Factors associated with sleep quality among Malaysian undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Poor sleep quality has become a public health concern due to its association with several health risks. Recent studies had shown that university students had poor sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this study aimed to determine the factors associated with sleep quality among undergraduate students in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study involved 377 undergraduates from public and private universities in Malaysia. The study ws conducted between 16 June 2021 to 31 July 2021. Respondents completed an online survey reagarding to their sociodemographic background, sleep quality, chronotype pattern, night eating syndrome, food security, physical activity, internet addiction and self-reported body weight and height. There was poor sleep quality in 62.3% of the respondents. Respondents who were Malay (AOR = 3.84, 95% CI =2.07-7.11), in the arts stream (AOR = 2.55, 95% CI = 1.20-5.42) and internetaddicted (AOR = 2.14, 95% CI = 1.22-3.77) had higher risk of poor sleep quality. Respondents who lived in a rented house (AOR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.16-0.88), were sophomores (AOR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.25-0.99) and were the morning chronotype (AOR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.17-0.72) had lower risk for developing poor sleep quality. This study underscored the high prevalence of poor sleep quality among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings suggested that by preventing internet addiction and the evening chronotype can improve sleep quality

Microfluidic synthesis of protein-loaded nanogels in a coaxial flow reactor using a design of experiments approach

Ionic gelation is commonly used to generate nanogels but often results in poor control over size and polydispersity. In this work we present a novel approach to the continuous manufacture of protein-loaded chitosan nanogels using microfluidics whereby we demonstrate high control and uniformity of the product characteristics. Specifically, a coaxial flow reactor (CFR) was employed to control the synthesis of the nanogels, comprising an inner microcapillary of internal diameter (ID) 0.595 mm and a larger outer glass tube of ID 1.6 mm. The CFR successfully facilitated the ionic gelation process via chitosan and lysozyme flowing through the inner microcapillary, while cross-linkers sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) and 1-ethyl-2-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDC) flowed through the larger outer tube. In conjunction with the CFR, a four-factor three-level face-centered central composite design (CCD) was used to ascertain the relationship between various factors involved in nanogel production and their responses. Specifically, four factors including chitosan concentration, TPP concentration, flow ratio and lysozyme concentration were investigated for their effects on three responses (size, polydispersity index (PDI) and encapsulation efficiency (% EE)). A desirability function was applied to identify the optimum parameters to formulate nanogels in the CFR with ideal characteristics. Nanogels prepared using the optimal parameters were successfully produced in the nanoparticle range at 84 ± 4 nm, showing a high encapsulation efficiency of 94.6 ± 2.9% and a high monodispersity of 0.26 ± 0.01. The lysis activity of the protein lysozyme was significantly enhanced in the nanogels at 157.6% in comparison to lysozyme alone. Overall, the study has demonstrated that the CFR is a viable method for the synthesis of functional nanogels containing bioactive molecules

Associations of Type 2 Diabetes with Common Variants in PPARD and the Modifying Effect of Vitamin D among Middle-Aged and Elderly Chinese

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have identified that variants in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor PPAR-δ (PPARD), a target gene of vitamin D, were significantly associated with fasting glucose and insulin sensitivity in European populations. This current study sought to determine (1) whether the genetic associations of PPARD variants with type 2 diabetes and its related traits could be replicated in Chinese Han population, and (2) whether the associations would be modified by the effect of vitamin D status. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We genotyped 9 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that cover the gene of PPARD (rs2267664, rs6902123, rs3798343, rs2267665, rs2267668, rs2016520, rs2299869, rs1053049, and rs9658056) and tested their associations with type 2 diabetes risk and its related traits, including fasting glucose, insulin and HbA1c in 3,210 Chinese Hans. Among the 9 PPARD tag SNPs, rs6902123 was significantly associated with risk of type 2 diabetes (odds ratio 1.75 [95%CI 1.22-2.53]; P = 0.0025) and combined type 2 diabetes and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) (odds ratio 1.47 [95%CI 1.12-1.92]; P = 0.0054). The minor C allele of rs6902123 was associated with increased levels of fasting glucose (P = 0.0316) and HbA1c (P = 0.0180). In addition, we observed that vitamin D modified the effect of rs6902123 on HbA1c (P for interaction = 0.0347). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings demonstrate that common variants in PPARD contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes in Chinese Hans, and provided suggestive evidence of interaction between 25(OH)D levels and PPARD-rs6902123 on HbA1c

Morphology of the first instar larva of obligatory traumatic myiasis agents (Diptera: Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae)

There are only three fly species that are obligate agents of traumatic myiasis of humans and livestock: a single species of flesh fly, Wohlfahrtia magnifica (Sarcophagidae), and two species of blow flies, Chrysomya bezziana and Cochliomyia hominivorax (Calliphoridae). The morphology of their first instar larvae is thoroughly and consistently documented here with light microscopy photographs and scanning electron microscopy micrographs. The following morphological structures are documented: pseudocephalon, antennal complex, maxillary palpus, oral ridges, thoracic and abdominal spinulation, spiracular field, posterior spiracles and cephaloskeleton. New diagnostic features drawn from the cephaloskeleton and the spinulation of abdominal segments, including the anal pad, are discovered and extensively described. Earlier descriptions in the literature are revisited, and major discrepancies between these and the results of the current study are discussed. The present results allow clarification, correction and, especially, complementation of information provided by earlier authors. The relatively distant taxonomic position of all three species is evidence that obligatory myiasis has arisen independently, and the extensively similar morphology in the first instar larvae of Chrysomya bezziana, Cochliomyia hominivorax and W. magnifica in comparison to necrophagous species, especially the enhancement of the anterior part of the cephaloskeleton and the segmental spinulation, is therefore best interpreted as homoplasic adaptations to a life strategy as obligate vertebrate parasites. An identification key for first instar larvae of all obligatory traumatic myiasis agents of mammals is provided.Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited

Mitochondrial division inhibitor-1 is neuroprotective in the A53T-α-synuclein rat model of Parkinson’s disease

Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) is involved in both familial and sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD). One of the proposed pathogenic mechanisms of α-syn mutations is mitochondrial dysfunction. However, it is not entirely clear the impact of impaired mitochondrial dynamics induced by α-syn on neurodegeneration and whether targeting this pathway has therapeutic potential. In this study we evaluated whether inhibition of mitochondrial fission is neuroprotective against α-syn overexpression in vivo. To accomplish this goal, we overexpressed human A53T-α- synuclein (hA53T-α-syn) in the rat nigrostriatal pathway, with or without treatment using the small molecule Mitochondrial Division Inhibitor-1 (mdivi-1), a putative inhibitor of the mitochondrial fission Dynamin-Related Protein-1 (Drp1). We show here that mdivi-1 reduced neurodegeneration, α-syn aggregates and normalized motor function. Mechanistically, mdivi-1 reduced mitochondrial fragmentation, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress. These in vivo results support the negative role of mutant α-syn in mitochondrial function and indicate that mdivi-1 has a high therapeutic potential for PD

5-HTTLPR Polymorphism Impacts Task-Evoked and Resting-State Activities of the Amygdala in Han Chinese

Background: Prior research has shown that the amygdala of carriers of the short allele (s) of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene (5-HTTLPR) have a larger response to negative emotional stimuli and higher spontaneous activity during the resting state than non-carriers. However, recent studies have suggested that the effects of 5-HTTLPR may be specific to different ethnic groups. Few studies have been conducted to address this issue. Methodology/Principal Findings: Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted on thirty-eight healthy Han Chinese subjects (l/l group, n = 19; s/s group, n = 19) during the resting state and during an emotional processing task. Compared with the s/s group, the l/l group showed significantly increased regional homogeneity or local synchronization in the right amygdala during the resting state (|t|.2.028, p,0.05, corrected), but no significant difference was found in the bilateral amygdala in response to negative stimuli in the emotional processing task. Conclusions/Significance: 5-HTTLPR can alter the spontaneous activity of the amygdala in Han Chinese. However, the effect of 5-HTTLPR on the amygdala both in task state and resting state in Asian population was no similar with Caucasians. The

Fabrication of graphene film composite electrochemical biosensor as a pre-screening algal toxin detection tool in the event of water contamination

In this work, we fabricated a novel graphene film composite biosensor for microcystin-LR detection as an alternative to time-consuming, expensive, non-portable and often skills-demanding conventional methods of analysis involved in water quality monitoring and assessment. Excellent linear correlation (R2 = 0.99) of the electron-transfer resistance was achieved over a wide range of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) concentration, i.e. 0.005–10 μg/L. As-prepared graphene film composite biosensors can specifically detect MC-LR with remarkable sensitivity and detection limit (2.3 ng/L) much lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) provisional guideline limit of microcystin-LR concentration (i.e. 1 μg/L) in different water sources. Their great potential can be attributed to large active surface area of graphene film and efficient charge transfer process enabled by their high conductivity. Developed graphene film composite biosensors were also successfully applied to determination of MC-LR in several environmental water samples with high detection recovery, which offers a promising possibility of large-scale manufacture of sensor tips due to their macroscopic free-standing nature, the scalable fabrication route and easily tunable size