Objective: To determine abundance, distribution and diversity of potential breeding container habitats of the dengue vectors in public places including schools, restaurants, mosques and parks in southwest areas of Penang Island, Malaysia. Methods: Premises at restaurants, schools, parks and mosques were surveyed simulta-neously and inspected visually for container habitats and production of immature mosquitoes from March 2015 to March 2016. Abundance (mean ± SE) of breeding containers between sites was compared using One-way ANOVA. Independent sample t-test was used to compare total number of Aedes albopictus (Ae. albopictus) and Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti) surveyed. Results: The surveyed locations yielded a total of 3741 breeding containers and 19537 immature mosquitoes from four areas. Concurrent artificial and natural containers pro-duced 78.4%immature Ae. albopictus and 6.3%Ae. aegypti mosquitoes in wet season, with 14.2% Ae. albopictus and 1.1% Ae. aegypti mosquitoes in dry season. Artificial containers accounted for 98.1% of the total containers recorded, with restaurants being the most productive locations (8012) and schools being the least productive (2234). Conclusions: It was concluded that public places are good sources of potential container habitats of Aedes mosquitoes in Penang Island, Malaysia and Ae. albopictus has exclu-sively replaced the home-grown Ae. aegypti even in urban areas. Therefore, treatment of artificial containers in such locations is critical in Aedes mosquito control campaigns during dengue outbreaks.

Objective: To identify the unusual breeding sites of two dengue vectors, i.e. Aedes albopictus (Ae. albopictus) and Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti). Methods: During the second half of 2010, we performed an occasional survey in rural (Teluk Tempoyak) and urban (Gelugor) areas of Penang Island, Malaysia, to identify cryptic breeding sites. Results: In the rural area, we found heterogeneous immature stages of Ae. albopictus in the water bowl of an encaged bird. We also observed Ae. aegypti eggs deposited in the flush tank of a toilet in the urban area. Conclusions:It can be concluded that both breeding patterns can increase contact with hosts (humans and birds) and presumably population densities of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti, thereby potentially boosting the risks for spread and transmission of arboviral diseases.

Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative bacteria that is responsible for gastritis in human. Its spiral flagellated body helps in locomotion and colonization in the host environment. It is capable of living in the highly acidic environment of the stomach with the help of acid adaptive genes. The genome of H. pylori 26695 strain contains 1,555 coding genes that encode 1,445 proteins. Out of these, 340 proteins are characterized as hypothetical proteins (HP). This study involves extensive analysis of the HPs using an established pipeline which comprises various bioinformatics tools and databases to find out probable functions of the HPs and identification of virulence factors. After extensive analysis of all the 340 HPs, we found that 104 HPs are showing characteristic similarities with the proteins with known functions. Thus, on the basis of such similarities, we assigned probable functions to 104 HPs with high confidence and precision. All the predicted HPs contain representative members of diverse functional classes of proteins such as enzymes, transporters, binding proteins, regulatory proteins, proteins involved in cellular processes and other proteins with miscellaneous functions. Therefore, we classified 104 HPs into aforementioned functional groups. During the virulence factors analysis of the HPs, we found 11 HPs are showing significant virulence. The identification of virulence proteins with the help their predicted functions may pave the way for drug target estimation and development of effective drug to counter the activity of that protein.
Carrier Proteins ; Clinical Coding ; Colon ; Computational Biology ; Drug Discovery ; Gastritis ; Genome ; Gram-Negative Bacteria ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Locomotion ; Sequence Analysis* ; Stomach ; Virulence Factors* ; Virulence*

Objective To determine abundance, distribution and diversity of potential breeding container habitats of the dengue vectors in public places including schools, restaurants, mosques and parks in southwest areas of Penang Island, Malaysia. Methods Premises at restaurants, schools, parks and mosques were surveyed simultaneously and inspected visually for container habitats and production of immature mosquitoes from March 2015 to March 2016. Abundance (mean ± SE) of breeding containers between sites was compared using One-way ANOVA. Independent sample t-test was used to compare total number of Aedes albopictus (Ae. albopictus) and Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti) surveyed. Results The surveyed locations yielded a total of 3 741 breeding containers and 19 537 immature mosquitoes from four areas. Concurrent artificial and natural containers produced 78.4% immature Ae. albopictus and 6.3% Ae. aegypti mosquitoes in wet season, with 14.2% Ae. albopictus and 1.1% Ae. aegypti mosquitoes in dry season. Artificial containers accounted for 98.1% of the total containers recorded, with restaurants being the most productive locations (8 012) and schools being the least productive (2 234). Conclusions It was concluded that public places are good sources of potential container habitats of Aedes mosquitoes in Penang Island, Malaysia and Ae. albopictus has exclusively replaced the home-grown Ae. aegypti even in urban areas. Therefore, treatment of artificial containers in such locations is critical in Aedes mosquito control campaigns during dengue outbreaks.

OBJECTIVETo generate life table characteristics for the dengue vector Aedes albopictus (A. albopictus) under uncontrolled conditions, incorporating both the aquatic and the adult stages.

METHODSTen females derived from wild pupae were allowed to fully blood-feed on restrained mice. 774 eggs were hatched in seasoned water. F1 larvae were followed for development until their F2 counterparts emerged as adults. Some population parameters were monitored (F1) or estimated (F2).

RESULTSA. albopictus exhibited increased fecundity and egg hatch success. Immature development was quick. Immature survival was high, with lowest rate in the pupal stage. Adult emergence was about 81% and sex ratio was close to 1:1. Generational mortality (K) was about 28%. A high proportion of females completed a reproductive cycle and the obtained parity rate was predicted to lead to higher fecundity in the next generation.

CONCLUSIONSIt can be concluded that natural A. albopictus populations in Penang seem largely determined by quick development in combination with low immature loss and increased oviposition.

Aedes ; growth & development ; physiology ; Animals ; Female ; Insect Vectors ; Malaysia ; Male ; Mice ; Vital Statistics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the prevalence of container breeding mosquitoes with emphasis on the seasonality and larval habitats of Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti) in Makkah City, adjoining an environmental monitoring and dengue incidence.

METHODSMonthly visits were performed between April 2008 and March 2009 to randomly selected houses. During each visit, mosquito larvae were collected from indoors and outdoors containers by either dipping or pipetting. Mosquitoes were morphologically identified. Data on temperature, relative humidity, rain/precipitations during the survey period was retrieved from governmental sources and analyzed.

RESULTSThe city was warmer in dry season (DS) than wet season (WS). No rain occurred at all during DS and even precipitations did fall, wetting events were much greater during WS. Larval survey revealed the co-breeding of Aedes, Culex and Anopheles in a variety of artificial containers in and around homes. 32 109 larvae representing 1st , 2nd, 3rd, and 4th stages were collected from 22 618 container habitats. Culicines was far the commonest and Aedes genus was as numerous as the Culex population. Ae. aegypti larval abundance exhibited marked temporal variations, overall, being usually more abundant during WS. Ten types of artificial containers were found with developing larvae. 70% of these habitats were located indoors. 71.42% of indoor containers were permanent and 28.58% was semi-permanent during WS. Cement tanks was the only container type permanent during DS. Ae. aegypti larval indices (CI, HI, BI) recorded were greater during WS.

CONCLUSIONSTaken together, these results indicate a high risk of dengue transmission in the holy city.

Aedes ; Animals ; Culicidae ; Dengue ; transmission ; Ecosystem ; Environmental Monitoring ; Larva ; Prevalence ; Saudi Arabia ; epidemiology ; Seasons ; Weather

OBJECTIVES: This is the first study that estimates the incidence and mortality rate for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients in Malaysia by sex and ethnicity. METHODS: The 4,501 patients were selected from National Cancer Patient Registry-Colorectal Cancer data. Patient survival status was cross-checked with the National Registration Department. The age-standardised rate (ASR) was calculated as the proportion of CRC cases (incidence) and deaths (mortality) from 2008 to 2013, weighted by the age structure of the population, as determined by the Department of Statistics Malaysia and the World Health Organization world standard population distribution. RESULTS: The overall incidence rate for CRC was 21.32 cases per 100,000. Those of Chinese ethnicity had the highest CRC incidence (27.35), followed by the Malay (18.95), and Indian (17.55) ethnicities. The ASR incidence rate of CRC was 1.33 times higher among males than females (24.16 and 18.14 per 100,000, respectively). The 2011 (44.7%) CRC deaths were recorded. The overall ASR of mortality was 9.79 cases, with 11.85 among the Chinese, followed by 9.56 among the Malays and 7.08 among the Indians. The ASR of mortality was 1.42 times higher among males (11.46) than females (8.05). CONCLUSIONS: CRC incidence and mortality is higher in males than females. Individuals of Chinese ethnicity have the highest incidence of CRC, followed by the Malay and Indian ethnicities. The same trends were observed for the age-standardised mortality rate.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Demography ; Ethnic Groups ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Malaysia* ; Male ; Mortality* ; World Health Organization