Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery is well established but the reported incidence is variable due to varying definitions and criteria. Furthermore there is a paucity of such data from Southeast Asia. Objectives: To determine the incidence of AKI, the associated risk factors, and its impact on early mortality and intensive care unit/hospital stay. Method: This is a single centre retrospective observational study to evaluate outcomes on 1260 consecutive patients from a multi-ethnic Southeast Asian population who underwent a primary isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) operation. Data was collected from the hospital’s electronic database and analysed using basic descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: Overall incidence was 36.2% including 5.5% of patients who required renal replacement therapy (RRT). Multivariate analysis identified age, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), baseline serum creatinine level (SCr), recent myocardial infarction (MI), cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time and intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) use as independent risk factors for AKI. For patients who required RRT, the SCr and IDDM remained independent predictors. Early 30-day mortality (11.5% vs 0.9%) was significantly higher in patients who developed AKI following CABG. Similarly, AKI was associated with a slight but statistically significant increase in intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stay. Conclusion: Better prognostication and preventative strategies are required to better risk stratify patients undergoing CABG and optimise utilisation of limited healthcare resources.
Acute Kidney Injury

SUMMARY Introduction: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common bacterial infection affecting children and therefore, prompt recognition and accurate antimicrobial management are vital to prevent kidney damage. This study aims to determine the bacterial pathogens and their patterns of antimicrobial resistance in children presenting with UTI. Methods: A retrospective study of 721 cases, involving children between the ages of 1-day old to 13 years old with culture-proven UTI in Selayang Hospital, Malaysia between January 2007 and December 2011. The bacterial pathogens and antibiotic resistance patterns in the total population, prophylaxis and no prophylaxis groups were studied. Results: The 3 most common organisms isolated in the total population were E.Coli (41.6%), Klebsiella spp. (21.2%) and Enterococcus spp. (11.0%). With regards to the antibiotic resistance, E.Coli resistance rates to ampicillin, cefuroxime and gentamicin were 67.7%, 15.3% and 7.3% respectively. Ampicillin-resistance was also highest in Klebsiella spp. (84.3%), Enterococcus spp. (15.5%) and Proteus spp. (55.5%). Conclusion: E.coli remains to be the leading bacterial pathogen causing UTI in children, with ampicillin-resistance occurring in more than half of these cases. Therefore, accurate choice of antibiotics is important to ensure optimal outcome. In our study, cefuroxime and gentamicin have lower antibiotic resistance rates and can be used in the treatment of UTI in children.
Urinary Tract Infections

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among the female population of Malaysia, with an average lifetime risk of 31.1%.1 Typical sites for metastasis of the breast carcinoma include the bones, liver, lungs, skin, and brain. In most cases, breast cancer is diagnosed first, but in 12- 31% of the cases like in this case, the metastasis appear first as the initial presentation. In this case, we reported a case of a healthy young woman who presented with orbital metastasis as the initial presentation of breast cancer.

Tahfiz education has been well accepted by Muslims in Malaysia. Memorizing the Quran through rote learning can assistin improving the brain ability to process, store information and build memory. In addition, dietary intakes were reportedto contribute in the process of memorizing the Quran and to increase the levels of intelligence (IQ) among huffaz students.This cross-sectional study was conducted to measure and to determine the correlation between IQ and dietary intakeas well as between IQ and the level of trace elements among students in selected tahfiz schools and non-tahfiz school inSelangor. Questionnaires were used to obtain demographic data. Dietary intake was assessed via 3 days dietary record.Levels of trace elements in the nail samples were analyzed by using ICP-MS. Test for intelligence using WASI-II wasconducted to measure the students’ IQ. The results showed that there was a moderate positive correlation between IQ andcarbohydrate (r = 0.425, p < 0.001, a weak positive correlation between IQ and energy (r = 0.260, p < 0.05), vitaminB6 (r = 0.189, p < 0.05), vitamin B12 (r = 0.207, p < 0.05) and vitamin C (r = 0.211, p < 0.05). The levels of traceelements in nail samples showed no correlation with IQ, whereas there were moderate positive correlations between IQand dietary zinc (r = 0.375, p < 0.001) as well as between IQ and dietary iron (r = 0.303, p < 0.001). There was also amoderate positive correlation between IQ and the level of memorization (r = 0.375, p < 0.001). The results of stepwisemultiple linear regression showed that al-Quran memorization influence the level of IQ by 20 %. As a conclusion, dietaryintake of certain nutrients including energy, vitamins and selected trace elements can potentially improve memorizationactivities and also IQ.

Aims: Rhodotorula sp. (USM-PSY62) is a psychrophilic yeast isolated from Antarctic sea ice that grows optimally at 15°C. The inevitable global warming poses many challenges to the microbial community in Antarctica. Therefore, this studywas conceptualized to observe how USM-PSY62 adapted to fluctuations in temperature. Methodology and results : Rhodotorula sp. (USM-PSY62) was grown in YPD broth until the mid-log phase. Then, the culture was transferred to four different temperatures, specifically at 0 °C, 5 °C, 15 °C and 21 °C for 24 h. Then, the RNA was extracted, sequenced and analysed. During cold adaptation, an elevated transcription of the CorA magnesium transporter gene in USM-PSY62 indicated a higher requirement for magnesium ions to gain additional enzyme cofactors or maintain cytoplasmic fluidity. The HepA homologue coding for DNA/RNA helicase was also over-expressed with log fold change 2.89 in cold conditions possibly to reorganize secondary structures of DNA and RNA. An up-regulation of the catalase gene was also observed, reflecting an increment in the concentration of reactive oxygen species and fluctuations in the associated antioxidant system. The YOP1 gene, which encodes a membrane protein associated with protein transport and membrane traffic, was the most down-regulated, with log2 fold change values of -6.93 lower under cold shock conditions. The genes responsible for the structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) have a -8.80 in expression log2 fold change, indicating the gene was down-regulated when the temperature was shifted to 0 °C. Upon cold shock, the gene for heat shock factor protein 1 (HSF1) was also down-regulated with a log2 fold change value of - 5.86. Hsf1 is a transcriptional regulator which regulates the heat shock responses. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: In conclusion, the transcriptomic responses demonstrated by Rhodotorula sp. USM-PSY62 characterized critical physiological and biochemical compensatory mechanisms especially cellular processes and signalling, information storage and processing, and metabolism to survive at low and high temperatures. This study provides valuable data for industry, especially in the usage of molecular chaperones.