1.Current status of parasitic infections among Pangkor Island community in Peninsular Malaysia
Ahmad, A.F. ; Ngui, R. ; Muhammad Aidil ; R., Lim, Y.A.L. ; Rohela, M.
Tropical Biomedicine 2014;31(4):836-843
Limited data is available on the prevalence of parasitic infections among the
island communities in Malaysia with most studies performed between 1960s-1980s. This
study was conducted to determine the current prevalence status of parasitic infections
among communities living in Pangkor Island Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 131 stool and 298
serum samples were collected and subjected to microscopic examination for intestinal protozoa
and helminths and detection of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies using commercial ELISA kits
respectively. In addition, thin and thick peripheral blood films were microscopically screened
for the presence of Plasmodium spp. and microfilariae respectively. The overall prevalence
of intestinal parasitic infections among Pangkor Island community was 9.9% (13/131) with T.
trichiura (5.3%) being the most common intestinal parasite detected. Toxoplasmosis was
reported in almost 60% of the community with the seroprevalence being significantly high
among females (64.7%) compared to males (52.8%) (p=0.038). None of those examined samples
were infected with intestinal sarcocystosis, malaria and filariasis. This study revealed that
the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among Pangkor Island community has been
greatly reduced compared to that reported 35 years ago. Massive improvements in the
socioeconomic status, personal hygiene, water facilities and sanitation may have contributed
to the low prevalence of parasitic infections in this community. Nevertheless, further studies
still need to be performed to determine the possible risk factors for the high prevalence of
toxoplasmosis in this community.
2.Test-Retest Reliability of Level-Specific CE-Chirp Auditory Brainstem Response in Normal-Hearing Adults
Fatin Nabilah JAMAL ; Ahmad Aidil ARAFAT DZULKARNAIN ; Fatin Amira SHAHRUDIN ; Muhammad Nasrullah MARZUKI
Journal of Audiology & Otology 2021;25(1):14-21
Background and Objectives:
There is growing interest in the use of the Level-specific (LS) CE-Chirp® stimulus in auditory brainstem response (ABR) due to its ability to produce prominent ABR waves with robust amplitudes. There are no known studies that investigate the test-retest reliability of the ABR to the LS CE-Chirp® stimulus. The present study aims to investigate the test-retest reliability of the ABR to the LS CE-Chirp® stimulus and compare its reliability with the ABR to standard click stimulus at multiple intensity levels in normal-hearing adults.
Subjects and Methods:
Eleven normal-hearing adults participated. The ABR test was repeated twice in the same clinical session and conducted again in another session. The ABR was acquired using both the click and LS CE-Chirp® stimuli at 4 presentation levels (80, 60, 40, and 20 dBnHL). Only the right ear was tested using the ipsilateral electrode montage. The reliability of the ABR findings (amplitudes and latencies) to the click and LS CE-Chirp® stimuli within the same clinical session and between the two clinical sessions was calculated using an intra-class correlation coefficient analysis (ICC).
Results:
The results showed a significant correlation of the ABR findings (amplitude and latencies) to both stimuli within the same session and between the clinical sessions. The ICC values ranged from moderate to excellent.
Conclusions
The ABR results from both the LS CE-Chirp® and click stimuli were consistent and reliable over the two clinical sessions suggesting that both stimuli can be used for neurological diagnoses with the same reliability.