Introduction: Diabetes mellitus has become a serious warning to mankind health all over the world. The management goal of diabetes is to keep blood glucose levels as close as possible to healthy individuals. Medications used to treat diabetes are usually associated with complications and may cause different side effects. Many traditional anti-diabetic plants have become popular in the management of diabetes mellitus. Flaxseed has been used as traditional medicine for centuries. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effects of flaxseed extract in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Methods: Diabetes mellitus was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats using a single injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg i.p.). The rats were divided into five groups of 8 rats each. Group NC, normal control rats; Group NF, normal rats treated with flaxseed extract (400 mg/kg); Group DC, diabetic control rats; Group DG, diabetic rats treated with glibenclamide (0.6 mg/kg); Group DF, diabetic rats treated with flaxseed extract (400 mg/kg); for 4 weeks. Results: There were significant increase in relative liver weight, blood glucose levels in DC group comparing to NC group (p<0.05). The disturbance of these parameters was ameliorated in DF and DG groups. Histological observation revealed congestion of central veins, degeneration of hepatocytes, and reduced glycogen granules in DC group. These pathological changes were ameliorated in the flaxseed extract and glibenclamide treated rats. Conclusion: Flaxseed extract may represent a candidate alternative treatment to control diabetes mellitus and its related hepatopathy.

Ganoderma lucidum is a fungus usually used in traditional Chinese medicine. The high value of G. lucidum is related to its polysaccharides content. Crude polysaccharides from G. lucidum (GLCP) were obtained using hot water extraction method. There is about 0.57 g of GLCP in 1 g crude of G. lucidum. The prebiotic potential of GLCP was tested against probiotic bacteria namely: Bifidobacterium longum BB536, Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum G4, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei Shirota. The prebiotic potentials were studied in 10 mL basal Trypticase Phytone Yeast (abbreviated as bTPY) medium (without glucose) supplemented with various concentrations of GLCP (abbreviated as bTPYglcp) (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0%). bTPY medium supplemented with glucose (abbreviated as bTPYglu) and inulin (abbreviated bTPYinu) were used as comparison. Viable cell counts of the bacteria and the pH of the medium were determined during anaerobic incubation period of 0 h, 12 h, 24 h and 48 h at 37 °C. In the presence of carbohydrate source, cultures showed various degree of growth increment. With regards to the growth supporting property: bTPYglu, bTPYglu+glcp, bTPYglcp and bTPYinu were ranked first, second, third and fourth respectively. Interestingly, in bTPYglcp medium, bacterial growth increased with increasing GLCP concentrations when incubated until 24 h. B. longum BB536 was ranked first (10.53 log cfu/mL) in term of their growth in this medium. Growth of B.pseudocatenulatum G4 was ranked second with 10.40 log cfu/mL. This study shows that, GLCP could support the growth of the bacteria tested.

INTRODUCTIONThe present study aimed to obtain preliminary tympanometric data of young Malay adults and to compare the results between genders.

METHODS96 undergraduate students (49 males and 47 females), aged 19-25 (mean and standard deviation 21.14 +/- 1.31) years, participated in this study. Otoscopic examination, pure tone audiometry, qualitative tympanogram and ipsilateral acoustic reflex were measured to ensure a clear ear canal, normal hearing and normal middle ear function, prior to tympanometric measurement. As a result, a total of 154 ears (80 ears from males and 74 ears from females) were selected for further statistical analyses. The tympanometric parameters measured were peak compensated static acoustic admittance (Peak Y(tm)), tympanometric width (TW) and equivalent ear canal volume (V(ea)).

RESULTSThe results showed that the mean Peak Y(tm), V(ea) and TW for males were 0.81 mmhos, 1.48 cubic cm and 113.67 daPa, respectively. The mean Peak Y(tm), V(ea) and TW for females were 0.63 mmhos, 1.12 cubic cm and 98.04 daPa, respectively. Males were found to have significantly higher mean V(ea) and mean Peak Y(tm) than females. However no significant gender difference was observed in the mean TW.

CONCLUSIONThe current study suggests that young Malay adults may require gender-specific Peak Y(tm) and V(ea) values when implementing a quantitative approach in tympanogram interpretation.

Acoustic Impedance Tests ; methods ; Acoustics ; Audiometry ; methods ; Audiometry, Pure-Tone ; Ear Canal ; pathology ; Ethnic Groups ; Female ; Humans ; Malaysia ; Male ; Otoscopy ; methods ; Reference Values ; Sex Factors ; Young Adult

This study was carried out in order to identify acanthocephalan species complexes, based on morphological variability, infecting Barbonymus schwanenfeldii from Lake Kenyir, Terengganu, Malaysia. Acanthocephala were fixed in ethanol, stained with aceto-carmine and studied morphologically by using a light microscope. Variation in morphological traits such as proboscis, proboscis receptacle, egg, testes shape and location, number of hooks and cement gland has been traditionally used to diagnose the acanthocephalans species but the delimitations between closely related species are still confusing and are always questionable among taxonomists. Molecular analysis was used for support the identification. Morphological variability prospecting reveals the presence of three different new species complexes from the subgenus Acanthosentis by referring published taxonomic keys. These new species may be distinguished from the other 46 described species of Acanthosentis by having six unique structures: the presence of an anterior parareceptacle structure (PRS); vaginal sleeve structure; a paired lateral, cone-shaped, muscular jacket surrounding the vagina; alternating pattern and size of proboscis hooks, variation in proboscis size and shape; the presence of the circular collar ring around the neck between the proboscis and trunk and lastly the presence of a muscular-like structure attached to the collar ring on the proboscis. These acanthocephalans found in the intestine of B. schwanenfeldii in Kenyir Lake Malaysia represent new species, named Acanthogyrus (Acanthosentis) kenyirensis n.sp., A. (A.) terengganuensis n.sp. and A. (A.) tembatensis n. sp.

Background: and Purpose Recent studies suggested an increased incidence of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We evaluated the volume of CVT hospitalization and in-hospital mortality during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the preceding year. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of 171 stroke centers from 49 countries. We recorded COVID-19 admission volumes, CVT hospitalization, and CVT in-hospital mortality from January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2021. CVT diagnoses were identified by International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) codes or stroke databases. We additionally sought to compare the same metrics in the first 5 months of 2021 compared to the corresponding months in 2019 and 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04934020). Results: There were 2,313 CVT admissions across the 1-year pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic year (2020); no differences in CVT volume or CVT mortality were observed. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT volumes compared to 2019 (27.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 24.2 to 32.0; P<0.0001) and 2020 (41.4%; 95% CI, 37.0 to 46.0; P<0.0001). A COVID-19 diagnosis was present in 7.6% (132/1,738) of CVT hospitalizations. CVT was present in 0.04% (103/292,080) of COVID-19 hospitalizations. During the first pandemic year, CVT mortality was higher in patients who were COVID positive compared to COVID negative patients (8/53 [15.0%] vs. 41/910 [4.5%], P=0.004). There was an increase in CVT mortality during the first 5 months of pandemic years 2020 and 2021 compared to the first 5 months of the pre-pandemic year 2019 (2019 vs. 2020: 2.26% vs. 4.74%, P=0.05; 2019 vs. 2021: 2.26% vs. 4.99%, P=0.03). In the first 5 months of 2021, there were 26 cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), resulting in six deaths. Conclusions During the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, CVT hospitalization volume and CVT in-hospital mortality did not change compared to the prior year. COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with higher CVT in-hospital mortality. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT hospitalization volume and increase in CVT-related mortality, partially attributable to VITT.