iSECRETE: Integrating Microfluidics and DNA Proximity Amplification for Synchronous Single-Cell Activation and IFN-γ Secretion Profiling.

Cytokines, crucial in immune modulation, impact disease progression when their secretion is dysregulated. Existing methods for profiling cytokine secretion suffer from time-consuming and labor-intensive processes and often fail to capture the dynamic nature of immune responses. Here, iSECRETE, an integrated platform that enables synchronous cell activation, wash-free, and target-responsive protein detection for single-cell IFN-γ cytokine secretion analysis within 30 min at room temperature is presented.

Factors Associated with the Health-Related Quality of Life of Malaysian Young Adults Post-Pandemic.

The transition from school to university brings significant adjustments in lifestyle, body weight, and living environment for young adults, potentially impacting their quality of life. Emerging evidence suggests the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have exacerbated these changes. This cross-sectional study involved 361 young adults (18-25 years) from Malaysian tertiary institutions, aiming to identify factors associated with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) post-COVID-19 restrictions.

Peer-led lifestyle interventions for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in community: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Background: Peer-led lifestyle interventions have gained recognition as effective approaches for managing and preventing chronic diseases. However, there remains a critical knowledge gap regarding the impact and effectiveness of peer-led interventions specifically in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Our systematic review aims to synthesise the available evidence and evaluate the impact of peer-led lifestyle interventions, providing invaluable insights that can guide the development of peer-led strategies for preventing CVD.

Adverse neonatal outcomes in pregnant women with asthma: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: A systematic review and meta-analysis from 2013 reported increased risks of congenital malformations, neonatal death and neonatal hospitalization amongst infants born to women with asthma compared to infants born to mothers without asthma.

Objective: Our objective was to update the evidence on the associations between maternal asthma and adverse neonatal outcomes.

Search Strategy: We performed an English-language MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and COCHRANE search with the terms (asthma or wheeze) and (pregnan* or perinat* or obstet*).

Dietary and Lifestyle Risk Factors of Obesity Among Young Adults: A Scoping Review of Observational Studies.

Purpose Of Review: Obesity is a growing public health concern worldwide, especially among young adults. This scoping review aims to identify and summarize the current evidence on dietary and lifestyle risk factors associated with obesity among young adults.

Recent Findings: A scoping review was performed using the PRISMA-ScR guidelines.

Development of a pharmacy educational environment questionnaire.

Introduction: A robust instrument for measuring the educational environment in a pharmacy patient care setting is currently lacking. The authors aimed to develop a person-reported outcome measure to gauge trainee pharmacists' perceptions of their clinical workplace-based educational environment. This paper reports the various sources of validity evidence.

Social Media-Delivered Lifestyle Interventions Among Individuals Living with Diabetes and Prediabetes: A Scoping Review.

Purpose Of Review: There is a lack of synthesized evidence on social media-delivered lifestyle interventions for managing and preventing diabetes. This scoping review aims to evaluate recently reported lifestyle interventions delivered on social media for individuals with diabetes and prediabetes.

Recent Findings: Twelve studies were included in this review.

Detection of Increased Expression of Claudin-1 in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Analysis and Clinical-Pathological Correlation.

Background Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive disease that lacks therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers. Claudin-1 is a well-described tight junction protein with prognostic value in many human cancers. Aims The need for the discovery of biomarkers of TNBC disease was a major reason for this study.

Comprehending Nutrition and Lifestyle Behaviors of People with Metabolic Syndrome: A Focus Group Study.

Demographically and socio-culturally appropriate care is critical for empowering people with metabolic syndrome (MetS) to self-manage their condition. This focus group study aimed to explore the understanding of nutrition and lifestyle behaviors (NLBs) of Malaysians with MetS. Adults with MetS (N = 21) participated in four focus groups at a university's research clinic in Malaysia.

Immunogenomic intertumor heterogeneity across primary and metastatic sites in a patient with lung adenocarcinoma.

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, partially owing to its extensive heterogeneity. The analysis of intertumor heterogeneity has been limited by an inability to concurrently obtain tissue from synchronous metastases unaltered by multiple prior lines of therapy.

Methods: In order to study the relationship between genomic, epigenomic and T cell repertoire heterogeneity in a rare autopsy case from a 32-year-old female never-smoker with left lung primary late-stage lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), we did whole-exome sequencing (WES), DNA methylation and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing to characterize the immunogenomic landscape of one primary and 19 synchronous metastatic tumors.

Ethnic differences in serum testosterone concentration among Malay, Chinese and Indian men: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: To investigate non-urological patients with multiple comorbidities for factors contributing towards differences in testosterone concentration in multiethnic Malaysian men.

Design: An observational study.

Patients: Sexually active men, ≥40 years, with no known urological problems, were recruited at the phlebotomy clinic at our centre.

Communication, the Heart of a Relationship: Examining Capitalization, Accommodation, and Self-Construal on Relationship Satisfaction.

The study of processes that enrich positive relationships has been an under-researched area within positive psychology practice. The way an individual responds during couple conflicts (accommodation response) and toward the disclosure of good news of a partner (capitalization response) has been linked to relationship quality. Although the accommodation and capitalization communication processes are part and parcel of our everyday lives, the two processes have been examined separately and dominated by the Western perspectives in past research.

Group-Based Lifestyle Intervention Strategies for Metabolic Syndrome: A Scoping Review and Strategic Framework for Future Research.

: Group-based lifestyle interventions reap social support benefits and have been implemented among individuals with various chronic diseases. However, there is a lack of consolidated evidence on its approaches to prevent or manage metabolic syndrome (MetS). This scoping review aims to assess the group-based lifestyle interventional strategies for MetS and provide a strategic framework for future research in this area.

KI-67 LI Expression in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients and Its Significance.

Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subset of breast cancer which is known to carry a poor prognosis because of lack of targets for hormonal therapy. Research efforts have focused in recent years on discovering biomarkers of management in TNBCs. KI-67 Labelling Index (LI) is a nuclear protein which has proven to play diagnostic and prognostic roles in many cancers.

Assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice of osteoporosis among Singaporean women aged 65 years and above at two SingHealth polyclinics.

Introduction: Singapore has one of the world's most rapidly ageing populations. Osteoporosis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality from hip fractures in the elderly. This pilot study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of osteoporosis among Singaporean women aged ≥ 65 years, and assess barriers to osteoporosis screening.

Multiplexed Single-Cell Leukocyte Enzymatic Secretion Profiling from Whole Blood Reveals Patient-Specific Immune Signature.

Enzymatic secretion of immune cells (leukocytes) plays a dominant role in host immune responses to a myriad of biological triggers, including infections, cancers, and cardiovascular diseases. Current tools to probe these leukocytes inadequately profile these vital biomarkers; the need for sample preprocessing steps of cell lysis, labeling, washing, and pipetting inevitably triggers the cells, changes its basal state, and dilutes the individual cell secretion in bulk assays. Using a fully integrated system for multiplexed profiling of native immune single-cell enzyme secretion from 50 μL of undiluted blood, we eliminate sample handling.

Label-Free Biophysical Markers from Whole Blood Microfluidic Immune Profiling Reveal Severe Immune Response Signatures.

Disease manifestation and severity from acute infections are often due to hyper-aggressive host immune responses which change within minutes. Current methods for early diagnosis of infections focus on detecting low abundance pathogens, which are time-consuming, of low sensitivity, and do not reflect the severity of the pathophysiology appropriately. The approach here focuses on profiling the rapidly changing host inflammatory response, which in its over-exuberant state, leads to sepsis and death.

An Evaluation of the Video Narrative Technique on the Self-Efficacy of Medication Understanding and Use Among Post-Stroke Patients: A Randomized-Controlled Trial.

Introduction: Self-efficacy is positively associated with medication understanding and use self-efficacy (MUSE) among post-stroke patients. It is also closely related to knowledge, belief, and perception, which vary among people from different socioeconomic backgrounds and cultures. As interventions using video and peer stories have emerged to be successful on behavior modification, this study aimed to explore the effectiveness of video narratives incorporated with Health Belief constructs on MUSE and its associated factors among patients with stroke at a local setting.

Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis Reveals Key Candidate Genes and Pathways Associated With Clinical Outcome in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for approximately 85-90% of all liver cancer cases and has poor relapse-free survival. There are many gene expression studies that have been performed to elucidate the genetic landscape and driver pathways leading to HCC. However, existing studies have been limited by the sample size and thus the pathogenesis of HCC is still unclear.

Expression of the SAR2-Cov-2 receptor ACE2 reveals the susceptibility of COVID-19 in non-small cell lung cancer.

Recent studies have revealed that cancer patients had a higher risk of having coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), compared to patients without cancer. The expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the receptor of SARS-CoV-2, was aberrantly expressed in many tumors. In this study, by exploring the TCGA and GTEx public databases, we investigated ACE2 expression and its association with prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most susceptible caner type.

Point-of-care hepatitis C screening with direct access referral to improve linkage to care among halfway house residents: a pilot randomised study.

Introduction: Linkage to care among individuals with substance misuse remains a barrier to the elimination of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). We aimed to determine whether point-of-care (PoC) education, screening and staging for liver disease with direct access to hospitals would improve linkage to care among this group.

Methods: All participants were offered PoC education and HCV screening.

Genomic assessment distinguishes intrapulmonary metastases from synchronous primary lung cancers.

Background: Multiple synchronous lung tumors (MSLT), particularly within a single lobe, represent a diagnostic and treatment challenge. While histologic assessment was once the only method to possibly distinguish multiple primary lung cancers, there is a growing interest in identifying unique genomic features or mutations to best characterize these processes.

Methods: In order to differentiate multiple primary lung malignancies from intrapulmonary metastases in patients with MSLT, we performed whole exome sequencing (WES) on 10 tumor samples from 4 patients with MSLT.

Video Narratives Intervention Among Stroke Survivors: Feasibility and Acceptability Study of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: A large number of stroke survivors worldwide suffer from moderate to severe disability. In Malaysia, long-term uncontrolled stroke risk factors lead to unforeseen rates of recurrent stroke and a growing incidence of stroke occurrence across ages, predominantly among the elderly population. This situation has motivated research efforts focused on tapping into patient education, especially related to patient self-efficacy of understanding and taking medication appropriately.

Nutrition and Lifestyle Behavior Peer Support Program for Adults with Metabolic Syndrome: Outcomes and Lessons Learned from a Feasibility Trial.

Background: While peer support interventions have shown to benefit adults with certain chronic conditions, there is limited evidence on its feasibility and effectiveness among people with metabolic syndrome (MetS). This paper describes the outcomes of a pre-post feasibility trial of "e pport program for ults with mtabolic syndrome" (PERSUADE), an evidence-based and community-specific nutrition and lifestyle behavior peer support program for Malaysian adults with MetS.

Methods: We recruited 48 peers (median age: 46 (IQR = 11) years old) into four peer groups, who underwent 3 months of PERSUADE, followed by 3 months of follow-up period.