Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancer types, with rising incidence due to imbalanced lifestyle and dietary habit. Association between CRC cases and KRAS mutation has been established recently. Brunei Darussalam, located within the Borneo island, is of diverse ethnicity which could represent the genome of Southeast Asia population. Our study, for the first time, determined the survival outcome of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) and established the link with KRAS mutation by modelling the population in Brunei Darussalam. Methods: We collected data of 76 metastatic CRC (mCRC) patients undergoing treatment at The Brunei Cancer Centre, the national centre for cancer treatment in Brunei. These patients were diagnosed with Stage 4 CRC between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2017. Age, gender, ethnicity, date of diagnosis, site of primary tumour, metastatic sites and molecular analysis of KRAS mutation status (either KRAS mutated or KRAS wild-type) of tumour were recorded. The survival outcomes of these mCRC patients were analysed. Results: The end of this study period recorded 73.1% deceased mutant KRAS mCRC patients and 46.0% deceased wild-type KRAS mCRC patients, contributing to death rates of 45.2% and 54.8%, correspondingly. Chi-squared analysis showed a significant difference between the survival outcomes of wild-type KRAS and mutant KRAS mCRC patients (p-value = 0.024). Conclusions: There is a significant difference between the survival outcomes of wild-type KRAS and mutant KRAS mCRC patients in the Brunei population. In addition, we found that mutations in codon 12 of KRAS gene on mutant KRAS mCRC patients have shorter survival median periods than those with mutations within codon 13 of KRAS gene. This is the first study in Brunei Darussalam to analyse both the survival outcomes of mCRC patients and those of mutant KRAS mCRC patients.
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of peanut varieties cultivated in Morocco (Virginia and Valencia) and extraction methods (cold press, CP; Soxhlet, Sox and maceration, and Mac) on the fatty acid profile, phytosterol, and tocopherol contents, quality characteristics, and antioxidant potential of peanut seed oil. The DPPH method was used to determine the antioxidant activity of the oils. The results revealed that fatty acid content was slightly affected by the extraction technique. However, the CP method was shown to be an excellent approach for extracting oil with desirable quality features compared to the Sox and Mac methods. Furthermore, the peanut oil extracted via CP carried a higher amount of bioactive compounds and exhibited remarkable antioxidant activities. The findings also revealed higher oleic acid levels from the Virginia oil, ranging from 56.46% to 56.99%. Besides, a higher total phytosterol and tocopherol content and DPPH scavenging capacity were obtained from the Valencia oil. Analyzing the study, it can be inferred that extraction method and variety both affect the composition of the peanut oil's bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. This information is relevant for extracting peanut oil with a greater level of compounds of industrial interest.
The safety, side effects and efficacy profile of COVID-19 vaccines remain subjects of ongoing concern among the public in Malaysia. The aim of this study was to determine the types of adverse effects following immunisation with COVID-19 vaccines and the differences based on various types of COVID-19 vaccines to raise public awareness and reduce vaccine hesitancy among the public. A total of 901 Malaysian adults (≥18 years) who received various COVID-19 vaccines were selected to participate in our cross-sectional study through an online survey between December 2021 and January 2022. A total of 814 (90.3%) of the participants reported ≥1 side effect following COVID-19 immunisation. Of these, the predominant symptoms were swelling at the injection site (n = 752, 83.5%), headache (n = 638, 70.8%), pain or soreness at the injection site (n = 628, 69.7%), fatigue or tiredness (n = 544, 60.4%), muscle weakness (n = 529, 58.7%) and diarrhea (n = 451, 50.1%). Recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty ®) vaccine reported the highest number of adverse effects (n = 355, 43.6%), followed by mixed COVID-19 vaccines (n = 254, 31.2%), the Oxford-AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1-®[recombinant]) vaccine (n = 113, 13.9%) and the Sinovac (CoronaVac®) vaccine (n = 90, 11.1%). The study showed that individuals who reported significantly more side effects were of elderly age, female gender and high educational level [P value < 0.05]. Mixed COVID-19 vaccine recipients also reported significantly more local and systemic symptoms after the first dose and third dose when compared with other single vaccine recipients. This study demonstrated the types of self-reported adverse effects following immunisation with single and mixed COVID-19 vaccines. These findings may provide the side effects of different COVID-19 vaccines with the hope of educating the public on the safety profiles of these vaccines and reducing vaccine hesitancy among the public.
Drought is one of the major abiotic stresses that affects plants at various levels and stages as it also reduces crop productivity and weakens global food security. Breeding and screening of drought tolerant varieties are crucial to ensure the continuity of food supply. Two breeding lines, UKM-112 and UKM-114 with QTL(s) for submergence tolerance (Submergence 1 [Sub1]) and yield under drought stress (qDTY) and together with their recurrent parental line, UKM-5, and a drought-sensitive cultivar, MR219 were screened for their agro-morpho-physiological responses under reproductive stage drought stress (RS) and non-stress (NS) to determine how the Sub1 interacts with qDTY in enhancing drought tolerance. Under NS, UKM-112 (with qDTY3.1 and Sub1) recorded the highest values while MR219 (no QTL) recorded the lowest values for most parameters. Furthermore, lines with QTL (either single or two QTLs) outperformed MR219 in all agronomic parameters including grain yield (GY) under RS. UKM-114, which carries the Sub1, demonstrated higher values for important agronomic traits such as the number of filled spikelets (FS), thousand-grain weight (TGW), and GY when exposed to drought stress. The enhanced values in UKM-114 are a good indication that the presence of Sub1 minimized the negative impacts of drought on yield-related traits. The genotype with qDTY or a combination of qDTY and Sub1 has a lower photosynthetic rate under RS compared to the genotype with only Sub1 but higher than MR219 suggesting that qDTY improved the photosynthetic rate, though lesser compared to Sub1. These results indicate that Sub1+qDTY does not effectively improve drought stress survivability and yield. The presence of qDTY appears to mask the beneficial effect of Sub1 in improving photosynthetic rate and yield. While the present study did not report a positive outcome for Sub1+qDTY, the combination of these traits has the potential to provide beneficial effects without any negative interactions.
Evidence has confirmed that excessive use of antibiotics in agricultural farming is the main factor causing antibiotic-resistant (ABR) bacteria such as ABR Staphylococcus aureus, which have a detrimental human health impact. Nevertheless, little effort has given to contain the spread of ABR through animal sources, despite some studies unswervingly reporting a high prevalence of ABR in humans in low and middle-income countries like Bangladesh. This study was aimed to systematically review the studies that reported the prevalence of ABR in S. aureus isolates from animal sources in Bangladesh. Applying the PRISMA guidelines, we searched for studies using the Bangladesh Journal Online, Scopus, PubMed, and EBSCO databases conducted in the last 20 years. The search obtained a total of 124 articles, of which 13 articles (n=1,298) were selected to extract the prevalence data and pooled together. The pooled prevalence of ABR S. aureus was about 49%. The reported data produced a pooled prevalence of ABR (top ten resistant antibiotics) in S. aureus isolates from animal sources (i.e., meat, cow milk, dairy products, eggs, animal feeds and litters) in Bangladesh: streptomycin (90.34%, IQR, interquartile range: 3.67), vancomycin (83.56%, IQR: 16.50), penicillin (79.68 %, IQR: 23.8), Nalidixic acid (78.72 %, IQR: 33), kanamycin (71.10 %, IQR: 28.9), amoxicillin (66.28 %, IQR: 67.86), tetracycline (63.53 %, IQR: 40.44), oxytetracycline (62.86 %, IQR: 11.64), erythromycin (62.28 %, IQR: 41.97), and methicillin (59.50 %, IQR: 40.5). In this systematic review, we demonstrated an evaluation of the evidence of the high prevalence of ABR by S. aureus in animal sources. These findings might have important consequences in policy design to contain the spread of ABR to establish One Health settings in Bangladesh. Additionally, S. aureus is prone to spread ABR among and other bacterial species through mobile genetic elements. Therefore, implementing nationwide surveillance to detect ABR strains and controlling them by establishing strict ABR management is highly recommended.
BACKGROUND Mobile health (mHealth) app use is a major concern because of the possible dissemination of misinformation that could harm the users. Particularly, it can be difficult for health care professionals to recommend a suitable app for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) education and self-monitoring purposes. OBJECTIVE This study aims to analyze and evaluate the contents as well as features of COVID-19 mobile apps. The findings are instrumental in helping health care professionals to identify suitable mobile apps for COVID-19 self-monitoring and education. The results of the mobile apps’ assessment could potentially help mobile app developers improve or modify their existing mobile app designs to achieve optimal outcomes. METHODS The search for the mHealth apps available in the android-based Play Store and the iOS-based App Store was conducted between April 18 and May 5, 2020. The region of the App Store where we performed the search was the United States, and a virtual private network app was used to locate and access COVID-19 mobile apps from all countries on the Google Play Store. The inclusion criteria were apps that are related to COVID-19 with no restriction in language type. The basic features assessment criteria used for comparison were the requirement for free subscription, internet connection, education or advisory content, size of the app, ability to export data, and automated data entry. The functionality of the apps was assessed according to knowledge (information on COVID-19), tracing or mapping of COVID-19 cases, home monitoring surveillance, online consultation with a health authority, and official apps run by health authorities. RESULTS Of the 223 COVID-19–related mobile apps, only 30 (19.9%) found in the App Store and 28 (44.4%) in the Play Store matched the inclusion criteria. In the basic features assessment, most App Store (10/30, 33.3%) and Play Store (10/28, 35.7%) apps scored 4 out of 7 points. Meanwhile, the outcome of the functionality assessment for most App Store apps (13/30, 43.3%) was a score of 3 compared to android-based apps (10/28, 35.7%), which scored 2 (out of the maximum 5 points). Evaluation of the basic functions showed that 75.0% (n=36) of the 48 included mobile apps do not require a subscription, 56.3% (n=27) provide symptom advice, and 41.7% (n=20) have educational content. In terms of the specific functions, more than half of the included mobile apps are official mobile apps maintained by a health authority for COVID-19 information provision. Around 37.5% (n=18) and 31.3% (n=15) of the mobile apps have tracing or mapping and home monitoring surveillance functions, respectively, with only 17% (n=8) of the mobile apps equipped with an online consultation function. CONCLUSIONS Most iOS-based apps incorporate infographic mapping of COVID-19 cases, while most android-based apps incorporate home monitoring surveillance features instead of providing focused educational content on COVID-19. It is important to evaluate the contents and features of COVID-19 mobile apps to guide users in choosing a suitable mobile app based on their requirements.