Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. It is usually seen in those above 50 years old. Current medical treatments only provide symptomatic relief but cannot cure the disease. There are claims that PD can be cured by stem cell transplant. The present study is aimed to assess the clinical potency and safety of stem cell in treating PD. A total of eleven articles were included for analysis, with four randomised control trials (RCTs), five non-RCTs and 2 follow up studies. All the four non-RCTs showed improvement of Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale with no adverse events. However, results from RCTs showed no significant differences in the rating score among the transplant group and the Sham surgery group. The secondary analysis of one study showed a significant improvement of the rating score in those patients aged 60 and younger. Transplant group also associated with an overall higher incidence of adverse events. In conclusion, the RCTs and non-RCTs produced opposite results. When the studies were performed as non-RCTs in small number of patients, they showed promising result in the patients. It could say that currently the use of stem cell/progenitor cells in treating PD need much research despite having the implanted stem cell to be able to survive and integrated. The survival of implanted dopamine neurons in the striatum, however, does not indicate a success in correcting PD symptoms. Further investigations will shed light on the application and mechanism of action of stem cells in treating PD.
Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy ; Dopaminergic Neurons ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Parkinson Disease* ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; Stem Cells*

Objective: To examine the wound healing properties of eicosane, pentadecane and palmitic acid by evaluating in term of anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, proliferation, migration and collagen synthesis. Methods: Anti-microbial activities of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were evaluated by carrying out disk diffusion and agar well diffusion methods. Growth rate of tested bacteria was also evaluated for 8 h in conjunction with the sample drugs. Besides, U937 cell lines were used as model study for realtime mRNA genes expression studies of TNF-α and IL-12 under the treatment. Proliferation, migration and collagen content synthesis were carried out on human dermal fibroblast. Results: None of the sample drugs possessed significant inhibition of bacteria tested in this study both in disk diffusion and agar well diffusion methods. In contrary, significantly low expressed mRNA gene expression levels of TNF-α and IL-12 were found under the treatment of respective drugs. Meanwhile in proliferation, migration and hydroxyproline content analysis, all the sample drugs showed no significant positive stimulation. Conclusions: This study therefore explains that apart from their potential in downregulating pro-inflammatory cytokines, these three compounds which were examined individually may not be good candidates in promoting wound healing.

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) has no cure yet. This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of stem cell therapy (SCT) for improving the gross motor function (GMF) of patients with CP. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in CENTRAL, PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar to identify relevant randomized controlled trials from the year 2010 to 2020. The outcome measures were GMF and adverse events. For the meta-analysis, treatment effects on GMF improvement were expressed as standardised mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), using a random-effects model. Results: There were seven trials that either used autologous or allogenic stem cells, with 411 participants, and were met with inclusion and exclusion criteria. The age, severity, and type of CP in participants varied. Follow up duration ranged from 6 to 24 months. Four studies had single transplantation while the other three had two to four sessions. Overall, a significant positive effect on GMF was seen in SCT than control group, SMD = 2.22 [95% CI 1.15 - 3.29] with a high heterogeneity (I² = 95%). In a separate analysis, umbilical cord blood (UCB) was the most effective cell type, SMD = 3.24 [1.38,5.10]. Serious adverse events were rare, with similar effects in treatment and control groups. Conclusion: A positive and safe effect of SCT, specially UCB on GMF, was observed. However, the standardizations of treatment regimes, therapeutic-cell dose, and SCT optimal timing are needed to maximize the efficacy of treatment.

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women globally. In low- and middle-income countries, the use of appropriate breast cancer genetics services for screening and personalized treatments is severely lacking. This review is aimed to assess and summarize the reported mutation profiles of Malaysian BC patients. Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed and Google Scholar from 2002 to 2019 using a set of keywords and MESH terms. Results: Data from 14 eligible studies are presented here. A total of 28 genes were studied in Malaysian BC patients in which 445 genetic alterations (229 deleterious, 209 variants with unknown clinical significance (VUC), and seven protective variants) have been reported, with 73 being novel (16% novel). The frequency ranged from 0.2% to 76% for VUC and 2.1 to 15% for deleterious variations. Only BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, APOBEC3B, and P53 have been associated with BC risk in Malaysian patients. Nine of these studies were conducted using the overlapped source of patients, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to the whole population of Malaysia. Conclusion Information on the genetic basis of BC in the Malaysian population is scant. Multidisciplinary efforts with appropriate sample selection techniques and study design with multicenter collaboration are needed to address this issue. Out of thirteen high- and moderated-penetrance pathogenic mutations for BC, only five have been linked to Malaysians’ BC susceptibility. The findings from this review is valuable for decision-makers, researchers, and physicians, to enhance the research plans and utility of genetic services for screening and prevention.
Breast Neoplasms ;