Publications by authors named "Quah S"

Despite the widespread use of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework in psychiatry and neuroscience, recent studies suggest that the RDoC is insufficiently specific or excessively broad relative to the underlying brain circuitry it seeks to elucidate. To address these concerns, we employ a latent variable approach using bifactor analysis. We examine 84 whole-brain task-based fMRI (tfMRI) activation maps from 19 studies with 6192 participants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The origins of human disease can be traced back to our evolutionary history, highlighting how evolution has led to greater complexity through advancements in gene regulation via microRNAs (miRNAs).
  • Many human diseases, including cancer, inflammation-related illnesses, and neurological disorders, are linked to the functions of miRNAs, making them a target for innovative treatment approaches.
  • The text discusses how understanding the roles of miRNAs in these diseases can guide the development of specific therapies to improve precision medicine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

RNA therapeutics represent a rapidly expanding platform with game-changing prospects in personalized medicine. The disruptive potential of this technology will overhaul the standard of care with reference to both primary and specialty care. To date, RNA therapeutics have mostly been delivered parenterally via injection, but topical administration followed by intradermal or transdermal delivery represents an attractive method that is convenient to patients and minimally invasive.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite the widespread use of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework in psychiatry and neuroscience, recent studies suggest that the RDoC is insufficiently specific or excessively broad relative to the underlying brain circuitry it seeks to elucidate. To address these concerns, we employed a latent variable approach using bifactor analysis. We examined 84 whole-brain task-based fMRI (tfMRI) activation maps from 19 studies with 6,192 participants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Burn injuries incur not just significant morbidity but also long-term psychosocial impact. This study aims to identify the clinico-demographics of children hospitalised for burns and factors associated with prolonged hospitalisation.

Materials And Methods: Written medical records of burn patients admitted to the Sultanah Aminah Hospital paediatric surgical ward, from January 2016 to December 2018, were retrospectively reviewed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Previous studies have demonstrated that films of sequence-controlled amphiphilic copolymers display contact angles that depend on microblock size. This suggests that microblock length may provide a means of tuning surface and interfacial properties. In this work, the interfacial rheology of a series of sequence-controlled copolymers, prepared through the addition of bicyclo[4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Urachal cancer is a rare non-urothelial malignancy that involves the urachus, often occurring at the junction of the urachal ligament and the bladder dome. It accounts for less than 1% of all bladder tumours. Cancer during pregnancy is rare, with the incidence of all cancers in pregnancy estimated to be 25-27 per 100 000 pregnancies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Substantial progress has been made studying morphological changes in brain regions during adolescence, but less is known of network-level changes in their relationship. Here, we compare covariance networks constructed from the correlation of morphometric volumes across 135 brain regions of marmoset monkeys in early adolescence and adulthood. Substantial shifts are identified in the topology of structural covariance networks in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and temporal lobe.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Little empirical research exists on how key stakeholders involved in the provision of care for chronic conditions and policy planning perceive the indirect or "spillover" effects of the COVID-19 on non-COVID patients. This study aims to explore stakeholder experiences and perspectives of the impact of COVID-19 on the provision of care for chronic conditions, evolving modalities of care, and stakeholder suggestions for improving health system resilience to prepare for future pandemics.

Design: Qualitative study design.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) undergo frequent endoscopic procedures, with visualization of the gastrointestinal mucosa central to treatment decision-making. Subsequently, a noninvasive alternative to optical colonoscopy (OC) would be welcomed. One such technology is capsule endoscopy, including the PillCam COLON 2 (PCC2), though research validating its use in ileocolonic CD is limited.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a lethal malignancy with a high propensity for metastasis. Follistatin-like 1 (FSTL1), a pro-metastatic glycoprotein, is absent from healthy epithelia and aberrantly upregulated in SCC. The transcript encodes two alternative gene products whose dominance is post-transcriptionally regulated via a bistable switch.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sarcoid-like granulomas are a rare adverse effect of TNF-α inhibitors that are becoming increasingly reported in the literature. A retrospective study in France estimated this adverse effect to occur in 0.04% patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Structural and functional abnormalities of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) have been implicated in affective disorders that manifest anxiety-related symptoms. However, research into the functions of primate OFC has predominantly focused on reward-oriented rather than threat-oriented responses. To redress this imbalance, the present study performed a comprehensive analysis of the independent role of 2 distinct subregions of the central OFC (anterior area 11; aOFC and posterior area 13; pOFC) in the processing of distal and proximal threat.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chemoresistance poses a major hurdle to cancer treatments. Andrographolide-derived SRJ09 and SRJ23 were reported to exhibit potent, selective inhibitory activities against colon and prostate cancer cells, respectively. In this study, previously developed resistant colon (HCT-116) and prostate (PC-3) cancer cell lines were used to elucidate the molecular mechanisms contributing to chemoresistance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The midcingulate cortex (MCC) is associated with cognition and emotion regulation. Structural and correlational functional evidence suggests that rather than being homogenous, the MCC may have dissociable functions that can be mapped onto distinct subregions. In this study, we use the marmoset monkey to causally investigate the contributions of two proposed subregions of the MCC: the anterior and posterior midcingulate cortices (aMCC and pMCC) to behavioral and cardiovascular correlates of threat processing relevant to anxiety disorders.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a highly prevalent chronic inflammatory skin disease that is characterized by intense pruritus, seriously affecting patients' quality of life. Its pathophysiology, which involves both the adaptive and innate immune responses as well as skin barrier defects, is still poorly understood. We recently identified a microRNA, miR-335, as a key driver of keratinocyte differentiation and cornification, which is essential for the establishment of a healthy skin barrier.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examines the impact of a newly developed structured training on Singapore paramedics' psychological comfort before the implementation of a prehospital termination of resuscitation (TOR) protocol. Following a before and after study design, the paramedics underwent a self-administered questionnaire to assess their psychological comfort level applying the TOR protocol, 22 months before and one month after a 3-h structured training session. The questionnaire addressed five domains: sociocultural attitudes on resuscitation and TOR, multi-tasking, feelings towards resuscitation and TOR, interactions with colleagues and bystanders and informing survivors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Many recent studies have highlighted the timescale for stress relaxation of biomaterials on the microscale as an important factor in regulating a number of cell-material interactions, including cell spreading, proliferation, and differentiation. Relevant timescales on the order of 0.1-100 s have been suggested by several studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Andrographolide and its benzylidene derivatives, SRJ09 and SRJ23, potentially bind oncogenic K-Ras to exert anticancer activity. Their molecular interactions with K-Ras oncoproteins that lead to effective biological activity are of major interest. docking and molecular dynamics simulation were performed using Glide and Desmond, respectively; while saturation transfer difference NMR was performed using GDP-bound K-RasG12V.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

High trait anxiety is associated with altered activity across emotion regulation circuitry and a higher risk of developing anxiety disorders and depression. This circuitry is extensively modulated by serotonin. Here, to understand why some people may be more vulnerable to developing affective disorders, we investigated whether serotonin-related gene expression across the brain's emotion regulation circuitry may underlie individual differences in trait anxiety using the common marmoset (, mixed sexes) as a model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Human studies with self-reported measures have suggested a link between an avoidant coping style and high anxiety. Here, using the common marmoset as a model, we characterize the latent factors underlying behavioral responses of these monkeys towards low and high imminence threat and investigate if a predominantly avoidant behavioral response to high imminence threat is associated with greater anxiety-like behavior in a context of low imminence threat. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the human intruder test of low imminence threat revealed a single factor in which a combination of active vigilance and avoidance responses underpinned anxiety-like behavior.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease. Skin barrier defects contribute to disease initiation and development; however, underlying mechanisms remain elusive.

Objective: To understand the underlying cause of barrier defect, we investigated aberrant expression of specific microRNAs (miRNAs) in AD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF