitioners in Thailand

BACKGROUND: General Practitioners (GPs) in Thailand play an important role in treating psychiatric disorders since there is a shortage of psychiatrists in the country. Our aim was to examine GP's perception of psychiatric problems, drug treatment and service problems encountered in primary care settings. METHODS: We distributed 1,193 postal questionnaires inquiring about psychiatric practices and service problems to doctors in primary care settings throughout Thailand. RESULTS: Four hundred and thirty-four questionnaires (36.4%) were returned. Sixty-seven of the respondents (15.4%) who had taken further special training in various fields were excluded from the analysis, giving a total of 367 GPs in this study. Fifty-six per cent of respondents were males and they had worked for 4.6 years on average (median = 3 years). 65.6% (SD = 19.3) of the total patients examined had physical problems, 10.7% (SD = 7.9) had psychiatric problems and 23.9% (SD = 16.0) had both problems. The most common psychiatric diagnoses were anxiety disorders (37.5%), alcohol and drugs abuse (28.1%), and depressive disorders (29.2%). Commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs were anxiolytics and antidepressants. The psychotropic drugs most frequently prescribed were diazepam among anti-anxiety drugs, amitriptyline among antidepressant drugs, and haloperidol among antipsychotic drugs. CONCLUSION: Most drugs available through primary care were the same as what existed 3 decades ago. There should be adequate supply of new and appropriate psychotropic drugs in primary care. Case-finding instruments for common mental disorders might be helpful for GPs whose quality of practice was limited by large numbers of patients. However, the service delivery system should be modified in order to maintain successful care for a large number of psychiatric patients

The association between overall health, psychological distress, and occupational heat stress among a large national cohort of 40,913 Thai workers

Background: Occupational heat stress is a well-known problem, particularly in tropical countries, affecting workers, health and well-being. There are very few recent studies that have reported on the effect of heat stress on mental health, or overall health in workers, although socioeconomic development and rapid urbanization in tropical developing countries like Thailand create working conditions in which heat stress is likely. Objective: This study is aimed at identifying the relationship between self-reported heat stress and psychological distress, and overall health status in Thai workers. Results: 18% of our large national cohort (&#x003E;40,000 subjects) often works under heat stress conditions and males are exposed to heat stress more often than females. Furthermore, working under heat stress conditions is associated with both worse overall health and psychological distress (adjusted odds ratios ranging from 1.49 to 1.84). Conclusions: This association between occupational heat stress and worse health needs more public health attention and further development on occupational health interventions as climate change increases Thailand&#x0027;s temperatures

A closer look at the increase in suicide rates in South Korea from 1986–2005

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Suicide rates have recently been decreasing on average among OECD countries, but increasing trends have been detected in South Korea, particularly since the 1997 economic crisis. There have been no detailed analyses about the changes of the suicide rates over time periods in Korea. We examined trends in both absolute and proportional suicide rates over the time period of economic development, crisis, and recovery (1986 – 2005) as well as in birth cohorts from 1924 to 1978.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used data on total mortality and suicide rates from 1986 to 2005 published online by the Korean National Statistical Office (NSO) and extracted data for individuals under 80 years old. The analyses of the trends for 1) the sex-age-specific total mortality rate, 2) the sex-age-specific suicide rate, and 3) the sex-age-specific proportional suicide rate in 1986–2005 were conducted. To demonstrate the birth cohort effect on the proportional suicide rate, the synthetic birth cohort from 1924 to 1978 from the successive cross-sectional data was constructed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Age standardized suicide rates in South Korea increased by 98% in men (from 15.3 to 30.3 per 100,000) and by 124% in women (from 5.8 to 13.0 per 100,000). In both genders, the proportional increase in suicide rates was more prominent among the younger group aged under 45, despite the absolute increase being attributed to the older group. There were distinct cohort effects underlying increasing suicide rates particularly among younger age groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Increasing suicide rates in Korea was composed of a greater absolute increase in the older group and a greater proportional increase in the younger group.</p