Objective To assess the results of paediatric liver transplantation in our institution. Methods From September 1993 to November 1996, 10 living-related liver transplants (LRLT) and 3 reduced-size liver transplants (RSLT) were performed on 12 children at our hospital. The medical records of the patients were reviewed. All patients suffered from end-stage liver disease resulting from biliary atresia with failed Kasai's operations. Their ages at initial transplantation ranged from 8 months to 11 years. Excluding the 2 older children aged 7.5 and 11 years, the remaining patients were aged 10.5 months on the average and weighed 6 to 9.5 kg (mean: 6.8 kg) at the time of initial transplantation.Results All living donors were discharged on postoperative day 4 to 8 and resumed their previous normal activities. All recipients were alive with normal liver function and growing after a follow-up period of 3-40 months (mean: 21 months). The patient survival rate was 100%. One patient with RSLT had hepatitis of undetermined aetiology and underwent retransplant with a graft from her mother. The graft survival rate was 92%. Postoperative complications included: postoperative bleeding (n=3), hepatic vein stenosis (n=l), biliary-enteric anastomotic stenosis (n=3), intestinal perforation (n=l) and portal vein thrombosis (n=l). They were all treated promptly. In all patients, the hepatic artery (diameter ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 mm) anastomosis was achieved by microvascular technique. There was no hepatic artery thrombosis in our patients. Conclusion With technical refinements, early detection and prompt treatment of complications, and advances in immunotherapy, excellent results can be achieved in paediatric liver transplantation.

The Bornean sun bear, a subspecies of the endangered Malayan sun bear, resides only on Borneo Island and little is known about diseases or parasites that may impact their health. In 2019, blood and ticks were collected from 46 captive bears held at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sabah, Malaysia during annual health examinations in response to previous blood smear analysis that revealed presumptive haemoparasites in more than half the resident bears. Polymerase chain reaction detected a unique Babesia sp. in one of the bears. Disease surveillance of mosquitoes trapped along the outer perimeter of the bears’ outdoor enclosure did not reveal any malaria parasites. This research marks the first documented case in Bornean sun bears of both a Babesia sp. and the Ixodes tick Haemaphysalis nr koningsbergeri. More research on incriminating the vector and the effects of Babesia infection on the health of Bornean sun bears is needed. Due to the zoonotic nature of babesiosis, mitigative actions should be taken to protect any humans that work with or come into close contact with these captive bears or their enclosures.

Bats are flying mammals with unique immune systems that allow them to hold many pathogens. Hence, they are recognised as the reservoir of many zoonotic pathogens. In this study, we performed molecular detection to detect coronaviruses, paramyxoviruses, pteropine orthoreoviruses and dengue viruses from samples collected from insectivorous bats in Krau Reserve Forest. One faecal sample from Rhinolophus spp. was detected positive for coronavirus. Based on BLASTN, phylogenetic analysis and pairwise alignment-based sequence identity calculation, the detected bat coronavirus is most likely to be a bat betacoronavirus lineage slightly different from coronavirus from China, Philippines, Thailand and Luxembourg. In summary, continuous surveillance of bat virome should be encouraged, as Krau Reserve Forest reported a wide spectrum of biodiversity of insectivorous and fruit bats. Moreover, the usage of primers for the broad detection of viruses should be reconsidered because geographical variations might possibly affect the sensitivity of primers in a molecular approach.