Publications by authors named "Chee Chong"

Objective: To evaluate the long-term humoral immune response to Nipah virus (NiV) in a cohort of 25 survivors after 25 years of post-infection.

Methods: A total of 25 survivors of NiV infection from the 1998 outbreak were recruited for sample collection. The serum IgG antibody response to NiV antigens, specifically nucleocapsid (N), fusion glycoprotein (F) and attachment glycoprotein (G) was evaluated using ELISA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Dengue remains a significant public health issue in Malaysia, with over 600,000 cases and 1,200 deaths recorded from 2015 to 2021, marking a 100% increase from the previous seven years.
  • Recent studies on the molecular epidemiology of dengue in the country are scarce, prompting this analysis of 4,004 complete envelope gene sequences from all four dengue virus serotypes collected during the same period.
  • The research found that the dengue virus populations in Malaysia are highly diverse, with ongoing turnover of genotypes, and indicated that Selangor and Johor are key areas for the emergence and spread of dengue, linked to extensive networks throughout South and East Asia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Allergic rhinitis is a chronic respiratory disorder that significantly impacts patients' quality of life (QoL) and work performance. Pharmacists are recognized as suitable professionals to provide patient education and pharmaceutical care for managing allergic rhinitis patients. However, local clinical practice guidelines, particularly regarding pharmaceutical care in public healthcare institutions, are lacking.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccinations have been shown to prevent infection with efficacies ranging from 50% to 95%. This study assesses the impact of vaccination on the clinical severity of COVID-19 during the second wave in Brunei Darussalam in 2021, which was due to the Delta variant.

Methods: Patients included in this study were randomly selected from those who were admitted with COVID-19 to the National Isolation Centre between 7 August and 6 October 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Due to the absence of available therapeutics and good vaccines, vector control solutions are needed to mitigate the spread of dengue. Matings between male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the wAlbB strain of Wolbachia and wildtype females yield non-viable eggs. We evaluated the efficacy of releasing wAlbB-infected A aegypti male mosquitoes to suppress dengue incidence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: This study aims to characterize the presentation, biochemical status of children with T1DM at diagnosis, the type of subcutaneous insulin regimens initiated, and to determine the incidence of T1DM in Bruneian children aged 18 years and younger.

Methodology: A retrospective electronic and paper medical chart review was performed on patients aged 18 years and younger diagnosed with T1DM from 2013 to 2018 in Brunei Darussalam.

Results: A total of 31 children with a mean age of 10.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examined Static-99R normative data and cross-cultural validity in a sample of 811 Aboriginal and 3257 non-Aboriginal Australian men ( = 4068) serving custodial orders for sexual offences in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Aboriginal men scored significantly higher on the Static-99R than non-Aboriginal men (M = 4.39 vs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We present a Cantonese emotional speech dataset that is suitable for use in research investigating the auditory and visual expression of emotion in tonal languages. This unique dataset consists of auditory and visual recordings of ten native speakers of Cantonese uttering 50 sentences each in the six basic emotions plus neutral (angry, happy, sad, surprise, fear, and disgust). The visual recordings have a full HD resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels and were recorded at 50 fps.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Objective: People with epilepsy frequently encounter sleep disruptions that can stem from a variety of complex factors. Epilepsy-related sleep disturbance can lead to reduced quality of life and excessive daytime hypersomnolence. Identification of sleep disturbances may help in the overall management of epilepsy patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Patient education is identified as one of the core and fundamental management strategies in the management of allergic rhinitis. The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines developed guidance for the management of allergic respiratory disease, and the guidelines are applicable to the international context. The ARIA guidelines for the pharmacy have specifically encouraged the creation of local pharmacist-led intervention in allergic rhinitis management.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background Context: A computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are used routinely in the radiologic evaluation and surgical planning of patients with lumbar spine pathology, with the modalities being complimentary. We have developed a deep learning algorithm which can produce 3D lumbar spine CT images from MRI data alone. This has the potential to reduce radiation to the patient as well as burden on the health care system.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: This study aims to determine the trend of allergic rhinitis (AR) prevalence in a tertiary hospital between 2017 and 2022, and to compare its prevalence pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving the extraction of all Malaysian patients' medical records who were diagnosed with AR and attended the otorhinolaryngology outpatient clinic of a government-funded tertiary hospital in Malaysia between 2017 and 2022.

Results: 3,744 cases out of the 57,968 first-encounter outpatient visits to the otorhinolaryngology clinic were extracted for analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A retrospective study in Brunei assessed the duration of COVID-19 symptoms during the second wave, focusing on cases admitted between August 7-30, 2021.
  • The study analyzed data from 548 COVID-19 cases, finding that common symptoms at admission included cough, fever, and sore throat, with symptom duration varying based on age, disease severity, and vaccination status.
  • Understanding these factors can help improve management strategies for COVID-19, including isolation duration and hospitalization planning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Patients who recover from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection are at risk of long-term health disorders and may require prolonged health care. This retrospective observational study assesses the number of health-care visits before and after COVID-19 infection in Brunei Darussalam.

Methods: COVID-19 cases from the first wave with 12 months of follow-up were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study compares clinical and demographic characteristics of COVID-19 cases in Brunei during the first wave (March-May 2020) and the second wave (August 2021).
  • Results showed that first wave patients were older and had more comorbidities, while second wave patients were more likely to exhibit symptoms at admission.
  • These findings suggest shifts in COVID-19 manifestations over time, which can inform changes in management strategies, including isolation policies and treatment protocols.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - A 23-year-old man experienced a painful red right eye for a month, leading to very poor vision and symptoms indicative of uveitis, including keratic precipitates and vitritis.
  • - The following week, he developed new left-side symptoms such as reduced vision, painless eyelid swelling, and a conjunctival lesion, along with neurological signs affecting sensation.
  • - Blood tests revealed pancytopenia, and a bone marrow biopsy confirmed he had aggressive natural killer (NK) cell leukemia, which is a rare cause of eye inflammation needing a team approach for treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Machine learning can work well, but it often struggles to make accurate predictions on new data, which is called out-of-sample generalizability.
  • To solve this problem, researchers are using a method called Federated ML that allows computers to share information about how well they're learning without actually sharing the data itself.
  • In a big study with 71 locations around the world, scientists created a model to help detect brain tumors more accurately, showing a significant improvement compared to older methods and hoping to help with rare illnesses and data sharing in healthcare.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Allergic rhinitis has been identified as a major respiratory disease that places a significant burden on patients and the healthcare system. Nevertheless, the management of allergic rhinitis is challenging for both patients and practitioners. Pharmacists have been recognised as strategic in providing advice for allergic avoidance, disease information, and pharmacological care for allergic rhinitis management.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on enhancing the sterile insect technique (SIT) by standardizing the quality control flight test device (FTD) to ensure a reliable release of high-quality sterile male mosquitoes.
  • Key factors that affect mosquito escape rates were identified as tube color, the use of lures and fans, mosquito species, age, and density, while factors like test duration and fan speed were found to be less significant.
  • A new, more affordable version of the FTD (version 2.0) was developed and successfully tested, proving effective for evaluating mosquito flight ability for SIT and similar programs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nipah virus (NiV) is a highly lethal zoonotic paramyxovirus that emerged in Malaysia in 1998. It is a human pathogen capable of causing severe respiratory infection and encephalitis. The natural reservoir of NiV, Pteropus fruit bats, remains a continuous virus source for future outbreaks, although infection in the bats is largely asymptomatic.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study aimed to describe the characteristics of COVID-19 cases and close contacts during the first wave of COVID-19 in Malaysia (23 January 2020 to 26 February 2020), and to analyse the reasons why the outbreak did not continue to spread and lessons that can be learnt from this experience. Characteristics of the cases and close contacts, spatial spread, epidemiological link, and timeline of the cases were examined. An extended SEIR model was developed using several parameters such as the average number of contacts per day per case, the proportion of close contact traced per day and the mean daily rate at which infectious cases are isolated to determine the basic reproduction number (R) and trajectory of cases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF