Radiographic Study of Developmental Alteration in Tooth Number Among Children in IIUM Dental Clinic

Background: The aim of this research was to determine the prevalence, distribution and association of developmental alteration in tooth number with gender, location, and presence of delayed eruption of tooth among children who attended to Student's polyclinic of IIUM Kuantan, Malaysia. Methods: A cross sectional study on total 727 Orthopanthomograms (OPGs) of 3-17 years old children from April 2009 to July 2012. OPGs with presence of alteration number were scrutinized to find out the prevalence, distribution and association. The data was analyzed comparing gender, location and presence of delayed eruption and tested using Chi-square test. Results: Out of 727 OPGs, 71 OPGs showed developmental alteration in tooth number. The prevalence was 98/1000 OPGs within 3 years. Among those 71 OPGs, the gender differences were: males (49.3%) and females (50.7%). Locations were found in maxilla (45.1%), mandible (40.8%) and both (14.0%). The finding of delayed eruption was (7.0%). There were significant differences between alteration in tooth number with location as (p<0.05) while there were no significant differences with gender and delayed eruption as (p>0.05). Conclusions: This study showed that hyperdontia was considerably lower than hypodontia. There was association between alteration in tooth number with location, but no association with gender and delayed eruption

Perbedaan Pendidikan Kelompok Sebaya Tentang Pendewasaan Usia Perkawinan di Perkotaan dan Perdesaan

Remaja berisiko terhadap pernikahan usia dini namun informasi tentang pendewasaan usia perkawinan masih kurang. Pendidikan kelompok sebaya merupakan metode pendidikan kesehatan yang sesuai untuk remaja, namun belum terlaksana di lingkungan masyarakat baik perkotaan maupun perdesaan. Selain itu, belum terfokus pada pendewasaan usia perkawinan, sehingga perlu diketahui perbedaan pengetahuan dan sikap tentang pendewasaan usia perkawinan setelah pendidikan kelompok sebaya pada remaja di perkotaan dan perdesaan. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis perbedaan pendidikan kelompok sebaya tentang pengetahuan dan sikap mengenai pendewasaan usia perkawinan antara remaja di wilayah perkotaan dan perdesaan. Penelitian ini merupakan eksperimen semu dengan desain pretest-posttest pada 60 remaja yang dipilih secara acak sederhana di Desa Cileungsi (perkotaan) dan Desa Mampir (perdesaan) Kecamatan Cileungsi pada bulan Maret 2014. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pendidikan kelompok sebaya dapat meningkatkan pengetahuan dan sikap remaja perkotaan serta perdesaan dengan p 0,05. Pendidikan kelompok sebaya dapat dilaksanakan di berbagai wilayah sehingga diperlukan dukungan berbagai pihak untuk pelatihan pendidik sebaya bagi remaja dan pengembangan di lingkungan masyarakat. The Difference of Peer Education about Maturation Age of Marriage in Urban and Rural Areas Adolescents are at risk of having early marriage, but they still lack of information about maturation age of marriage. Peer education is a suitable method to provide adolescents with health education. However, health education given to adolescents both in urban society and rural society has never used this method, and has not been focused on maturation age of marriage. Therefore, it is necessary to find out the difference between knowledge and attitude of urban adolescents and those of rural adolescents about maturation age of marriage after peer education method is used. This study was aimed to analyze the difference impacts of peer education on maturation age of marriage among urban and rural adolescents. This is a quasi experimental study using pre-test and post-test design on 60 adolescents who are selected using a simple random sampling, from Cileungsi Village (urban area) and Mampir Village (rural area) in Cileungsi Sub-district in March 2014. The results show that peer education is able to improve the knowledge and attitude about maturation age of marriage of adolescents with p 0.05 in both knowledge and attitude. Peer education can be implemented in all regions. Therefore, supports from all stakeholders is necessary to make some training for trainers in peer education for teenagers and its development in society

Berbagai Faktor yang Memengaruhi Kejadian Demam Berdarah Dengue di Kota Bandung

. Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) reemerged as a significant public health problem, which reflects the difficulty in sustaining DHF control program. Community-based strategy to control Aedes aegypti breeding sites needs to be understood. The objective of this study is to understand contributed factors to DHF based on characteristics, the availability of basic sanitation, knowledge, perception, and attitude towards DHF prevention program. A survey conducted to 2035 households in 12 districts and 16 villages in Kota Bandung in April to June 2015 using stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire was administered to collect information on variables related to economic status, knowledge on DBD, risk perception and practices associated with Aedes aegypti breeding sites, also basic sanitation facilities. The analysis used was correlation and generalized estimating equation (GEE). Results showed that gender, basic sanitation availability, knowledge about dengue in general, knowledge about DHF symptoms, and perception about the disease contribute to dengue cases (p ≤ 0.05). The conclusion of this study is factors contributed to dengue cases were sex, education, basic sanitation, knowledge about dengue in general, knowledge about DHF symptoms and perception about the disease. Program planning should also include factors and the need for the local community

Feasibility of self-collection of fecal specimens by randomly sampled women for health-related studies of the gut microbiome

BACKGROUND: The field of microbiome research is growing rapidly. We developed a method for self-collection of fecal specimens that can be used in population-based studies of the gut microbiome. We conducted a pilot study to test the feasibility of our methods among a random sample of healthy, postmenopausal women who are members of Kaiser Permanente Colorado (KPCO). We aimed to collect questionnaire data, fecal and urine specimens from 60 women, aged 55–69, who recently had a normal screening mammogram. We designed the study such that all questionnaire data and specimens could be collected at home. RESULTS: We mailed an invitation packet, consent form and opt-out postcard to 300 women, then recruited by telephone women who did not opt-out. Verbally consented women were mailed an enrollment package including a risk factor questionnaire, link to an online diet questionnaire, specimen collection kit, and instructions for collecting stool and urine. Specimens were shipped overnight to the biorepository. Of the 300 women mailed an invitation packet, 58 (19%) returned the opt-out postcard. Up to 3 attempts were made to telephone the remaining women, of whom 130 (43%) could not be contacted, 23 (8%) refused, and 12 (4%) were ineligible. Enrollment packages were mailed to 77 women, of whom 59 returned the risk factor questionnaire and specimens. We found no statistically significant differences between enrolled women and those who refused participation or could not be contacted. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that a representative sample of women can be successfully recruited for a gut microbiome study; however, significant personal contact and carefully timed follow-up from the study personnel are required. The methods employed by our study could successfully be applied to analytic studies of a wide range of clinical conditions that have been postulated to be influenced by the gut microbial population

Pre-flight experiments for the unmanned aerial monitoring system (UAMS) radioactive detection under its limitations

Over the past few years, drones have become a popular tool for a variety of applications related to nuclear activities, including outdoor and indoor surveys, and dose mapping. Drones have been employed by the industry in terms of improving worker safety, saving time, and reducing costs. In this study, an unmanned aerial monitoring system (UAMS) was designed and fabricated under its limitation to detect radioactive hotspots. The final goal is to map environmental radioactivity and extract radioactive concentration points; therefore, preliminary experiments were performed to reach a robust detection system and also to study effective flight altitudes that UAMS is able to detect anomalies. UAMS consisted of a detection system including a two-inch sodium iodine crystal, a data-acquisition system, and a mini-computer that all were installed under a drone body. One Cs-137 and two Co-60 sources were used for the initial monitoring of UAMS. The results showed that the system is able to detect the sources in the height range of 80 cm to 3 meters

Influence of Household Environment and Maternal Behaviors to Upper Respiratory Infection Among Toddlers

Upper respiratory infection (URI) in developing countries causes high morbidity among toddlers. Indonesia Health Ministry reported that non-pneumonia acute respiratory infection (ARI) increased by 2.6% from 2007 to 2011. Risk factors which may contribute to URI include environment and behavior. This study aimed to investigate environmental and behavioral factors with URI among toddlers. This case control study was conducted on February – April 2015 among toddlers in Tamansari that is a slum area in Bandung City. Case was 55 mothers with toddlers suffering from URI who came to primary health care, meanwhile control was twice bigger than cases selected from the environment and matched for age, sex and nutritional status. Environmental factors were density, humidity, ventilation, temperature and smoke disposal. Meanwhile, behavioral factors were hand-washing, mother's smoking behavior, the use of mask, vitamin A consumption and exclusive breastfeeding. Results of study showed that environmental factor related to URI was only density with p value = 0.021 and OR = 2.843 (CI 95% = 1.168 – 6.920). None of maternal behavior factor was related to URI. Reducing density is an important and challenging issue in slum area, same as similary health promotion and prevention concerning URI are still necessary to reduce the risk of this disease among toddlers in urban slum area

Extraribosomal functions associated with the C terminus of the 37/67 kDa laminin receptor are required for maintaining cell viability

The 37/67 kDa laminin receptor (LAMR) is a multifunctional protein, acting as an extracellular receptor, localizing to the nucleus, and playing roles in rRNA processing and ribosome assembly. LAMR is important for cell viability; however, it is unclear which of its functions are essential. We developed a silent mutant LAMR construct, resistant to siRNA, to rescue the phenotypic effects of knocking down endogenous LAMR, which include inhibition of protein synthesis, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis. In addition, we generated a C-terminal-truncated silent mutant LAMR construct structurally homologous to the Archaeoglobus fulgidus S2 ribosomal protein and missing the C-terminal 75 residues of LAMR, which displays more sequence divergence. We found that HT1080 cells stably expressing either silent mutant LAMR construct still undergo arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle when treated with siRNA. However, the expression of full-length silent mutant LAMR rescues cell viability, whereas the expression of the C-terminal-truncated LAMR does not. Interestingly, we also found that both silent mutant constructs restore protein translation and localize to the nucleus. Our findings indicate that the ability of LAMR to regulate viability is associated with its C-terminal 75 residues. Furthermore, this function is distinct from its role in cell proliferation, independent of its ribosomal functions, and may be regulated by a nonnuclear localization

The NIDDK Central Repository at 8 years—Ambition, Revision, Use and Impact

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Central Repository makes data and biospecimens from NIDDK-funded research available to the broader scientific community. It thereby facilitates: the testing of new hypotheses without new data or biospecimen collection; pooling data across several studies to increase statistical power; and informative genetic analyses using the Repository’s well-curated phenotypic data. This article describes the initial database plan for the Repository and its revision using a simpler model. Among the lessons learned were the trade-offs between the complexity of a database design and the costs in time and money of implementation; the importance of integrating consent documents into the basic design; the crucial need for linkage files that associate biospecimen IDs with the masked subject IDs used in deposited data sets; and the importance of standardized procedures to test the integrity data sets prior to distribution. The Repository is currently tracking 111 ongoing NIDDK-funded studies many of which include genotype data, and it houses over 5 million biospecimens of more than 25 types including serum, plasma, stool, urine, DNA, red blood cells, buffy coat and tissue. Repository resources have supported a range of biochemical, clinical, statistical and genetic research (188 external requests for clinical data and 31 for biospecimens have been approved or are pending). Genetic research has included GWAS, validation studies, development of methods to improve statistical power of GWAS and testing of new statistical methods for genetic research. We anticipate that the future impact of the Repository’s resources on biomedical research will be enhanced by (i) cross-listing of Repository biospecimens in additional searchable databases and biobank catalogs; (ii) ongoing deployment of new applications for querying the contents of the Repository; and (iii) increased harmonization of procedures, data collection strategies, questionnaires etc. across both research studies and within the vocabularies used by different repositories

Green Tea Polyphenol EGCG Sensing Motif on the 67-kDa Laminin Receptor

BACKGROUND: We previously identified the 67-kDa laminin receptor (67LR) as the cell-surface receptor conferring the major green tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG) responsiveness to cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanism for interaction between EGCG and 67LR remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the possible role of EGCG-67LR interaction responsible for its bioactivities. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We synthesized various peptides deduced from the extracellular domain corresponding to the 102-295 region of human 67LR encoding a 295-amino acid. The neutralizing activity of these peptides toward EGCG cell-surface binding and inhibition of cancer cell growth were assayed. Both activities were inhibited by a peptide containing the 10-amino acid residues, IPCNNKGAHS, corresponding to residues 161-170. Furthermore, mass spectrometric analysis revealed the formation of a EGCG-LR161-170 peptide complex. A study of the amino acid deletion/replacement of the peptide LR161-170 indicated that the 10-amino acid length and two basic amino acids, K(166) and H(169), have a critical role in neutralizing EGCG's activities. Moreover, neutralizing activity against the anti-proliferation action of EGCG was observed in a recombinant protein of the extracellular domain of 67LR, and this effect was abrogated by a deletion of residues 161-170. These findings support that the 10 amino-acid sequence, IPCNNKGAHS, might be the functional domain responsible for the anti-cancer activity of EGCG. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Overall, our results highlight the nature of the EGCG-67LR interaction and provide novel structural insights into the understanding of 67LR-mediated functions of EGCG, and could aid in the development of potential anti-cancer compounds for chemopreventive or therapeutic uses that can mimic EGCG-67LR interactions

Preclinical Models of Brain Metastasis

Research at the Brain Metastasis Group is supported by MINECO grants MINECO-Retos SAF2017-89643-R (M.V.), Bristol-Myers Squibb- Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator Award 2017 (498103) (M.V.), Beug Foundation’s Prize for Metastasis Research 2017 (M.V.), Fundación Ramón Areces (CIVP19S8163) (M.V.), Worldwide Cancer Research (19-0177) (M.V.), H2020-FETOPEN (828972)N