Aims: The aim of the study is to develop the optimised parameters of electrochemical DNA biosensors for the specific detection of the Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) in chickens. The goal is to further create a highly sensitive and specific biosensor that can be used for on-site monitoring of IBV on poultry farms. Methodology and results: In this study, an electrochemical DNA biosensor was developed for detecting a specific sequence in the IBV genome. The process involved attaching a NH2-ssDNA probe to a gold electrode, followed by hybridization with the target DNA. Various parameters like buffer, pH, scan rate, incubation time, redox indicators and temperature were optimised using cyclic voltammetry. The probe DNA was designed to enhance hybridization efficiency, which was assessed by measuring current signals. The biosensor, under optimal conditions, demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity when tested with different sequences, including complementary, non-complementary and mismatched ones. Cross-reactivity studies against non-IBV viruses showed distinguishable current signals. These findings have implications for developing a portable on-site IBV monitoring device for use on farms. Conclusion, significance and impact of study The optimised parameters and specificity of the electrochemical DNA biosensor suggest its potential for the development of a portable device for on-site monitoring of IBV on poultry farms. This device could prove to be a valuable tool for the early detection of IBV, helping to prevent further spread of the disease. However, it's essential to conduct further research to ensure the practicality and accuracy of the biosensor in real-world farm settings.

To expand the single-dose duration over which noninvasive clinical and preclinical cancer imaging can be conducted with high sensitivity, and well-defined spatial and temporal resolutions, a facile strategy to prepare ultrasmall nanoparticulate X-ray contrast media (nano-XRCM) as dual-modality imaging agents for positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) has been established. Synthesized from controlled copolymerization of triiodobenzoyl ethyl acrylate and oligo(ethylene oxide) acrylate monomers, the amphiphilic statistical iodocopolymers (ICPs) could directly dissolve in water to afford thermodynamically stable solutions with high aqueous iodine concentrations (>140 mg iodine/mL water) and comparable viscosities to conventional small molecule XRCM. The formation of ultrasmall iodinated nanoparticles with hydrodynamic diameters of ca. 10 nm in water was confirmed by dynamic and static light scattering techniques. In a breast cancer mouse model, in vivo biodistribution studies revealed that the ⁶⁴Cu-chelator-functionalized iodinated nano-XRCM exhibited extended blood residency and higher tumor accumulation compared to typical small molecule imaging agents. PET/CT imaging of tumor over 3 days showed good correlation between PET and CT signals, while CT imaging allowed continuous observation of tumor retention even after 10 days post-injection, enabling longitudinal monitoring of tumor retention for imaging or potentially therapeutic effect after a single administration of nano-XRCM.

Introduction: The World Health Organization announced the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Despite the fact that orthopaedic departments are not considered first-line department in the war against pandemic, the pandemic has had a big effect on orthopaedic services. A few studies have found the pandemic effect on the orthopaedics field, but none have found the effect of a one-year pandemic, especially in Indonesia. This study aimed to know the effect of one-year COVID-19 on trauma of lower extremity at Orthopaedic Service in Prof Soeharso Top Referral Orthopaedic Hospital, Indonesia Materials and methods: It is a cross-sectional study. The study compared the population group during one year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia to the same period one year before. This study was conducted in Prof. Dr. R. Soeharso Orthopaedic Hospital, Surakarta, Indonesia from March 2019-February 2021. The subjects were patients of lower extremity trauma both surgical procedure and outpatient visit. Patients recorded on other orthopaedic service support installations like radiology, laboratory, or physiotherapy were excluded. Results: There was a significant reduction (54.9%) in total trauma of lower extremities patients in Prof Dr R Soeharso Orthopaedic Hospital, Surakarta, from 2146 (pre-COVID-19)to 968 (during COVID-19) in the March 2019-February2021 period. There was also a significant reduction (90.9%)in total cases outpatient visit in pre-COVID-19 compared toduring COVID-19 (p<0.05) and surgical procedures (39%)in pre-COVID-19 compare to the COVID-19 period(p<0.05). Conclusion: There was a significant reduction on trauma oflower extremities patients both outpatient visits and surgicalprocedures during pandemic COVID-19 than before the COVID-19 occurred.

Trollius chinensis has a wide range of pharmacological effects ，including anti-oxidative ，antibacterial，antiviral， anti-inflammatory，anti-tumor，anti-aging，antipyretic and analgesic effects ，relieving cough and removing phlegm ，viscera protection，and so on. Flavonoids and phenolic acids are the main medicinal components of it ，especially three monomers have a wide range of efficacy and have been studied more ，such as orientin ，vitexin and 2″-O-galactopyranosyl orientin. T. chinensis is mostly used in clinical practice in the form of Chinese patent medicines ，such as Jinlianhua granules ，Jinlianhua capsules ， Jinlianhua tablets and Jinlianhua oral liquid. These medicines are used to treatment of upper respiratory tract infection ，pharyngitis， tonsillitis，periodontitis，mumps，oral ulcer ，and hand-foot-mouth disease. They are usually used by combining with Western medicine. Due to its definite curative effect and less adverse drug reactions ，T. chinensis related preparations are more suitable for pediatric population ，and they can be used for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infection in children ，acute suppurative tonsillitis in children ，epidemic mumps in children ，hand-foot-mouth disease in children ，which is also one of its drug characteristics. This paper review the relevant literatures in recent 20 years from the respective of pharmacological effects and clinical applicationin order to provide reference for further promoting rational clinical application of T. chinensis and new drug research and development.

Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized ; Arthritis, Psoriatic/drug therapy* ; China ; Humans ; Psoriasis/drug therapy* ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of smoking ban in eateries on smoking behaviors and intention to quit smoking among adult smokers in Klang Valley. A validated questionnaire was utilized for this study whereby three variables of the study (socio-demographic characteristics, smokers attitude, and intention to quit smoking) were measured. The structured questionnaire contained closed ended questions where present of dichotomous(yes/no), multiple choice questions and 7-point likert scale questions. 600 questionnaires were distributed to target respondents in eateries of Klang Valley. The inclusion criteria were local citizen of Malaysia, those who gave consent to take part in the study, literate in English, smokers aged 18 years old and above. The data were analyzed utilizing SPSS software version 21.0. There were 504 completed and usable responses received, which represented an 84% response rate. Majority of smokers in Klang Valley were male which constituted around 78.2% of the respondents. Manufactured cigarette, 75.2% was the most preferred type of nicotine among smokers. Smokers attitude and social support with a smoking ban in restaurants and eateries was significantly associated with intention to quit smoking. 73.8% of smokers agree that the smoking ban in eateries and restaurants have reduced their daily smoking frequency and 58.3% of smokers agreed that the nationwide smoking ban at eateries and public places aspire them to quit smoking.Smoking ban is beneficial to help reduce prevalence of smoking among smokers that in turn helps to reduce secondary smoking and burden of non-communicable diseases in the long run. Though only a little over half of the respondents claimed that the ban inspires them to quit smoking, this is a positive start as the ban was just introduced. When effectively implemented, they are seen as an important element of policy to support behavior change in favor of a healthy lifestyle. The Ministry of Health should push forward with the ban on public smoking as soon as possible. The ban should be in tandem with efforts to help smokers quit. Implementing this scheme nationwide would be a remunerative move to help strive for a better health and cleaner environment for this country.

Health professionals, especially nurses, in primary care setting are considered most appropriate for providing sexual health care. To provide quality sexual health care, nurses should have adequate sex knowledge and hold positive attitude towards sexuality. However, nurses’ perceived inadequate knowledge and negative attitudes towards sexuality were reported to be two major barriers to sexual health care, yet little is known about these barriers among nursing students in Hong Kong. This study was conducted to examine sex knowledge and attitudes towards sexuality among nursing students in Hong Kong. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on the first year nursing students (N= 258) who were recruited to participate via convenience sampling. The General Sexual Knowledge Scale (GSKS) and Attitude towards Sexuality Scale (ATSS) were used to collect data for this study. The data were analysed by descriptive statistics and independent t-test. Results Sex knowledge was 10.4 ± 3.5 and sexual attitude was 32.9 ± 4.6 indicating nursing students’ sex knowledge was poor and their sexual attitudes were neutral. Sex knowledge was positively related to the sexual attitudes (r = 0.47, p < .01). The attitudes were more liberal in students aged 20 years old or above than students aged 19 or below. Sexual attitudes were also more liberal among students who did not reported religious affiliation than students who did. Conclusions Knowledge and positive attitudes regarding human sexuality needed to be promoted among nursing students. Findings from this study provided useful information in preparing nursing students to render high quality sexual health care in primary care settings.

BACKGROUND: Secukinumab demonstrated sustained efficacy in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) through 5 years in pivotal Phase III studies. Here, we present efficacy and safety results (52-week) of secukinumab in patients with AS from the MEASURE 5 study. METHODS: MEASURE 5 was a 52-week, Phase III, China-centric study. Eligible patients were randomly assigned (2:1) to receive subcutaneous secukinumab 150 mg or placebo weekly for the first five doses and then once every 4 weeks (q4w). All placebo patients switched to secukinumab 150 mg q4w starting at Week 16. Primary endpoint was Assessments of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) 20 at Week 16. Randomization was stratified by region (China vs. non-China). RESULTS: Of 458 patients (secukinumab 150 mg, N = 305; placebo, N = 153) randomized, 327 (71.4%) were from China and 131 (28.6%) were not from China. Of these, 97.7% and 97.4% patients completed Week 16 and 91.1% and 95.3% (placebo-secukinumab) patients completed Week 52 of treatment. The primary endpoint was met; secukinumab significantly improved ASAS20 response at Week 16 vs. placebo (58.4% vs. 36.6%; P < 0.0001); corresponding rate in the Chinese population was 56.0% vs. 38.5% (P < 0.01). All secondary efficacy endpoints significantly improved with secukinumab 150 mg in the overall population at Week 16; responses were maintained with a trend toward increased efficacy from Week 16 to 52. No new or unexpected safety signals were reported up to Week 52. CONCLUSIONS: Secukinumab 150 mg demonstrated rapid and significant improvement in signs and symptoms of AS. Secukinumab was well tolerated and the safety profile was consistent with previous reports. Efficacy and safety results were comparable between the overall and Chinese populations. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02896127; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02896127?term=NCT02896127&draw=2&rank=1.
Antibodies, Monoclonal/therapeutic use* ; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized ; China ; Double-Blind Method ; Humans ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing/drug therapy* ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease, affecting about 0.6% of the Chinese population. Many patients are not well controlled by conventional treatments, thus there is need for new treatment regimens. In this study, we assessed the efficacy and safety of secukinumab in Chinese patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. METHODS: This study was a 52-week, multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, Phase 3 trial. A sub-population of study participants (≥18 years) of Chinese ethnicity were randomized to receive subcutaneous injections of 300 or 150 mg secukinumab, or placebo. The co-primary endpoints were psoriasis area severity index (PASI) 75 and Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA) 0/1 at Week 12. RESULTS: A total of 441 Chinese patients were enrolled in this study. Co-primary outcomes were achieved; 300 and 150 mg secukinumab were superior to placebo as shown in the proportion of patients that achieved PASI 75 (97.7% and 87.2% vs. 3.7%, respectively; P < 0.001), and IGA 0/1 (82.3% and 69.7% vs. 2.7%; P < 0.001) at Week 12. Treatment efficacy was maintained until Week 52. There was no increase in overall adverse events with secukinumab relative to placebo throughout the 52-week period. CONCLUSION: Secukinumab is highly effective and well tolerated in Chinese patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03066609; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT03066609.
Antibodies, Monoclonal/therapeutic use* ; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized ; China ; Double-Blind Method ; Humans ; Psoriasis/drug therapy* ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome