Correlation between the HBsAg level and the peripheral blood lymphocytes profile in chronic hepatitis B patients from Malaysia

Background: In recent times, the hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) level, a cheaper marker compared to the molecular method, has been used not only for indicating active hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, but also for predicting the clinical and treatment outcomes. Chronic HBV (CHB) infection is related to defects in cells-mediated immunity; however, data linking the level of HBsAg with changes of immune response during a CHB infection is still lacking in Malaysia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to quantify the HBsAg level in CHB patients and to investigate its correlation with the immune status. Materials and methods: A total of 50 patients with CHB infection and 20 healthy controls were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Serological and biochemical analyses were performed on the serum samples. The HBV genotype was determined by direct sequencing and the viral load in the serum was measured using qPCR. The immunophenotype profiles of the peripheral blood lymphocyte were analyzed using flow cytometry and the HBsAg concentration was measured using Roche’s Elecsys HBsAg II assay. Results: The analyzed data demonstrated a narrowly higher mean level of bilirubin and liver enzymes exhibited by the viremic CHB patients compared to the healthy controls. In the viral load study, 15 patients had a high viral DNA load (≥ 3×106 genome copies/ mL), while 35 patients had a low or undetectable viral load (< 3×106 genome copies/mL). The phylogenetic tree analysis for 35 detectable samples elucidated that the genotypes were B and C, and they were at equal prevalence rates. The outcome of the peripheral blood lymphocyte study revealed that the percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ cells were significantly reduced, while the CD4+/CD8+ ratio were observed to be slightly increased in the CHB patients compared to the healthy controls. At the same time, there were no statistically significant differences between the CHB patients and healthy controls with respect to other peripheral blood lymphocyte cells. More than half of the patients had HBsAg titre above 1000 IU/mL, and there was a positive and negative correlation between the HBsAg titre and the percentage of total T cell lymphocytes and natural killer cells, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings indicated that serum HBsAg suppressednatural killer cells population, but enhanced total T cells lymphocyte in response to CHB infection. This study has shown the importance of quantitative HBsAg as a laboratory biomarker that may help to define the immune state of CHB patients

IL-8 as a potential in-vitro severity biomarker for dengue disease

Dengue is a common infection, caused by dengue virus. There are four different dengue serotypes, with different capacity to cause severe dengue infections. Besides, secondary infections with heterologous serotypes, concurrent infections of multiple dengue serotypes may alter the severity of dengue infection. This study aims to compare the severity of single infection and concurrent infections of different combinations of dengue serotypes in-vitro. Human mast cells (HMC)-1.1 were infected with single and concurrent infections of multiple dengue serotypes. The infected HMC-1.1 supernatant was then added to human umbilical cord vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC) and severity of dengue infections was measured by the percentage of transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER). Levels of IL- 10, CXCL10 and sTRAIL in HMC-1.1 and IL-8, IL-10 and CXCL10 in HUVEC culture supernatants were measured by the ELISA assays. The result showed that the percentage of TEER values were significantly lower in single infections (p0.4), indicating that IL-8 may be suitable as an in-vitro severity biomarker. In conclusion, this in-vitro model presented few similarities with regards to the conditions in dengue patients, suggesting that it could serve as a severity model to test for severity and levels of severity biomarkers upon different dengue virus infections

Changes in heart rate variability and post exercise blood pressure from manipulating load intensities of resistance-training

Background: The isolated effect of resistance training (RT) on heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure (BP) is crucial when prescribing suitable training programmes for healthy individuals. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare BP and HRV responses in physically active men after an acute RT session with loads of 5-, 10- or 15-repetition maximums (5RM, 10RM and 15RM). Method: Eighty-one men (age: 21.6±1.1yr; body mass: 74.1±5.8 kg; height: 175.3 ±7.1cm) who performed moderate to vigorous physical activities for at least 30 min a day on most days of the week participated in this study. After the of 5RM loads for the bent-over row (BR), bench press (BEP), Dead-lift (DL) and squats (SQ), participants were divided into three training load groups (15RM = GrpL, 10RM = GrpM or 5RM = GrpH). During the experimental session, each group (n=27) performed 3 sets for each of the four exercise, with 2-min rest intervals between sets and exercises with their assigned training load. BP and HRV were measured prior to, immediately after, and at 15-min intervals until two hours post-experiment. Results: All three groups attained improved BP (p = .001) reductions and longer HRV (p = .0001) changes after an acute exercise session but the GrpM (10RM) and and GrpL (15RM) performed better than GrpH (5RM). Conclusion: Strength and conditioning professionals may prescribe exercises with 10-15RM loads if the aim is to obtain an acute reduction in BP after an RT session

Zerumbone-loaded nanostructured lipid carrier induces apoptosis in human colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco2) cell line

The incorporation of zerumbone (Zer) into nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) is hypothesized to increase the efficacy of the drug. Nanostructured lipid carrier has sustained-drug release characteristics and is able to improve the solubility and bioavailability of the lipophilic drug. In this study, the anti-cancer effect of Zer was tested on human colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) cell line. The effect of Zer, zerumbone-loaded nanostructured lipid carrier (Zer-NLC) and NLC on the Caco-2 cell viability were determined using the MTT assay. The treatment concentration ranges from 0 to 120 μM at four different time intervals (i.e., 0 h, 24 hrs, 48 hrs and 72 hrs) were evaluated. At 24 hrs, the half-growth inhibitory concentration (GI50) of Zer-NLC (i.e., 4.25 μM) is lower than that of Zer (i.e., 23.75 μM). However, Zer outperformed the Zer-NLC at the subsequent time points. Similar trend was observed in other parameters including the cytostatic concentration (CC) and half-lethal concentration 50 (LC50). Phase contrast imaging and AO/PI fluorescence staining were performed at the CC and LC50 values. The morphological changes and the apoptosis features could be seen in cells treated with Zer and Zer-NLC while cells treated with NLC showed minor morphological changes. The cells treated with Zer-NLC demonstrated a slightly slower progression of apoptosis, which could be due to the controlled release of Zer from the NLC matrix. It was concluded that the incorporation of Zer into NLC did not compromise the potency and efficacy of the drug

Detection of leptospiral DNA in urine sample following prolonged hospitalization: a case report

We described a case of positive molecular detection of leptospirosis in urine sample following prolonged hospitalization. Relevant clinical history had raised suspicion to leptospirosis infection. A significantly high level of creatinine kinase suggested possibility of rhabdomyolysis. Blood and urine samples collected on 4th day of admission were negative for leptospires culture and serological method showed no significant evidences of positive infection. Molecular detection of Leptospira spp. in blood sample was positive but not in urine sample. After seven weeks of infection, leptospiral DNA was detected in urine sample using molecular method

Detection of dengue using PAMAM dendrimer integrated tapered optical fiber sensor

The exponential escalation of dengue cases has indeed become a global health crisis. This work elaborates on the development of a biofunctionalized tapered optical fber (TOF) based sensor with the integration of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer for the detection of dengue E protein. The dimension of the TOF generated an evanescent feld that was sensitive to any changes in the external medium while the integration of PAMAM promoted more adhesion of bio-recognition molecules; antiDENV II E protein antibodies; that were complementary to the targeted protein. This in return created more active sites for the absorption of DENV II E proteins onto the tapered region. The resolution and detection limit of the sensor are 19.53nm/nM and 1 pM, respectively with Kd=1.02×10−10M

Dying in cyberworld: violent video games extinguished children’s death concept and attitude

Death is often a taboo topic in society, especially among the Chinese community. Most of the violent video games spread immoral values of life and death. Hence deformed death concept and death attitude are easily moulded in children particularly without proper supervision from parents. The misconception of death concept and death attitude can manipulate primary school children’s attitudes towards death which gradually might lead children to harm themselves or others. This study is aimed at identifying the relationship between violent video games and children’s death concept and death attitude (Fear of death, Death avoidance, Approach Acceptance, Escape Acceptance). The differences between the level of exposure to violent video games towards children’s death concept and death attitude are also carried out in this study. A total of 397 data was collected from Malaysian Chinese schoolchildren between 10 to 12 years of age by using the purposive sampling method. Instruments used in this study consist of demographic information, Death Attitude Media Violence Exposure. The study showed that a high level of exposure towards violent video games had a significant negative correlation with death concept and fear of death, whilst significantly positive correlation with escape acceptance. The result of the independent samples t-test showed that children with high exposure to violent video games had lower death concept and fear of death and a higher level of escape acceptance. Further research is needed to explore the death concept and attitude among children as technology has become an inseparable part of human beings in the 4th Industrial Revolutio

Comparative analysis of current diagnostic PCR assays in detecting pathogenic Leptospira isolates from environmental samples

Objective: To compare the efficiency of routine diagnostic PCR assays in detecting pathogenic Leptospira isolated from water and soils. Methods: Seven routine assays targeting six genes (lipL32, flaB, gyrB, lfb1, secY and ligB) were evaluated and compared on the cultures of two groups of pathogenic Leptospira from different sources. One group included 19 described reference strains recovered from infected human or animals, and another group included 22 environmental isolates from recreational and residential sites in Malaysia. The latter have been confirmed for presence of pathogenic Leptospira DNA. PCR positivity or detection sensitivity of each assay was determined and compared between the two groups. Results: Validation on reference strains showed 100.0% PCR sensitivity for all assays except ligB-PCR (95.0%) that failed to amplify Leptospira interrogans serovar Pomona. In marked contrast, there was a notable decline in sensitivity in the environmental isolates (lipL32-PCR, 95.5%; flaB-PCR, 90.9%; gyrB-PCR, 77.3%; lfb1-PCR, 59.1%; secY-PCRs, 40.9% G1/G2-PCR, 36.4%; ligB-PCR, 13.6%), implying a large genetic distance between the two groups, as well as nucleotide polymorphism among environmental isolates. Conclusions: High proportion of false-negative PCR results suggests a need of prudent selection of primers in detecting environmental pathogenic Leptospira. These findings offer valuable insights on the extensive biodiversity of genus Leptospira and its impact on the efficacy and development of molecular detection tool

Households’ Health Expenditures on Acute Gastroenteritis in Malaysia

Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) causes significant health and economic burden on society. The aim of this study is to estimate households’ direct and indirect expenditures on AGE and its predicted factors. This cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2019 and March 2020 using a bilingual proforma distributed using Survey Monkey among individuals with self-reported AGE in all 14 states of Malaysia. The finding revealed the average expenditure for a single episode of AGE was RM395.58 (± SD 798.02). The mean indirect expenditure was higher at RM259.14 (± SD 379.92) vs. direct expenditure of RM136.44 (± SD 596.47). The highest expenditure was seen among those who obtained inpatient care. The multiple linear regression analysis showed that household income (RM0.13; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.27; p=0.043) and type of healthcare facility (private vs government) (RM1842.05; 95% CI: 395.13, 3288.98; p=0.014) had significant association with households’ total health expenditure on AGE. Acute gastroenteritis incurred substantial cost on all affected households regardless of care-seeking modalities. Interestingly, the main economic burden of AGE was the indirect cost of productivity loss; interpreted in terms of days away from work. In conclusion, AGE instigated economic burden on both households and employers. The household income and type of facility were found to be significant factors associated with the households’ health expenditures due to AGE. This study recommends food safety awareness among the public and enforcement of safe food handling practices among food vendors and industries