Glycated Haemoglobin (HbA1c) peak in Capillary Zone Electrophoresis (CZE) among Diabetes Mellitus (DM) individuals

Introduction: Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) is a method of haemoglobin (Hb) analysis for the screening of haemoglobinopathies or variant haemoglobins. In our centre, few samples sent for Hb analysis showed Hb peak at zone 10 requiring further evaluation. This pattern was observed in patients with history of diabetes mellitus (DM); hence it was postulated the peak observed is glycated Hb (HbA1c). The objective of this study was to determine whether the expression of Hb peak at zone 10 among blood samples from DM patients correlate with HbA1c values measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving blood samples from DM patients. Samples with HbA1c values ≥ 6.5% by HPLC were selected and subsequently analysed by CZE method. Presence of Hb peak in zone 10 were correlated and analysed with the HbA1c levels measured by HPLC method. Results: A total of 131 samples were analysed. Hb peak was detected at zone 10 in 50/131(38.2%). Out of 50 samples, 47 (94%) were from patients with HbA1c level > 10%. Correlation study showed it was 18 times more likely for Hb peak to appear in zone 10 in patients with HbA1c > 10%. Cut off point for HbA1c to appear in CZE is 10.5% with AUC of 0.965. Conclusion: Hb peak detected at zone 10 of CZE was most likely to be HbA1c. However, it is recommended that for every primary method of Hb analysis used be confirmed by secondary method. Therefore, both zone 10 in CZE and P2 peak in HPLC must be correlated together to achieve final diagnosis

A pilot study to assess serum potassium levels and haemolysis in red cell units

Introduction: Percentage of haemolysis is widely used as a quality parameter to assess red blood cell viability in blood banking. In certain blood banks, serum potassium level is used due to the unavailability of the former test. The relationship between these two tests, however, is still unclear. The objective of this study is to determine the association between haemolysis measured using two different methods for quality control. Methods: A total of forty-four samples of packed red cell in citrate-phosphate-dextrose with optisol were randomly selected from donation drives. Nine millilitres of blood was collected weekly starting from day-2 of storage, followed by day-7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 for assessment of red blood cell haemolysis by measuring serum potassium level and percentage of haemolysis. Results: These two parameters were correlated significantly with a positive moderate linear relationship on day 7, 21 and 28 with r = 0.393, 0.448 and 0.425, respectively and p-values less than 0.01. The linear regression analysis showed there was a significant regression equation which could be used to predict the serum potassium level from the percentage of haemolysis. Conclusion: There were significant increases in the percentage of haemolysis and serum potassium level in the packed red cell units with storage. The serum potassium level would be able to be predicted from the percentage of haemolysis using the regression equations on day 7, 21 and 28. The serum potassium measurement could be used as an alternative test to the percentage of haemolysis before issuing blood

Avidez do IgG pelo Western Blot usando o r GRA-7 do Toxoplasma gondii clonado de nucleotídeos 39-711 para sorodiagnóstico de toxoplasmose aguda

Toxoplasmosis is an important cause of congenital infection. The present study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of recombinant (r) GRA-7 cloned from nucleotides (n) 39-711 in discriminating between acute and chronic toxoplasmosis. First, commercial IgM, IgG and IgG avidity ELISAs were used to determine the serological profile of the sera. Serum samples were from 20 symptomatic patients with acute infection (low IgG avidity, IgM positive), 10 with chronic infection (high IgG avidity, IgM negative) and 10 with indeterminate IgG avidity (IgM positive) which were tested for IgG avidity status with an in-house developed IgG avidity Western blot using the rGRA-7 recombinant antigen. All 20 sera from cases of probable acute infection showed bands which either faded out completely or reduced significantly in intensity after treatment with 8 M urea, whereas the band intensities of the 10 serum samples from chronic cases remained the same. Of the 10 sera with indeterminate IgG avidity status, after treatment with 8 M urea the band intensities with six sera remained the same, two sera had completely faded bands and another two sera had significantly reduced band intensities. Discrimination between acute and chronic toxoplasmosis was successfully performed by the in-house IgG avidity Western blot.Toxoplasmose é uma causa importante de infecção congênita. O presente estudo foi feito para avaliar o uso do recombinante (r) GRA-7 clonado de nucleotídeos (n) 30-711 para discriminar entre toxoplasmose aguda e crônica. Inicialmente IgM, IgG e ELISA avidez IgG comerciais foram usados para determinar o perfil sorológico do soro. Amostras de soro de 20 pacientes sintomáticos com infecção aguda (IgG avidez baixa, IgM positivo), 10 com infecção crônica (alta avidez IgG, IgM negativo) e 10 com avidez IgG indeterminada (IgM positivo) que foram testados para o status de avidez IgG com um doméstico Western Blot desenvolvendo avidez IgG usando o rGRA-7 antígeno recombinante. Todos os 20 soros de provável infecção aguda mostraram bandas que ou se apagaram completamente ou tiveram a sua intensidade significantemente reduzida após tratamento com uréia 8 M, enquanto as intensidades das bandas das 10 amostras de soros de casos crônicos permaneceram iguais. Dos 10 soros com status indeterminado de avidez de IgG, após tratamento com uréia 8 M a intensidade das bandas em seis soros permaneceram iguais, dois soros tiveram bandas apagadas completamente e dois outros tiveram significante redução da intensidade das bandas. Discriminação entre toxoplasmose aguda e crônica foi feita com sucesso através do IgG avidez Western blot doméstico

Students' Online Learning Readiness Amid the Covid 19 Outbreak: MCO Phase 1

Teaching on digital platforms has now become the trend, and whether it is language apps, virtual tutoring, or video conferencing tools, there has been a significant rise in usage since the Covid-19 outbreak. In this regard, the study investigated students’ readiness towards online learning during the Malaysia Movement Control Order (MCO) Phase 1. 120 students were asked to respond to a questionnaire. However, only 98 students had responded to the questionnaire. In general, the finding shows that the students were not fully ready for online learning mainly due to the limited access to the internet, and because of this limitation, they prefer to have downloadable videos and lecture presentation slides that they can access at any time asynchronously. This study has implications on identifying students’ learning needs for the digital language classroom as the base for designing the learning materials

Candida isolates from pregnant women and their antifungal susceptibility in a Malaysian tertiary-care hospital

Objective: Pregnant women are susceptible to vaginal colonization and infection by yeast. The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of Candida spp in high vaginal swabs of pregnant women and their antifungal susceptibility. Methods: High vaginal swab samples received from Serdang Hospital, Selangor, Malaysia during 2011 initially had microscopic examination, Gram-staining and fungal culture. These were finally confirmed by growth in chromogenic medium (CHROMagarCandida; Difco BBL, USA) and commercial biochemical identification kit (API 20C AUX; bioMérieux, Lyon, France). Antifungal susceptibility was performed by E-test method. Results: Out of 1163 specimens 200 (17.2%) candida spp were confirmed from high vaginal swabs of pregnant women. Candida albicans (83.5%) is the most common species detected followed by Candida glabrata (16%) and Candida famata (0.05%). All C.albicans and C.famata isolates were susceptible to fluconazole while C.glabrata isolates were dose dependent susceptibility. First and second trimester, and diabetes were considered significant factors in patients for the vaginal candidiasis (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In pregnant women, C. albicans was the frequently isolated yeast from high vaginal swabs. Routine screening and treatment are important of pregnant women regardless of symptoms

Nutrition education intervention improves nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices of primary school children : a pilot study.

The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in knowledge, attitude and practices of primary school children after receiving a nutrition education intervention for 6 weeks. A validated questionnaire was used to assess knowledge, attitude and practice at pre- and post-intervention. A total of 335 students from four primary schools were assigned to either intervention or comparison group. The intervention group received nutrition education taught by trained school teachers while the comparison group received the standard Health and Physical Education curriculum. A generalized linear univariate procedure was used to compare changes in knowledge, attitude and practice scores between intervention and comparison groups with ethnicity, weight-for-age, mother’s and father’s employment as confounding factors. There were significant increments (p<0.001) in the post intervention mean scores of knowledge (2.17 vs. 0.47), attitude (1.40 vs. 0.32) and practice (0.87 vs. -0.10) items for the intervention group compared to comparison group. The changes in knowledge (F=17.72, p<0.001), attitude (F=6.41, p<0.05) and practice (F=15.49, p<0.001) in the intervention group were maintained even after adjusting for confounding factors. The findings support the importance of providing children with nutrition knowledge to promote healthy dietary behaviors

Increased regulatory T cells in acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients

Introduction: Regulation in adaptive immune response balances a fine line that prevents instigation of self-damage or fall into unresponsiveness permitting abnormal cell growth. Mechanisms that keep this balance in check include regulatory T cells (Tregs). Tregs consist of a small but heterogeneous population which may be identified by the phenotype, CD3+CD4+CD25+CD127-. Role of Tregs in pathogenesis of cancers is thus far supported by evidence of increased Tregs in various cancers and may contribute to poorer prognosis. Tregs may also be important in acute leukemias. Objective: A review of the literature on Tregs in acute leukemias was conducted and Tregs were determined in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALLs). Results: Studies on Tregs in B-cell ALL are few and controversial. We observed a significantly increased percentage of Tregs (mean ± SD, 9.72 ± 3.79% vs. 7.05 ± 1.74%; P = 0.047) in the bone marrow/peripheral blood of ALL (n = 17) compared to peripheral blood of normal controls (n = 35). A positive trend between Tregs and age (R = 0.474, P = 0.055, n = 17) implicates this factor of poor prognosis in B-cell ALL. Discussion: Tregs in cancer are particularly significant in immunotherapy. The manipulation of the immune system to treat cancer has for a long time ignored regulatory mechanisms inducible or in place. In lymphoma studies tumor-specific mechanisms that are unlike conventional methods in the induction of Tregs have been hypothesized. In addition, tumor-infiltrating Tregs may present different profiles from peripheral blood pictures. Tregs will continue to be dissected to reveal their mysteries and their impact on clinical significance

Specific detection of fungal pathogens by 18S rRNA gene PCR in microbial keratitis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The sensitivity and specificity of 18S rRNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the detection of fungal aetiology of microbial keratitis was determined in thirty patients with clinical diagnosis of microbial keratitis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Corneal scrapings from patients were used for Gram stain, culture and PCR analysis. PCR was performed with primer pairs targeted to the 18S rRNA gene. The result of the PCR was compared with conventional culture and Gram staining method. The PCR positive samples were identified by DNA sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rRNA gene. Main outcome measures were sensitivity and specificity of PCR in the detection of fungus in corneal keratitis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Combination of microscopy and culture gave a positive result in 11 of 30 samples of microbial keratitis. PCR detected 10 of 11 samples that were positive by conventional method. One of the 19 samples that was negative by conventional method was positive by PCR. Statistical analysis revealed that the PCR to have a sensitivity of 90.9% and specificity of 94.7% in the detection of a fungal aetiology in microbial keratitis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>PCR is a rapid, sensitive and useful method to detect fungal aetiology in microbial keratitis.</p

L2 Learners’ Preferences and Opinions of Teachers’ Written Corrective Feedback in L2 Writing Multicultural Class

Effective writing skills are essential for second language (L2) learners to achieve. To assist these learners, writing teachers provide methods to improve their skills in writing, and one of the methods is written corrective feedback. Despite applying written corrective feedback, L2 learners still face challenges in developing their writing skills, especially the skill to produce linguistically accurate writing. Written corrective feedback is a form of written feedback that is commonly employed pedagogically in writing class. Nevertheless, it is unsure whether or not L2 learners are benefited from this method. Therefore, this study seeks to determine the preferences and opinions of L2 learners regarding their teachers' written corrective feedback. The study adopted a mixed-methods research method, combining a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. This study involved twenty-one L2 students from various ethnic backgrounds. The findings indicate that these L2 learners of diverse ethnic backgrounds require written corrections to improve their writing correctness. As a result of the teachers' lack of effort in expressing the written corrective comments, the L2 students are unable to comprehend the corrections made. This impacts their writing accuracy. For this reason, they choose face-to-face consultation for the written CF, as it will benefit both their revisions and future writings. This study is relevant because it provides teachers with insights for enhancing the efficiency of written corrective feedback in an L2 writing class