Study to measure alcohol related attitudes and drinking behaviours in rural Sabah

Alcohol related problems are the biggest cause of life years lost to disability in Malaysian men· Alcohol use is an important part of the culture of many of the ethnic groups of Sabah. It is widely believed that the alcohol consumption in rural Sabah is high, since a large amount of alcohol related harm is seen in the health system there. Objectives of this study are to estimate the prevalence of alcohol consumption in the study area.to determine the magnitude of harmful drinking, to explore into the factors associated with alcohol consumption.to determine the knowledge and attitude towards alcohol among different ethnic groups.to develop recommendation for future health intervention to combat against alcohol problem in the study areas. A Community-based Cross sectional study was conducted from 2009 Oct -2011 Oct for 2 years in 4 areas of rural Sabah in northern Borneo; Kudat, Kota Marudu, Pitas and Kotabelud. FGDs( Qualitative ) and questionnaires survey with face to face interview( Quantitative ) methods were used by trained local Research Assistants. Survey questionnaire was developed after qualitative survey and designed to detect alcohol consumption and other informations together with the AUDIT screening instrument .This study can find out find out which factors put people at risk of alcohol abuse and dependence.the knowledge and attitudes towards drinking, in particular how much alcohol subjects perceive to be an unhealthy amount, moral perceptions of alcohol use, perceptions about the importance of alcohol to their culture in northern rural community , Sabah

Unrecorded alcohol and alcohol-related harm in rural Sabah, Malaysia: a socio-economically deprived region with expensive beer and cheap local spirits

To investigate recorded and unrecorded alcohol and the relation to alcohol-related harm in a region with high taxation, economic deprivation and cultural use of alcohol. Methods: Two participants per household were systematically sampled from 12 different villages chosen using stratified random sampling in the North of Sabah, Malaysia. Participants were asked about each type and amount of drink consumed; price paid, whether tax was paid, number of days sick in the last year and whether they had experienced various health problems. A brief screen for mental disorders (PHQ) and an alcohol disorder screening test (AUDIT) were completed. Village heads were also interviewed about alcohol-related problems at village level. Results: 470 people were interviewed. The most commonly drunk beverages were beer and Montoku (a local distilled beverage), which had average prices of RM3.85 and RM0.48 per standard drink respectively. Montoku was more likely to be drunk by problem drinkers. Only 3.1% of alcohol drunk was believed by respondents to be taxed. Men with an AUDIT score of more than 15 were more likely to have had a sick day in the last year and have a female household member with symptoms of mental disorder on PHQ. Conclusions: Change in the taxation structure needs to be considered to reduce alcohol-related harm. Most alcohol consumed in rural Sabah is smuggled or informal. The low price of local spirits is likely to be contributing to alcohol-related harm. Differential effects on minority populations need to be considered when designing alcohol policy

Magnetic resonance imaging during a pandemic: recommendations by the ISMRM safety committee

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the challenges delivering face-to-face patient care across healthcare systems. In particular the COVID-19 pandemic challenged the imaging community to provide timely access to essential diagnostic imaging modalities while ensuring appropriate safeguards were in place for both patients and personnel. With increasing vaccine availability and greater prevalence of vaccination in communities worldwide we are finally emerging on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we learned from our institutional and healthcare system responses to the pandemic, maintaining timely access to MR imaging is essential. Radiologists and other imaging providers partnered with their referring providers to ensure that timely access to advanced MR imaging was maintained. On behalf of the International Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Safety Committee, this white paper is intended to serve as a guide for radiology departments, imaging centers, and other imaging specialists who perform MR imaging to refer to as we prepare for the next pandemic. Lessons learned including strategies to triage and prioritize MR imaging research during a pandemic are discussed

The effect of duration of illness and antipsychotics on subcortical volumes in schizophrenia: Analysis of 778 subjects

BackgroundThe effect of duration of illness and antipsychotic medication on the volumes of subcortical structures in schizophrenia is inconsistent among previous reports. We implemented a large sample analysis utilizing clinical data from 11 institutions in a previous meta-analysis.MethodsImaging and clinical data of 778 schizophrenia subjects were taken from a prospective meta-analysis conducted by the COCORO consortium in Japan. The effect of duration of illness and daily dose and type of antipsychotics were assessed using the linear mixed effect model where the volumes of subcortical structures computed by FreeSurfer were used as a dependent variable and age, sex, duration of illness, daily dose of antipsychotics and intracranial volume were used as independent variables, and the type of protocol was incorporated as a random effect for intercept. The statistical significance of fixed-effect of dependent variable was assessed.ResultsDaily dose of antipsychotics was positively associated with left globus pallidus volume and negatively associated with right hippocampus. It was also positively associated with laterality index of globus pallidus. Duration of illness was positively associated with bilateral globus pallidus volumes. Type of antipsychotics did not have any effect on the subcortical volumes.DiscussionA large sample size, uniform data collection methodology and robust statistical analysis are strengths of the current study. This result suggests that we need special attention to discuss about relationship between subcortical regional brain volumes and pathophysiology of schizophrenia because regional brain volumes may be affected by antipsychotic medication

Setaria worms from the domestic pigs in Burma

Setaria thomasi Sandosham, 1954, which was described originally in Malaysia, is reported in domestic pigs of Burma. The species is redescribed

Volume of high-risk intratumoral subregions at multi-parametric MR imaging predicts overall survival and complements molecular analysis of glioblastoma

Objective: To develop and validate a volume-based, quantitative imaging marker by integrating multi-parametric MR images for predicting glioblastoma survival, and to investigate its relationship and synergy with molecular characteristics. Methods: We retrospectively analysed 108 patients with primary glioblastoma. The discovery cohort consisted of 62 patients from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA). Another 46 patients comprising 30 from TCGA and 16 internally were used for independent validation. Based on integrated analyses of T1-weighted contrast-enhanced (T1-c) and diffusion-weighted MR images, we identified an intratumoral subregion with both high T1-c and low ADC, and accordingly defined a high-risk volume (HRV). We evaluated its prognostic value and biological significance with genomic data. Results: On both discovery and validation cohorts, HRV predicted overall survival (OS) (concordance index: 0.642 and 0.653, P<0.001 and P=0.038, respectively). HRV stratified patients within the proneural molecular subtype (log-rank P=0.040, hazard ratio=2.787). We observed different OS among patients depending on their MGMT methylation status and HRV (log-rank P=0.011). Patients with unmethylated MGMT and high HRV had significantly shorter survival (median survival: 9.3 vs. 18.4 months, log-rank P=0.002). Conclusion: Volume of the high-risk intratumoral subregion identified on multi-parametric MRI predicts glioblastoma survival, and may provide complementary value to genomic information