The Antiviral Effects of Heat-Killed Strain Plasma Against Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika Viruses in Humans by Upregulating the IFN-α Signaling Pathway.

The growing risk of contracting viral infections due to high-density populations and ecological disruptions, such as climate change and increased population mobility, has highlighted the necessity for effective antiviral treatment and preventive measures against Dengue virus (DENV), Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and Zika virus (ZIKV). Recently, there has been increasing attention on the use of probiotics as a potential antiviral option to reduce virus infections. The present study aimed to assess the immunomodulatory effects of heat-killed strain plasma (LC-Plasma) on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and its subsequent antiviral response against DENV, CHIKV, and ZIKV.

COVID-19 Therapeutic Potential of Natural Products.

Despite the fact that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treatment and management are now considerably regulated, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still one of the leading causes of death in 2022. The availability of COVID-19 vaccines, FDA-approved antivirals, and monoclonal antibodies in low-income countries still poses an issue to be addressed. Natural products, particularly traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) and medicinal plant extracts (or their active component), have challenged the dominance of drug repurposing and synthetic compound libraries in COVID-19 therapeutics.

MERS-CoV seroconversion amongst Malaysian Hajj pilgrims returning from the Middle East, 2016-2018: results from the MERCURIAL multiyear prospective cohort study.

Prospective cohort study to investigate the potential exposure to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) following Hajj pilgrims is still very limited. Here, we report the antibody seroconversion study results obtained from successive three years cohort studies (2016-2018) involving the Malaysian Hajj pilgrims returning from the Middle East. A cohort study of Hajj pilgrims from Malaysia enrolled 2,863 participants from 2016-2018, all of whom consented to provide paired blood samples for both pre- and post-Hajj travel to the Middle East.

The Role of Interventional Radiology in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformations.

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) are uncommon, predominantly congenital direct fistulous connections between the pulmonary arteries and pulmonary veins, resulting in a right to left shunt. Patients with PAVMs are usually asymptomatic with lesions detected incidentally when radiological imaging is performed for other indications. In this review, we discuss the classification and radiological features of PAVMs as well as their treatment and follow-up options, with a particular focus on percutaneous endovascular techniques and the evolution of the available equipment for treatment.

Strain Plasma Intake Suppresses the Incidence of Dengue Fever-like Symptoms in Healthy Malaysians: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Dengue fever (DF) is a mosquito-borne disease still with no effective treatment or vaccine available. A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, parallel-group trial was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of oral intake of strain plasma (LC-Plasma) on the presentation and severity of DF-like symptoms among healthy volunteers. Study participants (320) were assigned into two groups, and consumed either placebo or LC-Plasma tablets (approximately 100 billion cells/day) for 8 weeks.

Emergence of B.1.524(G) SARS-CoV-2 in Malaysia during the third COVID-19 epidemic wave.

The COVID-19 pandemic first emerged in Malaysia in Jan 2020. As of 12th Sept 2021, 1,979,698 COVID-19 cases that occurred over three major epidemic waves were confirmed. The virus contributing to the three epidemic waves has not been well-studied.

The effectiveness of various gargle formulations and salt water against SARS-CoV-2.

The COVID-19 is difficult to contain due to its high transmissibility rate and a long incubation period of 5 to 14 days. Moreover, more than half of the infected patients were young and asymptomatic. Virus transmission through asymptomatic patients is a major challenge to disease containment.

Detection of Pneumothorax with Deep Learning Models: Learning From Radiologist Labels vs Natural Language Processing Model Generated Labels.

Rationale And Objectives: To compare the performance of pneumothorax deep learning detection models trained with radiologist versus natural language processing (NLP) labels on the NIH ChestX-ray14 dataset.

Materials And Methods: The ChestX-ray14 dataset consisted of 112,120 frontal chest radiographs with 5302 positive and 106, 818 negative labels for pneumothorax using NLP (dataset A). All 112,120 radiographs were also inspected by 4 radiologists leaving a visually confirmed set of 5,138 positive and 104,751 negative for pneumothorax (dataset B).

Multiyear prospective cohort study to evaluate the risk potential of MERS-CoV infection among Malaysian Hajj pilgrims (MERCURIAL): a study protocol.

Introduction: Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory infection caused by the MERS-CoV. MERS was first reported in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012. Every year, the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca attracts more than two million pilgrims from 184 countries, making it one of the largest annual religious mass gatherings (MGs) worldwide.

Multiplex sequencing of SARS-Cov-2 genome directly from clinical samples using the Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM).

Various methods have been developed for rapid and high throughput full genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2. Here, we described a protocol for targeted multiplex full genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA directly extracted from human nasopharyngeal swabs using the Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM). This protocol involves concomitant amplification of 237 gene fragments encompassing the SARS-CoV-2 genome to increase the abundance and yield of viral specific sequencing reads.

Isolation of Streptococcus cuniculi from corneal lesion in laboratory-raised mice.

Corneal lesions appearing as white mass beneath intact epithelium, with ocular discharge in one mouse, was observed in a batch of laboratory-raised BALB/c mice (n=9 of 56). The affected mice remained active, well-groomed and had normal appetite. Isolates recovered from swab cultures of the external and internal contents of the eye had partial 16S rRNA gene sequence of 99.

In vitro virucidal activity of povidone iodine gargle and mouthwash against SARS-CoV-2: implications for dental practice.

Introduction Virus particles in respiratory droplets and aerosols generated during medical/dental procedures are a potential source of SARS-CoV-2 cross infection. In the dental setting, oral decontamination could be an important adjunct to personal protective equipment and is recommended by a number of national COVID-19 guidance documents for dental settings.Aim To assess the in vitrovirucidal activity of an oral povidone iodine (PVP-I) product against SARS-CoV-2.

Interface Engineering to Eliminate Hysteresis of Carbon-Based Planar Heterojunction Perovskite Solar Cells via CuSCN Incorporation.

A carbon electrode with low cost and high stability exhibited competitiveness for its practical application in organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Nonetheless, issues such as poor interface contact with an adjacent perovskite layer and obvious hysteresis phenomenon are bottlenecks that need to be overcome to make carbon-based PSCs (C-PSCs) more attractive in practice. Herein, we report an effective method to enhance the interfacial charge transport of C-PSCs by introducing the CuSCN material into the device.

Nipah Virus Infection of Immature Dendritic Cells Increases Its Transendothelial Migration Across Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells.

Nipah virus (NiV) can infect multiple organs in humans with the central nervous system (CNS) being the most severely affected. Currently, it is not fully understood how NiV spreads throughout the body. NiV has been shown to infect certain leukocyte populations and we hypothesized that these infected cells could cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), facilitating NiV entry into the CNS.

Hindered Formation of Photoinactive δ-FAPbI Phase and Hysteresis-Free Mixed-Cation Planar Heterojunction Perovskite Solar Cells with Enhanced Efficiency via Potassium Incorporation.

Organic-inorganic hybrid lead halide perovskite solar cells have demonstrated competitive power conversion efficiency over 22%; nevertheless, critical issues such as unsatisfactory device stability, serious current-voltage hysteresis, and formation of photo nonactive perovskite phases are obstacles for commercialization of this photovoltaics technology. Herein we report a facial yet effective method to hinder formation of photoinactive δ-FAPbI and hysteresis behavior in planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells based on K (MAFA)PbIBr (0≤ x ≤ 0.1) through incorporation of potassium ions (K).

Animal models in plastic and reconstructive surgery simulation-a review.

Background: The use of live and cadaveric animal models in surgical training is well established as a means of teaching and improving surgical skill in a controlled setting. We aim to review, evaluate, and summarize the models published in the literature that are applicable to Plastic Surgery training.

Materials And Methods: A PubMed search for keywords relating to animal models in Plastic Surgery and the associated procedures was conducted.

Oral immunization of a non-recombinant Lactococcus lactis surface displaying influenza hemagglutinin 1 (HA1) induces mucosal immunity in mice.

Mucosal immunization of influenza vaccine is potentially an effective approach for the prevention and control of influenza. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the ability of oral immunization with a non-recombinant Lactococcus lactis displaying HA1/L/AcmA recombinant protein, LL-HA1/L/AcmA, to induce mucosal immune responses and to accord protection against influenza virus infection in mice. The LL-HA1/L/AcmA was orally administered into mice and the immune response was evaluated.

Precisely Controlled Synthesis of High Quality Kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 Thin Film via Co-Electrodeposited CuZnSn Alloy Film.

In this work, a facile co-electrodeposition method was used to fabricate CuZnSn alloy films where the content of copper, zinc and tin could be precisely controlled through manipulating the mass transfer process in the electrochemical deposition. By finely tuning the concentration of the cations of Cu2+, Zn2+ and Sn2+ in the electrochemical bath solution, uniform CuZnSn film with desired composition of copper poor and zinc rich was made. Sulphurisation of the CuZnSn alloy film led to the formation of compact and large grains Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film absorber with an optimum composition of Cu/(Zn+Sn) ≈ 0.

Serum from Nipah Virus Patients Recognises Recombinant Viral Proteins Produced in Escherichia coli.

The genes for Nipah virus (NiV) proteins were amplified from viral RNA, cloned into the plasmid pTriEx-3 Hygro, expressed, and purified using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The recombinant N, F, and G NiV proteins (rNiV-N, rNiV-F, and rNiV-G), were successfully expressed in Escherichia coli and purified with a yield of 4, 16, and 4 mg/L, respectively. All 3 recombinant viral proteins reacted with all 19 samples of NiV-positive human sera.

Evaluation of land cover and prevalence of dengue in Malaysia.

Serological confirmation of dengue in 1,410 school-going children aged 7-18 years provided prevalence data for 16 different sites in Malaysia. These sites ranged from highly urbanized cities to small towns. We found that at least ~7 % of children in the study group had been exposed to dengue by age 12 and ~16% by age 18.