Taurine is a sulfur-containing,semi-essential amino acid that occurs naturally in the body.It alternates between inflammation and oxidative stress-mediated injury in various disease models.As part of its limiting func...Taurine is a sulfur-containing,semi-essential amino acid that occurs naturally in the body.It alternates between inflammation and oxidative stress-mediated injury in various disease models.As part of its limiting functions,taurine also modulates endoplasmic reticulum stress,Ca^(2+)homeostasis,and neuronal activity at the molecular level.Taurine effectively protects against a number of neurological disorders,including stro ke,epilepsy,cerebral ischemia,memory dysfunction,and spinal cord injury.Although various therapies are available,effective management of these disorders remains a global challenge.Approximately 30 million people are affected worldwide.The design of taurine fo rmation co uld lead to potential drugs/supplements for the health maintenance and treatment of central nervous system disorders.The general neuroprotective effects of taurine and the various possible underlying mechanisms are discussed in this review.This article is a good resource for understanding the general effects of taurine on various diseases.Given the strong evidence for the neuropharmacological efficacy of taurine in various experimental paradigms,it is concluded that this molecule should be considered and further investigated as a potential candidate for neurotherapeutics,with emphasis on mechanism and clinical studies to determine efficacy.展开更多
Objective:To genotypically characterize methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA)strains isolated from medical and surgical wards in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre(UKMMC)in 2009.Methods:MRSA str...Objective:To genotypically characterize methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA)strains isolated from medical and surgical wards in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre(UKMMC)in 2009.Methods:MRSA strains were collected and molecularly typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis(PFGE).Results:PFGE typing on 180 MRSA isolated in UKMMC identified 5 pulsotypes(A-E)and 6 singletons,where pulsotypes B and C were suspected to he divergent clones originating from a single ancestor.This study also showed that most MRSA strains were isolated from swab(119 isolates),followed by blood(22 isolates),tracheal aspirate(11isolates)and sputum(10 isolates).On the other hand,urine and bone isolates were less,which were 4 and 1 isolates,respectively.The distribution of different pulsotypes of MRSA among wards suggested that MRSA was communicated in surgical and medical wards in UKMMC,with pulsotype B MRSA as the dominant strain.Besides,it was found that most deceased patients were infected by pulsotype B MRSA,however,no particular pulsotype could be associated with patient age,underlying disease,or ward of admittance.Conclusions:Five pulsotypes of MRSA and 6singletons were identified,with pulsotype B MRSA as the endemic strains circulating in these wards,which is useful in establishment of preventive measures against MRSA transmission.展开更多
A comprehensive study was conducted to differentiate cardiovascular disease (CVD) subjects from non-CVD subjects using short recording electrocardiogram (ECG) of 244 Malaysian adults in The MalaysianCohort project. An...A comprehensive study was conducted to differentiate cardiovascular disease (CVD) subjects from non-CVD subjects using short recording electrocardiogram (ECG) of 244 Malaysian adults in The MalaysianCohort project. An automated peak detection algorithm to detect nine fiducialpoints of electrocardiogram (ECG) was developed. Forty-eight features wereextracted in both time and frequency domains, including statistical featuresobtained from heart rate variability and Poincare plot analysis. These includefive new features derived from spectrum counts of five different frequencyranges. Feature selection was then made based on p-value and correlationmatrix. Selected features were used as input for five classifiers of artificialneural network (ANN), k-nearest neighbors (kNN), support vector machine(SVM), discriminant analysis (DA), and decision tree (DT). Results showedthat six features related to T wave were statistically significant in distinguishingCVD and non-CVD groups. ANN had performed the best with 94.44% specificity and 86.3% accuracy, followed by kNN with 80.56% specificity, 86.49%sensitivity and 83.56% accuracy. The novelties of this study were in providingalternative solutions to detect P-onset, P-offset, T-offset as well as QRS-onsetpoints using discrete wavelet transform method. Additionally, two out of thefive newly proposed spectral features were significant in differentiating bothgroups, at frequency ranges of 1–10 Hz and 5–10 Hz. The prediction outcomeswere also comparable to previous related studies and significantly importantin using ECG to predict cardiac-related events among CVD and non-CVDsubjects in the Malaysian population.展开更多
文摘Taurine is a sulfur-containing,semi-essential amino acid that occurs naturally in the body.It alternates between inflammation and oxidative stress-mediated injury in various disease models.As part of its limiting functions,taurine also modulates endoplasmic reticulum stress,Ca^(2+)homeostasis,and neuronal activity at the molecular level.Taurine effectively protects against a number of neurological disorders,including stro ke,epilepsy,cerebral ischemia,memory dysfunction,and spinal cord injury.Although various therapies are available,effective management of these disorders remains a global challenge.Approximately 30 million people are affected worldwide.The design of taurine fo rmation co uld lead to potential drugs/supplements for the health maintenance and treatment of central nervous system disorders.The general neuroprotective effects of taurine and the various possible underlying mechanisms are discussed in this review.This article is a good resource for understanding the general effects of taurine on various diseases.Given the strong evidence for the neuropharmacological efficacy of taurine in various experimental paradigms,it is concluded that this molecule should be considered and further investigated as a potential candidate for neurotherapeutics,with emphasis on mechanism and clinical studies to determine efficacy.
基金Supported by the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia(GrantNo.UKM-NN-03-FRGS 0042-2009)UKM Research University Fund(Grant No.UKMGUP-TKP-08-19-067)
文摘Objective:To genotypically characterize methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA)strains isolated from medical and surgical wards in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre(UKMMC)in 2009.Methods:MRSA strains were collected and molecularly typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis(PFGE).Results:PFGE typing on 180 MRSA isolated in UKMMC identified 5 pulsotypes(A-E)and 6 singletons,where pulsotypes B and C were suspected to he divergent clones originating from a single ancestor.This study also showed that most MRSA strains were isolated from swab(119 isolates),followed by blood(22 isolates),tracheal aspirate(11isolates)and sputum(10 isolates).On the other hand,urine and bone isolates were less,which were 4 and 1 isolates,respectively.The distribution of different pulsotypes of MRSA among wards suggested that MRSA was communicated in surgical and medical wards in UKMMC,with pulsotype B MRSA as the dominant strain.Besides,it was found that most deceased patients were infected by pulsotype B MRSA,however,no particular pulsotype could be associated with patient age,underlying disease,or ward of admittance.Conclusions:Five pulsotypes of MRSA and 6singletons were identified,with pulsotype B MRSA as the endemic strains circulating in these wards,which is useful in establishment of preventive measures against MRSA transmission.
基金This study was supported by the Ministry of Education Malaysia’s Fundamental Research Grant Scheme FRGS/1/2019/TK04/UKM/02/4TMC research was funded by a top-down grant from the Ministry of Education Malaysia(Grant Number PDE48).
文摘A comprehensive study was conducted to differentiate cardiovascular disease (CVD) subjects from non-CVD subjects using short recording electrocardiogram (ECG) of 244 Malaysian adults in The MalaysianCohort project. An automated peak detection algorithm to detect nine fiducialpoints of electrocardiogram (ECG) was developed. Forty-eight features wereextracted in both time and frequency domains, including statistical featuresobtained from heart rate variability and Poincare plot analysis. These includefive new features derived from spectrum counts of five different frequencyranges. Feature selection was then made based on p-value and correlationmatrix. Selected features were used as input for five classifiers of artificialneural network (ANN), k-nearest neighbors (kNN), support vector machine(SVM), discriminant analysis (DA), and decision tree (DT). Results showedthat six features related to T wave were statistically significant in distinguishingCVD and non-CVD groups. ANN had performed the best with 94.44% specificity and 86.3% accuracy, followed by kNN with 80.56% specificity, 86.49%sensitivity and 83.56% accuracy. The novelties of this study were in providingalternative solutions to detect P-onset, P-offset, T-offset as well as QRS-onsetpoints using discrete wavelet transform method. Additionally, two out of thefive newly proposed spectral features were significant in differentiating bothgroups, at frequency ranges of 1–10 Hz and 5–10 Hz. The prediction outcomeswere also comparable to previous related studies and significantly importantin using ECG to predict cardiac-related events among CVD and non-CVDsubjects in the Malaysian population.
