Objective: To correlate climatic and environmental factors such as land surface temperature, rainfall, humidity and normalized difference vegetation index with the incidence of dengue to develop prediction models for the Philippines using remote-sensing data. Methods: Time-series analysis was performed using dengue cases in four regions of the Philippines and monthly climatic variables extracted from Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation for rainfall, and MODIS for the land surface temperature and normalized difference vegetation index from 2008-2015. Consistent dataset during the period of study was utilized in Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average models to predict dengue incidence in the four regions being studied. Results: The best-fitting models were selected to characterize the relationship between dengue incidence and climate variables. The predicted cases of dengue for January to December 2015 period fitted well with the actual dengue cases of the same timeframe. It also showed significantly good linear regression with a square of correlation of 0.869 5 for the four regions combined. Conclusion: Climatic and environmental variables are positively associated with dengue incidence and suit best as predictor factors using Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average models. This finding could be a meaningful tool in developing an early warning model based on weather forecasts to deliver effective public health prevention and mitigation programs.

Agricultural production is a major driver of the Philippine economy. Mass production of animal products, such as livestock and poultry farming, is one of the most prominent players in the field. Filipino farmers use veterinary medicinal products (VMPs) when raising agricultural animals to improve animal growth and prevent diseases. Unfortunately, the extensive use of VMPs, particularly antibiotics, has been linked to drug resistance in animals, particularly antibiotics. Antimicrobial gene products produced in animals due to the prolonged use of VMPs can passed on to humans when they consume animal products.This paper reviews information on the use of VMPs in the Philippines, including the regulations, their impact, challenges, and potential recommendations. The Philippines has existing legislation regulating VMP use. Several agencies were tasked to regulate the use of VMPs, such as the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, and the Philippine National Action Plan. Unfortunately, there is a challenge to implementing these regulations, which affects consumers. The unregulated use of VMPs influences the transmission of antibiotic residues from animals to crops to humans. This challenge should be addressed, with more focus on stricter regulation.

Objective: This study aims to enhance the capacity of dengue prediction by investigating the relationship of dengue incidence with climate and environmental factors in the Mekong Delta region (MDR) of Viet Nam by using remote sensing data. Methods: To produce monthly data sets for each province, we extracted and aggregated precipitation data from the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation project and land surface temperatures and normalized difference vegetation indexes from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite observations. Monthly data sets from 2000 to 2016 were used to construct autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models to predict dengue incidence for 12 provinces across the study region. Results: The final models were able to predict dengue incidence from January to December 2016 that concurred with the observation that dengue epidemics occur mostly in rainy seasons. As a result, the obtained model presents a good fit at a regional level with the correlation value of 0.65 between predicted and reported dengue cases; nevertheless, its performance declines at the subregional scale. Conclusion We demonstrated the use of remote sensing data in time-series to develop a model of dengue incidence in the MDR of Viet Nam. Results indicated that this approach could be an effective method to predict regional dengue incidence and its trends.

BACKGROUND: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP), a blood-based product containing platelets and growth factors, is being utilized to treat numerous non-hemostatic disorders. Studies have explored the use of PRP to provide rapid repair, healing, and recovery from various injuries; some studies mentioned the effectiveness of PRP as compared with other forms of treatment like the use of hyaluronic acid. Commercially available PRP systems are available now, and each varies from one another depending on how it is prepared, thus causing variations in platelet concentration and growth factor content. These variations also implicated different therapeutic applications. METHODS: The paper reviews the various applications of PRP, including factors to consider before using PRP therapy, and provides an extensive list of PRP applications. RESULTS: The administration of PRP as a standalone treatment or as a co-therapy results in observed positive outcomes.However, there is a lack of standardization for PRP preparation, increasing the risks for heterogeneity and bias amongst results. CONCLUSION The use of PRP is indeed an option for regenerative therapy, but more research is needed before it can fully be recommended as a primary treatment modality.

Peripheral blood smear microscopy still remains the gold standard for diagnosing malaria and trypanosomiasis. Microscopy is a labor-intensive process and requires great amount of skill to accomplish. Even though cheap and easy to perform, it still has several limitations. This hinders the microscopist in identifying protozoan structure or differentiating species from one another. Considering these factors in the performance of microscopic examination, it is crucial to identify new strategies for parasite identification and species differentiation. Innovations in clinical enzymology, immunodiagnostics, and molecular technology would be of help in resolving the problem. This study mainly focused on the possible role of clinical enzymes in malaria and trypanosomiasis diagnosis. Enzymes play a vital role in parasite physiology and metabolism. They enable the parasite to survive inside the living host by initiating different metabolic cycles. These enzymes can either be expressed on the surface of the protozoa or excreted in the extracellular environment. Lactate dehydrogenase, aldolase, and glutamate dehydrogenase were the significant enzymes associated with pathogenic Plasmodium spp. Other malarial enzymes were also identified but further validation is still required to establish their use as diagnostic biomarkers. Whereas, the enzyme matrix metalloproteinase was identified as significant for diagnosing and differentiating Trypanosoma spp. Analysis of these enzymes can be used as alternative means for microscopy in parasite identification and differentiation. Application of these enzymes as immunologic markers in various diagnostic test kits should be further evaluated.