Pre-Injury Demographic Patterns of Patients Sustaining Hip Fractures in Malaysia

INTRODUCTION: Hip fractures entail a growing economic burden on the health care system. Study is warranted to further our understanding of its patterns and to create increased awareness in health care providers and the public. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data was extracted from the ongoing National Orthopaedic Registry of Malaysia (NORM), for the period June 2008 till December 2009. Patients aged 50 years and above without previous pathological fracture hip fractures were included in the study. RESULTS: Most hip fracture patients were 70 years and above (69.5%) with a mean (SD) age of 73.8 (10.3) years. Females represented the majority of the patients in this study (68.4%). Low energy trauma (i.e. trivial fall) was to the main mechanism of hip fractures in this study (81.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Aging adults should be made aware of timely preventive strategies (including osteoporosis prevention) fall prevention measures, and encouraged to maintain physically active lifestyles

CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY OF MULTI-CENTRE PATIENT REGISTRIES IN MALAYSIA

Objective: This survey set out to describe patient registries available in the country, to determine their security features, data confidentiality, extent of outputs produced and data quality of the registries. Methods: A cross sectional survey was carried out via a self administered questionnaire. Results: There were 21 patient registries which covered important chronic diseases in health. There was a wide variety induration since development, size, numbers of centre reporting, funding source and outputs but not much difference in data security and patient confidentiality amongst the registries. There were impressive outputs seen (reports, presentations andjournal articles) and high quality data despite most registries being recently developed. Conclusion: The quality of registries in Malaysia is of high standard but its’ major benefits have yet to be realised

Peran Saliva pada Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) dalam Penegakan Diagnosis Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19): Sebuah Tinjauan Literatur

Di penghujung tahun 2019, sebuah penyakit yang tidak diketahui penyebabnya menjangkiti sejumlah orang di Wuhan, ibu kota dari provinsi Hubei, Cina. Pada tanggal 11 Februari 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) menyatakan secara resmi nama dari penyakit ini adalah Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Deteksi COVID-19 yang cepat serta akurat sangat penting untuk mengendalikan wabah di masyarakat. Pengambilan nasopharyngeal swab untuk diagnosis COVID-19 menggunakan RT-PCR terdapat banyak kekurangan, diantaranya metode pengambilannya invasif dan berisiko menciptakan aerosol. Saliva memiliki potensi sebagai spesimen untuk diagnosis COVID-19 karena SARS-CoV-2 diketahui masuk ke tubuh menggunakan reseptor ACE-2, yang mana ekspresi ACE-2 tersebut dapat ditemukan salah satunya di kelenjar saliva. Saliva memiliki beberapa kelebihan, yaitu non-invasif, mencegah risiko terjadinya infeksi silang, dan mudah dilakukan sendiri oleh pasien. Tujuan dari tinjauan literatur ini adalah untuk mengetahui peran saliva pada Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) dalam penegakan diagnosis Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Kesimpulan dari tinjauan literatur ini adalah saliva dapat digunakan sebagai spesimen alternatif pada Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) untuk menegakkan diagnosis COVID-19

Serological markers of sand fly exposure to evaluate insecticidal nets against visceral leishmaniasis in India and Nepal: a cluster-randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Visceral leishmaniasis is the world' second largest vector-borne parasitic killer and a neglected tropical disease, prevalent in poor communities. Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LNs) are a low cost proven vector intervention method for malaria control; however, their effectiveness against visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is unknown. This study quantified the effect of LNs on exposure to the sand fly vector of VL in India and Nepal during a two year community intervention trial. METHODS: As part of a paired-cluster randomized controlled clinical trial in VL-endemic regions of India and Nepal we tested the effect of LNs on sand fly biting by measuring the antibody response of subjects to the saliva of Leishmania donovani vector Phlebotomus argentipes and the sympatric (non-vector) Phlebotomus papatasi. Fifteen to 20 individuals above 15 years of age from 26 VL endemic clusters were asked to provide a blood sample at baseline, 12 and 24 months post-intervention. RESULTS: A total of 305 individuals were included in the study, 68 participants provided two blood samples and 237 gave three samples. A random effect linear regression model showed that cluster-wide distribution of LNs reduced exposure to P. argentipes by 12% at 12 months (effect 0.88; 95% CI 0.83-0.94) and 9% at 24 months (effect 0.91; 95% CI 0.80-1.02) in the intervention group compared to control adjusting for baseline values and pair. Similar results were obtained for P. papatasi. CONCLUSIONS: This trial provides evidence that LNs have a limited effect on sand fly exposure in VL endemic communities in India and Nepal and supports the use of sand fly saliva antibodies as a marker to evaluate vector control interventions