Clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in hospitalized young infants and risk factors for disease severity.

Background: This study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and severity of young infants hospitalized with COVID-19 and study the relationship between breastfeeding and maternal COVID-19 vaccination on the severity of COVID-19.

Methods: A retrospective, observational study was performed among infants aged 6 months and below hospitalized for COVID-19 in a tertiary state hospital in Malaysia between February 1 and April 30, 2022. The primary outcome was "serious disease," defined as pneumonia requiring respiratory support or dehydration with warning signs.

Handwashing adherence during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study based on protection motivation theory.

Rationale: The associations between the number of COVID-19 cases/deaths and subsequent uptake of protective behaviors may reflect cognitive and behavioral responses to threat-relevant information.

Objective: Applying protection motivation theory (PMT), this study explored whether the number of total COVID-19 cases/deaths and general anxiety were associated with cross-situational handwashing adherence and whether these associations were mediated by PMT-specific self-regulatory cognitions (threat appraisal: perceived vulnerability, perceived illness severity; coping appraisal: self-efficacy, response efficacy, response costs).

Method: The study (#NCT04367337) was conducted in March-September 2020 among 1256 adults residing in 14 countries.

Comparison of Severe Viral Pneumonia Caused by SARS-CoV-2 and Other Respiratory Viruses Among Malaysian Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: We described the etiology of severe pneumonia in children during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia and compared the clinical features of severe SARS-CoV-2 to other respiratory viruses.

Methods: This retrospective study included all children aged 12 years and below hospitalized with severe pneumonia in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, between 1 April 2021 and 31 October 2021. We extracted demographic and clinical data and used logistic regression to examine risk factors associated with severe SARS-CoV-2 or other viral pneumonia.

What Are the Common Themes of Physician Resilience? A Meta-Synthesis of Qualitative Studies.

In the practice of medicine, resilience has gained attention as on of the ways to address burnout. Qualitative studies have explored the concept of physician resilience in several contexts. However, individual qualitative studies have limited generalizability, making it difficult to understand the resilience concept in a wider context.

Assessing medical mistrust in organ donation across countries using item response theory.

Although medical mistrust (MM) may be an impediment to public health interventions, no MM scale has been validated across countries and the assessment of MM has not been explored using item response theory, which allows generalisation beyond the sampled data. We aimed to determine the dimensionality of a brief MM measure across four countries through Mokken analysis and Graded Response Modelling. Analysis of 1468 participants from UK ( = 1179), Ireland ( = 191), India ( = 49) and Malaysia (n = 49) demonstrated that MM items formed a hierarchical, unidimensional measure, which is very informative about high levels of MM.

Risk factors associated with household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

Aim: Households are a significant venue for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We conducted a study to characterise the transmission dynamics and identify risk factors for household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

Methods: This retrospective observational study included 185 families of paediatric COVID-19 cases from 1 February 2020 to 31 December 2020.

The trajectory of COVID-19 pandemic and handwashing adherence: findings from 14 countries.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people's engagement in health behaviors, especially those that protect individuals from SARS-CoV-2 transmission, such as handwashing/sanitizing. This study investigated whether adherence to the World Health Organization's (WHO) handwashing guidelines (the outcome variable) was associated with the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, as measured by the following 6 indicators: (i) the number of new cases of COVID-19 morbidity/mortality (a country-level mean calculated for the 14 days prior to data collection), (ii) total cases of COVID-19 morbidity/mortality accumulated since the onset of the pandemic, and (iii) changes in recent cases of COVID-19 morbidity/mortality (a difference between country-level COVID-19 morbidity/mortality in the previous 14 days compared to cases recorded 14-28 days earlier).

Methods: The observational study (#NCT04367337) enrolled 6064 adults residing in Australia, Canada, China, France, Gambia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, and Switzerland.

Training Characteristics, Personal Factors and Coping Strategies Associated with Burnout in Junior Doctors: A Multi-Center Study.

Physician burnout has been recognized as a public health crisis. However, there is a paucity of burnout studies in the context of medical internship. We assessed the prevalence and relationship between various training characteristics, personal variables, resilience, and coping with burnout in a cross-sectional study involving 837 interns from ten hospitals across Malaysian healthcare system.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of children with COVID-19 in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

Objectives: To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia in the setting of mandatory hospital isolation and quarantine for all confirmed cases.

Methods: A multi-centre, retrospective observational study was performed among children aged ≤12 years with laboratory-proven COVID-19 between 1 February and 31 December 2020.

Results: In total, 261 children (48.

Health Care Provider Perceptions of Facilitators and Barriers to Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Delivery in Five Countries.

Background: National human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programs could reduce global cervical cancer morbidity and mortality with support from health care providers. We assessed providers' perceptions of HPV vaccination in 5 countries.

Methods: We identified providers from 5 countries where national HPV vaccination programs were at various stages of implementation: Argentina, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, and Spain.

Burnout Prevalence and Its Associated Factors among Malaysian Healthcare Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic: An Embedded Mixed-Method Study.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global health threat and has placed an extraordinary demand on healthcare workers around the world. In this study, we aim to examine the prevalence of burnout and its associated factors and experience among Malaysian healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic through an embedded mixed-method study design. We found that more than half of Malaysian healthcare workers in this sample experienced burnout.

Oestrogen actions contribute to female gender-specific risks in the development of lung carcinoma.

Lung cancer is increasing in incidence particularly among women, associated with a global change in smoking habits. Steroid hormones, particularly oestrogen exert an influence on tumour progression in tissues where their target receptor is expressed. Oestrogen receptor, particularly ERβ is highly expressed in the lung and becomes more highly expressed in lung carcinogenesis.

Gender Differences in Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among a Non-urban, Malaysian Population.

The choice to take-up specific complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities is influenced by many factors including cultural background, experience and peer-participation. In this study we investigated the beliefs and attitudes that contributed to CAM choices in a non-urban Malaysian population (N = 700). We found significant differences in the beliefs held by men and women in this population.

A Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use in a Non-urban Malaysian Population.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies have been an integral part of Malaysia culture for many centuries. In recent years influences from other parts of the world have gained a foot-hold in Malaysian popular culture. We investigated the engagement with CAM in a non-urban, Malaysian population.

Lavender essential oil induces oxidative stress which modifies the bacterial membrane permeability of carbapenemase producing Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Misuse of antibiotics in the clinical and agricultural sectors has caused the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella pneumoniae which contributes a threat to human health. In this study, we assessed the feasibility of lavender essential oil (LVO) as an antimicrobial agent in combinatory therapy with meropenem in suppressing the growth of carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (KPC-KP).

Protein kinase D2 regulates epithelial sodium channel activity and aldosterone non-genomic responses in renal cortical collecting duct cells.

Protein kinase D2 (PKD2) is a serine/threonine protein kinase which plays an important role in vesicle fission at the trans-Golgi network (TGN) to coordinate subcellular trafficking with gene expression. We found that in the rat kidney, PKD2 is specifically expressed in collecting duct principal cells predominantly at the apical membrane and with lower basal expression in cytosolic compartments. When rats were maintained on a Na depleted diet (<0.

Virotherapy: Current Trends and Future Prospects for Treatment of Colon and Rectal Malignancies.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies. In recent decades, early diagnosis and conventional therapies have resulted in a significant reduction in mortality. However, late stage metastatic disease still has very limited effective treatment options.

Validation of the Malay Version of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale.

Objective: This study aims to determine the psychometric properties of the Bahasa Malaysia (BM) version of the 6-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) among older adults in Malaysia.

Methods: A total of 200 participants aged 50 years and older completed the questionnaire in which 81 participants completed in BM. A subsample of 30 participants was retested after a period of 2 weeks.

Demographics of healthcare professionals' knowledge and attitude toward deceased organ donation: Survey of critical care areas in a tertiary hospital.

Introduction: Organ donation rate in Malaysia is amongst the lowest in the World. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) working in critical care areas play an important role in the deceased organ donation (DOD) process. This study seeks to identify the demographics of HCPs working in the critical care areas and their knowledge and attitudes toward the DOD process.

Acceptability of Women Self-Sampling versus Clinician-Collected Samples for HPV DNA Testing: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: Female self-sampling for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing is an alternative screening method that can potentially increase cervical cancer screening coverage. This review addresses the acceptability of HPV DNA testing using self-sampling compared with conventional clinician-collected sampling. Barriers to and others factors associated with acceptability of either method were also examined.

Mechanisms of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Alternative Approaches to Overcome AMR.

Antimicrobials are useful compounds intended to eradicate or stop the growth of harmful microorganisms. The sustained increase in the rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) worldwide is worrying and poses a major public health threat. The development of new antimicrobial agents is one of the critical approaches to overcome AMR.

Persuasive messaging for human papillomavirus vaccination by adolescent providers in a five-country multi-site study.

Objective: Strong persuasive messaging by providers is a key predictor for patient acceptance of prophylactic human papillomavirus vaccination. We aimed to determine optimal messaging to promote human papillomavirus adolescent vaccination across different geographical sites.

Methods: Adolescent providers (n = 151) from Argentina, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, and Spain were surveyed on messages, family decision makers, and sources of communication to best motivate parents to vaccinate their adolescent daughters overall, and against human papillomavirus.

Deep language space neural network for classifying mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer-type dementia.

It has been quite a challenge to diagnose Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI) and Alzheimer-type dementia (AD-type dementia) using the currently available clinical diagnostic criteria and neuropsychological examinations. As such we propose an automated diagnostic technique using a variant of deep neural networks language models (DNNLM) on the verbal utterances of affected individuals. Motivated by the success of DNNLM on natural language tasks, we propose a combination of deep neural network and deep language models (D2NNLM) for classifying the disease.

Increased serum vascular endothelial growth factor is associated with acute viral encephalitis in Bangladeshi children.

Encephalitis causes significant global morbidity and mortality. A large number of viruses cause encephalitis, and their geographic and temporal distributions vary. In many encephalitis cases, the virus cannot be detected, even after extensive testing.